Chapter 289: Sweeping the National Day Slot, Aiming at Venice

The premiere ended, and the media quickly reported the news.

"Oscar-winning director Wei Jin's latest masterpiece, the sci-fi romance 'Passengers', has finished its premiere; the special effects are stunning, not to be missed!"

"'Passengers', the first domestically produced sci-fi blockbuster, makes a stunning debut!"

"A luxurious cameo lineup, arguably the best in the industry."

"Newcomer actress Nazha, screen debut, beautiful beyond compare!"

"Great director Wei Jin boasts a box office target of one billion!"

At the same time, most of the over one thousand invited fans also posted ratings and left comments on Yinxiang Net.

"Wei Jin's sci-fi film truly doesn't disappoint; the scenes are so stunning."

"I heard this was produced entirely domestically; I never imagined the domestic film industry had developed to this point. Must support it!"

"Gao Yuanyuan is really so beautiful; I want to marry her as my wife."

"Taking away the Xiyu young lady; the ancestors' aesthetic is truly high-class."

Scrolling through the comments online, Gao Yuanyuan felt very satisfied; this was her first big production.

"Yuan Yuanjie, we should bathe."

Wei Jin suddenly leaned into Gao Yuanyuan's ear and breathed lightly.

The heat coming from her earlobe made Gao Yuanyuan feel itchy all over; it was her most sensitive spot.

"There's really no helping you, you stinky little brother."

Soon, Da Meiyuan took off her gown, and she and Wei Jin both stepped into the bathtub.

"Mmm, so comfortable."

In the large bathtub, Gao Yuanyuan snuggled comfortably in Wei Jin's arms, tapping the man's chest with her finger.

"Xiao Jin, do you think our movie can really hit one billion at the box office?"

The misty water vapor brought a flush to Gao Yuanyuan's face, truly full of temptation.

"Yuan Yuanjie, that's hard to say; I can only say there is hope."

Wei Jin toyed with the beauty's softness, his whole body soaked in the hot water; it was incredibly enjoyable.

"But Yuan Yuanjie, we had a guaranteed minimum of 500 million before. You know I like to gamble; if it exceeds 500 million this time, shouldn't you show some appreciation?"

"What kind of tricks do you want to play now? You little rascal."

Gao Yuanyuan's tone was somewhat playful, and she took hold of the man's Dharma Treasure, toying with it.

"Let's play a new game; how about role-playing with assigned identities?"

Wei Jin was determined to promote this game; that way, when the time was ripe, it wouldn't be impossible to have the four palaces of the cardinal directions flying together.

Upon hearing this, Gao Yuanyuan understood the game's mechanics almost immediately. Knowing what the man was up to, she bashfully pounded her soft fist against Wei Jin's chest.

"You only know how to corrupt people all day long."

Gently grabbing Gao Yuanyuan's wrist, Wei Jin looked at her with affection in his eyes.

"Yuan Yuanjie, I cherish and love you too much; how could I corrupt you?"

As he spoke, Wei Jin kissed the beauty's fragrant lips. Gao Yuanyuan did not resist; instead, she parted her teeth slightly to welcome the visitor.

After a few minutes of wet kissing, combined with the soaking in the hot water of the bathtub, Gao Yuanyuan was already panting and felt weak all over.

"Yuan Yuanjie, if you don't like it, then forget it. You know, I hope you are happy every day."

"Xiao Jin, don't say anymore, love me." — Time has come to the 30th; as of now, there is truly no one left in the film market who can compete.

As an art-house film, 'Hawthorn Tree' has basically reached the end of its potential; after two weeks of release, the box office reported 130 million.

Compared to the 70 million production cost, it is undoubtedly very difficult to break even at the box office.

But for Zhang Yimou's art-house film, the copyright price alone has already broken even, or even yielded a slight surplus; no matter how much the box office is, it is pure profit.

'Reign of Assassins' is truly miserable; pure martial arts films seem to be very difficult to survive.

