Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 114 Lions Gate, Don’t Try to Replace the Pillars
In Los Angeles, the early morning sun shines through the low-lying fog onto the streets of Beverly Hills. The glass curtain wall outside the Lionsgate Entertainment headquarters reflects the Hollywood sign in the distance.

The building is pleasantly air-conditioned, with clean, neat lines contrasting with modern furniture. It is simple yet textured, full of typical American film industrial style.

In the main conference room on the fifth floor of the headquarters, Michael Burns and Jon Feltheimer sat opposite each other at the ends of a long table, on which spread out a thick draft of the script and a list of investment estimates.

Jason Blum leaned back in his chair, his hands folded, waiting for Lionsgate to complete its review of the script.

Burns flipped through the script with a focused gaze, while Feldheimer raised his eyebrows slightly, his eyes fixed on the words "Fourth Reversal" in the script.

The two looked at each other, and a strange color flashed in their eyes.

They are all experienced producers who have seen countless exaggerated scripts, but this script is obviously different from the exaggerated scripts.

It has all the elements of a good commercial film:
Teamwork, unique approach to magic themes, reversal and deconstruction, and a satisfying ending.

This is a work that can catch the audience's attention and also has market potential.

"To be honest, this script is quite interesting." Jon Feldheimer finally spoke, his tone more serious, "But what I'm worried about now is whether Wu can make it?

As far as I know, Wu has no experience in filming B-grade productions?"

Jon Feltheimer gets to the heart of the matter.

Jason Blum was not worried at all. He leaned back in his chair and smiled, very relaxed:
"Who can be born with the experience of making a big production? Besides, you all know Wu's talent. Didn't 'Buried' make Lionsgate a few million dollars?"

The current North American box office of "Buried" is basically fixed at around 35 million US dollars. Although it is still being shown in some states, after deducting the publicity cost of 6 million US dollars, Lionsgate has earned about 3 million US dollars just from distribution.

Of course, Wu Chen earned about 4 million US dollars.

This is because Wu Chen and others are unable to bear all the publicity and promotion costs, which resulted in "Buried" becoming a standard low- to medium-budget independent film. Lionsgate is responsible for the publicity and promotion, and according to Hollywood's usual ratio, they will charge 25%-35%.

This is also why Wu Chen specifically brought in Lionsgate to participate, because by jointly investing or sharing publicity and promotion, the distribution ratio will be reduced by 10%.

He couldn't finish his share anyway.

"This is indeed a beautiful small-scale victory." Michael Burns nodded. "Buried Alive" is enough to prove that Wu Chen is indeed good at "making a big profit with a small amount of money."

He closed the script and looked at Jason:

"So what's Wu's idea? This project is currently considered a B-grade production, but we can increase the budget and move it up to A-grade."

"I made a rough production budget, and $40 million would be a comfortable range, allowing the film to be as complete as possible, which is also reasonable.

The cost of technology and special effects will be the biggest part of the film.”

He paused and smiled, "And Wu's intention is that he will bring in China Film Group to be responsible for the promotion and marketing in China."

"China Film Group?" Feldheimer raised an eyebrow in surprise. "China is indeed a market with great potential. If we manage it well, the box office will be quite impressive."

He then exchanged views with Michael Burns, and both nodded: "Okay, tell Wu we're willing to talk."

The next morning, Wu Chen received an email from Jason Blum and replied, "Let's talk in Beijing."

With the addition of Lionsgate, the project was basically completed, and Wu Chen immediately called Han Sanping.

Han Sanping was very positive, "Rest?
Why take a break? I'm going to Cannes to discuss copyrights, and it's scheduled for the day after I get back. The sooner it's settled, the better."

When the news got back to Los Angeles, Jason Blum and Michael Burns had no objection.

They often fly around the world for projects, but this time they flew to China.

On May 11, the 58th Cannes Film Festival officially opened.

Although three Chinese-language films were shortlisted for this year's Cannes Film Festival, the most popular one was Chen Kaige's "The Promise", which occupied half of the domestic coverage.

Chen Kai first achieved great success with his film The Promise at the Cannes Millennium Castle Promotion Conference, grabbing the headlines of the second day of the Cannes opening ceremony.
He also took Han Sanping and Chen Hong to meet Jacob, the president of the Cannes Film Festival, who is respected as the "King of Movies", and took the headlines on the third day.

After this operation, Han Sanping suddenly had a strange feeling, as if he was assisted by God.

