Chapter 478: Should Get a Piece of the Pie

"Unparalleled" can be filmed step by step; even if reshoots are needed, there aren't many scenes—just shoot a few important ones and let Chen Daoming re-act with a different feel.

These big-name veterans all have the habit of wanting to change the script. Fang Hong only mentioned it in passing, and if they felt it made sense, they'd want to reshoot.

This money Fang Hong definitely won't pay; he'll cover it himself.

If everyone comes along later to change things, feeling their previous performance wasn't right, he'd lose out badly.

After Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian returned to Beijing, they each went to their own home, each found their own mom; they figured they'd have to wait until the new house was ready before living together.

The moment Liu Tianxian got home, she waved the Trophy in front of her mom's eyes, swinging it left, then right, showing off like crazy.

Liu Xiaoli sat on the sofa, wearing glasses and looking at the wedding planner, caught between laughter and tears.

Still, she was genuinely happy for her daughter inside, though she said out loud: "Alright, alright, I know you won an award."

Liu Tianxian wrapped her arms around her mom's neck from behind, nuzzled her mom's cheek, and said coquettishly: "Mom, didn't you promise me something?"

"Promise you what?" Liu Xiaoli acted as if she didn't remember, looking indifferent.

"Aiya, how can you be so forgetful?" Liu Tianxian acted spoiled.

"What, you win an award and you really want me to call you Mom?" Liu Xiaoli suddenly remembered.

Back then, mother and daughter had made a bet: if Liu Tianxian could win a mainstream award, Liu Xiaoli would call her Mom.

Of course, that was just a joke between mother and daughter.

"Hahaha." Liu Tianxian laughed out loud.

"If you want to be a mom, go have one with your little Fang." Liu Xiaoli tapped her daughter's head—really, no shame.

"Aiya, I just wanted to hear you compliment me." Liu Tianxian giggled.

"My daughter is the best." Liu Xiaoli raised her hand and patted her daughter's face.

Praise still had to be given; winning an award was no easy feat, and she needed her family's recognition—couldn't just keep knocking her down.

Liu Tianxian was happy and gave her mom a big "Mwah!" kiss on the cheek.

Liu Xiaoli was in a good mood too; she hugged her daughter's head back, and mother and daughter swayed side to side, very relaxed and content.

Liu Tianxian reached over and flipped through the wedding planner in her mom's hands, asking: "Mom, how long were you with Dad before you got pregnant with me?"

"A year or two, I guess." Liu Xiaoli said.

Liu Tianxian did some quick math in her head: her mom and dad got married in 1984, and she was born in 1987, so she was conceived in 1986.

That was about a year or two in between, so she and Fang Hong still had plenty of time—they hadn't been together long enough.

Liu Xiaoli saw her daughter thinking and asked, puzzled: "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, just asking." Liu Tianxian said.

"Back then I was just like you—very passionate about work, very serious about my job. So when your dad and I were talking, he told me not to rush having kids, not to limit my work, and that's why I married him."

Liu Xiaoli recounted the往事 of those years: "I was only in my twenties then, right at the rising stage of life, pretty much like you are now. But you're better off than I was—Little Fang is actually helpful to your career, can take care of you, and is very supportive of your work."

The subtext was that her husband back then hadn't been much help to her career; not only that, there had been mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts.

Her mother-in-law hadn't supported her going out to work, believing a woman should stay home to support her husband and raise the children, not show her face in public.

But there was no need to tell her daughter about all that, to pass the conflict down to the next generation.

On this point she and Liu Tianxian were alike: if her own partner couldn't support her work, couldn't understand her, she'd rather not date, not have that marriage.

Liu Tianxian fell silent, the playful, joyful expression gone from her face.

"If you don't want a baby so soon, then discuss it with Little Fang, and make sure you two take proper precautions." Liu Xiaoli advised her daughter.

After all, she'd been through it all herself.

"Not at all, my career is going great now. Having a baby or not won't affect me—at worst I'll have the baby and then come back to work." Liu Tianxian said.

She'd already made plenty of representative works now, and in the domestic entertainment circle she was at the very top—she could take a break and handle her personal life.

Even if she stepped back for a year or two before returning to the scene, it wouldn't matter.

"As long as you've thought it through. I'm just worried your mother-in-law won't want you out in public either, and if there's conflict that won't be good." Liu Xiaoli voiced her concern.

"That won't happen. Auntie is very nice, she won't interfere with my work." Liu Tianxian was confident about that.

In Xu Liyun's view, being a celebrity was a glamorous, high-class profession; she didn't have those dirty-minded thoughts, and Fang Hong didn't tell her those things either.

So Xu Liyun was still quite pure-minded—she wouldn't think badly of Liu Tianxian for being in this industry.

As long as she was good to her son, that was enough.

"That's good. But from now on, change how you address her—don't keep calling her Auntie. You've already got the certificate, you're about to get married, you should call her Mom." Liu Xiaoli said.

"Mm, I will."

Liu Tianxian just wasn't quite used to it yet. She tightened her arms around her mom's neck and asked again: "If we don't use protection, how long would it take to get pregnant?"

"Without protection, you'd probably get pregnant pretty quickly." Liu Xiaoli said, then turned her head: "You and Little Fang aren't using protection?"

"We're not. He wanted to, but I didn't let him." Liu Tianxian didn't avoid or hide anything from her mom.

Ever since she was a teenager, her mom had taught her about female physiology—about periods, that is.

"Why not use it?" Liu Xiaoli was puzzled.

"Xiao Hong showed me that thing—how do I put it." Liu Tianxian couldn't finish, she just felt it wasn't very clean.

