Chapter 577: Picking Faults and a Wild Night with Ni Ni

In the film market, due to the strong opening day box office, the theater chains directly increased the screenings for *About Time*.

Although it was only a three-percent increase, combined with the weekend boost, *About Time* seemed to usher in a box office explosion.

The single-day box office on the second day of release crossed the 50 million mark, closing at 51.8 million.

It fell back slightly on the third day, but still approached the 50 million mark, closing at 49.6 million.

Over the first three-day weekend, *About Time* raked in 143 million.

This figure was only a few million short of *So Young* at the time, and not at all inferior to *Kung Fu Jungle*.

The key was that the film's word-of-mouth was so explosive that its subsequent performance might be even more exaggerated than the two aforementioned films, which made peers in the industry very uncomfortable.

Because everyone knew that even including marketing, the total investment for this film was less than 50 million, so the profit would definitely be even higher.

By comparison, *Young Style* could be said to have had an unfavorable start; after three days, the box office was only a little over 10 million.

However, the film's word-of-mouth online was actually quite good, with an Yinxiang Net rating of 7.5; it looked like the pressure to break even shouldn't be too great.

People in the industry were lamenting that perhaps if it had been released in a different window, *Young Style* might have performed even better.

Meanwhile, *Shendu Longwang* finished reaping the benefits of its final weekend and was taken off the screens, with a final box office of 752 million.

As the first film since March to break 700 million at the box office, Han Sanping and Wang Changtian had long suggested that the celebration banquet for *Shendu Longwang* should be held properly.

Regarding this, Wei Jin did not refuse; in any case, leaving it to those two companies to handle meant he didn't have to go to any trouble.

It was Fan Bingbing, that woman, who called Wei Jin to say that her scenes for *Godzilla* hadn't wrapped yet, so she couldn't come back to attend the celebration banquet.

"The program I prepared can only be left for Uncle to appraise next time."

"Hmph, you little vixen, next time I'm going to fill you up properly."

"Mm~~ I'm all yours, Uncle~~"

"Damn it!"

This voice, seductive to the bone, made Wei Jin stand at attention; he immediately summoned his Assistant, Huang Mengying, and filled her up thoroughly in the office. With the end of *Shendu Longwang*'s run, the screenings for *About Time* were increased once again.

Even entering the work week, the single-day box office remained near the high level of 40 million.

Just as Wei Jin had said before, the first week of August was entirely its world.

That film *Young Style*, on the other hand, managed to reap a little benefit, with its screenings rising from 8% to 12%.

However, the film's scale was too small, and it basically couldn't stir up any waves.

As for the other few low-budget films, such as Zhao Yi Huan's *Ai Ai Jiong Shi* and the film *Bang Jia Da Ming Xing* starring Yang Gong Ru and Du Hai Tao, they were declared dead almost as soon as they were released.

And the few domestic films about to be released also began their final frantic promotion.

But perhaps because they were truly disliked by everyone, Guo Jingming and *Tiny Times 2* were once again besieged by more than half of the film industry.

It felt as if they wanted to completely crush Guo Xiaosi and *Tiny Times 2* before the film was even released.

But the short-statured Guo Xiaosi was not intimidated in the slightest; he remained very tenacious, leading his fans to fight online—it was incredibly lively.

It was just that no one in the industry expected that at this time, his competitor Gao Shu Qun would jump out to mock him directly.

"Some people really have no shame when it comes to making money; they dare to film anything, even movies that poison the youth. Those brainless fans, too, have no judgment at all. Please, these people, don't come to watch my movie."

Although Gao Shu Qun's Weibo post didn't name anyone, who in the industry didn't understand? But it was fine for others to scold Guo Xiaosi.

For you, Gao Shu Qun, to pull this stunt made people feel like you were just creating hype.

The consequence of this Weibo post was that a large number of *Tiny Times 2* fans besieged the official Weibo of *Yi Chang Feng Hua Xue Yue De Shi*, and all sorts of abusive language flooded it.

Guo Xiaosi, however, was quite capable of enduring; he actually used softness to overcome hardness.

"It's normal to have competition among films released at the same time, but there's no need to be so hot-headed, right? Could it be that by scolding your opponent, your box office will be a big hit?"

