Fooling Huayu for Thirty Years

Chapter 520 Another summer blockbuster, "Yesterday's Me"? Fenbei.com's IPO alone netted hundreds of millions of US dollars?
"She's just trying to make amends with me."

"A gesture of goodwill? Why?"

Why do you ask so many questions?

"Hehe... I'm just curious."

Actually, Ye Quanzhen's question is quite reasonable.

Xu Feng's appearance this time was very abrupt, as if this woman had fallen in love and was throwing herself at him.

But in Ma Xun's view, this was perfectly normal, and it was clear that Xu Feng was somewhat intelligent.

"The entertainment industry has undergone tremendous changes, and the overall landscape is completely different from what it was two years ago."

Xu Feng, this woman, originally liked investing in movies, and she made a lot of money in this field.

However, her favorite investment target, Chen Kaige, is now, if not a pariah, a very pathetic figure.

Several blockbuster films in a row have all gone down the drain, especially the previous one, "The Promise".

I don't know if Xu Feng lost money or not, but even if she didn't, Chen Kai will have to think twice before continuing to invest.

But time waits for no one. The entertainment industry changes extremely rapidly these days. She used to have a high-handed attitude, always using the guise of investing in classic films, but now she can't keep up the act anymore.

This analysis really hit the nail on the head.

Upon hearing this, Ye Quanzhen immediately understood, and she even had her own analysis.

"Moreover, Tang Chen Yi Pin's reputation is not good now. It was attacked by many media outlets before, and the mainland people have a great aversion to this business."

Ma Xun nodded. "That's right, that's exactly it. Xu Feng's biggest goal should be to try to reverse the public opinion trend through some means, and coincidentally, our movie came along."

At this point, the two of them had completely analyzed Xu Feng.

However, another problem has arisen.

"But this property development has a bad reputation. Won't that affect our movie?"

Ye Quanzhen's concern is reasonable.

Ma Xun patted her on the shoulder and then laughed, "We're just making a movie and scouting locations. At least 99% of the audience won't be able to tell. I'll just thank Tangchen Yipin for its real estate project. As for the rest, it doesn't matter what she says."

It won't affect anything, but the key issue is, what happens after this woman…

"After that? Oh, I see. Her generosity now must be for future cooperation."

"That's right, she did have that idea. And now that we don't have to make this movie ourselves, since she's handling everything, it's just an advertising fee. Besides, she's also achieved her goal of currying favor with me."

But she's a businesswoman through and through; she'll definitely make good use of this money. In the future, she might just…

"Hold onto your leg?"

"She's too old, I'm not interested."

"Brother Ma, what are you thinking? I didn't mean that."

"Oh, haha..."

Good heavens, Ye Quanzhen actually set a little trap for Ma Xun.

Hmm, it's likely that Ma Xun stepped on it on purpose.

It's alright, this can be considered a little touch of romance.

Just like now, aren't the two of them kissing?

……

Regardless of Xu Feng's motives, at least the male protagonist's 'home' problem has been solved.

So, filming for the movie "Me Before You" can begin.

As for where the female lead lives, it's simple: she just finds an alleyway that hasn't been demolished and rents a house there.

That's settled.

As for the actors, Yuanyuan and Jingwen joined the crew smoothly after finishing their other business commitments.

However, when I joined the crew, I noticed that Ma Xun and Ye Quanzhen would often burst into laughter.

Clearly, their absence beforehand was somewhat intentional.

It just means giving Ye Quanzhen and Ma Xun more time together.

Takeshi Kaneshiro isn't the problem either; he's actually figured it out—there aren't many acting opportunities in Japan.

If you want to make movies or anything like that, you still have to come to China to make them.

Everything went very smoothly, and filming for "Before I Met You" began.

In this initial stage, Ma Xun had to stay with her, as Ye Quanzhen still needed him, and the film was mainly in his style.

First, the script is read aloud, and everyone shares their opinions. Then, each person goes back and analyzes their own character, which should involve creating a short biography for each character.

However, whether or not it is mandatory to write it now is not a hard and fast rule.

However, there are still benefits to writing.

Ma Xun didn't pressure anyone, but he was absolutely serious about this movie.

Anyway, if the performance is not good, he will definitely not be lenient.

We're filming here, and it's already summer vacation.

This year's summer movie season seems rather quiet.

It seems that this year's main focus has been on importing Hollywood blockbusters.

There's no way around it, there are two movies that are really highly anticipated.

One of them is Mission: Impossible III.

This film, directed by JJ Abrams, effectively sidelined Wu Yusen.

However, given the film's excellent reputation, it was naturally given great importance.

The other one is even more big-name: Superman Returns!
The superhero "Superman"... if you didn't know, it seems like many people wouldn't have noticed that this guy hasn't made a proper movie in over a decade.

That's right, superheroes were actually a rather niche genre before.

The reason for not making these kinds of movies is very simple.

Superman and Batman have cost Warner Bros. a lot of money in the past.

Especially the Batman version starring Schwarzenegger as the Iceman, that really made a killing.

That version had an extremely luxurious cast, full of big stars.

But since then, Warner Bros. has basically chosen not to make any more films.

Until recent years.

Kevin Feige joined Marvel and then sold the rights to the mutant franchise to 20th Century Fox.

The X-Men movies actually made money.

Spider-Man was actually sold to Columbia Pictures, but they still made a lot of money from it.

So Warner Bros. started making its own superhero movies again.

The Batman franchise has been rebooted by Nolan.

The results were quite good; let's reboot Superman this time.

Superman and Batman, and all those other Marvel superheroes.

