The entertainment empire began with Liu Yifei's premarital pregnancy.

As the filming date approached, the entire "Painted Skin" crew, from director Xu Ke to lead actors Deng Chao, Liu Yifei, and Zhou Xun, took to the stage to be interviewed by reporters.

Before the crew went on stage, Xu Ke invited Lin Bufan, but Lin Bufan refused.

He's here for the movie premiere, not to steal the spotlight.

If he were to take the stage, the reporters would definitely be chasing after Lin Bufan for interviews.

Even in this day and age, you can easily find rumors about Lin Bufan online, whether there is evidence or not.

Even female celebrities who have only met Lin Bufan once are very likely to be involved in rumors with him online.

Of course, only a few people have concrete evidence of being photographed.

Xu Ke knew that inviting Lin Bufan to the stage would definitely affect the production team, but don't forget that Lin Bufan is the boss. Whether he wants to or not, he has to invite him. As for whether he goes on stage or not, that's Lin Bufan's business. It's his business whether or not to invite him.

On stage, when facing reporters' interviews, Xu Ke and others answered questions with smiles, mostly about interesting anecdotes about the movie.

Because of the prior notice, even when interviewing Liu Yifei, the reporters didn't keep asking her questions about Lin Bufan; they mostly focused on interviewing her about the character.

Until the very end, near the end of the interview.

"Director Xu, based on the interview just now, how much box office do you think 'Painted Skin' will get after its release?"

As the reporter asked the question, all eyes turned to Xu Ke.

This isn't an art film. For commercial directors, everything else is secondary; the most important thing is box office revenue.

If your box office is high enough, then you're a big director; otherwise, who cares about you?

This question was rather tricky for Xu Ke.

Currently, in terms of domestic box office performance, Lin Bufan's "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" still holds the top spot with 4.89 million yuan, followed by "Titanic" released in 98 with 3.6 million yuan, and "Curse of the Golden Flower" in third place with 2.91 million yuan.

Before the release of "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate", the talk about "Love is Not Blind" taking the top spot at the box office was just out of politeness and didn't include "Titanic" in the calculations.

It's somewhat like deceiving yourself.

However, after the release of "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate," especially after it grossed 4.89 million yuan at the mainland box office, it openly broke the box office record set by "Titanic" in 98, and the rankings were rearranged.

"Love is Not Blind" ranked fourth at the box office with a gross of 2.7 million yuan.

"Hero" ranked fifth at the box office with 2.5 million yuan.

"Lost on Journey" ranked sixth at the box office with 2.08 million yuan.

"The Promise" ranked seventh at the box office with 1.8 million yuan.

Kung Fu Hustle ranked eighth at the box office with 1.73 million yuan.

"House of Flying Daggers" ranked ninth at the box office with 1.54 million yuan.

"The Banquet" ranked tenth at the box office with 1.30 million yuan.

"A World Without Thieves" ranked eleventh at the box office with 1.26 million yuan.

"Crazy Stone" ranked twelfth at the box office with 1.24 million yuan.

"Life and Death Choice" ranked thirteenth at the box office with 1.2 million yuan.

"Fearless" ranked fourteenth on the box office chart with 1.01 million yuan.

To date, only these fourteen films have grossed over 100 million yuan. Although the first "Ip Man" film also grossed over 100 million yuan, that includes the box office in Hong Kong. If only the box office in mainland China is considered, it still does not reach 100 million yuan.

Currently, there are only a handful of film directors who can earn over 100 million yuan, unlike in later years when a single film can easily earn billions or even tens of billions of yuan.

In fact, if a movie is marketed well, even a weight-loss film can generate over 3 billion yuan in box office revenue.

The current "100 Million Yuan Director Club" is incredibly prestigious.

Of the fourteen directors whose films grossed over 100 million yen, four were invested in by Kyoto Animation, and four of them even topped the box office charts. Otherwise, Kyoto Animation would not be the leading entertainment company in the industry today.

In everything, results speak for themselves.

The budget for "Painted Skin" was a whopping 8000 million. If it was less, Xu Ke would be unhappy, but if it was more, he was afraid that the box office would not reach the target and he would be proven wrong, which would be even more of a loss.

Regarding box office figures...

Xu Ke's eyes darted around, and suddenly his gaze fell on Lin Bufan sitting in the audience. An idea struck him: "Why don't we hear Director Lin's opinion?"

"Painted Skin" was invested in by Kyoto Animation, and Lin Bufan is the domestic box office record holder, so his words carry much more weight than mine.

With Xu Ke shifting the focus, many reporters turned their attention to Lin Bufan in the audience.

To be honest, I haven't seen the movie "Painted Skin" yet.

Lin Bufan picked up the microphone and smiled at everyone: "However, I have great confidence in this movie. Director Xu Ke is one of the most renowned directors in the industry, and his directing skills are beyond question."

"Among the three leading actors, Deng Chao is one of the four most popular young actors in the industry, Zhou Xun is one of the four most popular actresses, and Yifei goes without saying. This is her first movie since 'Fairy Sister,' so I believe everyone will be very much looking forward to it."

"Even the supporting roles are played by actors like Zhang Jin, Xie Miao, Shu Chang, and Wang Zhi, who are known for their box office success. So I believe 'Painted Skin' will definitely be a great success."

Lin Bufan's words not only flattered Xu Ke, but also cemented Deng Chao's position as one of the "Four Little Fresh Meat" (a term referring to four popular young actors).

Last December, at Tencent's Star Awards, Deng Chao was named one of the "Four Little Fresh Meat" (a term referring to four popular young male actors), but many people in the industry did not agree with this assessment.

After all, Tencent's Star Awards is not actually considered authoritative, so it's normal that it's not recognized within the industry.

However, given Lin Bufan's words just now, even if people in the industry don't want to admit it, they have to grit their teeth and admit it, unless they want to offend Lin Bufan.

Of course, if "Painted Skin" is a box office success, the industry will be convinced.

The same goes for the other actors. Lin Bufan praised them in his words, saying that if the movie became a hit, these actors would definitely become the "box office draw" actors that Lin Bufan mentioned.

"As for the box office..."

Lin Bufan smiled, then glanced at everyone before slowly saying, "A minimum box office of 2 million is guaranteed, with a potential of 3 million, and 4 million is not impossible..."

As Lin Bufan finished speaking, the reporters present were immediately filled with astonishment.