Chapter 141

"Return to the peak? No, I have always been at the peak of Hollywood!"

Shi Tailong exhaled through his nostrils and pretended to be cool to the reporter who came to interview him.

The old guy has always put on a tough stance to the outside world and has never shown weakness. And this time, as he dominated the Thanksgiving period and used a 30-million small-cost production to break 100 million in 10 days, he was naturally full of confidence and even more majestic to the outside world.

However, reporters were actually used to his stance long ago. Now that he has won the weekly box office champion twice and the work has been a great success, and the heat is high, reporters are willing to report whatever he says.

And with the success of *Frequency*, although most of the limelight was snatched by Shi Tailong, including Hugh Jackman, Gretchen, and Wu Yuchen, the director behind the scenes, were also mentioned by the media.

And compared to the actors in front of the stage, actually, the professionals in the Hollywood industry pay more attention to Wu Yuchen, the director and screenwriter.

Now Wu Yuchen's information has been placed on the table by the Big Eight and various production manufacturers for discussion.

"What Shi Tailong is like, it's been 20 years, I believe everyone is clear. As for producer Jeff, it is understood that his say in this project is not that high. Therefore, the creative core of the project is actually this newcomer director who just entered Hollywood, Wu Yuchen!

Self-written and self-directed, and able to handle the old guy Shi Tailong in the crew, blending sci-fi, kinship, suspense, action, special effects, and other elements just right, this newcomer director has some skills!"

"Yes, I have seen his previous work *Run Luo La Run*, which is a work that wins by creativity. But this *Frequency* is different, a very typical Hollywood commercial production, and the routines are used very skillfully, not at all like a Hollywood newcomer."

Actually, compared to directors who win by creativity, the Big Eight prefer directors who can skillfully use mainstream commercial routines to achieve success. Because creativity is gone after one or two times, and then they might be indistinguishable from the crowd. And those who know how to use commercial routines can have three or five if they have one, and they won't cause any trouble for you.

And for a director like Wu Yuchen who has both creativity and talent, and can skillfully use commercial routines, that is amazing. The representative of such a person is Spielberg, who has the possibility of achieving amazing achievements in Hollywood!

"Contact him, see if he has any other projects, and cooperate as much as possible if conditions permit."

Those who can gain a foothold in Hollywood are not fools, and many manufacturers have made this decision.

And among them, the one who regrets the most is Fox Searchlight.

"I said long ago that Wu is very talented, and we should give him a chance!" Frank is complaining to his colleagues at this time.

You know, Fox Searchlight was the first of the two Hollywood companies to contact Wu Yuchen, and even reached a cooperation with him, buying the copyright and adaptation rights of *Comet*.

As early as last year, Frank wanted to buy it after seeing Wu Yuchen's script, but unfortunately, it couldn't be negotiated, and then it followed Wu Yuchen's *Run Luo La Run* showing, and then missed two consecutive good works after entering Hollywood. And now...

The colleague next to him shrugged: "Alright, Frank, this kind of thing often happens in Hollywood. Don't be troubled by the emotion of regret. We should look forward~"

Frank still slapped his thigh. It's easy to say, but this didn't happen to you. This is a successful project that exchanged 30 million for breaking 100 million in 10 days!

Then Frank began to curse in his heart again. It's all the fault of Cameron, that truck driver. Damn, filming some *Titanic* drained the working capital of 20th Century Fox, causing them to have to live tightly for the past two years. Otherwise, could they watch good projects and not be able to compete with Sony Columbia?

Frank tidied up his mood. He had to contact Wu Yuchen quickly and try his best to win the opportunity to cooperate with him next time.

The happiest one is naturally Sony Columbia, which has received rich returns.

"Stanton, you really made a very correct decision this time!"

Stanton, the senior executive who strongly advocated for the *Frequency* project, also laughed loudly upon hearing this, very happy.

