Chapter 55

"How dare you?"

"Who's ever been as domineering as you?"

"I'll let you see what true domineering means."

"Hey hey—"

Amid Emma's pleas, Xu Can pressed the remote for the electric curtains.

The blackout curtains slowly drew shut, blocking out the night of Los Santos.

Warm amber ambient lights turned on, casting a sultry glow across the living room.

…

Over the next few days, Emma Stone basically lived at Xu Can's place, too lazy to return to her rented apartment.

She even had her female assistant fetch her personal belongings.

She clung to Xu Can constantly, inseparable.

When Xu Can discussed company business with Happy, Emma sat quietly beside him, hugging his waist.

When Xu Can was busy refining the script, she chopped fruit in the kitchen and gently brought it to him.

The once silly, cheerful goofball had become a devoted little wife.

This change took Xu Can completely by surprise.

"Aren't you filming? I thought you had plenty of offers."

Xu Can wasn't annoyed by her—he was happy living with Stone Sister; the empty house now felt like a home.

But Emma should have her own life, her own space; always clinging to him wasn't right.

Besides, even if Xu Can had a workout routine… his body couldn't take it.

This little succubus!

"There's this one, 'Campus Bunny,' I don't really want to take…"

Emma's eyes brimmed with affection as she listed off her offers in a soft murmur:

"Bond girl in 'Quantum of Solace,'

"Lead in 'Twilight,'

"Voice of the hippo in 'Madagascar 2,'

"Lead in 'Cikelian Alliance'…"

Originally, Emma's status didn't qualify her for these lead roles—now she was fully qualified.

"Any advice?"

Emma Stone trusted Xu Can completely; no matter what trash role he told her to take, she'd do it.

"If you want to elevate your popularity another level, take 'Twilight'—but no kissing scenes!"

Xu Can gave his own idea.

If any film exploded globally in 2008, 'Twilight' was definitely among the top three.

The original lead, Kristen Stewart, became wildly famous.

If Emma Stone played the lead, it would be a huge boost to her acting career!

"Okay, I'll listen to you. If there's a kiss scene, I won't do it…"

Emma leaned gently against Xu Can's shoulder like a obedient little wife.

"What about you? How's your movie preparation going?"

"We can start filming next week—I've got a role for you."

"Is there a kiss scene? Should we practice ahead of time?"

Emma lightly bit her lower lip, gazing at Xu Can with suggestive eyes.

"Not just a kiss scene—there are even more intense scenes. Let's rehearse this first…"

"How did you recover so fast? Slow down…"

The curtains in Xu Can's study were drawn shut again.

…

Xu Can's filming plan was nearly ready.

As his new company's first film, he took this project very seriously.

His company, "Galaxy-Picture," was currently a startup with only a dozen or so employees.

The staff mainly handled administration, finance, production coordination, and promotion.

As for actual filming, he still needed to rely on Columbia Pictures' crew.

For this, Xu Can specifically had dinner with Howard Stringer, chairman of Sony Entertainment.

More precisely, it was Sony's chairman who invited Xu Can to dinner.

"These things are no problem—Columbia Pictures is your home, we're all family. We'll take only 20% of the production split; the rest follows market standards."

Howard Stringer laughed heartily.

The film's production investment structure was simple: the producer could receive roughly 43% of box office revenue; Sony had already taken the distribution and theater shares, leaving only the production team's costs.

After all, the hard work fell to the filming crew; Howard Stringer taking only 20% of the producer's share was like paying a basic salary—he gave Xu Can the remaining 80%, likely hoping to befriend this young man.

"No problem, thank you, Mr. Stringer, for your generosity. Future films we invest in will likely have more distribution cooperation."

"By the way, Spider-Man 2 can shoot anytime—would you be willing to start with Spider-Man first?"

Stringer's mind was full of Spider-Man—he wanted Xu Can to strike while the iron was hot and shoot the sequel as soon as possible.

In just one week, 'Spider-Man' had already grossed $440 million in North America! Over four hundred million!

It was a result he had never dared to dream of.

At the same time, film critics across the board, media reviews, and internet public opinion were unanimously singing the praises of *Spider-Man*!

Even the most stubborn, die-hard comic fans would agree that Xu Can's *Spider-Man* perfectly captured the original!

Could Stan Lee's personal endorsement be fake?

Shooting a sequel would basically be a money-printing machine — there was no reason not to make money!

Other regions around the world released it simultaneously, including Xu Can's homeland, the Huaxia market!

According to analysts' projections, given *Spider-Man*'s current momentum, the total box office might hopefully break through the one-billion-dollar Daguan!

The world would continue to set off a *Spider-Man* craze!

Stingy looked at Xu Can as though he were gazing at the God of Wealth!

"I plan to finish shooting this film first, and once it's wrapped, I'll immediately start production on *Spider-Man 2*!"

"Great! Wonderful! By the way, when you have time recently, you should chat with Kevin Feige — he's been wanting to reach out to you. You two could have a good talk about the story direction for *Spider-Man 2*."

Howard Stringer was overjoyed.

*Spider-Man*'s success was inseparable from Xu Can's early inspiration and creativity; with him participating in the screenwriting and production, the sequel's quality would certainly be guaranteed.

"No problem, I've been wanting to chat with Feige too."

Xu Can smiled and nodded, taking a bite of the steak on his plate.

The crisscrossing knife marks on the steak seemed to suggest that the entire Hollywood market would be gradually devoured by him!

That's right — his seeking out Kevin Feige was not just for *Spider-Man 2*!

It was for the entire Marvel!

Xu Can intended to firmly grasp the colossal beast of the future film market in the palm of his own hand!