Chapter 408: Must Increase Position

The entire distribution meeting lasted over two hours, ending shortly after 12:10 PM.

Afterward was a buffet lunch.

The Hilton's banquet hall was resplendent, with long tables covered in snow-white silk laden with delicacies from all over the world. Waiters in crisp black-and-white uniforms moved among the crowd, holding silver trays and filling guests' glasses with champagne or red wine; amidst the clinking of glasses, laughter and chatter filled the air.

Nolan did not leave, and Chen Nuo did not leave either.

About forty minutes into the banquet, Chen Nuo finished taking a photo with a theater chain manager from France. On a collector's edition "Chen Doll" the manager had brought, he signed "Chen Nuo" in Chinese, followed by "To Lena, wishing you happiness every day" in English.

Seeing the bearded Frenchman beaming with joy, he smiled, said "excuse me," and turned to walk toward the side door.

Seeing this, Gulinazha hurriedly swallowed the salmon in her mouth, placed her plate on the dining table, said "sorry" to the handsome British man in front of her, and then quickly followed.

Not far away, Qi Yuntian glanced at her, then at the direction Chen Nuo had left, before turning back to continue chatting with David Carter from AMC about various anecdotes from Georgetown University, letting out a burst of pleasant laughter.

So, there are indeed benefits to being an ABC who graduated from a prestigious university. You can run into alumni everywhere, and every now and then, a connection or two will actively appear before you.

As a junior assistant, Gulinazha did not have such social obligations.

She had only been chatting with that British man to practice her spoken English, so when she saw Chen Nuo leave his seat, she followed without a second thought.

Pushing open that wooden side door, she found a hallway inside. After glancing at the restroom sign in the corridor, she hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward to follow.

This restroom must have been recently renovated; it was very quiet, and it sounded like there wasn't a single person inside.

Her high heels clicked against the floor. Just as Gulinazha reached the restroom entrance, not yet having decided what to do next—whether to wait here or just go in to use the restroom herself—

she heard a splashing sound.

The sound of water was clear, feeling as if it carried a robust and vigorous strength.

Gulinazha froze for a moment, her cheeks flushing slightly, and she thought about ducking into the restroom on the other side to hide, but she immediately realized that since he was already... doing that, wouldn't he be coming out soon?

But staying where she was would be too awkward.

So... what should she do?

Before Gulinazha could decide, Chen Nuo walked out of the men's restroom.

Seeing a girl in a floral dress standing at the door, he couldn't help but pause and ask, "What are you doing here?"

Gulinazha was startled and let out an "ah," subconsciously saying, "I just got here, I didn't hear anything... no, no, I came to see if you needed anything, Chen Zong, if there's anything I can help with."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Gulinazha felt a bit strange, and then some very bizarre images flashed through her mind, making her face burn uncontrollably.

Chen Nuo washed his hands while watching Gulinazha in the mirror. "Have you been drinking?"

"I haven't... yes, just a little bit."

Chen Nuo finished washing his hands, pulled out a paper towel to dry them, and said testily, "Drink less. How old are you? I heard from Michelle that you've been drinking with her at the hotel every few days. Don't let your parents see you've become a drunkard when you return to Xinjiang, and blame the company for not teaching you well."

Gulinazha couldn't help but grin, feeling inexplicably warm inside. Suddenly remembering her purpose for coming, she said, "It won't happen... Chen Zong, are you hungry? Would you like me to get you some food?"

"Uh... here?"

"I saw that you were talking to them the whole time, Chen Zong, and didn't have time to eat. When you go back out later, you probably won't have time to eat then either. You know?"

Chen Nuo touched his stomach; it was indeed a bit empty.

There was no other way.

This summer movie season could be described as crowded with strong contenders.

After all, there was "Green Lantern" on June 17th, "Cars 2" on June 22nd, and "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" on June 25th. This also included "Captain America" on July 22nd and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" on August 5th; these were all their competitors. Among them, Paramount's "Transformers 3" and Marvel's "Captain America" were the main competitors, one after the other.

They would take the field one after another, fighting for screen allocations, release windows, IMAX theaters, and audiences in global cinemas,

fighting for the money in his, Chen Mou's, pocket!

And by holding this distribution meeting, they needed to achieve three goals:

1. Demand as many opening-week screenings as possible. 2. Try to occupy high-ticket-price IMAX theaters and prime time slots. 3. Strive for a simultaneous large-scale release to boost the "global opening-week box office" and generate buzz.

Although things looked good for now, these distributors' promises were, after all, only verbal.

