Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 273 Cohabitation, Released

The Beijing Film Academy's graduation ceremony did not receive much media coverage.

With the summer movie season underway, the media is focusing on both the upcoming premiere of "Black Peony" and its box office performance, as well as the Shanghai International Film Festival, which is about to close.

At this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, the undercurrents on the jury panel were more eye-catching than the nominated films.

The feud between Chen Kaige and Lu Xun is practically an open secret in the entertainment circle.

Since the "steamed bun" incident, Lu Xun had publicly criticized Chen Kaige, and later, in his sarcastic remarks about Wu Chen, he inexplicably dragged Chen Kaige into the conversation as well.

Chen Kai was always concerned about his image, and he was full of arrogance and pride. He had long kept Lu Xun in mind.

As the chairman of the Shanghai International Film Festival, Chen Kaige completely ignored Lu Xun during the red carpet, meet-and-greets, and forum speeches, not even giving him a glance, treating him as if he were invisible.

This infuriated Lu Xun.

However, Wu Chen was in high spirits at this moment.

The sunlight outside the car window was dazzling. Liu Yifei, sitting in the passenger seat, propped her head up and teased, "Junior brother, I didn't expect you to have moments of guilt."

When you saw my mother just now, you didn't dare to look her in the eye.

"cough"

Wu Chen coughed lightly to cover up his embarrassment. Although he felt a little guilty for helping Liu Yifei with her luggage, he had at least managed to pick her up. They would be living together from now on, so the momentary embarrassment didn't matter.

"By the way, what did your auntie say to you just now?" Wu Chen asked curiously.

"My mom told us not to eat out too often, and to cook at home whenever we have time. If we don't have time, but the place is so close, we can go out to eat."

Liu Yifei smiled and replied, her eyelashes trembling slightly in the sunlight, her eyes brimming with undisguised joy, as she murmured to herself:

"It's good that it's close by, we can go back and forth between the two places. Hmm, how about we get a few more cats and dogs?"

Wu Chen chuckled and did not refuse. He also liked cats and dogs, but he felt that the two of them might not have enough time. If something came up, they would have to leave the pets with Liu Xiaoli or Shu Chang to take care of them.

The villa was originally very quiet, but with Liu Yifei's luggage and belongings brought in, it instantly felt like "someone lived there".

A light pink nightgown hangs on the balcony, a thin hairband is wrapped around the corner of the sink, and a pair of fluffy bunny ear slippers rest quietly by the bed.

On her desk were the page numbers of her script clipped together with small clips, and even the fragrance in the bathroom had been changed from "woody sandalwood" to "lily of the valley rain".

Every few steps Wu Chen took, he would see a new "invasion," but this invasion inexplicably gave him a sense of security and peace of mind.

"All done!" Liu Yifei clapped her hands, looked at the tidied master bedroom, turned her head and looked up, "Junior brother, do you want to kiss me? I'm so sweet right now!"

Wu Chen walked over, bent down and kissed her forehead: "You're always so sweet."

“It’s even sweeter now!” She laughed happily, linking her arm with his and strolling around the villa, not at all like a newcomer to the house. “Let’s put a full-length mirror here in the future, so I can check my condition before taking pictures. This is where we can hang your trophies. That row is too tacky. It would look better if we replaced it with a display case with floating lighting.”

"Remember not to put clutter in the bathtub in the master bedroom; it's for taking a bath on weekends."

"And your office and study, why is it so lifeless? I'll help you change the colors!"

As Wu Chen watched her bustling around the house, he suddenly felt a little amused—it seemed that he didn't know this house as well as Liu Yifei did.

"Why do I have a feeling you've been eyeing this place for a long time?" Wu Chen suddenly asked.

"No way, what nonsense are you talking about?" Liu Yifei glared at him, but her face was as red as a freshly cooked sunset.

night.

Outside the window, everything was a deep, inky blue, and the wind from the outskirts of Beijing rustled softly against the windowpane.

The study in the villa, however, was a warm and tranquil space.

Soft light fell on the wooden desk, where Wu Chen was editing the script for "The Martian" on his computer using Final Draft.

