Chapter 130: Box Office, End of Run, Set Visit

Ever since Lin Nan made the decision to scrap the Ip Man project, Emperor Entertainment's press releases had dropped off sharply.

They no longer mentioned anything about a sequel either.

But online and in the media, people were still hotly debating and guessing when the third installment would start filming.

Meanwhile, Ip Man 2's box office had smoothly reached 200 million.

Then 205 million, 210 million…

Creeping bit by bit toward an even higher gross.

After quoting a 30-million fee to Emperor Entertainment, Donnie Yen's team sat back confidently, waiting for good news.

In their view, Yang Yang Shoucheng might be furious, but in the end he would surely accept.

After running around doing publicity for several days straight, Donnie Yen and his manager thought of this matter.

"No reply from their side yet?"

"They're probably still discussing it. Should be in the next day or two."

The manager wore a breezy, nonchalant look—he'd been making quite a pretty penny lately.

"We need to get them to hurry up. So many media interviews keep asking me about Ip Man 3."

Donnie Yen nodded and said a word, not taking it seriously either.

Much like the manager, he also felt nothing unexpected would happen with this matter.

"I'll give them a call in a bit to nudge them. There are so many film offers right now—if they don't pick up the pace, it'll be hard to fit everything into our schedule later, hehe…"

"Mm, then go give them a nudge."

…………

Lin Nan saw the news about the Cannes opening ceremony.

Among all the domestic stars, only Li Li Bingbing played it flashy—a "dragon robe" ensemble that grabbed plenty of eyeballs.

Right now the internet was full of her red-carpet photos, and the buzz around her was extremely high.

"Lin Dao, the Enlight side says the publicity for Lost on Journey can begin now," Yue Jun reminded him.

"Go notify Xu Zheng and the others—coordinate well on the publicity."

Lin Nan instructed.

He wasn't worried about the publicity. Given how much Xu Zheng valued Lost on Journey, and how much he valued his own transformation and future, he would surely give it his all.

West Film and Ning Film had finished the costumes, makeup, and props, and Director Wu Wu Ershan was preparing to start shooting ahead of schedule.

Although no opening ceremony was deliberately held, plenty of media still showed up to join the excitement.

"Painted Skin 2 quietly started filming today."

"All cast members are in place…"

Yue Jun went to the set on Lin Nan's behalf, and took the opportunity to remind Director Wu Wu Ershan again to push Yang Mi's scenes up as early as possible and wrap them before July.

At this moment, Lin Nan was driving Liu Liu Yifei and the other two to the airport.

"Auntie, Liu Qianqian—once you're off the plane, look for Tom. He'll have people waiting there."

"Mm, got it. I'm only going for three days—I'll be back in three days."

Liu Liu Yifei in the passenger seat nodded.

Liu Liu Xiaoli in the back seat watched the two of them interacting along the way—very heartwarming.

Lucy was set to release on July 1st, so Liu Liu Yifei had to head over early to film the promotional clips and posters.

Outside the airport, quite a few reporters spotted Liu Liu Yifei's group.

"No wonder Lin Dao didn't show up at the Painted Skin 2 set—turns out he had other things to attend to!"

"Counting the timing, they should be flying to Hollywood—for Lucy."

……

Liu Liu Yifei let go of Lin Nan's hand.

"I'm heading in now?"

"Go ahead."

It wasn't like a life-and-death parting—Miss Liu suddenly got rather sentimental.

"Remember to come pick me up at the airport when the time comes…"

Liu Liu Yifei reminded him, then followed Liu's mother and her assistant toward the departure hall.

Lin Nan smiled and shook his head. Just as he was about to get in the car and head back, he saw several reporters crowding around.

"Lin Dao, is Liu Yifei going on a business trip?"

"Mm, the Lucy promotional clip needs to be filmed over there."

Lin Nan didn't hide it.

The reporters confirmed this guess and were delighted for a moment—another nice piece of news material.

"Lin Dao, may I ask if Ip Man 3 is already in preparation? Donnie Yen said in an interview the other day that there would be one…"

Lin Nan shook his head, said no more, brushed them off with a few words, and left.

"What's that supposed to mean? Is it in preparation or not?"

"Shaking his head—probably means it's not in preparation yet!"

…………

The car radio was recapping yesterday's news.

Several dozen large high-end "entertainment venues" in the capital had been raided at the same time—what a grand scene.

The news write-up was well done, especially that line: "several well-known figures from the entertainment industry were present on site"—very interesting indeed.

"Tian Kong Ren Cui Jian…"

Lin Nan drove while muttering with a smile.

