Chapter 116: *Brotherhood of Blades* Wraps, *The Legend of Sun Tzu* Pulled from Shelves

Media reports about *Snow Flower and the Secret Fan* suddenly increased.

Without guessing, one knew it was Huayi that had put in the effort.

Deng Wendi heaped endless praise on Li Bingbing in front of reporters.

She wore the look of sisters who had met too late, exactly the same attitude she once had toward Zhang Ziyi.

There were many in the industry who wanted to see the drama surrounding the "International Zhang," and some media even went to interview Zhang Ziyi and Deng Wendi.

The result was as one would expect; both sides were as cold as enemies and neither offered a response to this...

Sharp-eyed people could see that Huayi was now holding a large amount of capital, and this was preparation for taking films overseas once again.

……

The policies from above favoring the film and television industry had indeed played a stimulating role.

News of various film and television projects in the industry emerged all at once, in a wide variety of forms.

Lin Nan was at Tiangong Color, burying his head in rushing the post-production of *Inception*.

Even so, he heard an interesting piece of news.

That "Star Girl" debutante Huang Shengyi seemed to have successfully ascended to the top long ago.

Juli Pictures? It seemed to be that company belonging to Yang Zai, which had just passed review and successfully greenlit a project called *The Sorcerer and the White Snake*.

Currently, there was only one actor, which was Huang Shengyi; there was nothing else.

But this did not prevent Yang from bragging first, for example: no cap on investment, no cap on special effects production costs...

"This is a new company, right?"

Guo Fan also saw this news.

"It's a new company, entering the film production industry for the first time. This take won't work, too many cuts..."

Lin Nan answered Guo Fan while speaking to the employee in charge of editing.

He turned his head to look at Guo Fan and smiled: "Do you feel like it's a rich kid showing off his strength? And 'no cap'? Heh..."

Guo Fan was stunned. "Haha, Director Lin's description is apt, that's exactly the feeling. But, this doesn't look like he's promoting an artist, does it?"

"No need to ask, it's just as you guessed in your heart, it's just not public yet," Lin Nan said casually.

"Tsk tsk tsk, she debuted as a 'Jade Girl,' and now she's fallen into the hands of a twice-divorced man?" Guo Fan joked, then continued with his work.

…………

The *Brotherhood of Blades* crew.

A large group of people was filming the final fight scene.

In the valley, the duel between the protagonist Shen Lian and Zhao Jingzhong, and the slaughter between Ding Xiu and the Jin soldiers.

The former traded wounds for kills, the latter fought ten alone.

Lu Yang sat in front of the monitor, his expression excited; his first "blockbuster" was about to be completed.

As Shen Lian's lone figure rode away, Lu Yang shouted.

"Cut."

Instantly, everyone relaxed.

On a chair to the side, Liu Yifei, who had been sunbathing in sunglasses, also sat up.

She stretched and said happily, "It's finally over!"

"Yifei, are you in such a rush to go back? Director Lin won't get lost, haha..."

"Director Lu, you went over budget by more than three million..."

Liu Yifei said lightly, and Lu Yang was instantly embarrassed.

"Haha, just kidding, just kidding."

At this moment, all the actors gathered around.

Lu Yang stood up.

"I announce that *Brotherhood of Blades* has officially wrapped! Tonight, the wrap party!"

……

Within two hours, news of *Brotherhood of Blades* appeared in film and television updates.

"Liu Yifei's first production, *Brotherhood of Blades*, finished filming this morning."

"The martial arts film *Brotherhood of Blades* will hold its wrap party in Hengdian..."

……

During the banquet, Yang Mi walked up to Lu Yang with a glass.

"Thank you, Director Lu, for giving me this opportunity. I toast you."

As she spoke, she downed it in one gulp.

Lu Yang was a bit dazed; was she really that determined?

Immediately, Lu Yang felt relieved; wasn't this the mainstream culture in the circle?

It was just that he was a new director and had encountered it for the first time. When filming *Blind Shaft*, he never had this treatment.

"Director Lu, does our film have a sequel?"

Someone asked, and the scene instantly went quiet.

Yes, this film could clearly have a sequel or a prequel, as long as it followed the timeline...

Lu Yang had also thought about this while filming.

Now that someone asked, the other actors all looked at him with bright eyes: Zhang Zhen, Yang Mi...

"Haha, actually I don't know either. But looking at it this way, the script can indeed be continued."

Liu Yifei had left the banquet early, otherwise Lu Yang would have wanted to ask her about this.

"When I go back, I'll ask Director Lin. If the box office is good by then, making a series should be no problem."

Hearing this, many people's eyes lit up. Especially Yang Mi, as her contract would expire in March...

…………

The next morning, the *Brotherhood of Blades* crew flew back.

Immediately after, Lu Yang and the others were blocked at the airport.

Liu Yifei followed the method Lin Nan used when he returned from Venice, not leaving with the crew, so she slipped away.

In her view, she was the producer, and it was better to leave the cameras to the director and the lead actors!

With her assistant, she got into the car picking her up, and after calling Lin Nan, she went straight home.

……

Lu Yang headed straight for the company.

The post-production of *Brotherhood of Blades* would also be done at Tiangong Color.

Lin Nan roughly scanned the footage of *Brotherhood of Blades*; the quality was good, and he estimated the post-production editing time wouldn't be too short.

"Director Lin, I will finish editing this film as soon as possible. Can you help me arrange the release date for the summer slot?"

Good heavens, post-production hadn't even started, and he was already thinking about the release date?

