1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Zhou Yan first took Li Tao around the studio. In fact, nothing improved in the music studio.

Li Tao has been here twice before. He and Zhou Yan are both graduate students of Wu Zuqiang now, and they were classmates when they were undergraduates. They have a good relationship, so when they knew that Zhou Yan had a music studio, they came to take a look out of curiosity and even stopped by in the cafeteria. meal.

In fact, Li Tao is not short of work at all. As a graduate student of Wu Zuqiang, he can join any music-related unit across the country after graduation. If not, he can stay in school and teach.

But Li Tao is a romantic. Teaching is not suitable for him at all, and he finds other ordinary units boring.

If it were anyone else, they might not be willing to give up the public sector and come to Zhou Yan's studio.

After visiting the music studio, Zhou Yan took Li Tao to the film studio. Since he was going to work on soundtracks in the future, he would definitely spend a lot of time dealing with the film studio.

After coming out of the film studio, the two walked towards the music studio. Zhou Yan said to Li Tao, You need to take a rest these two days. You will take over the work in a while.

Hearing that there would be a job so soon, Li Tao joked, I knew that you, a capitalist, would not let me, a production tool, rest. Tell me, what kind of job is it?

There was a director in Xiangjiang who wanted to invite me to serve as the soundtrack director for his new movie. I never accepted because I was too busy. Now that I have you, I am ready to take on this job.

They're looking for you, and they have no objection to letting me go? Li Tao asked doubtfully.

As long as the quality of the soundtrack is high, what opinions can they have? I have confidence in you, and when the time comes, I will have the name of the chief soundtrack director alongside you. Do you mind this?

Li Tao smiled and said, Even if my name is not included, I don't mind, as long as you give me the money.

You are quite pragmatic. Zhou Yan also laughed, You have a high level of composition and fast speed. I am not worried about music. However, you lack experience in film scoring, so I will provide you with an assistant when the time comes.

who?

Zhao Lao.

Li Tao nodded, Senior Brother Zhao Jiping's son, he's pretty good.

His level is top-notch in this class, just like you.

Hey, I'm just faster. If you want to be the top, it has to be you and Lao Jia.

Don't stress the fact that you are faster. I will ask someone to handle the movie. I will give you the movie information later.

You can't just say you're indifferent even though you're in name only.

Don't worry, I will help you.

That's no problem.

…

When Zhou Yan learned about the box office figures of The Sixth Sense in North America in the first fifteen days, he was very surprised.

He remembered that the box office in the first seven days was half a million US dollars. Under normal circumstances, the box office in the following week would definitely be lower than that in the first week. However, in the next eight days, The Sixth Sense actually got one in North America. The box office revenue of one million US dollars doubled directly from the first week.

Although it's nothing to get a million dollars in box office in eight days, such reverse growth is not common.

Is the reputation fermented? Zhou Yan asked Zhang Youan on the other side of the phone.

That's right, but it still has star power.

What kind of star effect? Zhou Yan didn't understand.

In terms of star power, Tony Leung Ka Fai and Joey Wong are still good in Asia, but not in North America.

A few days ago, Meryl Streep specifically mentioned the movie The Sixth Sense in an interview. She said that The Sixth Sense is the best foreign language movie she has seen in recent years. One, I recommend everyone to check it out.”

Meryl Streep, Zhou Yan naturally knows, Chinese movie fans affectionately call her Aunt Mei, and many young Chinese movie fans know her because of her starring role in The Devil Wears Prada with Anne Hathaway.

However, Meryl was already quite old when she played The Devil Wears Prada, and she should be only about forty years old now.

Many people of Zhou Yan's generation know Meryl because of The Bridge, but it seems that The Bridge has not been released yet.

Meryl has many works and covers a wide range of topics. She is an out-and-out model worker.

With her celebrity status, if she really recommends a movie, it may indeed have some impact on the movie's box office. Especially for a movie like The Sixth Sense that originally had a poor box office, a slight improvement will be obvious.

