Chapter 277: Regret of *The Thieves*, Starting Promotion

"Lin Dao, congratulations."

Domestic news had already spread back to Cannes.

Quite a few people greeted Lin Nan with jokes and congratulations, all talking about the big copyright sale of *Passengers*.

"Thank you. Is it Chinese style again this time?"

Lin Nan was indeed in a good mood and chatted a bit more with Fan Bingbing.

"Not bad. This time it's an embroidered gown in the enamel style. The patterns include: *The Concubine Gets Drunk*, *Diaochan Worships the Moon*, *Xi Shi Washes Silk*, and *Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier*. The hairstyle is the hanging bun of a lady from the Tang Dynasty..."

To be honest, Lin Nan quite admired Fan Bingbing. In terms of promoting Chinese culture, she had indeed done quite a few things, and every time she could attract the attention and heated discussion of foreign media.

Originally, Lin Nan was just asking casually, but who knew Fan Bingbing would say so much, and actually tell him about the gown she was going to wear on the closing ceremony red carpet, as well as her attire.

"Then I wish you to become the focus on the red carpet."

"I'll take your kind words..."

Actors and stars wouldn't leave Cannes until the awards ceremony ended. Especially these actresses; the red carpet was their battlefield against each other.

Lin Nan was different; he had already booked his flight back to the country.

Quite a few directors and film crews also chose not to stay too long after completing their copyright transactions.

The night before the awards ceremony, Lin Nan boarded the plane back to the country.

It was estimated that when he landed at the Capital Airport, the Cannes closing ceremony red carpet should be about to start.

Jiang Xuerou would return two days later; she still had some minor details regarding the copyright transaction to handle.

Traveling with Jiang Wen was something Lin Nan hadn't expected.

There were no outsiders in first class, and Jiang Wen was pulling Lin Nan to talk about the new script he had just written not long ago, his emotions excited.

Lin Nan raised his left hand and looked at the wristwatch that Miss Liu had personally picked out for him when he came to Cannes.

"I say, Director Jiang, how about we rest for a while? I want to get over my jet lag."

As soon as the words fell, Jiang Wen and Ma Ke on the side were stunned. The former had an annoyed look:

"Damn, is my script not exciting enough? To make you listen until you get sleepy?"

Lin Nan yawned. "It's mainly because there's a pile of things to do after going back..."

"Sleep in a while; we have to fly for ten hours, there's plenty of time."

Jiang Wen pulled Lin Nan and continued to talk about his *Gone with the Bullets*, asking for evaluations from time to time.

To be honest, Lin Nan was just looking for an excuse because he didn't want to listen anymore. In his view, *Let the Bullets Fly* was too successful, and Director Jiang had started to let himself go again.

The few suggestions Lin Nan gave out of kindness were all forcibly rounded off by Jiang Wen; how could he evaluate that? It was hypnotic the whole way!

More than half an hour later, Jiang Wen finished speaking with great excitement.

"How is it? This time I'm prepared to benchmark against Hollywood big productions, directly using 3D and IMAX..."

"Haha, Lin Dao has been asleep for a while." Ma Ke couldn't help but laugh.

Only then did Jiang Wen turn his head and look at Lin Nan next to him.

"Hey! This guy, really has no luck."

"Old Ma, after going back, we can send the script for censorship, and then the project initiation, budget, and preparation matters will depend on you. I have to master 3D shooting first..."

"Okay, no problem."

…………

Waking up from sleep, it was almost time to land...

Pulling his suitcase, before even leaving the airport, he could see the dazzling sunlight outside.

At this time, there were already sharp-eyed reporters who had raised their cameras across the barriers.

Lin Nan, Jiang Wen, and others walked quickly toward the outside.

The billboards on both sides attracted Lin Nan's attention; they were the promotional posters for *The Four*.

"Moving quite fast, huh?"

Thinking carefully, it was true; there was only a month left before the release, so promotion should be started.

Lin Nan intentionally fell behind a few steps, only to see Jiang Wen and Ma Ke, who had just left the airport, being surrounded by a large wave of reporters.

"Director Jiang, when will the casting for your *Gone with the Bullets* start? Will there be open auditions?"

"It's still early; I haven't considered that far yet. By the way, Lin Nan is behind, you guys go find him."

Lin Nan, who was preparing to leave the airport and slip away quickly, was instantly stared at by a large amount of attention. He was one move behind; Jiang Wen was ruthless enough!

"Lin Dao, what is the copyright revenue of *Bad Genius*? Compared to *Passengers*, is it more or less..."

"Director Wang Xiaoshuai is dissatisfied with the low screening rate of his *11 Flowers* and angrily scolded the theater chains for giving all the screenings to 'Hollywood Godfathers'. What do the two directors think about this?"

……

"The copyright sold quite well; it will be announced later. I haven't heard about the rest; it's inconvenient to comment, everyone please make way..."

Lin Nan had already seen Liu Yifei's new car from afar. After getting rid of the blockade, he walked quickly toward it.

Youth is an advantage; looking at Jiang Wen, he shouldn't be able to shake off that group of media reporters for a while.

"Hurry, hurry."

Putting away the suitcase and sitting in the passenger seat, Lin Nan said to Miss Liu, who was wearing big sunglasses.

"Alright, fasten your seatbelt, let's go home."

……

On the way, Lin Nan heard Liu Yifei talk about the film market over the past week or so.

