Chapter 736: He Feels He Is Someone Blessed by Good Fortune (1140)

When life goes well, one must indulge in joy; do not let the golden cup face the moon empty.

When he woke up the next day, Lu Yan He felt dizzy and looked around at where he was.

An unfamiliar room.

An unfamiliar bed.

Fortunately, the person beside him was familiar.

Chen Siqi.

Lu Yan He sat on the bed, filled with the melancholy of "drawing his sword and looking in all directions, his heart bewildered."

He got out of bed lightly, walked out of the room, and after walking a bit, everything before his eyes finally started to look familiar.

It was still the place from last night.

Hua Ruzhen's house.

Hua Ruzhen and Muken Zorge had already woken up; at this moment, one was sitting on the sofa looking at a tablet, while the other was busy at the kitchen counter.

"Awake already?" Hua Ruzhen saw Lu Yan He come out and asked with a smile.

"Sister." Lu Yan He yawned, feeling a bit of a headache, and had to press his temples with his hand—an action typical of older people, which he, still young, had already started doing, "Where are the others?"

"Those who could go back have gone back; those who couldn't are all lying down. Luckily, I have enough rooms here," Hua Ruzhen said with a smile, "I rent a big house because I often need to host friends."

Lu Yan He found a chair and sat down.

"It really has to be you."

Hua Ruzhen: "You can't rest today either, can you?"

"I can't." Lu Yan He sighed and shook his head, "Today is the Critics' Choice Awards ceremony. Although I didn't win an award—Clark did—I still have to attend for public relations purposes and applaud for him."

Hua Ruzhen: "It's hard work; the awards season is always like this, no chance to catch a breath; only those who hold out until the very end are the winners."

She poured him a cup of lemon honey water.

Lu Yan He drank it in one gulp, and his dry throat finally felt much more comfortable.

"Will you two be going today?"

"Yes." Hua Ruzhen nodded.

For a famous director-and-investor couple like them, the doors to any awards ceremony are always open, as long as they want to go.

Lu Yan He looked as if he were about to collapse.

"Yesterday was too intense; now I feel a bit weak in all four limbs."

Hua Ruzhen asked: "Then, do you want me to find someone to give you an injection? Don't worry, there are no side effects."

Lu Yan He knew what Hua Ruzhen was talking about.

In Europe and America, among certain "elite classes" and "wealthy classes," intravenous infusions to restore energy are very popular.

Although Hua Ruzhen said there were no side effects, Lu Yan He still shook his head and said, "No, no, I dare not touch these things."

Hua Ruzhen smiled and said nothing more.

Lu Yan He suddenly became a little more clear-headed.

Hmm... Hua Ruzhen was still somewhat different from friends like Li Zhibai, Yan Liang, and Chen Bige.

Although she treated him very well, the two of them had grown up in different environments, had different life experiences, and held different values regarding many things.

Harmonious yet different.

One must never converge just because of harmony.

Lu Yan He warned himself in his heart.

Humans are truly a very contradictory creature.

You know that some people genuinely treat you well, but you also know that you actually have many differences with them where "different paths make mutual planning impossible."

There are many things you cannot bring yourself to do, and you usually keep your distance from those who do such things, yet there are always a few individuals who turn you into a "double-standard dog."

You think of yourself as a pure and flawless idealist, but in fact, you are just a vulgar person, an emotional animal; for those you truly recognize and accept emotionally, your moral requirements for them will lower.

You pride yourself on justice, but if one day you hear that Li Zhibai has killed someone, your first reaction will be: this must surely be a wrongful conviction.

Even if the evidence is as solid as a mountain, besides being angry at his actions and resentful of his lack of struggle, deep in your heart, you will still, like a scale, involuntarily tilt toward the direction of "he must have had no choice."

Lu Yan He knew his own flaws, so he sincerely hoped that everyone around him would be well, hoping that no one would ever have to step into the "dark side of human nature," but could spend their lives happily and brightly.

In the afternoon, while Lu Yan He was discussing the evening's itinerary and arrangements with his team, the British Academy Film Awards, one of the "four major indicators" for the Academy Awards, released its long list.

This time, Lu Yan He, Huang Feng, and Qin Shulan all successfully made the list without any upsets, and Huang Tianlin also surprisingly made the cut.

Helena said that Huang Tianlin's speech at the Golden Globe Awards had won him a lot of positive feedback and support, especially from academy members who also came from smaller countries with less dominant international status.