They had to wait for them to return and spend 3-5 days finalizing the lock-in negotiations with the theaters before they could officially register in the Warner global distribution system and finally determine the number of theaters for the release.

Therefore, at this moment, these theater chain representatives and cinema owners who controlled the terminal channels were truly like ancestors to be appeased.

It wasn't just him; even Keira Knightley and Ellen Page, who hadn't attended the meeting earlier, were brought in to accompany them for drinks, along with Nolan and his wife, and two Warner distribution executives.

Everyone mobilized, splitting up to chat and schmooze with representatives from core theater chains like France's UGC, Germany's Cinemaxx, Japan's Toho Cinemas, South Korea's CJ CGV, and Australia's Event Cinemas.

This time, Chen Nuo truly understood what international distribution meant. It wasn't like back home, where he could lean on a big tree after finishing a film and do nothing but wait for the theater chains to automatically arrange the screenings.

Once you leave the domestic market and reach the global stage, no matter how big a star you are, you have to fight tooth and nail for screens, time, and foot traffic—one meal, one drink, one bit of polite small talk, and one screen allocation sheet at a time.

Look at Christopher Nolan, even a stiff Brit like him would toast the regional manager of a British theater chain, coaxing the other party into happily agreeing to give all three of their IMAX theaters during prime time to "Inception."

Why is there an old Hollywood saying, "The fate of a movie is decided in the last seven days before its release"? If you haven't participated in this yourself, you simply cannot understand it.

Chen Nuo hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Fine, go get me some. Don't take too much."

"Okay! Chen Zong, wait two minutes for me, I'll be right back."

Gulinazha busied herself, filling a large plate with food from the banquet hall and grabbing a drink. After she returned, Chen Nuo ate while she stood to the side, holding the juice and watching silently.

Watching the man wolf down his food, Gulinazha felt a sense of heartache rise within her for no reason.

Sigh, being a big star is actually quite pitiful.

Before long, Chen Nuo was full.

He took the juice from Gulinazha and took a sip, feeling a wave of emotion; girls really are more attentive. If it had been Brother Linghu, even if he remembered to get him food, how could he have thought to add a drink?

"Alright, let's go, let's head out."

"Okay, Chen Zong. Um, do you want to rest a bit more? You just finished eating..."

"No need. By the way, you've performed well during this time; I'll give you a raise next month."

"Ah?? Really!!?"

"Yes."

"Tha, thank you, Chen Zong!!!!!!!!!!"

"What's the word?"

"Uh, they still want to lower our screen allocation."

"I know, I mean, by how much? 10%? 15%?"

"AMC and Regal... they want to cut 23% of our screenings."

"What!?"

Richard Silverman stood up abruptly.

As the Executive Vice President of Global Distribution for Paramount and a co-producer of "Transformers 3," hearing this number from his subordinate, the North American market booking manager, he simply couldn't believe his ears.

"Cut 25%? Are they crazy? We still brought in 47 million dollars last weekend!"

The booking manager looked hesitant: "It's not just us. 'Cars 2' also had half its screenings pulled, 'Green Lantern' had 70% pulled... and smaller films are being cleared out too. Some theaters are even proactively adding midnight screenings, leaving 10% of new time slots for 'Inception'."

"WTF!? Warner, what kind of magic potion did Warner feed them in the UK!? Fuck! The whole world is saying it's profound and hard to understand; where is the marketability of this movie?" Richard Silverman asked incredulously.

The booking manager said weakly, "Could it be Nolan, Chen, and James Cameron's 3D IMAX cameras?"

Richard Silverman glared at him viciously. "Do I need you to remind me? Help me dial David Carter's number; I want to ask him myself what the hell is going on!"

Meanwhile, in New York, Mason Collins was asking the same question.

The 500,000-share short position on Warner that he had opened on Monday morning had been held for four days. He had originally planned to close this part of the position today, but he hadn't expected to receive news that completely exceeded his expectations.

The number of theaters opening Warner's film across the US had reached 4,489!

It surpassed the 3,891 theaters for "Avatar," surpassed the 4,088 for "Transformers 3," and was a full 101 theaters more than the North American opening record of 4,367 set by "The Dark Knight."

This was an unprecedented opening scale, and since "The Dark Knight," it was another "full-force" crushing start for Warner in the summer season.

Not only that, this "Inception" seemed even more terrifying than "The Dark Knight."

Because in the report Mason Collins saw, data released by Box Office Mojo—the global box office authority platform under IMDb—showed that the number of theaters currently scheduled globally had already exceeded 9,100.