However, Zhou Yan didn’t understand why Meryl wanted to put in a good word for “The Sixth Sense”.

Is this the company's marketing? Zhou Yan asked.

No, Meryl's reputation is not low, so it's not easy to find her. She probably just likes this movie, and when the reporter asked her, she said it, which is a surprise. In fact, Meryl's recommendation is On the one hand, the main thing is the high quality of the movie. After her promotion, many movie fans went to the cinema to watch it and found that the movie was indeed very good, and the popularity gradually grew.

So based on the current situation, is there any hope that the final box office will exceed three million US dollars?

It should be no problem. In fact, most of the box office of one million US dollars was completed in the next three days. In other words, the reverse growth of the box office is more obvious than a simple comparison of single-week data. If this momentum can be maintained, it will exceed Five million US dollars is not impossible.”

Then I have to thank Meryl later.

I have to thank you. Now that the box office is booming, we are also strengthening publicity to match this wave of popularity. After a pause, Zhang Youan continued, Actually, a company came to ask about the remake of The Sixth Sense two days ago. , but the price they gave was too low, so I didn’t tell you. Now that the movie box office is rising, I guess they will raise the price in the future.

Zhou Yan thought for a while and said, The price is secondary. I pay more attention to the other party's strength. If their production cost is higher, the actors hired are better, and other conditions can be lowered a little. If there is no suitable one, remake it You can put things on hold for now.”

I know, I won't be too hasty.

Although The Sixth Sense did not do well at the box office in the early stage, the company is also knowledgeable and knows that the story is very good. If it is remade, it will definitely be popular.

If the box office of The Sixth Sense is higher, it will definitely attract the attention of more companies, and it is very possible that some major companies will come to negotiate copyrights.

…

When Jessica passed by the cinema and saw a The Sixth Sense poster posted at the door, she was stunned.

This cinema often posts posters of popular movies at the door. Next to the poster of The Sixth Sense is Dumb and Dumber starring Jim Carrey.

But what kind of hit movie is The Sixth Sense? Its box office is a fraction of that of Dumb and Dumber?

Because she didn’t want a good movie to get dusty, Jessica also recommended this movie to her classmates. Those classmates were interested in it at first, but when they learned that it was a Chinese movie, they were no longer interested.

There are many good movies this year. There is no need for them to spend time and money to watch a Chinese movie.

Of course, Jessica's efforts were not useless. At least a few of her friends were influenced by her to watch The Sixth Sense. What made her happy was that, without exception, these friends felt that The movie is good.

After arriving at school, something even more surprising happened to Jessica. Two classmates took the initiative to tell her that the movie The Sixth Sense was indeed good.

Jessica had recommended The Sixth Sense to these two classmates before, but they were not interested and never watched it.

what is it today?

Recalling the movie poster posted at the door of the cinema, Jessica always felt that she must have missed something.

She asked the two classmates, Why did you suddenly go see this movie?

The two classmates also told the truth, Because we saw that Meryl recommended this movie. Since you and Meryl both recommended it, it must be very good.

Did Meryl also recommend this movie? Jessica asked in surprise.

Well, that's what it said in the newspaper. It turns out that her recommendation was right. The movie was really good. Alice even cried while watching it in the cinema.

Alice next to her nodded and said, Well, I didn't control the conversation between the little boy and his mother at the end.

I didn't cry, but the twist at the end shocked me. Fortunately, you didn't tell me the ending before, otherwise my experience would have been much worse.

Jessica smiled, it seemed that they did go to the cinema to watch a movie.

Well, this movie really shouldn't be spoiled, otherwise the experience will be worse. Of course, even if you know the ending, you can still see some details that you haven't discovered before when you go to watch the movie.

Alice nodded repeatedly, Yes, yes, I was telling Nicole just now that I didn't notice many details in the movie. There were some places that I didn't understand.

What don't you understand?

Alice said, It's the part where the little boy's mother lets him eat, and the handprint on the table...

