Becoming a Movie Star, System Only Finished Loading After Ten Years

After "Tomb Raider" was released, it was soon overshadowed by "Three Guns".

This time, Qi Hao played it smart.

He didn't rush to watch it immediately, preferring to see what everyone else said first.

Queueing up with lousy films!

This is how people are describing the movies of December.

First, there was "Tomb Raider," then "Wind and Cloud 2," followed by "Three Guns".

Even the National Preceptor has joined the ranks of lousy films.

"Wind and Cloud 2" even features Tang Yan, who posted promotional content on Weibo.

Qi Hao pretended not to see it.

Although we are friends, I can't deceive my fans.

Do you think it's just these three lousy films?

There's also "Poker King," directed by Chen Jia Shang and starring Gu Tianle and Chen Qingyun, coming out later this month. It was already a flop when it premiered in Xiangjiang two months ago.

Everyone seemed to understand well.

They're all showcasing their lousy films quickly, hoping for a fresh start in next year's film market.

As for Chen Delin's "October Fortress," there are plenty of naysayers too.

These December films have already proven that old-school directors are increasingly out of touch with audience tastes.

They might even think audiences have grown skewed, unable to appreciate art anymore.

Precisely because old-school directors have let people down, lots of talk about emerging directors has appeared online.

This isn't the same thing as the sixth-generation or seventh-generation directors.

Mainly, it's about being able to make movies that people want to watch.

Ning Hao stands as the leader among new-age directors.

"Crazy Stone" won him the Golden Horse Award for Best Screenplay, and the box office was pretty good too.

"Crazy Racing" achieved over a hundred million at the box office from a ten million investment, making him the fourth mainland director, after Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Feng Xiaogang, to enter the billion club.

This year, there's also Gao Qunshu ("Wind Sound") and Huang Jianxin ("Founding of the Republic").

Lu Yu also had potential, but unfortunately, it was sabotaged.

Qi Hao is also a representative figure of new wave directors.

Although he has only one work, the movie he shot looks really promising.

And he won Best Director at the Golden Horse Awards.

Qi Hao films at a high frequency, with two more movies waiting for release.

Everyone is curious now about who will be better, Ning Hao or Qi Hao.

Will there be a showdown between these two?

Qi Hao quite admires Ning Hao, as the system once awarded him "Crazy Stone," albeit an outdated version.

He doesn't have any intent to compete with Ning Hao.

There's simply no need; they're not in the same lane.

However, at the premiere press conference for "October Fortress," he did see Ning Hao.

The producers of "October Fortress" included Chen Kexin, Huang Jianxin, Han Sanping, Ye Weimin, Yu Dong, Gao Fei, among others.

A whole bunch of producers.

The production companies were also diverse.

Judging by this lineup of producers, there was no way the premiere would have a poor turnout.

Ning Hao's film "No Man's Land," produced by Han Sanping, couldn't be screened for special reasons.

Qi Hao and Ning Hao chatted for a bit, with no hostility whatsoever.

On the contrary, Ning Hao was quite polite to Qi Hao, with no airs of a senior at all.

Really, it's obvious, Qi Hao has become capital.

How could Ning Hao still view Qi Hao as a competitor?

Today, quite a few from Feiyang Media came too.

"October Fortress" is Feiyang Media's first film investment, with 20 million invested, making it a decent-sized production company.

Even Gao Yang showed up, with his daughter on his arm, mingling among the cultural bigwigs, devoid of any coal boss's vulgarity.

Qi Hao gave Gao Yang an introduction.

The art circle bigwigs may find coal bosses a bit lowbrow, but a smiling face doesn't get hit.

Moreover, the coal boss's money isn't any less noble than the bank's money.

Who knows, they might need funding in the future.

So, everyone was having lively conversations.

Gao Yang + Qi Hao, this combination isn't underestimated by anyone anywhere.

Just like the differences in the bigwigs' attitudes towards Qi Hao and Fan Xuexue, it's a completely different concept.

No matter how popular Fan Xuexue is, no matter whom she gets close to, she's just a celebrity.

In the eyes of the bigwigs, celebrities are just pawns, ready to be discarded.

If something does go wrong one day, Fan Xuexue is the first to be sacrificed to take the blame.

Qi Hao is different; Qi Hao already has the aura of a chess player.

If he develops well, there's surely a place for him in the entertainment industry.

"'Those Years, We Chased' has been bought."

While Gao Yang was chatting away with the bigwigs, Gao Fei reported to Qi Hao about the work.

Yang Liu didn't come today, as she's working as a producer on "Let the Bullets Fly".

Although Gao Fei didn't partake in purchasing "Those Years," since she's the boss of Feiyang Media, Qi Hao still had to clear it with her to buy scripts under Feiyang Media's name.

The reason for using Feiyang Media's name is that Qi Hao wants to build Feiyang Media into a brand that highly values scripts.

In the future, good scripts will first be submitted to Feiyang Media.

"How much did it cost?"

