Chapter 24: October

After the Hundred Flowers Awards ceremony ended, it was the Golden Rooster Awards' turn.

If the Hundred Flowers Awards are considered a viewer-oriented film award, then the Golden Rooster Awards are the most authoritative and professional film awards in the domestic film industry.

Ni Ping is the host of the Golden Rooster Awards.

Zhang Yimou, who enjoys a prestigious international reputation, seems unworthy of mention in the eyes of this group of committee members.

For Best Feature Film and Best Director, "House of Flying Daggers" lost to "Beautiful Magic City."

Best Actor went to Liu Ye for "Beauty Grass."

Best Actress was a tie, going to Zhang Ziyi for "Jasmine Women" and the lead actress of "Beautiful Magic City."

Best Supporting Actor also came from "Beautiful Magic City," while the Best Supporting Actress award was vacant.

"With a box office of 150 million, what was the jury thinking, just giving it a Best Art Direction award?"

Even Zhu Yawen expressed doubt, and the atmosphere at the venue was very awkward.

The "House of Flying Daggers" crew was somewhat dejected; Director Zhang still gave a symbolic round of applause for the winners, while the "Cell Phone" team was completely shut out.

The heads of private film companies didn't have many smiles on their faces; they had to make commercial films to earn money, but the Golden Rooster Awards clearly favored art-house films.

"Look at the list of jury members; they are all 'artists' from the film studio era. If you calculate their average age, commercial films are nothing but heresy in their eyes..."

Lin Nan looked straight ahead, answering Zhu Yawen while clapping.

"Won't there be problems if things keep going like this?"

"There will. Commercial films will occupy the mainstream as the economy develops, eventually forcing film festivals to value commercial films, because art-house genres cannot drive industry development. Art also needs money to be nourished."

After the awards gala ended, the officials wanted to keep people for an art seminar to analyze industry development and the like, but the private film companies almost all left, and the big directors also used the excuse of being busy. Only those directors who held honorary titles at various units and the insiders remained.

Lin Nan also received an invitation, "Sorry, I have to rush back for class."

The news on the web portals was direct; the opening lines were:

"High-grossing commercial film fails at the Golden Rooster!"

"Director Feng keeps a straight face throughout the Golden Rooster."

On the train back to the capital, there were only Lin Nan and Zhu Yawen; the two women flew back.

"After I go back, I'm going to sign with a company. I had Teacher help me look over the contract for that advertisement last time."

"You've started taking ads? Not bad, how much?"

Lin Nan was shocked by Zhu Yawen's words; he actually hadn't heard about this.

"So have you decided who to sign with?" Zhang Mu asked again.

Zhu Yawen nodded, "During the film festival, I took some time to meet with Wang Jinghua from Huayi."

Zhu Yawen hadn't hidden it from anyone during those days, and Lin Nan could guess it.

"Since you've decided, then sign. You need to be clear about whether you are signing with her or with Huayi."

Lin Nan had told Zhu Yawen this several times.

"I know."

"I wish you great success."

Lin Nan said sincerely; in any case, his company really hadn't thought about signing actors. If he signed them, he would have to spend energy finding resources and dealing with all sorts of things.

He was very lazy and didn't want the pressure of managing people.

"The promotional efforts for 'Youth Regained' need to be strengthened. We have over a week left after we get back, and we have to work non-stop. Enlight Pictures has arranged many interviews, and Senior Sister Yan and Shu Chang will also come to join the promotion. Be prepared."

Lin Nan reminded Zhu Yawen not to let the signing get in the way of business.

On the 21st, Lin Nan returned to school, said hello, and left again.

He took Zhu Yawen, Yan Danchen, and Shu Chang, a few young people, to start meeting reporters one by one and entering studios.

Enlight has very rich resources in this regard; Wang Changtian started out in this field.

"Director Lin, how did you think of writing this script in the first place?"

"Hmm, just random thoughts. You know, sometimes when people can't sleep, they like to think about this and that, and that's how the idea came about. Who doesn't want to return to their youth?"

Every day, opening his eyes to reporters and closing them to microphones, Lin Nan needed to fabricate countless stories to satisfy all kinds of questions.

On the other side, also in the midst of a heated promotion, "Kekexili" focused on humanity, law, and life.

Huayi's promotion was no less than Lin Nan's, and because of the nature of the film, it even received support from many official media outlets. Lin Nan had no complaints about this; the film deserved it.

The "Return of the Condor Heroes," which Zhang the Bearded had been marketing for half a year, was finally about to start filming.

Actor Huang Xiaoming played Yang Guo, and Liu Yifei played Little Dragon Maiden after Wang Yuyan. The latter was completely benchmarked against the Hong Kong actor Li Ruotong, and for a time, the topic was extremely popular.

"The crew is about to start filming, don't forget about visiting the set."

Lin Nan hunched over and walked away. Yan Danchen was being interviewed; she was the lead actress of "Youth Regained," and this film was a female-led movie.

"I won't forget. How about I visit your set at the end of October?"

Lin Nan said in a low voice, running to the backstage area.

"Why does your voice sound strange? Are you in class? Shouldn't you be doing promotions?"

"I'm in the studio, just ran to the backstage. Senior Sister Danchen is being interviewed." Lin Nan raised his voice a little.

"Alright, I wish you a huge box office success. If you're lying to me again, I won't let you off. Hanging up now."

"I won't, I won't." Lin Nan laughed and put his phone in his pocket.

"What is Director Lin laughing at, so happy?"

