Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 589 Unexpected
The plane was smoothly passing through the clouds, with endless blue sky and sea of ​​clouds outside the window.

The cabin was quiet and comfortable.

After yawning, Wu Chen pulled the sunshade of the porthole down halfway to block out the glaring sunlight, and then fell into a deep sleep.

Although there haven't been any intensive promotional activities these past few days, and "Black Swan" has entered a period of stable box office performance, he hasn't gotten much rest.

The public relations efforts over the two consecutive days consumed far more energy than running promotional roadshows.

Just then, Fox announced that it would be restarting Lee An's native 3D project, immediately drawing attention both domestically and internationally.

Don't be fooled by the abundance of 3D movies these days; 99% of them are post-production or converted to 3D, and are not natively made.
Taiwan was very excited and immediately changed its tune, declaring that the light of Taiwan would shine once again.
To be honest, they were having a tough time recently.

After all, Wu Chen's "Interstellar" has already finished filming, and Li An's "Growing Pain" is still nowhere to be found.
Although they don't want to be compared now, it's easy for the two of them to be mentioned overseas.

However, other rumors from Hollywood quickly followed.

Lee says the budget for his new film "Life of Pi" is $50 million.

"Li's new native 3D project budget has been cut by one-third"

"."

When the news broke, movie fans and netizens in China were stunned.

"Why only fifty million dollars? Fox is so stingy."

"Tsk tsk, I thought it would cost at least seventy or eighty million US dollars, or even over a hundred million. It seems that Director Wu's 'Interstellar' is much better."

"The gap, that's the gap."

Meanwhile, in a villa in Shunyi.
The winter sun shone warmly through the spotless French windows, bathing the cat tree in the living room, where Dongdong and Xixi were curled up into two fur balls, snuggling together and taking a nap.

Liu Yifei, wearing a loose beige knitted cardigan, was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, answering her phone.

On the other end of the phone was Xing Aina's familiar voice.

"Sisi, is Director Wu on a plane back to China right now?"

"Hmm, I just boarded the plane not long ago, what's wrong?" Liu Yifei asked, somewhat puzzled.

"It's nothing, it's nothing." Xing Aina smiled. "Ning Hao called him just now but found his phone was off. I figured he's probably on a plane, so I asked you. Okay, Ning Hao can talk to him when he gets back."

After hanging up the phone, Xing Aina turned her head and looked at Ning Hao and Xu Zheng sitting to the side.

"Then let's do it tomorrow," Ning Hao patted Xu Zheng on the shoulder, only to be met with a glare from Xing Aina.

"You're back from your business trip and you're not going to rest? Is it really necessary to rush things? Wait another day or two."

"It's alright, no rush!" Xu Zheng quickly waved his hand and chuckled.

Despite saying that, the anxiety he couldn't hide on his face betrayed him.

After being betrayed by Huaqi Films, Xu Zheng became much more cautious. His first thought was still Ning Hao, whose connections in the industry were far superior to his own.

If they were to partner with Starry Sky Pictures, they would definitely be better than Huaqi Pictures.

However, Starry Sky Pictures has always focused on producing high-quality works, and he didn't know whether they would even consider the script he had.

"Then wait for my news."

Ning Hao thought about it and agreed, then changed his mind, but still reassured Xu Zheng, "Don't worry, comedy films don't have particularly high production costs. As long as the cost-effectiveness is right, there won't be any problem!"

Xu Zheng let out a breath and nodded, but his anxiety still lingered.

He had a strong premonition that this might be the biggest opportunity of his life, and if he didn't seize it, his life might just end like this.

The following morning, the plane slowly landed.

The cabin door opened, and Wu Chen stepped down the gangway, taking a breath of fresh air.

Upon arrival at the lobby, it was bustling with people.

Although Liu Yifei wore sunglasses and a hat to conceal her identity, her tall figure and outstanding temperament still made her stand out in the crowd.

Seeing Wu Chen push the luggage cart out, she practically ran and pounced on him, jumping up and clinging to him like a koala. After a brief moment of tenderness, they were quickly spotted by sharp-eyed reporters.

However, there weren't many media outlets at the airport today, and the two seemed quite relaxed.

"Director Wu, congratulations on the huge success of 'Black Swan' at the North American box office! I heard that its global box office performance is also quite good. Do you think it can surpass Disney's 'Tron: Legacy' this week?"

"The cumulative figures might be a bit different, but this week, it might be possible."

Wu Chen chuckled and nodded. The main issue was that *Tron: Legacy* was performing increasingly poorly, and he estimated that things wouldn't go well this weekend, especially with a new batch of Christmas blockbusters releasing.
In contrast, "Black Swan" has maintained a steady pace thanks to its strong word-of-mouth, and is likely to see a new wave of moviegoers this weekend.

"Director Wu, Director Jiang's 'Let the Bullets Fly' has surpassed 2 million at the box office and is very close to 3 million. He said, 'Many people in the Chinese film industry have not reached the level of the audience. How can they make movies for the audience?' What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Chen burst into laughter.

It has to be said that Jiang Wen is now very arrogant.

They got arrogant and started attacking the entire film industry.

"You should ask Director Jiang himself what he said."

Wu Chen smiled. Although Jiang Wen might have been telling the truth, there was no need for him to get involved.

He and Liu Yifei then happily got into the car and went home.

My phone rang shortly after I drove off the airport expressway.

Caller ID: Ning Hao.

Liu Yifei was also a little curious, and then brought it up: "Sister Na called you yesterday to ask about you."

"Oh"

"Are you free tomorrow?" Ning Hao's voice came through the microphone.

"tomorrow"

Wu Chen looked at Liu Yifei, who said softly, "Business comes first."

"Tell me first, what is it?" Wu Chen asked immediately.

"Xu Zheng, he got scammed the other day, right? The project was already approved, but he got kicked out. Now he has another project and came to me. I was wondering if you'd be interested."

Wu Chen was stunned for a moment. Good heavens, this was actually delivered right to his door! Without hesitation:

"Let's talk tomorrow when we meet!"

"to make!"

Ning Hao was very happy.

This made him feel very respected in front of Xu Zheng, so he looked at Xu Zheng and nodded, "Let's talk about it tomorrow."

Xu Zheng was overjoyed and shook Ning Hao's hand, thanking him profusely.

The day after Wu Chen returned, Feng Xiaogang's "If You Are the One 2" was officially released. Thanks to Huayi Brothers' strong distribution capabilities, it directly took away nearly half of the screenings of "Let the Bullets Fly".

The two films dominated almost all the screens in cinemas across the country, leaving the pitiful "The Orphan of Zhao" struggling to survive, and its box office revenue ultimately stopped at around 200 million yuan.

In contrast, the product placement costs for "If You Are the One 2" alone reached 60 million yuan, a figure so outrageous that it left industry insiders speechless.

A big departure.

In the Starry Night Pictures office, Ning Hao couldn't help but complain:
"Huayi is quite proud of itself, heavily promoting that it received 60 million yuan in advertising fees for a single film. Just how many ads were inserted? Is this even a movie?"

"You know what, quite a few companies envy this money."

Wu Chen smiled and shook his head, then picked up the script Xu Zheng handed him and started flipping through it.

Although it wasn't the first time Xu Zheng had met Wu Chen, he was still so nervous that his palms were sweating.

He knew that if Wu Chen rejected the manuscript, he wouldn't have much confidence in presenting it to others.

Wu Chen glanced at the script cover and, to his surprise, it wasn't the script for "Lost in Thailand," but for "Lost in the City."
(End of this chapter)