However, this year is a strong year for the Academy Awards with many good films, so Huang Tianlin's chances of being nominated for the Best Director award are still relatively slim; in this category, there is even more discrimination against Asians than in the acting categories, and for Asian directors, let alone winning, nominations are rare.

(This is why Li An is truly impressive; typically using the strategy of "adapting to and obeying the rules of the game," surrounding the Academy Awards with the three major film festivals, he carved out a path for himself.)

The biggest surprise was that in the BAFTA Best Picture long list, "Tropical Rainy Season" was also prominently included.

This award was the one Helena most wanted to strive for.

Because there was hope.

At the Critics' Choice Awards that evening, Lu Yan He and the others all attended, engaging warmly with the crowd and offering their most sincere applause when others received their awards.

Actually, Lu Yan He was not very familiar with these few competitors.

Perhaps for others, there might be some mutual appreciation between competitors, but for Lu Yan He, he had neither watched these people's films nor had any private friendship with them; it was truly just a pure competitive relationship.

The reason he hadn't watched these films was that he worried if he saw someone else's performance and felt they acted better than him, he would lose his confidence and assurance.

One must have self-awareness to find methods to deal with one's own human weaknesses.

And on this night, he and his biggest competitor, Uber Clark, finally met face to face.

Introduced by others, the two greeted each other warmly, put their arms around each other's shoulders, took photos, and expressed full admiration for one another.

There were several moments when he truly felt dazed, thinking that competition didn't matter and that such moments of mutual appreciation were the most important—the moment he realized this was when he became aware that, while speaking those words of praise that he even believed himself, he had not yet even seen the other person's film.

"Wow, I'm being so hypocritical right now."

Lu Yan He voiced this heartfelt sentiment to Chen Siqi.

Chen Siqi smiled and replied, "That's exactly why you can go far in this industry."

A few days later, the promotional event for the third season of Friends was held in New York, United States.

Lu Yan He flew over to attend alongside everyone else.

The Situer Film Festival suddenly contacted Lu Yan He, asking if he had time to participate in this year's Master Class.

This was clearly an attempt to build momentum for Lu Yan He.

The Situer Film Festival in February happened to fall during the golden period just before the Academy Awards voting deadline.

Lu Yan He personally called Artistic Director Ventur Robey to express his gratitude for the invitation, happily accepted, and arranged to spare two days to fly to Situer for the Master Class, with media interviews in the morning, Master Class exchanges in the afternoon, and evening screenings of his two representative works, Sanshan and Late Spring.

Shortly after the schedule was finalized, the Situer Film Festival announced the news.

He was the youngest filmmaker ever invited since the inception of the Master Class.

The next day, voting for the Academy Awards nominations began.

Another day passed, and the nomination list for the Screen Actors Guild Awards was released.

Lu Yan He was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category, while Huang Feng and Qin Shulan both shockingly missed out on nominations.

Helena Monchi spent the entire day making phone calls, trying to figure out the situation.

Subsequently, the official nomination list for the BAFTA Awards in the United Kingdom was announced.

Lu Yan He and Qin Shulan were nominated, while Huang Feng missed out again.

With this, the nomination lists for all four major indicators were complete.

Lu Yan He sat firmly among them, holding an Oscar nomination in hand.

Qin Shulan held the Golden Globe and BAFTA; although she missed the Screen Actors Guild nomination, she remained in the first tier.

Only Huang Feng missed out on the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild awards, received no nomination from the Critics' Choice Awards, and faced the ceremony directly without a nod.

This meant that Huang Feng had almost no hope of an Oscar nomination.

Helena Monchi asked Lu Yan He, "Should we struggle a bit more?"

Lu Yan He said, "The child will soon be on winter break; for him, this is such a rare opportunity. Even if he doesn't get an Oscar nomination, he deserves to appear before everyone and receive the affection of every adult."

Helena Monchi understood immediately.

OK, if the benefactor is willing to continue footing the bill, she would continue working.

Because of this year's Oscar awards season, even the production of the third installment of Home Alone, which was ready to begin filming, had been put on hold.

However—

Lu Yan He's eyes suddenly lit up.

Could they try a risky move—

"Release Home Alone in North America immediately to build momentum for Huang Feng?"

Helena Monchi looked at the young man before her in disbelief; she wanted to ask, what kind of remarkable film was this Home Alone, that it could generate enough momentum to influence the nomination for Best Actor at the Academy Awards?