Nicole pouted, I didn't even notice the handprint.

Did you notice the thermometer on the wall? Jessica asked with a smile.

What thermometer?

…

The three girls were chatting passionately. There were too many details in the movie The Sixth Sense. The more they talked about it, the more interesting they became. There were some parts that Nick and Alice felt were unreasonable while watching the movie. Maybe It's a bug.

But after talking to Jessica, I found that it was not a bug at all, but a foreshadowing, and everything could be explained.

Sometimes, when you only watch a movie once, you won’t remember some details very clearly.

For example, after watching the twist at the end of the movie, Alice will feel strange. Didn't the male protagonist communicate with his wife? There is also the little boy's mother. She clearly remembers that when the male protagonist and the little male protagonist met for the first time, the male protagonist was talking face to face with the little male protagonist's mother.

But Jessica told her that she was deceived by the director.

In fact, the male protagonist has no communication with his wife at all. They just seem to be communicating. Everything the female protagonist says is not meant for the male protagonist. It’s just that the audience will misunderstand it when they watch it for the first time. The heroine is talking to the hero.

There is also a scene where the male protagonist and the little male protagonist’s mother are sitting face to face, and there is actually no communication. However, when the audience watched it for the first time, they imagined that the male protagonist was talking to the little male protagonist’s mother.

Y is a director who is very good at deceiving the audience. Jessica said.

At this time, a boy came over and asked with a gossipy face, Who cheated on whom?

Nicole glanced at the boy and saw that it was Val from their class, a hippie boy who calls himself a rapper.

We're talking about the movie that just came out, Alice explained.

What movie? I've basically seen all the recent movies.

The sixth sense.

The Sixth Sense? Val frowned. He had never heard of this name at all. Is this in any of the recently released movies?

Of course. Nicole pouted, It seems you haven't seen many movies.

Does it look good? Val asked.

Very nice, but not very suitable for you.

Why?

Nicole looked at Val up and down with a disdainful expression, This movie is very scary. You may not have the courage to watch it. If you really want to watch it, you can bring a pair of pants with you.

Val felt insulted and said angrily, I'm very brave. When I watched The Shining at home before, I didn't even blink.

Oh, really? Nicole shrugged, looking unconvinced.

Just wait, I'll go see it tonight.

After Val left, Alice said with a smile, Nicole, you are so bad, you lied to Val again.

He is too stupid.

After watching it, he might be very disappointed. After all, 'The Sixth Sense' is not very scary.

But I think he will definitely like the movie.

I hope so, haha.

…

Meryl's recommendation was like a catalyst, igniting the popularity of The Sixth Sense and making the film's reputation ferment again.

Some people went to the cinema to watch The Sixth Sense because of Meryl's recommendation, and found that the movie was indeed good, and began to recommend it to others.

Sometimes, the fermentation of word-of-mouth cannot rely solely on the audience. After all, the starting point is too low and the fermentation is very slow. It needs a very good opportunity, and this opportunity was encountered by The Sixth Sense.

The box office performance of The Sixth Sense was even better than Tomson expected.

The box office was only released in the second week. Zhang Youan believes that there is hope that the final box office of the movie will exceed 5 million US dollars, but 5 million US dollars is already the limit for The Sixth Sense. After all, the movie has been released for a long time, and the follow-up There is not much time left for movies.

But when the box office for the third week came out, Zhang Youan was shocked, because the box office for the third week doubled from the second week, and the box office for that week reached two million US dollars.

In twenty-two days, the box office of The Sixth Sense has reached 3.5 million U.S. dollars, and the current box office momentum is still very good. There is no suspense about exceeding 5 million U.S. dollars. Now let's see if it can move towards it. Sprint for higher goals.

According to the original situation, if the box office of The Sixth Sense was too poor in the first two weeks, it would be canceled in advance. However, when the movie theater saw that the box office of The Sixth Sense increased again, it did not cancel the movie.

