Chapter 892: Public Displays of Affection Outside; Dogs Barking at Home

Thanks to the success of "Sha Po Lang" and "Sha Po Lang 2," and even more so thanks to the "monstrous" performance of "Wolf Warrior 2," even "Sha Po Lang: Greedy Wolf," which didn't star Wu Jing, received considerable attention.

Especially after nine in the morning, when Wu Jing appeared on the premiere red carpet together with the "Sha Po Lang: Greedy Wolf" crew, the fans and moviegoers on site were so worked up they were practically rioting;

Online entertainment news also converged on this film all at once, letting it gobble up a huge wave of traffic. And as one of the producers, Fatty Yu's fat face was practically splitting from smiling.

The industry could already confirm: even without Wu Jing starring, "Sha Po Lang: Greedy Wolf" could still cash in on some of the potential dividends brought by Wu Jing and "Wolf Warrior 2"!

In the afternoon, when Lin Nan and Wang Wang Changtian came out of the restaurant preparing to head their separate ways home, the latter was still grumbling and cursing under his breath.

He was cursing Yu Dong—cursing Fatty Yu for riding the heat so skillfully—Bona was already buying trending searches that bundled "Sha Po Lang" together with Wu Jing, to keep siphoning blood for this "Greedy Wolf."

"Speaking of which, the release date you and Liu Yifei set for this 'Huan You 2' is really quite clever. 'Wolf Warrior 2' won't affect the 28th at all, and you can even enjoy the leftover warmth of the box-office market that 'Wolf Warrior 2' has ignited…"

Facing Wang Wang Changtian's sighing praise, Lin Nan naturally accepted it all; after settling into the driver's seat, he couldn't help but tease:

"Director Wang, it's less than two weeks until release; tell the distribution folks at Enlight to go all out, don't screw me over, alright?"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't screw you over no matter who I screwed." Wang Wang Changtian waved his hand, his face full of disgust, telling Lin Nan to get lost already.

On the other side, Liu Liu Yifei was already entertaining Xie Nan at home; the latter had left the "Greedy Wolf" premiere midway.

"Since I entered the industry, I've always known that once a person becomes famous, everyone around them will turn into smiling faces and flattery; I've seen plenty of that over the years.

But when I actually experienced this kind of treatment myself, I still felt very unfamiliar with it, even a little anxious and uneasy; that suffocating feeling was even stronger at this morning's 'Greedy Wolf' premiere…"

"The two of you, in just two short weeks, have undergone a qualitative leap in status; whether they knew you before or not, whether they were familiar with you or not, including all those big names in the industry, everyone is treating you warmly as if you were family, almost fawning… I can understand how you're feeling right now, you still need time to slowly adapt and adjust."

Inside the villa, Liu Liu Yifei, with the air of a seasoned veteran, smiled and soothed Xie Nan.

Wu Jing, on the other hand, hadn't come with his wife, because he was thoroughly enjoying that environment and atmosphere of being the center of attention, so he was still over there attending his second round of social engagements.

"Fine, you do have the experience. But that's true, isn't it—you and Lin Dao have been living like this for over a decade, you're long used to it and immune to it, maybe even a little annoyed by it now?" After Xie Nan caught on, she couldn't help but start teasing.

"Hold on a sec, let me take a call first." Liu Liu Yifei had just been about to share with Xie Nan her own methods and experience for dealing with "flattery and fawning" over the long term, when suddenly, a familiar phone ringtone rang out of nowhere.

"Speak, what's the matter?" Answering the call from Red Star Studio, Miss Liu asked directly.

"…News came in from Miss Jing Tian's studio—that 'How I Lived with You' will wrap the day after tomorrow… the crew's wrap party and wrap press conference, do you want to attend?"

……

In the afternoon, news from Hollywood made its way back to China.

American media finally began reporting on "Wolf Warrior 2" at length, but the content of the news had nothing to do with the film itself—it was all about concerns over a single domestic Chinese market producing a film with $600 million at the box office.

Because from a strategic standpoint, this was entirely bad news for Hollywood—very bad news.

You have to understand that for a long time now, Hollywood has, to a certain extent, relied precisely on its franchise blockbusters in the Chinese market—that is, harvesting the Chinese market and eroding its culture through at least 34 imported revenue-sharing blockbusters every year.

Under these circumstances, once Chinese films can rely on domestic talent and domestic stars to produce stimulation and box office comparable to Hollywood blockbusters in the home market, then Hollywood commercial films in China will become far less indispensable—and this will be an inevitable trend!

So, starting from the afternoon of the 15th, public opinion in China seemed to fall into chaos: quite a few moles had snuck in, and all sorts of "heterodox" voices began appearing online.

What's even more frightening is that among them were many traditional and internet media outlets with official backgrounds…

"'Wolf Warrior 2's entire box office comes almost entirely from within the country, it can't go abroad—this is pathological, unhealthy…"

"An ordinary commercial film, I really don't see what's so top-tier about it, yet it's been hyped by Chinese people into the highest-grossing Chinese-language film ever… this mentality is actually still one of inferiority, eager to display a hollow confidence and strength through this kind of thing…"

"The reason 'Wolf Warrior 2' achieved unprecedented success is that it's like a dose of 'spiritual Viagra,' injecting temporary excitement into everyone, but once the effect wears off, you'll only be more exhausted."

"Can a film that can't cross the border really be called a success?"

"A myth artificially manufactured by human hands, whether the director or the film, is a tremendous harm and insult to Chinese cinema…"

All day on the 16th, similar reports and press releases online simply poured out one after another, as if a sewer manhole cover had been flipped open all at once, and all sorts of vermin came scurrying out in a swarm.

These stinkbugs can't kill you, but they are extremely disgusting.