On the table were some scraps of paper, on which were the dialogues and structures that he was pondering, covered with dense scribbles.

On the sofa in the living room, Liu Yifei's face flushed red as she was amused by Shu Chang's unrestrained remarks.

"You guys wouldn't have a child by the time I get back, would you?"

"What are you saying!" Liu Yifei said softly and coquettishly. "I'm not talking to you anymore. I have a movie promotion event and an interview with the movie channel tomorrow. I need to get some rest."

"Are you planning to rest early? I don't even want to call you out on it!" Shu Chang wanted to mutter a few more words, but the phone had already gone dead.

The following day, Wu Chen and Liu Yifei were indeed busy. There were no roadshows, but there were still promotional activities. They also accepted an interview with the movie channel about "Black Peony", which was the first time they appeared on camera.

The promotion of "Black Peony" has been going on like a cacophony these days. Coincidentally, during the same period, the only big-budget film, "Pirates of the Caribbean 3," stopped performing well at the box office after reaching around 100 million, and with piracy rampant, it is estimated that the box office will only reach a little over 100 million at most.

By this time, the summer movie season had already become incredibly popular.

Saturday, June 30th.

China Film Group and Enlight Media made early preparations, sending dozens of staff members to major cinemas in major cities to count occupancy rates, prevent piracy, and provide real-time feedback to audiences, striving to ensure that no loopholes were overlooked.

Many industry insiders are keeping a close eye on the box office performance of this art film.

However, many directors felt a little sad seeing that "Black Peony" received more than 40% of the screenings, and that most of them were concentrated in the prime time slots, especially Wang Quan'an, who directed "Tuya's Marriage".

Originally expected to run in theaters for at least twenty days, "Tuya's Marriage" was pulled from theaters after only about ten days, and its box office performance was dismal, less than two million, which was far from matching the Berlin Golden Bear Award.

At the Broadway Cinema in Beijing, just after the first screening, a young female audience member, crying, helped her friend out of the theater, unable to calm down for a long time: "I don't know why, but I always feel like I saw myself in the mirror."

"It was quite interesting. Although I don't really like art films, it seemed like I could watch it as a thriller."

"It's alright. Although it's definitely less commercially viable, the content seems to have stuck with me. Unlike watching 'Pirates of the Caribbean 3,' I didn't forget it after watching it!"

"."

As the movie ended, small groups of people walked out of the cinema, still discussing the film. The following day, around noon, the opening day box office figures for "Black Peony" were released: 941 million yuan.

The incident caused an uproar.

This is the first day's performance in the history of art films that truly "breaks through" their niche audience.

On the webpage, the headlines of major media outlets changed rapidly that day:
[Art-house film "breaks out of its niche"? "Black Peony" shocks the industry with nearly 10 million yuan in box office revenue on its opening day!]

[Not a commercial film, but with blockbuster potential! Wu Chen and Liu Yifei's new work kicks off the summer blockbuster season!]

Following its Palme d'Or Special Award, "Black Peony" achieved both box office and critical success in China!

【.】

The entire film industry is paying close attention to this data.

It's worth noting that art films have never had very high box office returns; getting 20 or 30 million is considered a great achievement. But now, "Black Peony" is clearly aiming to push that record even higher, possibly even breaking 50 million or 100 million.

This idea shocked many people in the industry.

"This is just the box office revenue; we don't even know how much they'll benefit from the copyright revenue."

"The copyright fee must be at least close to ten million US dollars. I heard the production cost of this movie didn't exceed fifty million, right?"

After some discussion, many film companies were green with envy, as the profits were indeed too tempting.

At this time, some of the actresses are probably the ones who are suffering the most.

This is a film that wins both awards and box office success; it achieves both.
"You're so lucky!"

"It has to be Wu Chen, or Zhang Yimou too. They're both really good at promoting actresses."

"It's over. From now on, Liu Yifei's fingerprints will probably be all over Wu Chen's scripts. I'm about the same age as her, how can I ever get ahead?"

"."

For a time, many actresses felt both envious and heartbroken.

