Chapter 536: Yang Mi

Yang Mi did not expect that just by attending a celebration banquet, she would actually gain something.

However, after hearing Ceng Jia's introduction, Yang Mi frowned; it was actually a television drama?

Having spent many years with Yang Mi, Ceng Jia knew her concerns all too well and smiled to reassure her: "Mimi, this show is different. You've starred in *Chinese Paladin 3*, so you should know that this type of game-adapted xianxia drama comes with its own fanbase. The ratings definitely won't be bad, and it's also very effective at promoting actors."

"Jia Jie, no matter how much it promotes someone, it's still just promoting a television actor. I currently have two films with 500 million in box office revenue; if I go back to acting in television dramas, wouldn't that be too much of a drop in status?"

Yang Mi's concerns were completely reasonable; in the entertainment industry, the status of film actors is higher than that of television actors.

During this period, after *A Clear Midsummer Night* aired, although the ratings were decent, she had already seen many comments from fans online, and even some high-end brand endorsers had contacted her privately.

The implication in their words was to persuade her not to take a step backward.

"Mimi, although television dramas might not be of much help to you right now, this is a necessary path if you want to become capital."

Ceng Jia was very confident in persuading Yang Mi, and she smiled as she continued to explain: "This show has an investment of 100 million. Huanyu agrees to let you convert a portion of your salary into an investment: 5 million plus a 5% investment share."

"Doesn't that mean my salary is only 10 million?"

Seeing Yang Mi's puzzled expression, Ceng Jia shook her head; she still didn't understand the rules of the circle, so she continued to explain: "Mimi, that's not how the math works. This kind of drama is guaranteed to make money; being able to get a share is already very good. The other producers are all major companies in the industry, including the CCTV-affiliated CCTV International Television Corporation, as well as Enlight Media and the game copyright holder."

"Our Studio being able to participate represents status. Once this succeeds, we can negotiate for most of the resources in the circle, and the path forward will be much easier. Besides, Huang Xiaoming and Fan Bingbing all walked this path too."

What Ceng Jia didn't say was that if Huanyu hadn't wanted to promote their own artist as the male lead and needed a female lead with enough status and explosive popularity to elevate the show's profile, it would have been absolutely impossible for them to give up any shares.

Of course, there was no need for Yang Mi to know about these twists and turns behind the scenes.

"Alright then, Jia Jie, I'll listen to you."

Yang Mi was persuaded. To become capital, if her status drops a little, so be it. At worst, she could just ask that man for some resources later to boost her status back up.

Come to think of it, she hadn't had any "meat" in over ten months. Yang Mi seemed to suddenly feel an itch; her legs involuntarily pressed together, and her face flushed slightly.

"Mimi, what's wrong with you?"

"Oh, it's nothing. By the way, Sister Jia, talk to Huanyu again and get A Guang into the cast as well."

Since establishing the Studio last year, Jiaxing had begun to venture into talent management. The A Guang Yang Mi mentioned was someone she had accidentally signed while filming a micro-movie last year.

"You don't need to tell me that; I already brought it up before, but this time he can only get a small supporting role."

"That's enough for him. Remember to make him treat you to a meal next time, haha."

Wei Jin naturally did not know that Yang Mi, thousands of miles away, was feeling lovesick.

After staying at the Mayo Clinic for a few days to ensure that the child and Da Meiyuan's vitals were all normal, Wei Jin and his party returned to Beverly Hills.

Da Meiyuan was resting during her postpartum confinement, and Wei Jin stayed at home to accompany her, using his spare time to catch up on company affairs.

It had been a full four months since Wei Jin left, and Lao Chen and Shi Nansheng had been reporting on many things during this period via email.

Because he was busy filming, he hadn't handled many non-decision-making matters immediately. Now that he had some free time, it was time to get up to speed.

In terms of films, Jiahe's first new film this year, *The Raid 2*, had finished filming. This production had a total investment of 40 million; Emperor Motion Pictures held a 30% share, while Fan Bingbing's Meitao Entertainment held a 20% share.

Because of the promotional roadshow for *Witch*, the post-production work for *The Raid 2* hadn't started yet, but according to Shi Nansheng's estimate, it could be completed within two months.

Additionally, *Cold War 2* had entered the project preparation stage, though the specific filming time would likely have to wait until the second half of the year.

The other films shot last year had all completed post-production and were just waiting for Wei Jin to return and set the release dates.

In terms of television dramas, *Dragon Snake* and *Silent Separation* had both entered the post-production stage and were expected to be completed before June.

And *With You* and *Boss & Me*, filmed last year, were also picked up by several television stations at the screening event before the New Year.

Last year, *Hello Old Times* was a big hit, and Modu TV didn't let go of its sister piece *With You* this time, teaming up with Su Province TV to acquire it at a price of 2.4 million per episode.

