Chapter 534: Luo Mo: Then Should I Be More Conservative?

The arrival of Luo Mo made the atmosphere inside the conference room somewhat strange.

Li Dongliang and Fang Jie exchanged a glance, neither saying much.

Everyone appeared to be chatting harmoniously just as before, but their peripheral vision and attention were always involuntarily drawn to Luo Mo.

There was no helping it; this was a meeting called by the Review Department, and the content of the meeting was regarding the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】.

It couldn't be that Luo Mo was just dragged in to listen, could it?

Or was it that this young man had come uninvited?

These were both impossible and illogical things.

Although everyone was full of doubts, the meeting was about to start, wasn't it? Once the people from the Review Department entered, there would be answers.

At this moment, the sound of footsteps came from the corridor outside the door.

Two men and one woman walked into the conference room.

Leading them was a woman with fair skin, a good temperament, and a rather pleasant appearance.

Her features could not be called exquisite, and she was not the type of person who would strike one as beautiful at first glance, but it had to be said that once a woman had good, fair skin, combined with a good temperament, it made people feel quite comfortable looking at her.

She was Zhong Lin, who had just been promoted from deputy team leader to team leader this year.

Don't let the title fool you; her power was not small.

Every project Luo Mo sent for review was personally overseen by Zhong Lin, so the approval efficiency was very high, and there was no need to go through layer upon layer of processes.

She had been moved to tears by Luo Mo more times than she could count.

Now, the members of the Review Department all knew very clearly that if Team Leader Zhong came to work the next day with swollen eyes, it was definitely not because she had argued with her husband; it was eight or nine times out of ten because of Luo Mo!

These two, speaking of it, could be considered to have a deep connection, yet in reality, this was their first meeting.

"Everyone, please sit," Zhong Lin said with a smile. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Zhong Lin, 'Zhong' as in clock, 'Lin' as in the 'Lin' of 'a dazzling array of beautiful things'."

After finishing, she sat down and said, "You all don't need to introduce yourselves one by one; I know you all. I have long admired your names."

Her gaze swept across everyone one by one, finally lingering the longest on Luo Mo.

"How did he get so thin," she thought to herself.

Luo Mo was very different from before.

But among this group of directors, Luo Mo was still too conspicuous.

Looking around, the scene was: old man—old woman—bald guy—fat guy—eh? A young man!

The meeting thus officially began.

The man sitting next to Zhong Lin started speaking first, pushing the agenda forward.

What he said was not particularly important; he mainly spoke about the current situation and form of the Huaxia film market, which everyone already understood in their hearts.

It was equivalent to telling everyone the purpose of establishing the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】.

As for the others, they were now seriously thinking about another matter.

Since the meeting was held as usual, it meant that Luo Mo was a member of the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】.

But how did we not know beforehand that it had become 11 people, with one extra person?

We didn't receive any notification!

Oh, right, the Review Department does things—where would they need to notify us?

But how did he get in?

The original plan was ten people, and suddenly it became eleven; they expanded the quota specifically for him!

What kind of thing is this!

This treatment was a bit too outrageous.

Or was he actually a substitute member in the plan?

The appearance of a substitute was actually quite normal.

After all, who could guarantee there would be No Mistakes? In case something happened, someone would still need to step in.

It was just, why would it be Luo Mo?

And by what right could it be Luo Mo?

Yes, his 【Monkey King: Hero is Back】 box office was heaven-defying, creating a miracle that everyone found incredible.

However, both Luo Mo Studio and Tongguang Studio had repeatedly stated to the public that the production cycle of 【Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child】 would not be too short, and they were striving to meet everyone during the Spring Festival slot.

That was equivalent to not making it in time.

If it were that film participating in this plan, they would have nothing to say; even if it were an Animation film that everyone previously looked down upon, they wouldn't dare to let out a single fart.

But it was obvious that he was participating as a Newcomer director of live-action films.

That was simply outrageous.

Tian Ou was actually quite happy inside, thinking: "This is afraid to incite the Anger of the film circle, right?"

The nobodies definitely wouldn't care, as they had nothing to do with the plan itself anyway.

But what would those directors who weren't selected but considered themselves qualified—or at least more qualified than Luo Mo—think?

Of course, no one dared to offend the Review Department, and no one would openly say the Review Department was doing something wrong.

But couldn't we target Luo Mo on other matters?

You have to understand, sometimes when you are targeted by certain people for no reason on a certain matter, the problem might not be with that matter at all; they are just using it as an excuse to vent and hide their true intentions.

The meeting lasted for half an hour. After finishing the necessary content and some pleasantries, Zhong Lin coughed lightly and began to explain which platforms would provide a certain degree of support to everyone this time.

In addition to the Review Department and CCTV, there were also some official media and the like.

At the same time, Weibo, Little Rotten Station, short video platforms, etc., would also receive certain instructions.

