Chinese entertainment industry in disarray? Hollywood goddess welcomes strict father!

"Thank you all for joining me on my talk show, and congratulations to 'Shanghai Bund' on its $1.75 million opening weekend..."

Inside the filming studio, the Black woman got up from the sofa and hugged Lu Lin and the others to congratulate them.

With the live broadcast signal cut off, the entire interview show came to an end.

After Huang Xiaoming and the others stepped down from the stage, they all looked exhausted, but their eyes revealed undisguised excitement.

For the past two or three days, they have been working non-stop with Lu Lin, participating in various talk show interviews and promotional roadshows. They were extremely tired, but seeing the box office soaring in the opening weekend, they felt a sense of accomplishment from the bottom of their hearts.

"Have some tea to soothe your throat..."

Fan Dabing personally handed a thermos to Lu Lin, then looked at the crowd surrounded by their assistants and said, "There's still more than an hour until midnight. I feel like the North American opening weekend box office is likely to break 200 million US dollars."

The exhausted crowd was immediately invigorated upon hearing this.

Li Lin asked, "Sister Bing, what about the domestic box office? Has it broken one billion yet?"

Fan Dabing nodded gracefully and said, "Your earnings from these interviews have already surpassed one billion!"

This was another piece of great news. The fatigue on everyone's faces was completely replaced by excitement, and they congratulated each other.

Fan Dabing withdrew his gaze and said to Lu Lin with a smile, "It's funny, really. Those suckers know they've already been ripped off, yet they still don't dare to start a war with us?"

Lu Lin sipped his tea and said, "Do you think the weakness of the bourgeoisie is just talk? Being afraid of everything is their common problem, applicable to all times and places!"

Fan Dabing nodded in silence, then said excitedly, "The weakness of those suckers is only one point. Your 'Shanghai Bund' is truly exaggerated. It's a box office bomb that will sweep the globe."

"Right now, it's not just North America and China that are seeing huge box office hits in their opening weekends; markets in Europe, Japan, South Korea, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and more are also experiencing extremely strong box office performance. It feels like the final global box office might even catch up with Avengers..."

"This is truly unbelievable! It's as if overnight, the entire world has fallen in love with watching Chinese-language films because of this movie, 'Shanghai Bund'!"

Lu Lin shrugged and said, "This is actually just the box office result it should have, and it also benefited from the groundwork laid by 'Lost in the East' and 'Thelma & Louise'."

Hu Ge chimed in from the side, nodding repeatedly, "Yes, yes, that's what I was thinking. The box office success of 'Shanghai Bund' is certainly due to its high quality, but Da Lin's 'Lost in the East' and 'Thelma & Louise' from last year, which swept the Oscars a few days ago, are definitely key factors as well."

Huang Xiaoming nodded in agreement, saying, "Although the Oscars have long since faded into obscurity in China, their influence worldwide is still phenomenal. They immediately showcased Da Lin's talent to film fans around the globe. Now, the international internet is saying that Da Lin may very well be the last cinematic master in the world!"

Lu Lin got goosebumps listening to this and scolded, "Brother Xiaoming, that's a bit too much flattery."

"Moreover, the groundwork I'm referring to is actually different from what you understand."

Chen Baoguo chimed in, "What's the difference? Isn't it your talent that has captivated film fans worldwide?"

Lu Lin shook his head: "That's the least important factor. There's no shortage of directors in both Japan and South Korea who conquer movie fans with their talent, so why don't we see their movies sweeping the global box office?"

Li Dabai chuckled and said, "What are you saying? They're just directors, what makes them comparable to you? You could glare at any theater owner in the world and they'd be so scared they'd want to give all their screenings to Shanghai!"

Her funny words made everyone present laugh heartily.

Lu Lin couldn't help but chuckle at the beautiful aunt's words, but he still shook his head and said, "No matter how many screenings are given by the theaters, it's impossible to force moviegoers to buy tickets to watch movies."

"Take the Korean Wave in recent years, for example. Even though South Korea has the backing of its nation and has exported its culture to markets around the world, it has never been able to become mainstream. Does that mean that the combined power of the entire Korean nation is less than the power of one person like me?"

"It's definitely more powerful than all of my energy combined!"

"But for markets around the world, even disregarding music and film works in their own native languages, K-pop is still a non-mainstream phenomenon, ranking after Hollywood films and television and the Western music scene. K-pop can't deny that!"

The crowd stopped laughing, all looking completely bewildered.

Unfortunately, I really couldn't understand it.

Lu Lin clicked his tongue helplessly and waved his hand, saying, "If you don't understand, you don't understand. There are no other announcements to attend today. Let's hurry back and rest to recharge for tomorrow's busy schedule."

Everyone nodded and stopped talking. Surrounded by assistants and bodyguards, they left the filming studio and got into Lu Lin's RV.

……

Later.

A convoy of luxury vehicles, consisting of numerous U8s and RVs, drove in a grand procession towards the Rowland Heights Chinese community.

Inside the RV, Fan Dabing personally lit a state gift cigar for Lu Lin and said in a coquettish tone, "Good little brother, there are no outsiders here. Continuing from what you were saying, why did you continue telling everyone the reasons why 'Shanghai Bund' was able to sweep the global box office?"

"And what about the Korean Wave? Why, despite the entire nation's resources being used to export it, can it only become a niche phenomenon?"

Upon hearing her words, the previously exhausted Huang Xiaoming and others perked up and listened intently.

Seeing that everyone was interested in listening, Lu Lin stopped hiding his thoughts, took the cigar that Fan Dabing had offered him, broke it open and crumbled it to explain: "Cultural export is not just about how hard you work or how good your work is."

"It's about looking at the real, solid overall strength behind the culture. When the overall strength behind you is awesome, even if you fart, people will think it smells good. They might even think that farting in public is a high-class performance art and will regard it as a golden rule to imitate like crazy."

"Korean Wave will never achieve this. No matter how glamorous the packaging is on stage, behind the scenes it's just a laughable clown who can only fool some shallow teenagers. Therefore, Korean Wave will never become a mainstream phenomenon globally!"

"As for Chinese entertainment, the overall hard power behind it is already there. What it lacks is to step out and show itself to people. So when 'Lost in the East' and 'Thelma & Louise' swept the Oscars and entered the global film audience’s field of vision, overseas people who had been brainwashed by Western mainstream media for decades suddenly realized that there was a completely different prosperous civilization outside of the European and American system."

"The impact and novelty of seeing the world with open eyes is probably no less than suddenly encountering an alien civilization. This is the real groundwork laid for both films, which led to the global box office success of 'Shanghai Bund'!"

Everyone: "..."

Everyone was stunned.

Including Fan Dabing.

Including Scarlett Johansson and Elizabeth Olsen.

I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine!

The way everyone looked at Lu Lin changed!

Cultural output is a reflection of overall hard power. There's nothing profound about it. Even if people can't articulate it in detail, they still have a vague idea.

What truly chilled everyone was that every step Lu Lin took in his development in Hollywood seemed to be a pre-arranged scheme.

If you think about it carefully, both "Lost in the East" and "Thelma & Louise" are based on showcasing the domestic landscape.

In "Lost in the East," Scarlett Johansson travels through major Chinese cities from a foreigner's perspective.

In "Thelma & Louise," Yang Mi and Tong Ya drive away from the big city on a road trip.

Together, the two films offer a complete view of China, providing a fresh perspective for film fans worldwide.

With the groundwork laid by these two films, Lu Lin's development in Hollywood was no longer that of a traditional overseas Chinese celebrity, but rather a superstar from an "alien civilization"!