He finally understood why the reporters asked so many extreme questions just now.

The box office of *The Avengers* had exceeded 500 million and hadn't been taken off the screens yet; *Men in Black 3* had followed up, also with a box office of 50 or 60 million every day.

"The box office of *Guns and Roses* is 186 million, and the total box office of *Pi Fu* is 27.4 million; both have been taken off the screens."

"*Design of Death* was taken off the screens by the theater chains ahead of schedule, with a total box office of only a little over 10 million."

"By the way, Brother Xiaoming also wrote an open letter. Reflecting on the reality of the box office failure of *Pi Fu*, he said: although the box office failed, he would not regret it, would not give up investing in films, and would continue..."

……

Lin Nan nodded; this was indeed Huang Xiaoming's personality.

In short, except for *Guns and Roses*, other domestic films all ended up as cannon fodder.

Wang Xiaoshuai's *11 Flowers* was invested and made by himself, and he had already changed the release date once.

This time it was only released for a week before being abandoned by the theater chains, with a box office of 3 million; a bloody loss! That's why he scolded publicly.

Liu Yifei held the steering wheel with both hands, looking like an old driver. When waiting for the red light, she looked at Lin Nan expectantly.

"Hurry up and say, how much did our *Bad Genius* sell for? Many people came to ask me, and you didn't tell me on the phone before."

"83.65 million, USD."

Lin Nan held Miss Liu's face and kissed her red lips. After more than ten seconds, they separated; it was quite sweet.

"Ah! That much?!"

Liu Yifei had an expression of disbelief; this was more than double that of *The Fault in Our Stars*.

"After this film is released, your status and salary will definitely rise again, whether domestically or abroad."

Lin Nan said confidently; he had great confidence in the box office of *Bad Genius*.

On the other hand, it was also because those European and American distributors were unanimously optimistic about *Bad Genius*.

"Mm, then I'll wait."

Liu Yifei nodded gently, her breath like an orchid. Then she stepped on the gas, giving Lin Nan a big fright.

…………

"Lin Dao Nan traveled with Director Jiang Wen, arriving at Capital Airport at noon."

"The copyright transaction amount for *Bad Genius* is unknown; Lin Dao revealed: not bad."

"*Gone with the Bullets* has no casting plans in the short term..."

"Ms. Chen Hong announced that *Caught in the Web* sold well in Cannes for 13.8 million USD, and has already earned a profit of 100%!"

"The summer vacation domestic film promotion curtain has been raised."

…………

After Lin Nan talked to China Film Group and several other companies on the phone, the matter of *Passengers* copyright came to an end.

"How are the ads accompanying *Bad Genius*?"

"Lin Dao, the contracts for the three ads have already been signed, totaling 86 million, and the short films have also been brought over."

"Okay. Go notify them; promotion can start. Also, contact Zhu Yawen and the others, set aside time, and prepare to run promotion."

"Okay, I'll go immediately."

It had been a long time since Lin Nan started film promotion two months in advance; for the recent few films, they all started one month in advance, because his influence was already enough.

But for this *Bad Genius*, Lin Nan hoped it could make up for the regret of *The Thieves* back then.

So it was necessary to start promotion in advance, and he would lead the team personally.

"The 1 billion threshold?"

"1 billion!"

…………

The Cannes awards ceremony ended.

Unsurprisingly, on the red carpet, besides the imposing Gong Li, the one with the highest topic degree was still Fan Bingbing, steadily suppressing Zhang Ziyi, Li Bingbing, and others.

However, the struggle between actresses was not just on the surface.

As soon as the closing ceremony red carpet ended, a large number of netizens and some media in the country were accusing Fan Bingbing: walking the Cannes red carpet with a Japanese geisha hairstyle was simply losing face for the Chinese people.

Some actors were also liking the critical remarks; this move had a very clear meaning: stepping on Fan Bingbing.

How to put it? Being uncultured is indeed quite funny, and it's easy to make a joke.

In terms of hype and control of public opinion, Fan Bingbing's promotion director Yang Tianzhen was indeed quite capable.

She directly tagged several official history museums, "Please, experts, explain Bingbing's hairstyle and headwear to everyone."

The result was unsurprising; they were all slapped in the face. This was a proper Tang Dynasty hairstyle, their own stuff, not Japanese!

Fan Bingbing's Weibo was very domineering; the big stars tearing each other apart was just good to watch:

"We are all peers, anything can be done openly. I won't laugh at you for being ugly or flat on the red carpet, but don't be so ignorant, even the people in your own team are unlearned. How can you say you've acted in films with those types of roles..."

After this Weibo post came out, those who didn't understand also understood.

The film everyone thought of first wasn't *Memoirs of a Geisha*?

Plus "flat" and "ugly", good guy, the person Fan Bingbing was implying was instantly locked in.

…………

The first batch of *Bad Genius* posters spread rapidly on the internet and paved all major theater chains.

On the poster, the background was a classroom.

Liu Yifei was wearing a school uniform, slightly lifting her chin, her appearance delicate and exquisite, looking straight ahead, cold and wise.

The other three were half a step behind, each with their own expressions.

Zhu Yawen was frowning, his face serious; Luo Jin was dressed luxuriously, with a smile on his face;

Shu Chang was smiling like a silly sweet, grabbing one of Liu Yifei's sleeves, looking like a follower...

Below was a line of small print: A film by Lin Dao Nan, Producer Liu Yifei...

……

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 278 =====