This director lacks vision.

Chapter 410 Steady Expansion, Global Hit

After the plane landed in Paris, Luc Besson and his entourage came to pick them up.

Jiang Yifeng was originally planning to go straight back to the hotel, but Luc Besson surprised him by arranging for his French fans to pick him up at the airport.

Don't assume that Europeans and Americans aren't fanatical about celebrities; that's just a misconception created by marketing accounts.

In fact, the enthusiasm for idol worship is even greater abroad than in China, after all, human nature is the same.

Moreover, there are more people with simpler and more abstract minds abroad, and they are also more prone to emotional outbursts.

Jiang Yifeng is very popular in France. After "Youth" won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, it also set many box office records in France.

In addition, his film "John Wick" is a hit in France, along with various musical works and continuous updates to his YouTube account.

Not to mention his status as a super-rich person.

French media frequently review Jiang Yifeng's romantic affairs, and his appearance on the Chinese Spring Festival Gala this year was also a major focus of media coverage in France.

Several TV stations even broadcast several Spring Festival Gala programs, in addition to the Spring Festival Gala-related videos uploaded by Jiang Yifeng on his YouTube account.

This resulted in many French people watching some of this year's Spring Festival Gala programs.

Jiang Yifeng was already very popular, and with Luc Besson's organization, there were many fans who came to greet him at the airport today.

A vast expanse, it looked quite impressive.

Some of them were holding up posters of Pacific Rim, some were holding up photos of Jiang Ning shirtless from John Wick, and others were holding novels of Fifty Shades of Grey.

That's right, the fact that Jiang Yifeng is the author of the Fifty Shades series has also been unearthed.

This wasn't something Jiang Yifeng deliberately arranged. It was a secret that came out casually during a chat on a TV show after an Amazon executive left the company.

Jiang Yifeng's Fifty Shades series is at least ten levels better than the original work in terms of both writing style and depth.

The various romantic descriptions were very popular in France.

When the first book was published, LV launched a collaboration product, which many people wanted to buy but couldn't.

At the time, Jiang Yifeng also gave Liu Yifei an LV choker.

Tianxian still cherishes it to this day because it was the first gift Jiang Yifeng gave her, and the numbers on it are all Liu Yifei's birth year.

Even now, the first batch of Fifty Shades of Grey co-branded products with LV are still more than three times more expensive than the original price on the second-hand market.

This shows how popular this book is in France.

So after it was revealed that Jiang Yifeng was the author of Fifty Shades, he gained a lot more fans.

Many book fans began to fantasize about Jiang Yifeng as the male protagonist Gray in the book, and the more they fantasized, the more fascinated they became with Jiang Yifeng.

Wen Lingfeng is also good at selling books. After noticing this situation, she specially released a new illustrated edition of the Fifty Shades series, which included various photos of Jiang Yifeng.

This tactic proved very effective, leading to another surge in global sales of the Fifty Shades series.

This also earned Jiang Yifeng many more female fans.

Dream fans are the most loyal and core fans.

These fans also played a part in the success of Pacific Rim in the United States.

They genuinely supported Jiang Yifeng's promotional activities in North America.

The same applies now that we've arrived in France.

Seeing so many female fans, Jiang Yifeng had no choice but to put on his own sunglasses and start to strike a pose.

With sunglasses on, he doesn't care about anyone, but his fans adore him.

The scene erupted in frenzied screams. Jiang Yifeng waved to the crowd, which made the female fans even more excited.

This made the security personnel on site very tense, and they lost all sense of relaxation that is typical of France.

After interacting with fans at the airport for a while, Jiang Yifeng got into a car under the escort of bodyguards.

Leaning back in his car seat and letting out a sigh of relief, Jiang Yifeng said, "I know you're doing this to promote the movie, but next time, choose a different location. Airports are public places, and it's easy to offend people."

Upon hearing this, Luc Besson smiled and said, "This fan pick-up wasn't something I arranged on my own. Fans sent our company a lot of emails asking us to organize it."

In addition, they also organized their own airport pick-up events.

Instead of letting fans act spontaneously, we should guide them. This can be used as a promotional gimmick for the movie, highlighting your immense popularity, and also helping to maintain order.

"If these fans were allowed to organize themselves, things could easily go wrong."

Hearing Luc Besson's words, Jing Tian exclaimed, "I didn't expect you to be so popular in Europe, Fengzi."

Upon hearing this, Luc Besson immediately replied, "That's for sure. In France, the 'Jean' is now called 'Jean Lion'."

The name is both a homonym for how the French pronounce Jiang Yifeng, and also contains the word "Lion," implying that Jiang is a majestic lion.