…………

"Sister Mani, why drop the project out of nowhere?"

Zhen Starring Zhen Zidan's agent asked anxiously, with a vague feeling that she had botched things.

On the other end of the line, Huo Huo Wenxi's tone was unusually cold; she only said not to contact her again, then hung up.

At that moment, a guess popped into the agent's mind — could it be because of their side quoting ten times the price?

She admitted to asking for an extra twenty million, but…

When Zhen Starring Zhen Zidan heard Yinghuang's decision, his face instantly soured.

Fame and fortune — he wanted both.

The two Ip Man films had secured his place among A-listers; what about the third, the fourth?

Regret? Maybe a little. But he didn't feel remorse.

The recent surge in his price tag had given Zhen Starring Zhen Zidan a feeling — he was worth that much!

"If they pull it, they pull it. We've still got so many film offers to pick from. Pick some good scripts, and that's enough to push you into super A-list territory…"

By now the agent had already tossed the Ip Man matter out of her head, and a smile spread across her face again.

Zhen Starring Zhen Zidan nodded. "Exactly, I'm not short on scripts now!"

"Who knows, Yinghuang might even come looking for us on their own, to talk about raising the pay. Hehe." The agent said it casually.

…………

After more than twenty days in theaters, Ip Man 2's mainland box office had reached 260 million.

After negotiating with Yinghuang, Lin Nan decided to pull it from release.

This was, so far, the first film this year to break past the two-hundred-million mark at the box office.

A celebration banquet was a must.

Zhen Starring Zhen Zidan only made a brief appearance, then used the excuse of rushing to a gig and left the party.

Almost no one thought much of it — after all, thanks to Ip Man 2, the guy really was hot right now, and his schedule was packed.

Ning Hao, glass in hand, trotted over to Lin Nan, brimming with excitement.

"Picking up money? That happy?"

"Nothing much, just got an invitation from Golden Horse, asking me to be one of this year's jurors."

His mouth said it was nothing, but his face was almost creasing into a grin.

"Well, congratulations."

Ning Hao waved it off and brought up another matter.

"The day before yesterday, Lu Zong invited me to drop by the set…"

Lin Nan knew what Ning Hao was talking about — visiting the set of The Warring States. He knew Lu Zheng and Miss Jing Tian only because of Ning Hao.

"Aren't you going to ask me how it went?"

"Say it if you want to."

Lin Nan glanced at the other man, who looked like he wanted to speak but held back.

"Lucky I didn't take that job back then. I gave Lu Zong face, went to watch for a whole morning — you know what I felt inside?"

Without waiting for Lin Nan to answer, Ning Hao couldn't help but answer his own question.

"A complete mess, absolutely terrible to the extreme…"

Lin Nan just listened to Ning Hao vent — bad script, bad styling, bad director, the actors…

"Alright, there are so many people around. Keep it down — if it gets out, it won't look good."

Hearing that, Ning Hao reined himself in a bit, shook his head, and said, "Anyway, that film is unspeakable."

Lin Nan thought of Liu Liu Yifei.

Miss Liu's film role didn't start out as the female lead in Lucy either.

Lu Zheng was still too impatient — he wanted Miss Jing Tian to get there in one step.

…………

Tang Ren.

Cai Cai Yinong's face was dark as she listened to her subordinate's report.

"What's the meaning of this? Aimed at us?"

"President Cai, could it just be a coincidence?"

The assistant asked hesitantly.

The company had previously bought the novel rights, intending to film Scarlet Heart.

Just as the script was nearly finished, word came that another company was also planning to film a similar drama.

Same setting, same female-lead time-travel premise — it was hard not to think of the word "plagiarism."

"What's the situation over there?" Cai Cai Yinong asked.

"I-I heard they've already cast the roles, and even set the start date."

"When?"

"Early-to-mid July."

That answer caught Cai Cai Yinong a little off guard — on the Scarlet Heart side, the script wasn't even finished, and the cast wasn't fully assembled yet.

Knowing the progress was slow, she had used the gap to schedule a period drama.

Now she couldn't even rush to speed up Scarlet Heart — the locked-in female lead had just started shooting A Twig of Plum Blossom.

"President Cai, I found out their female lead is set as Yang Mi…"

The words had barely fallen when Cai Cai Yinong's eyes instantly widened.

"Are you sure?"

"It should be true."

The assistant could guess Cai Cai Yinong's mood at this moment; she must be even angrier.

After a long while, Cai Cai Yinong let out a sigh.

"Tell the script team to speed up, have the 'One Branch Plum' production crew increase their filming efficiency, and the casting matters must also be fast..."