Now that the box office of The Sixth Sense has experienced such reverse growth again, it will end next week and should continue to be released.

In the fourth week, in just four days, The Sixth Sense grossed US$1.5 million at the box office in North America, bringing the total box office to US$5 million.

…

The news that The Sixth Sense had grossed US$5 million at the box office in North America quickly spread to China.

Yanjing TV Station and Yangtze Evening News were the first to get the news and quickly reported it.

Although Yanjing TV received the news that the box office of The Sixth Sense exceeded 5 million, their news headline directly read The box office of The Sixth Sense surpassed Farewell My Concubine, and Zhou Yan became the highest-grossing Chinese actor in North America. director.

The North American box office of Farewell My Concubine is more than 5.2 million, and The Sixth Sense will definitely exceed this box office.

There was a delay in box office statistics. When Yanjing TV received the box office information, the real-time box office of The Sixth Sense should have surpassed Farewell My Concubine.

The performance of Chinese-language films in North America is really poor. Currently, there are only two Chinese-language films that have surpassed The Sixth Sense at the North American box office. One is The Wedding Banquet and the other is Eat Drink, Couple. Both of these films have It was taken by An Li.

And An Li is actually an American.

Therefore, in the Yanjing TV report, it was directly stated that Zhou Yan became the highest-grossing Chinese director in North America.

In fact, some movies like Jackie Chan's and Jet Li's should be able to get good box office results if released in the United States, but it won't work without someone to help with the operation.

Later, Jackie Chan and the others entered Hollywood, and their previous films, such as Two Dragons, Police Story, and Drunken Master were released in North America and achieved pretty good results.

The reason why The Sixth Sense was able to be released in North America was partly due to Tomson's operation, but also because the movie did very well in Neon.

Those film producers believe that since The Sixth Sense can conquer Neon audiences across borders, it will naturally hope to be welcomed by North American audiences.

Moreover, the adaptation of Zhou Yan's last movie The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly also did very well at the box office in North America.

Now, as long as the box office of The Sixth Sense can exceed US$7.3 million, it will surpass Eat Drink, Couple and become the highest-grossing Chinese film in North American film and television.

Many viewers were a little confused when they saw Yanjing TV's report and didn't understand what was going on.

These viewers have all paid attention to the results of The Sixth Sense before.

Didn't it mean that The Sixth Sense suffered a disaster in North America and the box office was very dismal?

How come Zhou Yan became the highest-grossing Chinese director in North America in the blink of an eye?

Was the previous news report wrong, or something terrible happened in the middle?

The media are all chasing after the popularity. Some media were still scorning Zhou Yan before, but then started praising Zhou Yan.

And compared to Yanjing TV, these media reports are very exaggerated.

Although The Sixth Sense only grossed over five million US dollars at the box office, they insisted that The Sixth Sense is popular in North America.

What’s even more outrageous is that it directly states that “Chinese directors are sweeping Hollywood.” In their reports, Zhou Yan is like a god descending to earth in North America, like Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, or Cameron. ·James can only stand aside.

In fact, the North American box office of The Sixth Sense is less than a fraction of that of Forrest Gump.

Dumb and Dumber, which was released at about the same time as The Sixth Sense, was said to have a poor box office performance when it premiered. However, the film's first weekend box office was close to 17 million US dollars, and its subsequent performance was good. , and now the box office of this movie has exceeded 100 million US dollars.

These media are completely irresponsible for their reporting.

Praise it to death, praise it to death, and trample it to death.

Han Sanping only got the news the day after Yanjing TV reported it, and immediately called Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan had just hung up the call from Omu Productions when he received the call from Han Sanping.

Ogi Production is planning to fill First Dream and Little Hand Holding Big Hand with neon lyrics and make an ep with another neon song.

According to the previously signed contract, Omu Productions does not have the right to write lyrics and publish songs without authorization, and Zhou Yan must agree.

Regarding Ogi's request for production, Zhou Yan readily agreed. After all, it was Shizuka's album, and he had no reason to refuse.