Jing Tian asked curiously, "Why is it called a lion?"

Jiang Yifeng smiled and guessed, "I estimate there are two reasons. The first is Napoleon's evaluation of the former China—'a sleeping lion.' The second is that lions have harems, and the more powerful a lion is, the more lionesses it has around it."

I must say, the French really understand me.

Upon hearing this, Jing Tian rolled her eyes dramatically.

Luc Besson gave a thumbs-up and laughed heartily.

“That’s right, Jiang, you understand us French people. That’s what it means when we call you the Lion.”

Besides, there's a third meaning: it's a compliment that you're handsome and have a commanding presence.

After chatting about gossip, Luc Besson began to introduce the release of Pacific Rim in Europe.

The distribution of Pacific Rim in Europe was handled by EuropaCorp, a company founded by Luc Besson to combat the encroachment of Hollywood films on the European market.

Although the outcome was destined to be a failure, that was indeed the original intention behind the company's establishment.

EuropaCorp has produced films such as "Taken" and the "Transporter" series, and is now one of the top film companies in Europe. It is considered by European media to be the only film company in European commercial cinema that can rival Hollywood.

The movie "Lucy," starring Scarlett Johansson, was produced by EuropaCorp.

This is also the basis for Jiang Yifeng's ability to team up with Scarlett Johansson to create a scandal.

After all, the two sides have a cooperative relationship.

The car arrived at the Shangri-La Hotel. Jiang Yifeng was just about to go back to his room to rest when Luc Besson said, "Jiang, can we talk alone?"

Jiang Yifeng told Jing Tian to go back to the hotel first, while he and Luc Besson found a spot in a corner of the hotel's garden restaurant.

Luc Besson organized his thoughts before saying, "My company has a lot of projects up for auction recently and needs to bring in strategic partners. Are you interested?"

Luc Besson's words were rather tactful.

In fact, EuropaCorp's financial situation has been very bad in the past two years, with debts reaching as high as 100 million US dollars.

It is already facing the predicament of being forcibly acquired by its debtor, the US investment fund Vine Alternative Investments.

"Lucy" grossed over $4 million worldwide, giving European cinema a much-needed boost.

However, the company continued to suffer losses afterward.

Luc Besson founded EuropaCorp to compete with Hollywood. He was unwilling to let his company be acquired by an American company, so he brought in Chinese film companies as partners in the future.

In 2016, Shanghai Film Group acquired a 27.89% stake in EuropaCorp for €6000 million, becoming its second-largest shareholder.

Luc Besson's approach was very clever.

This would allow them to compete with Hollywood while simultaneously penetrating the Chinese film market. Unfortunately, Kimi Pictures was a bubble company, relying heavily on capital maneuvering; it was the entertainment company with the highest financing on the New Third Board.

After failing to gain traction on the New Third Board, Kimi Pictures never recovered.

In addition, Europa's own projects were also failing, so the company's business continued to decline.

Fengxing Media is currently experiencing rapid growth and is a representative of Chinese film companies, which is why Luc Besson wants to collaborate with Jiang Yifeng.

Jiang Yifeng was still very interested after hearing Luc Besson's ideas.

In Jiang Yifeng's view, competition in Hollywood has become fierce, and the methods of exploiting its audience are very sophisticated.

Unless a Chinese company has a need to export funds, it doesn't make much sense for it to acquire an American film company.

Just like Wanda's acquisition of Lionsgate, it didn't really help Wanda Entertainment much.

However, EuropaCorp has distribution channels in Europe, and the company itself also has film production capabilities.

Investing in this company will benefit Fengxing Media's expansion in the European market.

The most crucial point is that EuropaCorp loves to make movies with strong female leads, whether it's Scarlett Johansson's Lucy or the later female spy movie "Anna," they are all movies with strong female leads.

Jiang Yifeng's lovers overseas, like Hathaway and Scarlett, were all just friendly matches.

But Jiang Yifeng still preferred D'Addario and Sydney, a husky and a golden retriever, respectively.

Especially D'Addario, who had taken beauty potions and was extremely loyal to Jiang Yifeng, the Demon Lord.

During their promotional trip to the United States, Daddario and Sydney went to great lengths to win Jiang Yifeng's favor.

Investing in EuropaCorp now allows them to produce films to promote D'Addario and Sydney, while also expanding their presence in the European market.

The key point is that it's really not expensive.

Wanda's investment in Hollywood's Lionsgate required billions of US dollars, but EuropaCorp is different; a few hundred million Chinese yuan can acquire around 30% of the shares, making it very cost-effective.

