Huayu: King of Kung Fu

Chapter 103 Challenging the Big Brother Dragon

Lin Hu had a blast on a North American talk show.

He used every cheesy meme he'd seen on Bilibili in later generations.

He taught Lyman to sing a Chinese song: "Give me a kiss, please—"

Lyman: "Give me a bowl, please—"

The two of them were singing Chinese songs while twisting and turning on stage, which was quite funny.

Lyman had done his research and proactively asked, "Quentin Tarantino once claimed that Ong-Bak 2 was the newest bee movie of 1999. What exactly does 'new bee' mean?"

When Lin Hu drew a giant "Awesome" in the air, McGrady and his big-breasted girlfriend in front of the TV were dumbfounded.

Because the show was so explosive, the ratings that night were much higher than in the past, much to the delight of the production team.

On March 20, Ong-Bak 2 and Romeo Must Die held their premieres simultaneously in Los Angeles.

Ong-Bak 2 will be shown at the Chinese Theatre, while Romeo Must Die will be shown at the Westwood Regent Theatre.

Both theaters are popular venues for film premieres and media events.

On the day of the premiere, executives from Universal and Warner Bros. each showed up to promote the films they were distributing.

Chinese filmmakers who have ventured into North America, including Chen Long, Michelle Yeoh, Ang Lee, and Chow Yun-fat, were also invited to attend.

Fortunately, the two sides staggered the premiere times, allowing the Chinese stars to travel between the two locations; otherwise, it would have been a chaotic situation.

If Chen Long and his group can only go to one side, the other side will lose face.

In order not to offend anyone, they might have no choice but to stay away from both sides.

Now, after attending the premiere of "Romeo Must Die," they rushed to the Chinese Theatre to attend the premiere of "Ong-Bak 2."

Fortunately, the two theaters are not far apart, only a 20-minute drive.

However, neither Lin Hu nor Li Lianjie attended each other's premieres.

There still needs to be a bit of tension. If everyone is all smiles and in harmony, there's no sense of competition, and that's not exciting.

At the premiere's red carpet, the four lead actors, Lin Hu, Gao Yuanyuan, John Lone, and Ye Fanghua, attended in their finest attire.

A large number of reporters and photographers kept snapping photos of them.

These photos will subsequently be published by various entertainment media outlets and serve as important promotional material.

Ong-Bak 2 has been shown in many places so far.

The film grossed 3.7 million RMB in mainland China, while its box office revenue outside mainland China also surged by about 50%.

In total, Ong-Bak 2 grossed approximately 5.8 million RMB in Asia, equivalent to about 7000 million USD, which is 2.4 times that of the first film.

The main reason for such a significant increase is the explosive growth of the Chinese market; a wave of patriotic spending made Lin Hu incredibly wealthy.

When Ong-Bak 2 was released in China, mainland filmmakers were stunned. They were amazed at what a box office superstar was!

Those film critics didn't even dare to criticize him; they could only cheer and rave about Lin Hu, solidifying his status as a new generation of kung fu superstar.

The premiere at the Chinese Theatre was once again met with rave reviews.

After the movie ended, a reporter immediately asked Lin Hu, "Do you think 'Ong-Bak 2' will surpass Jet Li's 'Romeo Must Die' at the box office?"

Lin Hu answered directly, "Yes!"

He's only 20 years old, so he should be young and energetic, especially in North America. If you're going to be humble, nobody will listen to you. You have to show off when you need to!

The reporter then asked, "Why are you so confident?"

This time, Lin Hu stopped showing off and gave a rational analysis: "Because Ong-Bak 2 is a sequel movie."

Our first film grossed $1500 million at the North American box office and later sold over $7000 million on DVD.

Now that the second movie is being released, it will definitely attract viewers from the first movie.

I have great confidence in the quality of the film and believe it will satisfy the audience.

As for Jet Li's "Romeo Must Die," it's a completely new film, so he doesn't have the same advantage as me!

The results came out quickly!

Both Ong-Bak 2 and Romeo Must Die will be released on Wednesday, March 22.

With roughly the same opening scale and similar screening schedule, their opening day box office figures were $760 million and $410 million respectively.

760 million is considered excellent, while 410 million is only considered above average.

Lin Hu wins the first game!

However, Ong-Bak 2 benefited from being a sequel, thanks to the support of its original audience.

The next day was Thursday.

Ong-Bak 2 dropped to 360 million, while Romeo Fatal reached 240 million.

Although Lin Hu won, his losses were even greater.