It can be said that from now on, Hollywood is undergoing a directional change.

They themselves didn't even realize it.

Superhero movies will be their best source of profit in the future, but they will also drag them into the abyss.

But these are things that only Ma Xun probably knows right now.

So, are there no domestically produced films in this year's summer movie season?

Especially Ma Xun's?

Yes, of course there are. We still have quite a few domestically produced films to be released.

Moreover, Ma Xun isn't without his own films, but this year's Ma Xun film is rather special: "Yesterday's Me and Tomorrow's You".

This movie... why is it happening again?
It's not another one; this time it's the Japanese version.

Ma Xun sold the adaptation rights to this movie to Toho, and he even directly designated the female lead.

Masami Nagasawa!

As expected, Oyama did not disappoint him, and Masami Nagasawa did indeed have many collaborations with Toho.

The film was not difficult to make at all, and it was originally a Japanese romance film.

Now that the movie is finished, of course Ma Xun will bring it over.

However, the import of this film still needs to go through China Film Group.

But that's okay, as long as the talks go well. Besides, in essence, it was China Film Group and Toho that made the talks.

Han Sanping naturally saw the very good profit potential of this movie.

Then there's naturally no problem.

So, this is how the summer movie season is scheduled.

Mainly two Hollywood blockbusters.

Then there's a Japanese film adapted from a Chinese romance movie.

Ma Xun's name naturally appeared in the summer movie season.

It's true, just the name Masami Nagasawa alone has kept online discussions going strong.

And the male actor... Tomohisa Yamashita.

When this guy's name appeared again, it's true that many netizens in China are not very familiar with him.

But that anime, "Dragon Zakura," right?

Actually, quite a few people have already seen it.

As a result, the level of anticipation online has been extremely high.

Ma Xun certainly remembered that in the original timeline, after "Dragon Zakura," Masami Nagasawa and Tomohisa Yamashita should have collaborated on a film called "Operation Love."

This TV series is also extremely popular.

Later, we even made a remake in China, and I think the female lead was Chen Duling.

That's at least ten years from now.

Ma Xun couldn't help but sigh.

Before "Operation Proposal" was even released, they filmed "Yesterday's Me and Tomorrow's You".

It’s not bad.

In short, Ma Xun was indeed in this summer's movie season, but you could also say he wasn't.

Very flexible.

We'll see how it performs at the box office later.

While we were filming "Me Before You", Ma Xun received a phone call.

"Mr. Ma, hello there, haha... Are you free lately?"

"Hello Mr. Li, of course I'm available."

"That's good. I'll get straight to the point. A few old friends and I are planning to get together in Hong Kong. I wonder if Mr. Ma would do us the honor of joining us?"

"Hong Kong? An old friend? This deal must be quite substantial."

"Haha... I'll just get straight to the point, what do you think of Fenbei.com's IPO plans?"

really!

The caller was Li's second son. When Ma Xun answered the phone, he already suspected it was about Fenbei.com going public.

But this matter is not simple at all.

Ma Xun frowned slightly, and for a moment he was indeed hesitant.

This phenomenon has never occurred before. Although he is cautious, he has always been very decisive in business matters.

Actually, Ma Xun was thinking of Xu Feng, that old woman, who had also mentioned the Fenbei.com thing.

You have to understand, Xu Feng and her husband's family are, after all, upper-class families in Hong Kong, so they know a bit about the inside story.

So, is this a scam?
But can I not go?
However, this hesitation only lasted for a moment.

"Okay! I'll take care of things here and then head over."

"That's wonderful! I'll be happy to welcome Mr. Ma then!"

The second son of the Li family was very happy. After chatting about some useless things, the phone call ended.

"What's wrong?" Ye Quanzhen could tell that her brother Ma seemed to have encountered a problem.

"It's nothing." Ma Xun didn't tell her, because there was no point in telling her anyway.

But Ye Quanzhen could tell that she seemed to have encountered a difficult situation.

So she whispered in Ma Xun's ear, "How about I go with Yuanyuan and Jingwen... umm."

That last "uh-huh" was truly the essence.

Ma Xun laughed heartily after hearing this.

"We're filming a movie here."

That's right, he doesn't mess around on set, at least not on his own set.

Such a principle is acceptable.

Ye Quanzhen was slightly disappointed, but more than that, she was worried.

"We must be very careful this time."

"No problem, don't worry."

Ma Xun knew this trip was probably not simple.

Putting everything else aside, we must make preparations.

Yes, bring Bai Xiaohang along, and also bring a lot of other people.

Why not just hire a bodyguard team for myself?

And so, a large group of more than a dozen people flew to Hong Kong.

……

"Brother Ma, the Li family is quite powerful."

"I understand, everyone has to follow my lead."

"it is good."

This time, Bai Xiaohang has finally become a real bodyguard, and he's also in charge of a group of people.

Many of these people are veterans, while others work for specialized security companies.

Their combat strength is not bad.

Upon arriving in Hong Kong, as soon as we got off the plane...

"Oh! Haha... Mr. Ma, we've been waiting for you for a long time!"

My second brother from my hometown actually came to pick me up at the airport, and he was very enthusiastic.

Ma Xun shook hands with him, and everyone laughed and said a lot of very enthusiastic things, but nothing of substance.

And then...

"If Fenbei.com successfully goes public, Mr. Ma can own at least 20% of the shares, which is roughly worth at least hundreds of millions of US dollars!"

Wow! That sounds really tempting!
But Ma Xun thought to himself: Did I really invest that much money before?

(End of this chapter)