Chapter 418: Uncle is Amazing, Sister-in-law is So Happy

On the 3rd, Gao Yuanyuan dragged Wei Jin along to contribute to the box office of *Titanic 3D*.

Of course, to avoid trouble, the two went to a private screening room at the Shanhe Cinema Line.

Walking through the corridor, Wei Jin saw a poster and made a teasing remark.

"Yuan Yuanjie, do you want to watch this one later?"

What Wei Jin was pointing at was none other than *The Road to Journey*, starring Guo Pangzi.

This film was clearly trying to ride the coattails of the *Journey* series, but its opening day box office of 2 million proved that without the two core figures, Xu Guangtou and Wang Baoqiang, the rest of them simply couldn't pull it off.

"Oh my, why do you keep bringing that up? I'll listen to you from now on, okay?"

Gao Yuanyuan also looked annoyed; she had specifically checked the film's reputation yesterday, and its rating on Yinxiang Net was 4.0, which was practically rock bottom. With netizens also full of criticism, she didn't want to get poisoned by it.

"Hehe, listening to me is the right choice."

The two entered the screening room laughing and chatting, and after choosing their seats, the movie soon began to play.

Da Meiyuan was very sentimental and completely immersed in the plot, occasionally exclaiming at the shock of the 3D effects, as if this giant ship from 15 years ago was about to burst out of the screen.

Wei Jin, however, was more focused on the technology of Cameron's team.

Cameron was indeed a technology fanatic; leading a team of over 300 people, spending more than 2 years and 18 million USD, he had managed to use technical means to remaster a 2D film made 15 years ago into a 3D blockbuster that was in no way inferior to one shot in 3D.

One must know that conversion and live-action filming are two different concepts; Cameron's team needed to draw the outline of every frame of the film, build a 3D mesh model for every object, and thereby increase viewpoint information to obtain its depth map.

And this film was over three hours long, with over ten thousand seconds of effective footage, which, when converted into frame counts, meant over 600,000 frames.

Capturing the depth information in each frame one by one was a terrifying amount of work.

The key was that the final image quality was so good, and the visual effects were even more shocking than many current live-action 3D blockbusters, which made even Wei Jin have to admire it.

As expected, when the plot reached its climax, Gao Yuanyuan was already leaning on Wei Jin's shoulder and sobbing.

By the time Rose and Jack were separated by life and death, Wei Jin felt that his clothes were even soaked.

As the movie came to an end, Gao Yuanyuan still couldn't calm down, seemingly still immersed in the heart-wrenching love story. She looked up, intending to pour out her heart to Wei Jin, but seeing the smile still on his lips, she was suddenly annoyed.

"Xiao Jin, aren't you moved at all? You're still laughing..."

Gao Yuanyuan had fair skin, and at this moment, with her eyes red and swollen and her emotions stirred, her face looked even more rosy and white, which was quite beautiful.

"Yuan Yuanjie, I want to be moved too, but seeing Jack, I think of the current Leon, and it's hard to get into it."

Gao Yuanyuan was stunned upon hearing this, and the image of that middle-aged, pot-bellied uncle with a face full of stubble she had seen at Matt Damon's house popped into her mind. She let out a "puchi" laugh, like a blooming flower, but then immediately pouted.

"So annoying, now that you've said that, the mood is completely ruined."

"You can't blame me for that. Besides, this guy plays around so much, and he just changed to a new Victoria's Secret girlfriend recently; he's not as affectionate as in the movie."

"You're still talking, aren't you also—mph."

Wei Jin decisively blocked the beauty's red lips. He was not like Leon; the latter was fickle, while he wanted it all, just a bit more philanthropic.

The next day, the opening day box office for *Titanic 3D* was released.

The entire film circle exploded, especially the producers who had films scheduled for release in April, who felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

"After 15 years, *Titanic 3D* is remastered and released, raking in 74 million on its opening day!"

"The big ship from across the ocean has an astonishing opening day occupancy rate of 95%; tickets for 3D and IMAX screening rooms are hard to come by, and cinema lines have indicated they will simultaneously increase showtimes!"

