Chapter 525: He Is Not a God: The Curtain Falls

Wei Jin did not expect that he would receive a call from Han Sanping today, having just chatted with Li Jie about *The Crossing* last night.

"Wei Jin, don't say I don't look out for you. You have so many artists in your company; are there any roles you want? We have finalized a few candidates, and we are about to officially start the invitation-based auditions."

"Han Dong, I thank you, but I really don't need this."

Honestly, Wei Jin was a little touched; Han is a decent person.

"Are you sure? This is a blockbuster filmed in two parts, upper and lower. There are really quite a lot of roles. Won't you reconsider?"

Han Sanping thought Wei Jin felt the roles were too small and confirmed again.

"."

Wei Jin really wanted to say that anything filmed in two parts, upper and lower, is truly not going to be good stuff.

Unfortunately, China Film Group had already been involved for over a year, and with half a foot already wet, there was no way to pull out.

"Really no need. The competition must be very fierce this time, right?"

"Yes, basically all first-tier actors and powerful performers. Many people are pulling strings, but since you aren't interested, then forget it."

"Yes, I still want to thank Han Dong for keeping me in mind. When I return to the country, I will treat you to tea."

"You kid, you're always drinking my tea. Let's leave it at that."

After hanging up the phone, Wei Jin mourned for Han Sanping for two minutes in his heart, then began another day of filming.

On the other side, Han Sanping recalled Wei Jin's dismissive attitude and began to catch on.

"This kid has so many women, yet he didn't recommend any. This means he still doesn't think highly of it. This makes no sense."

Han Sanping's eyelid twitched violently, and he immediately comforted himself: "Impossible. Such a good project, what could possibly go wrong? He isn't a god; how could he guess right every single time?"

However, thinking of the lesson from *Red Cliff* back then, for the sake of caution, Han Sanping immediately called his secretary.

"Arrange for producers and executive producers to join the *The Crossing* crew. From the casting stage, we must supervise the entire process and be clear about every bit of funding."

"Understood, Han Dong."

Listening to the female secretary's crisp assurance, Han Sanping nodded. He didn't believe that even with this, something could go wrong. The several films for the Spring Festival Film Season were already poised to launch, having entered the final promotional stage, and even the films for March had begun their warm-ups.

Ceng Jia received a call from Zhang Xu. After chatting for a few minutes, she turned and went to the crew's makeup room to find Yang Mi, who was removing her makeup.

"Mimi, we received a notice from the company. Director Xue is going to take the crew to start the promotion for *Seattle*, and we need to adjust our schedule to cooperate."

Yang Mi nodded. According to the current progress, it would take at least another month for the first two parts of *Tiny Times* to wrap up, so it was necessary to make adjustments.

"Okay, then let's go find Director Guo and talk about it now."

After speaking, Yang Mi pulled Ceng Jia to find Guo Jingming and stated their purpose. The latter immediately agreed wholeheartedly.

"No problem. You can rest assured and go run the promotions. I will adjust the filming schedule."

Guo Jingming wore a warm smile on his face and agreed to Yang Mi's request completely.

"Thank you, Director Guo."

Yang Mi smiled sweetly, and Ceng Jia also thanked him.

"You're welcome. I also like Director Xue's films very much. I wish *Seattle* a huge box office success. Maybe our film can catch a tailwind from it too, haha."

"Right, Mimi, I wish you a huge box office success."

Guo Caijie, who was on the side, followed up with congratulations, and the other actors followed suit; after all, saying a few nice words didn't cost anything.

One had to know that the only first-tier actress in the crew was Yang Mi, and she was definitely at the top of the list.

Coupled with the backing of Shanhe Media, Yang Mi's future could be described as bright. Even if one couldn't get close to her, there was no need to offend her.

Yang Mi could guess the thoughts of the crew members to some extent. After all, since she joined Shanhe Media, she had experienced such occasions many times, so she wore a faint smile on her face.

"Thank you, everyone."

*Lost in Thailand*, which had been showing for 32 days, came to the end of its run.

Although the daily box office was still five or six million, Han Sanping had stated that only one film per season could enjoy an extension, so Wei Jin did not speak up to make things difficult for Han.

Therefore, the final result of *Lost in Thailand* was slightly worse than in his previous life, finally reporting 1.097 billion.

But even so, it still made the industry green with envy.

According to the previously announced production costs, even counting the marketing costs, the total investment for *Lost in Thailand* would not exceed 50 million.

