Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 183 Don't Try to Scam Me.
[From The Hollywood Reporter: The Warner Bros. project for the Matrix Reloaded and Matrix 3 has been established. Following the success of the first film in the series, Warner Bros. purchased the remaining script from director John Chan and plans to film the two movies together.]

[It is reported that the film will retain the original cast and crew from the first movie, with a total investment of up to three hundred million US dollars.]

Warner Bros. has stated that they are in contact with the "Kung Fu Emperor," but his salary is still under negotiation.

According to Hollywood reports, the film was not solely produced by Warner Bros.; director Chen Shou's company, Blue Star Pictures, also invested in the project.

The first Matrix film was a success, and now the second and third installments are being filmed. Domestic film companies can only watch helplessly, placing all their hopes on Chen Shouzhe.

Because Chen Shou has a share in his hands, even if many of them are co-productions, as long as they get a share, they can still bring profits to their company by taking advantage of the film's popularity.

Some domestic companies are not good at making movies, but they are masters at marketing.

Some companies are so impatient, claiming they're going to fight for a share of The Matrix even before they've started making any contact. They really think they're guaranteed to get a share.

Although it wasn't officially announced, rumors were circulating. These rumors were great news for retail investors, and the stocks of several companies whose stocks were rumored to be circulating rose immediately.

"Honestly, they all think they're someone important." Chen Shou hung up a phone, sneered, and looked up at Zhong Lifan with a smile.

"Which one is it?" Zhong Lifan found it funny, but if it were when she was at Little Pony, she would definitely call to ask, or even come over in person.

Unfortunately, that's all in the past. Little Horse has become a third-rate production company and can no longer compare with other production companies.

Now, the film industry she works for is doing better and better. It has been a year since Tao Le and the others left, but it has not affected them at all.

"I don't know how many companies have done this. I'll just post it on Weibo. What do they all take me for? Acting first and asking questions later, do you think it'll be easy for you?" Chen Shou picked up his phone and started editing.

Zhong Lifan smiled, picked up her phone and refreshed Weibo, wanting to see what Chen Shouzhe had to say.

"puff!"

Zhong Lifan swiped her phone, took a sip of tea, and almost spat it out.

Chen Shou's content was very simple.

[The movie has already been approved; it doesn't need any investment. Stop trying to scam me!]

"Is it okay for you to say that?" Zhong Lifan asked, wiping away the water stains.

"What's wrong with that? They start spreading all sorts of rumors without even telling me, aren't they just trying to annoy me? This is a good opportunity for them to annoy me too." Chen Shou chuckled.

Sure enough, his Weibo post was immediately reposted by many media outlets, and the stocks of several companies plummeted in the afternoon.

Inside Huayi, Wang Zonglei, Ye Ning, and Tao Le sat together for a meeting.

"Didn't you contact him?" Wang Zonglei asked, still unwilling to give up.

“I’ve already contacted him, but it’s no use. He won’t give up any share. Even the two movies under his Yang Mi Studio won’t get any. Apart from Wanda and Enlight Media, even Emperor Entertainment in Hong Kong didn’t get any share,” Ye Ning said, shaking her head.

It's laughable that the connections he made in Wanda all benefited Liu Xiaobing.

Liu Xiaobing and Wang Changtian never expected that Yang Mi would take the initiative to contact them and give them a certain share.

They were naturally pleased with Yang Mi's actions, knowing that he did so to strengthen their relationship and to do them a favor.

It was probably Chen Shou's doing behind the scenes, but it was thanks to Yang Mi's favor that Jiang Wen owed Yang Mi a favor as well.

Sometimes, what the entertainment industry lacks most isn't money, but connections. When she was blacklisted, it was because no one helped her. Even though she became famous that year with a period drama, becoming a top-tier actress, she was still blacklisted by a single sentence from the famous poet and his wife. Now, unless she breaks the law, no one can do anything to her with a single word, not even the richest man. That's how different fields are; unless Chen Shouzhe blacklists her, since all her connections were given to her by Chen Shouzhe.

Wang Zonglei didn't know what to say, so he could only develop the project himself, as he couldn't rely on Chen Shouzhe.

He also discovered that Tao Le's abilities were just so-so; he was an average professional manager who couldn't bring any benefits to his company.

The former head steward of the film company is now completely useless after leaving. It's laughable. He's just an ordinary person. His success is solely due to Chen Shouzhe.

He gave him shares and a high salary, but after a year he hadn't accomplished anything. Wang Zonglei had already made up his mind to get rid of him.

A single Weibo post not only affected Huayi, but also Alibaba.

After finishing his work here, Chen had nothing else to do, so he decided to go to the rose garden.

He bought a house there and is currently renovating it.

When Lao Guo and his family arrived, Lao Guo was very happy.

Chen Shouzhe didn't expose his shortcomings, and the two sat and chatted for a while. However, Lao Guo had a performance tonight at the Beijing Exhibition Center.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the company's founding, and there are so many performances to come.

Moreover, it's an annual steel wire festival with a very impressive lineup; basically, all the main players from the Deyun Club are here.

The year-end closing performance will be even more grand, and many people in the industry have already reserved seats.

"Do you want to go on stage today?" Lao Guo asked in the car.

"I'd rather not. It's not a good idea to go on stage without preparation," Chen Shouzhe said, shaking his head.

"Then forget it, we'll talk about it at the end of the year," Lao Guo said.

"We'll have to see if I have time then; I might already be in the US," Chen Shou said.

"What are you going to do in America?" Lao Guo asked casually, and Hou Zhen, who was driving in front, pricked up his ears to listen.

"The Oscars are being held in the US at the end of the year, and I'm going there to attend them," Chen Shou said.

"The Oscars? Why are you going?" Hou Zhen didn't know anything about that, so why was he suddenly going to attend the Oscars?

"I'm not telling you that my movie has already cost ten million US dollars and that it's going to participate in the Oscars PR campaign," Chen Shou said.

"Oh, oh, oh, I remember now, hahaha, if you can bring back an Oscar, let's see who dares to criticize you then," Lao Guo said happily.

"I'll try my best. You know how things are; they can be controlled by people. Back then, you didn't participate in the crosstalk competition either," Chen Shou said with a smile.

Guo Degang only won third prize in the crosstalk competition back then. The main reason he only came in third place was that he didn't want to do crosstalk anymore.

The so-called crosstalk competition is not about performing crosstalk, but about reading a script. You just have to finish reading the script within a specified time.

Back then, Guo Degang was quite rebellious. To complete the performance, he added embellishments, causing the show to run overtime. So even though his crosstalk was the best, he could only get third place.

Since then, Guo Degang has never participated in any industry competitions again, and he even asked his disciples not to participate. Guo Degang had already received inside information, so he asked the disciple who was asked to withdraw to withdraw from the crosstalk competition.

(End of this chapter)