She had never said this to Fang Hong.

This left Liu Xiaoli not knowing what to say; she just stared at her daughter.

"What?" Liu Tianxian asked, puzzled. "You still need to use protection, it's better for you. If you want a baby, just time it right, and you can get pregnant." Liu Xiaoli still said.

"Oh, I see." Liu Tianxian thought of that thing and shook her head.

After mother and daughter finished their private talk, they moved on to discussing the wedding arrangements—no topic was off limits between them.

On June 27th, Transformers 4 hit theaters. The moment it was released, it ignited the summer season with over 170 million yuan at the box office on its opening day.

The second day it surpassed 220 million, once again breaking the domestic box office record.

This film's release during the summer slot also signaled the end of the domestic protection month—henceforth it would be fair competition with Hollywood films.

And the success of this movie was entirely propped up by ticketing platforms.

Because right now is the era of burning cash in the box office war, every major platform is trying every means to use this movie to seize market share.

Of course Tu Piao Piao is the same, but Tu Piao Piao is growing the fastest.

Hollywood blockbusters in this era can stir up people's desire to watch, have a new-user attraction effect, drawing those who never go to movies into theaters.

If you make a terrible film, it won't have this effect.

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The box office of The Breakup Guru, released on the same day, was also strong—over 200 million yuan from midnight pre-sales alone.

That means, on the 27th, the movie's box office reached nearly 600 million yuan.

The next day's box office was 470.9 million yuan.

The movie market has truly flourished; if you add up other films, the single-day box office that day reached nearly 300 million yuan.

A single-day 300 million yuan was an unprecedented phenomenon before.

But The Breakup Guru was viciously criticized, accused of Deng Chao having no morals, no bottom line.

Audiences also called it a stupid movie, something that made normal people feel nauseated.

Even Da Mimi was viciously attacked, though she had long been labeled the Queen of Bad Movies.

Even the expert Lu Tianming couldn't hold back his scathing critique: The Breakup Guru is the most vulgar movie in the past thirty years.

He is Lu Chuan's father—his status needs no explanation; just know he is a member of the Writers Association's Standing Committee.

This made Deng Chao feel deeply distressed, so he chose silence; if anyone of lower status had spoken out, he could have fired back—like Feng Kuzi.

How to describe this movie? The propaganda was indeed powerful—bus ads rolled nonstop—and Deng Chao worked himself to the bone.

He ran everywhere for promotion, did roadshows nonstop, even dragged out his wife to joke about in publicity—extremely hardworking.

Because this movie was his investment and his directorial debut; he had no choice but to push it hard.

The box office was good, but his reputation was ruined.

Yet his value wasn't exhausted by one or two bad movies—Liu Tianxian spent years burning through her movie value.

But in this life, her path took a turn at Fang Hong's side.

The summer season was booming; without protection months, many Hollywood films were released—The Sea God Code, Meiguo Pianju, No Escape, and others.

And Goodbye, Mr. Loser was scheduled for release on July 4.

In his past life, this movie came out at month's end, but Chen Zhixi moved it to the beginning—because she couldn't let it compete directly with Xiu Chun Dao; both were her children.

For this reason, Guangxian's General Manager Wang Zhangtian called Fang Hong, asking him to push Goodbye, Mr. Loser's release date later.

"General Manager, it's impossible to adjust! The schedule is already locked, the propaganda is out—how am I supposed to move it?" Fang Hong wouldn't move it; his own films were coming after.

"We're all insiders, all shareholders of Tu Piao Piao—why compete so fiercely?" Wang Zhangtian appealed to emotion.

He wanted to move Goodbye, Mr. Loser away to capture more box office; Tu Piao Piao's promotional strength was still formidable and had never lost.

There was already Transformers 4—now with Yutu Film blocking behind, it was too much to bear.

Other films didn't matter—they were obscure.

"General Manager, I'm releasing on July 4—already eight days apart. I've moved it far enough. Are you asking me to push it further? What about my films after?" Fang Hong said.

"Just push it back a little, so my movie can get a few more days of box office," Wang Zhangtian pleaded gently.

Fang Hong looked at Chen Zhixi opposite him; she shook her head slightly, signaling not to move it.

There was still Tiny Times 3 coming after—move it and risk it? Who knew how much box office Goodbye, Mr. Loser would take?

This was Han Han's first movie—unstable as hell.

Anyway, The Breakup Guru was clearly a bad movie; stepping on it was fine.

"General Manager, I'm truly sorry, but it really can't be moved."

Fang Hong added: "Besides, you're a Tu Piao Piao shareholder—you should support Tu Piao Piao's released films. The Breakup Guru isn't even distributed by Tu Piao Piao; competition is natural. You should've given this movie to Tu Piao Piao for distribution—that's when you could've moved it."

Meaning: you should've taken a share; if you won't, go to hell.

Wang Zhangtian was speechless—you're the one hoarding profits, why don't you offer your own films to Guangxian for distribution? Aren't you eating alone too?

The Breakup Guru was funded solely by Guangxian, Deng Chao's company Orange Image, and Huixing Huoying. No other investors.

Both companies belong to Deng Chao: Orange Image has Wang Zhangtian as an investor; Huixing Huoying is Deng Chao's wholly owned company.

And Huixing Huoying indirectly holds shares in Orange Image.

Orange Image is registered in Huoerguosi—operations are complicated.

Regardless, it's a movie made entirely by themselves, no partners—just eating alone.

The reason for registering in Huoerguosi? Tax avoidance—registration there offers tax incentives! (End of chapter)