Yan Danchen finished the interview and just arrived backstage to see Lin Nan with a face full of smiles.

"Nothing, we can rest after today ends. Let's look at the results on October 1st."

Lin Nan had rejected the China Film Group's suggestion to hold a premiere; the investment was so small that holding a premiere wasn't very cost-effective.

On the 30th, everyone stopped promoting. Lin Nan told everyone to go about their own business. It wasn't like a few years later when you had to run around the country for box office results, and the more it was released, the more you had to run.

Including Lin Nan, "Youth Regained" had four production parties, and the promotional intensity had always been very strong. As for the results, he left it to the audience and fate.

The 30th was a Thursday. Lin Nan went to class. The teacher looked at Lin Nan a bit dazed; shouldn't he be focused on film matters at this time?

On October 1st, "Youth Regained" and "Kekexili" were released simultaneously, with other films following behind. The first two had the most sufficient promotion, while "New Police Story" had already been released for a week.

Lin Nan was alone in the dormitory; the two roommates had only lived there for two months during their freshman year.

Lin Nan always believed that if you didn't live in a university dormitory for a few years, your university life wouldn't be complete.

He sat in front of the computer, logged into Penguin, and his phone was also on the side. On the screen were web portals, with all kinds of news very complete.

The news that just refreshed showed "Youth Regained" was popular, while in contrast, "Kekexili" was really ignored.

This was inevitable. In the original timeline, there was no "Youth Regained," and in the end, "Kekexili" only got a box office of about six million.

Currently, the main competitor for "Youth Regained" was actually "New Police Story," which was released on September 24th.

Penguin was flashing, and the phone was vibrating.

Lin Nan didn't look at the phone, choosing to reply to Penguin; they were all pleasant auspicious words and well-wishes.

"Thank you, Dragon Maiden, for taking the time to contribute to my film's box office..."

"Hello, President Wang, I haven't received it yet. This will at least take until the early morning, wait a bit longer."

President Wang from Enlight called, very polite.

Logically speaking, he wouldn't be unaware of when the opening day box office would come out. Calling at four in the afternoon to talk about this, the attitude was very clear; it meant closeness.

In the entertainment news section, there were photos of cinemas taken by reporters.

Calls came in one after another, mostly from classmates he knew; they had all gone to the cinema to support Lin Nan.

"How did you come up with this plot? It's really attractive."

"Senior Sister Yan is so beautiful!"

In the 2002 Acting Class group, people were already talking about "Youth Regained."

Although Lin Nan was now a student in the Directing Department, he was still in the Acting Department's group. The Directing Department had too few people and no group, and Lin Nan usually interacted with them less.

His close friends were mainly students from the two schools.

At 11:00 PM, Lin Nan turned off his phone. He wanted a good night's sleep and to hear the box office results tomorrow; otherwise, he would have insomnia in the second half of the night.

No one knocked on the door in the morning, and Lin Nan was a little unaccustomed to it.

Hmm, Zhu Yawen seemed to have gone home; he signed with Wang Jinghua at the end of September.

He got dressed, washed his face, brushed his teeth, and finally turned on the phone solemnly.

The text message sound rang non-stop, all reminders of missed calls from the early morning.

Just as he pressed the power button on the computer, a call came in.

"Lin Nan, yesterday's box office was 9.23 million. This film is going to explode, hahaha."

The calls from China Film, Shanghai Film, and Enlight were one after another. Lin Nan heard the opening day box office three times.

"Hold it, definitely hold it. Just notify me when the time comes. How could I not be happy!"

Nine million, on the first day. Let's just treat it as ten million. Can we look forward to one hundred million then?

A seven-day long holiday, with a release period of nearly a month.

Lin Nan lay on the bed giggling, tossing and turning.

"One hundred million, one hundred million, you must reach it..."

Yan Danchen called. He could hear that she was laughing very happily. Her former classmates had already become famous, and this time it was her turn, and it was a female-led film, a big female lead.

"Senior Sister, be reserved. My neighbor can hear your laughter."

Lin Nan joked and was retorted.

On the 2nd, the 3rd, and by the 4th, the box office of "Youth Regained" had reached over 57 million.

Media reports about Lin Nan began to increase significantly.

"A young blockbuster director!"

"Serving as both screenwriter and director, he is overflowing with talent..."

The film had only been released for four days, and it could be said that the production costs had already been recouped.

After the fifth day, the box office reached 70 million; by this time, *New Police Story* was already struggling, still laboring to grow past 30 million.

*Kekexili* had a five-day box office of just over 2 million, a bottomless pit of losses, but it received unanimous praise from both the industry and audiences; yet, this could not save the box office.

With the National Day holiday over, the box office had already reached 86 million. Lin Nan knew that starting from the 8th, the box office would plummet, but he was already very satisfied; reaching 100 million was inevitable.

The box office on the 8th really did drop by 70 percent to 4 million, 3 million-plus on the 9th, 3 million on the 10th...

Starting from the 11th, the box office for *Returning to Youth* hovered around 2 million, until it finally dropped below 1 million on the 18th.

China Film brought Koreans to meet with Lin Nan, "Exporting is definitely a good thing, and I absolutely support it, but the copyright fees might need to be discussed carefully."

Regarding the issue of exporting, Lin Nan did not approve of a one-time buyout, and China Film also agreed to let the Korean company handle distribution and split the profits in the end.

As for the issue of film remake rights, it would require consultation among the several production parties; as one of the producers, as well as the screenwriter and director, Lin Nan held the largest share.