This film invested 14 million USD, nearly 100 million, but the first-day box office was only 5.5 million, and the second-day box office fell to less than 4 million.

As for the overseas box office, the producers were too embarrassed to announce it; Wu Baige has completely lost his great director halo.

As for 'Legend of the Fist', it had already sunk without a trace just over a week after its release.

Under these circumstances, major cinema lines tacitly gave 'Passengers' a super-high screening schedule; Shanhe Cinema Line and Wanda Cinema Line had a screening rate as high as 70%, and even the several cinema lines under China Film Group gave more than 55% of the screenings.

This treatment was almost catching up to 'Aftershock'.

There was no other way; the National Day Slot is such a huge period that the cinema lines could not give it up, and they were counting on the release of 'Passengers' to make a profit.

Gao Yuanyuan really had a dream of one billion in her heart and posted three Weibo updates in a row.

"Please support 'Passengers' a lot, thank you."

The content was simple and direct, and the attached pictures were also very casual: various selfies of afternoon tea and reading.

It's funny to say, but Gao Yuanyuan has quite a lot of male fans, so the comments under her Weibo became uniform:

"Yuanyuan, leave Wei Jin; he is not worthy of you."

On the last day before the holiday, Teacher Cao finally decided on the cast for 'The Piano Tuner'.

Looking at the final cast list in his hand, Wei Jin had to admire him.

"Teacher Cao, you're awesome. With this casting, I'm afraid they won't be able to say anything, haha."

For this audition, Wei Jin happened to be leading the crew in promotion, so he didn't get involved.

"I have to consider the quality of the film; the acting skills of those in the younger generation are truly hard to describe."

Seeming to recall the situation during the audition, the expression on Teacher Cao's face was somewhat complicated.

"That makes sense. Then, Teacher Cao, let's go with this list."

This drama has a total of four male characters and three female characters; those with slightly more screen time, the first and second male leads, and the first and second female leads, are all from Beijing Film Academy.

The male lead, the "blind" piano tuner, is Zhang Songwen; the second male lead, the police chief, is Jiang Wu.

The female lead, the wife of a washed-up star, Jiang Qinqin; the second female lead, the protagonist's girlfriend, Qingzi.

The remaining supporting roles are also veteran actors: the washed-up star is a cameo by Huang Lei, the black-market doctor is Guo Xiaodong, the black-market driver is Zhou Yiwei, and the old lady is Wu Yanzhu.

"Teacher Cao, when do you plan to start filming?"

"It's already been decided with the main creative team: October 15th."

"Alright." — In the evening, arriving at Ceng Li's place, Gao Yuanyuan was already playing with Dudu.

Wei Jin took Dudu into his arms and teased her for a while; the child, not yet a year old, was truly adorable.

Gao Yuanyuan took the initiative to chat about the release situation of *Passengers* on the side.

"The seat occupancy rate published on Yinxiang Net is quite good, almost no worse than *Aftershock*."

Speaking of this, Gao Yuanyuan took the initiative to take the laptop and let Wei Jin look at the photos of foot traffic at major flagship cinemas captured by the media.

Afterwards, she opened Yinxiang Net again to pull up the ratings and reviews.

"And the online word-of-mouth reviews are all very good, 7.6 points." Speaking of this, Yuan Yuanjie's face was full of excitement; she knew this meant the film's box office would definitely not be bad.

"Then let's stay up tonight and wait to see our results."

It wasn't just Wei Jin and Gao Yuanyuan waiting to see the data for *Passengers*.

Investors like China Film Group, Wanda, and Enlight Media were no exception; big companies like Huayi and Bona were also watching, as they also wanted to know what kind of results the last lone seedling of the National Day Slot could achieve.

Not long after midnight, the first-day data came out: 46.2 million.

Seeing this data, Gao Yuanyuan jumped up in excitement; she knew what this meant.

