Huayu: As a child star, I just want to be famous

Chapter 598 Box Office Breakthrough
Just as he was about to hang up, Chen Linfeng thought for a moment and added, "Pete, could you please forward me the media reports related to this news? I'd like to see what they're saying."

"Ok, no problem."

The call ended.

"Pete, what did Chen say?"

In the office, Bolton, who was sitting on the sofa in the reception area, looked over eagerly after the call ended.

Pete turned around and shrugged helplessly. "It's pretty much what we expected. He only agreed to part of the second method."

Bolton rubbed his forehead, looking very troubled. "This will only work temporarily; things will get very difficult later on."

Deception is not a good strategy, and public relations firms generally don't do it that way, except in Chen's case.

But thinking about the potential backlash, he wanted to do more business with Chen in the future.

Given Chen's current trend and momentum, he could very well have become a regular at the Oscars in the future, and with long-term cooperation, the commissions he could have earned would have been substantial.

Pete shrugged. "There's nothing we can do. Chen is very stubborn, and no one can change his mind on this."

He briefly described the conversation that had just taken place.

Bolton shook his head, not understanding this kind of money-grubbing approach, but he also knew that things were beyond repair.

"Oh, by the way, Chen has agreed to provide additional funds for your operations, so you can go ahead and get started."

Bolton's expression softened slightly, but he still sighed inwardly.

There's a big difference between being full at one meal and being full at every meal.

Seeing that Bolton was still not very happy, Pete comforted him in order to get him to put in more effort.

"Chen may no longer participate in the Oscars as a producer or director, but there is still a possibility of future collaborations."

"Huh? What do you say?"

“The Oscars are a big pie, and we won’t give up on them completely. Chen can move behind the scenes, after all, he was originally a screenwriter, wasn’t he?”

With him as the screenwriter, and me or someone else handling the project for the Oscars, it wouldn't be too bad, and then, you know.

"..."

Bolton ate the pancake and felt much more invigorated.

Chen Linfeng was unaware that Pete had already helped him secure a loan in the future; he was currently opening his email on his computer.

Judging from the emails sent by Pitt, there were indeed quite a few media outlets involved in the reporting.

Chen Linfeng first eliminated those unknown tabloids.

While these tabloids can influence public opinion to some extent, the second round of voting for the Oscars has already begun, and these fringe tabloids, being merely media outlets, will not have a significant impact.

The key lies in the newspapers that the judges might see.

Chen Linfeng frowned and looked at the newspaper that Pete had highlighted in red.

[The Hollywood Observer: Should the Oscars award their highest honors to "outsiders"?]
(Los Angeles, February 3) As the Oscar voting enters its final stretch, the debate over whether Chinese-American director and screenwriter Chen Linfeng should receive the golden statuette continues to escalate within the industry.

Several conservative commentators pointed out that although Chen's "Joker" achieved amazing success in both artistry and box office, his non-American citizenship, or more specifically, his non-American lower class status, makes people wonder whether the creation of "Joker" had ulterior motives.

Why did Chen target the underprivileged?
Has the social division that has emerged in the past six months been fueled by "Joker"?

The fact that such a film could appear at the Oscars is fundamentally at odds with the spirit that the Oscars advocate.

...]

hiss~
That's ruthless; American commentators are quite adept at labeling people.

He had to admit that he was genuinely worried about such public opinion spreading.

Some films, when made by locals, evoke completely different feelings than those made by foreigners.

Fortunately, the United States is an immigrant country, and it is naturally averse to discussing immigration status; otherwise, political talk shows would be constantly digging into immigration history.

Chen Linfeng had been in the US for a long time, so he was worried but not too worried.

Below the report were suggestions from the PR team, and sure enough, they didn't take it too seriously; money could solve everything.

Next article.

The New York Film Critics Weekly: Glory to Emily Ken!

...Senior film critic Michael Horton wrote: "The Oscars are the beacon of the American film industry, and Chen's achievements essentially serve the global expansion of Chinese culture."

We've given him so much—from box office revenue from Hollywood films to literary award nominations—but he's never shown any genuine agreement with democratic values.

Horton's remarks received anonymous support from some industry insiders who believed that "the degree of recognition of democracy should be an implicit criterion for awards."

...]

Tsk~
Chen Linfeng raised an eyebrow, a sign of recognition from his opponent.

He would have been quite happy at any other time, but unfortunately, the timing wasn't right.

He scrolled down to a few more articles, all of which were similar reports.

These reports all had similar themes, focusing on the media themselves, and were almost all newspapers that filmmakers preferred to subscribe to.

It is indeed a bit troublesome.

A day or two shouldn't be a big problem. After all, "Joker" is a well-known film that has been popular for the past six months, and it won't overturn the judges' preconceived notions in a short time.