*Boss & Me* wasn't too bad either; Luo Jin and Zhao Liying had both proven themselves in terms of ratings, and the offers from Hui Province Satellite TV and Chongqing Satellite TV were not low, at 2.2 million per episode.

Because the television stations needed to coordinate broadcast times, neither of the above two shows had started airing yet, so there was no talk of second or third-run prices.

Regarding internet copyrights, Tudou was as reliable as ever, offering 1 million for both shows.

Regardless, just looking at the current prices, these two shows had already achieved a profit of nearly 100 million.

In terms of variety shows, *Where Are We Going, Dad? * had concluded last month, and the ratings were nothing short of exaggerated.

From 1.46 at the premiere, it soared all the way to a peak rating of 3.87. The average rating for the 12 episodes also broke 3, with an average audience share of 15.26%.

This result directly refreshed the records of last year's *Keep Running* and *The Voice*, topping the variety show charts.

Without a doubt, in this current era, *Where Are We Going, Dad? * could be called a phenomenal variety show.

According to Zhang Yipei's report, even though the second season hadn't even begun planning, advertisers had already started coming to negotiate.

The popularity of *Where Are We Going, Dad? * also made the Variety Department look forward even more to the situation after *Flowers and Youth* aired.

The birth of his grandson made Wei Xingbang and Wei Anguo very happy, but the two elders were never accustomed to life in North America and wanted to return to China before the Qingming Festival.

In the words of the two old men, a new addition to the family meant they had to go back to burn incense for their ancestors and share the good news.

Wei Jin couldn't stop them, so he could only have Lao Zhu apply for the flight route.

Da Meiyuan, wearing a trench coat and a hat, came to the entrance of the villa garden to watch Lao Zhu and Wei Jin drive the two elders to the airport.

"Yuanyuan, you should go back quickly. It's windy outside, and you're still in your postpartum confinement. You need to take care of your health and not let any illnesses take root."

"That's right, Yuanyuan, go back quickly."

In fact, April in North America, especially in Beverly Hills, had a very pleasant climate; even if there was wind, it was only a gentle breeze.

But Da Meiyuan could feel the love from the two elders and showed a sweet smile: "Uncle, Great Uncle, please take care of yourselves. Give us a call when you get home. When the child is a hundred days old, we will invite you both to Beijing."

"Eh, good, good. By then, Xu Er should be a big chubby boy, haha."

Mentioning his grandson, his father's face was full of smiles, and the wrinkles on his uncle's face seemed to smooth out as well.

"Don't worry, Uncle, Great Uncle, I will definitely raise him to be white and chubby."

Wei Jin was skeptical of this; unlike Ceng Li's careful nurturing, Da Meiyuan seemed to treat their son like a toy.

However, the saying goes that the first child is raised by the book, and the second is raised like a pig. Plus, since it was a boy with thick skin and sturdy flesh, Wei Jin felt it didn't matter if he was raised a bit roughly.

It was just that he couldn't say this in front of the two old men.

In the film market, with the diversion of several other films, the box office for *Left Ear* had completely stalled.

Although the film still had a few days of screening time, including a 3-day holiday, the daily box office had already dropped below 100,000, and there were almost no showtimes in theaters, so Wei Jin decisively chose to pull it from theaters early.

On one hand, it can be considered leaving some dignity; on the other hand, it can also be considered leaving some room for survival for other domestic films. "The potential of the film *Left Ear* is exhausted, the distributor has pulled it from theaters early, and the film's total box office is reported at 482 million, regrettably stopping before the 500 million threshold."

"Director Lin Yufen has become famous in one battle, and her quoted fee for foreign films is as high as 5 million!"

"Newcomer actress Ma Sichun's acting skills are highly praised, and she has become an overnight success."

Although the word-of-mouth for *Left Ear* is not considered very good, its boost to the actors is quite significant.

Especially Li Ba La, played by Ma Sichun, is even more favored by the audience than the female lead, Xiao Erduo.

Jiang Wenli specifically called to express her gratitude, but Wei Jin did not take much credit; after all, Ma Sichun did indeed bring many highlights to the film.

What's more, at last year's Golden Horse Awards, Jiang Wenli had already given a return.

After exchanging pleasantries with Jiang Wenli, Wei Jin notified Chen Zhiming to distribute 5 million in red envelopes to the crew.

From the box office share alone, the company's net profit for this film reached as high as 150 million.

Adding in various other revenues such as trailer advertisements and product placement, the profit exceeded 180 million, so he naturally would not be stingy in this regard.

Out of these five million, three million went to Lin Yufen; after all, although the latter is a contracted director of the company, because it was her first time directing, she only received a base fee of one million at the time.

The rest was arranged by the crew themselves, which can also be considered Wei Jin's consistent way of evaluating directors.

Time flew by, and the first week of April ended.

