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

Chapter 416 Secrets of Hong Kong!
The biggest dark horse of the summer! "Painted Skin 2" breaks the record for the highest single-day box office in China's summer movie season on its opening day!

3.5 million! "Painted Skin 2" breaks the record for the highest-grossing opening weekend during the summer season in China!

"700 Million Yuan in 10 Days: Chinese Films Welcome Another Billion-Yuan Blockbuster!"

"Painted Skin 2" is expected to break the box office record previously held by "The Battle of Jinling" during the Spring Festival!

The popularity of the "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" IP validates China's film market, officially surpassing Japan to become the world's second-largest film market!

……

A dozen days later, Chen Jin walked out of the gym again, looked at the news that popped up on her phone, and couldn't help but laugh.

His shoulders and chest have become noticeably larger. After nearly half a month of training, he has gained 4.5 kilograms, almost entirely of which is muscle.

Although he doesn't look like a muscular man, he has an extraordinary masculine charm. Compared to his previous handsome face, which was already better than that of a young heartthrob, he clearly has a more indescribable quality.

Perhaps, it's like the legendary masculinity... even though Chen Jin is only in her early twenties.

"The box office in mainland China is really amazing! Movies that easily reach 1 billion yuan are common. Look at Hong Kong, we don't even have a movie that has reached 10 million Hong Kong dollars!"

"Yes, Hong Kong's film industry is failing, so they can only make money from the mainland!"

"Some people even look down on the mainland..."

"..."

When Chen Jin arrived at the film set, she overheard several extras chatting. Clearly, the box office record of "Painted Skin 2" had spread widely among the public, even reaching Hong Kong compatriots.

These days, Huayi's marketing is truly ubiquitous, with news reports about it almost everywhere.

Chen Jin actually had doubts about "Painted Skin 2" breaking records, because the Douban score was only 5.4, a completely failing score.

Compared to its phenomenal box office success, this rating is absolutely unbearable to watch; it's a completely terrible movie.

Such a film breaking Chinese box office records in 2013... is actually quite normal.

How could "Monster Hunt," another terrible movie released two years ago, have grossed 24.36 billion yuan?
Of course, it's well-known that "Monster Hunt" was a rip-off, and Chen Jin is certain that "Painted Skin 2" was also a rip-off.

While others might not be able to produce evidence, Chen Jin has a system to check. In the original timeline, although "Painted Skin 2" broke many records and grossed over 7 million yuan, it didn't have the same level of popularity as it does now.

No matter how much of a butterfly effect you use, it's impossible to turn a 7 million movie into a 17 billion one, right?

They even boasted that they would break the record of 17.89 billion for "Jinling"!

is it possible?

It's possible to rake in hundreds of millions at the box office.

Given Huayi's track record, they've even used shameless phrases like "breaking summer box office records" in their advertorials. What else are they incapable of doing?
Those who didn't know better might have thought they broke the box office record for "Jinling".

Even the word "record" is restricted.

Do you think you're Cat's Eye from the future?
Every movie has its records, like the record for domestic horror animated films during the summer season... In the end, it didn't even make 1 million, which is still a record.

It sounds reasonable, but it's really just embellishment.

Actually, it's not impossible for "Painted Skin 2" to reach 17 billion yuan, and it doesn't need to reach 7 or 8 million yuan.

Chen Jin analyzed it and figured that spending around 3 million should be about right.

Because of his butterfly effect, the mainland market was already showing a trend of box office boom and even bad movies making money.

These days, almost any movie can make money, even those adapted from variety shows.

For example, shows like "Where Are We Going, Dad?" and "Running Man".

Therefore, if the original timeline of "Painted Skin 2" had grossed 7 million yuan, it could now easily surpass 10 billion yuan.

Furthermore, the rise in popularity is spiral-like.

If you spend 10 million out of 1 billion, it might attract a large audience, which is the so-called blockbuster effect.

Just as no one expected "Ne Zha 2" to reach 150 billion+, once it reaches the 10 billion mark, the audience who want to see the movie will pay more attention, which will also lead many potential movie fans to the cinema.

In other words, if you spend 100 million, the final box office will definitely not be 11 billion, but at least 12 or even 13 billion.