This figure not only surpassed the 8,370 for "Transformers 3" and the 8,340 for "The Dark Knight," but also exceeded the global opening record of 8,452 set by "Avatar"!

Furthermore, this figure did not even include the Chinese market, which wouldn't open for another month!

What kind of concept is this?

The concept is that these global theater chain managers are all motherfucking blind and brain-dead, treating a brain-burning suspense sci-fi film as the savior of this year's summer season!

With "Transformers 3" underperforming at the box office, "Cars 2" flopping so hard it couldn't find its way, and "Green Lantern" failing to be saved even by DC fans, these distributors and theater managers saw this complex, brain-burning sci-fi film as another "Avatar" that could fill their seats, reverse their decline, and save their weekly box office reports!

What kind of logic is this!

"I don't know what happened either; I just received notice from higher up. I'm sorry I can't help you, Mason."

Listening to the voice on the phone, Mason Collins forced a laugh. "It's okay, Jeff, I'll go ask someone else."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

Hanging up the phone from the AMC theater manager, Mason Collins pondered for a while, then found another number on his phone. After hesitating for a moment, he dialed it.

This was his insider at Warner, the real deal.

Every time he got information from this person, he had to pay 50,000 dollars. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't contact them.

But this time, he had to figure out what was going on!

A few minutes later, he hung up the phone again.

"Mason, what do we do now?" his trader, Jerry, asked. "If we're going to close the position, we need to do it fast. It's already up 5 points; who knows when followers will enter the market, and then we might hit our forced liquidation line."

"Don't rush, let me think, let me think."

Mason Collins looked at the soaring K-line chart on his computer screen, his mood as if he had swallowed a rusty nail, every breath stinging.

Just 5 minutes ago, when the news of "Inception's" opening was announced, Warner Bros.' stock price seemed to have been lit like a fuse, surging from 12.1 dollars at the opening to 12.87 dollars.

And the 500,000-share short position in Mason's hands was one he had added to at an average price of 12.2 dollars when the market opened on Monday, with a target price of 11.5 dollars. Who would have thought that this "collective madness" of theater managers would leave him trapped at the peak.

Calculated at the current price, his floating loss has already exceeded 600,000 USD!

Clearly, this confidence from theater managers around the globe has also greatly altered Wall Street's emotional expectations.

However, is this really correct?

Judging by the intelligence he just received, the "sweeping release schedule" behind this Warner wave... might not actually be that stable.

But the problem is, what does he do now? Does he dare to keep waiting?

With his current volume of short orders, if a trend-following sell-off really occurs, or if there is some other black swan event, then never mind a promotion this year—he probably won't even be able to sit securely in his current chair.

But if he closes the position...

He needs to pay a price of over 600,000 USD in losses just to foot the bill for that Chinese kid's silver tongue and charm diplomacy?

A lunch meeting cost him 600,000 USD!? Is that kid Warren Buffett?

At the thought of this, Mason Collins felt like smashing his screen to pieces and then shouting every profanity in every language on earth at that Chinese man.

But in the end, the rationality cultivated by years as an investment manager brought reason back into his mind.

"Do it, Jerry."

After finishing this sentence with difficulty, Mason Collins clenched his fists, his heart churning with unwillingness and humiliation.

After Jerry finished the operation quickly, he turned back to comfort him: "Alright. It's fine, Mason, we still hold the 1 million short shares we opened earlier; it still has plenty of surplus. We can absolutely hold the position. As long as we wait for a crash, we can make up for our losses and even make a big profit." Mason Collins took a deep breath and said: "You're right, Jerry. We'll keep a close eye on tomorrow night's box office. If there's any sign of trouble, we'll add the position back in, short it to the end, and let those pig-headed theater managers, those idiot fans, and that damn... let them all go to hell!"

"Click!"

A faint sound came from the window.

Susan, who had been sleeping in her clothes, suddenly opened her eyes.

She listened intently to the movement in the next room for a while, and finding everything quiet, she immediately threw off the quilt and stepped out of bed on tiptoe.

At 11:00 PM on this Friday night, a time when she absolutely should have been asleep, she didn't know when she had already put on her clothes.

She opened the window and poked her head out to look; there was a dark figure in the yard below, and through the streetlamp light, she could see it was her good friend Aurore.

Next, the white girl's way of running away from home was much crazier than the Chinese kids'.

Following a rope made of two bedsheets tied together, Susan slid to the ground and successfully met up with her little companion.

Immediately after, the two girls whispered and giggled together as they got into a car parked on the side of the road.

The driver was Aurore's brother, Joseph, and in the passenger seat sat his girlfriend, Chloe; both of them were students at Louisiana State University.

