Chapter 106: Taylor Swift sympathizes with Emma Stone, and tangles with Black Widow again

In his previous life, *La La Land* had a 30 million investment and eventually grossed over 400 million dollars.

It was released at the Venice Film Festival in September 2016 to good reviews, followed by its North American premiere on December 16, but the opening weekend box office was only 4.1 million dollars.

Thanks to good word-of-mouth, the final box office climbed steadily, making it a classic case of low cost and high return.

It also swept 14 nominations at the Oscars.

If not for the Best Picture blunder, *La La Land* could be called the 20...

For this kind of slightly artsy musical, Xu Can didn't have very high expectations.

The initial motivation for filming it was mostly just to keep his promise to Emma Stone to collaborate on a movie with her.

In terms of box office, Xu Can estimated that breaking 20 million dollars in the opening weekend would already be quite good.

As long as the final box office exceeded 500 million, it would be a huge profit!

After all, the original version had a 30 million investment, a large portion of which went to Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's salaries.

Both of them were basically in the 20 million club at the time; at the very least, they would have been paid 10 million each, so the cost of filming alone was only 10 million.

Because Xu Can and Emma both appeared for 0 salary, plus the dual buff of Xu Can's god-tier directing and god-tier acting, the filming progress was lightning fast.

The total investment was not even 10 million!

30 million would break even; if it exceeded 500 million, it would definitely be a massive profit with a return rate of dozens of times!

However, what Xu Can didn't expect was that this kind of film could also gross over 100 million in its opening weekend?

He really liked a netizen's comment: "Huh?"

But on second thought, it was understandable.

Later on, the domestic entertainment industry could contribute box office even for traffic stars with zero acting skills.

*The Untamed* could gross over 400 million RMB, and *Full River Red* could be pushed to 4 billion by the fans of the four-character actor.

I am, at the very least, one of the top Hollywood stars of the last two years; what's wrong with fans contributing to the box office?

"Xu, it seems you are completely unaware of your own popularity."

Happy Hogan was also teasing Xu Can.

With his consecutive hits recently, getting this result was very normal.

"Produced by Xu Can, it must be a masterpiece."

Everyone blindly chose to support the box office; Xu Can had never disappointed his fans.

Before this, the media predicted that the most competitive films of the same period would be Paramount's *Indiana Jones 4* and Disney's *The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian*.

Both of these films were favorites for the weekend box office champion; theoretically, other films had no power to fight them.

Who would have thought that a musical art film would kill two big-budget popcorn movies!

Especially Disney; after the release date was set, they even had the champagne ready, but this was the result?

*Indiana Jones 4* grossed 70.37 million in its opening weekend, which was a decent result.

*The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian* was quite miserable, with only 30 million in its opening weekend, not even comparable to the first day of *La La Land*.

Just as the *Los Angeles Times* said:

"Xu Can continues his title as a box office harvester; even an art-house musical has become a money-printing machine."

"According to analyst predictions, the global box office for *La La Land* is expected to reach 600-700 million dollars."

Besides the North American market, *La La Land* swept the weekly charts in every country.

Even in the mainland market, which was never fond of musicals, it managed to rake in 50 million RMB!

Big films about to be released, like *Red Cliff (Part I)* and *Painted Skin*, were panicked, shouting, "Don't come over here!"

The production companies of both films coincidentally chose to postpone, moving their May releases to the end of July.

They probably forgot that *Spider-Man 2* was waiting for them at the end of July!

Back in Los Angeles, Xu Can accompanied Emma Stone for a candlelight dinner, enjoying the beautiful night.

"Baby, how has filming in New York been lately? Did you miss me?"

"Of course, I think of you every day."

"Then is Anne Hathaway very gentle?"

"That's right..."

"Ha! You really are with her..." Emma Stone was immediately alert!

Xu Can, however, anticipated her anticipation first.

"What are you thinking? She is very gentle in her attitude when filming; we have a professional working relationship."

"Hmph, if you collaborate on a few more films, I'm afraid I won't even be on your list anymore..."

Emma Stone gave a coquettish huff, and Xu Can leaned in to "silence" her.

"How could that be? You are always number one with me."

No problem there; Emma Stone was indeed Xu Can's first screen partner.

"In your words, you really have a silver tongue!"

