Chapter 425: Fearing a Best Friend's Hardship, Fearing Even More a Best Friend Driving a Land Rover

Near the end of April, the premiere for *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2* was held.

According to Wei Jin's wishes, it should have been a simple affair, but Boss Yang disagreed; despite the rough road ahead, he still hoped Emperor Group could achieve a strong start after the beginning of the year.

Emperor Group was the lead producer, so Wei Jin could only respect the other party's opinion.

Compared to previous film premieres, *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2* was extremely powerful in terms of both its production company and cast, to the point that the star power at this premiere was significantly brighter.

As a popular action actor, Wu Jing was in high spirits today; many producers in the industry were circling him, and it seemed he was not lacking in film offers at the moment.

By comparison, Zhang Jin was much more low-key, silently following behind director Chen Musheng, socializing and networking.

Come to think of it, Chen Musheng could be considered a well-known director in Hong Kong, having contributed many familiar classic works to the audience.

Starting in the 80s, he worked at Xianggang Wuxian Television, then became an assistant director for Du Qifeng, assisting in the direction of television series such as *The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain* and *Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre*.

Afterward, he continued working as an executive director, participating in the production of many Hong Kong films until 1990, when Chen Musheng independently directed his first romance film, *A Moment of Romance*, produced by Du Qifeng, planned by Lin Lingdong and Wang Jing, and starring Liu Tianwang, which initially established his reputation.

Later, he collaborated with Xu Laoguai to direct the martial arts film *The Magic Crane*, starring Guan Meiren and Liang Caowei—the scene where internal energy was used to force out bodily fluids was truly impressive.

During this period, he also independently directed many television series, such as *Fist of Fury* and *The Legend of Hong Xiguan*.

From then on, things went smoothly; he was constantly supported by influential people, collaborated with Cheng Long several times, directed films such as *Wo Shi Shei*, *New Police Story*, and *Baby Project*, and was nominated for Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards multiple times.

Unfortunately, Chen Musheng studied under Du Qifeng and excelled at action and gunfight films, but he never had particularly brilliant results in commercial box office; his best record to date was last year's commissioned film, *Shaolin*, which barely broke 200 million.

Upon seeing Wei Jin, Chen Musheng's attitude was very proper; although the former had recently had a falling out with the Hong Kong Circle, Chen Musheng knew very well that he would have to go to Mainland China to make a living in the future, and coupled with his deep ties to Emperor Group, he had no choice but to stick to his path to the end.

After chatting for a few moments with the gray-haired Chen Musheng, Wei Jin began to chat with Zhang Jin.

To tell the truth, Zhang Jin was a great fighter and quite capable—he was the action director for this film—but unfortunately, his face lacked star quality; he wasn't quite right for the idol route, and he lacked the strength to be a pure acting talent, which led to him wasting many years in mediocrity.

However, compared to his previous life, Zhang Jin had obtained an opportunity in *Ip Man 3* early on and had also secured the main antagonist role in *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2*; the "suit thug" character was quite popular, and perhaps he could walk a different path in this life.

After a bit of small talk, Boss Yang led the creative team onto the stage to accept interviews.

When asked if he had confidence in the box office while being sandwiched between Hollywood blockbusters, Boss Yang clenched his fist in the air, full of spirit.

"Everyone should remember that five years ago, when I collaborated with President Wei on *New World*, we faced the threat of Hollywood blockbusters, and we won beautifully at the time. This time, I believe it will be no exception; the target for *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2* is 500 million!"

As a tough, true man, Wu Jing also expressed his stance in front of the reporters.

"I don't know if we can beat them, but as long as we haven't fallen, we won't lose."

Watching Wu Jing on stage, Wei Jin found it somewhat amusing; this guy was truly a straight man. A few days ago, while participating in a variety show for Fiber, the host happened to be Xie Nan, and his gaze was almost undisguised.

Fortunately, Xie Nan's hosting skills were solid enough that there were no recording accidents; because of this, Xie Nan had complained to Jing Tian quite a bit.

After a simple interview, the main feature began to play.

The film *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2* had absolutely no connection to the first one in terms of plot; the main storyline was about taking down a transnational criminal group trafficking human organs.

In terms of the script, Wei Jin avoided some of the logical loopholes of the original film.

For example, in the dock melee scene, when Wu Jing's identity was discovered by the "Black Bear" played by Jiang Haowen, Wei Jin directly arranged for Black Bear to be killed off; otherwise, if the undercover identity was exposed and the police were still so careless, the criminals would have popped champagne long ago.