Lu Yan He thought to himself, How could you possibly understand the power of Home Alone.

He immediately contacted Green Valley, hoping they would handle the North American distribution.

Green Valley was utterly stunned.

Suddenly producing another film?

A comedy?

A children's comedy?

Are you kidding?

Who would watch it?

Facing everyone's doubts, Lu Yan He had Chen Yin rush to the United States with a copy of the film.

Fortunately, Home Alone was already scheduled for release during the Spring Festival period this year, so everything was ready, including the English subtitles, which had been completed long ago.

Lu Yan He directly held a screening event within Green Valley.

And then—

Schmidt Rowley's stance began to waver.

Lu Yan He said, "Schmidt, if you have no interest in handling the distribution, I will contact Parameter and D19 instead."

Schmidt Rowley immediately said, "Lu, we should sit down and have a serious discussion."

Before this year's awards season, even with Lu Yan He as the screenwriter, a film like Home Alone would not have been given much attention by any company.

It was a Chinese-language film, with neither the director nor the lead actor having any reputation in North America; moreover, it was a children's comedy with a storyline geared toward a younger audience, seemingly positioning it as a movie just for kids.

However, the current situation was different.

Although Huang Feng failed to secure nominations from any of the major indicators, his name had been frequently mentioned in the film industry over the past two months due to publicity campaigns, and because there were no competitors, he received significant attention; just like the little black girl in Beasts of the Southern Wild, who rose to fame overnight and immediately had Annie: A New York Tale custom-made for her, which grossed $130 million globally.

Hollywood also chases popularity.

Given the level of attention Huang Feng was currently receiving, if this film were released now, it would definitely yield very positive results.

The issue was that Lu Yan He hoped Green Valley could arrange a large-scale release, in at least one thousand theaters.

Green Valley still hoped to start with a small-scale release; otherwise, the distribution costs would be too high, making losses likely.

Given Lu Yan He's current cooperation status in Hollywood, Green Valley indeed possessed both experience and channels for distributing Chinese-language films.

This was also the reason Lu Yan He chose Green Valley as his first option.

For a film company to negotiate distribution plans with so many theaters without a long-term cooperative background and without professional personnel facilitating communication, especially within such a short timeframe, Lu Yan He actually only trusted Green Valley.

He hoped Schmidt Rowley could meet his requirements.

Schmidt Rowley had actually watched the film Home Alone and recognized its selling points.

If a seasoned operator cannot identify a film's market selling points or recognize its potential for a massive box-office explosion when managed properly, then he has truly failed in his duties.

Lu Yan He said to Schmidt Rowley, "Schmidt, as long as you can negotiate an opening in one thousand theaters for us, I will cover half of the film's promotional budget in North America, and furthermore, the distribution rights for the European region will also go to Green Valley."

For a split second, Schmidt Rowley wanted to laugh—

If anyone else had come to him talking about "giving the European distribution rights to Green Valley," he would have thought, "Where do you get the capital to separate European and North American distribution negotiations?" but the person standing before him was Lu Yan He.

Schmidt Rowley truly had to admit that Lu Yan He was genuinely offering him a concession.

Schmidt Rowley quickly ran the numbers in his mind.

An opening in at least one thousand theaters simultaneously meant distribution fees nearing ten million US dollars. This stemmed from the different distribution situation in North America compared to the domestic one; according to their relevant legal requirements, to prevent monopolies, films released in North American theaters must be negotiated one theater at a time, unlike the cinema chains back home. And the distribution fee for a single theater varies depending on the situation, but generally amounts to several thousand US dollars. Given the extreme urgency of this timeline, the distribution fees would certainly be high, not low.

If released in those one thousand theaters, not counting other distribution revenues like home entertainment, the film would need to earn nearly twenty million US dollars at the box office just to have any hope of profitability. Of course, this was only a rough estimate; there were more complex calculation methods that were too tedious to elaborate on.

However, just as Lu Yan He had said, the film Home Alone was different from Green Valley's previous releases like The Road to Glory, Late Spring, Love Letter, and even the current Tropical Rainy Season; all of Lu Yan He's films previously distributed by Green Valley had followed an art-house distribution strategy, starting with small-scale screenings and gradually expanding based on box-office performance, emphasizing a "steady progress."

Home Alone, however, was entirely a family-friendly, commercial-genre subject.

The protagonist, Huang Feng, happened to be the darling of the media and critics right now due to the publicity campaign for Tropical Rainy Season.

