Chapter 802: The Prospects of *Burning Fire 2*

"The most representative actors in China have all appeared in this program."

"Every actor who has won Best Actor or Best Actress at the four major international film festivals in the last decade in China has come to participate in this program."

"The Chinese actors who are most popular internationally are all here, too."

"This can't be a lineup that the Spring Festival Gala director team could have invited on their own, right?"

"I don't know about the domestic ones, but those international stars were definitely invited by Lu Yan He and his team; the Gala director team doesn't have that kind of reach."

"It's so satisfying! So many international stars saying 'Chinese New Year'! It'll drive the jealous ones crazy!"

"Are you guys not paying attention to the song? This song is genuinely good. It's been over a year since I last heard a new song written by Lu Yan He; he's still as brilliant as ever."

"I love it, I really love it."

"Me too."

Discussions of all kinds were emerging endlessly on social media platforms.

The popularity of "A Love Letter to Filmmakers" remained high online, becoming the most talked-about program of this year's Spring Festival Gala, bar none.

After the Gala concluded, everyone returned to their respective homes.

Lu Yan He, as in previous years, returned to Chen Siqi's maternal grandparents' home with her.

Because this program ended relatively early, and he had declined the final ensemble performance, he and Chen Siqi arrived just in time to join everyone in waiting for the midnight fireworks.

However, while Lu Yan He and Chen Siqi spent a warm and happy New Year's Eve, it was not the same for Chen Pinhe and Zhang Yuezhen.

Their television wasn't even turned on.

Normally, even though fewer and fewer people watch the Spring Festival Gala now, most households still leave the TV on, even if just for background noise.

Their house didn't even have that.

"Lu Yan He did this on purpose," Zhang Yuezhen said to Chen Pinhe. "Everyone went to his program, except you."

A sinister glint flashed in Chen Pinhe's eyes, but he remained silent.

Zhang Yuezhen continued, "Now everyone online is saying that the reason you weren't in that program is because it's been ten years since you won Best Actor at an international film festival. But those saying that are mostly your fans trying to save face for you. In reality, many people know that your relationship with Lu Yan He is bad, which is why you weren't included. If things continue like this, Lu Yan He might just corner you and kill off your career."

"Kill off my career?" Chen Pinhe looked up at Zhang Yuezhen, his expression ferocious. "What do you mean? Do you think I should quit the entertainment industry and stop being an actor?"

Zhang Yuezhen replied, "If the current situation doesn't change, that will be the inevitable outcome. It's not just Lu Yan He who won't work with you anymore; Jiang Jun and Jiang Yuqian have stopped working with you too. With how popular the three of them are in Hollywood right now, do you think the *Window Sill* incident will be an isolated case?"

Chen Pinhe fell silent.

"I'm on your side, even if you don't want to hear these things," Zhang Yuezhen took a deep breath. "You're in too high a position right now. Even if Lu Yan He poses a threat, you can't lower yourself to force him to give you an explanation."

Chen Pinhe sneered.

*Of course, you wouldn't dare to truly tear off the mask with him, * Zhang Yuezhen thought.

She reached out and grabbed Chen Pinhe's hand.

"But, husband, you are a Best Actor. Your acting is no worse than anyone else's. As long as there's a good script and a good team, you won't be threatened by him," Zhang Yuezhen said. "Lu Yan He has momentum because he's successful, but it's impossible for only his works to succeed. Look, the few young people we've scouted and cultivated since starting the company are developing very well and have a lot of traffic."

Chen Pinhe: "They're just traffic artists who aren't recognized by the mainstream."

"What does that matter?" Zhang Yuezhen said. "They have fans chasing them and commercial value; that's enough, isn't it? They can trade for a lot of leverage and resources for the company now."

Chen Pinhe: "Do I need to rely on them to trade for resources now?"

"You..." Zhang Yuezhen sighed with a smile. "How could it be like that? My point is, fighting alone is never enough. If Lu Yan He didn't have that group of people around him, even if he won an Oscar for Best Actor, so what?"

Chen Pinhe said nothing.

"This time, *Death Stranding* actually had decent streaming numbers. Otherwise, the Golden Globes wouldn't have invited you to be a presenter," Zhang Yuezhen said. "And *Death Stranding* is confirmed for a second season, which will have a very positive impact on your international fame and influence. Even if *Window Sill* was ruined by Jiang Yuqian, you'll definitely get other scripts later. I've been working hard on that; you just focus on acting, and leave the rest to me."

After staying up for the New Year and setting off fireworks with the children, Lu Yan He finally went to bed with Chen Siqi.