Another example: the original film overemphasized fatalism and forced the theme of "SPL" (Seven Killings, Army Breaker, Greedy Wolf), which instead made it seem too deliberately artistic, resulting in a plot that wasn't very fluid.

When Wei Jin wrote it, he blurred this part as much as possible; those who could understand it would naturally grasp it, and those who couldn't would just treat it as a fast-paced drama.

The 110-minute film came to an end, and applause erupted at the scene; Wei Jin and Boss Yang looked at each other and smiled.

During the cocktail party, Huo Wenxi was dressed in a black professional suit, her temperament surpassing that of many stars, as she frequently moved among the many guests at the scene.

Seeing a familiar figure approaching, the corners of her mouth curled into a disdainful smile.

"Sister Mani, wishing you a big box office success."

Yang Ying spoke while holding a wine glass to offer congratulations; although she was already the top star at Huayi and could be considered to have relied on the big boat of the Mainland, as someone who started as a Hong Kong model, she was still somewhat cautious when facing Huo Wenxi, the ace agent and Emperor Group director who had dominated the Hong Kong entertainment industry for many years.

"Then I'll take your word for it, Baby."

After chatting with Yang Ying in a lukewarm manner, Huo Wenxi saw Wang Changtian from Fiber and walked over with a smile on her face again.

In her view, if it weren't for hooking up with Huang Xiaoming, the model in front of her wouldn't even be qualified for her, Huo Wenxi, to take a second look.

Left in place, Yang Ying felt her face burning; she pouted, unhappy, and after looking around, she muttered in a low voice, "Strange, where did A Shan run off to?"

Wen Yongshan, who was being fretted over by Yang Ying, was currently in the men's restroom, enjoying extreme pleasure.

Wen Yongshan played the wife of Mr. Hong's younger brother in *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2*; although her screen time wasn't much, Emperor Group had arranged for her to do the full roadshow since she had the opportunity to promote in the Mainland.

Time was tight, so Wen Yongshan took the opportunity while Wei Jin was in the restroom to corner him inside.

Somewhat roughly, he turned the woman around before she had recovered her senses, and Wei Jin pinched her chin and leaned in.

With Wen Yongshan's diligent cooperation, the "card game" was soon over; Wen Yongshan was touching up her makeup in the restroom mirror when she suddenly discovered her former best friend appearing beside her, which gave her a start.

"Baby, where did you come from?"

While speaking, Wen Yongshan took out mouth freshener and sprayed her little mouth a few times; her best friend was all too familiar with the scent of chestnut flowers. But even though the scent was suppressed, the flush on Wen Yongshan's face was still noticed by the seasoned veteran Yang Ying, who glanced at the restroom and had a playful look on her face.

"A Shan, your complexion suddenly became so good; you're playing quite wildly."

Knowing she couldn't escape, Wen Yongshan had nothing to hide and dropped a bombshell, "You know how powerful Wei Sheng is; it's addictive."

Looking at the flush that hadn't yet faded from her best friend's face and her satisfied appearance after being nourished, Yang Ying thought of those nights many years ago and couldn't help but press her legs together, then, as if realizing her own loss of composure, she feigned sophistication.

"Are you just going to follow him like this, without any status? Why don't you come to the Mainland? I'll have Xiaoming introduce some resources to you..."

Just now, facing Huo Wenxi, Yang Ying had been cautious, but facing Wen Yongshan, she was high and mighty—who told her to be the top star at Huayi now?

"Hehe, no need. Wei Sheng is very good to me, and Sister Mani also values me highly. This year, several of Emperor Group's new films will promote me as the female lead."

Listening to the film titles, cast lists, and production costs spilling from Wen Yongshan's mouth, Yang Ying felt a storm in her heart, and her emotions exploded instantly.

She had thought that by hooking up with a Mainland diamond bachelor and having the backing of Huayi, she should have put a huge distance between herself and her best friend, but she hadn't expected that Wen Yongshan, by just sleeping with Wei Jin for a few nights, could receive such strong support from Emperor Group, which didn't seem inferior to her own.

At this moment, Yang Ying felt a complex mix of emotions, but she still had to keep a smile on her face, "That's great."

The saying goes that one fears their best friend will live a bitter life, but fears even more that their best friend will drive a Land Rover; this was exactly it.

