Chapter 314: Prediction

During the Spring Festival, Wu Yuchen had a very comfortable time, but a major case that shocked the industry occurred.

At 2:00 AM on February 3rd, actor Wu Ruofu and his friends were leaving a bar in Beijing when several strange men suddenly appeared before them. They claimed to be police officers and handcuffed Wu Ruofu. In the blink of an eye, Wu Ruofu was dragged into a car by those men and whisked away. By the time his friends reacted and called the police, the perpetrators had already vanished without a trace.

Perhaps because a celebrity had been kidnapped and the impact was severe, the police reacted quickly, immediately establishing a special task force. They solved the case and rescued the victim in just 22 hours.

"Look at that, how terrifying! You don't fear a thief stealing, you fear a thief keeping you in their sights! Chenchen, you need to be more careful from now on; you should hire a bodyguard if you need one. We all know that when you went to America to play last time, many places there weren't safe. You mustn't take this lightly!"

Listening to his mother's concern, Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "Mom, don't worry, I've already considered this aspect!"

The reason Wu Yuchen's mother said this was because it had just been revealed that the gang of thugs who kidnapped Wu Ruofu had actually been targeting him for over half a year. As early as July of last year, they had already attempted to kidnap Wu Ruofu, but they failed because they couldn't block his car.

Afterward, the group reflected on their mistakes, summarized the lessons from their first failure, and made more thorough preparations. Half a year later, they succeeded in one fell swoop. Moreover, their target at the time wasn't just Wu Ruofu; it was also the "Imperial Father" Zhang Tielin.

Because Zhang Tielin had been embroiled in the "Two Wives Sue Zhang Tielin Case" over the past six months, the kidnappers felt Zhang Tielin was a bad person on one hand, and on the other, his personal information had been exposed due to the case, which also put him in their sights.

However, the Imperial Father was lucky; that night, the group didn't wait for him to come out...

In short, this kidnapping case left the celebrities in the industry feeling anxious, and those with the means were considering hiring bodyguards.

Wu Yuchen smiled at his mother and said, "Mom, I'm not worried about being kidnapped. Today, after I finish my tangyuan and celebrate the Lantern Festival, I'm flying to Hollywood tomorrow. How about I hire two bodyguards to follow you and Dad instead?"

"The two of us? Don't joke around! What's the use of kidnapping us!" Zhou Shulan shook her head with amusement.

"Mom, you don't understand! Look, if I were really kidnapped, who would the kidnappers ask for money? It's different if they kidnap you two; I'd definitely have to spend money to ransom you back!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Shulan couldn't help but widen her eyes, feeling that her son's logic actually seemed quite sound. However, her voice rose by three degrees afterward: "According to you, your father and I have become your Achilles' heel!"

Wu Yuchen waved his hand directly: "What Achilles' heel! That sounds terrible; you are the apple of my eye!"

"Go, go, go, get out of here, use that kind of mushy talk to coax Xiaoran!" Zhou Shulan looked at him with disdain.

Wu Yuchen stopped talking when he heard this, but his mother didn't let him off the hook:

"Let me tell you, don't think we don't know about you two just because you don't say anything. Xiaoran's mother has already hinted at me twice. You two grew up together, you can't..."

Wu Yuchen swallowed the last tangyuan in his bowl and said vaguely, "Mom, I'm finished, I'm going back to my room to pack!"

"Hey, this child..."

Zhou Shulan wanted to continue, but Wu Jianping interrupted her with a wave of his hand: "Alright, the child is grown up now and has made a career for himself, let them handle these things themselves!"

"Even if he's successful, I'm still his mother! Besides, now that he's established his career, shouldn't he start a family? I'm still counting on babysitting his children! When we get older, will you still be able to handle it?" Zhou Shulan retorted at her husband.

Wu Jianping glanced at his wife: "I'm not in a hurry, isn't life pretty good right now? Don't you find it tiring?"

"Tiring late or early, it's all tiring. Besides, I'm willing!"

Wu Yuchen heard Zhou Shulan's words from inside his room, and he knew she was saying them for him to hear. But he wasn't even 27 yet, why would he want a child? That would really require a lot of mental energy. Let's talk about it after 30!