And the hot-headed Wu Jing naturally turned into a keyboard warrior at the first opportunity, starting to fire back one by one—online, and in front of the cameras.

……

"The film 'Sha Po Lang: Greedy Wolf' has landed in theaters nationwide as of six o'clock this morning; the film stars Louis Koo, Wu Yue, Lam Ka-tung, Tony Jaa…"

"The action-crime film 'Po Ju,' starring Aaron Kwok, Wang Wang Qianyuan, Liu Tao, and others, officially opened in theaters this morning…"

"The sci-fi comedy-romance film 'How I Lived with You,' produced jointly by Enlight Pictures and Lin Nan Pictures, starring Miss Jing Tian and Lei Lei Jiayin, successfully wrapped this morning in Magic City; Liu Liu Yifei appeared at the wrap ceremony…"

"Forwarded from an official document on the China Film Administration's website: director Feng Feng Xiaogang's film 'Youth' has passed its fourth completed-film review… a public screening permit has been issued…"

Lin Nan sat in his office, staring at the news page on his computer, frowning deeply.

He had no idea where some media outlet had gotten the nerve to slap a label on Wu Jing's entire family, claiming that Wu Jing and Xie Nan, their son, and both sets of parents had all already emigrated.

Then Xie Nan's mother, filled with righteous indignation, posted the entire family's personal information online—including the household registration book and ID cards—to prove their innocence, and none of it was even blurred out!

The mother-in-law had been led astray by unscrupulous media, which made Wu Jing blow up completely. Regarding this matter, the couple was currently holding a press conference, and Wu Jing was cursing up a storm right in front of a crowd of reporters…

"Fame brings trouble, and coupled with the wind from Hollywood, isn't it only natural that all these dogs eating public displays of affection back home have started 'barking' all at once?" Yue Jun said with a laugh, interrupting Lin Nan's thoughts.

"In the future, storms of public opinion like this will only get more and more frequent." Lin Nan didn't pick up the thread, but simply went on talking about his own thoughts.

"Lin Dao, Director Li Yang has arrived on the third floor."

"Let's not chat on the third floor, invite him up to me." Lin Nan looked toward his assistant at the door.

"'Blind Way' is wrapping?" Yue Jun asked curiously.

"Should be."

Two minutes later, Lin Nan saw the travel-worn Li Yang.

The last time the two had met was a very, very long time ago. During this year's Capital International Film Festival, Lin Nan had been on set filming "The Wandering Earth," so he hadn't been able to meet up with Li Yang.

"Director Li."

"Brother Li, sit. Liu Yifei is in Magic City today, so I could only have you come to my company to chat." Lin Nan said with a smile, personally pouring Li Yang a cup of green tea.

"In my view, although the investment came from Red Star Studio, coming to Lin Nan Pictures is the same—you two don't distinguish between each other."

"Brother Li, is 'Blind Way' wrapping?" Although Lin Nan could guess, he still asked politely.

"Yeah, almost. Because it's all on-location and exterior shooting, it's been very time-consuming, but I expect we'll wrap around the middle of next month.

I came this time because I want to discuss the film's release schedule, as well as distribution and publicity."

Li Yang sat there, looking slightly ill at ease. Because the places where a film spends money aren't limited to production costs—publicity and distribution are the bigger expense, and beyond money they also consume a great deal of other resources.

Lin Nan and Yue Jun could both roughly guess what Li Yang was thinking, and fair enough — without some standing in the industry, distributors really wouldn't bother with you, especially for a film that was destined not to make money.

"You don't need to worry about publicity and distribution — what I have the most of here is exactly those kinds of connections and channels. As for the release window, Brother Li, do you have any thoughts?" Lin Nan said with considerable confidence, turning the question back on Li Yang.

"How about starting the theatrical run in the last ten days of the New Year window? I never even thought about going on the first day of Spring Festival — being able to ride the spillover from the New Year and Spring Festival windows is enough, as long as more people can see it…"

"Your idea is actually the exact opposite of what Feng Feng Xiaogang did back then. He was gunning for the box office; you're going for getting more people to see this film. But the result will be the same — audiences will resist going to the theater for this movie. It's not suited to the festive atmosphere."

Lin Nan cut Li Yang off directly. Sure enough, the blind spot of someone caught up in the middle of things was all too common. Feng Feng Xiaogang had scheduled *Backtrack 1942* for the New Year window, and now Li Yang also wanted to bring *Blind Way* into the New Year window.

"Then, do you two have any other suggestions? This film — I really don't know how to set it. You know I'm not a commercial-film director, and I barely deal with the market at all."

Li Yang looked at Lin Nan, and Lin Nan shifted his gaze to Yue Jun.

"How about the May Day window? Not too big, not too small — just right." Yue Jun thought for two seconds and offered his suggestion.

Half an hour later, Li Yang left. Only Lin Nan and Yue Jun remained in the office.

"I still remember very clearly right now — in February 2003, the year he won the award in Berlin, how high-spirited he was on stage, in front of the media cameras…" Lin Nan couldn't help muttering.

"Lin Dao, please think about your own reasons. Your status and position have already undergone earth-shattering changes. No matter how close you were more than ten years ago, you can't go back now."

"Is that so?" Lin Nan shook his head helplessly. Seemed like… it was, didn't it? This feeling — it did make one a little nostalgic.

"This matter will be handed over to you later — give Red Star Factory a hand on the publicity side; as for distribution, Liu Yifei will have someone reach out to Enlight."

"No problem. This kind of film and this kind of film director are worth supporting. But Red Star Factory will most likely have to take a loss on this one — seems like it might be their only loss, doesn't it?"

"That's not necessarily true either. With the current market scale, the smaller the investment cost, the smaller the difficulty of recouping it, and the greater the possibility of turning a profit!"