Therefore, the more money is spent, the higher the final box office will be.

Huayi Brothers could actually manage to get a few hundred million, but anything more wouldn't be worthwhile. The news says they can break the record for "Jinling". If they really put in their best effort and really push the limits, they can definitely break the record for "Jinling".

These days, "box office manipulation" has become a very normal practice.

Almost every movie has some kind of manipulation, and there's also money laundering involved. Throughout 2013, many film studios would actually spend money to manipulate their performance, market value, and financial statements to make the data look better.

Chen Jin's actions had a butterfly effect, which led to all companies becoming even more enthusiastic about inflating box office figures. As the "leader," Huayi Brothers naturally had to set an example, because as a listed company, it had a higher return on investment for inflating box office figures.

Chen Jin was unaware of these industry secrets originally; Chen Su only told him about them after he started running the company.

Since CETC hasn't even started its involvement yet, Chen Jin doesn't want to do it that way.

The data looks impressive, but the reckoning afterward will also be impressive.

The future trajectory of Huayi serves as a cautionary tale, and Chen Jin clearly will not do the same.

Moreover, given the current positive development of CETC, there is absolutely no need for him to do this; why would he want to ruin his own prestigious reputation, and the industry consensus that "CETC products are always of high quality"?

These eight words have already spread across the internet.

This was certainly not spontaneous publicity from netizens; it was also some press releases and advertorials that Chen Su bought.

Hype is understandable, it's all for the sake of a movie's box office success; compared to Huayi Brothers' shady tactics and box office manipulation, CETC's little tricks are like the only clear patch of pure land in a pond of ink.

"18 billion, Huayi estimates that they will definitely not stop until they reach that number!"

A budget of 20 billion would be too high and would easily attract attention from higher authorities; however, it is just tens of millions more than "Jinling" and exceeds the 18 billion figure, which is quite delicate.

The same thing was done in the previous life of "Monster Hunt". In the end, it was exposed, suppressed by the Iron Fist, and then it was all forgotten.

In these kinds of situations, the higher-ups usually turn a blind eye, as long as you don't go too far.

20 billion is undoubtedly a very dangerous number.

Hua Yi was certainly aware of this, and he clearly had someone behind him.

"Chen Jin!"

Having just finished filming a scene, Jackie Chan walked out of the set naturally and greeted Chen Jin.

These days, Chen Jin comes over whenever she has free time to check on the filming progress. Cheng Long has only a few more scenes to film before he can leave early.

Then we'll film the escape scenes together with Bale, and that will mark the official end of filming for our roles.

He only needs one day to film the ensemble scenes because he plays a scavenger and doesn't actually have much interaction with the veteran played by Chen Jin. However, he does have quite a few scenes with the character played by Bale.

The most memorable part was also filmed with Bale.

Chen Jin was no exception.

The male lead has scenes with everyone else, while Chen Jin's second male lead and Cheng Long's third male lead only have one scene each, followed by many individual scenes for each of them.

So one person can take the photo for the call sheet, and then another person can come.

The process is easy to divide.

However, compared to Jackie Chan's character, Chen Jin and Bale actually have more scenes. The two of them, along with Wan Qian and several others, will be filming together for about half a month before Bale's solo scenes are filmed.

Because he was the male lead in "Hong Kong Trip", he had very few solo scenes.

"Big brother, you've worked hard!"

Chen Jin smiled politely at Cheng Long. After so many days of working together, Chen Jin still admired Cheng Long's dedication.

Moreover, this guy has a large group of people to support. The Jackie Chan Stunt Team was an additional condition for him to accept Chen Jin's film role. He could make the film, but his "old staff" could fill in for the stunt doubles and cameos.

This team is actually a top-tier international team. When the Jackie Chan Stunt Team was first established, it was called the Jackie Chan International Stunt Team. Its members include stunt performers, martial arts instructors, and action designers, and it is famous for its high-difficulty action design and life-threatening stunts.

However, due to some income disputes, the group was disbanded once, and most of the old members left, leaving only a newly gathered group.

That's why the media has always said that Jackie Chan's stunt team can't compare to Hung Ching-po's stunt team.

