Chapter 909: Big Hit

No one expected that the box office of *The Notebook* would achieve such a destructive trend.

All media are using "big hit" to describe the box office success of *The Notebook* this time.

The main reason is that this is a thorough romance movie.

No comedy added, no integration with other elements.

It is just such a pure romance theme that has been regarded by major production companies as "impossible to produce high box office again," and through Lu Yan He's hands, it was done again.

Through the investigation of box office analysis agencies, everyone found that in North America, among the audience groups who chose to watch *The Notebook*, 17% of the audience went for Claire Taylor and Grien Rivan, two superstars who had been retired for many years, and 34% of the audience went to the cinema to take "cinema kissing photos"—

Of course, box office analysis agencies also pointed out that when sampling, the data for this group of "cinema kissing photos" was on the high side because those who chose this option were often two people, or even four people (double couple dates).

However, no matter which one it was, it couldn't be separated from Lu Yan He.

Whether it was using former superstars who had been retired for many years to leverage middle-aged and elderly audiences to watch this young person's romance story, or the "cinema kissing photos," they all came from Lu Yan He.

Lily Williams and Martin Dillon suddenly became the most eye-catching CP in Hollywood, and as with all romance movies, the audience was very curious whether the two of them sparked during the filming.

The agent teams of both sides wouldn't come out to "pour cold water" at this time.

Everyone understands that this is the best time to attract fans and improve popularity.

The box office performance of *The Notebook* directly made Green Valley announce that it would arrange for *Love is Not Blind* to hold a small-scale re-release in a week.

Why?

Because both movies are about romance, and the scripts for both movies were written by Lu Yan He.

Indeed, *The Notebook* brought a lot of attention to *Love is Not Blind*.

However, the styles of the two films are completely different. The former tends to be timeless and past-oriented, while *Love is Not Blind* is completely based on the present and is a light urban style.

Then, this does not affect some audiences who like *The Notebook* while also liking *Love is Not Blind*.

"Lu Yan He's box office myth in Hollywood has taken another city; schedule, theme, lead actor, director, none can limit the favor of the god of box office toward him."

"Everyone often regards the director as the author of the movie, however, Lu Yan He, through a series of successes, has made himself the exception."

"The senior executives of Solon are probably going to open champagne to celebrate. They used a lucrative contract to obtain three projects from Lu Yan He, and the seemingly incredible $120 million back then, Lu Yan He only used one *The Notebook* to help Solon earn it back."

"However, according to the contract details we learned, I'm afraid Solon will regret agreeing that the copyright of these three movies will return to Lu Yan He himself ten years after release. Based on the ratings from the media and the audience, I believe this will be a decision that Solon will regret very much ten years later. But they should also be satisfied, right? For Solon, this is still a huge profit."

If it weren't for the fact that this movie is really difficult to develop a sequel, Lu Yan He felt that Solon would probably bomb him with phone calls, trying every means to get him to authorize the development of a sequel.

? ￠o

One *The Notebook* made him, who had finally been quiet for a while, appear in front of everyone again.

*The Notebook*, which no one took seriously, *The Notebook*, which everyone felt had a box office ceiling for romance movies, broke everyone's expectations.

Is it the success of the movie itself, or the success of the nostalgic positioning and marketing means?

For a time, every film company was analyzing the success of this movie, trying to find a replicable path from it.

Just like they tried to replicate *Home Alone* and *Get Out* in the past.

In fact, the huge success of the movie made many people discuss whether this movie would enter the vision of the awards season at the end of the year?

To some extent, the artistic value of this movie is actually not high; it is visible to the naked eye that it is a classic, moving romance story. However, its box office is high enough, setting off a craze. The performances of Lily Williams and Martin Dillon have also been unanimously recognized.

This discussion didn't last long before Solon announced that they would go all out to publicize *The Notebook* for the awards season at the end of this year.

This move by Solon is not surprising.

It can even be said that this is something that could have been expected long ago.

As a Hollywood newcomer, Solon urgently needs to make a name for itself in Hollywood right now.

Now that there is such a blockbuster as *The Notebook*, it is impossible not to operate for the Oscars and use awards to gild itself again.

It's just that how many votes *The Notebook* can get in the awards season is not certain.

Up to now, the critical evaluation of this movie is still not high.

