Chapter 279

The closing credits of "The Sun Also Rises" slowly rolled across the screen, and the quiet auditorium began to hum with faint murmurs.

Han Sanye glanced at the people beside him: "What do you think of this movie?"

"..."

To be honest, when Yan Li first read the script, he barely understood it; now that he'd seen the finished film, it was more intuitive than the script, yet still ambiguous—he wasn't sure, so he gave a cautious reply.

"The visuals are vivid, the shots fluid, and the personal style is extremely distinct and intense."

He didn't say whether it was good or bad, or whether it was understandable—just that the personal style was strong. From any angle, Yan Li wasn't wrong.

Whether that strong personal style was good or bad for the film? That depended on your own interpretation.

Yu Fatty added, grinning: "There's definitely a strong Jiang Wen flavor to it."

Yan Li shot him a glance—this fat bastard clearly didn't understand a thing, just riding on his words to mislead people.

Han Sanye nodded. Yan Li wanted to ask if he'd understood it, but after thinking it over, he decided not to be stupid.

Not long ago, Han Sanye had officially become Chairman of China Film Group, a rank equivalent to a provincial-level official.

This level wasn't particularly high—at least not in Beijing—but the position carried weight, especially in the film industry, where on certain matters he could wield more influence than even the head of the Film Bureau.

If you followed the news, you'd know: unless it was the propaganda mouthpiece or a top Film Bureau official, nearly all official faces in film were from either the Film Bureau or China Film Group.

The former set direction, the latter handled execution; the Film Bureau was more powerful, but China Film Group wasn't to be trifled with.

Although all three of them barely understood this film, Jiang Wen had invited some professional filmmakers, screenwriters, and directors to the screening, and after it ended, they began voicing their thoughts one after another.

"A true Chinese epic, a vanished ideal, and lives twisted and shattered beneath grand narratives—visually stunning imagery and stirring, majestic music that inspire longing while deepening a sense of absurdity."

"A highly magical, surreal, subjective impressionist nostalgia tale."

"A serendipitous poetic masterpiece—characters who are mad, flamboyant, lost, or reckless, filmed with a mad style that captures madness in people and events. I love it."

"..."

Yan Li turned to look at Han Sanye and Yu Fatty, who were listening intently but still looked slightly bewildered—he figured they still didn't get it.

To be honest, he himself found it hard to follow.

Explaining an incomprehensible movie with incomprehensible words only made things even more of a mess.

Why can't they just tell a good story? Why does it feel like we're doing a reading comprehension test?

Internally grumbling, Yan Li kept a thoughtful expression on his face, nodding occasionally in agreement.

After all, he was a trained professional and an industry heavyweight—he had to pretend to understand even if he didn't.

After listening for a while, the session turned into a kind of creator exchange, others began chatting among themselves, and the auditorium grew noisy.

Wang Zhonglei, who had also participated in "The Sun Also Rises," sidled over, trying to join the conversation.

But Han Sanye kept talking to Yan Li, leaving Wang Zhonglei no opening—he couldn't help shooting Yan Li a complex glance.

Yu Fatty came from China Film Group, and Bonar's current success owed no small part to CFI's backing, so his closeness to Han Sanye was no surprise.

Huayi had also been close to Han Sanye and CFI in the past, especially with several early films that had CFI funding.

In the past two years, Huayi had increased cooperation with Hong Kong and overseas capital, even establishing ties with Shanghai Film Group.

CFI still collaborated with Huayi, but mostly on distribution, and far less frequently than before.

On the surface, Huayi still maintained a close relationship with CFI and Han Sanye, but it was undeniably a bit more distant now.

One reason was various objective factors from above; the other was Yan Li's rapid rise.

Previously, there were only a few major private film companies on the mainland—Huayi, Bonar, and CFI were closest, and CFI needed both to cooperate, so they naturally exchanged resources.

Under normal circumstances, even if Huayi drifted slightly from CFI, its strength ensured CFI would still keep it close.

But no one expected a sudden newcomer—Yan Li—to emerge, and within just two or three years, he'd built up both theaters and films with remarkable momentum.

Even though Huayi still had stronger film capabilities, Yi'an wasn't weak—it had already laid out a theater network, and its leader was young with enormous potential.

Thus, Yan Li and Yi'an filled the gap left by Huayi and became Han Sanye's "new favorites."

Now, at many events, Han Sanye's side was flanked by Yu Fatty on one side and Yan Li on the other—in many people's eyes, the two were his right-hand men, his "Heng and Ha."

So Huayi couldn't even turn back now to lick CFI's boots.

A big ship is hard to turn—Huayi's current direction was already set and couldn't be changed overnight.

Besides, no one knew what Han Sanye was thinking now. He used to be CFI's manager, but he wasn't the top boss; now that he'd ascended, his position was legitimate and increasingly solid and powerful—his mindset and temperament had surely changed.

More crucially, there was Yan Li here, "sowing discord" and "muddying the waters."

Yi'an's close ties with CFI brought undeniable benefits; at this point, he certainly wouldn't let Huayi come back and interfere with him.