The total investment of *Frequency* was only 50 million, and now the North American box office has broken 100 million in just 10 days. According to this good word-of-mouth, under long-term screening, maybe the total North American box office can add another 30 or 40 million?

And this is just the North American box office. Shi Tailong is a big star known all over the world. Once it is a movie with good word-of-mouth, the audience will definitely be happy to watch his new movie, and the overseas box office will definitely not be bad.

Coupled with the income from videotapes, discs, and various peripherals, just this one project can make the company earn 150-200 million purely. This naturally made Sony Columbia happy!

"Overseas promotion can already be started. By the way, this Wu Dao can continue to cooperate with him. Raise his salary to 5 million for the next film."

Stanton smiled after hearing this and then said: "I heard from below that he is preparing a new project himself and wants to produce it independently."

Others didn't feel too surprised after hearing this: "Independent production? Is it for project autonomy?"

"These directors are always like this. After achieving a certain success, they want to break through the restrictions and act willfully."

"After all, he is from the Berlin Film Festival, and he is so young, always wanting to pursue some artistic things."

In the eyes of these senior executives, a newcomer director in Hollywood like Wu Yuchen, although he has succeeded once and is very talented, if he breaks away from the company's control and risk assessment and films according to his own artistic cells, it might be another niche art film.

Stanton smiled: "I am still very optimistic about this Wu. I will let people contact him and give him enough say to see if he is willing to cooperate with us on this work."

Others nodded upon hearing this. After all, he earned them so much money this time, so they are still very tolerant at this time.

Beijing in December is already very cold, and pedestrians on the road are passing by in a hurry, making the business of the newsstand much colder than before.

But no matter how cold the weather is, it can't stop the habit of some regular customers reading newspapers and buying magazines. Liu Bin rode his bicycle and braked: "Boss, give me a copy of *Movie Weekly*."

The newsstand boss saw that it was a regular customer and immediately smiled: "This issue is definitely worth buying, big news!"

Liu Bin was curious, and didn't ask. After receiving the new issue of *Movie Weekly* from the boss, he looked at the cover. He saw that half of it was a photo of Wu Yuchen. As a well-known domestic director, he naturally knew him, and the other half was Shi Tailong. He had known the international superstar for ten years.

These domestic media just got the news, but they didn't even have photos and posters of *Frequency*, so the magazine cover still printed Shi Tailong's mighty look holding a machine gun in *First Blood*.

Then the title was written:

"Big Wu Dao Yuchen leads Shi Tailong to attack the city and pull out the stronghold!

—— *Frequency* breaks 100 million in 10 days and conquers the whole US!"

10 days, North America breaks 100 million?!

Liu Bin hurriedly rubbed his eyes, confirming that he hadn't misread the name. It was Wu Yuchen, not John Woo. It couldn't be wrong. Even if the name was wrong, could the photo be printed wrong?

But Liu Bin was still a little unbelievable. After all, the impression that Hollywood and American blockbusters are invincible has slowly deepened in the hearts of Chinese movie fans.

In this era of worshiping foreign things, America, the world's number one power, this global lighthouse, is synonymous with being strong and invincible, and it is a place that the whole world yearns for.

A few months ago, when John Woo broke 100 million at the North American box office with *Face/Off* and achieved great success, he was directly crowned as the number one Chinese director by the media at that time!

Chen Kaige is at most the number one Chinese director in the mouths of domestic media, obviously limited to China, and John Woo is the number one Chinese director!

It can be seen what a glorious thing it is to conquer America in the hearts of Chinese people.

And now, Wu Yuchen, their own director, has actually broken 100 million at the North American box office!

Liu Bin couldn't help but hurriedly confirm with the boss again: "Is this true or false?!"

The boss immediately took out two more newspapers: "Can't be wrong, look, this *China Film News* is also the headline!"

