Chapter 47: Results

The production cost of "Stone" had already been leaked during the publicity phase.

An eight-million production cost, compared to its current box office, is simply a windfall.

From filming to release, "Stone" took less than half a year and generated such enormous profits—how many publicly listed companies don't even have results like this? qqxδnew

For a time, the film and television industry was stirred up once again.

Many were envious and jealous; official media even took the opportunity to encourage the vigorous development of the film and television cultural industry, and a large wave of private capital rushed into the sector.

Regarding the box office of "Stone," many media outlets interviewed directors or companies with new films slated for this year.

Director Chen waved his hand grandly: "Wait until 'The Promise' is released at the end of the year, then everyone will know what a true blockbuster looks like."

"'Stone'—I watched it. Ning Hao, as a young director, handled it well. Lin Nan is the most outstanding director and screenwriter of the younger generation, and his screenplay is first-rate."

Zhang Zhang Yimou accepted the interview despite his busy schedule.

Most directors were full of confidence in their own films.

"Seven Swords" had Xu Ke; "If You Are the One" was a collaboration between Chen Chen Kexin and Zhou Xun and Jin Jin Chengwu; "The Myth" was a project led by Emperor Entertainment and China Film, blessed with Jackie Chan—and all were full of bravado.

No matter how the outside world reported it, Lin Nan kept a low profile, staying at school or the company, checking the box office data from time to time.

On its twelfth day, "Stone" still had nearly seven million at the box office, already surpassing "Back to Youth."

Ning Hao became famous overnight; among the lead actors, Huang Bo benefited the most and had already received many film offers.

Now the industry was waiting to see "Stone"'s final result, and the most talked-about figure remained the film's producer, executive producer, and screenwriter—Lin Nan.

How many times the eight-million investment could earn would be revealed in a few more days.

Enlight Media, as the distribution and marketing party, made a killing in reputation.

Before this, the marketing and distribution of domestic films with box offices over a hundred million had almost always involved the major film groups.

Enlight Media, as a private enterprise, had for the first time fully handled the marketing and distribution of a high-grossing film—and a low-cost hit at that.

Wang Wang Changtian had been on cloud nine these past few days, inviting Lin Nan several times, but the latter truly had no time.

From the day "Stone"'s box office broke one hundred million, he hadn't had a moment to spare.

The head of Shanghai Film personally came to the company; Lin Nan accompanied him for an entire morning, and China Film caught wind and joined in the commotion.

He also met with the folks from Western Film back in his hometown, but they really had no resources worth mentioning—only deepening the relationship, after all, they were fellow townsmen.

【14】 Huayi once again extended an olive branch to Lin Nan, expressing a strong desire to invest in his next film, no matter how big the budget.

Hua Yi once again extended an olive branch to Lin Nan, expressing a strong willingness to invest in his next film, regardless of the scale.

Wanda's cinema chain was an ancillary business of its commercial real estate, but it had its eyes on the cultural industry. This time, "Stone" had noticeably higher screening allocations, and when meeting Lin Nan, they also mentioned investment.

Famous top agents, actors and stars, and talent agencies had nearly worn out the threshold of Lin Nan's company during this period; even some TV-drama-focused companies had met with Lin Nan.

Being not very good at interpersonal relations in business had always been Lin Nan's shortcoming, so these days had been quite exhausting for him.

The company's employees, however, were each more excited than the last—these days they had met quite a few big shots, and most importantly, this year's year-end bonus was going to increase again.

Because the company had few employees, Lin Nan was very generous; when distributing year-end bonuses these past two years, he had been unstinting. Selling the rights to "Return to Dust" at the beginning of the year, plus "Stone" currently in theaters, this year's bonus was definitely not going to be small.

"None of you get cocky, will you—I'm talking about you, you've come in to refill the water three times in half an hour. Is Andy Lau that good-looking?"

Lin Nan scolded a young lady at the front desk, only stopping when her cheeks flushed red. Others nearby egged her on: "He is handsome, though."

As "Stone"'s box office continued to climb, the Shanghai International Film Festival sent an invitation to the crew.

The film festival, originally scheduled for late June, sending an invitation at this point was actually against the rules.

Lin Nan could figure out the reasoning behind it.

Although the Shanghai International Film Festival had been recognized as an A-category festival by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations back in '94, in recent years it had really been losing face for A-category festivals—even its own people didn't think much of it.

Not only had development been slow these past few years, it had also fallen into a common ailment: liking to give awards to foreign films to boost its own image, and the domestic films that won were often obscure ones—it felt like it was following the Golden Rooster's style.

These past two years, domestic cinema had developed rapidly, but prolific directors like Zhang Zhang Yimou and Feng Feng Xiaogang had never attended the Shanghai International Film Festival—one could well imagine.

Winning awards abroad, yet being looked down on at home—who would willingly swallow that?

Lin Nan didn't want to go; he was already a Silver Bear director. Even if he went, it would only be as a presenter or juror, or else they'd definitely have to give him an award. However, he seemed to have heard that Jiang Teacher Wenli was one of this edition's jurors.

Seeing Ning Hao looking a bit tempted, Lin Nan couldn't refuse: "You want to go?"

Ning Hao nodded—he really did want to go. Although this film festival's way of doing things was a bit unreliable, it was still an A-category festival; what if he could win an award?

"Stone" had achieved a win-win in both reputation and box office, and he still wanted to give it a shot.