Even those who would not vote for Huang Feng, who could dislike such a cute child with exquisite acting skills?

After quickly running the numbers in his mind again, Schmidt Rowley said, "Five hundred theaters for the first week; if the first-week box office can break ten million US dollars, the number of theaters in the second week will definitely expand to over one thousand."

Lu Yan He did not hesitate. "Then I will no longer include the European distribution rights as an additional condition for you."

Schmidt Rowley: "..."

"Lu, you know I am not mistreating this film; for this film to reach this level, I have already—"

"Schmidt, you must also know that I have not charged you a single cent for the North American distribution rights," Lu Yan He said. "Green Valley only needs to be responsible for distribution and promotional costs; I have even agreed that we will bear half of the promotional expenses."

Schmidt Rowley looked at Lu Yan He in disbelief.

"You're giving us the distribution rights for free?"

"An opening in one thousand theaters, with a window period maintained for two weeks, and the distribution rights are free." Lu Yan He looked at Schmidt Rowley with determined eyes. "We share the risks. Similarly, Schmidt, Home Alone is a film with huge box-office potential. If I didn't know you would definitely not agree, I would hope this film could open simultaneously in three thousand theaters."

Schmidt Rowley couldn't help but cover his face and laugh.

"You can arrange advance screenings in a few theaters to gauge the reaction, but the one-thousand-theater opening must happen by the end of this month," Lu Yan He said. "This is also to build momentum for Tropical Rainy Season and Huang Feng's Academy Awards nomination."

"Lu, if you could give this film sufficient time for promotion, to be honest, I am confident this film can sell over fifty million in North America."

Lu Yan He laughed.

"Schmidt, why do you think that releasing it at this time, although a bit rushed, won't help Home Alone achieve a miraculous box-office result given the massive exposure and attention Huang Feng and I are currently receiving?"

This film had sold 300 million US dollars in the United States alone during the 1990s, not to mention 470 million globally.

This classic film, which achieved great success with small investment, was one of the very few in film history that truly minimized the impact of "cultural barriers" and "ideological gaps" in its story and characters, becoming a hit on a global scale.

All over the world, regardless of the country, regardless of cultural background, whether rich or poor, everyone suffers deeply from "bratty kids," yet when a "bratty kid" turns his mischief upon bumbling thieves, everyone holds their breath for him while simultaneously hoping he acts even brattier.

Lu Yan He sincerely felt fortunate that in this spacetime, no film with a similar theme had appeared.

Therefore, instead of becoming a rehash of old ideas at this time, it was instead a "creative" gold mine.

The next day, Lu Yan He finally activated an overseas social media account; the first post he published was a movie poster.

Home Alone, English title Home Alone.

On the poster was a boy covering his cheeks with both hands, wearing a shocked expression.

Behind him was a house, along with two bumbling thieves.

On the movie poster, the names "Screenwriter: Lu Yan He" and "Starring: Huang Feng" were the largest.

Lu Yan He posted: Coming Soon!

Subsequently, the official Green Valley account reposted this message: January!

Just as Lu Yan He had said, he and Huang Feng were currently under media scrutiny for every move they made due to the awards season.

As soon as this movie poster was released, it was immediately reposted and reported by major media outlets.

The film Home Alone itself had already begun its warm-up phase in various Asian countries.

This film, targeting the Spring Festival slot as a family-friendly feature, had previously failed to attract attention in Europe and America because they held significant "prejudice" against this type of "family-friendly" theme. Since it was "family-friendly," it was surely your own kind of "family-friendly"; we in Europe and America don't buy into your version, as we have our own "family-friendly" films.

Their prejudice was just like the attitude of streaming platforms like Maxine toward Wu Lin Wai Zhuan; even though they desperately wanted to collaborate with Lu Yan He, and even though Wu Lin Wai Zhuan was so popular in China, unless they could acquire it at a low price, they were unwilling to purchase it at the asking price they offered for Lu Yan He's other works.

Because they firmly believed this was not a genre accepted on the European and American side.

However, this time, the main keywords on the Home Alone poster released by Lu Yan He had nothing to do with "family-friendly."

The next day, Lu Yan He released the second poster for Home Alone, featuring a photo of Huang Feng leaning on a window and looking out.

In the white space, there were three lines of text:

—I was "forgotten" at home all by myself, so pitiful.

—Two thieves actually want to break into my house to steal things, so scary.

—Why are those two thieves bruised and swollen? So strange.