As soon as Han Sanping's phone was connected, Zhou Yan was scolded by Han Sanping, Third brother, it's not funny of you to not tell me such big news in advance.

Zhou Yan knew what Han Sanping was talking about without asking. He said with a smile, Third brother, I have to bother you with such a trivial matter.

Hey, look at your tone. The top-grossing Chinese director in North America is nothing to you.

The box office is only over 5 million. If it were over 50 million, it would still be worth telling you.

The tone is getting louder and louder. Let alone more than 50 million, if it can exceed 10 million, you will be awesome. Han Sanping laughed, and then said, But there is bad news. .”

What bad news?

The more you do at the box office, the more some people in the Directors Guild will hate you.

Isn't this good news? Zhou Yan smiled.

I knew you would say that, okay, I just came to congratulate you, nothing else.

I also want to congratulate you, The Sixth Sense also has the participation of Yanjing Factory.

Han Sanping smiled and said, I hope you save your congratulations and tell me after the release of Spring of the Cowherd Class.

Okay, then I will congratulate you after Spring of the Cowherd Class is released.

Although The Sixth Sense is a film with the participation of Yanjing Film Studio, it was actually led by Chen Zhigu. When the film was shot, Han Sanping was still at the Emei Film Studio.

If political achievements are to be counted, they must also be attributed to Chen Zhigu.

Han Sanping attached great importance to Spring of the Cowherd Class. He hoped that this film would become his most outstanding film after taking charge of the Yanjing Factory.

Now Han Sanping tries his best to meet any requirements from the crew of Cowherder's Spring, not only because of his personal relationship with Zhou Yan, but also because he has high expectations for this movie.

After talking to Han Sanping on the phone, Zhou Yan called Zhang Youan and told him about Kudo Shizuka's neon album.

I have agreed to this. You can discuss the specific details with Ogi Production.

After hearing the news, Zhang Youan said with a smile, I knew that Omu Productions would definitely make these two songs into neon songs. These two songs are now selling very well in the mainland. According to statistics, the sales volume has exceeded 400,000. . And I feel that these two songs are particularly suitable for the neon market.

Zhou Yan nodded. Zhang Youan was right. In recent years, Neon listeners have been very fond of inspiring inspirational songs and sweet songs. First Dream and Little Hand Holding Big Hand fit perfectly.

…

Ogi Production moved very quickly. After negotiating with Tomson, he quickly recorded the two songs.

The reason why it was so fast was because they had already found someone to fill in the lyrics for these two songs before calling Zhou Yan.

They are confident that they can get the authorization from Zhou Yan.

Nangong Songzi asked Kudo Shizuka privately if she was in love with Zhou Yan. Kudo Shizuka denied it, but Nangong Songzi still felt that there was something going on between them.

In any case, Kudo Shizuka now has a very good relationship with Zhou Yan, and Zhou Yan is also very good to Kudo Shizuka. This is why Ogi Production has confidence.

On the eve of the Spring Festival, Shizuka Kudo’s Neon Language EP was officially released.

Although this ep was released very quickly, the promotion work did not fall behind at all.

And the publicity work this time was also very easy. The Chinese album of First Dream was a big seller in mainland China, directly crushing Noriko Sakai's Chinese album. This in itself is a selling point.

The biggest selling point of this ep is that two of the songs were written by Zhou Yan.

For neon music fans, the two words Zhou Yan are full of magic.

Zhou Yan is a golden sign. As long as it is Zhou Yan's music, there is nothing bad to listen to. In addition, Kudo Shizuka is now very popular in Neon. This ep has been highly anticipated by the majority of Neon music fans even before it was released.

On the day the First Dream ep was released, a large number of music fans poured into major music stores, all of them came for First Dream.

Many video stores directly promote and play the First Dream ep in their stores.

Not only video stores, but many radio stations also chose to play the song First Dream that day.

With such momentum, it's not easy for this ep to sell well.