As soon as Susan got in the car, Chloe turned her head and smiled: "Susan, I heard you took all your mom's money to buy Warner stock. Is that true?"

Susan glanced at Aurore; the brown-haired girl wearing glasses gave her a cheeky grin. Susan shook her fist at her and then said: "Yes."

"Wow, I'm really surprised your mom didn't kill you."

"Actually, Warner's stock has already gone up quite a bit these past two days."

"And then? Did you break even?"

Susan couldn't help but choke; it did rise back a bit the day before yesterday, but for the last two days, it had been hovering around 13 USD, still quite a gap from the 14.96 she bought in at.

Chloe giggled in a particularly annoying way, "Looks like the reason to finish you off still exists, doesn't it."

Susan pouted and stopped talking.

At this moment, Joseph said in a muffled voice: "Alright, Chloe, stop teasing her. Check the movie tickets and see if they're in your pocket."

Susan saw the upper half of Joseph's face and those black eyes in the rearview mirror, and her heartbeat quickened a little.

"OMG! They're not there!" Chloe suddenly shrieked.

"What!" Joseph slammed on the brakes and pulled the car to the side of the road.

But immediately, Chloe giggled again, "Just kidding, hahahaha. Look, here they are, four tickets, Inception 00:00, Loxed Cinema, Row 6, seats 09, 10, 11, 12. The best spots."

Joseph restarted the car and said helplessly: "Please, Chloe, it's 11 PM. I've already got a headache enough with two runaway little girls; don't play these kinds of jokes on me."

"Hahahaha, relax. You're an honor student with a first-class scholarship; you can handle it. Besides, Susan and Aurore will be very good. They'll go home obediently with us after the movie. Isn't that right, you two?"

Aurore immediately called out: "Yes."

Susan looked at Chloe, who had turned around and was looking at her with a playful smile, and nodded helplessly: "Yes. Don't worry, Chloe, I promise I'll go home after the movie."

When the four of them walked into the cinema, there were 5 minutes left until it started.

The cinema was about a quarter full, less than Susan had imagined, which made her feel a bit disappointed.

Aurore's thoughts were clearly the same as hers; sitting in her seat, she tilted her head and said: "It's okay, Susan. Loxed isn't a very good cinema; there isn't even IMAX here. I heard many people went to watch IMAX; that's where the best effects are."

Susan sighed and said: "I hope so. I just really regret it; I really shouldn't have been so impulsive and used my mom's money to buy in. But at the time, I really felt like I was possessed."

"How much has your mom lost now?"

"Almost 6,000 USD."

"OMG... uh, but it doesn't matter, Chen said he would compensate, right?"

"Yes, but... sigh, in short, it's my problem, I messed up." Susan said with some sadness.

Suddenly her hand felt warm; she turned her head to look and saw that Chloe had suddenly reached out and held her hand.

Through the 3D glasses, the 19-year-old cheerleader's smile looked a bit strange, but her voice was very gentle: "Don't worry, it will go up."

Why did this woman's attitude change?

Before Susan could think it over, the lights in the entire theater suddenly dimmed, and the movie began.

"Wow, so cute!" Aurore whispered beside her.

Susan nodded.

The logo animation at the very beginning was different from any movie company she had seen before, and the name was also very unfamiliar.

A tiny little person was walking on the road when he suddenly tripped, and three round "exclamation mark" bubbles popped up above his head. Just as he was rubbing his bottom and pushing off the ground to climb up, the film strip under his feet snapped like a spring, launching him into the air.

The little person did a somersault in mid-air, and as he fell, the film strip quietly wrapped around him, turning into a small cape. He patted the dust off his body and revealed a proud and mischievous expression—the film strip that followed behind danced and spun, automatically arranging itself in the air into a row of round, cute letters:

RebornPicture.

Under the 3D perspective, the little person in this 5-second animation looked vivid and lifelike, as if one could touch him by reaching out.

"This is Chen's company."

Susan turned her head to the other side in surprise, only to see Chloe's lips curl up.

On the movie screen, the image flashed, and with a slight mechanical sound, the Warner Bros. logo appeared.

Then came the name of a Chinese film company.

Subsequently, the movie began.

Under the 3D perspective, a shot that made one feel somewhat shocked rushed toward them.

A wave with white edges roared and crashed against several craggy rocks, white foam churning, and the salty sea breeze seemed to spray out from the screen, rushing straight at her face.

The camera cut in sharply.

A black-haired man lay face down on the beach, his soaked suit clinging to his firm back, seawater dripping from his black hair.