On the third day, Green Valley Pictures announced that the premiere of Home Alone would be held in New York on January 17.

On the fourth day, Variety published a long-form interview article with Lu Yan He and Huang Feng, recounting the story of their collaboration.

On the fifth day, numerous celebrities and famous figures posted photos of their invitations to the New York premiere of Home Alone on social media platforms.

For five consecutive days, the name Home Alone "bombarded" Europe and America, sparking extensive discussion and attention.

Meanwhile, under Helena's arrangement, Huang Feng appeared on two programs, promoting both Tropical Rainy Season and Home Alone.

Huang Feng, small in stature but mature in wit, was inherently an interesting and likable little guy.

Fortunately, a large number of television programs in the United States are broadcast live, so the immediate effect is strong, with no need to wait.

On the seventh day, Home Alone released its first trailer.

Lu Yan He unceremoniously sent an email to everyone he knew in Hollywood with whom he had some degree of friendship, asking them to support and promote the film on their social media.

This included Deryn Dylan, who had collaborated on Hurricane 2; Edward Hodgson, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards last year; Arne Bogut and Lily Williams from The Mist; British actor Jamie Wilson; several cast members from The Mist 2 with whom he had a good relationship; and the famous Spanish actress Felena Rich.

Not to mention directors like Muken Zorge.

This would leave him owing a massive number of favors—

But he was not afraid of owing favors.

To worry about such things at this moment would be far too dawdling.

Right now, his sole aim was to push this film in front of European and American audiences in the shortest possible time.

Chen Siqi, for her part, mobilized the resources of Jump Up, asking European and American writers and media figures she knew to repost and promote it.

For a time, the heat surrounding Home Alone became so intense that it rivaled the "front-runners" whose competition during awards season had already reached a fever pitch.

But this was merely a "false prosperity" at first glance.

No one knew exactly how many viewers Home Alone would ultimately draw into theaters.

This was a release without precedent.

On the day of the premiere, director Lu Xiaochuan, actor Liu Teli, and Luo Weida, who played the other clumsy thief, rushed over as well, completing the first family portrait for Home Alone in New York.

This was a huge gamble.

Apart from the few people close to Lu Yan He, no one else knew that this sudden release was intended to build momentum for Huang Feng's Academy Awards campaign.

At a time when everyone had already tacitly accepted that Huang Feng was out of the running, Lu Yan He was still attempting to save the situation by attacking the enemy's stronghold to rescue the ally, turning the tide against all odds.

He knew how many people would fall in love with this little kid once the film was released.

He also believed that many voters, because of this film, would come to like this little kid and thereby re-examine their voting choices.

During this mere ten-plus days of promotional touring, Lu Yan He poured several million dollars of promotional funds into it in one go.

Yet the actual production budget for this film was less than two million dollars.

Chen Yin's eyelids were twitching wildly.

Lu Yan He, however, said, "If you don't splash the money when you've earned so much normally, then when do you splash it?"

At the New York premiere, more than a dozen media outlets were present.

After the premiere, their first wave of reviews would determine the film's first impression on the general public.

And, of course, there were the audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

Lu Yan He took a deep breath.

He knew that recently, due to awards season and the promotion of Home Alone, he had been in a state of prolonged mental excitement, feeling somewhat ungrounded.

But he had no way to stop now; he had to maintain this excited state for a long time.

Now he deeply understood why many stars, on many occasions, became so excited that they even seemed somewhat manic to others.

And after this incredible, almost unimaginable lightning-fast premiere, just as Lu Yan He had anticipated, the film's critical and audience reception exploded.

Rotten Tomatoes' professional critics gave it a 100% approval rating, while audiences gave it 93%, shocking all of Hollywood.

What the hell?

What kind of movie did Lu Yan He make?

As mentioned earlier, in the United States, the Rotten Tomatoes rating mechanism and media reviews still held relatively high credibility in the hearts of audiences.

Of course, there were still people who criticized it; but just like Douban, if this website's score appeared in a novel, it certainly couldn't be written in a positive light, because it would inevitably be cursed at. This is normal, because true movie lovers' judgments of films absolutely do not align with Douban scores—

But if we broaden the yardstick, putting aside other factors, the Douban score may not be fair or to your liking, yet when the general public does not understand films and does not know which one to choose, isn't it highly probable they will choose to check the Douban rating? Isn't it because, at the level of the general public, there is actually no more reliable rating than Douban? Is it the Weibo ratings and Maoyan ratings with averages above 9? Or those preview screenings where everyone opens their mouths only to praise?

