Chapter 575: Do it, must do it, do it as soon as possible!

On the last day of July, *About Time* held its premiere; from the afternoon on, media reports never ceased.

There was no helping it; as the undisputed hegemon of domestic entertainment, every work produced by Shanhe Media, regardless of production cost, was bound to receive intense attention from the industry.

Especially since the beginning of this year, a blockbuster work had been released every single month.

*Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons* grossed 1.345 billion; *Seattle* grossed 602 million; *Left Ear* grossed 4.82 million; *Kung Fu Jungle* grossed 611 million; *Shendu Longwang*, which hadn't even finished its theatrical run yet, had already reached over 700 million.

Even without counting *Witch* produced by Golden Harvest, the total box office was approaching the 4-billion mark, almost accounting for one-third of the total domestic box office for the first half of the year.

If one were to further exclude imported films, it could be said that Shanhe Media accounted for over sixty percent of the box office for domestic films, and there wasn't a soul in the entire production industry who wasn't green with envy.

Now, another film was about to be released, and it was during the major window of the Summer Slot overlapping with the Qi Xi Festival; industry peers were feeling a complex mix of emotions regarding how much box office this film could achieve.

Even though Guo Fan's box office performance was the worst among the directors signed to Shanhe Media, films in the same release window still felt immense pressure!

However, despite the competitive relationship between everyone, the scene of today's premiere could still be described as People Mountain People Sea.

At this moment, Guo Fan was leading the main cast and crew, frequently weaving through the guests to greet them.

Huang Xiaoming, who had just been slapped in the face two days ago, was also wandering through the crowd with Yang Ying, thoroughly kept in check.

Jin Yimeng, who had been rejected by Fan Bingbing, was entertaining numerous theater chain representatives with Li Zhiting and the replacement actress Tang Wei from the *One Night Surprise* crew, as the release was right around the corner.

Wang Jinhua was taking Dong Zijian around to recognize "uncles and brothers and sisters," quite adept at handling such social affairs.

Even Guo Xiaosi had brought the *Tiny Times* crew to the scene, though people in the circle clearly didn't care for him; yet, this guy was thick-skinned enough to keep trying to squeeze into the crowd.

"Little brother, this guy is really actively trying to integrate into the circle, haha."

Hearing the mockery in Old Wang's words, Wei Jin didn't say much.

For anyone who had sent a premiere invitation to Shanhe Media, whether they attended or not was one thing, but the company would always return the favor with a reciprocal invitation.

Thus, Guo Xiaosi was here today as a guest, and as the host, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to make snide remarks.

After chatting with Old Wang for a while, the premiere officially began.

At the host's invitation, Guo Fan took the microphone and led the main creative team onto the stage.

The venue quickly quieted down; the guests and audience were all seated in their places, looking forward.

"Everyone knows that *About Time* is my second film, and it is still a soft sci-fi script provided by President Wei. So, regarding the storytelling, everyone absolutely doesn't need to worry; it definitely won't be bad."

Guo Fan's words made Wei Jin raise an eyebrow; good fellow, has he started learning to butter people up now?

But thinking about it, this guy in his past life was the one who used a PPT to paint a big picture and directly hoodwinked Wu Jing into bringing his own capital to join *Wandering Earth*; perhaps his true nature was starting to be unleashed?

On stage, many of the main creators were still sharing funny stories and embarrassing moments from the filming, and Bai Yu was teased quite a bit.

However, Wei Jin noticed that his gaze fell from time to time on the back rows; he reckoned that the junior from Beijing Film Academy must have arrived.

After half an hour of banter, the lights in the venue dimmed, and the feature film finally began to play.

The "Butterfly Effect" is an enduring theme in the field of science fiction, and that 2004 film *Butterfly Effect* could be considered to have pushed this type of theme to its peak.

Especially the profound reflections on life choices, fate, and free will in the film, which were revered as a literary masterpiece among sci-fi films.

But Wei Jin believed that although this *About Time* did not focus on pain, regret, and obsession, its simple yet profound story was equally excellent.

From the moment the old father told his son that the men in their family possessed the superpower to travel through time and change reality, many things were already destined.

"Damn, as expected of a gold-medal screenwriter, this setting by Wei Jin is truly awesome; it's the first time I've seen the butterfly effect causing a change in a fertilized egg."

"Accompanying the old father, saving the younger sister—any decision will affect the living; this ability cannot be said to be anything but awesome, but the price is truly unfathomable."

"..."

The discussions rising in the venue grew more frequent, proving that everyone was attracted by the story and resonated with the emotions it expressed.

