I was just thinking about taking the arts exam and you said I've been playing supporting roles

Chapter 402 A Shocking Decision!

"Chan, I think we can start preparing a celebration banquet!"

Harvey Weinstein's excited voice came from the other end of the phone, and Chen Jin raised an eyebrow slightly: "Oh?"

Today's box office seems to be doing well?
"Although the full-day data for North America on the first day is not yet available, our company's market analysts have been able to arrive at a general range by comparing films released in similar periods, of similar genres, and with similar box office performance!"

Chen Jin still believed in this guy on this point.

Many market analysts in North America are quite professional, just like film producers, after all, that's their job.

If the prediction is inaccurate, we'll have to leave the next day.

This is an extremely risky profession, but it is also an indispensable part of North American film and television companies.

With their help, we can thoroughly analyze market trends, filming styles, and so on, and know which types are popular with audiences.

Predicting box office revenue is just the most basic part of their job.

"As of now, including last night's midnight showing, 'The Battle of Jinling' has grossed over 200 million US dollars!"

"The total for the day should be around 500 million!"

"At worst, it could reach 2000 million in the first weekend!"

This is similar to a conclusion drawn from future big data analysis. Although it's not 100% accurate, as Harvey said, it's certainly something to celebrate.

Even if it doesn't reach 2000 million or 1500 million in its opening weekend, "The Golden City" will still have a final North American box office of at least 3000 million.

That means "The Battle of Jinling" will gross at least $3000 million in North America!

This is already a lower limit prediction; if we go for a higher limit, it's hard to predict.

It's quite possible that cinemas will reopen, and the situation could improve week by week, similar to the case of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

However, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had the backing of an Oscar and was the first martial arts masterpiece in North America, making it more sensational than the Chinese version of Schindler's list of names, such as The Battle of Jinling.

Generally speaking, in North America, a film's opening weekend box office is 25-30% of its final box office.

Based on this pattern, "Jinling" should be priced between 6000 and 6500 million.

Harvey and Chen Jin certainly couldn't make such a rosy budget, since Chinese films are not like North American films, and there was indeed the factor of Chinese audiences watching the movies at the beginning.

But becoming Chinese is also a downfall.

There will be errors in the data. Hollywood movies are aimed at all audiences and have a large audience. However, Chinese movies are mainly aimed at Chinese audiences, which may lead to inflated data in the early stages and inflated data in the later stages. Therefore, the estimate of 3000 million is a very realistic guess.

If that's the case, then it's the same thing this guy said in the early morning; he also said 3000 million back then!
That's why he said he wanted to prepare a victory celebration banquet.

3000 million is already a win.

He earned most of it.

"Then congratulations to you, the guy who was reluctant to spend $3000 million to buy the distribution rights to 'Jinling'!"

Chen Jin was teasing him, and Harvey immediately burst into laughter: "Chan, you should understand the shadow of my previous two losses!"

"Zhang's films have a very unstable performance in North America!"

"That's why I can't just take action directly!"

Harvey tried to justify himself, but Chen Jin immediately and mercilessly exposed his hypocrisy: "Wayne, you're in business. Don't you know what movies will sell and what won't?"

"Let's say 'Curse of the Golden Flower' is a martial arts story, but those three shots weren't well-received by our own people, let alone North America!"

"But Jinling is different!"

Chen Jin had actually analyzed this point with Harvey six months ago.

This is an international film aimed at people all over the world, so that they can understand the heinous crimes committed by Xiao Rizi in China.

Moreover, the lead actor, Christian Bale, is a Hollywood superstar.

Based on these two points alone, "The Golden City" is completely different from "Curse of the Golden Flower" and "A Simple Noodle Story".

Both films were made for Chinese audiences, but unfortunately they were poorly made; while "Nanling" had a different goal, it was Zhang Yimou's ambitious work.

"Okay, okay, whatever you say is right now!"

"After all, 'War Flower' is going to make me money, haha!"

This is the typical face of many Jewish Americans.

As long as you let him make money, he'll be easy to talk to, and he'll be happy even if you scold him a few times.

"Don't forget the victory celebration dinner this weekend; I hope you can attend!"

"I think your goal shouldn't just be to make tens of millions in box office revenue for 'Jinling,' right? Your new film should set an even higher box office record!"

Harvey was right after all.

Chen Jin's goal, of course, is for all her future films to be released in North America and to be box office hits.

Even if "The Battle of Jinling" grossed 3000 million, it wouldn't be enough to boost his fame. Only when the films he starred in grossed 1-2 million, like those starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, would foreigners have an impression of his Chinese face.