In Cai Cai Yinong's eyes, Tang Ren had definitely swallowed this bitter pill of silence.

It was clearly their side that had initiated the project first, yet someone else had seized the initiative.

At this juncture, they could only minimize the time gap as much as possible and ensure the quality surpassed the other side...

"Mm, I'll go notify them right away."

In the realm of television dramas, Tang Ren had cultivated deeply for many years.

Cai Cai Yinong believed she had excellent taste; for instance, regarding the script for the 'Step By Step' drama, she felt it was certain to be a hit.

Other scripts with similar themes would also likely not be too bad.

"Since you invested in 'Step By Step', your actors under contract also took on another one. Lin Dao, you truly have excellent taste..."

In the empty office, Cai Cai Yinong muttered to herself.

The news that Liu Liu Yifei was filming the promotional video for 'Lucy' in Hollywood had spread throughout the industry.

This was truly a unique tier among young actresses, whether in the mainland or in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Some photos were released first.

"Looking forward to the release of 'Lucy'."

"So cool! A big female lead!"

"Liu Liu Yifei is so beautiful..."

On the day the 'Painted Skin 2' production crew started filming, Lin Nan sent Liu Liu Yifei and her entourage to the airport.

"Lin Dao, you are the chief producer of the film; why not come over to the set for a visit? The media would have something to write about."

For 'Painted Skin 2', Lin Nan had handed the producing duties to Jiang Jiang Xuerou, and the filming crew was all from his own company.

Regarding Jiang Jiang Xuerou's suggestion, Lin Nan did not refuse; he did need to go see the set.

For a commercial film, from the moment filming begins, promotion and exposure must be built up.

The next day, Lin Nan led his people and rushed to the 'Painted Skin 2' production crew.

Many media reporters were being blocked and held back by the staff outside.

The moment these people saw Lin Nan, they swarmed around him.

Only after answering quite a few questions did they finally stop.

"Lin Dao, can you let us in?"

A reporter asked aloud.

"Not now; when the film reaches the latter half, we can consider opening the set for media visits."

Lin Nan refused with a smile, then walked inside.

The production crew was currently filming.

Many people saw Lin Nan, but to avoid affecting the filming, they could only offer smiles and could not speak to greet him, as the on-site sound recording equipment was on.

Walking closer to take a look.

Good heavens, they were filming the bedroom scene between Huo Xin and Xiao Wei.

Huang Huang Xiaoming and Zhou Xun were old partners; there was absolutely no awkwardness.

Seeing this, Wu Wu Ershan had indeed adjusted the shooting order.

After a bout of intimate caressing, the director shouted "Cut," and the take was done in one go.

The two were seen emerging from the brocade quilt; Huang Huang Xiaoming was bare-chested, and Zhou Xun wore a tube top, which was not considered revealing.

"Lin Dao, you as chief producer are unqualified; you only came on the third day of filming."

Zhou Xun took the coat handed to her by the assistant, put it on while complaining.

"You know I'm a producer? If you're a producer, don't you have to fish for a day and dry the net for half a month?"

Hearing this, everyone instantly burst into laughter; no one had ever seen someone so bluntly admit to being lazy.

At noon, Lin Nan had a meal with most of the main cast.

He saw the actress playing the role of Princess Jing in her youth.

Sitting next to Ceng Li, she stood out distinctly among the adults.

"Lin Dao, don't look at her young age; she has already acted in two television dramas and one movie."

Huang Huang Xiaoming introduced her with a sentence.

Lin Nan nodded; the main cast was chosen by him, while the rest were people Wu Wu Ershan found.

The young girl was quite poised and generous.

"Hello Lin Dao, my name is Guan Guan Xiaotong, I am 13 years old, and I acted in 'The Promise'..."

Upon hearing the name 'The Promise' spoken, Lin Nan couldn't help but smile, and everyone around him also showed smiles.

Although it was a terrible film, for newcomers, especially child stars, Chen Chen Kaige's films were a glamorous resume.

Lin Nan muttered the name, nodded, and said nothing more.

When work resumed in the afternoon, Lin Nan chatted with the actors waiting for their cues; after all, he only planned to stay for one day and would return to the capital early the next morning.

After all, he had promised Miss Liu that he'd go pick her up at the airport.

In "Painted Skin 2," Zhu Zhu Yawen and Yang Mi play a couple, with quite a few scenes opposite each other.

Yang Mi's scenes were moved up, so Zhu Zhu Yawen's scenes had to be moved up accordingly.

"Honestly, I should thank her — otherwise my scenes couldn't have been moved up either."