What did an opening day box office of 74 million and a super-high occupancy rate mean? It meant that the box office potential of this film was heading straight for 1 billion, and it was entirely possible for it to sweep through the entire month of April; if it could get an extension, it might even continue to harvest in May! In comparison, all the other films currently in theaters suffered.

Not to mention *Ex Machina*, which had been in theaters for nearly 20 days and had a box office of 77 million; it was already nearing its end, and its single-day box office had been slashed to under a million.

On the contrary, the art film *Whiplash*, perhaps because its target audience was relatively clear, was not affected too much; in 4 days of release, it had raked in 81 million at the box office, maintaining over 15 million per day.

Other domestic films such as *Eat Drink Man Woman 2* and *Love in the Buff* almost directly became cannon fodder.

The former was starred in by Huayi "princess" Huo Siyan, clearly following the trend of *Eat Drink Man Woman* directed by Li An in '94.

However, it was clear that the audience didn't buy it; with less than one million on the opening day and less than three million after a week of release, it knelt down immediately upon encountering the big ship.

The latter was a romance film produced by Media Asia, starring Yu Wenle and Miriam Yeung.

The online reputation was quite good, but the box office wasn't very strong; with over 6 million on the opening day and over 30 million in five days of release, the single-day box office had already dropped to under 5 million.

Even *Lockout*, a Hollywood blockbuster starring Jason Statham, was directly cut in half by the big ship.

At this moment, highly anticipated films like *The Great Robbery*, *Pi Fu*, *Killing*, and *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2* were under immense pressure.

Boss Yang specifically called.

"President Wei, this *Titanic* is too fierce, isn't it? There's still *Miami Action*, *New York Action*, and *Ghost Rider 2* coming up; these are all blockbusters. Can our *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2* hold up?"

It was no wonder Boss Yang was anxious; Emperor Motion Pictures held a 60% stake in this film, and they were counting on it for a good start this year.

"Set your mind at ease, Yang Dong. *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2* doesn't have much overlap with the big ship. As for the other films, it's hard to say right now. Our biggest opponent is actually *The Avengers* in May."

Wei Jin could only comfort him on the phone. There was no help for it; with the reaching of the China-US agreement, this would become the norm, and most film companies could only survive in the cracks.

According to statistics from industry institutions, the domestic film box office data for the first quarter showed that, apart from *Flying Swords of Dragon Gate* and *Once Again* which stood above the rest, the top box office earners were all Hollywood blockbusters.

Films like *Mission: Impossible*, *John Carter*, and *Sherlock Holmes 2* directly beat a host of domestic films until they couldn't lift their heads.

The days ahead would become increasingly difficult.

"By the way, Yang Dong, is Emperor really not participating in this year's Hong Kong Film Awards?"

Wei Jin remembered the news he saw two days ago and couldn't help but ask for confirmation.

Before the annual Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony, the organizers would gather all the nominated candidates together to take a group photo, which was also an unspoken indication that they would be present on the day of the awards. But in the photos released this year, the nominated candidates from Emperor were surprisingly all absent.

*Let the Bullets Fly* was nominated for 13 major awards; Jiang Wen and Ge You, as nominees for Best Actor, were absent, and Liu Jialing, as a nominee for Golden Horse Best Actress, was absent.

Xie Feng, nominated for Best Supporting Actor for *New Shaolin Temple*, was also absent.

"Not participating. Let that bunch go play by themselves."

Having received a positive answer, Wei Jin was overjoyed. For him, who had aspirations of establishing a new award, this was a huge piece of good news.

It was just that Wei Jin was a bit worried; with the nature of the Hong Kong Film Awards, if they turned around and gave in to Emperor, it wouldn't be fun anymore.

Thinking of this, Wei Jin decided to stir up some trouble for the Hong Kong Film Awards.

"Yang Dong, your choice is very wise. In the future, our two companies can strengthen our cooperation, haha."

"Oh?"

The boss Yang on the other end of the phone was clearly a bit surprised, but quickly reacted.

"Then I shall wait for the good news from President Wei."

"Rest assured, this time for sure!"

After two months of preparation, *Shendu Longwang* was about to start filming.

