Chapter 791: This Path

Huang Zhongjing truly admired Lu Yanhe.

Although there is a saying that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility.

In reality, few people actually do that.

This really can't be blamed on others.

However, Lu Yanhe being able to take Linghe to this point in a few years wasn't just relying on the success of each of his projects, but also because while having ambition, goals, and decision-making power, he could also sacrifice part of his own interests, not looking at immediate gains and losses, and then use resource exchange to trade for opportunities to get to the table time and time again, finally successfully biting off a piece of the cake.

The "resurrection" of the *Burning Fire* film series in the international market completely taught him a lesson—

What Lu Yanhe had been emphasizing before, that this film had greater value, meant exactly that.

Actually, did Huang Zhongjing not know that the *Burning Fire* film series was done very well?

Of course he knew.

Did Huang Zhongjing not want this film to sell for a better price overseas and get better distribution conditions?

Of course he wanted that too.

But he couldn't do it.

Chinese film companies were at a disadvantage in overseas negotiations.

Linghe could be strong because of the accumulation from works like *Home Alone*.

Long Yan didn't have such accumulation.

Moreover, deep down, Huang Zhongjing didn't think *Burning Fire* could achieve such good box office results.

Too many times they had high aspirations but returned in failure—

The goal of Chinese films wanting to achieve good box office overseas wasn't a matter of one or two years.

Long Yan, a company mainly focused on producing commercial films, didn't know how many times it had tried.

It was precisely because they had tried that he knew very well how difficult it was to succeed.

Others wouldn't stand on a fair scale to distribute films for you at all.

Huang Zhongjing said: "It's not that no one like Lu Yanhe has achieved success in the international film scene before, nor is it that no one has had bargaining power in front of international film production companies, but there are too few who can expand every advantage gained like Lu Yanhe."

Mrs. Huang said: "Actually, it all boils down to the fact that his acting career accumulated a large amount of initial capital for him, and his scripts succeeded one after another. His luck is too good."

"No successful person doesn't rely on luck, but if you only see luck because of this reason, that's too terrible." Huang Zhongjing said, "Who dares to say their success is 100% their own? Even Long Yan's success doesn't dare to say that."

Mrs. Huang sighed.

"I don't know how to say it, anyway, I just don't really like him. I've seen too many

successful, temporarily successful young people. Proud, arrogant. You all say Lu Yanhe is humble, but in my eyes, there is no one more arrogant and contemptuous than him." Mrs. Huang said, "He just happened to succeed."

Huang Zhongjing smiled.

"From now on, let me handle dealings with him here at Long Yan." Huang Zhongjing said.

"Didn't you say that a long time ago?" Mrs. Huang said.

"Because of Lu Yanhe's efforts, Long Yan finally has a film series with decent box office performance in the overseas market." Huang Zhongjing said to Mrs. Huang, "Until your mindset towards him is adjusted, I hope you won't have any contact with him. I'm afraid you'll offend him."

Mrs. Huang was dumbfounded.

Subsequently, Lu Yanhe sat down with Huang Zhongjing to discuss the performance agreement for *Burning Fire 3*, including the follow-up plans for the *Burning Fire* film series.

Huang Zhongjing took out an agreement and sent it to Lu Yanhe.

"Yan He, this time I don't just want to invite you to continue starring in *Burning Fire 3*. Actually, I know you'll definitely be willing to return for the third part. You are a very responsible person with a sense of duty; you will ensure this series has a beginning and an end."

"You took the *Burning Fire* series to a new level this year and gave Long Yan a big gift. I am very grateful. I also hope that our fate with the *Burning Fire* series won't be limited to these three films."

"I want to invite you to serve as a co-producer of the *Burning Fire* cinematic universe, and also invite Linghe to participate in the development of the *Burning Fire* cinematic universe."

Lu Yanhe looked at Huang Zhongjing with quite some surprise.

