Chapter 437: Nomination Time Is Coming

In the entertainment circle, no one had expected this.

On the morning of the thirtieth, Xiao Ma Ben Teng, which had just announced to the public the failure of its IPO and the failure of the gambling agreement, ran into another major disaster less than three days later.

In the early hours of the 2nd, the chairman of Xiao Ma suffered a heart attack. The resuscitation failed, and he was gone.

A top-tier film and television company in the industry had this string of rotten luck one after another.

Going forward, don't even mention being able to withstand the pressure of massive debt and continue to seek an IPO listing.

Because what Xiao Ma will face next may well be a situation where the tree falls and the monkeys scatter, or even bankruptcy liquidation.

The foreign debt from losing the gambling agreement, plus the possibility that other investment institutions, seeing the situation turn bad, want to pull out...

All of this added up is a funding hole of over a billion yuan, enough to completely crush, even kill, this "horse."

Even if these investors don't put pressure on Xiao Ma, don't press for debt, don't exit, and let it keep operating.

To recover its vitality and get back on track, who knows how long that would take. Let alone for Xiao Ma Ben Teng, which has lost its backbone and is already a scattered mess.

Lin Nan hurriedly got dressed, whispered against Liu Liu Yifei's rosy cheeks that he had something to do and had to go out, then left amid her nasal humming sounds.

Wang Wang Zhonglei, Wang Wang Changtian, Yu Dong, Qin Hong, Zhang Zhao...

Companies in the circle, whether they had been enemies or friends in the past, were all posting on Weibo to express condolences.

Many filmmakers, producers, and actors who had been mentored by Xiao Ma or had worked with them were doing the same.

When he arrived at the company, Yue Jun had already posted on Weibo on behalf of Lin Nan Pictures.

"It's a cold world, really. I heard from the grapevine that several of Xiao Ma's projects, including the film and television projects about to start filming, have been targeted."

Hearing Yue Jun say this, even Lin Nan sucked in a breath of cold air. "Ruthless enough!"

"But this is unavoidable. The most important point is that now no one is at all optimistic about Xiao Ma's future, because it's a family business.

And Zhong Zhong Lifang, who holds the real power, is an outsider. All along, it was Li Ming who firmly supported and trusted her, but now that he's gone..."

Yue Jun's words made a lot of sense. Fortunately, after "The Golden Age," Lin Nan Pictures had no more entanglements with that side.

"Whether they have internal strife or not has nothing to do with us. Has the annual meeting been set?"

Lin Nan shook his head and began to concern himself with his own company's affairs.

Mentioning this matter, Yue Jun laughed.

"Hahaha, this group's request, in their own words, is always so simple and plain."

"A girl group again?" Lin Nan asked with a smile.

Yue Jun nodded, then paused:

"Our company's annual meeting is already famous in the circle and online. This year, since family members can be brought, they want a boy group too."

"A boy group? That was requested by their family members and girlfriends, right?" Lin Nan laughed in exasperation.

"Probably, and they specifically asked for EXO." Yue Jun spread his hands.

"They're out of their minds. Veto it. Looking at those makeup and styling jobs, I'm afraid I'll get goosebumps."

Lin Nan thought again of that time when Huayi set up a stage and invited big names in the circle to watch South Korean girl group and boy group performances.

To be honest, he couldn't accept the makeup and styling of those South Korean boy groups. It really hurts the eyes.

If you dragged someone like Wu Jing, a rough man, over there, he'd probably feel uncomfortable all over and want to hit someone.

"Boy group vetoed, girl group stays?" Yue Jun asked again to confirm.

"Right." Lin Nan nodded.

"Alright, I'll notify everyone this afternoon and have someone reach out to the South Korean side."

…………

In the blink of an eye, the New Year's Day holiday was over.

By this time, "Personal Tailor" had been in theaters for 16 days.

This film had ridden the peak of the New Year's Day holiday to push its box office past 600 million in one go, closing at 645 million.

The 700-million mark was right ahead, and the daily box office was still six or seven million. Anyone in the circle could see that the probability of crossing the 700-million threshold was not small!