Liu Bin immediately snatched the newspaper, and sure enough, the headline was also: "Big Wu Dao Yuchen wins the weekly box office champion twice, *Frequency* breaks 100 million in ten days and dominates America!"

After Liu Bin confirmed this fact, he only felt overjoyed and his blood boiled: "Boss, are there any other newspapers reporting this? Give me one of each!"

Conquering the whole US, dominating America, this is their own director from the mainland! He thought about it and felt honored, a sense of pride arose spontaneously, and he kept repeating words like "awesome" and "bullshit" in his heart.

Liu Bin took the newspapers and magazines he bought and pedaled his bicycle vigorously towards his unit, wishing he could share this exciting news with his colleagues earlier!

*My Fair Princess* crew, Jiang Qinqin had just crawled out of the bed, preparing to wash her face and brush her teeth, only to hear a voice calling her from far to near:

"Sister Qinqin, Sister Qinqin! Something big happened!"

Jiang Qinqin turned her head, only to see Fan Bingbing, who played her maid Jin Suo, running to her excitedly wrapped in a cotton-padded jacket.

Jiang Qinqin immediately asked: "What happened?"

"Big, big good thing! It's Wu Dao, Wu Dao broke 100 million at the box office in America!"

Fan Bingbing panted and spread out a newspaper. Jiang Qinqin immediately leaned her head over. After seeing the headline, she was also pleasantly surprised and took out her mobile phone, wanting to call Wu Yuchen.

It's a pity that after dialing, she remembered that she hadn't opened the international long-distance business and could only wait for Wu Yuchen to call her back. Even so, she was still holding the newspaper in her hand and looking at it over and over, with a happy smile on her face.

And on the side, Fan Bingbing had little stars in her eyes, constantly praising:

"Sister Qinqin, Wu Dao is really too amazing, even America has been conquered by him! Only a great beauty like Sister Qinqin can be worthy of Wu Dao~"

Jiang Qinqin reached out and wiped Fan Bingbing's face gently: "Your little mouth is like it's smeared with honey, only you know how to talk~"

"Sister Qinqin, what I said is all true!" Fan Bingbing hugged Jiang Qinqin's arm. At this time, Fan Bingbing, who hadn't grown up yet, looked very cute, really like a little maid.

It's not just them. At this time, this news has spread across China with newspapers and periodicals.

"Tsk tsk tsk! This Wu Yuchen really won glory for us, even Shi Tailong has to listen to his command!"

"I said Wu Dao was amazing when he surpassed *Jurassic Park 2* in China before, wiping out the foreign devils. Now Wu Dao has gone to the local area of the old Americans and is still awesome!"

"Brother, who do you think is more amazing, our Wu Dao or Shi Tailong?"

"That is naturally Wu Dao who is amazing. The director is the biggest in the crew! His relationship with Shi Tailong is that of a commander and a general. Whatever he asks Shi Tailong to do, Shi Tailong has to do!"

The common people in China don't know what the producer-centered system in Hollywood is. In their view, the director Wu Yuchen is the biggest in the crew, isn't it just like what the news said, he led Shi Tailong to attack the city and pull out the stronghold?

Wu Yuchen's phone basically hasn't stopped. He let his agent Carl record all the contacts in America one by one, and he replied to the unimportant ones on his behalf, and he called back the important ones himself.

But there are also many people contacting him from China. He just hung up the phone of Hou Keming, the dean of Beijing Film Academy, and then ushered in the phone of Han Sanping:

"Factory Director Han, thank you! It's not a big deal, I'm thinking about talking about it when I go back. Alright, alright, let's get together again when I go back."

He just finished the phone call, and Carl walked over: "Wu, Sony Columbia is contacting you."

Wu Yuchen's heart moved. He still has to pay attention to the phone call from the Big Eight. After another round of communication, he let out a long sigh of relief.

Just now he temporarily rejected the cooperation invitation from Sony Columbia. It's not just them; other companies were all replied to like this.