Zhong Lin even stated directly that the eleven directors present, for these eleven new films to be released this year, as long as no serious problems occurred during the release, could all obtain an extension of the 【Key】.

In other words, the release time could change from one month to two months!

Hearing Zhong Lin's words, only Feng Ji remained relatively calm.

As one of the Four Great Directors, what kind of grand scenes had he not seen?

He was someone who had experienced several stages of Huaxia cinema's development, and someone who had repeatedly received strong support.

Compared to the support received many years ago when Huaxia cinema was still in its starting phase, this 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】 was merely a light drizzle.

But after all, times have changed.

After saying this, Zhong Lin changed the subject and said: "The Review Department hopes that the eleven directors can state their box office expectations for their new films."

Once these words were spoken, the heat in everyone's hearts cooled down by quite a bit.

If the media asked this kind of question, everyone would have long been used to it, and they would just answer however they pleased.

Some directors would even brag to the heavens; bragging costs nothing anyway, so the more I can brag, the better.

Almost every director with a bit of fame is asked similar questions before their new film is released.

But if the Review Department is asking, the nature of it is completely different.

Especially with Zhong Lin having mentioned so many items of support earlier.

Since we have already backed you all so strongly, give us a number.

"This is asking for a military pledge," everyone thought to themselves.

The atmosphere in the conference room changed once again.

Zhong Lin looked everyone over; quite a few people were bowing their heads, thinking about how to answer.

Only when her gaze met Luo Mo's did he politely smile at her.

"Hmm?" Zhong Lin was slightly stunned.

She just assumed Luo Mo was a Newcomer director, so he had a good mindset and little pressure.

After all, in this kind of situation, the famous directors are definitely the ones charging to the front; even if I don't perform well, it's understandable, isn't it?

When the time comes, no matter who they blame, they can't blame me, right?

At this moment, in the conference room, many people appeared to be bowing their heads in thought, but their peripheral vision was secretly glancing at Feng Ji.

At a critical moment, it must be the director with the highest status like him who speaks first to take the lead.

With greater ability comes greater responsibility, after all.

Feng Ji calmly opened his thermos, blew on it, and took a small sip.

Then, he slowly screwed the cap back on.

After putting down the cup, he finally spoke: "How about this, everyone just state their lowest box office expectation in their hearts."

Only Feng Ji would dare say this, directly changing the final result estimated in one's heart into the lower limit in one's heart...

Feng Ji glanced at Zhong Lin and continued: "I know, this is Old He asking us to make a military pledge."

As soon as Zhong Lin heard Feng Ji mention He Ping'an, she did not express a stance.

She was aware that Feng Ji and He Ping'an were old acquaintances.

"In our line of work, before a film is released, no one can say for sure; everyone can only go by feeling, so this military pledge is truly hard to make," Feng Ji said.

"My new film is a mainstream war film; the subject matter is not very favored by the mainstream market, and currently, the box office record for this subject is only seven hundred million-plus."

"How about this, I'll set it at five hundred million."

Feng Ji was effectively hinting to everyone that they should just be realistic; there was no need to aim high.

One should just start from the perspective of the film's subject matter, market environment, and so on.

One must know, the plan is 100 billion, which averages out to about 1 billion per person.

But this is about the lower limit, isn't it?

Li Dongliang, as an external member of the Four Great Directors, definitely had to be the second to state his position.

He thought for a moment and said: "I'll go with eight hundred million."

Li Dongliang was filming a big-budget period piece this time, and the production cost alone was over two hundred million.

He couldn't say five hundred million; a five hundred million box office would be a loss.

With the two famous directors having taken the lead, others also began to answer one after another.

During this process, Li Dongliang added: "Everyone don't be afraid to speak; just say the number in your heart; it's not a ranking based on seniority."

The meaning was very clear: you can report a number higher than mine and Feng Ji's; it's fine, it won't hurt our Face.

How warm these words usually sound, yet how annoying they sounded now.

But everyone was not stupid; most of the numbers reported were equivalent to just slightly higher than the amount needed for the film's investment to break even.

Wang Rong finally also reported 800 million.

In the end, only Luo Mo, who was sitting in the Corner, remained.

Everyone's gaze converged on him.

Fang Jie glanced at Luo Mo's Notes and said: "Director Luo seems to have recorded a lot?"

On Luo Mo's notebook, he had written down the number reported by every director just now.

It wasn't just him who recorded it; quite a few people present had recorded it too.

Luo Mo smiled and said: "Just recorded the numbers."

"Then how much does it add up to?" Fang Jie asked, feigning curiosity.

"7.2 billion," Luo Mo calculated simply in his head.

It was still a full 2.8 billion short of 100 billion.

"It's just me left." Luo Mo slowly closed his notebook.

(PS: First update, asking for monthly tickets!)

(End of this chapter)