Two days later, Los Angeles, Sony Columbia.

This time when Wu Yuchen returned to Hollywood, he didn't go to the *Pirates of the Caribbean* side first, but came to *Spider-Man 2* instead. He was still listed as a producer for *Spider-Man 2*.

In fact, after the first *Spider-Man* was filmed, director Sam Raimi had completely proven his ability, and Wu Yuchen was very at ease with him. Therefore, he let Kevin Feige represent him and Marvel as a producer, and the authority of the crew also fell into Sam Raimi's hands.

Actually, *Spider-Man 2* had already finished filming last year and was scheduled for release on May 7th of this year. But who knew that some problems would arise in the end? Some shots regarding the big boss, Doctor Octopus, didn't look good after the final edit. Therefore, at the end of last year, the crew decided to reshoot a portion of the scenes.

The problem was that Doctor Octopus's lair, which had taken eight weeks to build, had already been demolished last year. Rebuilding the set now took another month, which had Sony running around in a panic. Now that Wu Yuchen had come over, he had been called to discuss this matter.

"Wu, Sam, you need to give us a definitive answer. Can the movie be released on time on May 7th? If not, we still have time to go to the major theater chains to postpone the release date and readjust the promotional strategy!"

Wu Yuchen looked at Sam Raimi and appeared quite calm: "Don't worry, in fact, most of the post-production for *Spider-Man 2* has been completed. With only this portion of reshoots left, we can get everything done in a month at most!"

"Okay, Wu, we trust your professional competence. I hope there won't be any more accidents."

After the people from Sony Columbia left, Wu Yuchen said to Sam Raimi: "Sam, if we can't get it done in a month, then both of us will have to bear the infamy!"

"Wu, thank you! I will definitely be able to finish filming on schedule!"

Wu Yuchen rubbed his brow. He had originally planned to dive into the post-production of *Pirates of the Caribbean* as soon as he arrived, but he didn't expect to be held up by *Spider-Man 2* first. Even though he had handed it over to Sam Raimi, he still had to be on set for two or three days.

The filming of Doctor Octopus this time used practical effects. The metal tentacles and equipment seen in the movie were all physically crafted, mainly rubber spines and four rubber mechanical arms. The claws of these mechanical arms were called "Death Flowers" and required four puppeteers to operate simultaneously.

Choosing practical equipment was partly to pursue a sense of realism, and partly because producing it entirely with CGI technology was really much more expensive than filming with physical objects.

On the *Spider-Man 2* crew side, Wu Yuchen was paying attention to the filming while also checking other completed parts. After seeing one segment, Wu Yuchen couldn't help but smile.

Back then, Tobey Maguire had used his back injury as an excuse to bargain with the crew, which made Wu Yuchen and the crew quite unhappy. Therefore, after discussing it with Sam Raimi, they added a scene to the plot that poked fun at him.

In the film, Peter Parker, who had lost his powers, happily shouted because his powers had briefly returned: "I'm back! I'm back!"

But the next moment, his powers suddenly failed again, causing him to fall to the ground from a high place, crying out in pain: "My back, my back!"

This line used the word "back," which meant both the body part and a return, and was designed very interestingly. Anyone in the know would laugh immediately.

After Wu Yuchen checked the previously completed parts and found no other problems, he breathed a sigh of relief. After staying with the *Spider-Man 2* crew for 3 days, he returned to DreamWorks to continue his *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*.

In fact, he had insisted to Sony Columbia that *Spider-Man 2* be released in May for selfish reasons. After all, *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* was already scheduled for release in early July. If *Spider-Man 2* were pushed back, it might really clash with *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*. Wu Yuchen naturally didn't want to see such a situation where he was competing against himself.

Actually, during the time Wu Yuchen went back for the Spring Festival, some of the post-production for *Pirates of the Caribbean 2* hadn't really stopped. The necessary dubbing, subtitles, and other work had long been completed. As for the score, it was still Hans Zimmer, who had completed quite a few musical segments for Wu Yuchen to choose from.

The most important part was actually the special effects. Although it could be done without Wu Yuchen, he didn't know if the director would be satisfied with the result. Moreover, this stuff usually needed to be adjusted according to the director's desired effect, so some of the unfinished special effects were delayed.