"Your program on the Spring Festival Gala tonight is probably going to make Chen Pinhe angry for a while," Chen Siqi said with a smile.

Lu Yan He replied calmly, "I hope it makes him drop dead."

Chen Siqi: "If he dies, will you go to his funeral?"

"Would Zhang Yuezhen invite me? Why would she do something like that?"

"Who knows." Chen Siqi said, "Suppose, just suppose she invites you, would you go?"

"A funeral... well, if it's to spit on his grave, I might consider it."

"Discussing spitting on his grave on the first day of the Lunar New Year, isn't that a bit unlucky?"

"You were the one who brought up the funeral."

"Oh, it's fine. We're a blessed family; we have no taboos."

Lu Yan He couldn't help but laugh, the corners of his mouth curling up.

Chen Siqi said, "*Burning Fire 2* is released today, along with *Home Alone 3*. You haven't participated much in the promotion for either of these films, and Long Yan has quite a few complaints about that."

"I've fulfilled all the promotional obligations required by the contract," Lu Yan He said. "If they have complaints, they can just stop working with me in the future."

Chen Siqi: "Haha, tonight's program was the best promotion *Burning Fire 2* could have asked for. Long Yan was the first to praise the cast of the program, calling it a gathering of the most internationally influential active Chinese actors. *Burning Fire 2* didn't miss this promotional wave either, directly claiming that it is the only Chinese film that can feature both you and Shang Yongzhou as dual leads. They're playing their trump cards."

"They've always been good at marketing. I'm more curious about what kind of results *Burning Fire 2* can achieve overseas under Green Valley's global distribution," Lu Yan He said. "The story of the second one is just complete; it didn't give the audience a botched ending, but as for the story itself, it's not that brilliant—it's just a very qualified sequel. I'm curious about the film's visual effects."

Chen Siqi: "I've already watched the second one in advance. I must say, it's truly a top-tier blockbuster with excellent visual effects."

Lu Yan He: "Really?"

"Yeah," Chen Siqi said. "I don't think *Home Alone 3*'s box office will necessarily beat *Burning Fire 2*'s."

"Last year, *Home Alone 2*'s box office during the Spring Festival holiday in China reached 1.4 billion."

"But it's reached its ceiling. This year's pre-sales and various data are about the same as last year's. Conversely, after the first *Burning Fire* was put on TV and video websites, the indices for *Burning Fire 2* started to surge, especially pre-sales. It's leading the Spring Festival box office."

Lu Yan He: "Alright then."

"The audience word-of-mouth for *Burning Fire* is very good," Chen Siqi said. "It's indeed a rare visual effects blockbuster."

However, judging by the opening day box office for the Spring Festival holiday, Chen Siqi's prediction didn't come true.

*Home Alone 3* led the opening day with 600 million in box office, sitting firmly in first place.

This comedy film, following the first two, has accumulated a very large family-viewing base.

If the whole family goes out to watch a movie, *Home Alone 3* is their first choice.

*Burning Fire 2* followed in second place with 420 million.

Behind these two leaders was the third place, Jia Long's return to the comedy genre with the crime comedy *Master of the Dragon*, with 210 million.

In fourth place was the animated film that appears every Spring Festival.

Other films were directly excluded from the first tier.

For this year's Spring Festival holiday, many media outlets used the headline "Lu Yan He competing against himself."

For Lu Yan He, *Home Alone 3* is his biological child, and *Burning Fire 2* can't exactly be called adopted—they are both very precious.

Lu Yan He posted on Weibo: Although competing against myself on the first day of the Lunar New Year doesn't seem like a good omen, looking at it again, first and second place in the Spring Festival holiday? I hope this kind of competing against myself can last a lifetime.

Jia Long immediately appeared in his comment section: Don't be like that!

Lu Yan He: Brother Long, I'm *Master of the Dragon*, why are you talking to me about being a person?

Jia Long: Should I smile and thank you, or take off my shoe and throw it at you? 【802-73: Lu Yan He: Brother Long, don't commit treason against your master.

Lu Yan He: Brother Long, don't commit following the master.

Jia Long: Screw you! You brat, taking advantage of me!

Jia Long's *Master of the Dragon* still starred him and Wang Dashan.

Of course, after he took Wang Dashan to act in *Lost on Journey*, Wang Dashan signed with his company.

Jia Long was really good to him.

Either he let Wang Dashan be the lead, or they acted as dual leads together.

Wang Dashan is now also a "heavyweight" among the younger generation of actors; in his niche, he is invincible.

Of course, because his appearance isn't the handsome and dashing type, it's hard for him to become a mainstream actor like Lu Yan He or Li Zhibai.

Fortunately, in this era, you can still be a huge hit even if you aren't a mainstream actor.