Over time, things might change; the real fear is that Hollywood filmmakers might mistake it for a trend or a signal.

The ability to read the wind direction is something all of humanity does.

Chen Linfeng flipped through the pages again, and found that almost none of the world-renowned newspapers, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, had reported on it.

Only Fox News, a well-known conservative right-wing news outlet, mentioned it briefly.

[Data shows that the hashtag #OscarsForAmericans has recently gained popularity on Twitter, with some netizens digging up an early interview with Chen Yi-chen where he argued that "Chinese-language films should adhere to local narratives," questioning whether he was "using Hollywood resources to bolster China's film and television hegemony."]

It seems we haven't reached the stage of being weighed yet.

Chen Linfeng then logged onto Twitter and searched for related topics, finding that there were indeed discussions about them.

However, it didn't reach the level of a surge in popularity; it seemed more like a fabricated "hype" created by Fox.

Indeed, there have been related voices on the internet in the United States over the years, but without any new bombshells, most netizens simply don't take them seriously.

In other words, the media can buy articles and temporarily create a wave of public opinion.

Now that he had started reading the comments, Chen Linfeng also took a look at other Oscar-related content.

Several major competitors have recently released a lot of materials, some of which are behind-the-scenes footage from the production team, and others are movie concept books.

This is standard practice—to give fans a little treat, create a buzz, and showcase the dedication put into the production of their films.

The official Joker account is also doing something similar.

However, these topics, which would normally attract attention, are not particularly noteworthy at the moment.

Under the Oscars hashtag, the hottest topic is none other than the speculation about the Best Actor Oscar.

A large number of netizens flooded the comments section with messages like "The Oscars owe Leo a Best Actor award."

Well, they've actually gotten started.

Leonardo DiCaprio certainly played a part in this, but Chen Linfeng believes that there were also many genuine comments from netizens.

Many of the comments he saw praised Leo's outstanding performance in "Joker," even calling him "the strongest Joker of all time."

Some of Heath Ledger's Joker fans retorted, "At least they should be on par."

Both sides debated eloquently and engagingly.

It's getting better too.

Because of the strong impression that Jack left on Leonardo DiCaprio, people used to think that his acting skills were not very good. Even though he starred in many good art films, he was unable to completely change this image.

Now he's finally being recognized by many people; no one has seen him go toe-to-toe with Heath Ledger's Joker.

That was Heath Ledger, a true acting genius, and besides, death is a serious matter.

It seems Leo has a really good chance this year.

……

Chen Linfeng became visibly busy.

First, I need to contact close friends in China by phone to prepare for the seminar after the New Year.

He specifically inquired with the leaders of Optoelectronics and confirmed with Ikai, the secretary-general of its Television Arts Committee.

Seminars related to TV dramas are usually organized by the Television Arts Committee.

They are also in charge of the Feitian Awards, one of the three major awards for television dramas, so the name is quite prestigious. However, Chen Linfeng still felt it wasn't enough and planned to invite a few leaders who could make final decisions to the meeting after the New Year.

The things discussed at the meeting will not be counted in the end.

There's no rush right now.

The timing has been confirmed, perhaps to accommodate Chen Linfeng's schedule, as everyone knows he will be busy with Oscar-related matters in February and March.

Therefore, the time was deliberately postponed to the end of April.

This also takes into account the subsequent broadcast of "The Biography of Zhaolie of the Southern Song Dynasty" on television.

Yi Kai said, "Once it airs on satellite TV, we will be able to understand more comprehensively the feelings and opinions of viewers of all ages about this show."

The influence of "The Legend of Zhaolie of the Southern Song Dynasty" is enormous. During the Chinese New Year period, it was like releasing an atomic bomb for the domestic film and television industry.

I haven't seen a TV series generate this much discussion in the past decade or so.

Perhaps some classic TV series from the past were just as popular offline as they were in the past.

However, this kind of nationwide discussion, which creates a sensation and becomes a trend across the entire internet, feels much more exaggerated.

Some media outlets have even compared it to some of the greatest classics of the last century, such as the Four Great Classical Novels and Aspiration.

This is undoubtedly going too far. Web series are limited by their broadcasting medium and are mostly disseminated among young people.

While the online buzz is significant, it hasn't yet reached the point where it's known to the entire population.

At least many older people who aren't very computer literate have only heard of the show but haven't actually watched it yet.

The show's title is something most people have heard of, given its well-known reputation.

There's also a lot of news. During the Lunar New Year period, television channels not only broadcast film and television-related content, but also report on social news from a general perspective.

Aside from topics related to the Spring Festival Gala, there are also topics related to this drama.

Many young people have taken a second look at the news because of this.

Therefore, even people who don't use the internet will know that there's a TV series about Liu Bei and Yue Fei that's been incredibly popular lately.

