It's reasonable for me to be a three-time Golden Horse Award-winning director and an all-around

Chapter 282 Humility ≠ Weakness. Your father is the director of "The Godfather," but that doesn't mean you can replicate the legend!
"Lv, long time no see."

At the airport entrance, Lü Rui met Peter Griffin, who had come to pick him up.

"Peter, it's been a long time."

This guy's status has really gone up; he has a private driver and bodyguards—he's fully equipped.

What brings you here today?

Lu Rui thought there would only be one driver, but he didn't expect him to come along as well.

"I just had a meeting at 20th Century Fox, so I'll pick you up on the way."

"Oh? Is the post-production of 'Life of Pi' going smoothly?"

"It wasn't particularly smooth."

Peter rubbed his temples, his voice tinged with weariness: "The CG for the tiger is very complex, requiring the overcoming of many technical challenges, and it takes a lot of time."

"take it easy……"

This is indeed a difficult hurdle, and even Lü Rui cannot offer any help.

Water, children, and animals are already recognized as the three most difficult elements to film.

The "tiger" in the film, because it had close contact with the male lead, could not be a real tiger and had to be created using CG. After all, the young Indian actor was not as fierce as Ding Haifeng!

This process takes not just a day or two, but months.

The Cadillac Escalade sped forward.

Inside the car, Lü Rui and Peter chatted about recent hot topics in the United States.

The next round of presidential elections is just a few months away, and the stock market has been fluctuating abnormally, causing a lot of chaos here.

"By the way, what happened to your previous bodyguard?"

Lu Rui suddenly noticed that the black bodyguard who always sat in the passenger seat had been replaced by a strange white man.

Peter shrugged. "Dead."

"died?"

"Yes, there were several shootings in his community last month. Gang members wanted to collect protection money from him, but he refused to pay, and a fierce firefight ensued. He was killed in the conflict."

Lu Rui frowned slightly, becoming secretly wary.

Unlike in China, here, even a conflict between neighbors or a car accident on the road can easily escalate into a gunfight.

We still need to be careful at all times.

Fortunately, Beverly Hills is safe enough.

...

Back at Ruixing Film Studio, almost everyone there had arrived.

In the screening room, Jason Blum, who was in charge of distribution, director Guy Ritchie, and Katherine Hardwick were already seated. Even Stephanie Meyer, the author of the original Twilight novel, sat in a corner, her eyes full of tension and anticipation.

As soon as Lü Rui stepped inside, Mel suddenly stood up and strode over.

After reaching Lv Rui, she gripped his arm tightly with both hands, her voice trembling: "Lv! I really can't believe it... Twilight has actually been made into a movie!"

When she sold the copyright to Ruixing Film Company, she was just a full-time housewife taking care of her children. She wrote novels just to pass the time and never thought that they would be adapted into a movie.

But now, seeing words turn into images is like watching your own child grow up—it's simply incredible!
Lu Rui patted the back of her hand and comforted her with a smile, "Don't worry, the surprise is yet to come."

The "surprise" he mentioned is precisely his confidence in the box office!

This teen romance film has the potential to definitely create a sensation among young people.

Mel nodded repeatedly until the staff reminded him that the film was about to start, at which point he reluctantly returned to his seat.

Lü Rui then shook hands and greeted Brom, Hardwick, and Guy Ritchie in turn. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he sat down to watch the finished film.

As the lights dimmed, scenes from Twilight slowly unfolded on the screen.

For nearly two hours, Lü Rui clearly felt the unique charm of youth literature.

Although the plot is somewhat clichéd, and the storyline of a human girl and a vampire lover is a bit melodramatic... the bright and beautiful visuals, the youthful campus scenes, and the intense contrast between the male and female leads' identities precisely hit his fantasy of a beautiful youth.

This is a movie made purely for young audiences and fans, with no profound themes, focusing only on romance and excitement.

Mel watched the whole thing on edge, sometimes smiling at the sweet moments, sometimes clenching her fists at the conflict scenes.

At the end of the film, she even secretly wiped her eyes, secretly convinced: This is Bella and Edward in my heart!
Before leaving, she nervously asked Lü Rui again, "Lv, this movie will definitely be a huge success, right?"

I think so.

Lu Rui nodded affirmatively, then watched her leave with a satisfied smile.

As the original author, her mission is complete.

As for film promotion and distribution, that's the responsibility of Ruixing Film Company and Blum House.

After Mel left, everyone moved to the conference room.

Jason Blum was the first to report: "Over the past month, we have been conducting intensive campaigns targeting the 13-25 age group."

For example, they launched the hashtag "#FindTwilightCouplesAroundYou" on social media, which garnered millions of interactions. They also held advance screenings at 50 universities across the United States, achieving a high audience rating of 4.8.