After its first five days, "Romeo Must Die" grossed $2450 million, taking second place at the box office.

Although Ong-Bak 2 suffered a sharp drop on Thursday, it rebounded on Friday, grossing a total of $3010 million over five days and successfully taking the top spot for the week.

After five days of screenings, word-of-mouth spread widely, with major media outlets comparing and commenting on the two films.

The Los Angeles Times commented: "As far as action movies go, Ong-Bak 2 is undoubtedly superior."

The fighting is fast-paced and the action is dense; Lin Hu's fighting style is both realistic and aesthetically pleasing.

The five-minute long take, in particular, is breathtaking and has never been seen before in film history.

Romeo Must Die brings the ancient Shakespearean play to modern-day New Orleans.

A Chinese gang member and the daughter of a Black gang member become entangled in a life-or-death love affair.

The film itself is unremarkable, but it takes an unconventional approach, specifically targeting the minority market.

Li Lianjie's punches and kicks were always accompanied by rock rhythms and rap music —

The Los Angeles Times' review essentially set the tone for both films.

Ong-Bak 2 is a better action movie, while Romeo Must Die has a specific target audience.

Other media outlets offered largely similar assessments.

The box office performance of "Ong-Bak 2" in its opening week was excellent, and Universal executives were very happy, so they began to increase promotional materials.

Given that Lin Hu's kung fu performance and overused jokes on The Lyman Show were extremely successful, he was arranged to appear on other talk shows to continue his antics!

These exposures boosted Lin Hu's popularity, further widening the box office gap between "Ong-Bak 2" and "Romeo Must Die".

Two months after the release of the two films, Chen Long's new film "Shanghai Noon" was released in the United States on May 23.

Both Ong-Bak 2 and Romeo Must Die have been pulled from theaters to make way for the big brother, Dragon.

Jet Li's "Romeo Must Die" grossed over $5800 million at the box office.

Despite the competition, they actually earned several million dollars more than in the original timeline.

This is probably the GG effect brought about by hype.

The two films kept generating buzz by constantly referencing each other, drawing audiences to see what was going on and compare them.

As for the box office of Ong-Bak 2, it grossed $7200 million in North America.

This figure, placed in the North American market in 2000, would rank around 50th, which is a slightly above-average result.

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But for Lin Hu, a newcomer who has only had two films released, this achievement is quite remarkable.

Although Jet Li lost this battle, Romeo Must Die was very profitable and gained a foothold in North America.

Lin Hu, on the other hand, rose to fame on the spot, becoming the second-highest-grossing Chinese action star after Chen Long, based solely on box office performance.

Lin Hu's next goal is to challenge the eldest brother, Long.

During Lin Hu's promotion of "Ong-Bak 2" in North America, countless producers flocked to him, and all sorts of scripts were shoved into his hands.

The enthusiasm was far greater than during last year's New York Film Festival.

However, Lin Hu usually only glanced at these scripts before casually tossing them aside.

"Ugh, you've thrown them everywhere! Now I have to clean up!"

Gao Yuanyuan, as Lin Hu's assistant, picked up the items while making sarcastic remarks.

Lin Hu chuckled. He wouldn't risk making a movie he hadn't heard of; it wasn't safe.

He glanced at every script because he was worried that he might have missed some amazing ones.

However, it does not.

This year's scripts are a bit more reliable than those from last year's New York Film Festival, but they're still not great.

Gao Yuanyuan carefully put away a script and asked, "You want to act in 'Fast & Furious'? Do you think Universal would agree?"

Lin Hu was fairly confident about this matter.

Hollywood is currently experiencing a kung fu craze. Chen Long is collaborating with Disney, and Warner Bros. is heavily promoting Jet Li. If Universal wants to ride this wave, collaborating with him is inevitable.

However, he didn't rule out any possibility, only saying, "You'll know in a while!"

Two weeks after its release in North America, Ong-Bak 2 grossed over $5000 million at the North American box office.

Universal held a grand celebration banquet, which was attended by many Hollywood celebrities and was very lively.

At the banquet, President Stacy sincerely and earnestly said, "Brother Ty, we formally invite you to join the 'Fast & Furious' cast and play the role of Dom!"

Lin Hu, his wish fulfilled, laughed and said, "Trust me, this will be the right decision!"

As for Lin Hu's salary, due to his influence in the Asian market, Universal offered him US$240 million, which is equivalent to about RMB 2000 million.

This actor's pay is three times that of the other lead actor, Paul Walker!

P.S.: Sorry, I'll make up for yesterday's missed chapter tomorrow!

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