Chapter 469: Are you pointing at me with those words?

The White Storm has finished its theatrical run.

Even with an extra weekend, the box office only grew by less than three million, with a final total of 454 million.

The box office performance in Taiwan and Hong Kong was quite decent, with the two regions combined totaling nearly 80 million.

From box office shares alone, The White Storm realized 220 million; after deducting the production cost of 80 million and the promotion cost of 30 million, and then adding the copyright, product placement, and embedded advertising revenue from the Nanyang region, the total profit exceeded 160 million, a profit margin of 200%.

For film and television companies, the boost to stock prices from a blockbuster film is all too obvious.

Since July and August, with the successive releases of Storm and The White Storm, Jiahe's stock price has already risen by more than 20%.

This brought along other companies with shares, including Emperor Motion Pictures and Enlight Media, which also benefited, rising by at least seven or eight points.

In view of this, Wei Jin was not stingy; after discussing it with Enlight Media and Emperor Motion Pictures, he gave the creative team a red envelope of five million.

As for Fan Bingbing, who held a portion of the shares, Wei Jin did not seek her opinion.

However, this woman was clearly very happy; even though she was still filming on the set of The Suspect in Harbin and knew Wei Jin was in North America, she still sent him a WeChat message.

The soul-stirring, charming voice combined with a semi-revealing pajama photo made Wei Jin stand at attention, and that very night, he filled Huang Mengying up fiercely. Not two days after the project for Edge of Tomorrow was settled, the news of Yang Mi joining Tiny Times spread throughout the circle.

"First-tier young actress Yang Mi has signed on for the film series Tiny Times and will play the female lead."

"It is reported that the Tiny Times film series is adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name, with plans to shoot four films. All production funds have been raised, and it will be written and directed by the original author Guo Jingming. Yang Mi will play the core female lead."

As the news spread, it caused quite a sensation in the industry.

Because in the eyes of the vast majority of actresses, the lead role in a four-film series can be called top-tier resources.

More importantly, this is a film adapted from a best-selling novel, which means it has a massive fan base. The box office is completely worth looking forward to, and it adds great commercial value to the actor, even rivaling Liu Yifei's Ghost Blows Out the Light series.

When Wei Jin saw the news, he was a bit speechless. Yang Mi really had a mind of her own, but upon second thought, he could understand.

Yang Mi is ultimately different from Jing Tian, Liu Yifei, and the others.

Even without him, she would sooner or later walk the path of capital. Now, with the backing of Shanhe Media, Yang Mi's development will only be more aggressive than in her past life; otherwise, wouldn't the "Imperial Army" have come in vain? "Fine, the path she chose, let her walk it herself."

After sighing with emotion, Wei Jin continued to scroll through the news; after all, it was too leisurely in North America.

It was just unexpected that he saw another oddity.

Lu Chuan took The Last Supper to Toronto; the point wasn't to attend the film festival, but to hold a so-called global premiere ceremony.

This made it seem as if the domestic market could no longer contain him, and he was sending out a dozen press releases a day.

Things like "Chinese blockbuster shocks China and abroad!", "Film rights sold for a high price!", etc., frantically gilding his own face.

If it weren't for the promise he made to Boss Yang, Wei Jin would have even wanted to arrange another film to properly teach him how to behave.

But thinking about it, with Li An's Life of Pi ahead, and it being released in the same period as Feng Dapao's Back to 1942, and with Gravity coming up behind, this guy is bound to be beaten into a mental retard, so he let it go.

But just thinking about this guy's shameless appearance, a thought suddenly popped into Wei Jin's mind.

"This idiot won't go around crying and complaining again, will he?"

The more Wei Jin thought about it, the more he felt it was possible; after all, some people really cannot be judged by common sense.

"There might be a big show to watch then, I'm really looking forward to it, hahaha."

Wei Jin took the time to meet with William and gave instructions on many investment matters. In addition, he also prepared a gift for Da Meiyuan, the same as the one for Ceng Li, but it would still take some time.

When he returned to the villa, Wei Jin saw Da Meiyuan scrolling through her phone and laughing non-stop.

"What's wrong, Yuan Yuanjie?"

Gao Yuanyuan seemed unable to suppress her laughter at all, and it took a while before she replied: "Xiao Jin, that guy from the Stabbing Sect at Huayi is on the hot search again."

"Huayi has quite a few people from the Stabbing Sect, which one are you talking about?"

"It's that Li Chen who you said wanted to be on Keep Running. Didn't he just announce his relationship with Zhang Xinyu? Then the woman posted a picture on Weibo, saying it was a token of love Li Chen gave her, a heart-shaped stone picked up on the side of the road."

