Chapter 407: The Nightmare

Han Sanping woke up with a start, and as he touched his forehead, he found it covered in a dense layer of sweat.

His wife beside him was awakened by his movements and asked groggily, "What's wrong, Old Han?"

In the darkness, Han Sanping's heart was racing, and he was still in a state of lingering fear. He swallowed hard and said, "It's nothing, just had a nightmare. Go back to sleep."

"Oh," his wife replied, turning over, and the sound of her light breathing resumed.

Han Sanping turned over as well, wanting to continue sleeping, but he no longer felt drowsy.

He reached out to grab his watch and checked the time: 2:43 AM.

He rolled out of bed, and his wife was awakened by him again.

Han Sanping waved his hand, and his wife muttered something he didn't catch clearly; he slipped on his slippers and left the bedroom.

After relieving himself, he went to the study, turned on the desk lamp, and lit a cigarette. Han Sanping picked up the documents on the table and began to read. He frowned, the smoke swirling in the dim, yellow glow of the lamp.

First-week box office: 150 million yuan. Second-week increase: 70 million yuan. After two weeks of release, the box office total was 220 million yuan.

This result, far below the expected 300 million yuan, was nowhere near the performance of "The Founding of a Republic" back then. Han Sanping stubbed out his cigarette and rubbed his temples. Recalling the grand ambitions during the preparation phase, he felt a bit stifled.

Fortunately, he had considered this point early on and was prepared to extend the release period.

Otherwise, after going to such great lengths to gather over 170 stars, if it couldn't even sell 300 million, his reputation would be a minor issue; to have a commemorative gift turn out like this was truly hard to justify.

But that was the official explanation for the outside world.

Internally, however, Han Sanping knew very well:

If it were merely to protect the box office of "Beginning of the Great Revival," he wouldn't have let the commercial blockbuster "Transformers 3" be scheduled for July 21st, while trying every possible way to have another film released on August 13th, at the very tail end of the summer season.

This absolutely could not be justified by the excuse of protecting domestic films, because that film was a Sino-foreign joint venture and enjoyed the same treatment as a domestic film.

He had pulled strings and called in favors everywhere to delay the other party's review process; the pressure he bore and the favors he had to trade were not insignificant.

Then, what was it all for?

Why did he endure all sorts of resistance just to make things turn out like this?

There was only one reason.

Because only if this film failed could it prove that his original decision had been wise.

Compared to bearing the reputation of infighting, he was more afraid of being labeled as lacking courage, lacking vision, and being unfit for major responsibilities. At this critical juncture in his official career, the latter was fatal to him.

"Old Han!?"

Hearing a Sichuan accent, Han Sanping turned back to see his wife, with her graying hair, pushing the door open and standing at the entrance. His wife, like him, was from Sichuan, and they had been married for nearly 30 years, always having a good relationship.

"Why are you up?"

"Came to check on you. Why aren't you sleeping yet?"

"Oh, I can't sleep, so I got up to look at some data."

"I'm telling you, don't pay attention to what those people on the internet say. No director can guarantee that every one of their films will be a big hit. Don't take those messy comments on the internet to heart."

Han Sanping frowned impatiently, "This has nothing to do with that. Go back to sleep."

"It has everything to do with it. I see you frowning every day, unable to eat, and now you're not even sleeping. Sigh, why don't you give Chen Nuo a call and ask him to come back to help promote the film? You're both from the same hometown, and it's for the country, right?"

"I told you, it has nothing to do with that! What kind of nonsense are you spouting!" Han Sanping's face darkened, and he scolded, "Stop talking crap and go back to sleep!"

"Don't you dare snap at me." His wife was no pushover either, and she retorted without showing weakness: "You'd rather suffer than lose face! I told you to call him back then, but you wouldn't. Who are you putting on airs for? He's someone living the high life in Hollywood; what's wrong with giving him a way to save face? Now look, he really didn't come to act, the film is selling like this, the leaders aren't happy, and the people below aren't happy either. Smoking here in the middle of the night, tell me, didn't you bring this on yourself!"

