Chapter 57: Just a Little Bit

There were several posters at the entrance of the cinema. The most conspicuous one was *In the Heat of the Sun*. This film was released in September this year. With the huge reputation created at the Venice Film Festival, it had already won 40 million at the box office in the few months since its release. After all, it was a film that conquered foreigners. This kind of national pride made everyone pay for it, although 80% of the audience were actually confused after entering the cinema.

And on the left and right posters were two tough guys, the muscular Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan.

*True Lies* starring Schwarzenegger was introduced to the mainland in the first half of this year. Once released, it ignited the film market across China. The scene of Schwarzenegger flying a fighter jet was simply a dimensionality reduction strike to domestic films, allowing the audience to truly understand for the first time what a blockbuster was.

And the only one that could compete with it was Jackie Chan's *Rumble in the Bronx*. Jackie Chan beating up foreigners, dangerous stunts, and swaggering through the city in a hovercraft also made people feel very satisfied.

The box office of these two films in the mainland was 103 million and 95 million respectively. The box office of other films was below 50 million, a big gap.

The two films were actually released in the first half of the year, but they were still playing in the cinema for more than half a year.

Wu Yuchen looked at these two posters and felt a bit emotional as a person who had come over. He knew that the mainland film market was about to change, and it would enter the era of Hollywood blockbusters next.

In the upcoming 1996, 8 of the top ten box office in China would be occupied by American blockbusters. The eighth place, *Kong Fansen*, had a box office of 36 million, and everyone understood how it came about. And Jackie Chan's *Police Story 4: First Strike* stood out alone, suppressing 8 Hollywood blockbusters to win the box office championship, defending the last bit of dignity for Chinese films.

In the following years, only Jackie Chan could compete with the introduced blockbusters, and he also created the mainland's Spring Festival slot, letting the mainland know the concept of New Year films, which was fundamentally not the "Little Steel Cannon" Feng Kuzi that the media blew up later.

So Jackie Chan's influence was truly fought out in hard battles. It was no wonder that when he came to the mainland, the stars in the circle were willing to call him "Big Brother." This was something that no other Hong Kong and Taiwan artists could compare to.

"Two tickets for *Rumble in the Bronx*."

Why did Wu Yuchen pull Jiang Qinqin to the cinema? Those who understood, understood.

And looking at the other films written on the blackboard next to the ticket window, *The Sorrow of Brook*, *Red Cherry*, *Naked Blood*, one was more depressing than the other, which was too mood-affecting.

After Wu Yuchen pulled Jiang Qinqin into the screening hall, he went straight to the back row. In this day and age, cinema tickets were not divided by seats; whoever entered first occupied the seat first.

"Hey, why are you sitting so far back?" Jiang Qinqin pulled Wu Yuchen.

"The sound in the front is too loud, too noisy. The viewing effect in the back is good!" Wu Yuchen talked nonsense.

"Then you don't have to be so far back, and so off-center..."

Although Jiang Qinqin said so, she still followed Wu Yuchen and sat down. After all, it was his birthday today, and the birthday star was the biggest.

Wu Yuchen took a look, and sure enough, he didn't choose wrong. *Rumble in the Bronx* had been released for more than half a year, and there weren't many people in the whole hall. The corner around them was even more empty.

Actually, for such a popular film as *Rumble in the Bronx*, Jiang Qinqin had naturally seen it. However, Jackie Chan's films were quite worth watching, so after the film started, she was quickly immersed in it and watched with great interest.

But just when Jiang Qinqin was leaning on Wu Yuchen's shoulder and had just immersed herself in the film, she suddenly felt a big hand reaching into her clothes at her waist. Her heart jumped, her face flushed, and she reached out to block it while turning her head to ask Wu Yuchen not to mess around.

As a result, as soon as Jiang Qinqin looked up, she saw the heat in Wu Yuchen's eyes, which made her heart tremble. Just as she slightly opened her mouth, it was blocked by his big mouth.

Monday, Wu Yuchen walked into the classroom and sat down. Cheng Er next to him leaned over and asked sneakily: "How was the birthday date two days ago?"

"It was pretty good." Wu Yuchen supported his chin and perfunctorily replied.

"Pretty good, why do you look a bit wilted?" Cheng Er was strange.

Wu Yuchen waved his hand listlessly and didn't continue to answer.

He remembered that the day before yesterday in the cinema, everything went smoothly at first. Later, he even pulled Jiang Qinqin directly from her seat to sit in his arms. In this dark cinema with few people, under the cover of the film's sound, Jiang Qinqin was also confused by Wu Yuchen. Except for that last step, everything that could be obtained was obtained by him.

Listening to her whispering in his ear not to do it here, Wu Yuchen was naturally overjoyed, thinking she had already agreed.

As a result, after coming out of the cinema, Jiang Qinqin was blown by the cold winter wind, and the heat all over her body dropped a lot, and her brain became clear. She refused to go to the hotel with Wu Yuchen no matter what. Although she gave Wu Yuchen a few more hot kisses as compensation in the end, it couldn't make up for his wounded heart!

Thinking of it, he was depressed. It was just a little bit off!

Wu Yuchen didn't regret not doing anything in the cinema, but felt that if what they were watching was *Titanic*, and he said "You jump, I jump!", then it would be stable!

It's just a pity that there are very few romance films in domestic films in this era, which really ruins things!

During the second class break, seeing the pager come with a message again, Wu Yuchen hurried out to find a public phone to call back.

"Hello, hello, this is Wu Yuchen."

Director Gu's voice came from the opposite side of the phone:

"Little Wu, your script *The Two of Us* was just discussed in the meeting. We can give you a quota, but the funds are only 300,000. Can you shoot it?"

Wu Yuchen was overjoyed upon hearing this, but frowned again when he heard it was only 300,000. From 500,000 to 300,000, this was cut by almost half!

Wu Yuchen also knew that this was not something he could bargain for. If he said "no," he estimated that this opportunity would be gone.

After he quickly went through it in his brain, he asked: "Director Gu, if it's 300,000, I want to use 16mm film to shoot. I don't know if the movie channel allows it?"

In the case of insufficient money, he could only lower the requirements.

"This is no problem. We are not going to release it in the cinema. 16mm film shooting is enough to watch on TV."

"Then I can shoot it. Thank you, Director Gu, for fighting for this opportunity for me!"

"Haha, it's still because you are competitive enough. Then this matter can be decided in the afternoon. You come over to go through the process."

Wu Yuchen exchanged pleasantries with Director Gu for two more sentences and then hung up the phone.

The picture shot by 16mm film is definitely a bit rougher than 35mm, but it can't be seen at all on TV. It mainly wins in being cheap, and the price is less than one-third of 35mm. However, 16mm film can create a sense of reality and nostalgia better than 35mm film, which is quite in line with *The Two of Us*.

And it doesn't affect participating in film festivals. Many award-winning films at film festivals are actually shot on 16mm film. After all, many independent small directors have no money.

Wu Yuchen thought for a moment, then picked up the phone and dialed Old Lady Ruan. Since she helped him build bridges, he should notify and thank her first when there is news. ===== CHAPTER 58 =====