Huayu: Enjoy Yourself

Chapter 29: "Little Forest" and the Pity of "The Matrix"

Chen An has to attend various seminars and meetings for the next two weeks. 💝✌ 6➈𝓼ђǗⓍ.𝓒𝕆м 🐜💎

Chen An, a young man, was squatting among a group of middle-aged people, sitting there like a silly goose.

Bring a notebook and pen, just take notes and don't speak. If you ask him to speak, he'll just spout nonsense like "Aba aba".

While busy with various tasks, Han Sanping also informed him that "Run Lola Run" was about to be released.

I found a hotel and planned to hold a premiere, even though premieres aren't usually a thing these days.

Thanks to Chen An's youth, the film is now attracting a lot of attention, so Han Sanping is thinking of doing a premiere like those abroad.

Let's boost our momentum!

They booked an entire floor of the hotel and invited reporters from major media outlets to attend.

Major media outlets are also eager to interview Chen An, who is currently enjoying great popularity.

A 20-year-old actor winning Best Actor is considered young and promising, but a 20-year-old Best Director is definitely a genius!

It's already quite an achievement to manage a film crew well and complete the filming of a movie from all aspects, let alone win a major award. Even Spielberg didn't make his first movie until he was 29, and it didn't have much of an impact.

Chen An postponed the interview until after the screening, as he was feeling a bit tired from various meetings lately and wanted to take a break during the screening before preparing for the interview.

Major media outlets also readily agreed to be among the first to watch this film by the best-selling director.

As the title "Run Lola Run" appeared on the screen, accompanied by the credits showing "(Director: Chen An) being kicked away," the film officially began.

Film critics and journalists sat quietly and watched the film attentively.

Chen An also took the opportunity to doze off for a bit.

The movie is not long, only eighty minutes, which is shorter than most movies.

After the video finished playing, another round of loud applause erupted. Chen An was not awakened, and it seemed that the screening had ended.

The journalists and film critics present all had some film viewing experience and were able to understand the filming method of "Run Lola Run," and finally understood why it won the Best Director award at Cannes.

Of course, even without considering these factors, this movie is still very watchable; you can keep watching just by looking at the story.

After rubbing his face to clear his head, Chen An then stepped onto the stage to be interviewed.

"Director Chen, we are reporters from Southern City Daily. You explained that the inspiration for 'Run Lola Run' came from a game. Now that it's about to be officially released in China, what are your box office expectations?"

"The box office performance is up to the audience, since it's not up to me. I'd be very satisfied if we could get 40 million."

Chen An has no expectations for the box office; he doesn't think it will be hundreds of millions like in his past life.

However, 40 million is still the second highest grossing Mandarin film of the year. The highest-grossing film will be Hendrik Willem Van Loon's Police Story 4, but the latter was not released in mainland China.

Making it into the top ten shouldn't be a problem; the other movies are all Hollywood productions.

Last year's box office champion was also a Hollywood film, "True Lies," which grossed over 100 million yuan in mainland China.

Jiang Wen's "In the Heat of the Sun" only grossed half of that, at 50 million yuan.

At this point, Hollywood had no rivals.

Domestic audiences also enjoy watching Hollywood blockbusters, and some even refuse to go to the cinema without seeing a Hollywood blockbuster.

Chen An was interviewed by many newspapers afterward, and he answered them all, which helped them promote their work.

After the interview, Chen An went straight back to school. During this time, in addition to attending meetings, Chen An was also writing a script.

Whether it's something to be filmed next or something to be written in advance.

He also contacted Jerry from Warner Bros. and asked him to help him register with the Hollywood Guild.

I also picked out quite a few scripts and asked someone to help me register them and translate them, which cost me a bit more money.

And I need to put my English learning plan on track.

Before, I felt that learning it would be a waste of time, but now, for the sake of US dollars, Chen An has to learn it.

There are English training classes available now, and there are quite a few people offering them, so they are easy to find.

Lin Dajiang's money was also deposited into the account, and Chen An officially became a multi-millionaire.

I rented an office and registered the company.

I enrolled in an English learning class.

The script for my next project is the movie "Little Forest," which tells the story of a woman from a big city who returns to her rural life.

