Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 285 In His Thirties

Sister Hong was under a lot of pressure, and she knew it very well. Old Chen was also under a lot of pressure. The investment in "The Promise" was too big. Although the domestic box office was close to 200 million, it was still a long way from breaking even.

Zhang Yimou has already proven himself with "Hero," and Cao Yang, needless to say, has an astonishing influence in Hollywood.

If Chen's "The Promise" doesn't sell well, he won't be able to compare with Cao Yang, let alone Zhang Yimou.

Since she couldn't sleep anyway, she put on her clothes, opened the door, and went outside, wanting to gaze at the Los Angeles night view and relieve some stress.

Arcadia Villa is very quiet at night, especially Cao Yang's villa, which is one of the most upscale villas, so the environment is naturally better and quieter at night.

And so, the faint sound reached Sister Hong's ears in the quiet night.

Sister Hong was taken aback for a moment; the voice sounded familiar.

After realizing what was happening, Sister Hong muttered a curse under her breath. She hadn't expected that Cao Yang would be exercising in the middle of the night instead of sleeping.

Sister Hong was a smart woman; she made a lot of connections based on the previous knocking sounds.

It goes without saying who would knock on Cao Yang's door in the middle of the night, since only the three of them lived in the villa.

Pooh!
Little vixen!

She already has a boyfriend, yet she's still so proactive; typical of Hong Kong's entertainment industry.

As if possessed, Sister Hong tiptoed to Cao Yang's room like a thief, took a deep breath, and felt her heart pounding wildly. She didn't know what was wrong with her.

Then, she gently pressed her ear against the door.

In that instant, the screams and voices inside became clearer.

After listening for only a short while, Sister Hong felt her face burning, her breathing becoming rapid, and a restless impulse stirring deep within her heart.

She pursed her lips and tiptoed back to her room again.

Old Chen has been busy with "The Promise" for over a year now, and he's under a lot of pressure.

Men in their fifties often feel overwhelmed by pressure, lacking both motivation and energy.

Chen Hong was only in her thirties.

Women in their thirties, those who know, know.

The next day, Sister Hong acted as if nothing had happened, showing no sign of anything amiss. She took Cecilia Cheung and went to meet up with the Warner Independents team to do some publicity.

Cao Yang wasn't idle either. "Juno" will be released in a week, and he'll be giving a few interviews these next few days to promote the film.

"Juno" won the Oscar for Best Picture, which is the biggest publicity and boost for the film, so everyone has high expectations for "Juno".

Fox Searchlight is taking this very seriously. They've not only had the actors and directors promoting the show these past few days, but they've also directly contacted 3200 theaters and will consider adding more theaters to the lineup later.

When Cao Yang returned home that evening, he saw that Sister Hong looked downcast. Not far away, Bai Zhi was on the phone, seemingly mentioning something about "tickets." Since it was Cantonese, Cao Yang couldn't understand it.

"What's wrong, Sister Hong?"

Cao Yang asked.

Chen Hong sighed and said with a wry smile, "The Promise didn't do well in the Chinese market. Yesterday's box office was only 80,000 yuan, with 213 theaters showing a little over 80,000 US dollars. Sigh..."

Cao Yang paused for a moment, unsure how to offer comfort. 213 cinemas, a box office of just over 80,000 yuan, averaging 380 yuan per cinema—this was a complete flop. To put that into perspective, Li An's "Brokeback Mountain," released in December, averaged over 30,000 yuan per cinema on its opening day.

This comparison makes it clear.

“Sister Hong, ever since ‘House of Flying Daggers’ was released in North America, foreigners may have lost interest in our Chinese period dramas. They were just looking for something new, and once the novelty wore off, they stopped paying much attention.”

Cao Yang thought for a moment and then said, "Americans generally lack historical knowledge and their education level is not very high. They can't understand our historical epics, so don't worry about it too much."

Sister Hong forced a smile. "I understand what you're saying, but my expectations were too high, so it's inevitable that I'll be a little disappointed."

"It might be due to insufficient publicity. Perhaps after these two days of publicity, the box office will be better tomorrow."

Cao Yang comforted him.

"It's okay, you don't need to comfort me. Warner Bros. Independents went to the theaters to investigate today, and the occupancy rate is about the same as yesterday, which means that today's box office is still around 80,000 to 90,000."

Sister Hong shook her head and continued, "The people at Warner Bros. Independent held an emergency meeting today and decided that there's no need for any more promotion. The movie's box office is too low; it's beyond saving."

"Director Cao, you're back."

After finishing her phone call, Cecilia Cheung came over and smiled and nodded at Cao Yang, seemingly unaffected by the box office performance of "The Promise".

"Bai Zhi will stay one more night tonight and return to Hong Kong tomorrow."

At this point, Sister Hong looked up at Cao Yang and then continued, "Old Chen said that since the promotion has started, even if the box office is not satisfactory, we should still visit all three cities. We may not be back until the day after tomorrow."

Cao Yang nodded, unsure how to comfort Sister Hong, so he chatted about some lighthearted topics for a while before returning to his room.

Just after midnight, Cao Yang heard a soft knock on the door again.

He got up and opened the door. Bai Zhi had changed into a dark red silk nightgown, this time without wearing anything underneath.

Cao Yang closed the door and just then saw Bai Zhi about to take off her pajamas. He quickly said, "No, keep them on, they're fine."

Sister Hong is having trouble sleeping again tonight.

This was her first time producing a big-budget production, and she had hoped it would be a huge success, but it turned out to be a dud.

This made her very disappointed.

There was also disappointment with Lao Chen.

At midnight, she got out of bed, walked to the door, and gently opened it a crack, not knowing why she did it.

Sure enough, a knock came at the door shortly afterward, followed by laughter, then a shout, and then the sound of the door closing.

Sister Hong bit her lip, reached out to close the door, hesitated for a moment, and then opened it instead.

She lifted her foot and then put it down again, without leaving the room, but her face turned red.

After hesitating for a long time, she finally tiptoed carefully to the outside of Cao Yang's gate, bit her lip, and pressed her ear to it.

Sister Hong only lasted two minutes before returning to her room.

I closed the door, leaned against it, and couldn't calm myself down.

(End of this chapter)