Huayu: I'm reborn, but you still force me to be a scumbag?

Chapter 412 Congratulations on getting rich
On July 8, Inception was released simultaneously in the UK, the US, and Canada.

This means the first phase of promotion for "Inception" has ended, and Chen Nuo can finally take a breather.

在7月1日的英国首映礼之后，他又接连参加了7月3日的巴黎首映礼，7月5日的洛杉矶首映礼和7月7日的多伦多首映礼。

You could say that every day I open my eyes, I'm on the road, facing the media.

Most of the time, he slept in the Gulfstream GS350 that the film crew had rented. This was his first time traveling by private jet, and it was much more comfortable than flying on an airliner.

There were no curious glances from flight attendants, no passengers suddenly approaching to chat, and no phones pointing at your face.

Most importantly, boarding and disembarking take place in a private terminal, avoiding the area for regular passengers. The entire boarding process is kept out of the public eye, and there's no need to worry about paparazzi finding out your itinerary.

Compared to that, the comfort level of the aircraft itself is not surprising.

After all, this is just a GS350. He had previously visited the Gulfstream company in Nevada and experienced the GS550 he had ordered. The features inside, such as the fully reclining leather seats and the customized intelligent environmental control system, were far superior to those of the 350.

More than a decade later, Elon Musk flew from Washington to Beijing in a GS550 to report on his work, which shows the status of the GS550 among private jets for a considerable period of time to come.

Just like the reviews of "Inception" on IMDb, Douban, and Rotten Tomatoes in my previous life.

If you pay attention, you can't ignore it.

So when he was in the Warner Bros. conference room and heard Neil Bloom, the Warner Bros. North American distribution manager in charge of the North American distribution, rattle off a bunch of numbers in an incredibly excited tone, he didn't feel much.

It only has a 9.2 rating on IMDb, but it holds the top spot with a 9.7 rating from the top 250 film buffs on IMDb.

But it's not like he hasn't experienced it before; wasn't the same with The Dark Knight?
The scoreboard was terrifying; it felt like it was going to annihilate the gods.

And now? It's tied for second place with The Godfather with a score of 9.4, but has been overshadowed by The Shawshank Redemption.

Let's talk about rotten tomatoes.

Although the current freshness rating is 94% and the audience popcorn index is 97%, it is still "remarkable".

But only one night has passed, and there are only 73 comments and less than 1 viewer ratings.

With such a small sample size, and the wind direction potentially shifting at any moment, what's the big deal?

It received a rare A+ from CinemaScore, an 86 from Metacritic, 92% of PostTrak audience ratings were five stars, and the #Inception3DMAX hashtag on X platform has garnered over 100 million views, among other things.

To be honest, after experiencing "The Dark Knight," Chen Nuo didn't care much about any of these things. They felt like empty fame, fleeting and ephemeral.

What he cares about is ticket sales.

Only glittering box office numbers can silence everyone, turn the world's media around, silence the doubters, and provide him with the hard currency to get out of his 1000 million!

result,

He didn't think the $550 million box office from the midnight screenings was good; it was only $300 million more than Avatar's initial $250 million.

Compared to the Dark Knight's 980 million and Twilight's 950 million, it's nothing.

和他们这次的竞争对手《变形金刚3》在6月21号卖出的800万票房相较，也差了快3分之1！

With over 4300 cinemas, the midnight occupancy rate for each cinema was less than 49%, although the IMAX theaters fared better at 68%. However, this was still somewhat different from the figures he had in mind.

This Neil Bloom is here saying it's as expected.

Sorry, that's not what he expected.

This is the 3D MAX version of Inception!

How funny!

"Clap clap clap!"

Michael Slan clapped and said with a beaming smile, "450 million! Thank you all for your hard work these past few days! Thank you Christopher, thank you Chen, this means I won't have to worry about getting yelled at when I call Barry later, thank goodness."

After spouting a bunch of nonsense, the fat man still wasn't satisfied and actually stood up.

Chen Nuo had no choice but to stand up and shake hands with him with a forced smile.

Then Chen Nuo sighed silently to himself and said, "Michael, tell me about the next steps."

Michael Slan was a little surprised and asked, "What do you mean?"

