Chapter 339: The Battle of the Spring Festival Slate—I Am Shen Teng

After "Lost in Thailand," "Journey to the West: Jiang Mo Pian" once again ignited the Spring Festival slate.

76.85 million on opening day, 83.4 million the next day.

With a runaway lead, the entire film circle once again experienced Zhou Zhou Xingchi's box-office pulling power—unsolvable!

Huayi also struck while the iron was hot, promoting the film with plenty of new press releases:

"Surpass 'Lost in Thailand,' go straight for 'Bad Genius,' create a new record for Chinese-language film box office!"

Producers, distributors, theater chains—across every trade in the industry, many filmmakers and media outlets were waiting with bated breath.

Because the slogan and target Huayi had put out this time really had a high chance of being achieved—it all depended on whether the box-office trend in the days ahead could stay steady.

But they overlooked one key point: this was a Spring Festival slate of dragons fighting and tigers clashing. Lin Nan Pictures' "Finding Mr. Right," was also eyeing it hungrily, waiting.

……

Teacher Liu was always the first on the front line of the "anti-Zhou Zhou Xingchi" camp, with a large group of loyal fans of the original novel and supporters behind him.

But no matter how he stirred things up online and in front of the media, how he cursed, how he agonized.

Huayi and Zhou Zhou Xingchi's side, anyway, took a completely dismissive attitude. They treated it like watching a monkey show—and it could only add plenty of talking points for the film.

At this time, Huang Bo and Lin Chi-ling's "The 101st Proposal," and Donnie Yen, Yang Ying, Chen Chen Yanxi, Ke Moumou's "Together," also premiered on the same day.

As for "Finding Mr. Right" and "My Lucky Star 2," their release still had to wait two more days—until the fifth day of the New Year, Valentine's Day itself.

On the morning of the third day of the New Year, Lin Nan drove to the set of "New Police Story 2013." All the key creative personnel were there.

For the entertainment circle, especially for actors above the third tier, there is no such thing as a Spring Festival holiday.

After all, everyone here is a high-income group. Once filming wraps, they can rest whenever they want, for as long as they want.

To be honest, Lin Nan was a bit disgusted by those actors, stars, and entertainers who constantly post on Weibo about being tired, saying it's hard, playing pitiful, complaining that the entertainment industry isn't easy—all to court media attention and fans' concern.

What are you putting on? If you find it tiring and fear hardship, you can switch to an easier job, can't you? Why not switch? Yet you keep clinging to the entertainment circle, wishing all the resources would come to you.

That kind of behavior is just cheap.

Fortunately, the industry's actors who know their place and never play to the gallery make up the vast majority.

"Welcome, Lin Dao, to the film's wrap ceremony."

There were quite a lot of people in the hotel. Besides the crew, there were also many industry guests and a large number of media reporters. Of course, the few officials who came to show support were both low-key and conspicuous, not taking part in the socializing.

"Happy New Year, everyone. Congratulations on the successful wrap."

Lin Nan, smiling, walked into the crowd and first shared a hug with Jackie Chan.

"Lin Dao, at the wrap banquet later, we'll have to drink a few extra cups."

"Then I'll probably need to get someone to be my designated driver and take me home." Lin Nan smiled.

"Big Brother Lin Nan, Happy New Year." Miss Jing Tian greeted him with a smile.

"'Village Evening Gala,' you've made progress."

"Thank you for the compliment, Big Brother Lin." Hearing this, Miss Jing Tian's smile broadened a bit.

For this film, Lin Nan invested thirty million—not a small amount.

And looking at the situation now, when it releases, even if the higher-ups don't arrange group screenings, they will definitely give support in terms of promotion.

Leave the word-of-mouth aside for now—the box office absolutely won't be low. Because promotion and screening schedules don't need to be worried about at all!

News of the "New Police Story 2013" wrap banquet, along with a group photo of Lin Nan and others, quickly appeared in film news outlets, drawing plenty of attention.

…………

Online reviews came out. The romance film starring Donnie Yen, Yang Ying, Chen Chen Yanxi and others was simply rotten beyond measure, impossible to replicate.

