Chapter 236: Filming and Box Office Revenue

Looking at Qiao Zhenyu, who had finished his makeup, Wei Jin nodded with satisfaction.

"Not bad, Zhen Yu, your physique is quite impressive."

Wearing a specially made vest, Qiao Zhenyu looked very spirited and incredibly handsome.

"Director Wei is joking. I'm only thirty-one; I still want to be popular for a few more years, haha."

Qiao Zhenyu had a relatively shy personality, and it was only because he and Wei Jin had known each other for a long time that he spoke this way.

"That's true. You're different from Datou; you still have to rely on your looks to make a living, so physique management is very necessary."

In the entertainment industry, although the competition among male actors is not as intense as it is for female artists, one cannot ignore the fact that peers in the same cohort have started to engage in cutthroat competition.

As one of the most popular male actors born in the 70s in Mainland China, Qiao Zhenyu is benchmarked against Huang Xiaoming and Chen Kun; he cannot afford to let himself go, otherwise, he might fall behind if he isn't careful.

"Alright, we need to prepare to start. Yesterday afternoon was just a rehearsal to find the feeling; now we are filming for real. Zhen Yu, bring out your best state."

"Understood, Director Wei."

The on-site camera positions began to be adjusted; Qiao Zhenyu lay into the Hibernation Pod, with Nazha waiting on the side.

Filming a sci-fi movie has a very specific problem: many scenes require No-object Performance, which leads to the footage on Wei Jin's monitor looking very awkward.

The first wave of meteorite impacts set in the script must be completed entirely through Post-production Special Effects.

"Passengers, Scene 1, Take 1, action."

Following Wei Jin's order, the filming of Passengers officially began.

In the frame, the top of the Hibernation Pod slowly rose, and Qiao Zhenyu, who was lying inside, was awakened.

His eyes were full of confusion and emptiness, somewhat like a computer that had been in standby for a long time and was currently rebooting.

The scene shifted; Nazha was already standing in front of Qiao Zhenyu. Post-production Special Effects would turn Nazha into a Virtual Projection mode, but on set, it had to be performed this way.

On the monitor, Nazha wore a smile, and her crisp voice rang out at the right moment.

"Good morning, Mr. Wei. How do you feel?"

"What do you mean?"

"Very confused? That's normal. You have just awakened from a hibernation state lasting 120 years."

"What? Where is this?"

"This is the Nvwa interstellar spacecraft. We are about to reach our new home."

"Cut."

Wei Jin repeatedly checked the footage on the monitor; Nazha's performance was better than he had imagined.

As a newcomer actor, she certainly couldn't go head-to-head with Qiao Zhenyu, but this kind of question-and-answer, simple-minded performance was actually quite decent.

"This take is a pass. Nazha, good performance, keep it up."

Hearing Wei Jin's affirmation, a smile immediately appeared on Nazha's face, and she bowed in gratitude.

"Thank you, Director Wei, thank you, Brother Zhen Yu."

The crew members looked at Nazha's demeanor and all laughed; the young girl was just very sweet-talking. —— Wei Jin did not expect that not even two days after starting, he would welcome the first visitor to the set.

"Senior brother, what brings you here?"

At this moment, Ning Hao had a pair of dark circles under his eyes, looking like someone who had been severely overdrawn after being squeezed dry.

"Hey, don't mention it. You'll know when you get to my age."

Ning Hao looked listless; two or three months' worth of debt compressed into a mere week or two—even a man of iron couldn't handle that.

Seeing this, Wei Jin could only sigh, "At thirty, a woman is like a wolf; at forty, like a tiger. The ancients did not deceive me."

"Have you finished the post-production?"

"Yeah, it's done. I've already submitted it to the Film Bureau. I can get the Dragon Mark in a month at most. After that, I'll go to Venice, haha. I'm very confident this time."

Speaking of his new movie, Ning Hao was full of excitement, as if he had already seen the grand occasion of himself winning an award in Venice.

"Alright then, I'll congratulate you in advance."

Wei Jin remembered that in his past life, this movie seemed to have been stuck for two or three years, but it wasn't the right time to dampen his enthusiasm.

"By the way, since you're here, do a cameo for me."

"Huh? Me? What do I play?"

Ning Hao was a bit dazed; he had been press-ganged just like that? "Someone, take Director Ning to change clothes. No need for makeup. The character profile is: Slacker Internet Author."

Wei Jin shouted toward the logistics staff, causing everyone to burst into laughter. These deep dark circles and the look of being drained dry—wasn't that the true appearance of a slacker writer? —— Time entered June, and Painted Skin 2 ended its theatrical run, with the box office stopping at 383 million, breaking the record of its predecessor.

Originally, the major producers wanted to extend the run to try and break 400 million, but unfortunately, there were too many pirated versions, and the daily box office was less than 200,000, so they had to give up.

When Han Sanping called Wei Jin, he seemed a bit regretful; he believed that in the end, it suffered from the release window, as the May Day holiday was too lackluster.

Regarding this, Wei Jin was noncommittal. The May Day holiday was lackluster, but there were almost no competitors; whether other windows could achieve this result was really hard to say.

Not mentioning the regrets of the major producers, the media was quite excited about it. After all, it was the second domestic film to exceed 300 million at the box office, and related reports were everywhere.

"Painted Skin 2, jointly produced by Shanhe Media, China Film Group, Enlight Media, Bona, and Western Film Group, has a total box office of 383 million!" "Painted Skin 2 surpasses its predecessor's performance, rising to second place on the domestic film box office chart!"