The camera moved closer.

But the director seemed to intentionally not let the audience see his appearance clearly; looking from the side, one could only see half of his face. Wet sand grains stuck to his angular cheeks, water droplets on his brow bone refracted a faint light, and his eyebrows were soaked by the seawater, trembling slightly.

The 3D effect made every grain of sand distinct and three-dimensional, the spray of the waves seemed to splash out of the screen, and he himself seemed to be right in front of everyone, making one unable to resist the urge to reach out and touch him.

Finally, he lifted his head with difficulty, revealing a pair of dazed black eyes.

The scene then showed the illusory figures of two children playing.

He seemed to be watching them, and there was a kind of sadness in his eyes that Susan didn't know how to describe.

She really didn't know how to describe it, because this was absolutely not the Edward she knew.

Even when Edward broke up with Bella in Twilight 2 and committed suicide in the sunlight, he was never this heartbreaking and disheveled.

At this moment, Susan was already surprised enough.

But she never expected that such a beginning was actually just the most insignificant appetizer in these 120-plus minutes.

As for the subsequent viewing experience, Susan didn't even know how it passed.

She only felt that she was lingering in one fantastic and magnificent scene after another.

Except for the occasional gasp in the theater that brought her back to her senses.

Other than that, she felt as if she had become the girl in the movie, following that handsome, compelling teacher, shuttling through layers of mist in the dream world, challenging the boundaries between reality and illusion.

She followed him, diving into others' subconsciouses together to steal deeply buried secrets.

Together they dodged pursuit on the streets of a city in a torrential downpour, and tumbled and fought in a hotel corridor with abnormal gravity.

They not only built a precise labyrinth of dreams within dreams together, but also fought against the collapse of time and their inner selves, protecting each other's beliefs.

The 3D glasses didn't feel so uncomfortable during these marvelous and magical adventures.

The downpour on the city streets made one immersed in the dark atmosphere, countless raindrops splashing as if they were about to soak her clothes.

In the snowy mountains, he held her hand, and the pursuers' bullets tore through the air, making one's heart tighten.

The zero-gravity fight in the hotel corridor was dizzying. The walls and floors were inverted in the rotation, his tumbling fight with the enemy, the strikes of their fists seemed close at hand, and the shattered glass fragments scattered in slow motion in the air, each piece flashing with sharp light.

And there was that slow-motion explosion scene on the street; when he and she were sitting in a cafe on the streets of Paris, everything around them suddenly froze, as if time had been pressed on the pause button.

Then, as if the air had been ignited, a silent shockwave slowly spread from some invisible source.

The explosion was not completed in an instant, but unfolded elegantly and terrifyingly in extreme slow motion—coffee cups soared into the air, the steam solidified in the air. Newspapers flew into pages of scattered butterflies. The windows in the alley by the road burst one by one, the glass dancing in the air like snowflakes. Colorful fruits were frozen in the sky.

Chairs overturned, tables shattered, fragments swam in the air like a school of fish, and everything unfolded slowly in a near-dreamlike way.

There was no sound, yet it felt as if every frame could make one feel that thrilling power—this was not reality, but a miracle deep in a dream.

However, the most stunning and speechless part, Susan felt, was still the scene where the labyrinth was constructed.

When the city designed by the girl folded and rose in front of everyone, skyscrapers bent like paper, streets spiraled, and the brick texture of the buildings was so delicate that one could see every crack...

Not only her, but quite a few people in the entire cinema let out exclamations at this moment.

At the end of the film, when the snowy mountain fortress in the dream began to collapse, snowflakes and debris gushed from the screen, and the whistling of the cold wind rushed over under the surround sound effects of the cinema.

Not only was the sense of time in Susan's mind chaotic, but she even somewhat forgot that this was not a real experience, but a 3D movie she had snuck out to watch in the middle of the night.

Leaving was easy, but returning was hard. When she got home later, she feared she would have to rack her brains just to get inside.

So when Susan got out of the car at 3 a. m. and saw the lights on in her living room on the first floor, she felt a sense of relief instead.

Otherwise, without her mobile phone, if she wanted to wake her mother up, she reckoned she would only be able to do what Aoluoer did and throw stones at the window.

She took a deep breath, walked forward, and firmly pressed the doorbell.

The door opened quickly.

Susan looked at Karen Wilson standing at the doorway.

Meeting that gaze that wished to kill her, although she was still a little afraid inside, she still plucked up the courage to speak first: "Mom, I've finished watching the movie. I think you must increase your position on Monday!"

(End of this chapter)