"Yo, you know idioms now?"

Xu Can discovered that Emma Stone, like Taylor Swift, had made rapid progress in Chinese recently.

Speaking of Taylor Swift, he still had to go see her later.

Fortunately, his cooldown time was very fast, so Xu Can wasn't panicked.

"Tay, what's wrong?"

"Darling, just hold me like this."

Arriving at Taylor Swift's apartment, Xu Can had intended to take action, but who knew Taylor seemed a bit down and had no interest for the moment.

Xu Can could only hold her and cancel his action plan for the time being.

"Do you think... will we eventually choose to separate because of our dreams?"

Taylor Swift suddenly looked up at Xu Can.

Probably in an emotional mood again.

"Tell me, are we chasing our dreams right now?"

Xu Can asked in return.

"Yeah, we are both doing what we love."

"Then that's it; chasing dreams doesn't conflict with us. Do you want to leave?"

"It's not like that..." Taylor Swift shook her head repeatedly.

"I just had some thoughts after watching the movie. Actually, you and Emma are really great. I can tell she likes you so much; I bet she must feel bad too."

"Uh... I guess so."

Xu Can felt ashamed.

Two hours ago, Emma Stone was indeed feeling quite "bad"—bad enough that she was begging for mercy.

Xu Can found it quite funny:

"Why did you start sympathizing with Emma? Didn't you want to compete with her before?"

"But she was really great in the movie. Emma is so excellent, she deserves a good ending."

Taylor Swift was very serious; it was clearly not sarcasm.

"Then I..." Xu Can probed.

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Taylor Swift's fierce glare.

"How Dare You! You dare?"

"I didn't even say anything; what are you thinking about?"

Xu Can gave up on the idea for now; it seems he still needs to take it slow.

Leaving Taylor Swift's place, Xu Can had to rush to the company to meet with the creative team to discuss the filming plans for *Iron Man 2* and *Captain America*.

*Iron Man 2* had confirmed Jon Favreau as director, the director of the original *Iron Man 1 & 2* and the actor who played Happy Hogan.

Having him there might not guarantee how good it would be, but at least it would guarantee a box-office commercial blockbuster.

Jon Favreau was quite surprised and very happy to serve as director; his admiration for Xu Can was like a surging river, endless, yet he was also a bit fearful, terrified of messing up *Iron Man 2*.

"Don't worry, choosing you means I believe you can do it well."

Although Xu Can was more than a decade younger than him, his status in the film industry was already beyond what Jon Favreau could compare to.

In addition, the Russo brothers were preparing the *Captain America* crew, and "Cap" Chris Evans was confirmed to join.

The actor who played "Bucky," Sebastian, and the British beauty who played "Carter," Hayley Atwell, had already signed on.

Comic book movies were no longer what they used to be; they were no longer the reviled things they were a few years ago.

Many actors were desperate to squeeze their way in to film with Xu Can; the resumes submitted by agents every day were more numerous than toilet paper.

As everyone knew, Xu Can was a "Midas touch," a strong guarantee for the box office.

The inspirational story of Robert Downey Jr.'s salary skyrocketing dozens of times definitely moved most actors in Hollywood.

This day, Cap, Hayley, Downey, Black Widow, and Pepper Potts were all on site; they belonged to different crews, but sooner or later they would appear in the same movie.

The group of actors was chatting quite congenially.

Seeing Xu Can arrive, they were subconsciously a bit constrained.

Fortunately, Downey and Black Widow were very familiar with Xu Can and greeted him warmly.

Cap and the others came up to meet him; it was their first time meeting, so they exchanged pleasantries.

Originally, several people were sitting casually on the sofa, while Pepper Potts, Gwyneth, sat on a single sofa nearby playing with her phone, not really participating in the conversation.

When Xu Can sat down, Pepper Potts, Gwyneth, seemingly unintentionally sat right next to Xu Can.

The expression of Black Widow, who was opposite her, suddenly became a bit strange.

At this time, the weather in Los Angeles was already a bit hot, and Gwyneth was wearing hot denim shorts, her knees brushing against Xu Can's legs.

Whenever Xu Can looked over, she always had a brilliant smile, her gaze hazy and almost "stringy."

When a girl is "burning," it's really obvious.