Although it could not enjoy the tiered revenue-sharing model of betting against theater chains, even based on a 43% box office share, the box office share belonging to the production side was as high as over 400 million.

If one added the miscellaneous advertising revenue, and since it was solely produced, Shanhe Media earned at least 400 million from this wave.

"Too beastly."

If the production companies were jealous, then many directors in the circle felt incomparably stifled.

This was Xu Guangtou's first film, and he was a newcomer to directing. How could those who didn't have good box office results bear this? As the saying goes, the tree that stands above the forest will be destroyed by the wind, and those who stand above others will be criticized by the crowd.

As fellow New Year Slot films, Feng Dapao, Wang Jing, Chen Kexin, and others, while congratulating him, carried a bit of "killing with praise."

Xu Guangtou was also very clear about this point. At the celebration banquet, he appeared very low-key, stating directly that he was still a primary school student in the directing profession and would need the guidance and support of the seniors in the industry in the future. In short, his attitude was very proper.

And when asked by the media if there would be a sequel, Huang Bai and Wang Baoqiang both stated directly: "We haven't received notice yet, but if there is one, we will definitely cooperate fully, arrange our schedules, and never hesitate."

Xu Zheng hesitated for a while and said: "There will be a sequel, but it still needs time."

For a time, many companies began to set their sights on the sequel.

Wei Jin ignored the domestic disturbances. *Nomadland* finished its indoor scenes and entered location shooting.

The first stop was Nevada, which was also one of the most important filming locations for the film—the place where the heroine Fern's husband worked before he died, and the place where she would eventually return to her roots.

It was not far from California, only about 500 kilometers, but compared to the population density of California, Nevada was vast and sparsely populated, with an area of nearly 300,000 square kilometers and a population of less than 3 million.

In other words, there were only 10 people per square kilometer. One could imagine how empty it was outside the cities.

However, for the filming of the movie, such a place was the best.

The crew had arranged for a convoy to bring the filming supplies in advance to set up the scene directly; handling these matters was second nature to Chen Xi. Meanwhile, Wei Jin took Dudu and Ceng Li, flew to Carson City Airport in Nevada, and then drove to the filming location.

This was Dudu's first time "traveling" with Wei Jin. She was very excited the whole way, looking at the scenery flying past outside the car window, shouting and yelling from time to time.

"Xiao Jin, I haven't asked you yet, is it okay for us to come along?"

Wei Jin knew what she was worried about, pulled the beauty closer into his arms, and said softly, "Don't worry, Li Jie, there won't be any problems; I have already arranged everything."

Ceng Li looked at Wei Jin's earnest expression and knew that this man had already made preparations, so she didn't say anything more, leaning quietly against his shoulder, her gaze turning toward the still-excited Dudu, revealing a smile.

After a car ride of over two hours, they finally arrived at the pre-arranged filming location—an abandoned mine near the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

Although it was just a dark, gloomy mine, for the three-plus-year-old Dudu, it was still a landscape she had never seen before, and the little girl began to frolic as soon as she arrived.

Watching Ceng Li follow along with the female bodyguard, Wei Jin also withdrew his thoughts and walked toward the back of the monitor; after looking around, he found that all units were in place, so he picked up the megaphone.

"Action!"

With the end of the theatrical run of *Lost in Thailand*, it basically signaled that all films in the New Year Slot had come to a close.

Although *Dixing Yinxing* was still in theaters, its single-day box office had already dropped to around two million, and theater scheduling was already less than 5%.

As for *The Grandmaster*, after being in theaters for over 20 days, the box office had broken the 300 million mark, but its potential was basically exhausted, and its single-day box office was already less than one million.

This result was nothing in the current Mainland China market, but as a pure Hong Kong film, it truly brought quite a bit of face to the Hong Kong Circle, and the related reports during this period had not stopped.

As the female lead, Zhang Ziyi could be said to be in high spirits, very active, and frequently appearing in the pages of major media.

As for the netizens' teasing that *The Grandmaster* was actually *The Rise of Gong Er*, Zhang Ziyi was perfectly happy to see it happen.

However, just at this time, her old rival Li Bingbing came out to steal the spotlight.

Over the past two years, Li Bingbing had been smooth sailing, successfully hitching a ride with Hollywood.

*Resident Evil 5* had just been confirmed for introduction into the country in mid-March, and now another blockbuster series announced her participation.

"Hollywood giant Paramount Pictures announces that Chinese A-list actress Li Bingbing has successfully confirmed her participation in *Transformers 4*, and the film will begin shooting in mid-February."