The Sammo Hung Stunt Team is full of famous members, such as Uncle Ying, Chow Siu-lung, the Landlady and the Landlord, etc., but there are not many famous members in the Jackie Chan Stunt Team.

In fact, many members of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team have become famous, but most of them work behind the scenes.

Because they had a falling out once, these people went to many film crews, and the earliest batch have actually become prominent figures in many action blockbusters.

The Sammo Hung Stunt Team has more actors. The two teams were formed with different initial intentions!
Hung Ching-po formed the Hung Clan Stunt Team to train actors and enable them to shine on screen; while Jackie Chan formed the Jackie Chan Stunt Team primarily to train martial arts instructors and behind-the-scenes staff.

It's like two different schools, one is a performing arts academy and the other is a technical academy. Their training focuses are different, so the ways to become famous are obviously different as well.

"The mainland market is indeed huge!"

"This year's box office has already surpassed 100 billion!"

"With the summer and Lunar New Year film seasons coming up, I feel like 200 billion RMB is no problem!"

As soon as Cheng Long sat down, he started talking to Chen Jin about the box office market.

He is someone who pays close attention to developments in mainland China; otherwise, he wouldn't have resolutely come to Beijing to develop his career after retiring from Hollywood, and even disbanded Jackie Chan's stunt team for this purpose.

While part of the reason might be that his Hollywood films were no longer successful and he suffered heavy losses from several bad movies, the fact that he chose to come to the mainland instead of Hong Kong speaks volumes.

"Brother, your body is in Hong Kong, but your heart is in the mainland!"

Chen Jin teased, and Cheng Long laughed heartily: "Of course, look at the market in Hong Kong now, it's a complete stagnant pool!"

"This year's box office champion only made HK$2700 million, which is less than what I made back then!"

Jackie Chan would tell Chen Jin almost every few days how awesome he was back then: "Back in my day, a movie with 2700 million wouldn't even make the top ten of the year!"

In the era of "Two Chows and One Jackie," this box office performance was indeed somewhat insufficient.

But "Love in the Buff" was already a strong contender, and Hong Kong fared even worse last year.

The 2700 million yuan earned by "Springtime Love" would have made it the runner-up at the annual box office last year, second only to... "3D Sex and Zen"!
Yes, last year's box office champion in Hong Kong was a Category III film, which generated a lot of hype and was indeed very popular.

Chen Jin has examined it several times; it is indeed quite large.

"They've all sunk so low that they have to rely on Category III films to boost their box office..."

"If you look at the mainland, one film after another breaks box office records, just like Hong Kong in the 80s!"

"I can't wait!"

Jackie Chan seemed to see the grand events of Hong Kong in the past being replayed on the mainland.

For someone like him who relies on the mainland for a living, the higher the box office, the better. But some directors and actors in Hong Kong are heartbroken, feeling like they've eaten shit. The Hong Kong film industry, which they've dedicated their lives to, has been shattered by the mainland, leaving them feeling extremely unbalanced.

In fact, the bureau didn't even give Hong Kong films a second glance, because there was no basis for comparison.

They're the kind of people who don't even know how to be grateful when given a bite to eat.

Without the mainland, Hong Kong cinema would have collapsed 800 years ago, and wouldn't it still be here today?

"Brother, was there any box office manipulation in Hong Kong back then?"

Chen Jin wasn't afraid of Hua Yi anyway, so she asked directly.

"?"

Jackie Chan was taken aback for a moment, but quickly recovered and laughed, "Haha, you're saying that 'Painted Skin 2' had its box office numbers inflated?"

"I didn't say that, I was just asking!"

"Have!"

Jackie Chan said loudly, "Of course there are padded movies, especially those released during the Lunar New Year season, but... we have no evidence!"

"Is it really true?"

"Weren't those years dominated by you, Stephen Chow, and Chow Yun-fat?"

"The championship isn't always shared among the three of you, so there shouldn't be any problem, right?"

These three don't need to inflate box office numbers at all; only those with average box office appeal would resort to such underhanded tactics.

"of course not!"

