Chapter 322

Throughout the middle of May, the hottest news in the entertainment industry was related to the Cannes Film Festival.

As a boss behind the scenes, Yu Pangzi rarely made the headlines.

This fellow French-kissed a certain actress on the red carpet, sparking huge controversy.

To quell public opinion, this fat man announced the fact that he was already divorced, thinking this would exonerate him.

Unfortunately, his ex-wife back home directly exposed that he had long been having affairs with other actresses, and for a time, the fat man was at the center of the storm.

In addition, the most eye-catching person was Fan Bingbing; throughout the middle of May, she never left the entertainment headlines.

Her bright red strapless crane-patterned dress at the opening ceremony stunned everyone, but it was discussed at length by local media.

Because in France, the crane symbolizes stupidity and promiscuity.

When the news reached home, media and netizens accused her of being stupid and ignorant, saying she had lost face all the way abroad.

Subsequently, Fan Bingbing frequently attended various non-competition unit press conferences and red carpet shows, and was mocked by her old rival Zhang Ziyi: "No works, just forcing her way onto the red carpet."

One has to admit that Fan Bingbing's emotional and intellectual intelligence is truly high; facing the local media's discussion and the boiling public opinion at home, she directly explained publicly.

"Every gown I wear on the red carpet is of pure Huaxia style. I hope to spread Huaxia Culture to the whole world through the media lenses on the red carpet."

These words not only explained her previous clothing choices but also indirectly refuted Zhang Ziyi's accusation about her "crashing" the red carpet.

After this maneuver, a large number of netizens began to look back at Fan Bingbing's past red carpet gowns.

It was indeed true; whether it was last year's dragon robe, this year's crane, or the previous ink-wash Chinese characters, plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, etc., every one of Fan Bingbing's red carpet outfits was filled with rich Huaxia elements.

For a time, not only did the public opinion subside, but Fan Bingbing also gained quite a few fans; it can be said her methods were superb. —— Inside the office, Huo Wenxi was still in her professional attire, bowing slightly to report on work.

"Boss, news came from Golden Harvest; the box office data for the Southeast Asia region is out: 230 million."

Hearing this number, the refined man nodded slightly.

Time had already entered late May; "Ip Man 3" had already finished its run, with a box office of 389 million in Mainland China and 46 million in Hong Kong.

Counting the 230 million from Southeast Asia, this film's cumulative box office reached as high as 665 million.

Among this, the producers' share of the box office was about 250 million; after deducting production and distribution costs of 80 million, the net profit was as high as 170 million.

With a 40% share, plus distribution income, this time they really made a killing.

But thinking that the results could have been even better, Yang Lao Ban couldn't help but curse.

"Damn it."

Hearing this, Huo Wenxi understood her boss's mood.

If not for Zhen Zidan and "Guan Yunchang" causing trouble, "Ip Man 3" could have had at least another 100 million in domestic box office; it was truly a pity.

After feeling regret in her heart, Huo Wenxi collected her thoughts and continued reporting:

"The copyright for 'SPL: Sha Po Lang' has been secured."

"Good."

A look of surprise immediately appeared on Yang Lao Ban's face; it could truly be called losing on the eastern wall but gaining on the western wall.

He believed that although this series hadn't been developed yet, since Wei Jin specifically brought it up, he must already have a very good idea in mind.

Plus, with the copyright in hand, they would have considerable initiative in subsequent cooperation; it might even bring greater benefits than the "Ip Man" series.

"But, is the celebration banquet for 'Ip Man 3' really not being held?"

Huo Wenxi raised her question; in her view, as listed companies, Golden Harvest and Emperor Group holding a grand celebration banquet should have quite a few benefits for their stock prices.

"Not holding it. I get annoyed just seeing that damn guy, and besides, Wei Jin is of the same mind."

"How is the audition going for A Shan?"

"Very well. She successfully landed the role of the second female lead in 'The White Storm'. I heard the part is quite substantial."

Speaking of this, Huo Wenxi couldn't help but marvel at her boss's superb methods; a single "scandal" directly made Wen Yongshan popular in the Hong Kong circle.

"Hmm, release more press releases about her; establish a persona of being diligent and ambitious."

"I understand, Boss." —— After a month and a half of filming, "Gravity" had reached its final stages. Wei Jin estimated that if everything went smoothly, it would wrap up in about a week.

However, the real difficulty of this film was not in the filming, but in the post-production.

Wei Jin remembered very clearly that this film received 10 Oscar nominations and won 7, the vast majority of which were technical awards.

