Chapter 148

Having spent money to invest in two films externally, one co-produced with the Xi'an Film Studio and one co-produced with the Xiaoxiang Film Studio, Wu Yuchen was still quite satisfied with both.

Although "Not One Less" wouldn't make much money domestically, it would definitely make a profit in Japan, and it could also sweep up quite a few awards domestically and internationally; things like the Golden Rooster and the "Five Ones" were all beckoning.

As for "Happy Times," it did give him a reminder to have someone buy back the television rights for "The Happy Life of Zhang Damin." This drama was also quite popular, receiving both critical acclaim and commercial success, and it had also won multiple awards such as the Golden Eagle Festival, the Flying Apsaras Award, and the Chunyan Award.

Teacher Liang Guanhua, oh, that is, Detective Di Renjie, also became well-known to the audience because he played the male lead Zhang Damin in the drama.

The "Detective Di Renjie" series was also a huge hit; he could buy it from the screenwriter when the time came!

If he got Zhang Zijian over, and when the time came for Di Renjie to say, "Yuanfang, what do you think?", wouldn't the ratings climb higher and higher?

After fantasizing about these future plans, Wu Yuchen turned his attention to the company's current projects.

For "The Grand Mansion Gate," Kang Honglei and the producer were already busy working with Guo Baochang, so he didn't need to worry about it; Guo Baochang had plenty of connections and could bring in a group of big stars to help out on his own.

There was also "Handsome Siblings," which had already begun preparations last year, but due to the season, filming wouldn't start until this spring; however, the basic crew members had already been determined.

Wu Yuchen looked at the cast list for "Handsome Siblings."

Jimmy Lin had already been negotiated for the role of Xiao Yu'er; currently in a low point, he naturally wouldn't refuse the opportunity to play the male lead in a representative work of Gu Long's martial arts.

Yan Kuan was set for Hua Wuque; he was still a freshman this year, and after Li Guoli went to see him, he found his period costume look to be very good, so he made the final decision.

Tie Xinlan was Li Xiaoran; originally, Wu Yuchen had let her choose for herself, and he had thought she might choose Little Chili, but he didn't expect her to choose Tie Xinlan, though that was fine too.

In the previous life, the character among the male and female leads in this version of "Handsome Siblings" who was criticized the most was Tie Xinlan, mainly because people said Chen Derong used a Qiongyao style to shape Tie Xinlan, making the whole character too pretentious and very unnatural. Compared to Chen Derong, Li Xiaoran appeared more dashing, and presumably, it would have a different effect.

For the character of Little Chili, Li Guoli had chosen Li Qihong, who was Guo Xiang in the '95 "Return of the Condor Heroes." Li Qihong herself was a sweet girl with a somewhat eccentric personality, and she shaped the willful, cute, and daring Little Chili very successfully.

It could be seen from the several main characters above that this time the protagonist group was composed of actors from the Mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and it was clearly aimed at the three markets during preparations.

In the casting of other supporting roles, Li Guoli also followed this principle. Wu Yuchen was still quite at ease with Li Guoli; he was experienced, and his eye was very good, with the people chosen basically being very suitable.

However, there was one actor among them who caught Wu Yuchen's attention: the actor for the Great Palace Master of Yihua Palace, Yao Yue, was actually Kathy Chow, which was different from the original version in his previous life!

Wu Yuchen didn't have any opinion on this change; Li Guoli was a Hong Kong director, so it wasn't strange that he was willing to use more Hong Kong actors. And Kathy Chow was also very suitable for playing the character of Yao Yue.

It was just that seeing Kathy Chow, Wu Yuchen still felt it was a pity in his heart; in his previous life, she had passed away just after her 57th birthday.

Many young viewers might not know Kathy Chow, but she was hailed as the most beautiful Zhou Zhiruo, the "white moonlight" in the hearts of a generation. Even Jin Yong said after watching it that if he had known, he would have rewritten the ending of the Zhou Zhiruo novel, and as it turned out, he really did rewrite it later...