The premiere of *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2* ended successfully, and the next day it was released alongside *Killing*; the creative team began to enter high-intensity roadshows.

At the same time, in the film market, the box office for *Titanic 3D* had already broken through the 900 million mark with overwhelming force.

But reaching this point, the film's box office potential was basically exhausted; after all, those who wanted to see it had already seen it, the daily box office inevitably dropped, and the theater screenings naturally decreased accordingly.

According to industry estimates, there might be a few tens of millions more in revenue before the film was pulled from theaters, but breaking 1 billion was likely impossible.

As for that film *Whiplash* by Wei Jin, after four full weeks of release, the box office reported 266 million, but the single-day box office had already fallen below one million.

Honestly, this figure actually exceeded Wei Jin's expectations; for a low-budget art-house film, the results forcefully surpassed many big-budget commercial films.

By comparison, the rest of the domestic films were far inferior.

Huang Xiaoming's *Pi Fu* had been released for five days, and the box office had barely broken ten million; even with the upcoming May Day holiday, it was feared that the final box office would be hard-pressed to exceed thirty million—the outcome was already sealed: a massive loss.

However, although the film lost money, Huang Xiaoming's attitude of not caring about the box office, not minding the losses, and focusing only on the film won him much applause, successfully squeezing him into the ranks of film producers and earning the favor of many Producers and directors.

As the saying goes, "The old man lost his horse, who is to say it isn't a blessing?"

Ning Hao's *The Great Robbery* performed quite steadily, perhaps related to his desperate promotion; in five days of release, under the encirclement and interception of a crowd of Hollywood blockbusters, it reaped nearly 70 million in box office.

"This figure is alright, it wasn't in vain that I ran myself ragged for the promotion."

At the final copyright forum of the film festival, Wei Jin met Ning Hao; the latter was still satisfied with the film's box office and was still full of fighting spirit at this moment.

"Senior Brother, before *The Avengers* is released, increase the promotional efforts further and strive to reach 200 million."

"Alright, I'll listen to you, but this time, I'm afraid I'll lose several pounds."

Still sporting dark circles under his eyes, Ning Hao gritted his teeth and nodded.

As for *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2*, he wasn't worried; that film occupied the screenings vacated by *Titanic 3D* and other films, having almost no impact on *The Great Robbery*.

But *The Avengers* was different; he had already seen it during this screening, a standard Hollywood popcorn commercial film, and with the added bonus of the superhero theme, it was absolutely a very strong opponent.

"By the way, Junior Brother, I heard that President Chen is going to the Cannes Film Festival, and I plan to go along with him."

"Mm, that's good too."

Wei Jin did have an investment in the film *The Great Robbery*, so the more it could sell, the better.

"Hey, Junior Brother, do you think that since I have a Silver Bear in hand now, the copyright will be easier to sell?"

Wei Jin couldn't bring himself to discourage him and could only nod, "It shouldn't be a problem, you can look forward to it."

After a bit of idle chatter between the two, the person speaking on the podium had changed to Feng Dapao; unsurprisingly, this guy started firing off again.

Since it was a copyright forum, Feng Dapao naturally fired fiercely at piracy.

"Ever since I started in the industry, I have been screwed by piracy, time and time again; they really treat me like a chicken. But it doesn't matter, I'm used to it; even with piracy, I am still a 600-million director. But why is it that imported films don't have piracy in the country? The time *Battleship* was released in the country was even earlier than in North America, yet not a single bit of piracy leaked out. Why? Because the relevant departments protect them well!

But why don't they protect our own films? Often, even before the film is released, many pirated copies have already leaked out; they are leaked from the hands of internal personnel at the film printing factories. Those are our state-owned enterprises! Doing this, aren't they afraid of chilling the hearts of all filmmakers? Ah!!!"

Unsurprisingly, Feng Dapao was interrupted by the host several times and was eventually asked to step down, but the applause at the scene was like thunder, showing that his speech deeply resonated with the hearts of film and television practitioners.

In contrast, the several leaders sitting on the side had faces that turned red and white.

The forum ended, and this film festival basically drew to a close. Wei Jin had no heart to chat and pull strings with the crowd of filmmakers; he headed straight back to Xishan Villa.

Just as he arrived, Liu Yifei, having finished her long announcements, pounced on him and offered a fragrant kiss; Wei Jin lifted her perky buttocks with both hands and responded passionately.

Here, there was no interference from Liu Xiaoli.

(End of this chapter)