Lu Yan He and Chen Siqi went specifically to watch *Master of the Dragon*.

After watching it, they felt a bit "indescribable." How to put it? The film was just a very formulaic comedy.

Was it good? It was okay.

Was it funny? It was indeed funny from start to finish.

But once it was over, it was over.

Maybe the box office would be good, but it might not necessarily be a boost for the actors.

What did it feel like?

Well, a bit like the feeling an author of a certain book had after watching *Never Say Die*.

However, Jia Long really needed a film like this right now to prove that he still had box office appeal in the film market.

In the past few years, he starred more in films with a certain genre or auteur style, and the box office results weren't particularly outstanding, generally at the 200-300 million level—

Although that level is unreachable for other male actors.

But Jia Long was once in the first tier of Chinese film actors who could carry the box office; films he starred in that didn't reach 1 billion in box office were considered average, so 200-300 million was indeed a bit underwhelming.

The global opening box office results for *Home Alone 3* and *Burning Fire 2* also came out.

"*Home Alone 3*'s performance is mediocre, almost on par with the second one, but the audience word-of-mouth score has declined, and the media is the same; everyone is a bit tired of the *Home Alone* comedy routine."

Chen Yin said: "After *Home Alone 4* is released, this series needs to take a break."

Like the first and second, the third and fourth were filmed back-to-back.

Lu Yan He said: "Hmm, after the fourth one is released, this series will be put on hold."

*Home Alone 3* was released in overseas regions without the Spring Festival holiday buff, relying entirely on the series' popularity and the audience.

*Burning Fire 2*, however, was very surprising. With only five markets—North America, the UK, Germany, France, and Italy—opening simultaneously, and not many theaters showing it, it still took in 3.5 million USD in its opening weekend.

Setting aside the heaven-defying box office miracle of *Home Alone*, this result is already top-tier for a Chinese film.

Just as Chen Siqi said, although the first *Burning Fire*'s global theatrical box office wasn't high, because Lu Yan He starred in it, after it was uploaded to streaming and TV channels later, the viewership data was quite good.

This accumulated quite a few fans for *Burning Fire 2*.

Worldwide, many film fans praised *Burning Fire*'s visual effects as outstanding.

Especially those magical Eastern arts, which made foreigners' eyes light up.

Lu Yan He really wanted to know if *Burning Fire 2* had a chance to break 30 million USD in overseas box office.

However, although Green Valley was much more cautious with the overseas distribution of *Burning Fire 2* than the first one, because the first one's results were so average, they didn't get particularly good distribution terms for the second one.

This hampered *Burning Fire 2*'s box office prospects.

Lu Yan He did some promotion on his social media, but individual power is limited.

Chen Siqi said: "If there were more theaters in North America and the promotion was opened up a bit more, I think this film's box office would have room for further growth."

Lu Yan He said: "Yeah, I think so too, but Green Valley doesn't think so. I don't know if it's good or bad, but their recognition of my script's marketability now even exceeds their recognition of my identity as the lead actor."

"Who told you to create the five-hit box office miracle of *Home Alone*, *Buried*, *Red Eye Flight*, *Flypaper*, and *Get Out*?" Chen Siqi said. "None of these five films starred you."

"... Could it be that this is what they call shooting oneself in the foot?" Lu Yan He gave a helpless, bitter smile.

"But even so, *Burning Fire 2*'s box office in North America is on the verge of crossing the 10 million threshold, which still proves the appeal of your identity as the lead actor," Chen Siqi said. "Why don't you discuss it with Green Valley and let them put more effort into distribution and promotion, and you can also cooperate with them on promotion?"

Lu Yan He said: "I can't just go and push this deal myself."

"Why not?" Chen Siqi said. "It's been a long time since you had a film you starred in released. You want to see the box office results of a film you starred in be better, isn't that okay?"

"That's okay, I guess."

"I just feel, how should I put it, don't waste it," Chen Siqi said. "It's not easy for Chinese films to make top-tier visual effects like *Burning Fire 2* now. How many films like this can an actor encounter? I believe the visual effects level of *Godless* and *Cloud Sea* won't be bad, but that's a different style from the Chinese visual feel. If we can use the *Burning Fire* series to make more overseas audiences interested in Chinese culture and aesthetic style, and let them be amazed, wouldn't that be great?"

Lu Yan He fell into deep thought.

Lu Yan He thought about why he was a bit reluctant to do this.

Actually, it was ultimately because of Long Yan.

He had told Long Yan several times not to underestimate the value of *Burning Fire*, and not to underestimate its box office potential overseas.

However, Long Yan was always afraid to "hoard for a higher price."

