During my years at China Entertainment

Chapter 866 The Fourth Prince is Born, His Net Worth Rises Slightly, Yang Mi Gets Itchy

As Wei Jin predicted, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2" was indeed a flop.

Despite having the strong reputation and accolades of the first film and a decent number of screenings, this sequel has been a complete disappointment.

The box office was less than 30 million on its opening day, and it continued to decline over the weekend, falling below 10 million by the third day, with the total box office revenue less than 60 million.

If it were just a box office flop, it might not be enough to tell the whole story, but the key issue is that the film's reputation is also terrible.

More than 10 viewers on the website gave the show a rating of less than five stars, so the average score of the show was not even passing.

Without a doubt, based on its reputation and opening week performance, and given that it's in the fiercely competitive Spring Festival film season, the future of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2" is bleak.

Donnie Yen's dream of making a comeback with this film has been shattered!

However, apart from the production company China Film Group and Donnie Yen himself, it is estimated that few people in the industry are paying attention to the film's performance, at least not today.

Because on this Monday, which was also the Lantern Festival, the entire internet was flooded with news from the Berlin Film Festival!
"The 66th Berlin International Film Festival concluded this morning at 6:00 AM local time, with two Chinese-language films receiving nominations and two winning awards – a double celebration!"

"Following 'The Great Buddha,' four years later, director Ning Hao once again won the Silver Bear Award from the jury for his dark comedy realistic film 'Mr. Donkey'!"

"Talented cinematographer Li Pingbing won the Silver Bear Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution (Cinematography) for his magical realism romance film 'Crosscurrent,' written and directed by up-and-coming director Yang Chao!"

At the awards ceremony, director Ning Hao broke with his usual practice and publicly expressed his love for his wife, Xing Aina, stating that his career is inseparable from her encouragement and support.

Talented actor Qin Hao once again lost to Tunisian actor Majid Mastura. In an interview, he stated: "I am already satisfied and have no regrets!"

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Although it is not the Golden Bear, the Jury Silver Bear is still a remarkable achievement, second only to the former, and even surpassing the Silver Bear for Best Director.

There are no fools in the entertainment industry. After the news came back, countless blessings and compliments flooded Ning Hao's Weibo.

After all, a great director who has made outstanding achievements in both commercial success and awards should not be neglected or offended!
Of course, Beijing Film Academy, my alma mater, is also taking advantage of the upcoming art exams and certainly won't miss out on this kind of buzz.

As soon as the news reached the school, another banner was added at the school gate: "We will resolutely uphold our traditions."

But when it comes to the best at riding the wave of trending topics, it has to be Jiang Wen.

He had previously collaborated with Li Pingbing on "The Sun Also Rises," and now he was excitedly congratulating the latter on winning the major award on Weibo.

However, at the end of his Weibo post, Jiang Wen stated that his new film—adapted from Zhang Beihai's novel "The Hidden Hero"—the final installment of the "Beiyang Trilogy," has entered the preparation stage.

The film will soon be officially approved and casting will begin. Li Pingbing will be invited to serve as the cinematographer for the new film!

To be fair, even though "Gone with the Bullets" was a complete flop, "Let the Bullets Fly" is indeed a classic, and Jiang Wen's aura still shines through.

Therefore, as soon as the news of "The Hidden Hero" came out, the internet and the industry were instantly abuzz.

Whether it's production companies in the industry, celebrities and actors in the circle, or movie fans online, everyone is incredibly excited.

However, Wei Jin didn't pay much attention. While he was at the hospital with Yan Danchen, he called Ning Hao right after lunch.

Aside from congratulations, Wei Jin was mostly gossiping, because Ning Hao's personality didn't seem like the type to confess his feelings in public, especially in such a cheesy way.

Wei Jin guessed that something interesting must have happened between the couple during the film festival.

Sure enough, the next moment we heard Ning Hao's explanation—it was all because of Valentine's Day.

Ning Hao has never been a romantic person. He rarely prepared any gifts for Xing Aina during holidays, and this has been the case for many years.

But to my surprise, the foreigners in Berlin were all so romantic this holiday season.

Fireworks shows, LED scrolling screen shows, and even the official hotel where we stayed at the film festival happened to witness a celebrity marriage proposal!

Goodness, there's no harm without comparison. Now Xing Aina, who's going through menopause, is feeling unbalanced. She's listing all of Ning Hao's faults over the years, nitpicking everything.

"Senior brother, I have something to say to you about this. For women, a sense of ritual is still very important."

"Yeah, I really understand now. A few foreigners even gave me some advice, so I won't make the same mistake again."

But you know what, it actually worked! Last night, my sister Na was so touched she cried buckets, hehe.”

Upon hearing Ning Hao's lewd laughter, Wei Jin's face nearly turned black with embarrassment.