Looking at the news online, Wei Jin had to admit that Guo Xiaosi was right about this.

In competition between films released at the same time, regardless of whether the film is good or bad, it ultimately comes down to the box office.

The more fiercely you scold beforehand, and the more supporters you have, the uglier it will be if you lose once the box office numbers come out.

By then, it won't just be Gao Shu Qun who loses face; even those who supported him will lose face along with him.

"Not very rational."

After sighing, Wei Jin remembered one thing and called for his Assistant.

"Meng Ying, has the script been delivered?"

"Boss, it was arranged last Wednesday. You said you needed a fresh face, so I arranged for Xiao Chen from the screenwriting department to go."

"Mm, that's good."

Wei Jin nodded. There were many people eyeing his projects, so he could only send a fresh face; otherwise, he would be annoyed to death.

"By the way, Meng Ying. Senior Brother's side is likely to start filming at the end of this month; you can send out the notice regarding the new assistant."

Hearing this, Huang Mengying felt a moment of trance; two years had passed so quickly.

"Alright, Boss, I'll notify Administration in a moment."

As luck would have it, just as Wei Jin was thinking about his script, a group of people in the Film Bureau's review department were having a discussion.

The script they were discussing was *Operation Mekong*, which had been submitted not long ago.

Because of the review procedures, the Film Bureau received dozens of scripts every day.

And these old men were inefficient; don't expect them to work overtime—it was already quite good if they could finish within the stipulated working days, which is why it was only today that this script entered their line of sight.

Even this was a great favor shown out of respect for the names of Shanhe Media and Wei Jin.

To be honest, after the incident with *The Hunt*, these old guys in the review department didn't really dare to offend Wei Jin.

Plus, with Director Tong providing protection, generally speaking, as long as a script bore the label "Screenplay by Wei Jin," there wouldn't be any problems.

But this time, a look of anticipation appeared in the eyes of several of the old men.

Especially the 70-year-old father of Lu Chuan; he still clearly remembered the time he was slapped in the face.

"Let's all discuss it; what do you say about this script?"

After the question was thrown out, someone immediately mocked: "*Operation Mekong*, you can tell what kind of script it is just by the name. He really has a lot of guts; how long has it been since this case happened? Does he even consider the surrounding relationships?"

According to his wishes, scripts of this subject matter don't need to be reviewed; just reject them outright. "He is a big director, so we still have to show some favor. First, see if the script will cause any social impact; if it's truly uncontrollable, then we'll follow the rules."

"Favor? Isn't his script already favored enough? For something like *Big Shot*, Director Tong passed it for him directly. How much more favor does he need?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the large office fell silent instantly. It seemed to be a fair point; the favor already given was too much. If they didn't review anything, what were they there for? After a long while, someone suggested: "Then let's review it first. Regardless of the case, let's see the quality of the script before deciding. Maybe he has considered everything very thoroughly?"

"Fine, then let's follow the procedure."

A group of people chattered for a long time before they started flipping through the script, though most of them didn't think too highly of it.

Because this matter hadn't happened long ago, the case was only just being executed, and it still had a huge influence on public opinion to this day; even the mainstream media hadn't reported on it much.

Holding this mindset, the group of old men responsible for the review began to "pick faults" in Wei Jin's script.

The celebration banquet for *Shendu Longwang* was set at the Imperial Hotel.

When Wei Jin arrived at the scene, he saw that the super-large banquet hall could almost be described as teeming with people.

Major production companies, first and second-tier celebrities and artists—the number of people who came to show support was countless.

Perhaps because he was about to retire, even though China Film Group held a 30% share, Han Sanping changed his previous habit of loving to be in the spotlight and left the stage entirely to Wang Changtian.

Old Wang from Enlighten Media appeared high-spirited on stage, sharing the film's profit situation with great enthusiasm.

According to the gambling agreement with the theater chains, *Shendu Longwang* enjoyed a 44.5% box office share, with 306 million belonging to the production side's revenue.

Compared to the 180 million production cost, it couldn't be counted as earning much.

After all, it was a production cycle of over a year, and with high-grossing films emerging one after another this year, everyone was basically used to it.

The key was the overseas box office situation, which made everyone at the scene a bit envious.

