Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 336 Old White Man, When Are You Getting Married?
June weather is hot, and Kung Fu Panda is about to leave theaters, attracting media attention.

People in the film industry only realized later that this animated film, produced by Chen Shou's company Little Dream, had already grossed 30 billion yuan in China and 6.33 million US dollars worldwide.

The film grossed over $1 billion worldwide, and its production cost was publicly disclosed as $10 million. A rough estimate suggests it was a huge success, and the related merchandise also generated substantial profits.

Chen Shou mentioned at the premiere that he had adopted ten giant pandas, spending a total of ten million yuan.

Now that the movie is about to leave theaters, all the money earned belongs to Chen Shou. With the growth of Little Dream and the good start set by the robot WALL-E, Little Dream is now the top animation film production company in China. Nobody knows what kind of works this company will produce.

The promotion of the two films, "Infernal Affairs" and "The Departed," lasted for two months, with "Infernal Affairs" having started its promotion at the beginning of the year, creating a huge buzz.

The film and television industry was in a state of panic because of that incident, but things are gradually calming down now. Recently, the stocks in the film and television industry have not been doing well, and they are all sluggish.

Huayi, in particular, saw its value more than halved, and it has only managed to recover a little bit now.

The Wang brothers appeared at the Shanghai International Film Festival with a large number of Huayi Brothers stars.

Ironically, Huayi Brothers cut itself in the process. They initially proposed to move away from solely focusing on film and instead invest in real estate and technology companies.

Now that the real estate market is down, they've sold their shares in tech companies, and they no longer have a place in the film market. They can only watch one or two movies a year to cheer themselves up, but they can't stop their stock prices from falling.

The two brothers had tried many crooked and evil schemes, but this time their legs were finally broken.

The two brothers both attended the recently concluded Shanghai International Film Festival. After returning, they were extremely envious when they saw that "Kung Fu Panda" had surpassed $10 billion in global box office revenue. In addition, Chen Shou has two more movies scheduled for release, and he saw a huge poster for one of them at the airport when he got off the plane.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon were standing with their heads close together, one above the other, looking at each other. Opposite them were Liu Dehua and Tony Leung, who were also looking at each other.

The entire atmosphere was incredibly dark, like a black hole, threatening to swallow the four of them whole.

The advertising slogan is very simple.

A clash of titans.

The clash of four award-winning actors has made countless people, after seeing the poster, not just want to watch one of the movies, but also want to see what the differences are between the two movies and how the acting is really.

Many domestic media outlets are reporting on the two films. Some people are praising Andy Lau and Tony Leung, while others are praising Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon.

The same is true abroad. People are very curious about the promotion of movies, but they are not very interested in "Infernal Affairs". "The Departed" has two international superstars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, which attracts the attention of Europeans and Americans.

Chen Shouzhe had to stop; he needed to go to the United States for promotion.

No matter what, it's my own movie, and it's going to be nominated for an Oscar, so I take it very seriously.

On the day of the premiere, Chen Shouzhe used his connections with several Hollywood studios, including Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, and Lionsgate, to invite many Oscar judges to watch the film.

To secure Oscar nominations, videotapes were sent to the judges. Chen Shouzhe invited them directly to the premiere and dinner, essentially doing public relations work in advance.

And you know what? Hollywood people buy into that. The people at the Academy are mostly older white men who care about face. The reason they don't want Leonardo to win an Oscar is the same as those old guys in China – they just want to suppress him.

The more humble Chen Shouzhe was, the happier they were. The fact that a world-class director was polite to them greatly satisfied their vanity.

After the premiere, Chen Shou stayed at the banquet for a while before he finally had time to pick up his wine glass and find Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, who were also busy.

“Seriously, I really don’t want to deal with those people,” Chen Shouzhe complained to the two. Hearing Chen Shouzhe’s words, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon exchanged a smile; they knew this all too well in Hollywood.

The old white man's personality is typical of his profession: arrogant and conceited, and since there are quite a few scoundrels among him, he's even more difficult to talk to.

Chen Shouzhe was willing to humbly win them over, humbly learn from them, and give them gifts. They would accept the gifts with their heads held high and even instruct Chen Shouzhe on how to make movies.

Just now, someone was pointing fingers at Chen Shouzhe's film, acting like a mentor. Chen Shouzhe greeted him with a smile and was pulled aside for almost half an hour.

"You'll get used to it. I've been through this all these years," Leonardo said with a wry smile.

“That’s right, he’s the most qualified to speak on this,” Matt Damon, her good buddy, laughed.

Leonardo DiCaprio's journey to the Oscars can only be described as a tale of blood and tears, and could even be made into an inspirational movie called "Leonardo DiCaprio's Journey to the Oscars."

There will definitely be a lot of viewers who will buy tickets, after all, Leonardo has had it so tough.

“I have another movie to shoot, so I probably won’t be able to come over until the end of the year. I’ll need your help with the PR for the Oscars and Golden Globes,” Chen Shou said.

“Okay, leave it to us.” Matt Damon readily agreed. He didn’t have an Oscar yet, so he was full of enthusiasm.

Leonardo DiCaprio has already won several Golden Globes, but the award-winning gene is ingrained in every cell of his body, and he will still take every film seriously in his quest for various awards.

Chen Shouzhe brought Reba along for this public relations event. They walked the red carpet together. Of course, she didn't act in the movie, but she appeared on the premiere stage as Chen Shouzhe's female companion.

The story received extensive coverage in China, especially the photos of the two sitting together, which many described as a perfect match.

This undoubtedly greatly enhances the commercial value of Hot Bar.

Moreover, since Reba comes from the Northwest, it's difficult for Western countries to make a fuss about this issue.

After the movie premiere, Chen Shou didn't wait for the box office results; he immediately boarded a plane back to China to continue filming Journey to the West.

Upon arriving back in China and disembarking at the airport, the media, who had been waiting there, swarmed around him and Dilraba.

"Director Chen, are you about to go public with your relationship with Dilraba?"

"Hey, are you dating Director Chen Shou?"

"Director Chen Shouzhe, when did you and Yang Mi have your child? Was it a child born after you got married?"

"Hot Bar, are you the other woman?"

Chen Shouzhe never expected that the reporter's questions would all be about his private life. No wonder Lao Guo beat up the reporter back then. He really deserved it.

Fortunately, they had enough bodyguards and assistants, and with the help of airport security, the two of them got into the car quickly and left.

"Hey, Sister Zhong, I just got off the plane, the opening day box office figures are in! How much?"

(End of this chapter)