My work schedule.

"Uh, I don't understand. Didn't we agree before that you would rest in LA for three days, and then go to Tokyo with Watanabe to attend the premiere there, and preferably appear on one or two variety shows to promote the film's release in Japan on the 15th?"

"I know, but I think I should follow up on things on the US side as well?"

“Well… if you’re willing, I’d certainly be happy for you, but I think you should take a break,” Michael Slan said with a shrug.

Nolan added, "Chen, I strongly suggest you relax. You've worked so hard for so long, and the upcoming itinerary is the most tiring among us. Besides Japan, we'll go to South Korea, and finally China. Give yourself some breathing space. I'm really worried that you'll overwork yourself."

"That's right, Chen, you should take a good rest these few days."

"You've been working for a week straight, 4-5 hours a day. You're exhausted. Take a break."

"We've had a good start, and now we just need to follow the plan and wait for word-of-mouth to spread."

"Yes, yes."

"Yeah yeah."

People in the meeting room spoke up one after another, all trying to persuade him.

But Chen Nuo wouldn't listen.

How could he possibly listen to that?!
The money he invested in stocks is a small matter, but what about the money he invested in this movie?

In total, Renewal Entertainment invested $1.55 million in Inception, which is roughly 10 billion RMB!

He won't break even if he doesn't generate $10 billion in global ticket sales!
This isn't just his money.

There are also Qi Yuntian, Liu Yifei, and Fan Binbing.

The company hasn't distributed dividends for years, and everyone is eagerly waiting to see if they can make some money this time. Everyone's life savings are tied up in it, and if anything happens to them, even the smartest and softest leather seats in their GS550s will be incredibly uncomfortable.

It is said that film series have their own fan base. Fan-driven films like Transformers and Twilight are explosive films that "start strong but end weak, squeezing out all the profits in the first three days." However, Avatar and the others are long-tail films that rely on word-of-mouth to continue to spread.

However, the stark difference in box office revenue was right in front of him...

As the old saying goes—I understand the道理 (principles/reasons), but I just can't help it.

Chen Nuo immediately interrupted, "It's okay, I don't need to rest, I'm not tired. Michael, make the arrangements for me."

Michael Slan was stunned, then shook his head and said with a sigh, "I used to hear that Chinese people were very hardworking, but I didn't believe it. Now, Chen, you've really moved me. So... Neil, tell me about the invitations we've received?"

"All of them?" Neil Bloom asked hesitantly.

Meeting Michael Slan's questioning gaze, Chen Nuo nodded: "That's right, all of them. I'm going to Japan on July 12th. I have two days left. How many can I go?"

"Well, so far we've received invitations from about seven or eight shows, including The Ellen Show, The Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Jimmy Fallon Show, The Today Show, and Good Morning America. I'll contact them and see which ones we can accommodate."

"it is good."

Wow!
When Chen Nuozhen agreed, the entire conference room erupted in an uproar.

The fat American guys at Warner Bros. had never seen anything like this before. They immediately started whispering among themselves and casting admiring glances at Chen Nuo.

"That's incredibly dedicated."

"Absolutely the most professional celebrity I've ever seen."

"This guy is practically made of iron!"

"God, if anyone is forcing me to do this, I'd rather be on an assembly line tightening tiny screws to make cell phones."

"Yeah, yeah, I'd rather glue soles on Nike shoes."

Even Christopher Nolan asked with admiration, "Chen, are you sure you don't need to rest? Are you sure you're not tired?"

Chen Nuo smiled faintly and hummed in agreement.

……

……

July 9, Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. New York time.

The US stock market will open in 60 minutes.

Mason Collinskin and Jerry are on high alert.

"Jason, are we really going to liquidate all our positions?"

"Yes."

"but……"

This time, it was Jerry who hesitated. "Mason, do you want to think about it again? Maybe things aren't so bad? Look, it's already up 3% pre-market. How much higher can it go? I estimate there will be a lot of selling pressure as soon as the market opens. Should we wait a bit longer? Every 1% could bring us back an extra $108 million, which is no small amount."

Upon hearing the number 108 million, Mason Collins hesitated for a moment.

but……

Several glaring numbers flashed before his eyes.