The success of "The Promise" seems imminent. Film producers are very interested, and some have even been able to finalize some contracts in advance. After returning to Beijing in a few days, I will discuss a major production with Wu Chen and Hollywood.

Thinking of this, Han Sanping couldn't help laughing and toasted with Chinese filmmakers who came to the Cannes Film Festival, including Cheng Long, Chen Kaige, Wu Yusen, Chen Hong, Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Wang Xiaoshuai and others.

"Mr. Han, what are you so happy about?" Zhang Ziyi leaned over quietly and gently touched Han Sanping.

"Good news, very good news. You will know in a few days."

Han Sanping said cheerfully, but didn't point it out. He looked at everyone and sighed, "What a pity! If directors Zhang Yi and Wu Chen had come, we would have been able to have everyone."

Hearing this, Zhang Ziyi's eyes flashed.

She always felt that Han Sanping's mention of Wu Chen at this time was not that simple.

Not far away, Lu Xun was holding a wine glass. When he heard Wu Chen's name, he was stunned and couldn't help gritting his teeth.

It was the early morning hours in Cannes, the lights had just gone out, and the cocktail party had just ended.

And in Beijing, on the other side of the ocean, the sun has quietly fallen on the world.

In the early morning of May, the sky was still shrouded in light blue mist. New leaves swayed on the branches of the locust trees in the old neighborhood. An early summer breeze blew through the streets, bringing the faint fragrance of locust flowers.

Steam was rising from the breakfast stall on the street. The auntie working at the breakfast stall was scooping hot soy milk into cups. An old man was riding a tricycle carrying vegetables. The theme song of "News Broadcast" was still playing on the radio.

This is the time when the capital is at its most lifelike—not noisy, but full of energy and human touch.

In a few years these scenes will slowly disappear.

Wu Chen was leaning against the car and yawning when he heard brisk footsteps at the door. He looked up and saw Liu Yifei jogging towards him with two hot buns in her hands.

Today she was wearing a light blue linen shirt with a slightly open collar and the hem tucked into high-waisted light beige wide-leg pants. She was wearing a pair of clean white sneakers. Her ponytail was tied up high, and a few strands of hair were lifted by the wind and danced in front of her forehead.

There was no makeup on her face, just a layer of loose powder. Her skin was fair and her eyes were bright, as if they could hold up half the morning.

"Hey, junior brother, these are the buns." She handed over the buns with a smile, opened the car door, and sat in the passenger seat, not forgetting to fasten her seat belt.

Wu Chen returned to the car, chewing on a bun, and casually asked, "Why don't you sit in the back seat?"

"My mother taught me that sitting in the back seat will make the person driving the car look like a chauffeur, so you can't just sit there casually," Liu Yifei said with a smile.

Wu Chen almost choked on the bun, coughed twice, and quickly drank a sip of soy milk.

"By the way, is Teacher Zhang serious?"

Liu Yifei asked suddenly.

Zhang Jiqing came to Beijing yesterday afternoon and is currently meeting with friends at the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater. He also asked Wu Chen to bring Liu Yifei over to see how the student he will be teaching in the next two years is doing.

Wu Chen smiled but didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "Why didn't Auntie come today?"

Liu Yifei pouted slightly and whispered, "She said I'm almost grown up, and there are some things I have to face alone.

Besides, Teacher Zhang is my future Kunqu Opera teacher, we just need to meet."

Liu Yifei said it lightly, but her little hands were unconsciously tangled on her legs, like a kitten's paws blown by the wind. Her eyes were blinking, and her eyelashes were fluttering, shaking gently like a fan in the early morning light.

Wu Chen couldn't help but laugh, and turned his head to comfort her: "Don't be nervous, Teacher Zhang is a very nice person, speaks slowly, and seems very kind, don't worry."

"Oh," Liu Yifei dragged out the sound, and curled the corners of her mouth. "Junior brother, why didn't you tell me earlier? I was so nervous just now that I almost flattened the bun."

Wu Chen looked down and saw that there was indeed a small dent in the bun in her hand, and the skin was wrinkled, like a wilted white steamed bun.

"Eat it yourself, don't try to replace it with something else!"

"I don't want to eat it. I'll give it to you." Liu Yifei snorted and tilted her head to look out the window, but the corners of her mouth curled up slightly and a smile crept up to the corners of her eyes.

(End of this chapter)