"Selling dog meat under the label of mutton! Everyone talks about melodramatic plots, melodramatic plots, but using 'melodramatic plot' to describe this film is an insult to melodrama—because it doesn't have a plot at all…"

"Donnie Yen, an old cucumber painted green—absolutely disgusting."

"An action star whose acting was never good to begin with, insists on coming to act in a romance film and show off his acting? Painfully awkward, no different from Yang Ying…"

……

Unlike Huang Bo's other film, "The 101st Proposal," which opened with 20.63 million.

The first-day box office of Donnie Yen's "Together"—the media didn't even give a specific figure, only reporting it in vague terms:

"The film 'Together,' starring Donnie Yen, Yang Ying, Chen Chen Yanxi and others, opened with a first-day box office of less than 100,000…"

What kind of earth-shattering result is this?

You have to know this film had an investment cost of fifty million. A first-day box office of less than 100,000 isn't even enough to cover a fraction of Donnie Yen's pay.

Especially when the film ended and a special thanks to Guo Guo Jingming appeared in the end credits—this made the very few audience members who actually watched the film feel even more ridiculous and disgusted.

Time flew by, and it was Valentine's Day.

"Finding Mr. Right" and "My Lucky Star 2," starring Little Zhang Zhang Ziyi, also officially joined the battle of the Spring Festival slate.

The most excited, needless to say, were the film fans and audiences—because there were more choices to make.

Xue Xue Xiaolu, Yang Mi, Yu Yu Hewei and other key creatives were all posting on Weibo, stirring up the audience's enthusiasm.

Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei did the same, posting on Weibo and running ads.

……

In the morning, Xue Xue Xiaolu specifically called Lin Nan. First, to wish him a Happy New Year; second, to talk about the film.

"To be honest, when I was writing this script, I had some ideas. If this one does well, in the future I'd like to do a second one and make it into a series."

"Once tomorrow's opening-day box office comes out, we'll have a rough idea in our hearts. Still, I have great faith in Sister Xue's ability."

"Hahaha, then I'll borrow your good words, big director. If the box office really does well, you'll have to prepare the shooting funds for my sequel in advance…"

"You're too kind, Sister Xue. I'd be more than happy to." Lin Nan replied with a smile.

Xue Xue Xiaolu is different from Xu Zheng. On "Finding Mr. Right," she didn't just take the director's fee—she also got two points of the distributable box office.

After all, she took on several roles at once—director, screenwriter, editor and more—and was qualified for that kind of treatment.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Nan suddenly thought of something.

"The ratio of Guo Fan to Director Lu Yang needs to be adjusted appropriately too. Mm, let's do it after Spring Festival when we're back at work."

……

A few days ago, *The Grandmaster* wrapped up its mainland theatrical run smoothly, with a total box office of 290 million.

In the past, Hong Kong films would mostly hold two celebration banquets in succession — one on the mainland, one in Hong Kong — that was the convention.

But this time, Wong Kar-wai didn't do it that way.

*The Grandmaster* didn't hold a celebration banquet on the mainland; instead, he flew straight back to Hong Kong, threw a lavish banquet there, and barely invited any mainland peers at all.

This behavior, this attitude, made quite a few people in the mainland film and television circle feel a bit put off — wanting to curse up a storm.

……

"It's Valentine's Day — want to go out and take a stroll?"

Near noon, Lin Nan responded to Liu Liu Yifei's hint and spoke up first.

All morning, she had been making eyes at Lin Nan goodness knows how many times; it looked like she was about to blow.

"Where to?"

Sure enough, Miss Liu answered at once, her expression bright and eager.

"Skip the movies — let's go see a stage play instead. After that we'll go have a big meal, the kind without candlelight." Lin Nan said teasingly.

"Mm, sure, whatever you say."

Liu Liu Yifei nodded with a grin.

As she spoke, she was about to run back to change clothes, while Lin Nan got up to head to the garage.

Before Spring Festival, the company had received some Happy Happy Mahua tickets — perfect for today, no waste.

Half an hour later, a bare-faced Liu Liu Yifei got into Lin Nan's car.