He saw it yesterday morning.

The film grossed $2935 million on its opening day in North America and $615 million in the UK.

It looks ordinary, doesn't it?
It not only falls short of Transformers 3, but also falls far short of all previous records.

HBO box office analyst Rafi Clausen mocked the move on Sunday's show, saying, "A lot of hype, record-breaking number of theaters, over 4300 theaters, the 3D MAX hype, a global celebrity campaign, hahaha, and this is the result? Warner Bros.' attempt to replicate James Cameron's box office miracle has become a joke."

"Even Christopher Nolan and Chen Nuo combined can't compare to James Cameron's little finger. Oh no, it turns out they can't even compare to Michael Bay. Look at the strong performance of Transformers 3 this weekend. Despite a 25% drop in screenings compared to last week, they still achieved very good box office results!"

"I believe that theater managers across the United States are now regretting why they placed their bets on a movie that nobody had ever seen before, instead of believing in Transformers!"

"I bet that the opening weekend box office figures for Inception won't exceed $6500 million, which is far less than their own The Dark Knight and Transformers 3."

"I predict that after the two-week lockdown period, it will eventually be heavily reduced in theaters and become just a decoration in second- and third-tier cinemas."

"Ultimately, global ticket sales may barely reach 5 million, far below Warner's expectation of 10 billion!"

Is it well said?
very good.

Does that sound reasonable?

Of course it makes sense.

Does it sound persuasive coming from Rafie Clausen's eloquent mouth?
Absolutely inflammatory!
Otherwise, Mason Collins isn't a philanthropist, so why would he pay $20 to let him spout nonsense for a mere five minutes?

It's not just Rafi Clausen.

He began sending anonymous emails on Saturday night, mainly containing false information such as "Warner Bros. lacks confidence in the reputation of 3D" and "early internal testing received lukewarm feedback".

He also contacted several tabloids and used their accounts to post "real audience feedback data" on Twitter, simulating 1000 fictional reviewers who gave feedback on the film as "visually dazzling and having a difficult plot."

Finally, on Sunday, Raffi personally stepped in, taking the stage on HBO's weekly review program to launch a large-scale critique.

The whole point was to help him close his position smoothly with minimal losses! Jerry was still waiting for his response.

"...No, no, level them all!"

As he said those words, Mason Collins closed his eyes, remembering that he had previously planned to increase his short position and send others to hell.

But who would have thought... he went to the movie theater on the weekend, ready to see for himself what the movie was really like.

As a result, when the movie had only been playing for less than an hour and a half, when he saw the lifelike city in front of him, realistically rolling over, the buildings and streets seemed like a giant, overwhelming wave collapsing in front of him.

He had only ever seen such a scene in Avatar.

On Pandora, those colossal dragons swooped down from the sky toward his eyes. In the end, the dragons raked in $30 billion from cinemas worldwide, turning all those who shorted this most expensive film of all time and those who shorted News Corporation into charred corpses with a single breath.

And this time, could it be his turn?

Mason Collins stopped himself from thinking any further, a sense of relief rising within him.

No, it won't.

He still has a profit in hand and can withdraw unscathed!

But at that moment, his expression suddenly changed drastically.

Because on the computer screen in front of him, the Warner stock, which was undergoing small-scale pre-market trading, had changed. This time, its candlestick chart didn't resemble a cobra, but rather a giant python, suddenly and slowly but resolutely climbing upwards.

……

"Mom! Hurry up, don't hesitate!"

In Louisiana's Baton Rouge, Susan looked at the screen on her computer and couldn't help but shout, "Don't wait any longer! Look, it's already up 3.4%! Hurry, hurry, buy it now!"

Karen turned around and yelled, "Shut up! Didn't you say you had a cold? Why don't you look like one at all now?"

"Mom, what time is it? Why are you still worrying about this? You've already asked for leave for me, haven't you? Never mind, just buy it! Hurry, hurry, my goodness, the price keeps going up!"

"Buy my ass!" Karen Wilson cursed again, turning back to look at the screen.

Susan was right; although there were ups and downs, the overall trend was indeed upward.