One film might not be enough; we need to do several more to deepen their impression and let them try to understand this Chinese actor.

It's actually the same concept as Hollywood stars becoming famous in the country.

Bale and others didn't become famous in China overnight with just one film; it was the result of accumulating experience from several works.

Harvey saw this, which is why he invited Chen Jin to try to integrate into the upper echelons of Hollywood. It was also a kind of early investment in this Chinese movie star and boss.

Mainly, he also wants to make money off Chen Jin, more money, not just from movies, but also from things like Oscar PR, he wants to be an agent for those too.

This is a huge profit.

Despite his pig-like appearance, Harvey actually has a say in the Oscar voting.

The films he produced have won numerous Oscars, including Best Actor and Best Actress awards. Leonardo DiCaprio's good relationship with him is actually due to this ability; he wanted DiCaprio to manage a film and win him an Best Actor award.

He went on to compete for the Oscars many times, and the film that finally won him the Best Actor award, "The Revenant," actually owes a debt to The Weinstein Company.

It also invested in the film and participated in the casting.

It's fair to say that before his career collapsed, Harvey was an absolute hot commodity in Hollywood.

Befriending him wouldn't actually do Chen Jin any harm in her future Hollywood career.

"Okay, I'll definitely be there on time. See you the day after tomorrow!"

See you the day after tomorrow, remember—

Harvey's sly chuckle came from the other end of the phone: "Don't bring any female companions, you know what I mean!"

I don't understand you!

Chen Jin really didn't want to go along with this guy's evil ways... but sometimes, men are not in control of their own lives and have to protect themselves.

Yes, he was forced into it.

How do you say that?

There are four ironclad bonds in life: studying together, fighting together, sharing spoils together, and visiting prostitutes together.

The first two are definitely unrelated to Harvey, but Leonardo DiCaprio, Quentin Tarantino, and the others are with him, so they must be the latter two. Therefore, their revolutionary friendship is very solid!
Snapped!
Chen Jin hung up the phone, looked at her phone and shook her head, still slightly excited.

It's not because of the North American models who came out the day after tomorrow, but because of the North American box office of "Jinling".

If it can really reach 3000 million, then this movie can be considered a success.

The global buzz will definitely be much bigger than before, and we can also try other markets, such as South America, Australia, and Asia, mainly Japan and South Korea.

Chen Jin now possesses the same ambition as Zhang Yimou.

The success of the European and American version of "Nanjing" made him set his sights on the global stage.

Even if it's not for profit, and we sell the distribution rights in other regions at a low price, we still want the whole world to know about the beastly things that Xiao Rizi has done to China.

Sometimes things are just that strange.

In fact, according to the original timeline, the global distribution rights for "Jinling" were offered at incredibly low prices, practically free. But nobody bought them.

But now that it's become popular, the price is probably set by the other party, and many people want to compete to have "Jinling" released in their own countries.

This is probably because they saw a business opportunity, whereas originally there was no possibility of making money from "Jinling".

Some small countries certainly wouldn't import this kind of film.

However, now that so many have been sold in North America, it's hard to say.

……

Chen Jin returned to the negotiation room of CAA Brokerage.

Casting director Steven Winger was talking to David and Chad about the resumes of some actors, even though they were listed on an iPad. He had obviously done his homework and could say a few words about each of the Chinese actors.

This really demonstrates his professionalism and shows that he put his heart into it.

It is well known that Asians are the least favored in Hollywood circles, and Chinese Americans are at the bottom of the Asian American hierarchy.

There aren't many famous Chinese actors in this industry to begin with, and it's already good enough to find someone who's actually filming. In fact, many of them are only slightly better than extras; let alone fame, their professionalism is also questionable.

Therefore, it takes a lot of time for casting directors to find and organize so much information from the Screen Actors Guild.

Not to mention trying to find out about each one individually, which might involve phone calls and so on.

The quality of a casting director can actually be seen from their understanding of each actor, especially those who are not well-known.

There's a reason why Steven Winger is poised to become a casting icon in Hollywood.

"So, is there anything suitable?"

Chen Jin's words were completely pointless. David shrugged: "I don't know. I feel like they all look the same. I've only been listening to Wenger talk about each actor's strengths and weaknesses!"

"Hahaha!"

Chen Jin could tell that David was telling the truth.

Because many Chinese people think that all white people look pretty much the same, they can only really tell them apart once they get to know them.

