Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 144: Small Cost Return
On November 30, 2005, the winter night in Beijing was chilly. The ginkgo leaves on the streets had fallen, and the streetlights cast a halo of light, wrapped in the sweet aroma of roasted chestnuts.

However, it was as hot as midsummer at Yonghua Cinema in Beijing. The premiere of "Crazy Stone" was packed with audiences, and the laughter never stopped from the beginning.

The story of the film revolves around a priceless jadeite. Three parties compete with each other in wits and courage, and constantly perform farces of replacing one thing with another.

Characters with different identities and purposes appear one after another. The plot seems to be cleverly controlled by an invisible hand, and various unexpected situations occur one after another.

The movie allows the audience to feel the reality of life in laughter. The actors speak authentic Chongqing dialect, which adds a unique charm to the film and makes the audience more impressed.

The farce reached its climax and the audience applauded.

When the premiere ended, some people even shouted "Encore!"

"Are you relieved now?" Xing Aina couldn't help but say to the nervous Ning Hao when she saw this.

The audience's reaction at least proves that "Crazy Stone" has outstanding comedy effects, and this is enough. A movie must have at least one highlight before the audience will pay for it.

Guo Tao, Liu Hua, Huang Bo, Xu Zheng and others exchanged glances and saw the excitement in each other's eyes. The movie seemed to be particularly popular.

Even Han Sanping did not expect such a scene. The audience response at the movie premiere was quite good.

"Mr. Han, thank you!" Before going on stage, Ning Hao came over and shook hands. Many media came here and were invited by China Film Group to report on the movie.

"It's your own hard work." Han Sanping patted Ning Hao's shoulder happily, feeling a sense of pride in his heart.

Han Sanping has a keen eye for talent and has discovered a rising star director for Chinese films.

Well, Wu Chen also deserves some credit for this achievement.

At this moment, it’s morning in Los Angeles on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. The interior layout of the “Get Out” set is low-key and exquisite, and the soft light and shadow of the room are filled with an indescribable weird atmosphere.

At this time, Wu Chen was communicating with Viola Davis, who played the maid Georgina, about the shooting details.

"Viola, your smile for this scene needs to be very special—you need to show that you're trying so hard to smile but can't quite do it naturally. That struggle and dissonance is what we want.

Your smile is one of the most important thriller elements in the movie. If we don’t capture it well, we might have to spend half a day or a whole day shooting here.”

"Understood, Director!"

Viola Davis took a deep breath, nodded, and an elusive smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

"Very good, let's get started!"

Viola Davis walked into the room slowly, her expression dignified and gentle, but a strange and stiff smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. It was clearly a smile, but it revealed a strong sense of uneasiness and depression.

Wu Chen stared at the monitor, nodded with satisfaction, and then said, "Two more, let's fine-tune the details."

Viola repeated it over and over again without hesitation, each time becoming more precise in the details of her smile until she achieved the perfection Wu Chen envisioned.

At this time, even Jason Blum clearly noticed that the black actors on the set seemed to attach great importance to this movie and were particularly hard-working in their performances.

By noon, when Wu Chen was filming, some domestic film media and film critics had quickly released their first wave of reviews for Crazy Stone:
"With lots of laughs and a sharp rhythm, the Lunar New Year box office has set a new benchmark for domestic black humor!" - Sina Entertainment.

"A perfect interpretation of grassroots comedy, director Ning Hao has a bright future!" - "Beijing Daily" Entertainment Edition.

On the Internet, on forums like Tieba and Tianya, the number of reviews of the movie "Crazy Stone" has gradually piled up.

On the afternoon of the first day of the film's release, Ning Hao, Guo Tao, and Huang Bo toured several cinemas in the city center. Seeing the audience gradually buying tickets, Huang Bo excitedly asked:
"Haozi, how much do you think our movie can sell on the first day?"

"It's hard to say!" Ning Hao hesitated a little, feeling unsure, but in his heart he naturally thought that the more box office revenue, the better.

The first day's box office is usually not released until noon of the next day, but it was late at night for Wu Chen, so he didn't wait for the information. Anyway, the box office information would be sent to his mobile phone after he got up.

However, Han Sanping was stunned when he heard Gao Chengsheng's report.

"The box office exceeded 300 million on the first day?"

"Yes, Mr. Han, the first-day box office was 312 million." Gao Chengsheng responded with a smile. This box office also means that the movie "Stone" has the potential to be a big hit.

China Film Group has only two films left to produce this year, one is "Stone" and the other is "The Promise". If both films become hits, this year will definitely be a year of great harvest for China Film Group.

He will naturally benefit from it.

But he was also a little curious. "Now You See Me" had already finished filming, so why was Wu Chen still staying in North America?

"Have you sent a message to Wu Chen and Ning Hao?"

"It has just been sent. It's still late at night over there at Director Wu's place, so you probably won't be able to see it until the next day." Gao Chengsheng responded quickly.

"Well, let's contact the theater chain and arrange more theater events for 'Stone'. We can take advantage of this period to give the movie more exposure."

Han Sanping immediately gave instructions, while everyone in Ning Hao's room was already ecstatic.

Xing Aina looked at the excited people who had already started discussing how much the box office revenue would be. Despite her joy, she calmed down a lot and said to Ning Hao beside her:

"Speaking of which, the success of Stone is thanks to Director Wu."

Ning Hao nodded heavily and was about to pick up his phone to share the good news with Wu Chen, but was interrupted by Xing Aina, who gestured for him to look at the clock on the wall, "Why don't you check what time it is in North America!"

As soon as Wu Chen stood up, he saw the box office information sent by Gao Chengsheng and Ning Hao in the text messages on his mobile phone.

312 million on the first day, this result is really not bad. If it continues to go normally, a box office of 50 million should be no problem.

Wu Chen called to congratulate him.

However, the one who was quite depressed at this time was Star Media, which bought the mainland distribution rights of "If Love" in a package. It thought it could avoid popular films such as "The Promise", "A One Man's Journey", and "A Chinese Odyssey", but unexpectedly ran into the dark horse "Crazy Stone".

"Brother, let's increase our publicity efforts." Qin Hong, Xingmei's vice chairman and the actual business person in charge, took a look at the data and planned to give it another push.

The box office of "If Love" on the first day was close to two million, but it was able to achieve this result despite the small hit of "Crazy Stone". On the one hand, it proves that the consumption power of the Lunar New Year period is really not bad, and on the other hand, it proves that the movie still has box office potential.

Qin Hui nodded.

"Based on the first-day box office performance of Crazy Stone, China Film Group and Wu Chen's Xingchen Films are going to make a lot of money."

Qin Hong couldn't help but feel a little envious. As far as he knew, "Crazy Stone" was just a low-budget movie of a few million, which was much lower than "If Love" which they purchased and distributed.

That's what others call making money, but what they earn is just a small fortune at best.

"There's no comparison. I heard from people in the industry that Wu Chen was the one who was optimistic about this project from the beginning and went to find Han Sanping." Qin Hui said with emotion, "See if there's a chance to work with Ning Hao. We can work together!"

"Brother, this is going to be difficult. With Han Sanping and Wu Chen standing in the way, it's unlikely Ning Hao will cooperate with us."

(End of this chapter)