Chapter 935: Examiner Recommendation; Ad Revenue…

……

Over those nineteen days, the total box office had crawled up to 525 million. The stubbornness of *Marriage Story* left the entire film circle a little wide-eyed.

Especially with its daily box office occasionally managing to buck the trend and climb back up for a day or two — truly baffling, and the envy of the entire industry.

If every realistic-themed romantic art film in the industry could have this kind of market, then the Chinese-language film industry would truly be ushering in a "golden age"!

But in the end, that could only ever remain a lovely fantasy. Case in point: compared with his student Lin Nan, Tian Tian Zhuangzhuang, the teacher, found the box office of his own starring film genuinely rather miserable.

*Love is Not for Sale* had only just been released for less than five days, and its daily box office had already completely given up the ghost. The total stalled at 6.32 million, and the theaters effectively forced it off-screen.

Jiang Yi's *Seventy-Seven Days*, on the other hand, had a rather steady, trickling sort of feel to it — three or four million a day, just hanging there, for two weeks now.

As the country's first polar-adventure film, and with the Film Bureau's policy granting it a one-month extension, who knows — the final total might really break a hundred million!

In the morning, amid all the eye-catching entertainment news, what drew the most attention from inside the industry, outside the industry, and across the entire web was undoubtedly the admissions brochures for the class of 2018 from the three major arts academies.

That's right — the curtain on the arts-exam competition between Beijing Film, the Central Academy of Drama, and Shanghai Theatre had risen early, pulled back to mid-November. Earlier than in previous years, much earlier, and most likely this would be the pattern going forward.

"Don't you always complain that the school has no sense, doesn't know enough to invite you back as an examiner? Here — opportunity's knocking. The Performance Department is looking for me, but I don't have the time and don't want to go. How about I recommend you?"

Sleeping until she woke naturally, Liu Liu Yifei hadn't even washed her face before she called Han Jianü.

The school's invitation for her, the newly minted Venice Best Actress, to serve as examiner again — she had only just been forwarded the news by her assistant five minutes earlier. Though her mood was as sunny as the weather outside, she really couldn't go.

"Then don't recommend me. After *A Cool Fish* wraps, I have to rush the post-production. Besides, I absolutely won't eat scraps thrown at me — if they take the initiative to invite me, I might consider it…

Mm, I'll go back and give Old Jiang a good slap in the face. He's still, to this day, going on about me skipping class… he's bad-mouthed me plenty of times before, calling me a traitor to the Directing Department, always sneaking off to the Literature Department…"

On the phone, Han Jianü was grumbling away, her grudge against Old Jiang still running deep. Lin Nan, sitting beside her, couldn't help but laugh out loud:

"Deputy Director Jiang only tattled on you a few times in front of Chairman Han. You're not going to hold it against him for life, are you? He means well — after all, when your dad got you into the Directing Department, he had to pull strings."

"Pfft, I don't care about any of that. I'm a very petty person. Alright, if there's nothing else, I'm hanging up. I've got to start shooting in a bit — not many shots left, wrap early, go home early."

Without waiting for Liu Liu Yifei to respond, the speakerphone had already given the busy tone.

"Good lord, that blunt temper and personality of hers hasn't changed one bit."

"But you can also tell she's not really holding a grudge — she's only saying that with her mouth.

And I'm quite sure that deep down she hopes to be recognized for her professional ability. That's why we have the script for *Dying to Survive*, and now *A Cool Fish*, which she's giving her all to;

these two films respectively represent her learning outcomes in the Literature Department and the Directing Department." Liu Liu Yifei gave her own big director a sweet smile and explained, naturally and confidently.

To tell the truth, hearing that, Lin Nan was stunned for a moment, then immediately gave Miss Liu a thumbs-up.

He had to admit — Liu Liu Qianqian's analysis of Han Jianü's psychology was indeed extremely thorough! Don't be fooled by Han Jianü's usual brash, thick-skinned demeanor; her competitive streak is maxed out, no weaker than Liu Liu Yifei's!

"You should still put in a word with the school later. They have too many choices — they might not necessarily think of Jianü."

"Alright, then let's make it this time next year — let her give the class of 2019 a hard time." Lin Nan immediately agreed to Miss Liu's suggestion. Mm, he was quite looking forward to it.

……

Near noon, online, the usually good-tempered Huang Huang Xiaoming was, for once, trading barbs with Hong Kong media;

apparently his first Weibo post was so vulgar it stirred up considerable public opinion; so much so that he had to delete the original and reword a new one.

The reason — that bunch of Hong Kong media had no bottom line at all: they'd secretly photographed a full-face shot of Boss Huang's son, who wasn't even a year old, and posted it all over the web in no time.

Well, that was enough to set the good old boy off. Especially after seeing that plenty of unscrupulous merchants and small workshops had already started using his son's photo in their little advertisements, Boss Huang was unquestionably furious.

In all his years in the business, it was the first time he'd opened fire on the media — and his wording was razor-sharp, even dragging in regional attacks! After all, everyone knows how low Hong Kong entertainment media can sink — it's widely acknowledged that they have no bottom.

In the afternoon, even Lin Nan, who was napping, was woken up. Groggy, he had no choice but to help Boss Huang contact Weibo to block those photos and the trending searches…

"*Nirvana in Fire 2* airs in another month. Keep an eye on it — don't let anyone stir up trouble."

