Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 77 I’m pregnant
"This kneeling has paved the way for a future."

"If I had known that this method could get me a role, I would have gone to look for one too."

"Sure enough, you have to be shameless to succeed in the entertainment industry."

"One movie brought her back to the peak of her career. She had been blacklisted before, but now she's completely free of it."

"It's really good to have a big director protecting you when you're the leading lady of a movie with box office revenue of over a billion yuan."

Many entertainment stars in the industry have seen the film's opening day box office results. The bosses envy Yu Dong and Albert Yeung, while the female artists envy Yang Mi.

Although the female lead's role wasn't large, she was still the female lead in the film, a mute woman who didn't have a single line of dialogue, yet she left a deep impression.

This is what Stephen Chow's movies are all about: there are no minor supporting roles. Even if someone is a supporting actor, he will do his best to guide them on how to act.

Many people say that Stephen Chow has a bad temper on set. Even in "Kung Fu Hustle," he angered the original martial arts director, Brother Hung, to the point of leaving. But that was just a disagreement, not a real fight between the two.

The two strong-willed individuals were unwilling to compromise on matters concerning the film, which led to the saying that Stephen Chow was a tyrant on set.

Of course, there is another important point: Stephen Chow has enemies who smear him.

Even though she was a mute girl with no lines, Yang Mi still became a sensation again at the end of the year.

The box office rebounded on the second day because the 24th was Christmas Eve. In recent years, influenced by e-commerce, various holidays have emerged one after another. The marketing on Christmas Eve was a frenzy. For example, an apple was sold for tens of yuan.

With more couples going out on dates, the box office surged to 1.5 million yuan, and even more on Christmas Day, reaching 1.6 million yuan.

The topic gained more and more attention each day, and with the added boost from the promotion, even more people went to the cinema.

Watching Kung Fu dominate the Lunar New Year film season, other companies could only watch helplessly. Many companies regretted their decision, and Pony Ma, which was seeking an IPO, was even more disappointed.

It's already confirmed that Pony.ai's independent IPO is impossible. According to the performance-based agreement, Pony.ai will owe a large sum of money.

Chen Shouzhe only heard about these industry matters from others; he wasn't the type to gossip. However, Zhong Lifan called to apologize, saying that if she had chosen to invest back then, perhaps "Kung Fu" could have gone public in one fell swoop.

There's no going back now; it's questionable whether Xiao Ma can even pull through.

After Christmas, box office revenue started to decline somewhat, but there are still two weekend days left, and as everyone knows, the other films released at the same time are destined to be cannon fodder.

Huayi Brothers is relieved that they have already changed their release date. If they had gone head-to-head, both films would have been affected, and the box office would have been taken by the other company.

Although they lost face, they made money.

It now seems that competing in the Spring Festival film season is better than competing with "Kung Fu Hustle" in the Lunar New Year film season.

Yu Dong has been riding high these past few days and has already started making arrangements to hold a celebration banquet. For him, the present opportunity is the best one to return to the domestic market for listing.

He had previously been eager to list in the United States, but missed the best opportunity. Now that he's back, he hasn't forgotten about it, and he still wants to cling to Chen Shouzhe's coattails, so he's been frequently visiting Shouzhe Pictures.

To ensure the film's promotion was more thorough, Stephen Chow took the main cast and crew to different cities. He received a share of the profits; the higher the box office, the more he earned. In fact, he was the film's biggest producer.

After two consecutive days of decline, the box office fell below 100 million on the 27th, reaching only 9352 million.

With the holidays on the 28th and 29th, box office revenue surged again.

Just as Chen and his team were counting the box office figures, a piece of bad news quickly spread throughout the film industry.

"died?"

Chen Shou stared wide-eyed at Tao Le.

“They left last night,” Tao Le nodded.

"Only in your forties, right?" Chen Shou said, sounding distressed.

Forty-seven years old.

"Damn, life is unpredictable."

Chen Shouzhe took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, handed one to Tao Le, and then lit one himself.

The whole internet knows that Pony.com released an obituary stating that on the second day of the new year, Pony.com's chairman passed away due to a sudden heart attack.

Chen Shouzhe had met him a few times and even had drinks with him. He was a nice person, but Xiao Ma was a family-run company.

This kind of company is either very strong or very chaotic. It failed to go public and failed in its bets. Now it has lost its key figure. It is destined to fall out of the top production companies.

The sudden collapse of an elephant was something no one in the industry could have predicted.

"I guess they're about to start splitting up." Chen Shou looked up, his hair, which had begun to grow, was falling loose, and through his hair, you could see that there were still quite a few blood vessels in his eyes.

“They’ve already started grabbing them. One whale falls and everything comes back to life. Little Ma has quite a lot of stuff.” Tao Le nodded.

“Let’s just leave it at that. There’s no need for them to take those things. But Chairman Li is gone, what about Ms. Zhong Lifan? Is she still at Xiao Ma?” Chen Shou asked.

"I guess they'll leave too," Tao Le said.

"Go and make contact with her. If she's willing, ask her to come and manage the film company," Chen Shouzhe said.

Tao Le looked up at Chen Shouzhe, but Chen Shouzhe didn't notice him and didn't know what he was thinking. He nodded and said, "With Chairman Li gone, Xiao Ma's family business probably won't be able to accommodate her. I'll make contact with her when the time comes."

