Li Hangyu's evaluation is somewhat subjective, but it is not an isolated case.

"The Examiner" can definitely be regarded as Lin Chaoyang's another work that has received a huge reputation in the literary world after "Crossing Guandong".

In addition to being highly praised in the professional field, this novel has also received high praise from readers.

This can be seen from the sales volume of the novel.

"Entering the Teacher" was first published in the first issue of "Harvest", and the current issue of "Harvest" achieved a sales volume of 1.66 million copies.

For "Harvest", which once had sales in the millions, this sales volume seems to be a very good result.

But "million sales" is already a thing of the past. The domestic literary journal industry has been on a decline in recent years, and "Harvest" is no exception.

As of the second issue at the beginning of last year, the sales volume of "Harvest" was only just over 400,000 copies, and this sales volume is not stable yet and may still decline.

The publication of "Entering the Teacher" suddenly increased the sales of "Harvest" from just over 400,000 copies to 1.66 million copies.

The "Lin Wanwan" phenomenon has reappeared, and everyone in the "Harvest" magazine is rejoicing.

Although everyone knows that this situation will definitely not last long, it is better to have a short-term improvement than to fall all the way.

After the third issue, the sales of "Harvest" experienced another process from peak to trough, but at least the "peak" was high enough, and last year was relatively smooth.

This is also the reason why the "Lin Million" phenomenon is valued by the literary journal industry. An explosion in sales of one issue of a magazine can often drive the sales of recent issues of the magazine.

"Entering the School" was published one month after its release. The initial sales of the novel were obviously affected by the publication of "Harvest", and its performance was mediocre.

One month after it was released, only 150,000 copies were sold.

Sales in the second month were even lower, with only 120,000 copies.

Before the novel was published, Huacheng Publishing House was still worried that the time between publication and publication was too short, which would affect sales. Unexpectedly, the worry became a reality.

This situation made Huacheng Publishing House beat its chest with remorse. Li Xiaolin, who deeply resented not having "Harvest" earlier, grabbed the manuscript in one step, resulting in such a situation where the mute could not explain the suffering of Coptis chinensis.

But no one expected that in the third month after the release of "Enter the Master", the sales of the novel would follow a strange curve.

In the third month after its publication, the sales volume of "Enter the Master" stopped falling and increased to 170,000 copies.

This change made Huacheng Publishing House both unexpected and full of joy.

Let’s summarize the reasons for the change in novel sales. Let’s summarize and summarize. There may be two reasons.

One is that the influence of magazine publications and major events has faded, and the other is due to the explosion of word-of-mouth for the novel.

In the following months, the sales of "Enter the Master" have steadily increased and have remained above 250,000 copies for several consecutive months.

As of January at the beginning of this year, cumulative sales have exceeded 1.45 million copies.

When the average monthly sales volume in the first three months of the market did not exceed 200,000 copies, it is no small miracle that such data can be obtained.

The performance of "Enter the Master" also proves that truly good novels never need to worry about sales, as some readers will be willing to pay for it.

The day after returning from the Literary and Art Association, Lin Chaoyang and his wife planned to return to Xiangjiang. They were packing their things when Xie Jin suddenly opened the door of their house covered in dust.

After not seeing each other for more than a year, Lin Chaoyang asked happily: "Why did you come to Yanjing for the Chinese New Year?"

Xie Jin explained the reason. He had just returned from participating in a film festival in France. "Furong Town" won the Golden Panda Award at the 6th Montpellier Chinese Film Festival.

Xie Jin went to France years ago and only came back today.

After filming "Furong Town", he filmed another "The Last Noble", originally planning to use Brigitte Lin as the heroine.

It's a pity that the Bay Island News Bureau interfered with it, and in the end it was delayed for several months and had to give up and choose Pan Hong as the heroine.

The year before last, he went to the United States for the filming of "The Last Gentleman" and went through many twists and turns. Unfortunately, the film received a mediocre response after its release, which dealt him a big blow.

But he quickly cheered up and started preparing for his next movie.

A great director like Xie Jin often has more than one project at hand.

He has always wanted to bring "Red Cliff War" to the big screen. This idea has been brewing for more than ten years, and last year he brought it to life.

But the reality is cruel. To make the historical blockbuster "Red Cliff War", a huge investment is required.

According to Xie Jin's plan, the scale of "Red Cliff War" is much larger than that of "Curtain Behind the Curtain" shot by Li Hanxiang, and it will inevitably require a huge amount of funds.

Such a huge investment is not easy to achieve in today's Chinese films. For this reason, Xie Jin has been running around trying to attract overseas funds for investment.

Unfortunately, the people in charge of publicity believed that stories like "Red Cliff War" must be funded by China. As a result, Xie Jin's wishes could only become a luxury talk and nothing would happen.

After that, he spent more than half a year struggling with scripts and experiencing the miscarriage of themes and scripts for five or six films.

Finally I found a book that I'm quite satisfied with.