"You damn woman, get out!" Han Sanping was furious and pointed toward the door.

"Heh." His wife sneered twice, "You'd be happy if I died, so you could make room for someone else, right? Let me tell you, I'm in good health and will live to be a hundred. None of those vixens you have outside will ever step foot in my house."

After she finished speaking, she slammed the door shut with a "bang," leaving Han Sanping alone in the study, his face shifting between black and blue, wishing he could hack the old woman to death with a knife.

Does the dismal box office of "Beginning of the Great Revival" have anything to do with this?

Is it because he invited over 170 stars but happened to leave out the one person who is currently the most popular?

Although no one dared to say it to his face, how could Han Sanping not know? Not just this damn woman, and not just on the internet, but even within China Film Group, this sentiment had a large market.

Ridiculous, absurd!

Do they really think Chinese cinema would stop turning without him?

After a while, Han Sanping's anger finally subsided a little.

He checked his watch; it was past 3:00 AM.

In London time, it should be 7:00 PM.

He picked up the phone and dialed.

Before long, the other side picked up, their voice sounding quite surprised, "Han Dong?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Han Dong, you... you're still awake?"

"Haha, I slept, then woke up. What's the situation over there?"

"I just entered the venue."

"Oh, oh, it hasn't started yet." Han Sanping asked a question he already knew the answer to, then pretended to ask casually, "How is their premiere going?"

"A lot of people came. Many British stars like Kate Winslet and Colin Firth are here, as well as many film critics. The red carpet is very lively. I just found an opportunity to chat with Chen Nuo for a bit, and now I'm looking forward to it even more."

"Is that so? What did you talk to him about?"

"Haha, nothing much, just introduced myself. I said I was a special correspondent for 'Film Art,' here specifically to see this film and introduce it to domestic readers, and he expressed his welcome."

"And then?"

"Then, nothing else. He was quite busy, said a couple of words, and went to do interviews. Hehe."

"The recent stock trading incident involving him in the US has been quite a stir. Has he been affected?"

"Doesn't seem like it? Can't tell, he still feels quite relaxed."

Relaxed? Why would he be relaxed?

According to foreign media, if the film doesn't sell well and Warner's stock doesn't go up, you're going to lose a lot of money!

How can you still be relaxed?

Han Sanping gave a dry laugh and said, "Hehe, alright then. Remember to send me a message after you finish watching and tell me how the film is."

"Alright, no problem."

The phone hung up, and Han Sanping felt even more uneasy.

Could this film really be that good?

Han Sanping originally wanted to hold out until the film ended, but he ended up falling asleep on the desk in the study without realizing it. He didn't wake up until the sky was beginning to brighten.

Then he suddenly remembered what happened earlier and grabbed his phone to check.

There was one unread text message.

Han Sanping took a deep breath.

To be honest, at this moment, if he could trade three years of his life for a review calling it a "trash film," he would be willing.

Preparing himself mentally, he clicked on the message to read it.

It read:

"Han Dong, reporting my impressions of the film. The 3D effects are very good, the visual effects are fantastic, especially watching it on the IMAX screen at the premiere. I think it's even more stunning than Avatar. Nolan is indeed Nolan. Chen Nuo's performance is also very, very good. It is definitely a good film. The only problem is that the plot is too deep; I didn't quite understand it, hehe, I'm ashamed. I'll have to go watch it again after it's released domestically."

Han Sanping's expression was gloomy at first, but upon seeing the end, his expression shifted for a moment, and he suddenly calmed down.

He closed his eyes and pondered for a while.

Then, the corners of his mouth curled up. First, he gave a light "hehe" chuckle, then the laughter grew louder, and finally, he burst into a loud, deafening laugh.

Didn't understand it? Good, good that he didn't understand it. He directly ignored the "go watch it again" part. Film critics might watch it again, but what ordinary person would watch it a second time? For a film like Avatar, not even 1% of the audience would watch it a second time!

Who is Wang Xinping?

He is a senior film critic for "Film Art," the official magazine of the China Film Association! He has seen at least 8,000 films in his life, if not 10,000.

Even he says he doesn't understand it?