Yu Fatty might be thinking the same thing.

Bonar and Huayi both rose in the early 2000s—they had cooperated, but also clashed; their relationship wasn't bad, but neither was it good.

Yan Li, however, had always been on good personal terms with Yu Fatty, who would naturally favor Yan over Huayi.

Yan Li had no idea what Wang Jia'er was thinking—if he did, he'd sneer.

Like he was some kind of henchman under Han Sanye!

Yan Li was on good terms with Han Sanye, often took his cues, but power dictated the relationship—and Han Sanye had genuinely helped Yi'an.

Yan Li respected Han Sanye personally, but he wasn't obedient or submissive.

In short, Yan Li didn't truly obey or follow Han Sanye—he obeyed CFI behind him, or the behemoth behind CFI.

Without Han Sanye, if another executive took his place—as long as they treated him fairly—Yan Li would still maintain close, seamless cooperation with CFI.

This had nothing to do with personal ties, everything to do with attitude—the Wang brothers had misunderstood him completely.

Even if Han Sanye was powerful in film, he was only powerful in film—Yan Li's business extended far beyond just film. To make Yan Li a lackey? Han's rank wasn't high enough.

Even if it were, he wouldn't do it.

Listening to a collective and listening to an individual are two different things with two different natures—attitudes aren't faked.

"Third Master, gentlemen, how much box office do you think this movie will make?"

Wang Zhonglei suppressed his thoughts and finally asked his most pressing question during a pause in the conversation.

What the movie was about didn't matter—what mattered was how much money it could make.

"I think it'll at least hit 100 million."

Han Sanye admired Jiang Wen, and the high praise from so many people at the screening made him optimistic about "The Sun Also Rises."

"Jiang Wen still has name recognition, and there's no strong competition around the release window—if the word-of-mouth and quality hold up, 150 to 160 million is possible."

Damn, how bold to estimate that!

Yan Li nearly cracked—he couldn't understand what kind of spell Jiang Wen had cast on Han Sanye.

Back when "The Sun Also Rises" lost funding, he'd scrambled around helping secure investment—and now Han Sanye was so bullish on its box office?

Does the current Chinese film market really have that many audiences who enjoy doing reading comprehension?

Yu Fatty added: "The film's still a bit obscure—I think it'll clear 100 million, maybe 100 to 120 million."

Wang Zhonglei sighed in relief and voiced his own estimate: "My brother saw an early cut—he guessed 60 million. I think it'll hit 80 million. This kind of film should appeal to many seasoned cinephiles."

Hearing their three estimates, Yan Li internally shook his head, barely keeping it from showing on his face.

He was in the film business—fully integrated across channels—and understood the market well.

Cinephiles were indeed the core consumers, but with market liberalization, ordinary viewers and trend-followers were now the biggest box office source.

And cinephiles came in many types—some only watched Hollywood films, others preferred action, horror, thriller, or comedy genres.

Those who liked art films and "reading comprehension" weren't even a large group within cinephiles.

But because "high art attracts few," they wrote endless interpretive essays, making them seem louder and more numerous, while other audiences and cinephiles simply didn't care—or were too baffled to respond.

And one point must be made: many cinephiles, especially so-called seasoned ones, never go to theaters.

They prefer watching DVDs, enjoying films alone, repeatedly, savoring them—and they favor older films.

No matter how many such cinephiles there are, they contribute zero box office.

So in the film industry, critical acclaim and box office success are two different things; audience praise and critic/professional praise are different concepts; cinephile audiences are divided into those who spend and those who don't.

Han Sanye and the others weren't unaware of this—but they'd been swayed by Jiang Wen's reputation, personal ties, and financial interests.

Yan Li was clearer-headed—not because he was smarter, but because he'd never believed in this film to begin with.

No expectations meant no Jiaoxing psychology, so he remained unaffected by outside noise and viewed the film with cooler, more objective eyes.

According to Yan Li's judgment, if this film hit 30 million, it would be a success.

Considering Jiang Wen's halo effect and the likelihood of attracting some cinephile support, the rights could still sell for some return—even if it didn't break even, losses would be minimal.

Yan Li was pondering this when Yu Fatty suddenly said: "I'm going to sign a guaranteed distribution deal with Jiang Wen."

Wang Zhonglei's eyes lit up: "Guaranteed for how much?"

"One hundred million!"

Guaranteed distribution—mentioned before—was simple: the distributor bet against the producer to secure the project.

They agreed on a number; if the box office fell short, the distributor covered the loss; if it exceeded, the distributor took a larger share.

If "The Sun Also Rises" had a 100 million guaranteed distribution deal, the producer would earn at least 30 million+.

Yan Li, Huayi, and Bonar had each invested 5 million, holding 10% stakes; Yinghuang invested 10 million with a larger share.

If the guarantee was signed, they'd recover most of their investment immediately; selling remaining rights would add more—even if it didn't break even, losses would be small.

Wang Zhonglei had estimated 80 million himself—he found Yu Fatty's guarantee proposal very appealing.