At the same time, Wu Yuchen also thought that it seemed Kathy Chow had contracted lupus erythematosus this year, and after struggling for 25 years, she had still passed away. Lupus erythematosus sounded like a skin disease, but it was actually an immune system disease that couldn't be cured. Wu Yuchen was helpless about this.

But the cause of this thing was uncertain; perhaps it was related to genetics, perhaps related to the environment, and perhaps if she had rested well during those few days when she was originally ill, it wouldn't have happened. Wu Yuchen could only think, perhaps Kathy Chow participating in "Handsome Siblings" could avoid the illness?

Wu Yuchen shook his head; he wouldn't think too much about such things anymore, better to busy himself with his own affairs.

A few days later, Wu Yuchen boarded an international flight and headed to America again.

……

"The Oprah Winfrey Show," currently one of the most popular programs in America, had also consistently held the top spot for American talk shows. This program also allowed Oprah to go from a black woman born in poverty to the Queen of Talk Shows.

Oprah had previously invited many big names and stars to appear on the program for interviews, such as the King of Pop Michael Jackson, "Forrest Gump" Tang Mu Hanks, Will Smith, and so on.

And now, her program welcomed the man who was currently the most popular — Leonardo, well, and Sylvester Shi Tailong.

Oprah first gave Leo a warm hug and then said with a smile: "I think I am the object of envy for all women in the world right now!"

Then Oprah joked with Shi Tailong: "Oh, Sylvester, do you know? Actually, everyone hoped that the one appearing with Jack would be Rose, not Rambo~"

Shi Tailong laughed and said: "I'm very sorry to disappoint you, I hijacked Jack from Rose!"

"Wow!" Oprah made an exaggerated expression, and the audience below also laughed out loud.

"You mean hijacked?"

"That's right, Leonardo is now completely under my control!" Shi Tailong said, extending a hand.

Oprah looked at Leo again, and Leo shrugged, making a helpless expression:

"That's right, I'm completely handled by him now~"

"What exactly happened?" Oprah cooperatively made an expression full of curiosity and desire for knowledge.

"This brings us to a film I starred in with Shi Tailong, 'Phone Booth'!"

……

At this moment, Wu Yuchen was watching the program being recorded in the backstage, and he had to say the effect was very good. This was also the benefit of finding a big company to do promotion; if it weren't for Fox, even if the crew had Leo and Shi Tailong, it would still be very difficult to get on a program like "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which was equivalent to advertising directly in front of twenty million viewers.

Of course, if it weren't for Leo and Shi Tailong, who were currently the most popular, Oprah wouldn't have agreed to let them come; she didn't just accept anyone, to put it bluntly, she also wanted to ride this wave of popularity.

Wu Yuchen didn't care much about whether he could get on the program; he was originally the director behind the scenes, and the current focus of the promotion for "Phone Booth" should indeed be concentrated on these two people; there was no great significance in him going up.

The promotion work for "Phone Booth" this time went very smoothly; in fact, the promotion method was no different from usual, nothing more than newspapers, television, posters, etc., but because Leo's popularity was currently at its peak, it attracted extra attention.

"Leonardo VS Shi Tailong, the ultimate showdown!"

"Shi Tailong threatens to teach Leonardo a profound lesson!"

"Leonardo and Shi Tailong stage a life-and-death phone call!"

"Leonardo and Shi Tailong, new versus old showdown!"

Undoubtedly, the promotion effect of "Phone Booth" completely revolving around these two people was also very good; basically, the audience could remember it as soon as they saw it.

"Wow! Leonardo actually has a new movie coming out, I must go see it!" This was someone who had just watched "Titanic."

"Ahhh! Leonardo, my Jack!" some infatuated fans screamed.

"A showdown between Leonardo and Shi Tailong? Just thinking about it is exciting!"

"Is this Leonardo and Shi Tailong fighting? Can he beat Shi Tailong?" some passersby were also curious.

At the same time, for this "Phone Booth" featuring Leo and Shi Tailong, the theater chains also directly gave an opening count of 3,250 screens. One had to know that when "Titanic" was first released, the opening count wasn't even that high, but that was a 250-million-dollar blockbuster, while the production cost of "Phone Booth" was only around ten million.