Under these circumstances, the two hours seemed to pass by in a flash, to the point that after the film ended, everyone still felt a sense of wanting more.

It wasn't until Guo Fan led the main creative team back onto the stage that thunderous applause finally broke out in the venue, as if people had just realized it.

"Hearing everyone's belated applause, I can finally rest easy; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to report back on this one, haha."

Guo Fan's joke caught the media's attention, and a reporter immediately asked a question.

"Director Guo, does that mean President Wei gave you a mission?"

"For that, it's better to let President Wei answer it himself, right?"

"President Wei, come up on stage and say a few words to everyone."

"President Wei..."

There was a commotion at the scene, but Wei Jin didn't mind; what was wrong with going up as the screenwriter to say a few words? The media were excited; they wouldn't need to interview this "Prediction King" separately later.

"Mission is too strong a word; I just told them to take the August championship and crush the other films in the same period, that's all, hahaha."

Although Wei Jin was laughing, these words instantly made the scene restless; was he completely disregarding the other films?

And the actors and creators of the films in the same period who were present all had helpless smiles on their faces.

Today was someone else's home turf; they had no chance to refute these words, so they would just have to see the truth at the box office.

"Then what is the specific box office target?"

This time, Guo Fan did not mince words: "Absolutely not to be the company's last place; at the very least, we must break 500 million. As for more..."

Speaking of this, Guo Fan looked at the "big brother" sitting in the third row, a flash of sharpness in his eyes, "Striving to surpass Lu Yang!"

"Hahaha."

The venue erupted in laughter, and Wei Jin was also amused; he was happy to see healthy competition among the company's directors.

During the cocktail party, it was bustling with activity; Wei Jin remained the core of the circle, and quite a few people came over with clear intentions.

"President Wei, if you have time, please do us the honor of attending the premiere of *One Night Surprise*."

Although it was their first meeting, Jin Yimeng, in a red dress with wavy hair, downed a glass of red wine in one gulp, appearing very bold—truly worthy of someone from Heilongjiang.

Li Zhiting and Tang Wei, who were following her, were much more introverted, their speech exceptionally respectful.

To be honest, Tang Wei's looks were not considered beautiful in the entertainment industry, but she was very pleasant to look at; unfortunately, she wasn't Wei Jin's type.

As for the premiere, Wei Jin naturally declined. Are you kidding? Different films were released every day; unless it was a close friend, he couldn't possibly attend, otherwise he wouldn't be able to get anything done all day.

Including Jin Yimeng, she was just coming over to try her luck.

After a few polite pleasantries, Jin Yimeng and her group left, and Huang Xiaoming walked over.

However, he wasn't here to invite Wei Jin to a premiere, but rather to chat about *The Patriot Yue Fei*.

"President Wei, thanks to your company's screenwriting department, this show was able to achieve such results."

The TV series had already passed the halfway point, and a peak viewership rating of over 3 was definitely the best result of Huang Xiaoming's work in recent years; the key was that the word-of-mouth was also exceptionally good, making his investment of zero salary worth it.

"It's also thanks to Brother Xiaoming's tireless efforts, haha."

To be fair, Wei Jin absolutely recognized Huang Xiaoming's level of professionalism.

Regarding the early promotion of this show, Huang Xiaoming was the most diligent, even more so than Liu Shishi; he didn't miss a single one of the premiere ceremonies arranged by the various TV stations.

However, for the subsequent second and third rounds of promotion, he really couldn't participate because he had joined the cast of *The Crossing*, so the burden fell entirely on Liu Shishi.

Come to think of it, it had been a while since he'd seen the young girl, and Wei Jin even missed her soft, delicate body.

"The premiere of *About Time* is star-studded and packed with guests!"

"Great director Wei Jin predicts: The film is destined to become the hegemon of the August Summer Slot!"

"Internal rivalry within the Shanhe system—Director Guo Fan speaks bluntly: The box office target is a floor of 500 million, aiming straight at Director Lu Yang!"

"*About Time*, the sci-fi film you can't miss this Summer Slot, tells the story of the troubles of growing up, family affection, and love."

The premiere of *About Time* ended, and there was no shortage of media coverage, but unfortunately, it failed to occupy the headlines on the first day of August.

Because the Palme d'Or-winning great director Chen Shiren had stirred up trouble again.

As early as when *Sacrifice* was first greenlit and casting began, there were rumors in the industry that Chen Shiren's team would adapt *Sand Sea Empty Gate: Great Tang Ghost Banquet*.

Since then, Chen Hong had also publicly stated that Chen Shiren had devoted all his energy to the *Sand Sea Empty Gate* project.