"I hope to make the *Burning Fire* series a Chinese fantasy blockbuster known to the whole world."

"Originally, I wouldn't have dared to have such thoughts, but now the results achieved by the first and second *Burning Fire* films overseas have given me confidence again."

Lu Yanhe didn't speak.

Lu Yanhe wasn't actually surprised that Huang Zhongjing would have such thoughts at this time.

It was just that Lu Yanhe himself was thinking about whether to consider Huang Zhongjing's proposal.

After thinking seriously for a long time, Lu Yanhe said: "Mr. Huang, how about we discuss the third part first? The cinematic universe is a big deal, and it can't be explained in a short while."

"Sure, of course." Huang Zhongjing said with a smile, "Let's talk about the third part first."

"We know your salary in Hollywood has already reached the level of 10 million USD base salary plus bonuses." Huang Zhongjing said, "Actually, I want to give you such a salary directly; the box office performance of *Burning Fire* can afford it. However, because Yong Zhou is still here, although he has told me several times that he doesn't mind if your salary is higher than his."

"Hmm, I also hope to maintain balance." Lu Yanhe said, "I don't want such a gap to appear between my senior brother and me. Even if we don't mind, others will make an issue of it, especially those marketing accounts. But, Mr. Huang, I also hope my senior brother and I won't be at a disadvantage."

"Understood. Of course, I won't let you be at a disadvantage. If Long Yan were a company that squeezed and exploited actors, how could it have reached today?" Huang Zhongjing said, "I'll give you both a base salary of 20 million. However, there will be some differences in box office bonuses, overseas revenue sharing, and character merchandise revenue. In addition, for the third part, we have also reserved an investment share of 10 million—prioritized for you or Linghe."

For a film series like *Burning Fire* where the first and second parts have already achieved box office success, being able to offer an investment share of 10 million to Lu Yanhe and Linghe for the third part is actually just handing over a money-making opportunity for free.

This was also Long Yan's compensation to Lu Yanhe.

Lu Yanhe was quite satisfied with the attitude Long Yan showed this time.

Chen Ziyan also said: "This time they are finally no longer stingy."

Chen Ziyan asked: "Then do you want to continue participating in the *Burning Fire* series?"

Lu Yanhe said: "I haven't decided yet, but, how should I put it, that sentence you said to me at the time touched me very much."

"What did I say?" Chen Ziyan asked.

"This film series, no matter what, has already been linked to my acting career." Lu Yanhe said, "If you hadn't said that to me back then, I might not have thought about saving the overseas box office of *Burning Fire* under those circumstances later."

"Are you going to continue participating in the filming of the *Burning Fire* series later?"

"Who knows? Not necessarily." Lu Yanhe thought of Robert Downey Jr., thought of the *Detective Conan* theatrical versions that get more popular as they get older, "But, as I said, this film is the best Chinese film I have seen so far in terms of visual effects. If I could help it go further and didn't do so, I would regret it."

Chen Ziyan nodded.

"Then go do it." Chen Ziyan said, "If you've already reached your level and still can't do whatever you want in your choice of work, how boring would that be? You're absolutely right. If there is a film that can truly represent the level of China's film industry and the aesthetic style of this genre, and go on to be loved by the whole world, but in the end, it didn't happen, that would be too regrettable."

Lu Yanhe nodded.

Chen Ziyan said: "Then do it."

"Won't it be thankless work?"

"With me here, I won't let it be thankless." She said calmly, "Do you think I would let them do something like killing the donkey after the millstone is used? No way."

Lu Yanhe laughed.

"It's good to have you here."

Huang Zhongjing's attitude towards Lu Yanhe didn't do a 180-degree turn, but it did indeed and substantially become respectful and courteous.

This was of course because Lu Yanhe brought tangible benefits to Long Yan.

Huang Zhongjing wanted to tie Lu Yanhe to the *Burning Fire* series precisely because he saw Lu Yanhe's tangible help to *Burning Fire*.