Once the news broke, the industry was in an uproar.

One must know that *Transformers 3* back then had raked in over 1 billion at the domestic box office; it was an absolute blockbuster series.

Although they knew that in this type of collaboration, Li Bingbing's screen time might not be too much, that was a Hollywood global blockbuster after all; how many female stars in the country had this kind of resource?

Many people in the industry were sighing that one still had to cling to powerful figures; relying on Ms. Deng's connections, Li Bingbing was now going further and further.

Except for Li Bingbing's old rivals, Zhang Ziyi, Fan Bingbing, and others, most people in the industry sent their blessings on Weibo.

Li Bingbing was not pretentious either, high-profilely announcing on Weibo: "Already signed with the *Transformers 4* crew, will head to Hollywood after the Spring Festival."

For several days in a row, Wei Jin lived a life in Nevada of filming during the day and driving his wife and daughter around to play in the evenings.

Meanwhile, back in the country, the "Four Dan Actresses" selection event, which had stirred up the entire entertainment industry for a month, finally came to an end.

"After a comprehensive selection by nearly a hundred mainstream media outlets, the list of the new Four Dan Actresses in the Mainland China film and television industry is announced as follows: they are Yang Mi, Liu Shishi, Bai Bin, and Yang Ying."

Although there had been speculation during the previous voting phase, when the shoe finally dropped, the discussions both in the industry and online were very loud.

Not to mention Yang Mi; she was the previous Four Dan Actresses after all, and over these years, whether in movies or TV series, she had produced quite a few hits, so there was no major problem with her being in the top spot.

What was debated most in the industry was the ranking of Liu Shishi and Bai Bin.

In the eyes of the industry, the status of film actors was higher than that of TV actors, and Bai Bin already had *The Four*, which proved her ability.

As for Liu Shishi, she had been spinning around on the small screen since her debut, and even though she had *Witch* written by Wei Jin, it had not been released yet.

Comparing the two, Bai Bin was actually ranked lower, which was something no one had expected.

If people at least recognized the strength of Bai Bin and Liu Shishi, they really looked down on Yang Ying completely.

Having entered the Mainland China market for only three short years, if it weren't for hitching a ride on Huang Xiaoming's express train, the audience wouldn't even know who she was; this speed of promotion was truly ridiculously fast.

However, no matter what, the die was cast; the entertainment industry was very realistic, and everyone turned around to send their congratulations.

It was much livelier online; there were many hired posters, but there were even more normal netizens.

"Feels too fake; Yang Ying's appearance directly lowered the grade of this year's batch; I can't think of any works she has at all."

"Exactly, Ni Ni is at least the female lead of *The Flowers of War*, and the film also received a Golden Globe Awards nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and she herself has won quite a few film awards; wouldn't it have been better to choose her?"

"No way, Huayi and Master Huang are the keys to Yang Ying's success."

"Doesn't Ni Ni also have the backing of Shanhe Media? Why doesn't Boss Wei promote his own people?"

"It's not that he doesn't want to promote them, it's that he can't anymore; Yang Mi and Bai Bin are both artists under his banner, and it is said that Liu Shishi's Studio also has Wei Jin's private shares; monopolizing it all looks a bit ugly."

"Congratulations, Mimi, the well-deserved head of the Four Dan Actresses, haha."

Having just finished recording a variety show, Ceng Jia looked at the news online and was very happy, "This result will give you a higher starting point, and our path ahead will be much easier to walk."

"Hehe, Jia Jie, wasn't this within expectations?"

Yang Mi appeared very calm, then added with a touch of self-deprecation: "Head of the Four Dan Actresses, that's still just a 'small' actress."

"Mimi, let's take it one step at a time; now that the Studio has opened, we can invest externally later, and you yourself can even be a Producer; it will get better and better."

Ceng Jia naturally knew what Yang Mi meant; the latter had always benchmarked herself against Jing Tian and Liu Yifei.

But the former, under Wei Jin's strong support, had won the Golden Horse Best Actress; the latter had also participated in Hollywood big productions many times.

Although they were not 'Big Actresses', their status was no less than that of Big Actresses, and their resources were explosively good; for a female actor of the same age to catch up, it was truly too difficult.

Yang Mi naturally understood this truth; she was just unwilling to accept it, but she was a woman with a strong career drive after all, so she adjusted her mindset well, and a confident look appeared on her face.

"Don't worry, Jia Jie, I won't get stuck in a dead end; I know very well how my path should be walked."

"Mm, that's good."

(End of this chapter)