Of course, most of the credit for this had to be attributed to Leo, whose popularity was at its peak, and a small part to Shi Tailong; after all, he was also a well-known veteran star, and he had just had a high-grossing "Frequency."

There was also a small reason, which had to be credited to the film's duration. The total duration of "Phone Booth" was not even 90 minutes, which was a bright spot in the eyes of the theater chains; just think, if you played the 190-minute "Titanic" once, you could play "Phone Booth" twice, so the theater chains were naturally happy.

……

February 20th, Friday, was the release date of "Phone Booth."

Tang Mu and Jerry walked into the cinema hall holding a bucket of popcorn. While walking in the hall, they heard the voices of many girls discussing excitedly:

"Leonardo is simply too handsome! I love his Jack to death!"

"Oh! When Jack sank into the water, my heart was about to break!"

"Have you guys seen the poster for this Leonardo movie? Although the look is a bit different from Jack's, that kind of bad-boy handsomeness also fascinates me!"

"Yes, Leo is so charming no matter what!"

After hearing the discussion of these girls, Tang Mu couldn't help but curl his lip; honestly, his impression of Leonardo right now wasn't very good.

He had already been dragged by his girlfriend to watch "Titanic" 3 times!

The first time was when it was just released; after watching it, he also felt it was very great, touching and moving!

The second time was a week later, and he also went happily; after all, the movie was very good and worth watching again.

The third time was last weekend on Valentine's Day, February 14th; his girlfriend insisted on watching it again, and he had nothing to say. However, his girlfriend actually closed her eyes and called out "Leonardo" while excited in bed that night!

This damn thing made Tang Mu furious; tell me, how could he possibly have a good impression of Leonardo?!

Therefore, he didn't come to watch it with his girlfriend this time at all, but dragged his good buddy Jerry along; after all, he was a loyal fan of Shi Tailong. And he had heard Shi Tailong say on the program earlier that he had tortured Leonardo very badly, so he wanted to come and watch this movie carefully.

And his good friend Jerry, after sitting down, said to him excitedly:

"I didn't expect to be able to see a movie starring Leonardo and Shi Tailong so soon; I really want to see how the two of them showdown!"

Tang Mu said with a stinky face: "I hope Shi Tailong can beat up Leonardo's face!"

"Hey, buddy, I think you're just jealous of him~" Jerry said with a smile.

"I am not, only those infatuated girls would like this kind of pretty boy! A real man should be like Shi Tailong!" Tang Mu said, clenching his fist.

Jerry shrugged and didn't argue with Tang Mu; didn't he see that the few girls around were already glaring at him with unkind eyes?

Soon, the lights in the hall went out.

At the beginning of the film, when the bad-boy handsome Leo appeared gracefully, many girls in the hall let out screams.

"So handsome!"

"Too handsome!"

"Too charming!"

However, soon with the rapid progress of the plot, the audience was immersed in the film, and these voices disappeared.

The character of Stu played by Leo this time was the exact opposite of Jack in "Titanic"; he wasn't loyal to love at all, had a mistress, and was full of lies, which exceeded the expectations of many viewers.

And soon, when he accidentally picked up a phone in the phone booth, with the sound of Shi Tailong ringing out, Leo's punishment and judgment also arrived.

A sniper rifle had been aiming at him from the surroundings, and it even killed a thug, scaring Leo, who originally didn't believe it, out of his wits.

Someone died in the middle of the street in a busy area, the police came, and the media came, but Leo couldn't put down the phone, otherwise he would die, and he also became a murder suspect.

He became the focus of the whole city through live television, and his wife and mistress naturally both rushed to the scene...

All the viewers were infected by the plot of the film and the tension and thriller created, and they all followed Leo's mood, watching intently to see how it would develop.

As Shi Tailong left a meaningful smile next to the phone booth on the screen, the movie ended.

Tang Mu let out a long sigh of relief, and at this time, Jerry beside him couldn't help but say excitedly:

"This movie is simply too great! I completely didn't expect that a whole movie could be so ups and downs just revolving around a phone booth!"