"Are you sure you want the summer slot?"

"Sure, there are a lot of people then."

Lu Yang nodded and explained.

His pressure was much greater than Guo Fan's before the release of *Source Code*.

*Brotherhood of Blades* had cost over 28 million, after all; for him, the box office pressure was not small.

"Then hurry up and do the post-production; I will go help you communicate with China Film Group."

…………

*The Myth* was a bit too popular.

CCTV-8 had only been broadcasting it for ten days, and CCTV-1 started rebroadcasting it, and the ratings remained high.

Emperor Motion Pictures was going to hold a celebration banquet in the capital.

Yang Shoucheng personally came forward to invite guests, such as Han Sanping, Jiang Wen, and Lin Nan...

Perhaps most of the audience liked Hu Ge's character and the love between him, Lu Susu, and Yushu.

But many industry insiders present agreed that the character of Zhao Gao in the script was the best portrayed, and the actor played it even better!

Lin Nan had just finished talking to Yang Shoucheng about *Ip Man 2* when Jiang Wen came over.

"When are you planning to release your film *Inception*?"

"Why ask that?" Lin Nan was a bit startled.

"What else? To avoid you, of course."

Jiang Wen said with some helplessness; it looked like he had been traumatized by previous losses.

"It's not set yet.

You don't have to be so anxious; you haven't done much of the post-production for *Let the Bullets Fly*, have you?"

"Yeah, just started. But this time I have to choose a good slot; if I don't get results, it will be hard to find investment in the future, haha..."

After chatting for a while, Jiang Wen kept urging Lin Nan to let him know if *Inception* had a release date. Conversely, he would also take the initiative to notify Lin Nan.

Hu Ge was surrounded by reporters today, and he had to squeeze through just to greet Lin Nan.

That Bai Bing, her look as Yushu was indeed good, but unfortunately, she was signed to Emperor. It would be very difficult for her to become famous; after all, that was a Hong Kong company, and this was the mainland.

…………

Lin Nan continued to be busy with the post-production of *Inception*, and Lu Yang also began the editing of *Brotherhood of Blades*.

The star-studded "The Art of War" has begun airing.

Lin Nan didn't pay much attention; it was just another television drama, after all.

As it turned out, within a few days, news came that the show had run into trouble.

Yue Jun found it inconceivable, "How can a show be pulled from the air after only a few episodes?"

Lin Nan was indeed a bit surprised.

In this day and age, it's usually a matter of not passing censorship, which drags on for a long time. Just like half a month ago, "The Qin Empire," which had been stuck for three years, finally received its broadcast permit and successfully started airing on television.

But he had truly never heard of a show being pulled after airing several episodes. This was a real eye-opener!

"Did they say what the reason was?" Lin Nan asked curiously.

"It seems someone reported it, claiming the adaptation took too many liberties and was disrespectful to historical figures..."

That reason... is just something else.

Lin Nan felt that Jing Tian was quite pitiful.

This should have been the first television drama she starred in as the lead. To have it pulled like this also meant it was banned; as for how long it would take to be unbanned, that was hard to say.

"Actually, they didn't lose money. At that screening, Director Lu said that the copyright sales to the island nation alone had already recouped the costs."

Yue Jun continued to add. It was only because of this Spring and Autumn and Warring States period subject matter; if it had been a different dynasty, it would have been hard to say. Of course, the Three Kingdoms are an exception.

It is estimated that this incident with "The Art of War" will leave many film and television companies baffled, but they will also use it as a cautionary tale.

…………

After resting for a few days, Liu Yifei returned to work.

Now that she had the resume of a producer, her market value seemed to have risen a bit more.

Every day she was woken up on time by Liu Xiaoli, then washed up, put on makeup, changed clothes, and went on to shoot for magazines, endorsements, and so on.

"I'm starting to miss the days of being a producer on the set of 'Brotherhood of Blades'."

Liu Yifei sat upright in front of the mirror, letting the makeup artist style her, chatting with Lin Nan from time to time.

"Why?"

"Because no one dared to wake her up...

Have I really become that lazy during this time? I've only been waking up early for three days, and I already can't stand it?"

Liu Xiaoli wore a smile as she teased her own daughter.

"Haha, Mom, I will adjust back as soon as possible," Liu Yifei said with a smile.

…………

During the meeting earlier, Bureau Chief Tong Gang said that the box office for "Avatar" would most likely exceed 1 billion.

Now, those words had come true.

The domestic film market had given birth to its first 1-billion-yuan box office film.

This also meant that the mainland film market had officially entered the era of 1-billion-yuan single films.

The internet was full of reports about this.

Currently, on the domestic box office charts, the films behind "Avatar" were "The Martian" and "The Founding of a Republic."

Even combined, the latter two were still 200 million short of "Avatar."

When netizens brought these figures out for comparison, it looked very stark.

"When will a 1-billion-yuan box office film be born domestically?"

"The gap between domestic films and 'Avatar' is more than 600 million, and the latter's box office is still increasing..."

……

Lin Nan felt that this could also be considered a good thing.

At the very least, "Avatar" let everyone see where the ceiling of the current mainland film market was.

This film would also stimulate major theater chains to continue increasing capital investment, rapidly building new cinemas, upgrading existing equipment, and expanding capacity.

Invisibly, this accelerated the infrastructure construction of the film market.

If nothing unexpected happens, domestic films are about to enter a stage of box office explosion...

"From this year on, being a director in the 100-million-box-office club won't be anything to brag about anymore..."