Qi Hao asked curiously; he had ordered it to be bought at the lowest price possible. He had been busy with Naughty Ghost Studio and the Eight Great Kings affairs lately, so he hadn't followed up on this script.

"One million yuan."

Gao Fei greatly admired these people.

Buying such a good script back, adapted from a bestseller, and only spending one million.

If it were her, even if they asked for three million, she would think it's worth it.

"Not bad, better than I expected. Remember to give them a bonus."

Qi Hao's psychological price was one and a half million.

Now they only spent one million, so Ke Jingteng is probably feeling bad.

"Your West Hao Film Industry is investing in animated films, should Feiyang follow suit?"

Gao Fei remembered this matter.

She even worked at Qi Hao's place, so she was naturally very aware of Qi Hao's movements.

When she moves to the new office building, they'll probably be separated.

However, the two buildings are just next to each other, so they haven't separated by much.

Many businesses of Feiyang Media are still outsourced to Zhonghao Entertainment at Qi Hao's side.

"That's up to you, make your own decision."

Qi Hao was giving Gao Fei more opportunities for growth, and he would gradually reduce his involvement in Feiyang Media's decision-making.

"Of course, we should follow. My dad says you're an investment genius, loves making a fortune quietly, and wants me to learn from you."

Gao Fei once felt prideful, thinking she was an academic genius.

But starting to actually do things, she gradually realized that doing things wasn't that simple.

Especially being a boss.

Carrying the livelihood of more people means needing to consider more things.

"Alright, discuss with Yang Liu and come up with a plan, but achieving profitability within two years isn't feasible."

Qi Hao was quite emotional; he actually lost his first bet in life.

The main reason was that the setup was too large, and advancing too fast, making profitability impossible for the time being.

"My dad says we've already won, invested in two films, 'Wait and See' didn't lose money, 'Steel Piano' made a profit, and though 'October Fortress' is still uncertain, it'll definitely count for next year."

Gao Fei declared confidently, thinking her old man handled things fairly.

"That works too…"

It must be said, the same matter viewed from different angles always shows something different.

Gao Yang, for his daughter's victory, was particularly good at finding angles and reasons.

"Did An Feng come today? Is she super busy with work recently? When I invite her out to play, she's often unavailable."

Gao Fei quickly thought of other matters.

"Fei, how can you constantly think about playing, you're the boss of Feiyang Media, the backbone of Feiyang Media, the future hope of Chinese films."

Qi Hao thought to himself, isn't that nonsense?

Who do you think you are, competing with me for a date?

Mentioning An Feng, Qi Hao soon saw An Feng and her mother, Ms. Liu, on the scene.

He and Gao Fei directly headed over.

In sum, Qi Hao hadn't seen Ms. Liu for quite some time.

Ms. Liu in her youth was a great beauty, and even now, despite some aging, she could still outperform many so-called mature beauties in their 30s and 40s.

However, the current Ms. Liu lacked her former elegance and grace, appearing somewhat haggard.

"Hi Auntie, how have you been lately?"

Aware that Ms. Liu suffered losses in the stock market, Qi Hao insisted on touching the sore spot, proving he was qualified to hold grudges.

"Sigh…"

Ms. Liu's expression tightened, and she couldn't help but sigh.

Five million!

She had poured in so much effort, took several course hours from training classes, analyzing all day, following the experts' advice on buying and selling.

Yet, she ended up losing so much that less than one and a half million remained.

Her daughter's stocks, however, rose quite a bit.

But this only further highlighted her ineptitude and helplessness, unable to even manage her daughter's finances well.

"If you have any problems, speak up… let's see if I can help."

Whatever unhappy things you have, tell me and let me be happy.

An Feng probably sensed Qi Hao's intent, discreetly rolling her eyes at him.

Don't go overboard.

Over there, Gao Fei complained about why An Feng never accompanied her to play outside, prompting An Feng to quickly change the subject.

Often, when she went out dating Qi Hao, she'd tell her mom she was out with Gao Fei.

Now, if her mom were to hear this, it would really be like hiding cash in plain sight.

"It's nothing major, just lost a bit in investments, not to the point of hurting deeply, thank you though."

Ms. Liu completely missed the schadenfreude in Qi Hao's tone.

On the contrary, she felt a bit touched by Qi Hao's caring nature.

Previously, when Mrs. Hua tried to ostracize An Feng, Qi Hao stepped in to defuse the situation, making Ms. Liu very grateful to Qi Hao.

She even somewhat regretted the poor attitude she had during past talks with Qi Hao.

Her own daughter was good, having someone like her at seventeen didn't seem like a bad thing after all.

Actually, Qi Hao hadn't done much.

It's often that when you have prejudice against someone, your mind gets filled with thoughts of how terrible they are.

But when that prejudice disappears and you gain a favorable view, you begin to reflect on yourself.

"Stocks?" Qi Hao asked knowingly.

"Yeah, thought it was a bull market, didn't expect to lose money from random buying."

Ms. Liu initially didn't want to say much, but found Qi Hao's sincerity too compelling.