Many people agree with its success, but believe that its success is built on Lu Yan He's precise grasp of the market, not on his precise grasp of this theme.

"Lu Yan He saw the market's demand for this type of romance movie and saw the nostalgic emotions that the scarcity of this theme in this era could bring. However, in all fairness, this is a success in commercial strategy and vision, not in art."

Before entering the public relations war of the awards season, there were already many voices attacking the mediocrity of the romance story of *The Notebook*.

Lu Yan He completely refused any media interviews.

He also suggested that Solon remind all the creators not to make any response or counterattack to these voices.

Now whatever Lu Yan He says is an "imperial decree," and Solon followed suit one after another.

When *The Notebook* had been released for two weeks and the global box office exceeded $300 million, everyone realized that these negative evaluations could not affect the movie's box office at all—in other words, they could not affect the audience buying tickets at all.

It was not until this time that some senior executives of Solon reacted belatedly.

The positioning of this movie is a commercial romance movie; it is not an art film aimed at winning awards. If critics want to criticize, you can let them criticize a few words; it won't affect the overall situation. Whether you are artistic enough is not something the audience of this movie needs to consider. Few of the audiences who choose to watch this movie are aiming for the art of the movie.

What they want to see has nothing to do with so-called art at all.

But if the creators counterattacked or responded, these topics might be intensified, and the audience's attention would also be led astray.

Look at what Lily Williams mainly talked about in the promotion during this period?

Talking about her parents' romance story, talking about her longing for romance when she was a child, talking about the influence of those classic romance movies of the past in Hollywood on her, talking about her mood when filming this movie, and the various interesting things that happened when filming opposite Martin Dillon.

This is the impression that the creators of the movie want to bring to everyone.

The impression that this movie needs to bring to everyone.

At the end of June, a small episode suddenly occurred, causing an uproar—

Yin Xincheng, who had just gotten married not long ago, issued a statement that due to personality conflicts discovered after marriage, after three months of hard grinding, they finally reached an agreement that both sides could no longer maintain this marriage together, and they divorced amicably.

Sudden marriage, and sudden divorce.

Like child's play.

For a time, everyone was dumbfounded, not knowing how to view this matter.

And Yin Xincheng didn't respond to anything else.

Huang Yunlan, however, started a live stream that night.

The entire barrage area was asking why she and Yin Xincheng divorced.

Huang Yunlan couldn't say a word—in the agreement she signed with Yin Xincheng, there was a requirement that she and others around her could not answer any questions about Yin Xincheng, and all things between the two of them could not be disclosed to the outside world.

Huang Yunlan started a live stream, just repeatedly saying with red eyes and falling tears: "Don't ask me anymore, I can't say anything, I signed an agreement."

In one night, Huang Yunlan gained 230,000 fans.

When Lu Yan He saw this news report, he was stunned.

Huh?

Can this also gain fans?

The next day, Huang Yunlan followed suit and started a live stream again, but this time she finally stopped repeatedly saying she couldn't say anything.

She ignored the overwhelming questions about Yin Xincheng in the barrage area, but very seriously shared her experiences in the entertainment industry with everyone.

Talking about the real and fake couples she knew in the entertainment industry.

None of them were named.

But the more they weren't named, the more it led to speculation and discussion.

The heat was like an explosion.

The attention suddenly surged.

Lu Yan He: "..."

In the six-person group of *Friends*, Zhan Yun took the initiative to pop up, @Yin Xincheng, saying: Your ex-wife doesn't look like a fuel-efficient lamp.

Yin Xincheng:...

Bo Jin: I guess many people think that the things Huang Yunlan said were told to her by you. I see that many people online have already guessed this.

Zhan Yun: Otherwise? Yin Xincheng's ex-wife exposes the inside story of the entertainment industry; who wouldn't connect this matter with Yin Xincheng.

Yan Liang: @Yin Xincheng, how did you sign the confidentiality agreement with her?

Yin Xincheng: Sigh, don't mention it. She does this; as long as she doesn't name names, she can't be held accountable.

Lu Yan He: Evil will be rewarded with evil, but her doing this is not a bad thing for you. The fact that you suddenly divorced is strange in itself. If Huang Yunlan didn't come out to live stream immediately, public sympathy might lean toward her. After all, you are a star, and she is just an ordinary person, and a woman, which makes people feel more or less that you let her down. After these two live streams, there are already doubts online about her eating traffic.