Zhu Zhu Yawen laughed, looking a bit lecherous.

Lin Nan knew what this guy meant — Zhu Zhu Yawen seemed to have gotten a girlfriend, and was probably thinking of wrapping up early so he could head back sooner.

"I'll have Director Director Wu Wu Ershan save you one scene, to be filmed on the final wrap day."

"Don't you dare pull any shady crap on me!"

Zhu Zhu Yawen cursed and grumbled, genuinely afraid Lin Nan would actually do it.

When it came time to film Zhu Zhu Yawen and Yang Mi's scenes together, Huang Huang Xiaoming came trotting over to the rest area with a big grin.

"Lin Dao, someone's here to visit my set — let me introduce them to you?"

Lin Nan nodded instinctively.

In less than two minutes, the "Leader" had brought the person over.

Another good one.

Luckily "Painted Skin 2" hadn't opened to media set visits, and there weren't many other crews nearby — otherwise Huang Huang Xiaoming would absolutely have been forced to go public.

"Hello, Lin Dao, my name is Yang Ying…"

Lin Nan figured he was doing it for Huang Huang Xiaoming's sake, so he made small talk for a couple of minutes.

It was obvious Huang Huang Xiaoming really did like this person — he kept trying to find topics to chat about from start to finish.

Ten-odd minutes later, the person left. Lin Nan looked at Huang Huang Xiaoming's face, still wearing that kind of smile, and didn't know what to say.

"'Painted Skin 2' filming is pretty busy too — don't disrupt the crew's normal work."

"Lin Dao, what do you mean by that?"

The "Leader" was momentarily dumbfounded, not catching what Lin Nan meant. By the time it registered, the latter had already walked off into the distance.

The media had quite a few news pieces about the "Painted Skin 2" crew, thanks to Lin Nan's set visit this time.

Early the next morning, Lin Nan took his people and left the crew, heading back to the capital.

…………

"Avatar" had gotten things off to a great start, giving the domestic film and television industry a serious jolt.

For the past few months, every piece of domestic film and TV news was either about making a 3D movie or a 3D TV show — three sentences couldn't pass without mentioning 3D.

Even Teacher Six popped up, saying the 3D TV drama "Journey to the West and Wu Cheng'en" was currently in production…

Lin Nan was a bit wistful — this guy had really locked horns with Journey to the West.

On another front, the promotion for "Lost on Journey" was proceeding methodically.

Just as Lin Nan had anticipated, Xu Zheng was putting a hundred percent of his energy into it — the media was full of reports on "Lost on Journey."

Wanda, as an old friend, had also given them a heads-up in advance.

For Lin Nan Pictures' recent batch of films, they would give some preferential screening arrangements.

…………

Liu Liu Yifei had really timed her return to the country down to the minute — three days meant three days, no rest in between.

"How did the shoot go?"

"Very smoothly." Miss Liu smiled and nodded.

"Your employee really is quite enthusiastic — he followed along the entire time during filming."

That Liu Liu Xiaoli could actually bring herself to say this genuinely surprised Lin Nan.

He figured that guy Tom had definitely played the lapdog, acting even more sycophantic than he did in front of Lin Nan himself.

Liu Liu Yifei hesitated, her brows knit, and said, "Even though we've already filmed the promo and everything, thinking about it, I'm still a bit worried — what if it flops?"

After all, it was a 26-million-dollar budget — Miss Liu knew the stakes, so worrying was perfectly normal.

Liu Liu Xiaoli, sitting in the back seat, heard this and her expression grew serious too.

Lin Nan glanced at Liu Liu Yifei in the passenger seat. "Don't worry. When the time comes, I'll get people to help shout it from the rooftops."

"Who?"

"Leonardo, Ma Te Damon, and Director Nolan — these are all connections, you know."

The moment Lin Nan finished speaking, everyone in the car visibly relaxed.

"Especially that guy Ma Te — I helped him snag the Best Actor award at Venice. He's got to help us promote 'Lucy' properly, right?"

"Haha, that's right."

That was Lin Nan's plan for the Hollywood side — favors are meant to be used.

The domestic side would be even easier.

The screenwriter was Lin Nan, the lead was Liu Liu Yifei — hold a press conference or a premiere, and there'd be no shortage of people willing to show up and show support…

So far, no sci-fi action blockbuster or commercial film like "Lucy" had appeared domestically.

Lin Nan was counting on this film to thoroughly cement Liu Liu Yifei's foundation.

…………

I am a sinner, I repent!

Still only five thousand words today — my time really has been a bit tight lately…