"Mom, Lin Nan and I are eating out—"

…………

Five days, box office of 403 million — that was the record of *Journey to the West: Jiang Mo Pian*.

Not a single production company in the industry wasn't envious; every one of them was green with envy.

Zhou Zhou Xingchi's magic was right here — always a box-office guarantee. Lead actor Wen Zhang was truly about to soar to the skies.

And the opening-day result of *Finding Mr. Right in Seattle* also drew sighs of admiration from a slew of companies in the industry.

"Director Xue Xue Xiaolu strikes again. After *Love Is Not Blind*, her new work *Finding Mr. Right in Seattle* took 29.85 million on opening day — Yang Mi and Yu Yu Hewei perform a story of love and redemption…"

"Starring Little Zhang Zhang Ziyi, Wang Lihong, and Zheng Kai, *My Lucky Star 2* reported 8.99 million on opening day — the box office isn't ideal…"

……

The Spring Festival slate of films could be considered fully released.

*Journey to the West: Jiang Mo Pian* was the strongest, *Finding Mr. Right in Seattle* next, then *The 101st Proposal*… *Village Evening Gala* — and the absolute worst was *Together*!

But in terms of being the most eye-catching, it was still *Finding Mr. Right in Seattle*.

Because this film's production cost was the lowest among these pictures — only thirty million!

"Deng Deng Jiajia, 29.85 million — 29.85 million!"

Yang Mi shouted excitedly in her own makeup room, drawing the attention of the crew staff in the next room.

"Yes, 29.85 million. Mimi, the film's word of mouth is very good — the daily box office will keep climbing. We made money!"

"Even if we count just thirty million for opening day, even with the fierce Spring Festival competition, it has a very real chance of breaking 500 million!"

At this point, Ceng Jia looked at Yang Mi even more excitedly and said with certainty:

"Mimi, this film will be your signature work…"

"Signature work? Right — a signature work!"

Yang Mi's eyes were shining as she murmured those words. At this moment, she was truly overjoyed.

But the next moment, the thought of Watching Shu Chang winning Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Horse struck Yang Mi, and she felt a bit conflicted again.

"If back then… sigh, no use in ifs."

Yang Mi quickly shook off the unrealistic thoughts in her head, leaving only the happy thing right in front of her.

*Finding Mr. Right in Seattle*'s box office had a very real chance of hitting 500 million. And it was her starring vehicle!

……

Comedy-style stage plays attracted audiences more than those serious spoken dramas.

The day after Valentine's Day, Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei had nothing to do anyway, so they went to see another one — this time a different show, with different actors too.

"We still have to thank Lin Dao for originally licensing *Crazy Stone* to us, giving us one more very high-quality performance piece."

Yan Fei said this with a chuckle — the man before him was the country's top film director and the boss of a film and television company.

"You're welcome. *Crazy Stone* having one more way to be performed is a good thing, isn't it."

After the show ended, Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei were even invited backstage.

At the end of '04, Happy Happy Mahua had approached Lin Nan to buy the rights to *Stone*, wanting to adapt it into a stage play. He had agreed at a low price back then, just to make a friend. Over the years, they hadn't really been in touch.

"Here, let me introduce tonight's performers to Lin Dao — Ma Li, Shen Teng."

"Hello Lin Dao, hello Producer Liu — I'm the actor Shen Teng. It's an honor to meet you two."

His grinning expression was exactly the same as on stage just now.

"Hello Lin Dao, hello Producer Liu — I'm the actress Ma Li, and also Shen Teng's stage partner."

This one looked crisp and capable.

One man, one woman, stepped forward on their own and introduced themselves quite naturally.

"I know — it's all over the news. You two paired up for the Spring Festival Gala this year. Congratulations."

"You're too kind — it was all luck. But if one day Ma Li and I got the chance to be in one of your films, that would be the real stroke of fortune."

"Exactly, exactly."

Good lord, those two's mouths, playing off each other in perfect sync — what a combo!

Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei exchanged a glance, both unable to hold back their smiles.

Yan Fei was also made a little awkward by Shen Teng and Ma Li's little performance.

………

(End of chapter)