But now, five years later, the announcement issued by Chen Hong exceeded everyone's expectations.

"Because the Tang City Film and Television Base could not be completed on schedule, the *Sand Sea Empty Gate* project has been temporarily shelved. After careful consideration, Director Chen has decided to officially greenlight and prepare the Republican-era fantasy martial arts film *Monk Comes Down the Mountain*, and casting work has officially begun."

Once the news broke, it instantly hit the headlines.

After all, compared to the new film casting of a Palme d'Or-winning great director, what was a mere premiere?

At this moment, whether it was filmmakers in the industry, celebrities in the circle, or netizens online, everyone was discussing it heatedly.

It was just that Wei Jin didn't expect that this wave of excitement would actually give Chen Zhiming a new idea.

"Lao Chen, do you mean that we should also build a film and television city? Like Chen Shiren?" Wei Jin was a bit surprised.

Looking at every film Chen Shiren shot, he would always embark on large-scale construction. He didn't particularly understand it before, but later he gradually figured out this routine.

Regardless of whether the film made money, the project would definitely make money. Because the profit point lay in the newly established film base or film and television city.

After all, with the status of a great director, there would always be local governments eager to provide land, funds, and even various policy inclinations to foot the bill.

Of course, local governments weren't stupid; with the influence of a great director, the film base left behind after filming could indeed drive local economic development for a long time and even become a shining calling card.

The Qin King Palace and Orphan of Zhao City built by Chen Shiren back then had now been expanded into film and television city projects and were still in use.

But following this method of operation, Wei Jin felt that his films wouldn't even need to be shot; it would just be years of infrastructure construction at every turn.

Take this Tang City Film and Television Base, for example; it had been under construction for over three years, damn it, and it still wasn't finished. How many films had he shot in that time?

Chen Zhiming knew Wei Jin had misunderstood and immediately explained:

"No, President Wei. I mean that we should build a large-scale film and television base, with architectural complexes in ancient, modern, retro, and Republican styles all included—the kind that is even more comprehensive than Hengdian and Xiangshan."

"Hmm? How did you come up with this idea?"

Wei Jin had always been reluctant to touch cultural tourism projects because they tended to become distorted once you started doing them.

After all, compared to content manufacturing, real estate made money too quickly, and the entire company might get sucked into it from top to bottom.

Just like Huayi was now, they basically didn't have much heart left for their main business.

And even if the film city became a hit, subsequent expansion and development would bring huge trouble; if things went wrong, you might run into people cutting you off to grab land, only to sell it back to you at a high price—disgusting stuff.

Therefore, on the side of Shanhe Media, he had never had such thoughts, though Qingtian Capital had invested in quite a few related industries.

"President Wei, it's mainly because our company's cash flow is too abundant. Even though we've been building staff buildings and purchasing commercial real estate all these years, the funds on the books are still very sufficient.

And I think a film and television city base, on one hand, can satisfy our own needs, since we have quite a few projects every year; on the other hand, it can be considered as completing our cultural and entertainment industry ecosystem."

Chen Zhiming described his grand blueprint, becoming more excited as he spoke.

Wei Jin also admitted that what Lao Chen said made some sense, but he didn't expect that he even had a preliminary intention for the location.

"Baiyangdian?"

"Yes, President Wei. I've thought about it carefully. Our focus is definitely in Beijing, so the base cannot be far away. Since the Huairou Film and Television City is already to the northeast of Beijing's suburbs, we can only develop toward the south.

The Baiyangdian area has the best location; it's only a little over a hundred kilometers from Beijing, and the transportation is convenient. To the east is Tianjin, to the southwest is the provincial capital Shitou City, and directly to the south is Lu Province, facing the economic hub of the entire north.

With a few big projects and some operation, once the reputation and name are established, the tourists from Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and the two provinces and two cities alone would be enough to keep the film city stuffed."

Chen Zhiming's train of thought was clear, and his analysis was logical.

At this moment, Wei Jin suddenly realized that Lao Chen might be wasting his talent at Shanhe Media; his talent points were probably all in real estate.

Damn it, although Wei Jin hadn't been to Baiyangdian in his past life, he knew it wasn't far from the future New Area, basically just a stone's throw away.

And there was no need to mention how great the value of the New Area would be.

If they planned it well and focused the expansion of the film city toward the New Area, even if the final development wasn't too great, the land alone would be worth a fortune.

"Lao Chen, say no more. Do it, we must do it, do it as soon as possible! I fully support you in doing it!"

"Good! President Wei, I'll go make the plan right now!"

(End of chapter)