His rest interrupted, Lin Nan simply came to the company early. The first thing he said upon seeing Yue Jun was to remind him to keep an eye on the Noon Sunshine production *The Wind Rises in Changlin*.

"Understood. There's actually something I need to tell you too, Lin Dao."

"What is it?" Lin Nan didn't stop walking, heading toward Tiangong Color while urging Yue Jun to spit it out.

"That *Saturday Fiction* is being pretty high-profile — they're holding a launch press conference and sent us an invitation. Lou Ye directing, Gong Li starring, quite a few foreign actors."

"We're not in the same camp as Lou Ye, so we won't go. I'll have Liu Yifei send Sister Gong Li a separate message later — wish her a smooth start."

"Got it, I'll have someone reply to them in a bit."

Director Lu Yang had arrived early — a cup of steaming black coffee was already on his desk, and he himself was staring intently at the editing monitor.

The noise of Lin Nan approaching inevitably disturbed him. He turned his head, glanced over, and instantly, as if he'd found a target to vent to, started complaining:

"Product placement 125 million, pre-roll ads 224 million. Lin Dao, I suddenly think you should give me an extra bonus.

If I hadn't happened to overhear the marketing department going over the accounts with Director Yue this morning, I wouldn't have known *Detective Chinatown 2*'s ad revenue was this high!"

"How about you go chat with the other production companies about that? If they agree, everyone can split the bonus with you."

"Hahaha, just kidding, pretend I didn't say anything." Director Lu Yang immediately backed down.

He only brought it up to Lin Nan to vent anyway — it was his own film, yet he was only finding out about the ad revenue today… Besides, he didn't want to get roasted by those other companies.

With the mindset of helping out however he could, starting from the afternoon of the 16th, Lin Nan was essentially running at full throttle, fully embedded at Tiangong Color; so that *Detective Chinatown 2*'s post-production could wrap as early as possible.

Four days in a row passed. *Detective Chinatown 2*'s post-production progress visibly raced toward 100%, and *A Cool Fish* was also nearing wrap… only a little left.

On the morning of the 21st, *The Wild Hunt*'s premiere kicked off with great fanfare, set against a thin guest lineup — and the media certainly gave it a good round of "coverage."

The industry's mocking was manageable — plenty of it, sure, but not something you could put on the table. The netizens' jeers online, though, had no such reservations — they were a flood of ridicule:

"Wu Wu Yusen films — absolutely not watching," "After *The Crossing*, China Film falls into the pit for the Nth time," "Old rice reheated from decades ago, and it's Japanese rice at that…", "Not a single mainland big director showed up to support it"…

One had to say — now it wasn't just the mainland entertainment circle looking down on the Hong Kong circle; countless mainland netizens and viewers had long since seen through Hong Kong big directors like Wu Wu Yusen.

Everyone was clear-headed: old Hong Kong leftovers like Wu Wu Yusen, carried over from the last century, living off their past glories, had long since run dry; especially after the successive births of four "blockbusters" in the new millennium — *Red Cliff*, *The Crossing*, and the rest — that was powerful proof!

From the afternoon of the 21st onward, what kind of mood Beside La La Peikang was in — the vast majority of industry insiders could basically guess.

After all, faced with the unified doom-saying from so many ordinary netizens and viewers online, *The Wild Hunt*'s box office fate seemed already sealed.

On the morning of the 22nd, the number of positive press releases about *The Wild Hunt* online suddenly spiked — but no one cared.

For film people like Lin Nan, what everyone cared about most in between work was undoubtedly the box office.

For instance, *Marriage Story*'s daily take officially dropped below 5 million;

And sure enough, the opening-day box office for "Not a Problem" was very low, only 1.62 million; the critical reception presented a classic case of high praise but poor sales...

"Counting today, there are only five days left before it goes off the screens." On the morning of the 23rd, Liu Liu Yifei whispered to Lin Nan, counting on her pale fingers.

"It won't take five days. After today and tomorrow, the box office will hit 600 million."

Glancing at yesterday's daily revenue of 4.02 million, Lin Nan stated with great certainty.

He did not plan to go to the company today, as the post-production on "Detective Chinatown 2" had almost nothing left; Director Lu Yang could absolutely handle it alone within a few days.

"Hmm, a day and a half!" Liu Liu Yifei nodded and said.

"We have to set off before dawn the day after tomorrow; let's pack our bags at home in advance. This time we'll probably be there for over a week." Lin Nan squeezed Liu Liu Qianqian's hand and reminded her.

The young lady had just nodded when the vibration sound of a mobile phone rang out.

"I don't need to guess to know; it's definitely Mr. Wang. He's earned us another distribution fee, just over twenty million!" Lin Nan said with a speechless smile, and Liu Liu Yifei was equally delighted.

"I told you 600 million was no problem, and it might even be reached after midnight tonight, haha..." Wang Wang Changtian was even more exaggerated, and both Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei couldn't help but want to laugh.

"Mr. Wang, where are you? Why is it so noisy? It feels like there are many people around?" A few seconds later, Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei suddenly realized.

"I'm in Taiwan Province, currently at the Golden Horse Film Festival. I accepted an invitation earlier to attend the Golden Horse Awards ceremony the day after tomorrow.

Speaking of which, this year's Golden Horse is truly interesting; before the awards are even presented, the chairman of the next committee has already been officially announced. Just less than five minutes ago, the chairman of next year's Golden Horse Awards committee..."