Jiang Yifeng and Luc Besson talked for more than half an hour and basically finalized the general intention of cooperation.

The subsequent details were left to be negotiated by the company's subordinates.

For the next few days, Jiang Yifeng was in Europe promoting his work.

Pacific Rim was a box office hit in Europe and received widespread acclaim.

The scenes in the movie, in particular, where the scorpions attack the English peninsula and wreak havoc on British territory, were very exciting for audiences on the European continent.

Despite the various negative news reports about China in Europe, the real enemy is still Britain, with whom there is a long history of grievances.

Many European viewers viewed the attack on the English peninsula much like Chinese people viewed the peace and weapons of a certain island nation.

At 10:7 AM on July 21, Jiang Yifeng boarded a plane and left Europe for Japan.

On the plane, Jiang Yifeng kept giving Jing Tian instructions.

"When you get to Japan, don't go out alone. It's best to stay with me the whole time."

Hunting 2 ultimately led to the death of the Beastmaster.

Jiang Yifeng was also unsure what might happen in Japan.

In these kinds of situations, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Jiang Yifeng is protected by a biochemical nanosuit, making him immune to gunfire and explosives, and his safety is 100% guaranteed, but Da Tiantian is not.

Jiang Yifeng actually wanted to persuade Da Tiantian to return to China first, but she absolutely refused.

Upon hearing Jiang Yifeng's words, Jing Tian retorted, "Can I follow you around forever?"

I want to watch you being served by Japanese beauties?

There are so many, like Haruka Ayase, Ikeda Tiaotiaosha, Ayaka Miyoshi... Wow!
No wonder you wanted me to go back to China first; you wanted to have more fun, didn't you? Did you think I ruined your plans?

Jing Tian only accepts a few collaborators: Dilraba, Meng Ziyi, and Chen Yao.

The rest can just take turns.

Not to mention these Japanese women.

Seeing Jing Tian pouting, Jiang Yifeng patted her head and said with a smile, "What's wrong with that? Just think of yourself as the mistress of the house, and they are here to serve the two of us."

Upon hearing this, Jing Tian chuckled and said, "Do you really think you're some kind of feudal monarch? You've even brought up the role of mistress."

"Then will you become the mistress of the house?"

"Ahem, since you're so sincere in asking me, I'll reluctantly agree!"

Jing Tian proudly agreed to the request to become the mistress of the house.

Sometimes, looking at things from a different perspective can lead to a completely different experience.

Moreover, Jing Tian also felt Jiang Yifeng's care for her, and felt very sweet inside.

Jiang Yifeng's worries were unnecessary.

Upon arriving in Japan, he not only faced no danger, but also received a tremendous amount of enthusiastic support.

Its popularity far surpasses that of North America and Europe, and is even more frenzied than in China.

When Jiang Yifeng held an event in Ginza, many female fans at the scene shed tears, which was quite dramatic.

Moreover, he has a lot of male fans in Japan.

Despite the fact that Hunting 2 was banned in Japan, the show is actually available everywhere there, and a huge number of people have seen it.

The fact that he was a model criminal did not diminish Jiang Yifeng's reputation in Japan; on the contrary, it added a legendary touch to Hunting 2.

Of course, there are many negative reports about Jiang Yifeng in Japanese official media and some media outlets.

But this does not affect the overall situation.

Jiang Yifeng's fan base in Japan is growing.

Pacific Rim was released in Japan on July 18th.

When Jiang Yifeng arrived, the film had already been released for three days, with a total box office of 40.4 billion yen in its opening weekend.

Although it did not break the highest record in the entire market, it ranked first in the history of imported films from Japan, surpassing the opening weekend box office of Titanic.

Moreover, the film received excellent reviews in Japan.

In particular, when the island nation was hit by missiles, the Japanese not only had no objections, but felt very proud.

They believe that this missile, like those from decades ago, represents the sacrifices and efforts made by the Japanese for the prosperity of Asia and the world.

In fact, this is how the Japanese have always been educated; they do not see it as an invasion, but rather as a cause for the common prosperity of Asia.

The plot of Pacific Rim, to some extent, aligns with their self-deceptive ideas.

Moreover, Pacific Rim is also a monster movie, and this type of subject matter is still very popular in Japan.

The first three TV series also gave this IP a considerable reputation in Japan.

In 2014, the Indian film market had not yet seen a significant rise; the major global film markets were North America, China, Japan, and Europe.

The Pacific Rim's outstanding performance in these four major markets further boosted the popularity of surrounding smaller markets, quickly creating a global hit.

Its popularity was comparable to that of Avatar when it was a hit.

(End of this chapter)