"If you want to go, then go. I'm not going." Lin Nan made his stance clear.

"What if 'Stone' wins Best Screenplay?"

"If it does, you collect it on my behalf, but I guarantee it's ninety percent not happening.

Don't you see who the heads of the main competition section and the new talent section are?

It's Teacher Wu and Director Jia! Both are obsessed with art-house films."

Art-house films are generally adapted from real-life events that don't easily attract most people's attention; in China it's even more so—almost to the point of obsession.

This was also the reason Lin Nan had been praised by those "senior predecessors" because of "Return to Dust."

Ning Hao still wanted to give it a try. Lately there had been too much praise around him; he wanted to try, and if he won an award, wouldn't that be the icing on the cake?

Ning Hao said with a smile, "I'll still go give it a try. Whether there's an award or not, I'll just treat it as expanding my network—they probably want to go too."

"Fine, then contact Huang Bo and the others yourself, and give them a reply while you're at it."

With Ning Hao saying so, Lin Nan had nothing more to say.

The Shanghai Film Festival wouldn't truly pick up until next year, when the presidium would carry out sweeping changes.

Ning Hao went back to contact the lead actors, telling them about the film festival and asking them to keep their schedules clear.

"Stone" was still in theaters, its daily box office down to less than a third of its peak—when good news came back from the Cannes Film Festival.

"Shanghai Dreams" had been selected for the main competition, just like "Peacock" in Berlin back then, and was highly praised by the jury.

Its premiere was also held at Cannes.

Online, the daily box office data for "Stone" was posted as usual, but news about "Shanghai Dreams" had also caught up.

Lin Nan saw the promotional poster, shot at the Cannes Film Festival, showing the fresh-faced Gao Gao Yuanyuan—already bearing three parts of the beauty she would later become. It was pleasing to look at, aesthetic; no wonder so many men liked her.

This year, Lin Nan's company achieved brilliant results; among the many companies in the film and television industry, he was the most eye-catching one, when it came to movies alone.

Huayi invested in quite a few films this year, and the film and television industry is a high-risk sector; whether it can turn a profit remains unknown.

Only by counting the numerous endorsement deals and appearances of the large number of actors and stars under its belt could Huayi's book results allow it to firmly hold the position of the leading private enterprise in the film and television industry.

However, compared to Lin Nan's achievements over the past half year, the two General Managers Wang felt uneasy; they had spread their business so wide, with so many hands, busy with this and that, just to achieve these results.

In contrast, on Lin Nan's side, he had simply filmed one movie and sold its copyright, then invested in another, yet obtained so much; anyone would feel psychologically unbalanced.

Watching the box office of "Stone" climb day by day, everyone in the circle could calculate how much money Lin Nan would earn; he was the sole producer.

The number of people eyeing Lin Nan's next movie increased significantly; everyone discovered that up to now, Lin Nan's most expensive film had cost only twenty million, which was "Return to Youth," while the costs of other films were not high, yet all were profitable, and quite profitable at that.

"Those who eat alone will have no friends."

An elder senior advised Lin Nan that making a living in this circle requires unity.

Lin Nan pondered this issue; it seemed his last two movies were indeed a bit too glaring.

"Hidden in Dust" and "Stone" were both independently invested and produced by him; their results were too good, provoking his peers.

This industry is just like that: if you are too terrible, no one pays attention to you; if you are too good, you still cannot eat alone; there are truly too many troublesome matters.

Very quickly, Lin Nan cast this matter aside.

Ever since signing the contract with Lionsgate, that side had paid considerable attention to Lin Nan's situation domestically; after learning of the box office of "Stone," they sent a congratulation and mentioned the filming progress of "Dead Silence," stating that currently everything was proceeding smoothly and Vincent Wong was filming with great dedication.

Making a small bet yield a big return is Lionsgate's specialty; B-class films require little investment, have short cycles, and release quickly, yet can harvest box office returns; this is the style Lionsgate prefers. "Stone" belonged to this type, the difference being that Lionsgate favored horror films even more.

"At that time, there will be your place in the publicity; I hope you are aware," the person from Lionsgate said to Lin Nan.

"Of course, I am also an investor and have the obligation to cooperate."

Lin Nan was thinking about his next movie: whether to continue down the path of low budget or to go for something big.

Making a small bet yield a big return was very stimulating; after two consecutive times, he was somewhat addicted, but which director could refuse a big production? None.

Speaking of big productions, they were nothing but science fiction, fantasy, and epic types that consumed special effects, required high investment, had long cycles, and needed massive preparation work and post-production teams.

They required the director to possess strong on-site organizational abilities, even needing a supporting directorial team to assist; the key was whether the current market could support profitability, which was hard to say.

Lin Nan had to ponder carefully what genre to choose for his next movie.

From China Film, Lin Nan obtained a set of data: the current number of cinemas and screens under major domestic theater chains, as well as the expected increase in numbers.

"Hero" had an investment of thirty million US dollars, and its profit relied on global box office and copyright; "House of Flying Daggers" also cost over thirty million US dollars, and its profit still relied on the global market.

Although two or three years had passed, the increase in domestic screens was still very difficult to support a big production.

"Let's wait a bit longer."

Looking at the data before him, Lin Nan abandoned the idea of a big production.

Previously, he had more than once perfunctorily told China Film and Shanghai Film that the next one would be a big production; now it seemed he would have to wait at least another year.