In addition, negotiations with theater chains are progressing smoothly, and it has been confirmed that the film will be released simultaneously in 3500 theaters—the highest number of theaters showing a youth-themed film this year!

"good."

Lü Rui nodded, acknowledging his work.

Jason smiled, not taking credit for it, but instead flattering him: "This is mainly due to the success of Ruixing Pictures' previous projects such as '300' and 'I Am Legend,' which you wrote the screenplays for."

The theater chains have great confidence in the projects you're involved in, which is why they're willing to allocate such good screening slots to you..."

Following closely behind, directors Hardwick and Guy Ritchie also gave their reports:

"Several behind-the-scenes features and clips we filmed have already garnered over 500 million views on YouTube, and many fans are leaving comments expressing their anticipation for the film's release."

"To cater to the preferences of young audiences, we also adjusted the soundtrack, incorporating currently popular indie rock elements. Feedback from the test screenings shows that audiences are very satisfied with the soundtrack."

Lü Rui listened attentively, nodding occasionally in affirmation.

With precise marketing and distribution strategies, high-quality theater resources, and the film's appeal to young audiences, Twilight's box office success was essentially guaranteed.

He then looked up at the three of them and said firmly, "Keep this pace. We'll launch another roadshow a week before the release, covering major cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and strive to generate buzz on the opening day."

"understand!"

The three of them agreed in unison, their voices full of enthusiasm.

Whether you're a producer, director, or distributor, nobody wants to see their project fail.

The feedback from "Twilight" is very positive, and people's confidence has naturally increased significantly.

Afterwards, the group left one after another to attend to their follow-up work.

Lü Rui then kept Peter behind and took out a neatly bound script from his briefcase.

"Take this script and submit it to the copyright bureau for registration first. We can discuss the timing of the launch later."

Peter took the script, his gaze falling on the words "Twilight Saga: New Moon" on the cover, and he raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Lv, this is... a sequel script? You've already written it?"

He originally thought that since the first Twilight movie had not yet been released, even if Lu Rui had plans for a sequel, he should wait for box office feedback before proceeding.

Unexpectedly, the script for the second part was already written!

Are you so confident?

"Let's register the copyright first, to avoid trouble later," Lu Rui casually instructed, leaning back in his chair.

He wrote this script in his spare time and made many changes to the original plot.

In the previous installment, the Twilight series suffered a significant drop in critical reception in its later films, which undoubtedly limited the series' box office potential and the IP's influence.

Therefore, in this revision, he appropriately retained the romantic and melodramatic elements that appeal to teenagers, while deleting many plot points that would have ruined the character of the female lead, Bella.

A love triangle isn't necessarily bad, but the original Bella's actions were just too manipulative.

If you don't like him, why did you kiss him?
This is a movie, meant to make money at the box office, not a long essay on Xiaohongshu.

"Family members, who understands this? I only kissed another man, and my boyfriend wants to break up with me. Everyone, please be the judge..."

Thinking about this, Lü Rui couldn't help but feel dizzy, and then he deleted all of these controversial plot points.

In addition, he added some visual spectacle scenes.

The main reason is that the original visual effects were too weak, far inferior to "Harry Potter," and simply couldn't live up to the "blockbuster" label.

Of course, this is also because the original work itself focuses on small love affairs and has a limited scope.

Therefore, if you want to expand your movie audience, you have to put more effort into the visual effects.

Only by combining the attributes of 'youthful romance' and 'visual effects blockbuster' can a film series become a classic, and will it have a greater advantage in subsequent copyright operations.

After all, whether it's merchandise, theme park collaborations, or overseas distribution, high-quality visual effects and solid character designs are fundamental.

...

For the next few days, Lü Rui's schedule was packed.

While handling the daily affairs of Ruixing Film Studio, he also shuttled back and forth between Sony Columbia and 20th Century Fox to keep track of the progress of collaborative projects.

The special effects for Pacific Rim are halfway complete, and the rendering is quite impressive.

The gleam of the metal mechs in the downpour, the mechanical vibrations when limbs collide, and the energy effects unleashed when the monster roars—every detail is incredibly impactful!
On the other hand, "Life of Pi" is indeed quite challenging.

When James Wan saw him, he couldn't help but complain: "It took a whole day to get a simple shot of a tiger and a boy staring at each other on a lifeboat."

Even the slightest deviation in the movement of the hair or the emotion in the eyes will make the scene seem too fake to the audience.

This is why Hollywood's industrial system can support such precision; if it were brought back to China, it might take a week to complete a single shot.

Lü Rui had no choice but to keep encouraging him to persevere.
"Effort always pays off..."