"Wu Ershan—the newly minted 300-million-box-office director."

"Overseas box office for Painted Skin 2, pending announcement by China Film Group."

The 383-million box office made all industry peers envious; this didn't even count overseas box office and copyright deals.

Although he believed that if Wei Jin had directed it, the box office would definitely have been higher, Han Sanping was still very satisfied. After all, with an investment of no more than 60 million, the returns were too great.

"How is it over in Southeast Asia?"

"News from Golden Harvest says the total box office across several regions should exceed 40 million USD."

Hearing this number, Han Sanping was very satisfied. Under Wei Jin's management, Golden Harvest's distribution capability was getting stronger and stronger; they were almost unchallenged in the Nanyang region.

"Not bad. According to this data, it's no less than the revenue from selling the copyrights initially."

Although Golden Harvest had to deduct a large distribution fee for this kind of overseas distribution, when calculated, the production side could basically still get at least one-third, which was over 12 million USD.

Adding the 5 million USD for North America, 2 million USD for South Korea, and 3 million USD for Japan, that's a full 22 million USD, far more profitable than the first one.

Thinking of this, Han Sanping once again felt great resentment toward Chen Shiren; it was all because of this idiot, as costume films were no longer popular abroad, and one had to know that 4 years ago, *Painted Skin* had sold 8 million USD in North America.

"Confirm with Golden Harvest once more; if the data is correct, then announce it. Let the industry know that the era of domestic blockbusters has arrived!" — *Passengers* filming set, Wei Jin watched the image on the monitor.

The first part of this film almost belonged to a one-man show for the male lead, which really tested the acting skills of Qiao Zhenyu.

In the shot, Qiao Zhenyu, as the protagonist, truly believed he was about to reach his destination, and his mood was very cheerful.

Under the guidance of the artificial intelligence, he began to wash, dress up, and prepare to attend skills training to adapt to life in the new home.

"Cut, this take is passed, let's take a break first."

Wei Jin called out to Qiao Zhenyu.

"Zhen Yu, for the next scene, you need to express the process of gradually losing control of your emotions after realizing something is wrong, leading to an emotional outburst. You should find the state first."

Not far away, Lei Jiayin and Gao Yuanyuan started chatting; the two had always had a pretty good relationship.

"Yuan Yuanjie, isn't it not your scene yet? Why do you come over every day?"

Of course, Gao Yuanyuan could not say directly that she was here to keep an eye on Wei Jin, afraid he would make a move on the young girl, but looking at Lei Jiayin's costume, she still couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"If I didn't come over, how could I see this look of yours? Haha."

At this moment, Lei Jiayin's upper body was in a proper suit and tie, but from the lower body down, it turned into the color of a green screen.

"Hey, what's this about? My lower body is going to have special effects added later, that kind of Mechanical Leg, you know? A top-tier Intelligent Bionic Robot, understand?"

"Understand, of course I understand. It means you're not playing a human anymore, right? It's fortunate it's only the lower half."

Gao Yuanyuan and Lei Jiayin were too familiar with each other, and she completely revealed another side of herself.

"Yuan Yuanjie, I call this sacrificing for art."

Lei Jiayin knew the relationship between the sister in front of him and the boss, so he was very careful with his words, but it still earned him an eye-roll from Gao Yuanyuan.

"Pfft~~"

After some playful banter, filming began again.

On the monitor, Nazha, playing the artificial intelligence, narrated the events with a smile, but the information conveyed was incomparably cold:

"About thirty years have passed since leaving Earth, and we will arrive at the new home in ninety years and five weeks."

At this time, Qiao Zhenyu's face turned pale, his voice trembled, and his emotions began to gradually collapse.

His legs stumbled, and he almost fell; his eyes were wide open, and the bloodshot veins in his eyes were clearly visible under the lens.

The subsequent muttering revealed a feeling of Dead Silence: "Too early, I woke up, too early."

"Cut."

Although he had called stop, he hadn't called "passed," and the actors watching on set began to feel nervous; they felt that Qiao Zhenyu had already performed very well.

"Hmm, the details are very spot on, Zhen Yu, not bad."

To the actors on set, Wei Jin's voice sounded like music to their ears, and upon hearing this, Qiao Zhenyu let out a long sigh of relief; this kind of state was not something one could have at any time.

"Alright, today's filming ends here, everyone remember to be on time tomorrow" — The efficiency of China Film Group was very high; the magnificent data of *Painted Skin 2* had completely spread throughout the entertainment industry.

Domestic box office was 383 million, Southeast Asia box office was 40 million USD, and overseas copyrights totaled 10 million USD.

Looking at this series of numbers, the industry could not help but start calculating the profits of this film.

On the domestic side, the production side's shareable box office was about 155 million, overseas box office was about 12 million USD, plus 10 million USD in copyrights, and in addition to things like on-screen advertisements, the total profit for the production side was definitely over 300 million.

Film companies in the industry were all green with envy; 60 million in costs, over 300 million in profit, that was a net profit of more than 4 times.

They believed that this film would definitely appear in the Film Bureau's year-end summary report.

After the envy came the reflection; aside from Wei Jin's script and the boost from the previous installment, director Wu Ershan's performance was also not bad, and for a time, Wu Ershan's status in the industry soared.

Many companies in the industry had already regarded him as a commercial director on the same level as Feng Dapao, and they threw out olive branches one after another, even more blatantly than before.

Second update today, wishing everyone a happy Chinese New Year in advance!! (End of chapter)