Chapter 638: A Terrifying Annual Box-Office Share; One Week Is Too Short—at Least Half a Month!

"Jointly produced by Lin Nan Pictures, Enlight Pictures, Wanda, China Film, and Shanghai Film, directed by Lin Nan, produced by Liu Liu Yifei;

The New Year season comedy-detective-action blockbuster 'Detective Chinatown' grossed a cumulative 1.377 billion yuan in its first week of release, with yesterday's box office at 150 million."

"Huayi Brothers' New Year season film 'Mr. Six' has a stable daily box office of around two million, showing remarkable resilience…"

"According to the official website of the Film Bureau: after five years of polishing, the period-suspense-fantasy film 'Legend of the Demon Cat' has been submitted for script review."

"It is reported that 'Legend of the Demon Cat' is adapted from 'The Great Tang Dynasty Ghost Banquet of Monk Kong Hai,' and the film will be personally directed by director Chen Chen Kaige."

"Six years ago, because director Chen Chen Kaige intended to film 'The Great Tang Dynasty Ghost Banquet of Monk Kong Hai,' the Xiangyang Tang Cheng Film and Television Base project was officially launched…"

On the morning of the 7th, two pieces of film news blew the entertainment industry apart, charred on the outside and tender within.

A staggering 1.377 billion yuan at the box office in just one week! The industry marveled at Lin Nan's box-office record, but on the other hand, everyone had long grown used to it.

But the matter of Chen Chen Kaige preparing a new film was truly a "big deal" that made the entire industry sit up and take notice.

Because anyone could imagine that a film Chen Chen Kaige had spent six years preparing must be the top priority, a blockbuster among blockbusters!

There were even whispers in the industry that Chen Chen Kaige had filmed 'Monk Comes Down the Mountain' back then precisely because 'Legend of the Demon Cat' had not been ready on schedule;

while another version claimed that Director Chen filmed 'Monk Comes Down the Mountain' to lay the groundwork and get his hand in for 'Legend of the Demon Cat.'

But regardless of which rumor, they both speak to just how "rare" this 'Legend of the Demon Cat,' adapted from 'The Great Tang Dynasty Ghost Banquet of Monk Kong Hai,' truly is;

This 'Legend of the Demon Cat' is absolutely a top-tier film resource in the industry, a big fat cake!

……

The first night after Liu Liu Yifei left, the pillow beside him felt empty, and Lin Nan was still a bit unused to it; but it was only about half a month, it would pass quickly.

After breakfast, Lin Dao Da hurried out the door and headed to the company. After all, it was the end of the year, with a mountain of trivial matters.

Yesterday at the gate of Beijing Film Academy, he had ultimately failed to resist greeting Ning Hao.

One could only say Director Ning was "bursting with energy"—he turned out to be one of the final-round examiners for the Cinematography Department this year;

It was unclear how much effort and thought the Cinematography Department and the school had spent to win Ning Hao over, but it certainly cost them a great deal or a great favor.

But speaking of arts exam examiners, the Performance Department had to be mentioned—rumor had it that Professor Cui Cui Xinqin had originally wanted to invite Huang Huang Xiaoming back to serve as a third-round examiner.

But the Boss had just taken on a new period-mythology domineering-CEO drama, and would most likely not be free at that time, so he politely declined;

With no choice, Professor Cui Cui Xinqin could only recommend her other famous student Chen Kun to the academy;

And so, Dong Zhou Jie's "good brother" smoothly became one of the third-round examiners for the Performance Department.

Honestly, ever since Dong Zhou Jie was caught red-handed last time and he publicly defended her, his reputation in the industry had been mostly ruined; it really disgusted quite a few people for a while, Lin Nan included.

"Lin Dao, the Film Bureau called and said the extended key application for 'Detective Chinatown' cannot be approved."

He had just sat down and opened his computer when Yue Jun burst into the office in a whirlwind.

Lin Nan thought he had misheard—the extended key application for 'Detective Chinatown' hadn't even been submitted three days ago, had it? That fast?

Hmm? That's not right!

"You're saying the Film Bureau called to notify us that the extended key application for 'Detective Chinatown' cannot be approved?" Lin Nan tried to confirm.

"Yes, they called to say so. I also found it strange. Logically, even if it wasn't approved, it should have been announced on the official website first. When has a phone call ever been the precedent?"

"Is there any announcement document on the Film Bureau's official website?"

Lin Nan frowned, pressing the question while opening the Film Bureau's official website.

"I checked half an hour ago, there wasn't one."

"There isn't one now either!"

Lin Nan glanced at the official website and said with certainty.

Lin Nan was muttering to himself. Setting aside the rejection of the extended key application, the notification procedure itself was very off!

"Phone notification, and no document on the official website yet…"

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Lin Nan's mind.

He looked at Yue Jun and said, "Don't spread this around for now. I'm going to the Film Bureau—no, to the General Administration!"

Yue Jun was baffled, and while nodding, couldn't help saying, "Isn't the Film Bureau at the General Administration?"

"Wait until I get back."

He had been seated for less than five minutes when Lin Nan got up again, grabbed his coat, and walked out of the office.

As for what he'd said earlier about bringing Wang Wang Changtian along to the bureau to "reason things out," Lin Nan figured that could be put on hold for now; he'd make this trip first.