Then how many people could possibly understand it!?

In that instant, many film titles popped into Han Sanping's mind, such as "Mulholland Drive," "The Matrix Reloaded," "Cloud Atlas"... aren't all these films like that?

Great momentum, aggressive arrival, explosive visual effects, but in the end, the plot is incomprehensible, people don't understand it, and it ultimately flops so hard that even its mother wouldn't recognize it.

If a film is incomprehensible, then what's the use of having good visual effects!

And "Avatar"? You're not even fit to lick Avatar's boots!

The more Han Sanping thought about it, the happier he became.

Now it's settled. It's probably just another commercial 3D film that shows off visual effects, just like the 3D films of the last two years, including Transformers 3; it's nothing more than commercial popcorn, a money-grabbing work.

For him, this is easy to explain.

After all, such a work certainly cannot represent Chinese cinema and make a name for itself in the world!

"Haha, hahaha..."

He felt a heavy stone lifted from his heart, his whole body felt relaxed, and he was overjoyed.

Suddenly, a roar in a Sichuan accent came from far outside the door, "Laugh, laugh, laugh! Not sleeping at night, and here you are acting crazy early in the morning, Han Sanping, I think you're looking to die!!!"

Han Dong's face immediately sank, and his laughter stopped abruptly.

Han Dong is not the only one concerned about "Inception." In order to dream, Han Dong didn't sleep all night, and Mason Collins on the other side of the Pacific also sacrificed his rest time for the dream. At 8:00 PM, he entered the studio of his luxury villa.

Three 27-inch iMac displays were lined up in front of him.

He was carefully reading the website in the middle; this was a film review uploaded just after midnight from London by a reporter from "The Hollywood Reporter."

This was the fifth one he had read.

Before this, he had already finished reading the quick reviews from special correspondents published on the websites of the American "Hollywood Reporter," "Variety," and the British "Guardian" and "Independent."

His current feeling is that there is a bomb in front of him, about to explode, but under the bomb, it seems to be a bank vault.

Is it total destruction or a huge fortune?

It depends on whether he dares to bet that the bomb will blow open the vault door or blow him to smithereens.

Collins rubbed his eyes, picked up his black coffee, took a big gulp, and looked at the film review headline in "The New York Times":

"'Inception': The Tower of Babel in Dreams Built by Nolan."

"Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' is perhaps the most ambitious Hollywood commercial film in the last decade—a work that attempts to build a bridge between box office and philosophy. This is a film about dreams, consciousness, and the boundaries of reality. It not only requires the audience to watch, but also to participate, think, and even question their belief in 'linear narrative.'

The film unveiled its mystery at the global premiere at the Empire Cinema in London, showing its complex structural design for the first time. The dream world like an Escher painting, the narrative clues nested layer by layer like the Tower of Babel, and Nolan's signature time-compression techniques together constitute a 3D film experience that is intoxicating and potentially dizzying.

In such a film that emphasizes structure and philosophical thought, the presence of the actors is still impressive.

Chen Nuo, this Chinese actor who is starring in a Hollywood A-level production for the first time, handles the role of a 'dreamer' who is emotionally scarred but logically powerful in a calm and tense way. Keira Knightley and Ellen Page, who play opposite him, provide emotional depth and rational tension respectively, forming a surprising balance among the three.

Ryan Reynolds and Cillian Murphy are the same...

'Inception' may not be a work that every audience member can understand immediately. Nolan does not intend to cater to everyone, but challenges the mainstream film definition of 'watchability' and 'entertainment' in a way that is almost like a philosophical experiment.

I give it five stars, a full-score recommendation to all science fiction film lovers and senior fans who like brain-burning films. This film will definitely satisfy you."

Five stars.

Plus the previous two four-stars and two five-stars.

Among the five film reviews he has read so far, there are two 4-stars and 3 five-stars.

This definitely belongs to a super-high evaluation. If it weren't for the fact that all five reviews mentioned the same word, Mason Collins would have immediately picked up the phone, called his assistant, and demanded that he close the short position on Warner stock as soon as work started on Monday.