Although it had been changed to a domestic version now, Wei Jin believed that as long as he was willing to spend money, not to mention achieving the original's amazing feat of 10 nominations and 7 wins, winning four or five awards shouldn't be a problem.

So this time, he intended to personally complete the post-production editing, dubbing, and scoring, striving to win a few more Oscar category awards to complete his stamp-collecting hobby.

The heat from the cigarette held between his left fingers brought Wei Jin back to his senses, ending his boring thoughts.

Turning to walk onto the set, he saw that all departments of the crew were ready. Wei Jin picked up the megaphone and shouted.

"Action."

Today's scene was the female lead finally arriving at the International Space Station, waiting to rest for a while, but the place was also destroyed and a fire broke out. The female lead failed to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher and had to leave.

This scene was one of the few interior cabin scenes in the film, and the weightless state relied entirely on the coordination of the puppetry team.

Twelve steel cables were connected to the special suit worn by Ceng Li through four buckles.

With the control and coordination of the puppetry technicians, Ceng Li appeared in the lens as if she were not controlled by gravity, flexibly presenting all sorts of incredible movements.

"Cut."

Looking at the footage in the lens, Wei Jin compared it repeatedly in his mind and issued an instruction.

"This take is good. The crew should prepare for the next scene." —— Three months had passed since "Xuan-Yuan Sword" was greenlit, and it finally held its official startup ceremony.

For this TV series adapted from a game by Tangren, the media gave it great attention and coverage.

"After 'Chinese Paladin 1' and 'Chinese Paladin 3', Tangren's another game-adapted drama, 'Xuan-Yuan Sword', held its startup press conference at Hengdian World Studios today!" "Hu Ge and Tang Yan will play a couple for the first time!"

"Tangren's signed artist and Shanghai Theatre Academy freshman Dilraba will play the Nüwa Descendant in 'Xuan-Yuan Sword', challenging Zhang Li's Zixuan and Liu Yifei's Zhao Ling'er!"

"Also a beauty from Xiyu, Dilraba's looks are not inferior to Guli Nazha at all!"

One has to say, Miss Cai's promotional methods were still as smooth as ever; whether it was Liu Yifei or Nazha, she didn't miss a single bit of traffic she could latch onto.

However, the effect was quite good; at least many netizens had a preliminary impression of this newcomer from the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and they also had a sense of anticipation for this new drama from Tangren.

Looking at the news online, Zhao Liying felt a bit envious of Rouba; she was professionally trained and started out with a major role in a popular TV drama from Tangren—another lucky one. —The May film market had completely flopped; most domestic films ended with a box office of only one or two million, a dismal conclusion.

Films scheduled for release in June and July had already begun their frantic promotional modes.

*The Raid* and *Wu Xia* were naturally no exceptions.

Chen Kexin had just returned from the Cannes Film Festival and was frequently attending promotional events for *Wu Xia* with his wife.

It had to be said, some people really had something wrong with their brains; when Wu Junru was being interviewed, she actually publicly dissed her opponent.

"Wu Jing is just a Mainland China flop who has been hanging around Hong Kong for so many years and isn't even considered a second-tier actor. How much box office can a film he stars in possibly have? A flop who was still playing a supporting role to Zidan a few years ago, and now he actually wants to challenge Zidan in the ring? Is he worthy?"

Wu Junru's sharp and mean demeanor made the atmosphere at the scene go cold instantly, but Chen Kexin just watched with a smile on the side, clearly believing that what she said was correct.

A reporter was indignant and spoke up to refute her directly.

"*Guan Yunchang* has already lost everything; I'm afraid Zhen Zidan's drawing power isn't even as good as Wu Jing's anymore, right?"

Zhen Zidan naturally wouldn't stand for it; he had already entered the twenty-million-yuan salary bracket, and even if his market value had plummeted, he was still not someone a Wu Jing could compare to, so he retorted immediately upon hearing this.

"*Wu Xia* is a Kung Fu film, and this is exactly what I am best at. I believe the box office will definitely have a different performance."

This guy had become smarter now and didn't dare to easily shout out targets, which left the reporters with no way to attack, so they immediately turned their guns and started digging into Chen Kexin's "corruption" incident.

"Director Chen, last time you spent 43 million to build a Hong Kong, this time a straw hat costs 6,000 USD; isn't that a bit too extravagant?"

Chen Kexin's face darkened, and he retorted directly.

"Money is earned, not saved."

"Then may I ask Director Chen, have your current films in Mainland China all made money for the investors?"

As soon as the reporter's words came out, the scene erupted in cheers, and Chen Kexin, with a livid face, led the film crew to retreat in a sorry state.

On the other side, while Wu Jing was running promotions, he was naturally asked about related topics, and his answer was very domineering.