Bo Jin: Yan He is right. She started live streaming so hurriedly, her eating posture is ugly, and the public is not stupid.

Lu Yan He: Anyway, you have already divorced her. In the short term, people in this line might have some criticisms of you, but... you deserve it, just endure it.

Zhan Yun: Yan He is right, you deserve it.

Yin Xincheng: I won't become an enemy of the entertainment industry, right?

Lu Yan He: That depends on how big a storm your ex-wife can stir up. If you can't restrain her behavior, then it's better to cut ties completely and not get close.

Yin Xincheng: I don't want to get close to her at all. When I look back at the time I was with her, I was completely played around by her.

Bo Jin: Yin Xincheng, I found that you still have one advantage: you dare to admit your stupidity.

Yin Xincheng: Do you guys want to hit me one by one like this?

Yan Liang: I'm afraid that if we don't say it so bluntly, you won't understand.

Wen Minglan: You really brought this on yourself.

Yin Xincheng: I was wrong, I really know I was wrong, sigh...

Lu Yan He: You'd better really know.

"Really interesting." Meng Li shook her head with a smile, put down her phone, "Sure enough, it's the entertainment industry, you can see all kinds of strange things, even more dog-blooded than film and television dramas."

Zhou Ping'an was sitting opposite Meng Li.

He knew what Meng Li was talking about.

"Just watch this matter, don't get involved blindly."

"What am I getting involved in? I have no relationship with Yin Xincheng." Meng Li rolled her eyes, her fingers tapping on the several stacks of scripts printed in front of them, "The point is this, this script, you saw it, right? This Ning Yao's scenes are almost catching up to mine. Although she is an actress signed by Chen Pinhe's company, after all, I am the female lead, this is written in the contract."

Zhou Ping'an smiled and said: "This script is just written like this for the time being, it will be changed later."

"Will be changed?" Meng Li asked, "How to change?"

"Your scenes will increase." Zhou Ping'an said bluntly, "Ning Yao's scenes will also increase, and the two of you will divide up some of Chen Pinhe's scenes."

Meng Li showed a look of surprise.

"What is the situation?"

"Zhang Yuezhen and Chen Pinhe seem to be unhappy. Zhang Yuezhen wants to help Ning Yao fight for more scenes, but of course I won't agree to let her surpass you. Zhang Yuezhen reached an agreement with me that Ning Yao's scenes can be on par with yours, but this drama must also change from being centered on Chen Pinhe in the first part to three lines running in parallel. It is no longer a big male lead drama."

Meng Li tried hard to keep up with Zhou Ping'an's thinking, but couldn't.

"What?"

Zhou Ping'an: "Which part didn't you understand?"

"I don't understand any part. Is Zhang Yuezhen trying to kick Chen Pinhe out?" Meng Li asked in disbelief.

Zhou Ping'an nodded, "You guessed right, it's not necessarily kicking him out, but obviously, Zhang Yuezhen wants to explain one thing to Chen Pinhe: her energy. Of course, no matter what conflict happened between them, and whether they will make up later, this is a benefit for us. You already have the foundation of the first season's audience, and the second season's dramatic climaxes and character highlights will be more distributed to you. If you seize the opportunity, your character will soar and become the most popular character in the drama. It is not impossible for this series to become centered on you."

Meng Li was shocked.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Do you think I would kid you about this kind of thing?"

"Even if Zhang Yuezhen wants to step on Chen Pinhe, how could Chen Pinhe be stepped on by her so easily." Meng Li said, "He was indeed the core protagonist most liked by the audience in the first season, and besides, would Maxine and Jingtai bypass Chen Pinhe to buy Zhang Yuezhen's account?"

"Why are we struggling with these?" Zhou Ping'an said, "I only know that if you want to replace Chen Pinhe in the *Seventeen Layers: Reboot* series, another core creator of *Seventeen Layers*, Lu Yan He, he will definitely choose to support you and stand on your side."

Meng Li was incredulous: "Don't you know how bad my relationship with Lu Yan He is?"

Zhou Ping'an smiled slightly, confident and very certain, "That depends on who you compare with." ===== CHAPTER 910 =====