At the same time, he also kept track of the current movie releases in the market.

The Hollywood theatrical market was quite lively in June.

Besides the upcoming Twilight series, Ocean's Thirteen, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Marie Antoinette are also highly anticipated films.

Among them, "Ocean's Thirteen" has been released first, but its box office performance has been disappointing.

Compared to the impressive performance of the first two films, "Ocean's Eleven" and "Ocean's Twelve," this sequel's opening week box office was halved, and its reputation plummeted.

Hollywood media headlines were particularly brutal:

Steven Soderbergh, the fall of a genius!

This 44-year-old director won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in his youth with "Sex, Lies and Videotape," and is an idol to countless art-house film directors. But now, due to a series of failures in commercial films, he has been reduced to making a living by shooting low-budget male escort films like "Magic Mike."

This situation is quite similar to that of Chen Kaige.

They all reached the pinnacle of their art in their early years, but gradually lost their way in the realm of commercial films.

Interestingly, both "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" and "Marie Antoinette" will be released on the same day as "Twilight," creating a three-way competition.

The former was produced by 20th Century Fox, while the latter came from Sony Columbia.

And these two companies happen to be Lu Rui's partners at the moment.

On one hand, they are working together to advance projects; on the other hand, their films are competing head-on in theaters.

This situation of "fighting with both sides" has truly baffled the outside media, who have published articles jokingly commenting:

"The relationship between Ruixing Pictures and the two giants is more complicated than the plot of an art film..."

But only Lü Rui and those in the industry know that this seemingly fierce competition is actually a situation of mutual independence.

Twilight is independently produced and fully distributed by Ruixing Pictures.

Fantastic Four 2 is a sequel to Fox's own IP, handled by its internal team.

Marie Antoinette was handled by an independent team at Sony Columbia, and one of the key figures in that team was Matt Tolmacher!
When Matt Tolmacher is mentioned, Lü Rui still feels a little regretful.

When the two collaborated on "The Pursuit of Happyness," Lü Rui recognized his project management skills and repeatedly invited him to join Ruixing Pictures, but he declined each time.

Now, his "Marie Antoinette" and Lü Rui's "Twilight" are competing on the same stage, which can be considered a special kind of fate.

...

Before we knew it, it was November 11th.

The premiere of "Marie Antoinette" was held as scheduled.

Lü Rui was also one of the invited guests.

Since he didn't have a female companion, he simply went to the event with Peter Griffin.

Perhaps influenced by the box office and critical success of "300," a film co-produced by Ruixing Pictures and Warner Bros., Sony Columbia has high hopes for "Marie Antoinette."

The premiere was a grand affair!

The red carpet outside the cinema was packed with people.

Reporters scrambled for the best spots with their cameras, fans held up support signs and shouted slogans, and security personnel worked hard to maintain order...

Clearly, the film's producers wanted to use this high-profile premiere to give the movie a great start and boost its box office performance!

Lu Rui's arrival unsurprisingly caused quite a stir at the scene.

Although his main creative efforts are not in Hollywood, his legend is already everywhere here.

For example, titles such as "the Chinese godfather of Hollywood," "a top producer," and "a top screenwriter" have long been known within the industry.

From "I Am Legend" to "300," almost every film he participated in was a huge success.

Such a resume is enough to earn him a great deal of respect in Hollywood.

It's just a pity for Will Smith, who once offended him.

The better he does, the less popular he becomes in Hollywood.

Upon entering the theater, Lü Rui immediately spotted Matt, and standing next to him was Sofia Coppola, the director of "Marie Antoinette".

The two men quickly noticed him and immediately came forward to greet him warmly.

"Lv, I hope you can go easy on me."

Matt joked with a smile, clearly referring to the clash between "Twilight" and "Marie Antoinette".

"No, no, no, you are the ones who should show mercy."

Lu Rui responded with a smile, his tone humble.

Being low-key has always been a fine virtue ingrained in the Chinese people. Even though he had complete confidence in "Twilight", he would not be overly flamboyant in front of outsiders.

But his humility was perceived as weakness by Sofia, who was standing nearby.

The woman spoke with a hint of pride: "Lv, don't worry, I'll give your movie some room to survive."

"???"

Lu Rui was slightly taken aback and almost burst out laughing.

No? Girl? Are you always this brave?

Just because your dad directed "The Godfather" doesn't mean you can replicate that legend.

Just because your ex-boyfriend is Quentin Tarantino doesn't mean you're already qualified to win the Palme d'Or.

Sometimes, women easily blur boundaries, taking others' achievements as something to boast about, forgetting that these accolades never truly belonged to them...

The main feature began playing soon.

After watching for only half an hour, Lü Rui mentally sentenced the film to death.