……

In Hollywood, there were only three days left until the Golden Globe Awards ceremony.

A few domestic actors and stars had received invitations and were setting off now, such as Li Li Bingbing, Jackie Chan, and others.

Lin Nan was driving toward the General Administration, and the car radio was reporting this news, including his name. But unlike Jackie Chan and the others, he had asked Tom to politely decline on his behalf.

In just over an hour, Lin Nan parked his car outside the General Administration.

After signing in, he entered smoothly. He was actually a familiar face here, but the rules still had to be followed.

Following his own judgment and intuition, Lin Nan didn't go to the Film Bureau side, but headed straight for Tong Gang's office.

When he saw the secretary's smiling face, Lin Dao Da knew he had apparently guessed right.

"Lin Dao, I was thinking you might make a phone call, or come over in a few days, hehe…"

Well, now Lin Nan was even more eager to see Tong Gang.

When a "Come in" sounded from inside the office, the secretary pushed the door open.

Tong Gang looked up with a glance, then smiled and pointed at the sofa beside him:

"I was counting the time waiting for you. You came pretty fast. You can step out." The last sentence was directed at the secretary.

By now, Lin Nan felt like cursing—this was clearly meant to toy with him, to make him make this trip!

"Director Tong, this is the fourth time. You can't keep playing games like this!"

Lin Nan complained outright, after all they had known each other for many years.

Only seeing Tong Gang smile and say casually:

"I won't bring up the fact that the first three films were sent back for extension—I'll just talk about last year's numbers.

Your company's exclusive and main-controlled films in the second half of last year generated over eight billion yuan in total box office!

And even then, I excluded your arthouse film The Manchester by the Sea and Red Star Studio's Wolf Warrior—if you added those in, it would've been over nine billion!

But what was the entire film market's total box office last year? Let me tell you—it was over forty-five billion! Tell me, what percentage did you take? Could the Film Bureau possibly grant you an extension? Dare they grant you one?"

Good heavens, Lin Nan had never heard such detailed figures from an outsider before, especially the full-year market total!

At this moment, he truly had nothing to say.

Because a single company or group consuming twenty percent of the entire annual film market was, without doubt, a disaster for the vast film industry—there was no other word for it.

"But Director Tong, what about Detective Chinatown? That's counted in this year's market total—why can't it get an extension?"

Lin Nan quickly changed the subject; the previous topic had been chilling.

Tong Gang still kept his smile, stood up, walked to the opposite side of Lin Nan, and sat down.

"This is the first film this year to break one billion yuan, destined to break two billion—it naturally meets all subjective and objective conditions for the extension key. But you must consider what the Film Bureau's duty is."

Lin Nan opened his mouth but said nothing.

Tong Gang poured himself a cup of tea, then gestured that if Lin Nan wanted some, he should help himself.

"From your studio's perspective, high box office naturally means you deserve an extension—that's logical, perfectly reasonable;

but from the Bureau's perspective, our duty is to sustain the entire industry, not let a few grow fat while the majority starve.

Look at just this week—how many domestic films did your film kill? The market economy needs macro-level regulation! Hehe…"

As he spoke, Tong Gang couldn't help laughing himself.

"Director Tong, this is terribly unfair to me. If you keep this up, I'll stop making commercial films altogether.

I'll make award-bait and art films—given my influence, I can easily take them abroad to film festivals, sell the rights, save effort, earn more, and skip theater revenue splits entirely…"

Lin Nan spread his hands, forcing a "friendly" smile—he wasn't without other cards to play!

Indeed, upon hearing this, Tong Gang reacted.

But he pointed at Lin Nan's nose, still smiling, "Do you know why we called your company instead of you directly?"

"I don't know."

Whether he knew or not, he had to say he didn't know now.

"A one-month extension? Absolutely not. Otherwise, when the Spring Festival blockbusters roll out, smaller-budget films and mid-sized studios won't have a chance left."

"So what?"

Lin Nan now understood completely—Director Tong wasn't rejecting the extension key application for Detective Chinatown; he was rejecting the one-month duration!

"Resubmit your extension key application—for one week. Your film's run ends right before the Spring Festival, perfectly timed to connect."

Tong Gang looked at Lin Nan, speaking with solemn gravity.

"One week? That's not acceptable."

Lin Nan continued to argue—every extra day meant he could gain hundreds of millions, even over a billion more in box office.

"Hehe, so how long do you want? Ten days?"

"One week's too short—minimum two weeks!"

Seeing Tong Gang's slightly stern expression, Lin Nan conceded—he'd drop the twenty-day demand.

"Two weeks? Two weeks?

Fine, I'll give you two weeks! But you insist on squeezing into the Spring Festival slot…"

Tong Gang waved his hand and approved the two-week extension.

"Then I'll take my leave, Director Tong, you're busy."

Saying this, Lin Nan stood up—further arguing wouldn't gain him anything;

there were still many company matters to handle—he must resubmit the extension key application as soon as possible.

"Mm, go ahead."

Watching Lin Nan's retreating back, Tong Gang shook his head with a smile.

"Pure award-bait directors? How much do they contribute?

How could we let a market leader keep taking losses? What's lost now will surely be made up elsewhere! Ah, still too young."

…………