Jackie Chan waved his hand and said, "Actually, in Hong Kong, the strongest box office draw isn't me or Stephen Chow, nor is it Chow Yun-fat, but the Hui family!"

"Xu family?"

"The Four Heroes of the Xu Family?"

Chen Jin had heard of these four people.

"To be precise, it's the fourth brother, Hui Koon-chieh!"

Have you heard of it?

Cheng Long laughed heartily, and Chen Jin nodded: "I've heard of it, but I'm not very familiar with it... I don't remember it!"

"It's normal that you don't remember me at your age. When I first entered the industry, she was already a sensation throughout Hong Kong!"

"You know about the Hong Kong Lunar New Year film season, right? It was created by Sam Hui and Michael Hui. But if we're talking about the four brothers, the one who achieved the most is actually Sam Hui. Of course, the achievements of the other three were also very impressive in Hong Kong back then!"

"They are all very famous, like Ricky Hui and Uncle Ying's most classic 'Mr. Vampire'!"

"Hui Koon-mo is the director, behind the scenes, and very famous in the industry!"

"This Sam Hui isn't very famous in mainland China, probably not even as famous as the third brother, Ricky Hui. But the older generation in Hong Kong all know him, the God of Songs!"

Cheng Long laughed and said, "Back then, the God of Songs wasn't Jacky Cheung. Jacky Cheung is several generations behind. The first God of Songs was Sam Hui. He opened up the market for Cantonese songs and is the originator of Cantonese songs!"

"what?"

Chen Jin had never really heard of this person.

Listening to Jackie Chan speak felt like listening to gibberish. The key point is that he was talking about movies before, so why is he talking about singing now?
"You're confused, aren't you?"

"That's what makes him so amazing. I admire him a lot. He's reached the pinnacle of singing, the God of Songs in Hong Kong, the pioneer of Cantonese pop. And his movies are also fantastic. That's the most impressive thing!"

"He was number one in Hong Kong at the time, both in singing and acting!"

"I won the annual box office champion title seven times, while Sam Hui won eight!"

"Even though Stephen Chow is so successful, he only won 8 awards, tying him with Stephen Chow. However, Sam Hui holds the record for the most annual box office hits for a film series, as well as the highest number of viewers!"

"His movies have the highest viewership in all of Hong Kong!"

"Doesn't this demonstrate his box office appeal?"

Cheng Long smiled faintly and patted Chen Jin on the shoulder: "Hong Kong's past was truly incredibly brilliant and glorious!"

"But that's all in the past!"

Cheng Long sighed, his eyes filled with regret.

Chen Jin became somewhat interested in this Xu Guanjie and asked with a smile, "Is this person... still alive?"

"Haha, of course he's alive. The one who passed away was the third brother, the really weird one. He filmed 'Mr. Vampire,' and he died last year from a heart attack!"

"Oh, by the way, I haven't heard of Sam Hui, but you should have seen his movies. He played the male lead, Linghu Chong, in the first 'Swordsman' movie. It's a classic, and everyone in Hong Kong thinks that 'Swordsman' movie is the best!"

"The version of 'Swordsman II' starring Brigitte Lin and Jet Li is a sequel to this one!"

"Oh... then I know who it is!"

Chen Jin had some recollection of it.

"Right? I admire this guy. He sang the theme song 'A Laughter in the Vast Sea' for The Smiling, Proud Wanderer!"

"In the blink of an eye, more than 20 years have passed, and Wong Jim has been gone for a long time..."

Cheng Long was clearly lost in reminiscence again. Chen Jin shook his head slightly; someone who had experienced the end of Hong Kong's golden age could understand.

It's just that many things, obviously, don't evoke the same strong emotions in Jackie Chan as they do in real life.

"Good job!"

"The mainland is counting on you. Your singing may not reach the level that Sam Hui had in Hong Kong back in the day!"

"You can make movies!"

Cheng Long's smile was rather bittersweet. He got up, patted Chen Jin's arm, and headed towards the film set.

As Chen Jin watched his slightly unsteady figure, she suddenly felt, for a moment, that this internationally renowned superstar was also slowly growing old, fading from her memory...

Perhaps what they should be most gratified about is that the video footage has been recorded forever!
(End of this chapter)