Although it couldn't compare to the first-day box office of *The Martian*, this was only the data for the 30th; the single-day box office for the National Day holiday would likely be even higher.

"Xiao Jin, looking at it like this, there really is a chance, haha."

"Xiao Jin, Yuanyuan, congratulations to you both."

Wei Jin wore a smile on his face, wrapped his arms around his two wives, and suggested:

"My two wives, let's have a good celebration tonight." — Just as Wei Jin was getting intimate with the two beauties, the headlines of major web portals had already been replaced with the first-day box office data for *Passengers*, and the click-through rate was soaring.

"46.2 million on the first day, *Passengers* is unstoppable!"

"If the daily box office is maintained, Director Wei Jin will undoubtedly reclaim the box office championship. Could it be that Director Feng's record can only be held for two months?"

Looking at the data online, Han Sanping's mouth was crooked from smiling, and he instructed his secretary to increase the intensity of the promotion.

Consequently, the next day, press releases for *Passengers* surged instantly.

Qiao Zhenyu, Gao Yuanyuan, and other main creative personnel were also posting one Weibo update after another, refusing no requests for interviews from reporters.

This was because they all knew very clearly that this time, *Passengers* really had a high possibility of creating new history.

"President Zhang, the box office for *Hawthorn Tree* plummeted yesterday; the single-day total is already less than two million."

Zhang Weiping listened to the secretary's report with a look of helplessness on his face; after all, it was an art-house film, and there was no way to confront it head-on.

"Forget it, it's already profitable anyway, and it can still rise a bit during the National Day period. By the way, what did they say about the roles in *The Flowers of War*?"

For this film, they had to build an outdoor set covering 150 mu in Jinling, and the cost would not be small. Zhang Weiping naturally had to consider the issue of recouping the investment. Fortunately, there were many female roles in the film, and there was huge room for maneuvering.

"Two of them have already offered five million."

"Hmm, don't be in a hurry to answer them. Gold masters always have to show sincerity when promoting people, haha."

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Zhang Weiping's face. Even if he only manipulated four roles, that was at least 20 million in the account. This film was set to start filming in mid-December, so he could continue to hold out; perhaps the price would be even higher.

"President Zhang is right." — Even Wei Jin himself did not expect that on the second day of the film's release, which was National Day itself, the daily box office would be so fierce.

"On the first day of the National Day holiday, *Passengers* brought in 59 million at the box office, setting a new record for single-day box office!"

"*Passengers* has been released for two days, with a box office total of 105 million!"

The film circle was completely boiling over. Breaking 100 million in two days again, plus dominating the slot, could Wei Jin's prediction of 1 billion be coming true again?

"Rather than saying it's Wei Jin's prediction, it's better to say that domestic films have already entered an era of high box office."

Mark said to Jiang Wen and Zhou Yun. As a mature Producer, his research on the market was very thorough.

"Hmm, that makes sense. This year, it was first *Aftershock*, and then *Passengers*. Even if the former's box office was padded, it was still at the 400-500 million level. This at least shows that the capacity of the film market has expanded significantly."

Jiang Wen pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement, while Zhou Yun on the side was somewhat pleasantly surprised.

"Then does that mean our *Let the Bullets Fly* can also enjoy this dividend?"

As a wife, Zhou Yun knew how much effort Jiang Wen had put into this film; he truly could no longer afford the price of failure.

"Pretty much. Even if Old Jiang's film has some barriers to entry for viewers, a 500 million box office is still something to think about."

Jiang Wen also nodded along. He felt that with the current situation in the film market, this goal was still reasonable; at least he wouldn't lose money. — The siphon effect of the film market appeared; during the big National Day slot, the audience was completely attracted by *Passengers*.

On the 2nd, 54.8 million; on the 3rd, 54.2 million. The domestic box office for 4 days of release was 214 million, which could be called terrifying.

At the same time, box office figures from all over the world were being collected from all directions.