In short, for the media, a Rotten Tomatoes score reaching this level was truly eye-catching.

Media promotion came pouring in as if money were no object.

Lu Yan He told Schmidt Rowley, "You can absolutely further increase the number of theaters screening it; don't miss out on a film that could originally break box office records."

Meanwhile, just as Lu Yan He had anticipated, the media began to heap praise upon praise for Huang Feng in the film; suddenly, Huang Feng, who was already this year's "favorite," became even hotter.

Green Valley had initially negotiated with thirteen theaters to begin limited screenings (or, more accurately, to begin the release).

As a result, for three consecutive days, all thirteen theaters continuously reported single-theater box office figures exceeding $12,000, achieving a total box office of nearly $500,000.

At this point, Schmidt Rowley finally understood where the confidence behind Lu Yan He's earlier arrogant words had come from.

The single-theater box office performance of Home Alone made market demand for it extremely fervent.

January through March is inherently the off-season for the American film market.

Now, it seemed a dark horse was emerging, and theater managers from various cinemas proactively contacted Green Valley.

Huang Feng was also pursued by major media outlets.

This was exactly what Helena hoped to see.

Leading her public relations team, she seized this wave of heat and exposure to begin building momentum for Huang Feng.

—Many people said that although Huang Feng's performance in Tropical Rainy Season was stunning, it was the director's doing; he was just a child who did not understand acting. Yet, in the recently very popular Home Alone, he presented a side completely different from Tropical Rainy Season; his mischief, whimsical cleverness, and even his adorably feigned maturity were entirely distinct from the delicate and sensitive child in Tropical Rainy Season. If anyone still believes Huang Feng is not a genius actor, they should go watch these two films; if he truly misses out on an Academy Awards nomination this year, he will spend the next several decades of his acting career having his name listed in every year's "Acadards Awards Oversights Recap."

At this moment, Huang Feng truly became the protagonist.

As long as you were in Hollywood, it seemed no matter where you walked, you could hear everyone discussing him.

They discussed the film Home Alone, discussed how much they liked this kid Huang Feng, and discussed whether Huang Feng could secure an Academy Awards nomination this year.

Huang Feng, who had originally been deemed out of the running, returned to the first tier under the unstoppable box office results and massive attention generated by Home Alone.

On January 30, Home Alone skipped the 500 theaters mentioned by Schmidt Rowley and expanded directly to 926 theaters—this was only because the timeframe was too short to negotiate for even more theaters in one go.

On that day, Home Alone secured a daily box office of $8 million.

The box office explosion had taken shape.

"Everyone says Lu Yan He is a genius actor, a genius screenwriter, and even a genius director, yet no one has discovered that he is actually a genius with extreme sensitivity to the market."

"He used the performance of Tropical Rainy Season during awards season to create an unreplicable screening and promotional environment for Home Alone, this Chinese-language film. Then, he used the popularity of Home Alone to pull Huang Feng back into the list of hot contenders for the Academy Award for Best Actor."

"It is said that Home Alone was only suddenly proposed by Lu Yan He two weeks ago for an emergency release in North America; even his own team had never expected that Lu Yan He's idea could generate such a huge response."

"Additionally, according to reliable sources, the public relations expenses for Qin Shulan and Huang Feng for Tropical Rainy Season were not even borne by Green Valley, the North American distributor of Tropical Rainy Season—Green Valley refused to cover their PR costs, so Lu Yan He bore these expenses himself."

The Washington Post published a commentary article providing an in-depth analysis and evaluation of Lu Yan He, Home Alone, and the matter concerning Huang Feng.

All major media outlets followed up with reposts and reports.

Indeed, this was a "divine maneuver" that no one had expected.

Some even suggested at this point that the dress Chen Bige wore on the Golden Globe Awards red carpet, which stunned the entire world, was also Lu Yan He's creation.

After all, that was almost Lu Yan He's most impressive public relations move during this awards season, with media worldwide discussing that dress.

Lu Yan He didn't even have time to deny it.

Because, under the combined momentum from all sides, the North American box office for Home Alone exploded even more fiercely than Lu Yan He had imagined.

One week after its wide release, the film broke through 70 million US dollars, sweeping away the current box office chill.

Especially for ordinary audiences, the level of affection for Home Alone was such that major film studios were even considering whether to launch several film projects starring Chinese protagonists next.