But the word "brain-burning" made him indecisive.

Mason Collins closed the website, opened Twitter and Reddit, and started searching on them.

Half an hour later, Mason picked up the phone and, regardless of the fact that it was actually late at night, dialed directly.

"Jerry, yes, it's me... Add to the Warner short position at the opening on Monday, target price 11.5 dollars, at least 500,000 shares, maximize the leverage... Haha, liquidation line, let me think about it... Yes, that's right, we're playing big this time."

"... I saw it, don't worry Jerry, of course they will all be good reviews. Warner isn't stupid. If this film wasn't good, how could they invest so much in promotion, and why would they hold a premiere in London a week before the public release? They just want to let public opinion ferment within this week. They just want to play big."

"... I think they miscalculated. Audiences aren't film critics! I just saw some word-of-mouth circulating on Twitter, a lot, a lot of 'don't understand.' It's the same on Reddit, and some people even said 'the plot is like a damn exam'."

"I think this film will definitely not attract family audiences. In that case, does Warner want to rely on IMAX fans and Chen Nuo's fans to support the box office?"

"Hahahaha, unfortunately, this isn't Twilight, and Warner isn't Summit Entertainment. For a big production with a cost of several hundred million, those little girls' wallets can't support Warner's appetite!"

Speaking of this, Mason Collins held the phone with his hand and showed a smug smile, "I can guarantee that I'm not the only one who sees this. Just wait and see its opening theaters and screening volume, it absolutely cannot exceed Transformers 3!"

"What I know, those theater managers must see even more clearly than I do."

"When the theaters are announced and Warner's stock price falls, we will close the part we added today and only hold the previous short position."

"In this way, haha, yes, no matter how it goes later, we will make a steady profit."

London time, July 2, 2011, 10:13 AM.

The conference room of the London Hilton was full of people.

These are theater representatives, screening managers, distributor representatives, and marketing teams from the major global markets for "Inception." At Warner's invitation, they flew here from all over the world to discuss major events.

This was Chen Nuo's first time participating in a global distribution meeting of this scale, and he didn't intend to speak.

Because at this meeting, it should be the producer's distribution coordinator representatives communicating with distributors and theater managers from various countries, evaluating market response from media reactions and audience feedback at the premiere, and thereby communicating screening ratios and promotional rhythms.

Emma Thomas is responsible for this work.

And as for him, he is here to learn. In case his Huanxin company has films that need this kind of global distribution in the future, he should have some experience, right?

Originally, he just wanted to be a student,

But although Nolan's wife is capable, it seems this is her first time experiencing such a scene of being attacked from all sides.

After a fierce debate, she was left speechless by the series of deadly questions raised by David Carter, the screening director of the North American AMC theater chain.

He looked left and right, and it seemed that both Nolan and the Warner people were a bit guilty, all thinking.

In this case, he had to speak up and take over the conversation.

Does this question need thinking?

In his view, it couldn't be simpler.

He coughed, took the microphone, and said: "David, you're right, this is a brain-burning sci-fi suspense film, and many people don't understand it."

"It also naturally cannot attract family audiences and teenagers, and unlike my Dark Knight or Twilight, it doesn't have comics or book fans."

"So our audience size may be limited, and it can only be supported by Director Nolan's fans, sci-fi lovers, and high-end audiences."

"However." Chen Nuo paused, his eyes sweeping across the conference room, "This is precisely the unique value of 'Inception'."

"Gentlemen, Director Nolan never intended to make a popcorn film suitable for all ages from the beginning. We aimed from the start at loyal fans willing to watch it twice or three times, high-end audiences willing to pay for stunning IMAX visuals, and active social media users who will be provoked to discuss the 'brain-burning' plot."

"Indeed, as you said, David, the audience who likes this film has nothing to do with my fans! There is a Mariana Trench between them!"

"But, let those young girls go, their pocket money is already not much."

Although the scene was very serious, hearing Chen Nuo's words, many people still laughed at this moment.

Guli Nazha was the same. She can understand quite a bit of English now. The corners of her mouth curled up, sitting in the last row, her eyes fixed on Chen Nuo without blinking.