Just by hearing these two names together, anyone with a little historical knowledge knows there's a story behind them.

Quite a few middle-aged men have actually gone to their children to learn how to watch TV series on the computer.

The children are quite willing to be taught; there's nothing more gratifying than having their parents approve of what they like.

Far away.

Besides that, the most important thing is the final push for the Oscars.

We must pay close attention at all times.

As for the public relations team, he had to make the final decision on every promotional material released, including the messages sent to the outside world, and how the news department of the American company should respond.

Chen Linfeng didn't find it troublesome. Deceiving the other side was one thing, but he had to leave some room for maneuver and not completely deceive his own people as well.

A few days passed quickly.

Domestic film and television media outlets are getting anxious.

No, Director Chen, please come out and say something.

The enduring popularity of "The Biography of Zhaolie of the Southern Song Dynasty" needs no further explanation, as it has been a news story for many days.

Even though many people still read reports on related topics, as a media professional, I've become somewhat desensitized to them.

I've only heard that the show will be broadcast on satellite TV, which will likely lead to fierce competition among the various television stations.

CCTV will definitely not compete for this round of broadcasting rights; the higher-ups' attitude is still undecided.

Although some influential figures have spoken out, they have only let it go; whether or not to take an encouraging stance is still uncertain.

In any case, according to many media professionals, it's uncertain.

It hasn't happened yet, so everyone just remembers it but isn't in a hurry.

But it's different in the film industry.

This year's Spring Festival film season has generated quite a bit of buzz.

Director Chen Kaige has always been witty, and his performance this year has been quite good, resulting in a unusually large number of interviews with him, making him a hot topic.

In addition, the competition between the two Chen brothers also generated considerable buzz.

The most crucial factor was the box office performance of "Now You See Me". Except for a slightly lower 1.66 million yuan on the first day of the Lunar New Year, it earned more than 2 million yuan every day for the next four days.

In just 5 days, the box office has exceeded 10 billion yuan.

After the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, box office revenue declined somewhat, but the drop was not significant.

Is it really going to surpass the box office record of "Your Name"?

In the end, it was Director Chen himself who broke Director Chen's record.
The significance of the film "Your Name" to Chinese cinema needs no further explanation; anyone with even a slight understanding of the domestic film industry, whether a fan or a layman, knows it.

Therefore, the idea that "Now You See Me" is highly likely to surpass "Your Name" is considered extremely unusual by filmmakers and related media.

It's not even a very high probability; some box office prediction agencies predict that the final box office will be in the range of 28-32 billion.

This effectively raises the box office ceiling for domestic films by a significant margin.

Actually, the box office predictions for "The Heist" weren't this high at first.

Even Maoyan, with its more detailed advanced data, predicts a final box office of around 25 billion yuan at most.

Based on the number of cinemas in China and the number of people who are accustomed to watching movies, the typical market size is roughly this number.

Even if there are many, you can't avoid too many.

Therefore, Chen Linfeng's initial thought was to surpass "Your Name" and break the record.

This is not the same concept as when "Your Name" broke all the limits, at least doubling the box office.

It's not something worth mentioning in itself.

However, the situation developed slightly differently than expected.

Where did the extra 3-7 million come from?

Indeed, we must mention "The Biography of Zhaolie of the Southern Song Dynasty" here.

The show is so popular and of such high quality that many viewers who have finished watching it are now desperately looking for a substitute for it.

Initially, they frantically searched for related news reports and online comments to compensate for their psychological distress.

But some people quickly became dissatisfied.

This is just enough to feed a beggar.

I wanted to find similar works, but there weren't any. I've basically watched all the classic and good historical dramas from the past.

So they set their sights on Chen Linfeng's other works.

I searched again.

Hmm? It just so happens that one of his films is currently showing.

As a result, the cinemas naturally gained a larger audience.

This group doesn't represent a large percentage of the overall moviegoers, but it's enough to push the film's box office even higher.

There are also side effects.

Some people who might not have planned to watch movies during the Chinese New Year holiday saw that "The Heist" grossed over 200 million yuan for several consecutive days.

During this period, 2 million in a single day is an extremely exaggerated concept, let alone over many consecutive days.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be director Chen Linfeng.

Based on his past reputation, I figured it would be great, so I went to the cinema with that in mind.

Not to mention, it's perfectly normal to bring the whole family when going to the movies during the Lunar New Year.

As a result, the box office revenue kept increasing.

Due to numerous uncertainties, the final box office figures predicted by various organizations differ considerably.

There's a good chance it could reach over 30 billion.

That's 32 billion!
Converted to US dollars, that's a whopping 5 million US dollars!

With something this big happening, Director Chen, how could you possibly stay at home?!

(End of this chapter)