"Uh, that's not really anything, right?"

Wei Jin was a bit confused. Although this new girlfriend was someone Li Chen took over from the TVB actor Wu Zhuoxi, it wasn't that funny, was it?

"Hehehe."

Da Meiyuan was overjoyed: "The key is that his ex-girlfriend immediately posted a heart-shaped stone on Weibo too, and mocked whether they were bought wholesale. Netizens are also particularly funny; they even dug up the gifts he gave friends before, all of which were bought wholesale on Taobao for less than 10 yuan. It cracked me up."

"Uh, that is quite embarrassing."

To be honest, Wei Jin didn't think much of Li Chen at all.

Not to mention the Stabbing Sect incident, he had no sense of responsibility when it came to relationships either.

Wei Jin didn't know much about his other relationships, but Fan Bingbing spent all her connections to set up the project Air Strike for him, which could be described as pouring her heart and soul into it.

Unfortunately, she met the wrong person; when Fan Bingbing's tax case broke, Li Chen ran away without a trace.

But now, Fan Bingbing has become his own captive, so Li Chen, this kind of fool, should just get as far away as possible.

Back in the country, the National Day Slot is approaching, but the film market is still dominated by five Hollywood blockbusters.

The first to step forward to fight against the crowd of imported films was Heartbroken Fairy Tale, produced by Enlight Media.

It's just a pity that the film's budget wasn't high to begin with, and Enlight Media didn't put too many resources into the promotion.

Coupled with the fact that several Hollywood blockbusters occupied a massive market share, the film's opening day box office only totaled less than three million.

The key is that the word-of-mouth online is also quite average, with a Yinxiang Net rating of only 5.5, and as time goes by, it is feared that it will continue to fall.

This opening day result and word-of-mouth basically declared the bankruptcy of Enlight Media's new director training program.

At this moment, Zhang Tianai, as the lead actress, was particularly uncomfortable. She specifically called her good friend Huang Mengying to cry and complain, and the latter could only offer a round of comfort.

In the evening, when Huang Mengying and Wei Jin were taking a bath, she brought this up, feeling a bit sorry for her friend.

It's no wonder; after finally being a female lead once, the box office flopped so hard that anyone would feel bad.

However, Wei Jin was more open-minded; Zhang Tianai's situation this time was not a failure of her own doing.

The script, the cast, the production team, and even the promotion were all subpar. Even if Liu Yifei, Jing Tian, or others had gone to act in it, the box office probably wouldn't have been any better. Besides, for a film with a production cost of 3 million, or 5 million including promotion, what more could you ask for?

Could it be that they really thought every film could become a classic of winning big with a small investment?

"Then boss, will Tian Ai's Badges of Fury be any better?"

"Of course, the script has been adapted by the company, and the cast is much stronger, so the results will naturally be different. By the way, has this film finished shooting?"

"Not yet. Tian Ai originally asked for leave to go out and run promotions, but it seems the fiber-optic side canceled the subsequent roadshow schedule, so she went back to the film crew."

Wei Jin nodded. It was indeed completely unnecessary for *Heartbroken Fairy Tale* to continue roadshows; after all, the expenses were not small.

"Alright, don't worry about this matter. Although the results aren't very good, it should barely be able to break even. Besides, she was the female lead after all, so it can be considered progress for Tian Ai. Just treat it as training her psychological endurance."

"Mm, that's how I advised her too. At least she made it to the big screen."

Hearing these words, Wei Jin looked at Huang Mengying with a half-smile and reached out to hook her chin.

"Meng Ying, why do I feel like you're pointing at me with these words? What? Afraid I'll forget you?"

"Boss, how could I—mmph!"

Not giving the girl a chance to explain, Wei Jin kissed her, his hands climbing up to the great snow-capped mountains.

In just a few minutes, Huang Mengying felt her whole body burning with heat, as if ants were crawling through her heart, and her large eyes were filled with a spring mist.

After their lips parted, without needing Wei Jin to give instructions, Huang Mengying took the initiative to lower her head, wrapping the man in her gentleness.

After gently letting go of Wei Jin, Huang Mengying slowly turned around, raising her beautiful buttocks high.

"Boss~~ Oh~~~"

*Heartbroken Fairy Tale* was indeed a flop; after the first three days of the weekend, the box office was not even eight million.

After entering the work week, the box office plummeted all the way, with the single-day take nearly falling below one million.

However, at this moment, whether in the industry or online, what was being discussed more was *White Deer Plain*.