The first weekend box office in Hong Kong was 18 million, Taiwan was 29 million, South Korea was 6 million USD, Japan was 8 million USD, and North America was 38 million USD. In its first four-day weekend, *Passengers* brought in 106 million USD at the global box office, strongly topping the global weekly box office chart! This result was undoubtedly inferior to *The Martian* back then, but everyone could understand; after all, the National Day Slot was exclusive to the domestic market and was not a popular slot for the global market.

For a time, the media became excited, ignoring the holiday to work overtime and report frantically: "Overseas results for *Passengers* are gratifying; the rise of domestic sci-fi blockbusters is unstoppable!"

"*Passengers* tops the global weekly box office chart; facts prove that sci-fi films are the key to going global!"

Looking at the media reports, Wang Zhonglei was somewhat moved.

"Brother, are we really not considering making a sci-fi blockbuster? What the media says is not without reason."

Although *Passengers* was still in theaters, looking at this momentum, the results would definitely not be bad. Coupled with the high profits brought by *The Martian* previously, Wang Zhonglei was quite envious.

With his own company holding a large amount of cash, he felt they could give it a try.

"Zhonglei, this result is something others cannot replicate."

How could Wang Zhongjun not be envious? It was just that he knew very clearly that, let alone Huayi, one couldn't find a second director in the country like Wei Jin who had such appeal on a global scale.

Not to mention anything else, just the treatment of having Hollywood stars and big names help promote it was not something any company in the country could enjoy.

"Besides, the relationship between Summit Entertainment and Wei Jin is likely not as simple as a strategic partnership. I suspect that kid holds shares."

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhonglei's eyes widened, but it seemed he recalled the unreasonable situations that had been happening all along, and he slowly nodded.

"The possibility is very high." The National Day holiday ended in a blink, and in the film market, *Passengers* stood alone at the top.

"In 8 days of release, Director Wei Jin's film *Passengers* has raked in 436 million, sweeping the National Day Slot!"

"For Director Wei Jin, reclaiming the domestic film box office record lost two months ago is already without suspense!"

"*Hawthorn Tree* has finished its run, with a total box office of 154 million."

The phones of Han Sanping, Ye Ning, Wang Changtian, and others rang one after another, all of them beaming with joy.

"Wei Jin, this time we are going to make a fortune, haha."

Han Sanping's laughter on the phone was undisguised; although the film had not yet finished its run, looking at this trend, even without considering overseas box office, it would definitely be profitable.

"Han Dong, we have just caught up with a good era for domestic films."

Wei Jin was able to maintain a calm state of mind; in the future, films with over a billion in box office would emerge one after another, so this current achievement was not worth mentioning.

"You are right, but others don't have this achievement. By the way, that film from your company, *Love is Not Blind*, I saw it at the General Administration, and it should pass review after the National Day. But you kid, can you stop making these small scripts and do something with big scenes instead?"

Hearing this, Wei Jin felt like laughing; big scenes were not necessarily more profitable than this film, and in all likelihood, Han was just resentful that he didn't have a chance to get on board.

"Han Dong, if it weren't for the large number of small and medium-budget productions in the country over these years cultivating the audience's viewing habits, I'm afraid our blockbusters wouldn't have any room to survive."

"Fine, fine, fine, I can't win an argument with you. But when will that sci-fi film you mentioned earlier start?"

"It's still early. This film is not easy to handle; I need to ponder it."

The Movie Channel interview had already aired, and Wei Jin's new film was no secret in the industry; many people had already inquired these past few days, and he had blocked them all.

"Alright, I'll wait for your news."

Hanging up the phone, Wei Jin shook his head; Han Sanping was likely in for a long wait this time.

Because before this sci-fi film, he intended to start another film aimed at winning awards, with his sights set on the Venice Golden Lion Award.

It had been almost two years since capturing the Golden Bear, and it was time to launch another charge. Today's second update (End of this chapter)