The female lead has exquisite makeup and a noble temperament. Her clothing and color matching are stunning and eye-catching. The scene is so gorgeous that it is like a top-notch fashion blockbuster!
But setting aside these external factors and looking back at the story, its core is pitifully empty.

In conclusion, this is nothing more than a naive fantasy of an American high school girl about the "life of a queen."

It has a beautiful exterior, but inside it's crawling with lice.

Lu Rui really wanted to ask her, "Is the $3000 million investment just for a fashion show?"

If you love showing off so much, why don't you become a director at Victoria's Secret?
The following morning, the premiere of "Twilight" was held as scheduled, and the event was equally grand.

As soon as Lü Rui arrived at the scene, he saw a group of handsome men and beautiful women greeting guests at the entrance.

Kristen Stewart stood out among them.

However, every time he saw her, Lü Rui couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.

This girl has a sweet and charming smile, fair skin, and almost no unsightly freckles on her face. Her two little rabbit teeth further highlight her youthful vitality.

But why did he later become so pessimistic and go astray?
"Senior, it's been a long time!"

A clear shout suddenly rang in my ears.

Lu Rui was slightly taken aback and subconsciously turned his head, only to see Jing Tian appear behind him at some point.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm here to shoot an advertisement."

Jing Tian answered with a smile, her smile even more serene and elegant than Stuart's, a gentle beauty quite different from Liu Yifei's.

Shooting an advertisement?
Lu Rui suddenly remembered the news he had seen that morning, and his eyes instantly became complicated: "Annual spokesperson for the Northwest Cherry Association?"

"Yes!"

Jing Tian nodded, feeling a little shy and unable to meet his gaze.

Although she took a photo with the governor of Washington state, she personally felt that the endorsement had little effect.

Back in China, it gained positive word-of-mouth and exposure, but it also attracted a lot of skepticism.

It made her feel inexplicably embarrassed that she was "unworthy of her position".

"Why don't I see President Lu?" Lu Rui looked around but didn't see Lu Zheng.

"Uncle Lu had other things to do, so he told me to come by myself."

"Oh, then just find somewhere to sit, don't be shy."

"Yes, thank you, senior."

Jing Tian nodded obediently and actually found a place to sit quietly without running around, looking every bit the model student.

Compared to the star-studded cast of "Marie Antoinette," the cast of "Twilight" didn't have many big names; most of them were actors who had previously worked with Ruixing Pictures.

The audience at the scene consisted mostly of lucky viewers and fans.

Lü Rui was well aware that these young viewers were the core audience of the film, and he needed them to spread the word spontaneously after watching it, creating a positive word-of-mouth effect.

Interestingly, Sofia Coppola and Tim Story, the director of Fantastic Four 2, were also present.

The two were clearly thinking "know yourself and know your enemy" and wanted to find out the details of their competitors in advance.

But after watching the film, they completely ignored the cheers and screams of the young audience behind them, with only one unwavering thought in their minds:

Twilight is over!
"This kind of idiotic movie can only swindle money from young girls. How can it compare to my blockbusters?"

Sofia secretly scoffed.

With the same $3000 million investment, she was full of confidence in her "Marie Antoinette," believing that the other film was no match for her.

On the other side, Tim Story, stroking his bald head, muttered to himself:
"Fantastic Four 2 is a sure thing!"

In his opinion, the little boys and girls in Twilight are utterly unappealing, not even worth a single hair on Jessica Alba's head, and pose no threat to his film whatsoever.

However, on the afternoon of the same day the premiere ended, Twilight, like Marie Antoinette the day before, received a barrage of praise.

Fans who attended the premiere highly praised the film's excellence and recommended it to their classmates and friends.

The original author, Stephanie Meyer, even posted a blog entry stating:

"This movie perfectly recreates the world of the novel; Bella and Edward seem to have stepped right out of the book!"

It's important to understand that, both domestically and internationally, the main audience for movies in the current theatrical market is young people.

Coincidentally, Twilight is targeting this group.

This directly led to a steady increase in pre-sale box office revenue for the 3500 newly opened cinemas.

Not only in North America, but thanks to Jason Brilliant's efforts, the film has been distributed in many countries including Brazil, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and South Korea.

The film will also be officially released in the domestic market on June 20th.

Through steady and persistent efforts, the distribution channels of Blum House have been gradually established in overseas markets.

Although Brom House's distribution capabilities are much weaker than the Big Six Hollywood studios, and it spent several times more money during its expansion...

However, Lü Rui firmly believes that as long as he bravely takes the first step and with the success of several films, he will eventually gain a foothold!
Before we knew it, it was June 15th.

On this day, Twilight officially premiered in 3500 theaters...

……

ps: Asking for monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)