How to do?
It seems she's not the only one who's optimistic about Warner Music; she really should buy it too.

But her money hasn't arrived yet.

Although I transferred another $2 to my stock account over the weekend, the banking system is not open on weekends, so the money will not arrive until the market opens.

"mom!"

"stop fighting!"

Karen Wilson didn't bother explaining this to Susan.

"Mom, don't you want to buy it anymore? No, Mom!"

Seeing this, Susan became extremely anxious and said urgently, "Think about all the materials we looked at together over the weekend, what did the critics on Rotten Tomatoes say?!"

"The New York Times called it the greatest science fiction film of all time, eclipsing even Star Wars! The Hollywood Reporter said that Chen and Nolan have once again delivered an unparalleled surprise to this summer's film market. Variety said it delivers 3D effects no less impressive than Avatar. And The Washington Post went even further, saying it surpasses Avatar! Because the beauty of Pandora cannot compare to the magnificence and wonder of a dream!"

"Look at its freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It went from 94% on day one to 96% now, and there are now more than 250 reviews. But its score has only increased by 2%. Doesn't that say something?"

"And the same goes for IMDb, IMDb-250 went from 9.7 to 9.8! Damn, that's 0.4 higher than The Godfather and The Dark Knight, and 0.3 higher than The Shawshank Redemption!"

"It didn't even cause much controversy, and there wasn't a huge battle like the one between fans of The Dark Knight and The Godfather. It seemed to have gained everyone's approval!"

"And the topics and posts on X have already exceeded 100,000, even more than Avatar! CinemaScore A+, PostTrak 5 stars 82%..."

"Mom, if you don't believe any of this, don't you believe the movie theater we went to together? Such an expensive IMAX theater, and we could only sit in the damn second row!"

"Don't listen to that idiot box office expert from HBO. I bet he took money from who-knows-who! Probably Transformers 3! They're so jealous, you know?"

“Aurol and Joseph have already been there three times, and now they’re planning to buy tickets for a fourth! You know, Joseph isn’t even a fan of Chen, he’s going to see this movie entirely because of the movie itself!”

"Inception's weekend box office is going to be fantastic, I bet!"

"I saw the stock price increase of News Corp. after Avatar was released over the weekend. Warner Bros.' market value is about 30% smaller than News Corp.' It had also fallen quite a bit before, so I think it should have at least a 20% increase!"

"Mom~~~~ Don't hesitate!"

As Susan spoke, Karen Wilson's expression changed from initial impatience to calm. Then she suddenly explained, "I didn't hesitate. I didn't buy it because my money hasn't arrived yet. Susan, those data you mentioned earlier, did you look at them over the weekend?"

“Yes, Mom.” Susan’s voice immediately softened. “I went online after I finished my homework. I just wanted to help out.”

Karen Wilson looked at Susan thoughtfully and said, "I didn't expect you to remember so much data... It seems you inherited this trait from your father."

"Okay, Mom, let's not talk about that. Look at the stock! My God, it's already up 4%! FUCK! Stop going up!"

"Susan, stop swearing!"

"Sorry, Mom, I just... Shit, it's going to go up! Damn it, how high will it end up at the opening bell!?"

"Susan!"

The answer is 6%.

It rose from $13.04 at Friday's close to $13.82!

At this point, Karen Wilson hesitated, but in the end, under Susan's repeated urging, she bought all $2 worth of the shares.

On the other hand, Mason Collins hesitated.

If it's 3%, he still has millions of dollars in unrealized gains.

But if he had closed his position at $13.82, combined with the $60 he had already lost and various information fees, this series of operations would have cost him almost a million dollars!

Therefore, even with his extensive experience, Mason Collins hesitated.

In fact, his hesitation seemed quite justified in the first half hour.

After opening 6% higher, Warner shares surged to 7% before a large number of sell orders appeared, pushing the price down to 4%.

At this point, Mason Collins felt that things weren't so terrible after all.

So he chose to continue waiting.

In any case, according to past practice, authoritative box office statistics websites such as Box Office Mojo or Comscore will not release the data they have collected from film companies and theaters until noon.

It's only a little past 10 a.m., he still has plenty of time to think about whether or not to take that gamble.