Perhaps with the boost of the Qingming short holiday, the box office data for the second week of *Witch* was even more eye-catching, raking in 245 million.

Currently, after 10 days of release, the film's total box office has reached 346 million.

Liu Shishi has leaped to become a 300-million-box-office female lead, and for a time, her popularity was unrivaled.

Recently, when the young lady called, her gentle-as-water tone and her attitude of being ready for him to pick made Wei Jin feel somewhat restless.

If he were in the country right now, Wei Jin even believed that if he pulled Liu Shishi and Rouba to play Fight the Landlord, she might not even refuse.

That film *Chef Actor Rascal* also performed well; although the word-of-mouth online was not very good, audience reviews were polarized.

But relying on Huang Bai's appeal, after one week, it still raked in 130 million, with a cumulative box office exceeding 210 million.

Compared to the production cost, the film had already achieved a large profit after only ten days of release, and as one of the investors, Huang Bai's mood recently could not be better.

Of course, equally happy was Old Wang from Fiber, who had bet on another low-budget film correctly, and Huang Bai's fee at the time was so low, it was simply a huge profit.

However, that film *Drug War*, which was generally favored by the industry before, did not perform very well, or perhaps it could be said that its luck was not good.

This film was initiated by Hairun Pictures, with an investment of 100 million, directed by Du Qifeng, and invited Sun Honglei and Gu Xiaozhang to join this Chinese crime-action film.

The scale of the content was astonishing.

The drug dealer played by Gu Xiaozhang could be described as utterly devoid of conscience and extremely vicious, while the anti-drug police officer played by Sun Honglei also gained fans in the film, successfully challenging the censorship standards.

Unfortunately, under the pincer attack of the already surging *Witch* and *Chef*, the first-day box office of *Drug War* was only 12 million.

Even with the boost of the holiday, it has only had 84 million in box office after 6 days of release.

According to industry estimates, it is difficult for this film's final box office to exceed 200 million, and a loss has almost become a foregone conclusion.

However, this is not the worst part.

The worst part belongs to Huayi's *Saving General Yang*.

This film gathered nine well-known star artists including Zheng Shaoqiu, Xu Fan, Zheng Yijian, Yu Bo, Wu Zun, and Zhou Yumin, and invested 170 million, claiming to be an epic historical war film.

They thought that by taking advantage of the Qingming holiday, they could bring about a box office miracle.

Unexpectedly, the first-day result was only 10 million, which completely exceeded Huayi's expectations.

Subsequent box office figures went downhill all the way, dropping directly to 7 million on the second day, and after the first 4-day weekend, the box office was less than 30 million.

Compared to the 170 million investment, the final box office share of this film is very likely unable to even recover the promotion costs.

So much so that just after the holiday, Huayi's stock price ushered in another wave of sharp decline.

What a miserable word to describe it! Wei Jin took time to visit Warner's special effects center to check the post-production progress and effects of *Edge of Tomorrow*.

For this 170-million-dollar big-budget film, director Doug Liman was very attentive, staying here to watch over the special effects and post-production almost since filming ended.

According to the current progress, the finished film could be completed before May, and Wei Jin was also very satisfied with the segments that had already been produced.

Upon learning of Wei Jin's visit, Paul, who had been promoted to film director, specifically came over to chat for a while.

"Wei, we plan to release the film in December, what do you think?"

"I have no objections, but if we want a global simultaneous release, I still have to wait until I return to the country to confirm, after all, you know..."

"No problem, but we can start our promotional work first, let's start warming up from June."

Paul nodded to show his understanding, then revealed a smile, "Wei, I have a premonition that this time, we will still make a big profit, hahaha."

Although Paul did not participate in the filming, he was an old hand who had been in Hollywood for decades, with solid professional skills; *Edge of Tomorrow* could be called world-class in terms of script, director, and cast.

He believed that this time, it could still bring generous returns to Warner.

Regarding this, Wei Jin was noncommittal, turning instead to think about the news he received from Hunter.

"By the way, Paul, is *Godzilla* about to start?"

"Oh? Wei, your news is really well-informed."

Paul was a bit surprised; Legendary Pictures had acquired the remake rights for *Godzilla* in 2010, and they had only just reached a cooperation with Warner, and it hadn't even been officially greenlit yet.

But soon, his eyes lit up, "Why, Wei, do you have any ideas? To make it a China-US co-production?"

"No, I'm asking if there's any way to work on the female lead."

Wei Jin couldn't laugh or cry; this is a Japanese anime adaptation, what the hell is a China-US co-production.

"Is that so..."

Paul was a bit disappointed, but then he pondered for a moment and nodded, "Casting will start soon; according to the script, an Asian female lead shouldn't be a problem."

"Thank you."

"Wei, compared to our friendship, these are small things, haha."

(End of chapter)