It's important to understand that awards are awards, business is business, and value is value—these three can be interchanged, but not always in an equivalent way.

For example, if someone wins an award for Best Actress in an art film, audiences may not necessarily buy tickets for her commercial films; and advertisers may not necessarily want a spokesperson with artistic talent.

However, if a film can win both awards and commercial success, that is its greatest value. Art films or art-house commercial films that can achieve high box office returns are extremely rare.

"Wu Chen, I was thinking, why don't we also publish the copyright revenue? That way, some directors won't keep bringing up the box office and copyright of art films, and it'll give directors in the industry some motivation." Han Sanping called that afternoon.

"Just announce it then."

Wu Chen thought about it and didn't refuse. Anyway, it wasn't a big deal. Although he would earn a lot, China Film Group was still the leader, and it wasn't to the point of being completely enviable.

Be cautious about opportunities with excessively high returns.

China Film Group acted swiftly, posting a congratulatory message on its homepage by evening. The message congratulated "Black Peony" on its opening day box office and critical acclaim, and also explained the copyright fees for "Black Peony." Even before an agreement was reached with North America, the copyright fees had already been locked in at over $1500 million.
The news was quickly forwarded and reposted, instantly boosting the summer movie season's popularity to a whole new level.

At this point, many people in the industry, upon seeing the news, had already ignored the fact that the box office had broken the record for art films, and were more concerned about how much money Starry Pictures had earned from the copyright fees.

The following day, major domestic media outlets published articles discussing the arrival of a new era for art-house films.
"Junior brother, you've really made a big fuss about this. Today, during the break after filming started, everyone was discussing whether the spring of art films is coming," Ning Hao's laughter came from the other end of the phone.

“Senior brother, art films, you sixth-generation directors should be good at this,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

"Come on, I'm at most a pseudo-sixth generation. I really don't like the subjects they film. Besides, if I'm the sixth generation, you're not. Don't forget that Director Mu is the fifth generation," Ning Hao chuckled.

Upon hearing this, Wu Chen shrugged. It was true, as many media outlets also included him in the ranks of the sixth generation of directors.

"By the way, senior, when will filming for 'Racing' wrap up?"

"Filming will wrap up around the middle of the month; we should be able to finish shooting by then."

After hanging up the phone, Wu Chen had just turned around and hadn't even had a chance to sit down when a fragrant breeze wafted towards him.

Liu Yifei rushed out of the room, pounced on him, and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck: "Yay! The box office on the second day was even higher than the first day, breaking 1200 million in a single day!"

"Get down, get down, I'll strangle you!" Wu Chen laughed as he struggled.

"I won't go down!" She clung to him like an octopus, her face pressed against his shoulder, her voice soft and sweet.

Seeing this, Wu Chen had no choice but to support Liu Yifei's fleshy buttocks and toss her up slightly to adjust her posture, teasingly saying, "Did you misjudge your weight?"

"I'm not fat, I'm just right." Liu Yifei buried her head in Wu Chen's shoulder and whispered, "I'm so nervous, what if the box office breaks 100 million?"

"Huh?" Wu Chen asked, puzzled. "Isn't this a good thing?"

"How am I supposed to choose movies from now on? It's so hard to choose!" Liu Yifei said with a happy kind of distress.

"You really have a lot of ideas." Wu Chen couldn't keep up with him any longer and quickly found a sofa to sit down. "But you still need to walk on two legs."

Liu Yifei tilted her head to look at him, her eyes filled with a hint of confusion.

"Art films are for winning awards, while movies are ultimately commercial endeavors. Box office is the threshold, awards are honors, and value is the market. Works like 'Black Peony' are among the very few that can integrate all three."

"Oh," Liu Yifei nodded thoughtfully, as if she understood, but her eyes became confused again the next second.

Seeing this, Wu Chen couldn't help but chuckle, and then suggested:
"So for your next film, you need to move towards commercial films. You need to choose the right path for art films."

As Wu Chen was speaking, a sudden idea flashed in his mind, and he changed his tone: "Would you like to play a student?"

"Huh? A student?"

"Yes, students with high IQs who cheat."

(End of this chapter)