In the following month, Wu Yuchen spent most of his energy on the post-production of *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*, occasionally visiting the *Spider-Man 2* crew to check on progress. The reshot scenes for Doctor Octopus were basically completed in 10 days, and the remaining 3 weeks were spent on special effects processing and integration, finishing within the month.

This year's Oscar ceremony was held on February 29th, one month earlier than in previous years.

In fact, two years ago, in 2002, the Academy decided to break the tradition of holding it in March and move it to the end of February. However, because the schedule for the 2003 ceremony had already been set, it could only be implemented in 2004.

Actually, even earlier, in the 1960s, the Oscar ceremony was held in April each year, and it wasn't until 1989 that the tradition of holding it in March was established.

As for the reason for the two-time advancement, it was mainly the hope of stimulating television broadcast ratings, shortening the lobbying time for major film companies to compete with each other, and avoiding having other award ceremonies steal the Oscars' thunder.

The Oscars' slogan was the pursuit of art, but the Academy had always treated it as a business; ratings and commercial revenue were paramount.

Wu Yuchen didn't go to the scene for this year's Oscars. Instead, he sat on the sofa, with Anne Hathaway in his left arm, his hand exploring her chest to feel the warmth, and Jessica Alba in his right arm, stroking her smooth thighs. Wasn't this much more comfortable than being at the scene?

"Honey, how many awards do you think *The Lord of the Rings 3* will take?" Anne Hathaway asked.

This year's Oscars could be said to be the least suspenseful one, as everyone already knew the answer in advance, unless the Academy planned to play tricks and pull off a shocking upset by not letting *The Lord of the Rings* win.

Since that was the case, the media could only change the way they hyped the topic, which was to change the suspense to: out of the 11 nominations for *The Lord of the Rings 3*, how many could it win?

Wu Yuchen smiled and asked the two women in return: "What do you think?"

Anne Hathaway thought for a moment and said: "I think 8."

"Then I'll guess 9~" Jessica Alba smiled sweetly.

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen smiled and shook his head. Seeing this, both women acted coquettishly toward him:

"You haven't said yet~"

"Honey, don't you agree?"

Wu Yuchen revealed a profound smile: "If you ask me, the Academy will give it 11 this time!"

"11?! That's impossible, right?"

"Give them all? Even *Ben-Hur* and *Titanic* didn't do that, right?"

Both women exclaimed upon hearing this.

Currently, the highest award record for the Oscars was 11 major awards, held jointly by *Ben-Hur* and *Titanic*. However, *Ben-Hur* won 11 out of 15 nominations at the time, and the big ship won 11 out of 14 nominations. Neither of them managed to hit 100% of their nominations.

And now Wu Yuchen said *The Lord of the Rings 3* would hit 11 out of 11 nominations, which undoubtedly made both women somewhat unable to believe it.

"Don't you trust my professional competence? Let's wait and see. If I'm right, you two will have to be obedient little puppies tonight~" Wu Yuchen smiled and gently stroked the two women's hair.

Jessica Alba pouted: "When have I not listened to you?"

"I'm not a little puppy, I'm a little kitten~" Anne licked her lips.

While joking, the award ceremony had already begun.

Just as Wu Yuchen said, *The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King* displayed that kind of domineering spirit of "if not me, then who." Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay—they took all 9 consecutive awards!

This left Jessica Alba and Anne Hathaway with their mouths wide open. Although the ceremony wasn't over yet, everyone knew that the remaining Best Director and Best Picture would definitely go to *The Lord of the Rings 3*.

In other words, *The Lord of the Rings 3* was truly going to complete a grand slam by winning all 11 nominations.

Both women looked at Wu Yuchen in shock, then both hugged him, pestering him and asking: "Honey, how did you know?"

Wu Yuchen laughed: "No one understands the Oscars better than I do!"

These words echoed in the two women's ears, making them deeply convinced at this moment. After all, Wu Yuchen had completed his prediction before the ceremony even started!

Wu Yuchen smiled and got up, starting to look for his gear. He had no interest in the rest of the ceremony; what could be more interesting than going to the garden to walk the dogs? ===== CHAPTER 315 =====