He was afraid Lu Yanhe wouldn't help later.

Once Lu Yanhe stopped standing up for the *Burning Fire* series, would Green Valley still distribute *Burning Fire* like this?

Huang Zhongjing wanted to ensure that the *Burning Fire* series could continue to have good performance overseas, which was why he had to stabilize Lu Yanhe.

What if Long Yan managed to clear all the overseas joints on its own later and felt it could kick Lu Yanhe out?

Chen Ziyan smiled and handed the revised cooperation agreement to Huang Zhongjing.

And just at this time, the release date of *Corpse Appearance* arrived.

For this film, Li Yuefeng shot eight magazine covers in one go, five of which were domestic magazines, which he secured with his own resources.

The other three were overseas, which involved the efforts of *Jump Up* Group's media resources, as well as Linghe and D19 behind the scenes.

Domestic magazines were mainly fashion and film magazines; *Jump Up* didn't even put him on.

The foreign magazines, however, were all horror and thriller types.

Exactly the target audience for *Corpse Appearance*.

*Corpse Appearance* was also the only film with horror elements during the Qingming Festival.

Before the release, the pre-sales of *Corpse Appearance* had already exceeded 20 million RMB.

This was the best pre-sale result among the films Li Yuefeng starred in.

Some rivals smeared it, saying *Corpse Appearance* was just a low-budget film, crudely made.

Linghe immediately posted: Linghe produces films, the cost can be very small, but the quality is not lowered in the slightest. It's not about how much money you spend to make a film, it's about how much money you *need* to spend to make a film, and that's how much you spend. Not a penny more.

Some of Li Yuefeng's rivals came to smear him, saying that in order to secure cooperation with Lu Yanhe, Li Yuefeng lowered his salary, filming at a beggar's price.

This was also the reason why Li Yuefeng could film so many of Lu Yanhe's films.

Li Yuefeng responded personally: When Lu Yanhe asks me to film, he has never shorted me a penny of my salary. Many people ask me to film and give me a "friendship price," but only Lu Yanhe has never given me a "friendship price," it's always the market price.

Immediately someone retorted: You have the nerve to say that, Lu Yanhe gives you so many roles, and you don't even give him a "friendship price."

Li Yuefeng:

Replying to you with a sentence Lu Yanhe once said to me: You get what you pay for. I'm not short of money, why give a "friendship price"? If a low-budget film is made by exploiting friends for a "friendship price," that's not called low-budget, that's called freeloading.

Immediately, media and marketing accounts broke the news that Li Yuefeng used a lot of his private resources to promote this film.

For example, his brand resources, such as appearing on shows, playing trailers on shows, etc.

The implication was that although Li Yuefeng didn't accept a "friendship price," he himself had also put in a lot of things.

Lu Yanhe accepted an interview with CCTV Film Channel, and the reporter also asked about this.

Lu Yanhe said generously: "I have always told my friends that if I am really short of money to make a film, or if this film is purely for artistic value and has no box office space, I definitely wouldn't be embarrassed to ask them for a 'friendship price,' or even act for zero salary. But honestly, for a film like *Corpse Appearance*, are you saying I have no box office expectations for it? If I didn't, why would I ask Li Yuefeng to act in it? Are you saying the company is really strapped for cash making this film? Linghe has made quite a bit of money in the past few years. So, there's no need to be stingy. I can say directly that Li Yuefeng's salary accounts for a large part of this film's production cost. The film's cost is small because it doesn't need to spend that much money on production to be done very well, and Li Yuefeng is the biggest market selling point of this film outside of the subject matter and story. So why should I make him a cheap actor? You say, is it worth it? Isn't it worth it?"

Lu Yanhe added: "Li Yuefeng is not a petty actor. After watching *Crocodile*, he even told me that he liked it so much he wrote a review for his acting coach, and said if there were such films asking him to act in the future, he must act. I said, if you act in such films, you really can't use your star status to get the market price, because for such films, no matter how big the star is, their ability to attract audiences to the cinema is limited. His reaction was, actors can't make money on every film, but there's no need to make money on every film either. This is what I like about him. He never avoids letting others know his utilitarian side, but he is not *only* utilitarian."