What can an old married couple do? At most, they might try new positions, acting like they've never seen anything like it before, tsk tsk tsk.
After inwardly expressing their disdain, Wei Jin got back to business.

How are copyright transactions going?

For this year's Berlin Film Festival, the company did not arrange for any other films to be screened, only Ning Hao's "Mr. Donkey".

After all, the directors of the films released in the first half of the year weren't very well-known, so they couldn't fetch high prices. It's better to wait until after the films are released before considering them.

"It's fantastic. It's a world of difference compared to when I first came here. The current price is almost on par with 'Breakup Buddies'."

Ning Hao was clearly excited when the topic came up, and the copyright price of over 20 million US dollars was indeed something to be happy about.

Judging from Ning Hao's words, he plans to stay for two more days to negotiate with the film company and try to maximize profits.

"Alright, you can handle it yourself. But what are your considerations regarding the schedule?"

"No rush. We've already made a fortune on the copyrights, so box office results don't matter. Let me see when I get back."

"Okay, let's do this for now."

Wei Jin had just hung up the phone and hadn't even entered the ward when Yan Danchen's assistant ran out.

"Mr. Wei, it seems like Sister Chen is having a seizure."

Wei Jin was jolted awake and, disregarding that he was in a hospital, immediately began shouting.

"Doctor, doctor, I'm going into labor!"

The private hospital provided excellent service, and the doctor arrived quickly. Yan Danchen, dressed in a hospital gown, was soon wheeled into the delivery room to await childbirth.

Having experience, Wei Jin knew very well that this could take a long time, depending on the individual's physical condition.

He originally intended to go in and accompany her, but Yan Danchen, like Zeng Li, Gao Yuanyuan, Liu Yan, and others, did not want Wei Jin to see her haggard appearance, so she ultimately refused.

Fortunately, although my senior was an older mother, she regularly practiced yoga and took good care of herself, so her physical condition was still quite good.

The entire delivery process went smoothly, and at 6:05 p.m., the door to the delivery room opened.

A middle-aged woman in surgical scrubs came out, took off her mask, and looked at the crowd.

She smiled as she greeted Wei Jin, who was getting up and walking towards her: "Mr. Wei, congratulations! Mother and daughter are safe and sound. The baby weighs 6 pounds 8 ounces and is very healthy!"

"Thank you very much, Dr. Mo," Wei Jin said, pressing his palms together in gratitude.

That's right, the doctor who delivered Yan Danchen's baby this time was still Dr. Mo from before, because Wei Jin felt that Dr. Mo's skills were quite good when Liu Yan gave birth.

Behind Wei Jin, Wei Xingbang, Wei Anguo, and others who arrived one after another also showed joyful smiles on their faces.

With two sons and two daughters, making up two "good" characters (好, meaning good fortune), the Wei family has truly flourished.

Even Yan Danchen's parents, the senior students, were beaming with joy, showing no sign of disappointment at having a daughter. After all, Wei Jin had provided more than enough, treating boys and girls the same.

A dozen minutes later, Yan Danchen finished her postpartum cleaning and check-up, and Wei Jin and her assistant were the first to enter the delivery room.

In the pristine white delivery room, my senior was resting on the bed. She was slightly overweight, and her facial features were somewhat swollen.

Wei Jin squatted down, took her cold hand in his, gently wiped the sweat from her forehead, and said softly, "Senior, thank you for your hard work."

"Junior, it's not hard at all. Our daughter doesn't cause any trouble at all; she's just being very considerate of me."

Yan Danchen's pretty face was a little pale, clearly indicating that childbirth was not an easy task, but she couldn't hide her joy at becoming a mother for the first time.

"Take a look, does Yan Yan look like you or me?"

Yan Yan is my daughter's nickname, and her formal name is Wei Yan. It has a beautiful meaning and also sounds like the surname of my senior.

Previously, Wei Jin and Yan Danchen had not checked the baby's gender, not wanting to ruin the anticipation, so they chose one name for a boy and one name for a girl.

"it is good."

As Wei Jin spoke, he skillfully took the child, who had already been carefully cleaned, from the nurse in the white coat.

Inside the swaddling clothes, the baby with rosy skin was fast asleep with its eyes closed.

"Senior, she looks more like you. She'll definitely grow up to be a beauty. I wonder which little brat will get her."

"Get lost, you're completely irresponsible."

Yan Danchen gave Wei Jin a reproachful glare, then reached out and took her infant daughter into her arms, her smile growing even brighter.
It is said that daughters are their fathers' little angels. Whether Wei Yan is still young and considerate is unknown, but she has brought good luck to Wei Jin.

The day after the birth of her youngest daughter, Xinghe Entertainment resumed trading on the New Third Board.

