hollywood melon man

Chapter 80 In the South (please order first!)

At noon on the second floor of the Nortel Canteen, there was a table of delicious food, plus a bottle of red wine and a bottle of Maotai.

Foreigners probably weren't used to drinking white wine, so Tian Chongming also got a bottle of red wine.

After walking around the campus, Li Jianshe took little Gilbert and Ellie to the cafeteria for dinner.

"Director Landrini, let me introduce to you, Vice Principal Zhu Zhijun, this is Tian Chongming from Radio and Television."

"Hello, I'm little Gilbert Landrini." Little Gilbert shook hands politely.

Zhu Zhijun smiled enthusiastically: "Oh, it really brings glory to our school to have a great American director come to our place!"

Tian Chongming said: "I have heard of Director Gilbert Little for a long time. When I saw it today, it is really extraordinary!"

"Oh? Have you heard of me?" Little Gilbert asked curiously.

"I heard a friend who went to an island country talk about you. Your movies are very popular there." Zhu Zhijun explained.

Little Gilbert didn't expect that his fame would spread here, which was not easy.

After the two parties exchanged greetings, they sat down and started eating and chatting.

Ellie couldn't use chopsticks, so little Gilbert changed her to a spoon.

Several people were surprised to see little Gilbert using chopsticks skillfully.

Little Gilbert explained: "I learned Chinese from a Chinese student."

A few people didn't doubt him, but they had an inexplicable fondness for little Gilbert, and there was no such serious estrangement.

While chatting and drinking during the dinner, everyone talked about the differences and differences between Chinese and American cultures, as well as the five thousand years of Chinese civilization history.

What Zhu Zhijun and Tian Chongming didn't expect was that little Gilbert actually had a deep understanding of Chinese history and culture.

If it weren't for his blond and blue-eyed appearance, one would almost think he was Chinese.

They are all film professionals, and as we chatted, the topic naturally turned to movies.

"What does Director Gilbert Little think of Chinese movies?"

As a member of the system, Tian Chongming naturally knew that the higher-ups intended to reform the film industry and guide films into the market-oriented stage of operation.

If you understand history and culture, you can evade knowing it by reading books, then little Gilbert should not know about these things that happened in other lands.

In fact, he really didn't know much about what Chinese-language films were like during this period.

So little Gilbert said: "I only know two directors, one is Zhang Guoshi and the other is Pigeon Chen.

But I heard that your film market is a non-profit model, which is not in line with the development of the film market.

A real movie should be a content-oriented artistic product production that allows the audience to decide the movie. You are still far from this point. "

It's not nice to say it, but it's also true.

Tian Chongming asked again: "Then what do you think needs to be done if Chinese-language films are to enter the era of market economy?"

"I don't know about it, so I'm not in a position to give any good advice." Little Gilbert said.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just treat today as a casual chat. Just talk about your thoughts!" Zhu Zhijun said.

"Yes, yes, today's chat is limited to this wine table." Tian Chongming also said.

In this case, Gilbert Jr. said a few more words: "I think, taking Hollywood movies as an example, treat movies as a commodity and then use market thinking to develop it.

As long as your product is well made and marketization reaches a certain scale, a virtuous industrial cycle can be formed. "

Little Gilbert's words gave Tian Chongming some inspiration.

He thought that introducing Hollywood movies could stimulate the innovation and competitiveness of domestic movies. This could be a way out.

Little Gilbert didn't expect that his simple words would actually open up Tian Chongming's ideas. But even if he thought about it, little Gilbert didn't care very much. The Chinese film market will not be able to count on it for more than ten years.

What I say today is entirely because of my past identity.

How could any other Hollywood director say these things? They understand the simple and profound principles of communication. Little Gilbert's behavior is already considered reckless.

This meal in the Nortel campus cafeteria was little Gilbert's first contact with Chinese-language films, and it was probably one of the few contacts between a Hollywood director and Chinese-language films.

After the meal, little Gilbert held Ellie's hand, and they took a group photo together with Tian Chongming, Zhu Zhijun, and Li Jianshe at the entrance of Nortel's campus.

This photo may be hung in the memorial hall on the Nortel campus in the future.

After the trip to Nortel, little Gilbert took Ellie all the way south to Mount Tai, visited Jinling, and played by the West Lake.

However, West Lake in this era made little Gilbert a little disappointed.

Because it has not yet been developed and utilized on a large scale, West Lake is not smelly at this time, but it is not much better.

The famous Leifeng Pagoda looks like it has not been repaired for a long time. Little Gilbert did not see any of the so-called ten scenic spots in the West Lake.

This cannot be blamed on the local people. Not everyone can imagine that natural scenery and scenic spots can become the image and cultural business card of a city or even a country.

Little Gilbert is a foreigner and can't take care of other people's family affairs.

After leaving West Lake, little Gilbert bought a lot of local tea and planned to take it back to the United States to drink.

Finally no longer having to drink coffee, little Gilbert was very happy.

In fact, there are tea sellers in Chinatown, but little Gilbert feels that there is no sense of ritual in buying tea in China.

Afterwards, little Gilbert and Ellie went to Shanghai. The urban development here was very good. Little Gilbert could even see many foreigners, although he was also a foreigner himself.

After visiting Shanghai, little Gilbert took Ellie back to the capital, and then back to Los Angeles.

By the time little Gilbert returned to Los Angeles, it was already July.

At this time, the screening of "Speed" in North American theaters is coming to an end, and it has entered a stage of relying on a long period of time to accumulate box office.

The North American box office has exceeded 1.4 million US dollars, and the box office results are very good, making Disney and Warner happy.

The film's overseas box office is also quite good, accumulating US$1.7 million, bringing the global box office of "Speed" to US$3.1 million.

However, the film is still being released in other overseas markets, and this is far from the end.

With this film, Gilbert Jr. successfully became a first-line director in Hollywood, attracting the pursuit of many Hollywood film companies.

And his age is also very eye-catching. He has achieved this result at only twenty-three years old, which is unbelievable.

Of course, the most eye-catching movie this summer is not Little Gilbert and his "Speed", but Spielberg's "Jurassic Park."

Since its release on June 11, "Jurassic Park" has swept the summer season and topped the box office for four consecutive weeks.

At present, the North American box office of "Jurassic Park" has reached 2.24 million US dollars, successfully surpassing "Speed" and becoming the new box office champion.

The global box office has exceeded US$500 million, making it the global box office champion this year.

What’s even more frightening is that this is far from the end. The film’s box office is still advancing, and it’s hard to imagine what kind of results it can ultimately achieve.

This summer, both Spielberg and Universal Pictures were the biggest winners.

Of course, other movie companies are not bad, they just don’t have blockbuster movies like Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic Park.”

Among them, Disney and Warner are a little happier, because although the box office of "Speed" is not as good as "Jurassic Park", the return rate is not bad at all.

Hearing that little Gilbert had returned from vacation, Touchstone Pictures CEO Robert Egger put down his work and went to visit Little Gilbert in person at Melon Studio.

(End of this chapter)