There was only one thought in her mind, here he goes again, here he goes again!

She really admires this point about her boss now. He can pretend to be very cool anytime, anywhere, training clients like dogs, making them cry when he wants them to cry, and laugh when he wants them to laugh. This is the highest realm of sales. It is really worth her learning well.

Chen Nuo didn't know he was misunderstood.

And he is actually a fart of a sales expert. He was able to stand up and answer questions so quickly just because he had memories of his past life.

He scanned the audience, recalling the box office of Inception in his past life and the actions of those crazy people, the ticket stubs they posted online, and his feeling after watching the film last night.

Sorry, he really feels now that he has a straight flush.

Unless a plane falls from the sky, he really kills the whole audience!

Have you seen the shock of the Paris streets folding in the dream world slowly closing in the 3D world?

Have you seen the immersion of the zero-gravity corridor fight on IMAX?

Have you seen the surreal battlefield dream shot with the same camera as "Avatar"?

If the North American sci-fi fans of the past life could treat the 2D version of "Inception" as a bible, the best sci-fi film in history, then this version—shot with James Cameron's 3DMAX camera, he acted with all his might during filming, and finally "Inception" which Nolan meticulously edited for more than half a year, really can't see any possibility of losing!

Unless he is ten Huang Xiaomings away from Leonardo DiCaprio!

Possible?

Impossible!

Therefore, his tone of voice became a few points heavier, and his eyes almost touched the faces of everyone staring at him one by one.

"The easiest money to earn in this world is not women's money, but the money of those who consider themselves smart, and our target audience this time is exactly these smart people."

"Think about it, how many smart people lose everything in stocks every day?"

"When these smart people come to the film market, when they find that they don't understand what the film is saying, just like they don't understand the K-line chart, when they find that their IQ has been insulted by a filmmaker—God bless our Mr. Nolan is just such a person who is smarter than them—then, will these people care about this little bit of money?"

"They are not underage girls, they don't need parents to give them pocket money."

"Maybe compared to Transformers or Harry Potter, we can only attract 5 million people to walk into the cinema, but so what?"

"5 million times 2 is 10 million, times 3 is 15 million, times 5 is 25 million. I believe that smart people who are willing to watch 5 times, just like those who don't know how to stop when they are ahead in the stock market and still want to increase their bets, are definitely not a minority."

"As Emma said, as long as you focus the promotion rhythm of our film on the positive interpretation of 'brain-burning', push the concepts of 'puzzle-solving' and 'multi-viewing', and turn complexity into a selling point like 'The Matrix'. Theater managers, I guarantee the first weekend data will not disappoint you!"

"You have all seen my statement, haven't you? I put 10 million into it, I'm not joking with you!"

Chen Nuo watched the audience fall silent.

He nodded with satisfaction, and then, bullying these ghosts for not having seen "Cold War," he learned from Tony Leung with great momentum, and said in English: "I have finished speaking. Who agrees? Who opposes?"

As a result, as soon as his voice fell, someone said: "I oppose."

His face immediately collapsed, he looked at the damn little Japanese who suddenly stood up in the audience, and said with unkind eyes: "Mr. Yamamoto, what are you opposing?"

Manager Yamamoto from the International Image Distribution Department of Toho, Japan, bowed to him, his tone humble but his position firm: "I admit that what you said, Mr. Chen, is not wrong, this is indeed a wonderful work. However, in our market, the situation is different."

He raised his head, looked at Emma Thomas and Chen Nuo at the other end of the conference table, and said seriously:

"Japanese audiences are not completely repelled by films with complex plots, but they rely more on emotional resonance and star effects. Frankly speaking—what attracts them to walk into the cinema, besides you, Mr. Chen, there is no one else."

He bowed slightly again, with a bit of pleading in his tone: "So, please. In the Japanese market, please allow us to use 'starring Chen Nuo' as the only core of promotion, and emphasize this on all posters and TV commercials."

Chen Nuo felt goosebumps all over.

Damn little Japanese! Can you not be so mushy every time!

(End of chapter)