Besides being released in the Mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, this film was also released simultaneously in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian regions, accumulating a total of 32.8 million USD.

Although this figure was quite a bit worse than previous films like *Mojin: The Lost Legend* and *Painted Skin*, and it couldn't even compare to the copyright income of *Flying Swords of Dragon Gate*.

But one must know that nowadays, costume films are no longer popular in the overseas market.

Including Zhou Xingxing's *Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons*, the overseas data could also be described as disastrous.

That *Shendu Longwang* could achieve such results was completely unexpected within the industry.

Adding in the embedded advertisements and various copyright incomes, the total revenue belonging to the production side for this film approached 500 million.

Even with China Film Group and Enlighten Media taking a 25% share at a premium of 55 million, the overall return rate was still around 150%; it was definitely a huge profit.

Of course, the one that profited the most was definitely Shanhe Media.

With an investment of 70 million, the net profit approached 250 million, a return rate exceeding 260%.

This couldn't even be called making money; it was completely robbing money.

Therefore, Wei Jin was not stingy either, having made arrangements with Han Sanping and Wang Changtian early on.

A full ten million in red envelope rewards directly pushed the atmosphere of the scene to a climax.

During the cocktail party, Xu Laoguai was undoubtedly the most dazzling person tonight.

Starting from *Detective Dee*, three consecutive films had been big hits; Xu Laoguai had already proven his strength.

Especially since Xu Laoguai's efficiency was so high, producing films at a rate of almost one per year, many production companies were eyeing him.

Equally prominent as Xu Laoguai was the alluring Ni Ni.

The success of a film was a huge boost for an actor. In terms of box office alone, with *The Flowers of War* and *Shendu Longwang*, Ni Ni was already completely inferior to no one compared to Yang Mi.

Even in terms of reputation, Ni Ni was much better.

Therefore, in just a few hours, she had already received many invitations and overtures.

It was just that her charming, soul-stirring phoenix eyes were looking around, searching for that one figure.

Because she knew very well that everything she had now was bestowed by that man.

And Wei Jin, who was being kept in mind by Ni Ni, was currently being pulled aside by Han to chat.

"You kid, where is the script you promised? It's been almost a month now."

"Han Dong, don't be anxious. The detailed budget estimate should be out in these two days. Let's make an appointment to chat with everyone then."

Wei Jin was telling the truth; the filming of this project involved many locations and required considering many issues.

Chen Xi and the project team were already working overtime to get it done, but there was no result yet.

"Alright then, I'll wait for your news."

After the celebration banquet ended, Wei Jin took Ni Ni back to Jin Wu 6 Hao.

Originally, Ni Ni intended to invite Wei Jin to her place; although the house wasn't big, it was at least a bit more cozy.

Unfortunately, Wei Jin refused out of safety considerations. It wasn't that he was afraid of the woman causing any trouble, but Ni Ni was no longer a nobody now, and he didn't want to make it known to everyone.

Just after arriving, Ni Ni couldn't wait to press against him and offer a sweet kiss.

At the last premiere, she had been intercepted by Liu Yan, causing Ni Ni to go two or three months without receiving nourishment from this man.

For her, at twenty-five or twenty-six and having experienced the ultimate pleasure of the human world, the days were truly hard to endure.

Facing the beauty's initiative, Wei Jin also responded enthusiastically; after all, he was still quite fond of this woman's looks and figure.

Wei Jin had to admit that Ni Ni's kissing technique was arguably the best among all his women.

All kinds of techniques were at her fingertips, making one's heart itch.

While tasting her red lips and admiring the charm in the beauty's eyes, Wei Jin's hands were not idle either, splitting into two paths to storm the fortress.

Merely the interaction through their clothes made Ni Ni's heart flutter and her face flush red.

A pair of slender, beautiful legs couldn't help but press together, and her whole body seemed to have lost its strength.

Before long, she couldn't hold back anymore, taking the initiative to push Wei Jin onto the sofa and crouching down herself.

After a rustling sound, she saw her long-lost friend. That dizzying scent rushed into her nose, making her breathing heavy, and red clouds also appeared on her heroic yet exquisite cheeks.

Immediately, Ni Ni parted her lips slightly and gently pressed them onto him.

(End of this chapter)