These two songs are indeed very popular among neon music fans, and these two songs also have a common feature, that is, the melody is very catchy, and you can basically remember it after listening to it once.

Because these two songs were so popular, some events that originally invited Shizuka Kudo temporarily changed the program and asked her to sing these two songs.

Kudo Shizuka herself also likes these two songs very much, especially Little Hand Holding Big Hand. This song has special meaning to her, and she has finally learned the ukulele, so she can't let it go to waste.

In some activities at the end of the year, even if she doesn't sing First Dream, she will go on stage to play and sing Little Hands Holding Big Hands.

The program debut of Little Hands Holding Big Hands was on TV Asahi's music program Music Station.

Music Station is a very well-known music program in Neon, and compared to several other well-known music programs in Neon, it is a relatively formal music program, and the audience's focus is more on music.

This program has a wide range of guests, including not only Neon’s own pop singers, but also some classical music singers and overseas singers.

TV Asahi also thought about inviting Zhou Yan before, but it didn't happen in the end.

The average ratings of the show are stable at around 15%, but for the episode in which Kudo Shizuka appeared, the average ratings reached 26%.

When Shizuka Kudo sang First Dream, the ratings rose to 31%, directly becoming the highest in history.

But it wasn't over yet. When Shizuka Kudo held her ukulele and played and sang Little Hands Holding Big Hands, the ratings broke the record again, reaching 33%.

Although First Dream is more popular with neon people than Little Hands Holding Big Hands, the scene of Kudo Shizuka's Little Hands Holding Big Hands is obviously more attractive. The audience has never seen Kudo Shizuka holding a ukulele to herself. Play and sing to yourself.

This form of performance is a big surprise for fans of Shizuka Kudo, and the effect of the performance is indeed very good.

Shizuka Kudo, who plays and sings by herself, makes people feel particularly beautiful.

Hiramatsu and Hiro sat in front of the TV, watching Shizuka Kudo playing and singing on the TV, and they became obsessed with it.

Wow, I'm about to melt at Shizuka's smile.

Next to her, Rina Sato also looked happy, I didn't expect Shizuka to be able to do ukulele.

I must have learned it in China. Ibuki Suzune said.

Pinsong and Guang nodded, Well, Zhou Yan must have taught her.

Zhou Yan is so amazing. He can write such a sweet song. I feel like falling in love after listening to it.

Shizuka looks like she's in love.

Maybe Shizuka is in love with Zhou Yan.

I don't want Shizuka to fall in love with a foreigner, but if it's Zhou Yan, it's okay.

It's good to fall in love. If you fall in love, Zhou Yan will be able to write more good songs.

I'm more curious now, who can sing Meteor, I really want to hear this song.

Oh, it's a pity that Zhou Yan won't come to Neon to hold a concert this year.

“I don’t know if it will come next year, but I have money to buy a ticket now.”

Otherwise, Music Station can invite Zhou Yan over. Don't TV Asahi have a good relationship with Zhou Yan?

Zhou Yan probably won't participate in this kind of program.

I've never heard of him participating in a TV show.

Several people were discussing. Shizuka Kudo had finished singing Little Hands Holding Big Hands on TV. Rina Sato suddenly stood up, clenched her fists and said, I have decided to learn ukulele.

Hiramatsu and Guang said with a smile, If you want to learn ukulele, you must first have a ukulele.

I'll buy it tomorrow.

…

Boss, do you have a ukulele?

Katozawa was taking care of his guitar. When he heard someone talking, he raised his head with confusion on his face.

There were three girls standing in front of them. They were all about seventeen or eighteen years old, and they should still be students.

This is already the second wave of customers wanting to buy ukuleles. In the last wave, two girls bought the only two ukuleles in the store.

The ukulele is not a popular instrument. Few people play it in Neon. This instrument is more like a toy. It can play very few songs and has few applications. Most people still like the guitar.

Normally, I don’t see a single customer coming to buy a ukulele for a long time.

What happened today? There were two calls in the morning. (End of chapter)