Black people, in particular, are considered a disgrace.

"Let me do it!"

Chen Jin took the iPad, which was already connected to the projector, and a handsome face of an Asian man appeared on the screen.

"Chan, actually I think it doesn't have to be non-Chinese. We can consider Asians, like Koreans or Japanese?"

Steven Wenger whispered in Chen Jin's ear.

These were good suggestions, but Chen Jin understood his meaning.

In North America, the largest number of famous Asian celebrities are actually of Korean and Japanese descent. And like many Chinese celebrities, they often use dubbing or speak English later on, so you wouldn't know their nationality unless you looked into it.

If that's the case, it would indeed save a lot of trouble when it comes to casting.

However, Steven Wenger still made a mistake in his work; he didn't bother to find out Chen Jin's preferences.

Being of Chinese descent was already the biggest concession he made to get into Hollywood for "Hong Kong Trip," let alone using Japanese and Koreans, even though they have become American citizens and are no longer citizens of those two countries.

But Chen Jin still didn't like dealing with them.

"Wenger, let me take a look at the system first!"

Chen Jin did not answer his question, but instead scrolled through the photos and names of each actor.

He compared his own observations with some future famous Chinese actors he had researched in his mind.

Why use a famous one?

It's very simple. Becoming famous at least means that their acting skills are passable. It doesn't mean that they have any real ability, because becoming famous is a mystery. But if you're incompetent, it's very difficult to become famous. Most of them have some basic acting skills.

Chen Jin didn't want a very famous supporting actor; he just hoped the actor's acting skills would at least be okay!

These Chinese actors are not the main characters in "Hong Kong Trip," but rather the lead actors, who need to deliver strong performances. The box office success is the responsibility of Bale and Chen Jin, while everyone else simply needs to fulfill their duties as actors.

"This is acceptable!"

Chen Jin suddenly pointed to a handsome young man who looked a bit older than he was, born in 82 and currently 30 years old, but still looked very youthful in the photos.

He should have no problem playing a baseball player in his twenties.

In fact, her resume also fits the bill quite well.

Although he doesn't play baseball, he's an outstanding dancer and the lead actor in the "Step Up" series, enjoying considerable popularity in North America.

Cen Yongkang's father was from Yueshi and his mother was from Hong Kong. He also speaks Cantonese.

That's great!
"He could play a baseball player!"

Chad, who was standing nearby, also sensed Chen Jin's favoritism towards this actor.

"Hmm, this one could play his girlfriend!"

"The Baseball Player's Girlfriend!"

Constance Wu, an immigrant from Taiwan, is the female lead in the upcoming global hit Singaporean film "Crazy Rich Asians".

This low-budget film, invested in by Warner Bros., ultimately grossed $2.3 million worldwide, especially in North America, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

"..."

Steven Wenger shrugged; he didn't have any objection to the casting of Chen Jin.

Rather, Chen Jin is very strange.

He spoke with the same conviction that he knew these Chinese-American actors.

You know, other producers usually select several actors for auditions, and they would never be so sure... But Chen Jin seemed to have already decided on these few actors, which was a very strange illusion.

"the last one!"

Chen Jin suddenly handed the iPad to Wenger: "I'll contact Jacken Chan or Jet Lee first to see if they're available!"

"What?!!!"

David and Chad, who were standing nearby, thought Chen Jin was joking.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li?

"Boss, are you kidding me?"

David grinned.

With these two actors in the lead roles, especially the former, there's no need to worry about the box office performance of "Hong Kong Trip".

Cheng Long is still a formidable fighter on the international stage.

"No, I just want to try it out. This is an idea I've been thinking about for a few days!"

"I just don't know if they'd be willing to play a supporting role that's only a dozen or so minutes long!"

Chen Jin felt that Jackie Chan would be a perfect fit to play a scavenger in "Train to Busan".

The final scene where Gao Guang saves the protagonist is extremely brilliant.

If Jackie Chan wanted to, this movie would definitely become one of his representative works!

However, while Jackie Chan is currently very popular internationally, he has shifted his focus to the mainland Chinese market, where he is doing quite well at the box office.

"Chinese Zodiac" and "New Police Story 2013" are the highlights of this year.

Both films performed reasonably well at the box office.

To persuade him to play a supporting role, it's not enough to just have money; besides availability, you need something that can move him.

If neither of them is willing to take the role, Chen Jin will have to settle for a less suitable Chinese-American.

But Jackie Chan really did have a lot of value for "A Trip to Hong Kong"!
(End of this chapter)