At the request of China Film Group and Enlight Media, *Shendu Longwang* held a launch press conference in Beijing, which was also the first time the cast was announced.

When they saw that the female lead was Ni Ni, many of the actresses who came to show support felt incredibly sour inside.

Although Ni Ni was a Mou Girl, how long had she been with Shanhe Media? A blockbuster with a budget of nearly 200 million, and they were just going to promote her as the female lead like this? Even Fan Bingbing was reduced to a supporting role for her?

To be honest, even Fan Bingbing herself was a bit unhappy, but it was a series film after all; unless she didn't appear in it, according to the script, she was the second female lead.

As for forcing more scenes to make the character of Wu Zetian the female lead? Not to mention Wei Jin suppressing things from above, Xu Laoguai, a 1-billion-director, was not someone she could easily manipulate.

However, just letting it go didn't seem to be Fan Bingbing's style, so after the launch press conference ended, she pestered Wei Jin to come to the Golden House.

As soon as she entered the room, Fan Bingbing pressed herself against him, extending her slender fingers to circle continuously on Wei Jin's chest.

"Uncle, you can't forget your sister-in-law just because you have a new love~~~"

For a moment, sounds of applause, cheers, and shouts erupted in the room, as if it were a lively stadium during a ball game.

After the clouds dispersed and the rain ceased, Fan Bingbing remembered one thing.

"Uncle, DMG sent me an invitation, saying they want to cooperate with Disney on *Iron Man 3*. What do you think?"

"Hmm?"

Hearing this, Wei Jin frowned; he felt that this matter was not that simple.

Although DMG Media Group had been established for many years, its main business was concentrated in advertising, public relations, media, events, interactive marketing, and other fields; it was only in the last two years that it began to get involved in media, entertainment, artist management, entertainment marketing, film, and other businesses.

With their scale, they were likely nowhere near reaching Disney.

Even if Disney really wanted to make *Iron Man 3* a co-production, it seemed the first choice of partner should not be DMG.

There was definitely something fishy here!

Immediately, Wei Jin thought of a possibility.

"I guess they must have asked you to participate in the investment as well, right?"

"How did you know?"

"If that's the case, then it explains it..."

Wei Jin shook his head and then voiced his speculation.

These Hollywood companies were truly fucking awesome; their ability to pull off a "white wolf with empty gloves" (get something for nothing) was truly impressive.

Taking a mature, box-office-hit IP, they hoodwinked domestic capital that wanted to go overseas to obtain a large amount of domestic investment funds.

Then they enjoyed the treatment of a co-production and gained access to the vast domestic film market.

In the end, they only needed to share the box office revenue from Asia, or even just the domestic portion, with the Mainland China company.

Even in the end, the so-called co-production was just a Chinese actor showing their face, or Chinese people could only be seen in the version released domestically, simply called the "special edition."

Achieving the greatest profit with the minimum cost—they were truly worthy of being Jewish! However, this method could only manipulate relatively weak or overly eager film and television companies.

It was very clear that in Disney's eyes, DMG was such a "partner" that could be manipulated.

After listening to Wei Jin's explanation, Fan Bingbing suddenly lost interest; spending money and putting in effort, only to get no benefits in the end—it could be described as a blind man lighting a lamp: a waste of wax.

Immediately, Fan Bingbing's beautiful eyes turned, and she lay on Wei Jin's chest, using her charms to pressure him.

"Good uncle, look, I've rested for a long time; is there a movie suitable for me?"

Wei Jin grasped a breast with one hand and rubbed her plump, rounded buttocks with the other.

"Hmm, after *Pacific Rim* is released, I will arrange it for you."

Having received Wei Jin's clear promise, Fan Bingbing was overjoyed; she really hadn't expected it to be so easy, and her face was as beautiful as a flower.

"Uncle, you are so good~~"

After casting a flirtatious glance, Fan Bingbing's beautiful red lips imprinted onto Wei Jin's chest, traveling all the way down, and finally gently wrapped around the man.

"Mmm, sister-in-law, let me fill you up tonight."

Wei Jin was as good as his word; he spared no effort that night, and after more than two months, he once again filled Fan Bingbing to the brim. (End of chapter)