Chapter 328: The Division of Camps, Casting, and Crushing the Competition

"This investment was brought to me by the wife of President Cao of Xinli."

After hearing Fan Bingbing's explanation, Wei Jin nodded; that actually made sense.

Cao Huayi had followed the Beijing Circle bigwig Hai Yan in his early years, serving as the general manager at the latter's Zhong Sheng Chunqiu Film and Television.

Later, following Hai Yan's decline, Cao Huayi, feeling his wings were fully grown, struck out on his own and founded Xinli Media; he and Wang Changtian were alumni, and old Wang even held shares in Xinli, so the relationship between the two was quite close.

Given this, it was only logical that Cao Huayi would be involved with this project.

However, Wei Jin then furrowed his brows again.

"Cao Huayi is also considered part of the Beijing Circle; why would he think to get involved in this kind of project?"

"Uncle, the Beijing Circle isn't a monolith either. President Cao's wife and Chen Hong are classmates; they are closer with people like Chen Daoming, Zhao Baogang, Yu Rongguang, and Zhang Fengyi, and they count as a different camp from those old-guard remnants."

Hearing Fan Bingbing's explanation, Wei Jin suddenly understood; those old guys really were failures.

Seeing the man's expression gradually soften, Fan Bingbing began to act cute and coquettish to beg for resources.

"Uncle, I'm already a top-tier actress; if I go to act in a TV drama, it would be a disgrace to you. Plus, this is a man's play, so I won't be appearing in it. You know, I want to be on the big screen."

After finishing, Fan Bingbing buried her head in the man's chest, and her lips began to wander.

"Mmm."

Wei Jin immediately felt fine goosebumps rise on his body; this woman really knew how to play. He then gripped her pair of 3s, and while toying with them, said somewhat teasingly:

"Speaking of movies, haven't you already taken on Li Yu's new project? I heard there are quite a few exciting scenes again?"

Hearing this, Fan Bingbing was secretly delighted; this man might not care about her on the surface, but in his heart, he ultimately didn't want her to be exposed.

Thinking of this, Fan Bingbing stroked Wei Jin's abdominal muscles with one hand, leaned down, pressed against his ear, and whispered:

"Uncle, if you don't like it, I'll just turn it down. From now on, I'll only show them to you; I only ask that you promote me."

Feeling the hot breath against his ear, Wei Jin felt his member begin to swell and reached out to pat the woman's perky buttocks.

"Hmph, that depends on your performance."

Hearing this, Fan Bingbing gave a charming smile, consciously lay on the bed, raised her beautiful buttocks high, and even shook them for effect.

"Uncle, whatever you like, your sister-in-law will give it to you. Tonight, don't hold back on me."

"That's what you said; don't call me 'Daddy' later." — On June 30th, *The Raid* was released.

With the gimmick of two major Kung Fu stars facing off, the previous promotion had been pushed to the extreme.

The entire film and television circle was watching this 20-million-budget film, because this was the first time an industry peer had proactively challenged Shanhe Media head-on.

Once *The Raid*'s box office was unsatisfactory, it would mean that Wei Jin was not invincible, and those jealous monsters in the circle who had long been dissatisfied with him would swarm in.

As for the box office, Wei Jin was not worried at all.

First, judging from the pre-sale ticket situation on Yinxiang Net, the audience was full of anticipation for this film.

Second, for this release, the cinema chains' scheduling was also very strong; whether it was Shanhe Cinema Line, Wanda Cinema Line, or the chains under China Film Group, all gave extremely high scheduling support.

After all, among the films currently showing, only *The Founding of a Republic* and *Fortune Inn* still had some box office potential.

With all these external forces added, Wei Jin believed the box office results would not be bad.

Sure enough, just two hours into July, Yinxiang Net updated the first-day data for *The Raid*.

On its first day of release, *The Raid* brought in 21.9 million at the box office.

The data seemed average, but one had to know that the release day was a Thursday; entering the weekend, the single-day box office could even break 30 million.

The online word-of-mouth was also quite good, with a rating as high as 7.8 on Yinxiang Net, and many netizens who had been to the cinema left comments.

Paris Porridge: "The plot is nothing to write home about, but I have to admit, it's high-energy from start to finish, and the adrenaline is skyrocketing."

Crazy Gray Rabbit: "I just love this kind of pure violence, high-pleasure, high-tempo movie. Although I forgot what it was about after watching it, these two hours were very satisfying, super satisfying!"

Benefiting from the fermentation of word-of-mouth, *The Raid*'s box office climbed all the way, and on the second day, it surged to 26.8 million.

Entering the weekend, it saw explosive growth; on the third day, the single-day box office broke 30 million, reaching 33.4 million, and on the fourth day, it brought in 32.3 million.

For the first four-day weekend, *The Raid* brought in 114 million at the box office.