On the first day of *Corpse Appearance*'s release, it grossed 31 million at the domestic box office, ranking third in the Qingming Festival, with a steady performance—not a dark horse, but a pretty good result.

However, adding the performance in several overseas markets, it was different.

420 theaters in North America, grossing 850,000 USD on the first day.

Japan was rarely released simultaneously with other markets. Because Li Yuefeng's fame in Japan wasn't low, combined with effective promotion, it also opened with a box office of 970,000 USD on the first day.

Adding up several markets, *Corpse Appearance* achieved a good result of 2.72 million USD overseas.

From the first day's feedback

in the market, this film had box office potential.

Thus, D19 immediately added promotional resources for *Corpse Appearance*, including preparing to expand the number of theaters in the second week—

The premise was that Linghe agreed to hand over the distribution rights of *Corpse Appearance* in other European markets to them as well.

After Linghe's assessment, they immediately agreed and signed the agreement.

Giving up part of the benefits in exchange for greater returns.

This was the tenet Linghe had always implemented.

If Linghe had negotiated the distribution rights for *Corpse Appearance* market by market themselves, perhaps the final revenue would have been greater.

However, Linghe wanted D19's greater promotional resources and distribution conditions.

Because the ceiling for the returns it could get in the future was higher.

And this increased investment by D19 had positive feedback in every market—

Media attention and discussion could form dissemination on a global scale.

Especially in this internet age, social media intertwined all information.

As long as a certain scale of discussion was formed, the attention would come.

While the iron was hot, several more markets were preparing for release.

This time, when Linghe negotiated distribution conditions with several markets, the focus was on their promotional efforts for this film in the local market.

Especially requiring a premiere attended by more than five mainstream media outlets.

At this time, what Linghe wanted was the "face" of *Corpse Appearance*.

Using "face" to shape its image as an international blockbuster.

In one week, *Corpse Appearance*, relying on the three days of the Qingming Festival, grossed a total of 157 million at the box office. While Li Yuefeng's crowd of haters sang its doom, Linghe was issuing battle reports and good news every day.

Even when Li Yuefeng's haters went to Linghe's official Weibo to complain that they were blind for choosing Li Yuefeng as the lead and deserved the poor results, Linghe directly retorted openly:

Since when did a box office result of 157 million become a flop? Talking about box office value while ignoring production costs is hooliganism, you know? A low-budget film led by a well-known actor like Li Yuefeng can bring in 157 million in box office in one week. This box office appeal—which film company would be blind not to see it.

Li Yuefeng was stunned.

Linghe standing up for him and speaking for him so openly was something he never dared to imagine when cooperating with other film companies before.

Because every film company would worry that if they said one wrong word, they would get into trouble and affect their stock price.

But Linghe had no stock price.

They didn't care at all.

Chen Yin specifically instructed the company's promotional and public relations department to support Li Yuefeng publicly and clearly.

But the reason actually wasn't that

noble. Chen Yin was considering that Li Yuefeng had cooperated with the company on so many projects; the greater Li Yuefeng's value, the greater the value of these projects.

Not to mention that after *Corpse Appearance*, there was still *My Sassy Girl* to be released.

How could Chen Yin watch Li Yuefeng be smeared by haters?

However, the signal conveyed in the entertainment industry wasn't like that.

For actors, this was the film company protecting Li Yuefeng.

To be honest, when haters attack an actor for not being able to carry the box office and having poor results, what could be a more powerful reply than the production company standing up and saying this actor's value is extremely high?

In fact, this was also why Linghe required other markets to have "face."

"Face" meant—

Awesome, good results.

"But in this way, it seems difficult for *Corpse Appearance* to break 100 million USD in global box office."

