Chapter 447: The Oscars Are Near — A New Record

The Academy officially announced the awards date — March 2nd, North American time.

Lin Nan also received calls one after another from Leonardo, Jessica Chastain, and others.

Apart from thanking him as the director, they arranged to gather in Hollywood at the end of February.

"Lin, because *The Invisible Guest* has already been released in North America, the rights deal this time is only 62 million dollars."

Hearing that figure from Tang Mu, Lin Nan couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath.

An Oscar nomination really is worth money!

Even though it had already screened in North America, the world's largest film market, the other regions combined still sold for this much?

"Maybe the main cast's box-office pull had something to do with it?"

Lin Nan figured as much to himself. After all, he himself was a regular at the three major European film festivals, and Leonardo's box-office draw was nothing to sneeze at either.

After ending the call with Tang Mu, Lin Nan got in his car and drove from the company to Bad Monkey.

The script for *Brotherhood of Blades 2* had already passed review, and Director Lu Yang had posted an announcement through Lin Nan Pictures' Weibo.

He listed all the roles available for audition, began accepting audition résumés, and auditions would start in early March.

The reason he wasn't rushing the auditions was actually that he was waiting for Zhang Zhen — waiting for him to come out of the *Daoist Priest Goes Down the Mountain* crew.

Besides that, Director Lu Yang also shared a mischievous idea with Lin Nan:

"Same actor, Zhang Zhen — when we set the release date, what if I put *Brotherhood of Blades 2* on the same day as *Daoist Priest Goes Down the Mountain*? Wouldn't that be fun? And if it crushes Director Chen's *Daoist Priest Goes Down the Mountain* at the box office, even better!"

Director Lu Yang's idea was bold, but it made sense — after all, both films not only used Zhang Zhen, they were both martial-arts films.

If they really opened on the same day, the buzz would absolutely explode.

And just imagine — if Director Lu Yang really crushed Chen Chen Kaige… tsk tsk tsk, the industry would be in an uproar. Just thinking about it is thrilling!

The fact that Director Lu Yang had this idea also proved one thing: in martial-arts films, he had absolute confidence to face Chen Chen Kaige head-on.

……

When he arrived at Bad Monkey, Ning Hao still had a long face — a round long face.

"I've come to pay my respects to the Jin Xiong trophy," Lin Nan said cheerfully, teasing him.

"Picking a fight, are you?"

Before Ning Hao could react, Xing Aina glared at Lin Nan first.

Well, well — not winning the Jin Xiong had its perks too. At least the marriage was harmonious.

The fact that Xing Aina was actively defending Ning Hao meant the matter of checking the text messages on New Year's Eve had been let go.

"Sit down."

Ning Hao listlessly pointed at the sofa beside him.

"How was it? When they announced the winner, was your heart pounding like crazy?"

"Obviously — that's one of the three big European festivals.

In the end the Jin Xiong went to *Black Coal, Thin Ice*, and when I came away empty-handed my mind went completely blank. I didn't even know where I was. It took me ages to recover."

As he spoke, Ning Hao sighed;

"I don't know when the next chance to go to one of the three will come… anyway, for the next two years I'm not planning to make another awards-bait film."

"Then hurry up and finish post on *Breakup Buddies*. You're still at the bottom of the 200-million club — embarrassing," Lin Nan quipped.

"Damn you, just you wait — I'll show you what it means to stun the world…"

Between the jokes and laughter, the gloomy atmosphere vanished completely.

Suddenly, Ning Hao changed the subject:

"Your *Lost in…* series really has done a lot of damage."

"What now?"

"This Berlin trip, Xu Zheng and Huang Bo have really grown distant. On the surface they seem polite enough, but I can tell — they're strangers now.

Back when *No Man's Land* was released and we added extra promo screenings and called you out for a meal, it wasn't like this."

Hearing that, Lin Nan understood immediately. It seemed Ning Hao also knew about Xu Zheng kicking Huang Bo out of *Lost in Hong Kong*.

Refusing to let him invest was one thing, but kicking him out over a high fee! There's no way to judge that move. With the heat of the *Lost in…* series, would they really be short of that bit of investment?

"Money moves the heart. Xu Zheng is an ambitious man — he wants to be capital himself.

Don't get involved in their business. Just keep getting along with each of them the same as before."

……

When an unfamiliar number called in, Liu Liu Yifei, who was in the middle of a game, didn't hesitate — she hung up on the spot.

When it called a second time, she still declined.

But when that number called a third time, Miss Liu couldn't help wondering if some acquaintance had changed numbers. Hesitantly, she picked up.

Three calls in ten minutes — the moment the other side actually answered, Yang Mi felt a sudden timidity.

This number was one she'd gotten from Yue Jun back when she was still at Shanhai Media. She hadn't expected to actually use it today.

"Liu Yifei, it's Yang Mi…"

Hearing that voice, Liu Liu Yifei paused for a few seconds, a trace of puzzlement crossing her face.

"Mm, is something the matter?"

"You know, I was in the company's *Brotherhood of Blades* before. I wanted to ask about the second one — who's playing the female…"

Liu Liu Yifei stared at her now-grey computer screen, a little troubled. Watching Shu Chang was still typing, asking what was wrong.

"I don't interfere with casting, but I can tell you — the female lead has already been set as Changchang."

Those words sent Yang Mi on the other end of the line plummeting into an abyss. She stammered, "Then… thank you, Liu Yifei. Goodbye."

"Mm, goodbye."

The instant she hung up, Miss Liu immediately dove back into the fight.

On the other side, Ceng Jia looked at Yang Mi's ashen face and knew it was completely over, yet she couldn't help asking:

"Who got the female lead?"

"Shu Chang."

Ceng Jia opened her mouth but had nothing to say. It was almost the same as Liu Liu Yifei starring in it herself!

In terms of audience favor, Shu Chang had so many hit TV dramas that at her peak, she even overshadowed Liu Liu Yifei. She was also the Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Horse Awards, and her acting was better than Yang Mi's…

Yang Mi saw Ceng Jia's expression and knew what she was thinking.

"I have no chance. This was definitely decided by Director Lin."

"Could it be Liu Liu Yifei? They're so close, like sisters."

"Although I haven't interacted with her much, I know her. She's well-bred—she wouldn't lie or deceive, and she wouldn't even bother to. At most, she'd just ignore you…"

As Yang Mi spoke of her understanding of Liu Liu Yifei, even Ceng Jia was left speechless.

…

By mid-February, several films for the Spring Festival season were being closely covered by the media.

"The Magic of the Immortals" was forcibly pulled from theaters with a box office of 29.3 million; "Breakup Buddies" earned 89.5 million and stopped there.

"The Taking of Tiger Mountain" has been in theaters for three weeks, with total box office reaching 370 million, and daily earnings dropping to 2 million!"

"The Monkey King: Hero Is Back" earned 100 million in its third week, bringing its cumulative total to 770 million!"

The media's main focus was always on the last one:

"The Taking of Tiger Mountain, in its third week of release, earned 265 million, bringing its cumulative box office to 1.473 billion!"

"The domestic film box office record of 1.43 billion, previously held by Lin Nan's film 'The Genius Girl,' was surpassed yesterday by Lin Nan himself."

"The Taking of Tiger Mountain has become number one on the domestic film box office chart, and its total box office will continue to rise over the next forty days…"

…

Over the past twenty days, the film industry had grown accustomed to it.

Now, everyone shared a common understanding.

Perhaps the next big news about The Taking of Tiger Mountain would be its box office breaking 2 billion.

After all, there were still nearly forty days of theatrical run left!

(End of Chapter)