Chapter 190: Premiere Guests

The global premiere of "Journey to the West: Flat Top Mountain" was scheduled for December 17, a Friday.

The mainland premiere, however, was on December 12, a weekend.

Given that Jiang Heng's effects-heavy blockbusters have become must-watch films for many people each year, and this is such a hot topic as "Journey to the West",

Moreover, the previous film "Lion Camel Ridge" had set a high bar, so the movie was already hot before release; as soon as the premiere tickets went on sale, they were snapped up.

And on the black market, even a regular premiere ticket exceeded a thousand yuan.

As for those in the front rows near the guest seats, they were practically astronomical in price.

In 2004, the mainland was generally not wealthy, yet a large number of tycoons appeared.

Among them, some liked to pursue female stars, while some wealthy young women liked to chase male stars.

The most outrageous example was "Seven Hour Time Difference"; its outrageousness was comparable to that of the film starring Jiao Enjun and Ximen Dama.

Several of those who considered their family background decent also wanted to repeat such a story; when they told their elders, they were sternly rebuked.

The socialite Xinxin, undeterred, unable to get a guest ticket, bought a premiere ticket for the general audience at a high price; as long as she could be on site and close enough to Jiang Heng, that was fine.

Those at the forefront were even thinking about which Jiang Heng film would be suitable for product placement to promote their own goods!

However, among a hundred people, all sorts of types appear.

One of them, called Xinxin, who styles herself as "the top socialite of the capital," claims a deep background, makes a living flaunting wealth, does jewelry design as a hobby, and when idle just chases after Jiang Heng.

Jiang Heng, seeing her from afar, was also speechless; he gave a slight nod, turned his head, and went to greet the people on the guest seats.

Jiang Heng initially put up with her out of respect for the introducer, but seeing that she became increasingly overbearing, he simply lost interest in dealing with her.

Xinxin stared with wide eyes, "You can't even imagine it—my old man could beat me to death. He always says, in the old society, those actors were……"

However, since Jiang Heng rose to fame, especially after starring in "Saving Mother by Splitting the Mountain," he has also gained many fervent female fans.

While they were talking, they saw Jiang Heng approach in a very well-fitted suit, dashing and spirited; Xinxin instantly turned into a starstruck fangirl, rose and waved, "Hey, Jiang Heng, I'm over here!"

In the first row of the ordinary audience section, a woman with delicate features, still fairly pretty, looked around, nudging her close friend with her elbow, "Hey, Miao Miao, have you seen Jiang Heng?"

The girl named Miao Miao, also fashionable in appearance with a soft voice, replied, "No, he hasn't come yet! You said your great-uncle is powerful, a single phone call could summon Jiang Heng; if you made it clear, wouldn't that be enough? Why go to all this trouble?"

Picking him up from the airport, visiting the set—those are all routine operations.

Xinxin said, "Hey, you don't know my great-uncle? He goes back and forth with his rickshaw talk; I'm also scared, you know?"

Indeed, some wealthy young women pay no heed to that, just pondering how to pursue Jiang Heng.

Therefore, ordinary tycoons simply dare not provoke Jiang Heng.

Jiang Heng is no ordinary star that capital can push around at will; he is an internationally acclaimed director, and in terms of personal wealth, he could rank among the top on the rich list.

Her friend beside her wore a speechless expression, turned her face aside and sighed, "You're not far from getting beaten to death!"

Miao Miao said, "Otherwise, you could also enter the entertainment industry, collaborate with him on a film, and then you'd see him every day."

But for some unknown reason, neither the Hurun nor Forbes rich lists have included Jiang Heng's name; perhaps someone thinks that putting a star on the rich list, especially high up, would create a not-so-good impression.

After all, if a country's richest person were a director or a star, how would the populace think, and what would foreigners think?

Is running a business really that hard? A bunch of people in industry actually make less money than making movies!

But the reality is, Jiang Heng's personal assets at this moment could very well make him the mainland's richest person, which would be rather awkward!

Although this has not been reported by authoritative media, rumors have persisted in the streets.

This time, as before, there were still many attendees—besides friends from the film and TV circle, the movie's main creators, there were also some business tycoons.

For example, Zhang Chaoyang of Sohu came; he had previously taken a liking to the plot of land Jiang Heng held, because historically it belonged to Sohu.

Zhang Chaoyang also, as in history, took a liking to it; through a friend's introduction he had dined with Jiang Heng twice and chatted several times.

Although the deal didn't go through, they discovered they got along well and became friends.

Besides that, business magnate Huang Guangyu also came.

He is this year's mainland richest person, intent on expanding Guomang; seeing that many commercial brands achieved excellent results after placing ads in *The Matrix 3* and *Inception*, he also conceived the idea of participating in product placement.

Speaking of this, there's no need for him, the mainland richest person and the head of Guomang, to personally handle it.

But he considers Jiang Heng also a major figure; to discuss cooperation he felt he needed to give due respect, so he came in person.

Jiang Heng was naturally surprised, laughing as he greeted them.

Because there were too many people, each exchanged only a few pleasantries.

Following the crowd as they rose, Hong Jinbao found himself at the very end.

Recalling the scene from a few years ago when Jiang Heng first met him, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "The tides of feng shui turn!"

And ahead of Hong Jinbao was none other than the great director Wu Yusen.

In original history, director Wu Yusen only returned to the Chinese-language film scene in 2006.

But in this world, because of Jiang Heng's appearance, many capitals have leaned toward investing in effects-heavy blockbusters.

The problem is that in the entire Chinese-language entertainment circle, there are only a few directors capable of helming big productions.

Not mentioning the mainland, on the Xianggang side, besides Jiang Heng and Zhou Xingxing, there must also be Wu Yusen.

Xu Ke, having flopped consecutively in several films, has remained in obscurity lately.

Therefore, over the past two years, people have continually urged Wu Yusen to return to the Chinese-language film scene.

They even had a project ready for him—the most exciting part of the Three Kingdoms, the Battle of Red Cliffs.

Speaking of Wu Yusen, after the box-office failure of *The Windtalkers*, no one in Hollywood had sought him to make films; seeing such enthusiasm domestically, he thus returned.

During the script revision discussions, everyone talked about who should play Zhou Yu.

Wu Yusen thought Zhou Yunfa should play Zhou Yu, but many felt Zhou Yunfa's age didn't match.

At the time of the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhou Yu was only thirty-three; Brother Yunfa, born in 1955, is nearly fifty—how could he portray Zhou Yu's "heroic and spirited bearing"?

But using someone else for the male lead seems to lack the star power and box-office draw.

At that point, Wang Hui Ling, who had been the screenwriter for *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*, proposed, "Why not ask Jiang Heng to play Zhou Yu?"

Jiang Heng is now youthful and young at heart, mature beyond his years, and his looks are quite outstanding.

When filming, he could skillfully handle all the big scenes, remaining calm and composed — he was simply the best choice for Mei Zhou Lang.

When this proposal was put forward, everyone was first stunned, but after thinking it over, it really was quite suitable.

Even Wu Yusen thought this proposal was very good, but he and Zhou Runfa are old friends of many years, and he isn't very familiar with Jiang Heng, so he still leans toward inviting Zhou Runfa.

But unable to withstand the investors' demands, he had no choice but to attend the premiere of Jiang Heng's new film, preparing to take the opportunity to chat.

If Jiang Heng himself isn't willing to act, wouldn't that save trouble!

(End of chapter)