As previously predicted by the industry, with Shanhe Media as its backer, dozens of first- and second-tier popular artists joining the company, and a net profit of over 800 million yuan last year to support it;

As soon as Galaxy Entertainment resumed trading, it won the favor of the capital market, with a large amount of funds pouring in.

As a result, on the first day of trading after the resumption of trading, the price of Galaxy Entertainment jumped from 2.78 yuan per share to 6.12 yuan, an increase of more than 120%!

That wasn't all. In the following three trading days, Galaxy Entertainment's stock price rose by an average of no less than 80% each day.

In just four days, its market value soared from less than 6 million before the trading halt to 76.86 billion, making it a veritable monster stock!

Moreover, it is foreseeable that Galaxy Entertainment's stock price will continue to soar for at least the next week.

Even if the increase is not as large as in the first five trading days after the resumption of trading (without a limit on the increase), the upward trend will continue until the market value and profit margin reach a balance point.

Only then will investors return to rationality.

Of course, a market value of only 10 billion is nothing to Mr. Wei's net worth; it's just a slight increase of about one percent.

So these days, when faced with congratulatory calls from acquaintances in the industry such as Lao Wang from Fiber Optics, Lao Yang from Yinghuang, and Wu Jing, Wei Jin didn't even bother to show off.

But this wave is a different story for the artists and shareholders under Galaxy Entertainment.

Naza, Yang Rong, Zhou Xun, Huang Bai, and others—everyone saw their net worth skyrocket, with even the least wealthy earning tens of millions.

Even if it can't be cashed out in the short term, it's still solid wealth.

Even in 2016, there weren't many billionaires in the entertainment industry, let alone such a windfall!

This led to the situation where Wei Jin's WeChat account was flooded with messages every day.

Those expressing gratitude, loyalty, aspirations for improvement, and tempting photos.
Unfortunately, Mr. Wei was overjoyed to have a daughter and has been focusing all his attention on Yan Danchen and her daughter these past few days, so he has to disappoint the beauties' good intentions.

However, as the saying goes, for every person who is happy, there is someone who is sad.

Galaxy Entertainment has never made any grand pronouncements, but it quietly went public through a backdoor listing, and its market value continues to soar.

LeEco, which has been making loud and clear slogans, is rumored to be canceling its IPO plans.

At this moment, Yang Mi, who was on the set of "Eternal Love," was extremely frightened and called Wei Jin to ask if it was true.

"The news has spread, and LeEco hasn't come out to deny it, so how could it be false?"

Wei Jin handed his infant daughter to his senior, then turned and went to the balcony to give an affirmative answer.

Not many film and television companies plan to go public this year, and LeEco is one of them. Its temporary withdrawal is certainly not something that can be kept secret from its inner circle.

"But what will happen to LeEco's shareholders if it doesn't go public? They've invested so much money in the initial public offering (IPO) shares, and it's all going down the drain?"

"I don't know the specifics, but I heard from Lao Chen that it seemed that Boss Jia came out in person and made some promises, which calmed most of the people down."

Frankly speaking, Wei Jin could have directly asked Deng Chao and Huang Xiaoming, but rubbing salt into the wound like this was truly cruel.

Especially with Galaxy Entertainment going public, it always gives people a sense of showing off, so there's no need to delve into it.

It has to be said, Mr. Jia's eloquence is truly remarkable; he managed to fool everyone like that, which is quite something!

But on second thought, the Wei and Jin dynasties are somewhat understandable.

For a single celebrity, it's probably only a matter of ten or twenty million yuan. Most people probably wouldn't dare to offend LeEco. If Jia Yueting makes some more promises, they'll probably accept it.

"By the way, how's your filming going? Is the follow-up promotion going smoothly?"

With only two days left until the end of February, "The Witness" is set to be released in just over a week, and the pre-release publicity has already begun.

Although Yang Mi did not participate, the event still generated a lot of buzz thanks to Lu Han's influence.

"That's about it. I have about two more days of filming to do, so the premiere and promotional tour should be fine."

Yang Mi paused here, her tone tinged with anticipation, "Senior brother, will you be attending the premiere?"

"It's hard to say. I'm flying to North America tomorrow, and I'll probably be staying there for a while."

Besides attending the Oscars, Wei Jin also needs to make arrangements for the film "Joker" during his trip to North America.

In addition, I need to discuss co-productions with Warner Bros. and meet with the President, so time is indeed a bit tight.

"But don't worry, the box office shouldn't be a problem."

"I'm not worried about the box office, I just miss you, um, I'm itching all over~~"

Listening to Yang Mi's shrill voice, Wei Jin could picture her twisting and turning, her large breasts swaying back and forth, and a playful smile appeared on his lips.

"You little slut, wait until the victory celebration banquet, your senior brother will fill your plate to the brim."

"That's a deal! I'm really looking forward to it!"

"Gan!"

(End of this chapter)