"Why must it break 100 million?" Chen Yin said, "Do you really think we are a dark horse film factory that wins big with small? Every film can achieve a miraculous win big with small, right? *Corpse Appearance*'s production plus promotional costs don't exceed 5 million USD, and now the global box office is 30 million USD. Isn't that good enough?"

Especially when it reached the second week of release, D19 suddenly announced that they had secured the remake rights for *Corpse Appearance* and would remake it into an English film.

D19 was a major player in horror and thriller films and was also the distributor for *Corpse Appearance* in North America and several other markets.

Being eyed by D19—doesn't this prove the film's success?

Could it be eyed if it wasn't successful?

Are they stupid?

Are the capitalists blind, and you're the only one who sees clearly?

Some controversies stirred up by *Corpse Appearance* didn't affect Lu Yanhe.

Anyway, these controversies were nothing more than the box office results being ordinary, not as good as the results achieved by *Buried* and *Home Alone*, etc.

Anyway, Linghe had said everything that needed to be said.

There are always people who turn a blind eye and pretend to be blind; you can't correct them. Wait until they hit a telephone pole themselves and they'll know they're blind.

Chen Yin sent a message to Lu Yanhe, saying he wanted to produce a second part of *Corpse Appearance*.

Lu Yanhe was curious and asked, any ideas?

Chen Yin said, no ideas for the story, but wanted to use this to solicit submissions globally and seek good stories.

Lu Yanhe asked: Why do this?

Chen Yin said: Because the copyright of *Corpse Appearance* is exceptionally popular; seven or eight overseas film companies are contacting them, asking about adaptation rights.

Lu Yanhe was stunned.

Chen Yin said: After chatting, I found it was mainly because the production cost of this

film is very low in any country, and the global box office performance isn't that outstanding, so it's not a film story that everyone is familiar with.

Lu Yanhe understood immediately.

He thought of a film called *Perfect Strangers*.

That was an Italian film, and because of its very modern and innovative subject matter, it was being remade all over the world, being one of the films with the highest remake rates and remake success rates.

The reason it could be so was actually because the film's production cost was very low in any country.

One house, a group of actors, that was enough.

And it was very suitable for adaptation.

Lu Yanhe said: What does this have to do with developing *Corpse Appearance 2*? I thought you wanted to do it because you had a good story idea.

Chen Yin said: Actually, it's also a gimmick, to stimulate more audiences around the world to go to the cinema to watch 1.

Upon hearing this, Lu Yanhe understood after thinking about it.

Soliciting stories for 2 globally—if this news could stir up some waves as hoped, many screenwriters, directors, and even people who love writing would go to see what 1 is like.

If these people go to watch it, it's very likely that the relevant enthusiasts around them will be radiated.

Lu Yanhe: Killing two birds with one stone.

Chen Yin: Is it feasible?

Lu Yanhe: I don't know if it's feasible either, let's try.

Thus, Chen Yin took out 1 million USD and issued a "Call for Submissions for *Corpse Appearance 2*" in twelve media outlets and magazines around the world, from the *New York Times* in the US to the *Literary Weekly* in Japan.

Major global media outlets published it one after another; such dissemination effect was quite exaggerated.

The box office of *Corpse Appearance* was indeed stimulated.

When Lu Yanhe came to the US to negotiate with Soren about the film *Men in Black*, Soren's representative said that the marketing strategy for *Corpse Appearance 2* was unexpected but had triggered huge attention, very awesome.

Lu Yanhe said, these were all ideas from people in the company, and the effect was indeed unexpected.

He didn't expect Soren to pay attention to the situation of *Corpse Appearance*; after all, so far, the film hadn't even exceeded 10 million USD at the North American box office.

However, Soren only mentioned it and immediately moved on to other things.

Also, Soren probably wouldn't be interested in the box office volume of this film.

The film *Men in Black* was basically led by Lu Yanhe.