From The Mist starring Lu Yan He to Home Alone starring Huang Feng, within a short period, two films led by Chinese actors were about to break the 100 million mark at the North American box office.

The impact Home Alone's box office brought to the North American film industry was no less than the influence caused by the massive success of Crazy Rich Asians in another timeline.

If one truly understands the North American market, one would know that despite North America preaching "political correctness" for so long, the batch production of film projects with Asian protagonists only began with Crazy Rich Asians, which sold 174 million in North America.

Why didn't they let Asians be protagonists before? Because they believed Asian protagonists wouldn't sell, not even giving a chance to try.

Why later did they start producing Asian-protagonist films in batches?

Was it because of "political correctness"?

Essentially, it was because they discovered this could make money.

Especially since the money-maker was, in North American eyes—

Not a masterpiece like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that is difficult to replicate.

Not an action film relying on the unique selling points of individuals like Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan.

But a very tacky, commercial romantic comedy, a formulaic love story.

Could such a film sell well?

What does this indicate?

It indicates that this money-making model is something they can all pull off.

Now, Home Alone was having somewhat of this effect.

Its subject matter was interesting and full of surprises, yet it was also a formulaic, replicable film.

Once seen, any film studio could produce a similar picture.

On February 5, voting for the Academy Awards ended.

From the wide release starting January 30, these six days were the reason Lu Yan He insisted on a wide release at the end of January.

Within these six days, if Huang Feng's fate during the awards season could be changed, it would happen now.

Three days later, on February 8, the Academy Awards nominations were announced.

Everyone sat together once again, awaiting the results.

The supporting actor categories were announced first.

For Best Supporting Actor, Lu Yan He was nominated as expected.

The first cheer erupted in the room.

For Best Supporting Actress, Qin Shulan was prominently on the list.

A second cheer rang out in the room.

The moment Qin Shulan heard her name, her eyes reddened, and she covered her mouth.

Only she knew what she had experienced over the past few decades, over the past few months, to finally wait for such recognition.

Afterwards, various other nomination lists followed.

Until the Best Foreign Language Film nomination list, when Tropical Rainy Season was read aloud, a third cheer erupted.

Subsequently, in the Best Cinematography category, Tropical Rainy Season unexpectedly appeared on the nomination list; the fourth cheer was the most surprised, the most unexpected, purely joyful.

Then, it came to the nomination list for Best Director.

Huang Tianlin clasped both his hands together, gripping them tightly.

Everyone held their breath.

Until all five names were read out, and his name was not among them.

Everyone fell silent, daring not to make a sound.

Lu Yan He reached out and grasped both of his hands.

"The future is long," he said these four words once again.

Huang Tianlin bit his lips tightly for two seconds before smiling with relief, nodding, and saying, "Yes, the future is long."

Then came the nominations for Best Actor.

The first name read out was Huang Feng, not even letting everyone enter an anxious countdown.

The entire room screamed wildly—

Helena and her assistant hugged each other tightly.

This year's awards season, although the process was filled with thrills, ups and downs, and even several moments of wanting to give up, ultimately let her have the last laugh.

Finally, Best Picture.

Tropical Rainy Season also successfully made the cut.

At this year's Academy Awards, with three major acting awards, one technical award, and two film awards, totaling six nominations, it became the film with the third-most nominations this year; from an initial "underdog," it had, at this moment, run into a "frontrunner."

Champagne was opened, streamers sprayed out, and everyone was hugging, cheering, expressing their surprise, excitement, and emotion.

Lu Yan He smiled brilliantly amidst the crowd.

He felt he was someone favored by good fortune.

The number of nominations Tropical Rainy Season received at the Academy Awards ranked third, unexpectedly becoming a "frontrunner" film.

Despite the six nominated awards, the only ones with a realistic chance of winning were Lu Yan He's Best Supporting Actor and Best Foreign Language Film.

For the other few awards, unless there was a massive upset, there was basically no hope.

Merely making it onto the nomination list had already required tremendous effort in the early stages.

Green Valley emerged as the biggest winner.

Not only had the copyright value of the film *Tropical Rainy Season* surged significantly, but at the start of the year, it had also released *Home Alone*, a film that broke the hundred-million mark at the North American box office.

Holding the box office figures for *Home Alone*, Lu Yan He sent an email to Zebby Doyle of Parameter, stating:

"If, on the *Speed of Life and Death* project, you could trust me a little more like Schmidt Rowley does, then for the *Home Alone* project, I would definitely prioritize your company for North American distribution."