Not to mention Zhang Yuqi wearing an ultra-low-cut gown at the previous premiere and shouting the slogan of wiping out Hollywood blockbusters, just the fact that the original novel of *White Deer Plain* won the Mao Dun Prize, known as the "milestone of Huaxia literature," and the director was a winner of the Berlin Golden Bear Award, was enough to make all parties expectant.

Unfortunately, as the saying goes, the higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment.

After the film was finished, it went through multiple cuts, from the earliest version close to four hours, to the three-hour version when participating in the Berlin International Film Festival, and now to the two-and-a-half-hour theatrical release version; too much was cut, and it completely lost the weightiness of the original work.

For a film with a total investment of over 130 million, after the first two days of the weekend, the box office was only a little over 20 million.

Crucially, the word-of-mouth online was also very poor, with a 6.3 rating on Yinxiang Net, and the comment section was flooded with a large number of negative reviews.

"It was filmed way too crudely. I didn't feel the solemn and stirring mood of reading the novel at all, nor did I see the magical and supernatural aspects of White Deer Plain. The film's plot is fragmented, the rhythm is loose and without method, and the characters' personalities are untraceable."

"Is this really *White Deer Plain*? Those who don't know would think it's *The Legend of Tian Xiao'e*. Does Wang Quanan really have to destroy a literary masterpiece just to spoil his wife?"

"Am I the only one who feels Director Wang has a cuckold fetish? These erotic scenes are filmed really damn intensely. I give the female lead's figure a 9.5."

"I suggest those who haven't read the original novel not to step into the cinema. The whole story is muddled."

"Brother, those who have read the original should stay away even more. It's simply an eyesore. What kind of crap is this?"

Even the former screenwriter of this play, Lu Wei, stood up to criticize it.

"In my view, Director Wang doesn't understand *White Deer Plain* at all. Its core from beginning to end is the land and fate of the peasants, not the sticky, messy erotic scenes. This is also the main reason I quit."

The massive amount of negative reviews left even the producers and the director unable to sit still, and they immediately called out to the media.

"The original film was too long, which easily affected the audience's experience and theater scheduling. The current version is more concise and smoother."

At this time, it must be said that as a veteran director and Golden Bear winner, as well as the production company Western Film Group and others, their connections with film critics were indeed in place, and a large number of film critics began to support this film.

"Everyone should understand; being able to film it like this is already quite good. This is definitely the best long-form adaptation film in recent years."

"Audiences should savor the connotations of the film carefully and not stay on the surface."

Unfortunately, this is no longer an era where the elite class can fool the people. The audience has their own scale in their hearts, and the box office of *White Deer Plain* just couldn't climb up.

Even relying on its huge reputation, the single-day take could only barely maintain around ten million.

You have to know, it had only been released for a few days; the subsequent box office would likely be even worse.

The industry had basically judged that it was already impossible for this film to break even; they could only hope to lose a little less.

As Da Meiyuan's body gradually stabilized, Wei Jin was also about to return to the country.

Before leaving, Wei Jin held Da Meiyuan's hand and gave earnest instructions.

"Yuan Yuanjie, take good care of yourself. If you have anything to do, just tell Meng Ying. Also, watch your step. If you feel bored, you can walk around. And..."

Listening to the man's nagging instructions, although separation was right before her eyes, Gao Yuanyuan still had a beautiful arc on the corners of her mouth.

She had been very happy these days. Except for the European trip more than two years ago, this was the first time she had stayed with Wei Jin for a long time.

Except for not being able to have real, intimate relations at night, Da Meiyuan felt everything else was wonderful.

"... Yuan Yuanjie, remember to follow the doctor's advice. You must pay attention to nutrition in your diet. Don't be afraid of gaining weight; being a little fatter is good for our child."

Wei Jin held Da Meiyuan in his arms, greedily breathing in her scent, then squatted down and pressed his ear lightly against her slightly protruding abdomen, as if to feel the baby's movements.

Gao Yuanyuan didn't speak either, just reached out and touched Wei Jin's head, enjoying this last moment of tenderness.

After a long while, the beauty parted her red lips, "Alright, Xiao Jin, you should set off. The child and I will be fine, waiting for you to come back."

"Mm."

Wei Jin collected his mood and prepared to set off. Walking to the garden, he paused his steps and looked at Zhu Wei and Huang Mengying.

"Lao Zhu, Meng Ying, take good care of Yuan Yuanjie."

"Boss, don't worry."

Waving goodbye to everyone, Wei Jin stepped onto the road back to the capital. (End of this chapter)