Including the director, Fu Kai, who was decided by Lu Yanhe.

Because Lu Yanhe was the screenwriter and lead actor, Soren had great confidence in this film.

Even after calculation,

the final production budget reached 120 million USD.

Soren really wasn't short of money.

At this stage, it was even worried that it couldn't spend the money.

There were two producers arranged by Soren, one named Mini Price, and one named Sunny Kruger.

One was responsible for finance, one for production management.

Because the director, screenwriter, and lead actor were all himself, Lu Yanhe didn't arrange his own people to take on core key positions in production.

And in the film *Men in Black*, Lu Yanhe wasn't just the lead actor and screenwriter; he was also the producer ranked first.

This gave him huge power on the set.

This time, Lu Yanhe came to communicate with Soren about some arrangements for the production budget, including meeting some actors found by Soren.

In the film *Men in Black*, the other male lead had already been decided, and it was Sick Griffiths.

Besides him, Yan Liang, Caina, and Wen Minglan would all make cameo appearances in it.

Other casting was all done by Soren. For the actors chosen by Soren, Lu Yanhe only had one requirement: don't have any principled problems.

These were all to be written into the performance agreement.

Once violated, they would have to pay money.

Soren didn't understand at first, but Lu Yanhe insisted, and under these circumstances, Soren agreed.

"The global box office of the film *Men in Black* is heading towards 500 million USD globally." Lu Yanhe directly proposed this goal when holding a meeting with the production team, "The production budget of our film is 120 million USD, and the filming task is also heavy, requiring everyone to cooperate with each other."

For a film with a production budget of 120 million USD, as long as the final product doesn't make Soren lose confidence, the supporting promotional budget is basically 1:1.

Under these circumstances, a box office result of 500 million USD is the lowest estimate. Otherwise, recouping the cost would be very difficult.

Of course, Lu Yanhe wasn't worried that the box office of *Men in Black* would be very poor; after all, this film, at the time it appeared, and even twenty years after its release, remained a classic, with a large number of fans.

To ensure that *Men in Black* was filmed with a flavor similar to the original, Lu Yanhe had already specifically found someone to draw the storyboards for *Men in Black*.

And the reason Lu Yanhe wanted to find Fu Kai to direct this film was, on one hand, Fu Kai was already a very mature commercial film director in China, and was very familiar with filming such fast-paced, large-scale action films; on the other hand, Lu Yanhe had worked with him and was very familiar with him, so Lu Yanhe could confidently tell Fu Kai his vision for the film as a screenwriter and ask Fu Kai to execute it as much as possible.

After the people for each department were basically found, the start date was also set, to start filming this August, with a total filming time of 3 months. Lu Yanhe's scenes would take about two months of filming time, so his filming could be completed by the end of September or early October, not affecting the filming of *Friends*.

This year, Lu Yanhe had two Hollywood blockbusters to be released in the US, one was *Godless*, and the other was *Cloud Sea 3*. The former would be released in the summer, and the latter at the end of the year.

Both of these films were heading towards a global box office of over 500 million USD.

This destined Lu Yanhe to have very large exposure this year.

Not counting *Friends*, over the past year or so, the frequency of Lu Yanhe joining crews had actually decreased a lot.

Of course, his presence in the film circle had never been low.

However, Lu Yanhe was indeed going to join a crew to film.

Lu Yanhe was now just waiting for the summer to see if the film directed by Wang Zhong would start filming.

Just at this time, Huang Tianlin sent him another script.

After cooperating on *Tropical Rainy Season*, Huang Tianlin had also sent him a new script, but at the time, after Lu Yanhe read it, he felt it wasn't that good, so he politely declined.

He didn't know how Huang Tianlin finally handled that script, but this time, Huang Tianlin sent a new one again.

He said it was one he had just written.

Lu Yanhe opened the script and was very shocked to find that this was actually a… story of revenge against a biological father. ===== CHAPTER 792 =====