"Many years ago, I did indeed play a supporting role to Zhen Zidan, but that was the era of Hong Kong films. How many Hong Kong films are still box-office hits now?"

The reporters at the scene were all excited; Wu Jing was publicly counterattacking, and then another reporter asked.

"Zhen Zidan stated that Kung Fu films are his area of expertise; do you think it's possible to defeat him?"

Wu Jing showed disdain and left behind only one sentence that made the reporters at the scene boil with excitement.

"When it comes to Kung Fu, he is far behind. If he's not convinced, let's meet in the ring!"

Leaving the promotional site, Wu Jing sat in the van, and the Assistant beside him hesitated repeatedly before speaking his mind.

"Brother Jing, by taking this stance, you are going to offend the Hong Kong Circle and Zhen Zidan to death."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Wu Jing began to close his eyes to rest, not wanting to say more.

Regarding today's interview, he had thought it through very clearly; the decline of Hong Kong films was an indisputable fact. Since 2005, the Mainland China film market had begun to flourish, and the speed of its rise in recent years was even more astonishing, so he had long planned to return to Mainland China for development.

After this time with *The Raid*, regardless of success or failure, he would never return to Hong Kong, so naturally, it didn't matter if he offended the Hong Kong Circle.

As for Zhen Zidan, he cared even less; back then in *SPL: Sha Po Lang*, he had been bullied by Zhen Zidan quite a bit, but out of respect for Hong Jinbao and because he had just arrived in Hong Kong to develop, he had endured it.

But a person who practices martial arts has a hot-blooded nature; all these years, he had been waiting every moment for a chance to take revenge. Now that it had finally come, what else was there to endure? The Assistant on the side looked at Wu Jing like this, wanting to speak but stopping, and in the end, could only sigh helplessly.

Sure enough, as Wu Jing's Assistant had expected, Wu Jing's remarks aroused great indignation in the Hong Kong Circle.

Because what Wu Jing said was the truth, but the truth is often the most hurtful, because Hong Kong films had indeed declined.

But before they could act, another piece of news directly ignited the relationship between the two places.

*The Lion Roars 2* was expected to start filming in July, and the Hong Kong film crew, in order to create hype, announced directly to the public:

"Fan Bingbing will join *The Lion Roars 2* to play a supporting role."

Once the news came out, Mainland China was in an uproar. Nine years ago, Fan Bingbing played a supporting role to Zhang Baizhi because the former's status was still low and the latter was very popular in Hong Kong.

But now, nine years later, Fan Bingbing was already a popular top actress in Mainland China; looking at Zhang Baizhi, she was just an outdated actress. Hong Kong actually had the audacity to expect Fan Bingbing to continue playing a supporting role to Zhang Baizhi—how could this be possible!

Fan Bingbing Studio immediately came forward to respond:

"First of all, we did not receive an invitation. Secondly, Fan Bingbing has her own artistic pursuits. Since winning the Tokyo Film Festival Best Actress, her choices regarding scripts will be even more rigorous."

This slap in the face by Yang Siwei directly caused the Hong Kong Circle to explode. First Wu Jing, then Fan Bingbing—it was simply too bullying.

Hong Kong media began various sarcastic and cynical taunts. When Wu Jing and Fan Bingbing first arrived in Hong Kong, how humble they were and how they fawned over the Hong Kong film circle; now that they had a little fame, they started looking down on the place where they got their start. Terms like "ingratitude" and "white-eyed wolf" were thrown out one after another.

Regarding this, the netizens didn't put up with it and started retorting directly online.

jzddy_1: "Fan Bingbing has been growing all along, appearing in Hollywood big productions, and even won an international A-list film festival Best Actress award. Now she is even developing in the direction of capital, but what is Zhang Baizhi doing? Chatting, laughing, and taking selfies with Chen Laoshi on a plane? Poor Emperor Xie; he's going to be wearing a green hat again."

Shuhailidemichong: "People said there were no photos, what? Chen Laoshi released the photos? I really envy Chen Laoshi; he can still have a comeback."

Congxiaoaichimiantiao: "Although Wu Jing isn't very famous, he has never had any scandals and has been diligent since entering the industry. What about Zhen Zidan? On set, he's either a bully or double-booking roles. This wave, I support Wu Jing!"

Parisxifan: "Wu Jing is a real man. If Zhen Zidan isn't convinced, then let's meet in the ring. I ask you, do you dare?"

Wuhansanma: "I'm afraid he doesn't dare. He's pushing fifty; the fist fears the young and strong."

From the internet to the industry, the matter had completely blown up. (End of chapter)