This made Lu Yan He's desire to help *Burning Fire* achieve better box office results die out, leaving him feeling listless.

Chen Siqi's words, however, gave Lu Yan He other ideas.

Indeed, regardless of who gets the profits from *Burning Fire*, the value that *Burning Fire* possesses and the value it has achieved are all closely related to him, entering his acting resume and staying with him for a lifetime.

Can he encounter another film with such good visual effects in the future?

Not necessarily.

Just like a film like *The Lord of the Rings*, could the actors who participated in the filming of that movie have imagined that they would follow this legendary, classic film and leave behind an eternal silver screen image with their characters?

Thinking about it, as an actor, Lu Yan He could never accept missing out on a film like *The Lord of the Rings*.

So, with the completion quality of *Burning Fire* satisfying him personally, why shouldn't he do his best to push it?

Thinking of this, Lu Yan He's own knot was untied.

"Yes, *Burning Fire 2* is a film I value very much. Although I didn't write the script, if you've seen the film, you should understand why I value it so much."

Lu Yan He called several celebrity friends in Europe and America with whom he had a good relationship and asked them to go to the cinema to watch the film and promote it.

Subsequently, Lu Yan He contacted Schmidt Lowry of Green Valley, wanting to hold a special screening and exchange event.

"I want to invite some friends to watch this film and do some promotion for *Burning Fire 2*," Lu Yan He said. "You just need to handle the venue, and I'll cover the other expenses."

Schmidt Lowry said in surprise: "If you're willing to do promotion for this film, why would you need to cover the expenses?"

Lu Yan He: "Why didn't you do any promotional activities for *Burning Fire 2* in Europe and America before?"

Schmidt Lowry said: "If you can't attend, there's not much point in having others do the promotion."

Lu Yan He: "Did you ask my team about this? Did you have any relevant plans before?"

"We communicated with Long Yan, but because this film was also released during a very important holiday in China, they said the main promotional focus for the cast was in China."

Lu Yan He suddenly understood.

So that was it.

Schmidt Lowry said: "Of course, I've heard that this film's box office performance in China is very good, expected to break 300 million USD, so it really should focus its promotion in China."

Lu Yan He didn't deny this.

He said: "Then if you are willing to do the special screening and exchange event, I'll leave it all to you."

"Okay," Schmidt Lowry said. "But the film has already been released for several days, so I estimate the effect of doing such promotional activities now won't be that good."

Lu Yan He said: "We can't just let it end its run so silently. Schmidt, I said it, actually if it's operated properly, even if it can't achieve the results of *Home Alone*, it will definitely make you quite a profit. It's not the kind of foreign film that only makes a few million USD at the box office and relies mainly on other distribution methods."

Schmidt Lowry: "Lu, regarding foreign films, we have a very mature distribution system. Maybe if we increase some promotional efforts, it will indeed make the film's box office a bit more, but compared to the time, energy, and money invested, it won't be proportional. Unless you're saying *Burning Fire* can make tens of millions of USD at the box office."

"Yes, that's what I think. It can," Lu Yan He nodded. "The story and special effects of this film are integrated very well. You can actually tell from the audience's evaluation that everyone likes this film."

Schmidt Lowry: "Lu, there are many foreign films with high word-of-mouth, but there are very few foreign films that can be box office hits."

Lu Yan He: "There is only one film that fully displays the Chinese-style fantasy style like *Burning Fire*."

"I know. I'll tell you the truth, I like this film myself. Indeed, it has a very different style that you don't see in European and American blockbusters. But I'll also tell you the truth: for a film like this, if I specifically assign a distribution and promotion team to do it, I'll delay the distribution of another film that has the potential to make 50 million USD. The company's distribution team only has so many people. This isn't a choice between doing it or not; it's a choice of which one to use limited resources for."

Lu Yan He immediately understood.

The North American distributor for *Home Alone* is also Green Valley.

Green Valley is definitely prioritizing the distribution of *Home Alone*.

Even if *Burning Fire 2* could potentially make tens of millions of USD at the box office, compared to the revenue brought by *Home Alone 3*, it's far from enough.

Moreover, there are only so many theaters in North America, and two Chinese films will definitely affect the screening schedule.

Schmidt Lowry said: "In this situation, only a very high occupancy rate, letting theaters see the real box office potential, could possibly change the current screening situation, not word-of-mouth."

Lu Yan He said: "I understand. Regardless, let's do the special screening event if you're willing to organize it."

"No problem, of course we're willing," Schmidt Lowry said. "Actually, as long as you are willing to attend the promotional activities, we are willing to host them for you."

Lu Yan He: "You said..."