“Yes, she is very capable. If she can join Shouzhe Pictures, it will be better for our company’s development,” Chen Shouzhe nodded.

Major companies are issuing announcements, and while they still need to maintain a facade of professionalism, they're probably already taking action behind the scenes.

The lucrative copyright deal for Little Ma is already on the table, and they'll probably all rush in when the opportunity arises. Little Ma's biggest asset right now is the epic blockbuster with a Hong Kong director that's worth 400 million, so they can probably still put up a fight.

The incident was forgotten by the next day. Apart from his grieving family, few people remembered it; everyone was focused on the box office performance of "Kung Fu Hustle." The box office hovered around 100 million yuan for a period, only starting to decline after New Year's Day.

Last week's box office figures were 1.3 million, 1.5 million, 1.6 million, 1.1 million, 9352 million, 1.1 million, 1.8 million, for a total of 8.23 million.

Bona and Wanda broke even within a week, while the other three companies were making a profit. Chen Shouzhe had been making money ever since the box office started, having already earned 50 million from the beginning.

The box office figures for the second week were 1.2 million and 8934 million respectively; for New Year's Day, they were 1.5 million, 9694 million, 1 million, 9335 million, and 8755 million respectively; the total box office for the second week was 7.37 million.

There was no sign of decline; the box office reached 1.5 billion yuan in two weeks.

It broke Chen Shouzhe's prediction of 1.5 billion yuan in box office revenue, and broke the domestic film record of "Goodbye Mr. Loser".

To this end, Chen Shouzhe had a poster made, featuring Charlotte's expression as she shouts "Kung Fu!" and congratulates her on breaking the box office record.

The audience was happy to see this poster, but the companies in the film and television industry were all annoyed.

It was Chen Shouzhe's movie again that broke box office records. While they mocked Chen Shouzhe for making blockbusters, they secretly wished they could join in and make money with him.

The box office never reached 80 million again after that, and it kept declining. Most of the audience had already seen it, and very few people watched it a second time.

However, the box office performance in foreign countries has also rebounded, because it was a global release and the distribution figures for each country need to be tallied.

In Southeast Asia, Emperor Entertainment Group distributes the films. Hong Kong companies still have a significant influence in Southeast Asia, and many Chinese people enjoy watching Hong Kong movies.

The film was distributed in Europe and America by Columbia Pictures. After half a month, it grossed $150 million in Europe and America. The box office in Southeast Asia will probably not be tallied until the end of the screening, but there were quite a few viewers, so the box office should have exceeded $100 million.

The film made a fortune and also promoted Chinese culture, earning praise from several official media outlets.

The Film Bureau also issued a statement congratulating the film on breaking the domestic box office record.

When someone came to Chen Shou's house, it was undoubtedly Yang Mi.

After finishing her promotional tour, she returned to the capital, but instead of going home, she quietly came to Chen Shouzhe's place.

"sorry."

When she saw Chen Shouzhe, she first apologized to him.

Chen Shou frowned slightly. "Why are you bringing this up?"

"You lost a lot of money."

"Who knows if it will make money if it's not released? It doesn't matter. I didn't know how to refuse back then. If I had refused, none of this would have happened."

Tell me, do you like me?

"Truth or lie, truth or falsehood?"

"The truth."

"No."

"I am pregnant."

"Ok?"

Chen Shou stared wide-eyed.

"When?"

"It's October now, almost two months later."

Chen Shou's heart was pounding, and his mind went blank for a moment. He raised his hand, which trembled involuntarily, picked up a cigarette from the table, put it in his mouth, and went to the balcony to light it.

"Click! Click! Click!"

It took him several tries to light the cigarette. He lit it with trembling hands, his brows furrowed as he stared out the window.

"What do you think we should do?" Chen Shou asked, exhaling the last puff of his cigarette. He was much calmer now, but he could still feel weakness in his limbs.

"I want to give birth," Yang Mi said.

"You're going to be completely bound to me, aren't you?" Chen Shou said.

"I can see that you're a scumbag, but undeniably, you have the ability to protect me. I'm going to give birth to this child. Even if you don't love me, you'll love this child." Yang Mi had just heard Chen Shouzhe's truth and understood that to Chen Shouzhe, she was just a woman.

If she wants to continue with Chen Shouzhe and avoid being dumped by him, then she needs a deeper bond with him.

A woman in the entertainment industry who has no one to rely on will undoubtedly be coveted. The best way is to find a powerful man.

If Chen Shouzhe hadn't appeared, she might have found someone else. Clearly, she made the right gamble. Although Chen Shouzhe wasn't a good man, he was soft-hearted. She kept throwing herself at him, and he didn't refuse. He's a typical Libra scumbag—he won't take the initiative, nor will he refuse.

That day at the villa, she saw Liu Yifei. She realized that she would eventually get tired of her. Every year, a large number of beautiful women enter the entertainment industry, and Chen Shouzhe certainly wouldn't lack women.

Moreover, she could tell that Chen Shouzhe was soft-hearted and would definitely keep the child; he would never let her abort it.

"You're at the peak of your career right now, do you want to have this child?" Chen Shou stared intently at her.

"Go ahead and give birth, anyway, you have a way to get me back to my peak." Yang Mi's face showed a smug smile.

"Oh shit."

(End of this chapter)