The name of the script is "Injustice", which tells the story of a woman named Yangjiao who used her own blood and sweat to nurture an abandoned Japanese baby during the Anti-Japanese War, and raised him to adulthood with all kinds of hardships.

Later, as an adult, the abandoned child entered Qingliang Temple and converted to Buddhism, becoming an eminent monk.

After liberation, this eminent monk visited Japan with a Buddhist delegation. Unexpectedly, he met his biological mother who had been looking for him.

Just when his mother begged him to stay in Japan, he resolutely returned to Qingliang Temple, which gave him solace in life, and accompanied his Chinese mother, Yangjiao Auntie, amidst the continuous ringing of bells.

When Xie Jin came back from France, he was supposed to go back to Shanghai, but he changed his destination temporarily and came to Yanjing.

There are two reasons. The first is for the script of "The Injustice". He was not very satisfied with the first draft of the script of "The Injustice". This time, he wanted to exchange revision opinions with the screenwriter Li Jun.

Second, he heard about Lin Chaoyang and his wife donating 30 million to the Asian Games in France.

Lin Chaoyang and his wife have been in Xiangjiang in the past few years. Xie Jin only knew that Tao Yushu had opened a film company and it was doing well, but he didn't know much about the specific situation.

When Leng Buding heard the news, he was shocked.

30 million yuan!

You can donate 30 million yuan. How rich is this?

When he wants to make "Red Cliff War", what he lacks most is money, and he has made a budget, so the film should be able to cost 20 million.

20 million yuan is enough for him!

Xie Jin held Lin Chaoyang's hand, his eyes showing longing, and his face seemed to be filled with the ardent hopes of his fellow villagers for coming to Beijing to take the examination.

"Chaoyang, I have been dreaming about "Red Cliff Battle" for these years. I have dreamed of making it into a movie. You must help me!"

After hearing Xie Jin explain the situation, Lin Chaoyang looked troubled.

"Lao Xie, I definitely understand you. But you also know the current situation in the domestic film market. Making such a large-investment film is very thankless for the studio or the film.

The production funds must be paid by the studio or film company, and the majority of the box office is divided between cinemas, distribution companies and China Film. Who is willing to do a loss-making business?

If you shoot well, you can also earn a reputation.

If the photo is not done well, you will lose both your wife and your troops."

Although he didn't want to admit it, Xie Jin knew that Lin Chaoyang's words were completely correct.

He beat his thigh bitterly, "I have mentioned to them many times during the meeting that the development of the domestic film industry has not kept up with the times. It is in huge trouble and has reached the point where it has to change."

Xie Jin is a great director and a senior practitioner in the film industry. He has a profound insight into the development of the industry far beyond the average person.

Last year, in an interview with a reporter from China Film Weekly, he talked about his views on the current situation of the Chinese film market.

He believes that Chinese films are now in a comprehensive dilemma, and there are many reasons for this.

But the most important thing is that the film department does not have strong market awareness, and the audiences do not like to watch the films they produce.

During the interview, he gave the example of American movies. Nowadays, American movies are very popular around the world. The most fundamental reason is that American movies focus on audiences and business operations.

Last year, he also made a short visit to the United States, and he realized more deeply that the revitalization and further development of the Chinese film market must get rid of rigid institutional thinking and follow a pioneering and export-oriented path.

1

"The Last Emperor" was filmed in China, with a huge investment, but it earned US$240 million in global box office. Now it sells videotapes all over the world, and the revenue is also considerable. When China Film Company summarized it last year, it almost made me regret it. At that time,

They were told to invest and share the risks.

But they are short-sighted, have no courage, and dare not invest. They can only watch others making money with envy.

For example, "The Last Emperor" was filmed in China, and there were no big stars.

The reason for its success lies in its unique theme. The Last Emperor may be found all over the world, but the last emperor of China, after being overthrown, reshaped him to the point where he was very proud of himself. This is not available in the world.

.

We have no control over such a good subject matter, so we let foreigners take pictures of it.

well!"

The more Xie Jin said, the heavier his sigh became, full of sorrow.

In 1987, Bertolucci filmed "The Last Emperor" in China. After its release, it received good reviews at the box office and won the Academy Awards that year.

Lin Chaoyang said: "Lao Xie, you can't think like that. The success of "The Last Emperor" was largely accidental and could not have been separated from the dual blessings of famous directors and awards."

‘Okay, let me give you another example. Your movie “Parasite” won an award at Cannes and did well after being released in various countries, right? It sold 50 million box office in China alone.”

Lin Chaoyang nodded lightly. "Parasite" won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival last year and has been released in more than 30 countries and regions around the world.

Excluding several ticket warehouses that have not yet been released, the incomplete statistics of the cumulative box office reached 66 million U.S. dollars, which has brought nearly 19 million U.S. dollars in revenue to Lin's Pictures.

"These are Chinese themes and Chinese stories, and we Chinese can also shoot them.

But now everyone ignores the commercial attributes of movies and only treats them as promotional tools. How can we expect people to like and support them?
To be continued...