This result immediately caused an uproar in the circle; according to this box office trend and word-of-mouth, this film breaking 300 million was almost a certainty, and there was even a not-insignificant probability of breaking 400 million.

No one expected that a film with such a low production cost and such a thin cast would actually have the chance to achieve results that many blockbusters would find daunting.

Many in the circle were envious of Lin Chao-xian and Wu Jing; in their view, this was purely the blessing of Wei Jin's script.

However, as the saying goes, one man's joy is another's sorrow.

As of June 30th, *Beginning of the Great Revival* had been released for 2 weeks and the box office had broken 300 million, but with the release of *The Raid*, the box office was cut in half; over four days, the box office growth was less than 30 million, and the single-day box office had already fallen below 5 million, and even the cinema chains had started to adjust their scheduling.

After all, China Film Group could buy out screenings, but the spontaneous commercial behavior of private cinema chains was not subject to control.

But this was not the most miserable part; the single-day box office for Wang Jing's *Fortune Inn* dropped by more than 70 percent.

As of now, *Fortune Inn* had been released for a week, with a box office of 45 million, and the single-day box office was already less than 2 million.

The cinema chains had lowered the scheduling for the film again and again; originally, Yu Pangzi was counting on the box office to break 100 million, but now that thought was completely shut down, only hoping for another 20 or 30 million to break even.

By now, the industry's attention was on the upcoming *Wu Xia*, and the pressure was instantly on Zhen Zidan and Chen Kexin.

At the premiere, the question reporters asked most was about the recently released *The Raid*.

"Director Chen, the investment and promotion costs for *Wu Xia* are far higher than *The Raid*. In terms of box office, are you confident you can defeat it?"

"Director Chen Kexin is a well-known major director in the industry, and the leads are international big names like Zhen Zidan and Jin Chengwu. In terms of box office, we have absolute confidence."

Facing the media's cameras, Qin Hong was the first to state his position; at the very least, they couldn't lose on momentum.

"Then may I ask Director Chen, what are your expectations for the box office of *Wu Xia*?"

Chen Kexin appeared very calm; in his heart, *The Raid* and *Wu Xia* were simply not in the same league.

"A floor of 500 million, sprinting for 700 million." — The focus of the actors in the industry was different from that of the production companies; no matter how the smoke of the film market filled the air, it had nothing to do with them.

But the casting for Wei Jin's new film was a very important matter, so even though they were only supporting roles, the number of people coming to submit resumes was quite large, and the competition was very fierce. At this time, the benefits of having someone at the top were reflected.

Shu Chang was feeling extremely refreshed at this moment; having just finished filming *Magic Mobile Phone 2*, she had picked up a huge bargain, and she couldn't wait to hug Yifei and give her a kiss.

"What are you happy about? We're here."

Watching her best friend's silly expression, Liu Yifei spoke up to remind her, which finally pulled Shu Chang out of her fantasies.

The two walked into the Shanhe Building hand in hand; pestered by the receptionist, Shu Chang, who was visiting Shanhe Media for the first time, had no choice but to leave an autograph before hurrying toward the conference room.

Along the way, there was naturally no shortage of visiting the display cabinets.

"Wow, Golden Bear, Palme d'Or, Golden Globe, Little Golden Man—are they all pure gold?"

Shu Chang's eyes were filled with desire, but Liu Yifei paid no mind; she had already played with these things many times.

Soon, the two arrived at the conference room, and then actors began to arrive one after another.

Before long, the entire creative team for Once Again had gathered.

Everyone was chatting, and after only a moment, Wei Jin walked in.

"Welcome, everyone."

After a round of pleasantries, the script read-through began.

Watching the actors before him quickly enter a working state, Wei Jin nodded with satisfaction.

For this shoot, he intended to cut the Gordian knot, so he had moved the read-through up by a few days to let the actors get into the zone early.

After three days of auditions, all the roles had now been finalized.

For the role of the "Old Lady," he chose Wu Yanzhu; she had superb acting skills and had also participated in The Piano Tuner, so it was a case of using someone familiar rather than a stranger.

For the role of the "Father," he chose Wang Zhiwen; there was no need to say much about his acting skills—he was absolutely a powerhouse actor.

For the role of the "Servant," he chose the original actor, Wang Deshun; Wei Jin highly approved of his performance in the film.

It is worth mentioning that this role was decided directly by Wei Jin; upon receiving the invitation call from the company, the 70-plus-year-old Wang Deshun rushed over without a second thought, fearing he might miss the opportunity.

It must be said that it is truly not easy for elderly actors to get such an opportunity.

For the role of the "Daughter-in-law," he chose Marie; don't misunderstand, this Marie is not the Marie from Happy Mahua.