Chen An planned to take some serious photos, aiming to capture every frame to the point where it could be used as wallpaper, and to hone his skills.

Because it needs to be localized, Chen An will take his time.

Scripts that are filmed overseas are much better; they don't require much modification.

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The Matrix is ​​a great script.

It has box office success, high-class image, and was also produced by Warner Bros. in its previous life.

Unfortunately, the script was written by the original director, the Wachowski brothers' later sister, in 1994 as part of a preliminary trilogy. At that time, Chen An had just arrived in Beijing and was collecting scraps on set.

"Little Miss Sunshine" was Chen An's choice. This low-budget production, which grossed over 100 million worldwide in his previous life, was also nominated for an Oscar.

Chen An naturally wouldn't let go of a film that received four award nominations: Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress.

This is also the first film Chen An plans to shoot in Hollywood, mainly because it requires less investment and he can have the greatest management power.

Even if you're the screenwriter of a large-scale, newly established project, Hollywood won't give you much power.

Even James Cameron, who directed Titanic, did not have the right to edit another film he made before.

They could only sneak in, but were eventually discovered and the security guards called the police and kicked them out.

If even our own people are like this, how much more so should Chen An, an outsider?

Although the script for this movie was prepared in advance in the previous life, it's only 96 now and it hasn't even started yet.

As for low-budget scripts like "Saw," Chen An also wrote them and had someone help him register them, but he didn't plan to film them himself.

Instead, he invests in other people's films and just sits back and makes money; making such films doesn't benefit him at all.

Of course, Chen An didn't write out all the scripts and register them; he only wrote a few to register in advance, and there was no need to rush the others.

Chen An hasn't written the Batman trilogy yet; he plans to release it after he achieves success.

Even if you don't have full editing rights, you should still have the right to make suggestions; otherwise, you're just a tool.

After finishing the script, Chen An spent money to have someone register it in Hollywood and then didn't bother with it anymore, since he wasn't going to film it anytime soon anyway.

Chen An is currently focused on translating "Little Forest" into Chinese.

I'm just making movies, not rural documentaries, and I intend to give today's audience a lesson.

Let's offer something different from the rural impressions that directors have described before, and give them a unique and shocking experience of the countryside.

China is a vast country with abundant resources, and the scenery in the countryside is beyond the imagination of people in the city.

Although the script was not yet finished, the Beijing Film Studio had already sent out location scouting personnel to find suitable locations.

the next day.

Chen An, who was staying up all night writing the script yesterday, received a call from Han Sanping.

"Run Lola Run" had a huge opening day box office, grossing 4.2 million!

Thanks to extensive media coverage, box office revenue soared, and the film received praise from the media!

The groundbreaking film "Run Lola Run" grossed 4.2 million on its opening day!

"Run Lola Run, returning victorious from Cannes, has also been well-received by domestic audiences, grossing 4.2 million on its opening day!"

The director of "Run Lola Run," which grossed 4.2 million on its opening day, revealed yesterday that a new project is in preparation!

"Run Lola Run, the first Mandarin-language film of 1996, grossed 4.2 million on its opening day!"

There were no roadshows in those days, and even if there were, Chen An wouldn't dare to go.

Chen An continued to hide at school and work on his script, with Chen Wei bringing him dinner every night.

He also refused interviews, and listened to Han Sanping call him every day to inform him of the box office results.

"Run Lola Run" raked in fourteen million dollars at the box office in five days, earning praise from major media outlets.

Major cinema chains immediately increased filming and were overjoyed, since "Run Lola Run" was only eighty minutes long, which was equivalent to the price of a full movie.

They can get more screenings in the schedule.

After that, the box office plummeted to just over two million, and even increasing the number of screenings couldn't stop it.

Not long after, it dropped by two million, leaving only a little over one million.

Because piracy had already appeared—in fact, it appeared on the third day—but the images were so blurry that it was still manageable.

A clear version is now available, and you can take it home and watch it at your leisure for just ten yuan.

The box office decline was irreversible, but it was still a success.

Two weeks later, the box office had exceeded 26 million, and news came from Europe that the film was preparing for release.

Seeking everything

(End of this chapter)