Tang Mu nodded in agreement: "I started out expecting when Shi Tailong would appear, but I didn't expect him to show up until the very end."

"But his voice was always there, controlling Leonardo throughout the whole process; this is really cool! And Leonardo's performance is also very brilliant, especially that confession monologue in a state of collapse, it's simply amazing!"

Upon hearing this, Tang Mu curled his lip, but didn't refute his friend's words. Although he hated this pretty boy, he had to admit that his performance in that part of the movie completely moved him. This pretty boy's acting was really not bad; he could play the affectionate Jack and also handle this kind of scumbag.

At the same time, those female viewers who came for Leo were also chatting and exchanging:

"Leonardo is simply too great!"

"Although he made some mistakes at the beginning of the movie, he eventually turned over a new leaf, and that monologue of his made me cry!"

"I will always support Leo!"

……

In the room, Wu Yuchen, Leonardo, and others were waiting for the first-day box office results; Shi Tailong wasn't there, he had gone back to accompany his daughter.

Compared to the tension and anxiety while waiting for the first-day results of "Titanic" 2 months ago, Leo was exceptionally relaxed now. Even if this movie failed, it wouldn't have much impact on him; it was just a small production of ten million. He was the male lead who had carried a 250-million-dollar blockbuster!

And with his eye, he could also see that this "Phone Booth" itself was also very exciting, and he believed the box office wouldn't be bad. To put it bluntly, Leo believed that with his current appeal, this movie was bound to make money; it was just a question of how much.

Wu Yuchen was also in a good mood, and he asked Leo with a smile:

"Dear Leo, now your 'Titanic' will face a severe challenge from 'Phone Booth,' how do you feel now?"

"Nothing at all."

Leo shrugged and said, looking calm:

"No matter who wins, the weekly box office champion is still me!"

"Leo, do you know? Your expression right now is really asking for a beating!" Wu Yuchen laughed.

Leo also showed a smug smile.

Now "Titanic" had already won the box office championship for 10 consecutive weeks, and the North American box office had exceeded 400 million US dollars. And in the previous life, this record would reach 15 weeks, which was three and a half months!

Just think, from the time you start school until your final exams are almost over, it's always the box office champion of one movie; it's very terrifying!

And just last week, because of the existence of Valentine's Day on February 14th, its weekly box office actually rebounded by nearly ten million compared to the previous week; it really was something else.

To tell the truth, "Titanic" being able to achieve this kind of result could be considered a combination of favorable timing, geographical convenience, and human harmony. Its own super-solid quality was naturally the fundamental guarantee, but it must also be said that there were no high-quality films released during this period, which allowed it to dominate for 15 consecutive weeks. One had to know that in the last two weeks, its box office had already fallen to below 20 million per week, but it could still win the championship.

However, Wu Yuchen wouldn't let "Titanic" achieve 15 weeks again; 10 weeks was already good enough, he was going to be this record breaker!

Soon, the staff came over with the box office data, and after Wu Yuchen took the document and looked at it, he couldn't help but show a smile.

Seeing Wu Yuchen's expression, Leo asked curiously: "How much is the box office?"

Wu Yuchen handed the document directly to him, and Leo looked closely:

"Phone Booth," 16.68 million.

Leo also showed a happy look, clenched his fist, and felt encouraged in his heart; "Titanic" only had eight million on its first day, and now it was almost double that!

This proved that even if he, Leonardo, left "Titanic," he could still achieve very dazzling results by carrying the box office alone in a low-budget production.

Originally, Leo had some hesitation about whether he could be considered a top Hollywood star and whether he could step into the 20-million-dollar club, but seeing the first-day box office of "Phone Booth" this time, he wanted to announce loudly that his salary as Leonardo could no longer be lower than 20 million from now on!

With the good results of the Friday box office, the number of screens for "Phone Booth" on Saturday was adjusted upward by another 10%, and its box office also reached 20.12 million. On Sunday, the number of screens remained unchanged, and the box office fell normally to 13.45 million.

For the first three days of the weekend, 50.25 million, the undisputed weekly box office champion.

Once this result came out, the entire Hollywood and public opinion exploded!