In this winter holiday season plus New Year's, the unluckiest was probably the Sino-British co-production "Prehistoric Monsters," in which China Film had invested 12 million US dollars.

In the three days of New Year's, it only took in a little over nine million at the box office. How do you play that?

Even if Laozi himself came, he couldn't change its blood-losing ending.

The promotion for "The Taking of Mount Mount Weihu" kicked off again.

A new trailer clip appeared in the media and online — a short segment from Zhang Zhang Hanyu's lines in Weihutang.

"A cloud from the northwest Profound Heaven, a crow fallen into a flock of phoenixes;

The house is full of heroes — who is lord, who is minister?"

……

The promotional effect was excellent. Views, likes, and comments were skyrocketing every second.

The main creative team came out from the movie channel. Those with things to do left first; those free had a simple meal together.

In reality, it was just Lin Nan, Han Han Sanping, Han Jianv, and Guo Fan — four people. Liu Liu Yifei had a fashion magazine shoot, so she was absent.

Zhang Zhang Hanyu, Huang Huang Xiaoming, Fan Li Bingbing, Luo Jin, and others all had schedules too.

It had been many days since they'd seen Han Han Sanping, and today he was quite talkative.

"I still hold the position of consultant at the Bureau and China Film. Yesterday, Beside La La Peikang told me he wants to buy out Xiao Ma's investment share in 'The Crossing' at a price. What do you think?"

At the dinner table, Han Han Sanping asked a sharp question. Han Jianv and Guo Fan both looked over.

Lin Nan nearly choked on his food. Is the seat of China Film's chairman cursed or something?

"Director Han, do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

"Nonsense, of course the truth."

Lin Nan took a sip of juice and composed himself.

"How about you let Director La handle it—go ask Huayi and LeTV if they're willing to take over, and have them buy out China Film's share. We're not looking to profit, just break even."

Lin Nan spoke with complete sincerity. Han Jianü and Guo Fan were both a bit dumbfounded, but Han Han Sanping only furrowed his brow and said nothing.

"You really don't have any faith in this film project I'm investing in?"

"Sigh, even if you asked me a hundred more times, my answer would still be the same—I've never been optimistic about it. The lesson of *Red Cliff* was right there in front of us, and yet you still threw yourself headlong onto the ship that is *The Crossing*.

The former got lucky—Japan picked up the slack, so China Film didn't lose money. But *The Crossing*—how could it possibly compare to *Titanic*…"

There was one more thing Lin Nan didn't say out loud: "Is John Woo really comparing himself to Cameron? Or are Little Zhang Zhang Ziyi and Jin Jin Chengwu supposed to go toe-to-toe with Leo and Kate Winslet?"

Lin Nan's answer left all three people present somewhat stunned. Both Guo Fan and Han Jianü were hearing Lin Nan speak with such weight for the very first time.

Han Han Sanping seemed to lose all his energy in an instant. He let out a sigh:

"Selling it is out of the question. China Film's rules don't allow it either—whether we sell high, sell low, or break even, there'd always be the suspicion of asset stripping. We can only forget about going after Xiao Ma's side…"

"Oh-ho," those were the only two words in Lin Nan's mind.

…………

January gave the film and television circle a feeling that time was passing fast—perhaps because of the overwhelming flood of film promotions and entertainment gossip.

*The Taking of Mount Mount Weihu*, *Journey to the West: Monkey King*, *From Vegas to Macau*, *Frozen*, *Ex-Files*, *A Chinese Fairy Tale*…

Several films, all hot tickets for the Spring Festival slot, and none of them were promoted poorly.

But what the film circle was paying the most attention to was still the upcoming announcement of the nomination lists for the Berlin International Film Festival and the Academy Awards.

Ning Hao, Lou Ye, Lin Nan, Feng Feng Xiaogang… several renowned major directors!

To tell the truth, Lin Nan himself was a bit nervous too.

Just think—New Year's Day afternoon he was still mocking Ning Hao, and now here he was, having to mock himself.

"The nomination time is about to arrive."

……

(End of Chapter)