Zebby Doyle immediately called back.

"Lu, regarding the film *Speed of Life and Death*, I respect your opinion; if you want Yan Liang to star in it, then let him be the lead."

"Apologies, but now that *Home Alone*, which I wrote as the screenwriter, has achieved such box office results in the United States, for the *Speed of Life and Death* project, I will add some conditions and requirements; only if you agree to them shall we continue discussing cooperation."

Initially, because negotiations over Yan Liang starring in the film fell through, Lu Yan He had never signed a contract with Parameter for the *Speed of Life and Death* project.

Now, however, this gave him room to make more demands.

Zebby Doyle sighed and said, "The hammer is in your hands; I can only wait for you to strike."

Lu Yan He smiled. "Zebby, relax a little; I have never been someone who makes exorbitant demands; I will always, on the basis of business being business, hope for a bit more friendly treatment from you, and similarly, you will receive a bit more return than under normal circumstances."

At this time, China was also approaching the Spring Festival.

The Spring Festival slot.

The release window for *Home Alone*.

However, neither Lu Yan He nor Huang Feng had any time to return for promotional activities.

Only the director and Teacher Liu Teli could return to carry the banner for promotion.

Yet, thanks to the explosive box office success of *Home Alone* in North America, and the "bombardment" caused by the daily stream of various news about *Home Alone* from Lu Yan He and Huang Feng during this period, its promotional effect was no inferior to that of other films in the Spring Festival slot.

On the pre-sale charts, *Home Alone* ranked second, with pre-sales exceeding one hundred million.

The release of *Home Alone* in North America had been rushed, but its release in China had been prepared for long in advance.

Apart from Lu Yan He and Huang Feng being unable to return for promotion, which was beyond Linghe's expectations, Chen Yin had made sufficient preparations in all other aspects.

On New Year's Eve, Chen Siqi returned to her home country to accompany her maternal grandparents.

The other friends also returned one after another.

The annual appointment for the Spring Festival Gala, which was originally planned, could not be attended this year.

Far away in a foreign land, Lu Yan He, after a long absence, held a live stream to eat dumplings.

An eating broadcast.

He said, "I couldn't return home for the New Year this year; it's a pity, but fortunately, even in a foreign land, there are familiar dumplings to fill my Chinese stomach."

Once New Year's Eve passed, Lu Yan He's schedule in the United States basically maintained a rhythm of one promotional event per day, one cocktail party every three days, and one public activity every five days; he had already begun to enter a state of slight exhaustion.

The awards season was truly too long; not a single stop could be missed.

Fortunately, *Home Alone* also achieved a very impressive box office trajectory during the Spring Festival slot in China; its reputation was so good that, even though it wasn't a blockbuster, because it was so suitable for families to watch together and its fame was so great, *Home Alone* actually held steady at the third position on the box office chart during the Spring Festival slot; after seven days of release, with daily box office receipts consecutively breaking one hundred million, by the end of the week, the total box office had already reached 942 million, and it looked as though the second week's earnings would surpass those on the North American side.

The original work had achieved 300 million USD in North America, and that was back in the 90s.

Lu Yan He did not dare to hope for such a high figure—after all, Asian actors and their American counterparts ultimately still had a gap in drawing power; however, he hoped that at least in the United States, it could sell for over 200 million USD.

At this time, the continuous daily exposure of Lu Yan He and Huang Feng, combined with Green Valley's additional promotional resources for *Home Alone*, made its trajectory curve in North America look very beautiful; crossing the 200 million USD mark seemed to be no difficulty.

And for this film, the bulk of its box office revenue in North America belonged to Linghe, not Green Valley; Green Valley was merely the distributor, earning only the proportional revenue from distribution—which was another very complex tiered calculation formula.

Of course, for Green Valley, this was pure profit—

Apart from distribution costs, it had no production costs whatsoever, nor any costs for purchasing distribution rights.

Schmidt Rowley was very cunning; he quickly came to probe Lu Yan He, asking how many more sequels of *Home Alone* were planned for production; he not only wanted to secure the North American distribution rights again but also wanted to obtain the European distribution rights and invest in the subsequent series.

Lu Yan He rolled his eyes, tossed out a sentence saying, "Let's first see how *Red Eye* performs in distribution," and then took his team to the Situer Film Festival to attend his masterclass.

Recommended entertainment-themed old book: *I Became the Scandalous Female Lead Overnight* (End of Chapter)