However, he didn't sit idle. He kept in touch with an acquaintance at Box Office Mojo to ensure he received the news before the box office figures were released.

These are what's known as the tentacles of Wall Street.

Similar relationships exist everywhere, from the White House in Washington, D.C., to a police station in Atlanta.

In this situation, how can retail investors possibly compete with him?

"I've helped you so much, how are you going to thank me?"

"You can have anything you want. How about I give you a good FUCK next time we meet? Eileen, your pussy always drives me crazy."

“SHIT, Mason, don’t talk about this on text messages. I’m afraid someone will see it.”

"By whom? Your husband? Or your lecherous boss? Are you afraid he'll find out you're actually a cheating bicth?"

“FUCK YOU, Mason. Watch out, next time we meet I’ll bite your cock off.”

“Hahahaha, I…”

Mason Collins propped his legs up on the table, tilted all three chair legs back, and maintained a precarious balance on his buttocks while texting an acquaintance across from him on his phone.

I've only typed a few words in this text message.

"WTF!" came a panicked exclamation.

With a loud crash, Mason was startled, lost his balance, and fell to the ground. Ignoring the pain, he scrambled to his feet and rushed to the screen, shouting, "What happened? Jerry!"

"Look at Mason, WTF, what on earth happened?!"

Mason Collins looked closely and suddenly felt a wave of dizziness.

Looking at the candlestick chart of Warner stock, it was no longer a cobra; a cobra wouldn't be pointing so high. It was clearly a dragon standing on a mountaintop, flapping its wings, ready to soar into the sky at any moment.

The original 4% has suddenly risen to 8% in this unexpected surge, which is 2% more than the opening price.

If it rises a few more points, it will hit his stop-loss line!
"What's going on?!" Mason Collins yelled. "You guys need to find out right now, call around and ask who's letting us in, and what went wrong? FUCK, FUCK!"

Just as chaos erupted in his office, his phone rang again.

It was a text message from that old flame.

"Mason, look at NBC! Today's Show! Chen's on it!"

Mason Collins had a bad feeling all of a sudden.

When he rushed out of the office and into the lobby, he turned on the TV next to him and watched NBC's Today Show, which airs every morning from 9 to 11, together with Jerry who was following behind him. The dark-haired man on TV had obviously already said everything he needed to say.

Meanwhile, host Matt Lauer exclaimed in surprise, "Are you serious? Chen, is this the data you just received? $8870 million, that's your box office revenue for the weekend?!"

The dark-haired man, dressed in a black suit, had sharp eyes and a confident smile on his lips, like a dream thief who had stepped out of a dream, exuding a calm and charming aura.

Upon hearing the host's question, he nodded and said, "Yes, that's right."

"My God..." the host exclaimed again.

Mason Collins couldn't hear what was said next.

$8870 million, a full $1170 million more than Avatar!
Even Transformers 3, which is geared towards fans and has a strong brand effect, only leads it by less than 1100 million!
What does this mean?
Mason understood everything.

That bastard actually... Doesn't he know the rules?! What gives him the right to announce box office figures on TV? He's just a nobody... Oh right, isn't he also an investor?

FUCK, it’s over!
Mason's mind was in complete disarray; this sudden attack had utterly disrupted his plans.

"Mason, what do we do?" Jerry's panicked voice rang out from the side.

Mason finally snapped out of his daze, "Close the position! Close the position immediately!"

He yelled and dashed into the office.

And on the television screen behind him.

The man, who had been full of energy, suddenly covered his mouth and let out a lazy yawn.

"Chen, without a doubt, this result has exceeded the expectations of all box office prediction experts. Is there anything you would like to say to the audience? Especially those who bought Warner stock under your influence?"

Chen Nuo decided that after the event was over, he would go back to sleep and sleep until he was completely exhausted.

As for the afternoon and evening programs, sorry, go if you want. And regarding the so-called "diligence and dedication" image, sorry, his abilities are truly limited, so I won't try to earn that for the Chinese.

Upon hearing Matt Lauer's words, he didn't even want to speak English anymore and said directly in Chinese, "Gong Xi Fa Cai" (Wishing you prosperity).

(End of this chapter)