He won't be reconciled if he doesn't try the path of independent production himself. Actually, it's not just the problem of say, but also the income.

Like *Frequency*, he also knows that if he left Sony Columbia, this project might not be so successful. But after one project, Sony earned 200 million, Shi Tailong could earn more than 20 million, and he only had 2 million.

It's okay for the first one after entering Hollywood, but it's impossible to work for others like this for every one. Just say the *Phone Booth* project, even if he does it himself, he has confidence in earning more than 10 million.

However, there is a key person to see if he can be pulled into the partnership, regardless of how much he earns.

Now Wu Yuchen already has the result of *Frequency* breaking 100 million. Carrying this prestige, it also added a lot of confidence to his trip of fooling... cough cough, persuasion.

The joys and sorrows of people are not connected. *Frequency* has good news one after another, and the relevant personnel are celebrating wildly, while some people are in anxiety.

Leonardo watched the agent walk in and immediately asked: "How is it?"

The agent shook his head helplessly at him: "Now the whole Hollywood has listed us on the silent list and will not contact us."

Leonardo walked back and forth twice and cursed: "Damn it!"

He now quite regrets taking on the movie *Titanic*.

Leonardo's star path is actually very smooth. He had his TV debut at 5, followed by consecutive commercial filming, started participating in TV series at 15, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars at 19.

He just had his 23rd birthday last month, but his salary has reached 3.5 million. Among the male actors of the same period, he is basically the highest-ranked one.

But now all this has brought great uncertainty because of participating in *Titanic*.

Half a year ago, it was actually normal. He joined the crew of *The Man in the Iron Mask* with a salary of 3.5 million to participate in filming. But after filming for 3 months and returning to Hollywood, everything changed.

The crews he went to audition for basically rejected him. For example, a month ago, he went to audition for the movie *Ride with the Devil*, and director Ang Lee rejected him and chose Tobey Maguire.

In name, it is naturally said that his audition effect is not good, not suitable, etc., but in fact, Xiao Lizi knows that this is because *Titanic* is about to be released.

Now the reputation of *Titanic* in the whole Hollywood is not good. It is said that the whole Fox is about to be dragged down by this project. Everyone in Hollywood thinks Fox is crazy, as if it is a red-eyed gambler, constantly adding chips.

Everyone is waiting to see the joke of *Titanic*, and he, the male lead, is naturally listed on the non-contact list by various crews.

Now all the pressure is on *Titanic*, and Xiao Lizi is also anxious because of this.

"We shouldn't have signed this contract at that time, you shouldn't have persuaded me!" Xiao Lizi complained endlessly to his agent.

"Leon, before joining the crew, who could have thought that Cameron would make it like this?! It was originally just a 100-million production, and now it has been added to 250 million!"

The agent said he couldn't carry this pot either. If he wants to blame, he should blame Cameron, that truck driver.

"What is the total investment of *Waterworld*?" Xiao Lizi suddenly asked.

The agent opened his mouth. He originally wanted to persuade Xiao Lizi not to think too much, but knowing that persuasion was useless, he could only say truthfully:

"The filming cost is 175 million, plus promotion costs, the total investment is about 250 million."

Xiao Lizi couldn't help but pat his head upon hearing this. *Waterworld* was a super money-losing product in 1995, but its total investment was only 250 million, and *Titanic* alone cost 250 million in filming costs. Plus promotion costs, doesn't the global box office need 800-1000 million to recover the cost?

The 1996 global box office champion *Independence Day* was only 817 million, the 1995 number one *Die Hard 3* was only 360 million, and Cameron's highest box office *Terminator 2* was only 520 million. Where did he get so much box office to recover the cost!

Xiao Lizi thought of this and couldn't help but curse Cameron, that damn truck driver, the set tyrant!

Originally, his stable star path as the first of the same period would have been brilliant even if he didn't take *Titanic*. Now he has been added with great risks by Cameron, this guy!