This Marie, who shared the same name, was a graduate of the orthodox Central Academy of Drama, a classmate of Guo Tao, and was currently a National Class-A Actor with quite remarkable acting skills; at 44 years old, she was absolutely perfect for playing a put-upon daughter-in-law.

The "Granddaughter" role, a minor part with decent screen time, was given to Shu Chang; this was a whim Liu Yifei had a few days ago after learning that Magic Mobile Phone 2 had wrapped up filming.

After the young girl begged and promised quite a few benefits, Wei Jin smiled and agreed; after all, Shu Chang's acting skills were decent.

For the role of "Music Director," Wei Jin had originally intended for Huang Xiaoming to play it, but unfortunately, upon learning that the latter had just joined the cast of The Guillotines and there was a scheduling conflict, he could only regretfully give it up.

Liu Yifei even acted like a show-off, specifically calling Huang Xiaoming to make the latter exclaim what a pity it was.

In the end, this role was given to Wang Kai, who had a very good audition effect.

Over the years, Wang Kai had gained quite a bit of fame in the industry thanks to Chinese Paladin 3 and The Message, and he himself was keen to shed his "sissy" roles; playing this character was considered a transformation attempt.

The "Assistant" role, the music director's sidekick in the film, did not have much screen time; Wei Jin gave it to Wang Zixuan, and the latter could be considered playing herself—if she showed a bit of cleavage when the time came, she would likely become popular.

As for the male lead role of the "Grandson," Wei Jin ultimately chose the company's artist Bai Yu; the kid's acting was indeed quite good and worth cultivating.

This also made the company's crowd of artists sigh one after another that this newcomer who had just joined the company had truly great luck.

Finally, there was the young version of "Old Li Tou" riding a motorcycle in the post-credits scene; the original South Korean version had a cameo by Kim Soo-hyun, and this time Wei Jin specially invited Liu Tianwang to make a cameo, which could be considered a hidden Easter egg bonus.

Soon, a morning passed, the script read-through ended, and Wei Jin stood up and said to everyone:

"The start date is set for three days from now; the crew will depart together then. Everyone should familiarize yourselves with the script during this time, and let's strive to wrap up in 40 days."

Aside from Bai Yu and Liu Yifei, everyone on site was working with Wei Jin for the first time, and upon hearing this, they were all somewhat surprised—one movie in forty days, wasn't this efficiency a bit too high?

Shu Chang leaned close to Liu Yifei's ear and asked: "Is Director Wei always this fast when filming movies?"

Liu Yifei smiled slightly: "When he's filming, it's like he already has the finished film in his head; he's always been fast. Haven't you seen the media calling him the 【Fast Gunner】? Tee-hee."

Shu Chang was speechless upon hearing this; Xixi, this is your man, is it really okay to say that? — As the party that initiated the challenge, Xingmei and The Message crew were clearly holding their breath.

On the first day of the film's release, they were still promoting it vigorously.

"The Message is a true martial arts film that will absolutely let you experience a different kind of 'Zhen Kung Fu'."

"Director Chen Kexin's ingenious production, absolutely not to be missed; we hope everyone will enter the theaters to support it!"

Unfortunately, audiences nowadays have become smarter; unless it is a director or cast with extremely strong appeal, everyone waits for the "Shennong to taste the poison" on the first day of a new film's release, so not many people bought tickets to watch The Message.

By the afternoon, film reviews had already appeared on Yinxiang Net, and many netizens couldn't help but feel fortunate.

"Barefoot Shopping": "The film is too hollow, the tropes are too old, and it's full of preaching."

"Rose's Love": "It's a total hodgepodge—martial arts, detective work, fantasy; it feels like a Republic-era version of Conan. One word: messy!"

"The fighting isn't clear, the story isn't clear; it's both oppressive and awkward. Chen Kexin, is telling a good story really that hard? I originally thought The Raid was average, but now it looks like a complete victory."

"Wuhan Three Horses": "I watched half the movie and immediately bought tickets again to re-watch The Raid; the viewing experience is excellent, at least the fighting is real and satisfying."

Shortly after midnight that day, the first-day box office for The Message was reported: 16 million, and the rating on Yinxiang Net was also out: 5.6 points.

These two numbers directly shocked the industry insiders; one must know, this was the hot Summer Slot.

For a commercial film with an investment of nearly 150 million, the first-day box office was actually only 16 million, and the key was that looking at this word-of-mouth, there wasn't even a chance for a comeback.

Not to mention whether the previous bold claims of a 500 million guarantee and a 700 million sprint could be realized, now it was a question of whether it could even break even.

At the same time, the fifth-day box office for The Raid was also out: 28 million.

A single-day box office gap of over 12 million signaled that this battle between Xingmei and Shanhe Media, and between Zhen Zidan and Wu Jing, had already been decided ahead of time.

The latter won completely! (End of chapter)