Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 224 Returning to China
The moment "The Pirate King" was completed, Wu Yuchen truly breathed a sigh of relief. This was the most time-consuming film he had ever made, and the effort he put in was enormous. Even though he was a reincarnated person with the original work from his previous life as a reference, there were still many things that couldn't be omitted, and the necessary time still had to be spent.

Wu Yuchen estimates that filming the sequel will be easier, partly because the team already has some chemistry, and partly because the props, boats, and locations are readily available, which will greatly shorten the filming time. However, the trouble will likely not be with filming, but with the actors, especially Johnny Depp, who is a difficult lead actor to work with.

Wu Yuchen shook his head. He had finally managed to get it done and was finally relieved of a burden. He didn't want to think about it too much now.

However, this is a huge project worth 1.4 million, and it's a collaboration between him and DreamWorks, with DreamWorks making the majority of the investment. So it's not enough for him to just think it's okay; he'll definitely need to organize a screening and get DreamWorks' approval first.

In a small, luxurious theater at DreamWorks, Wu Yu-chen, Spielberg, and the other three DreamWorks executives were all gathered, seated in the best seats. Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Keira Knightley, and other actors sat further back. Although they were the leads, frankly, they had virtually no say in the film's post-production; the decisions were made by Wu Yu-chen, Spielberg, and others.

Gasol, the head of publicity at DreamWorks, was also called over by several bosses to watch the film today. To be honest, he didn't have high expectations at first, after all, pirate movies are notoriously bad at the box office. In the past one or two decades, most pirate movies have lost money, with the best one being Spielberg's "Hook".

The success of "Hook" can be attributed to two main factors. First, its star-studded cast, including Spielberg, Julia Roberts, Robin Williams, and Dustin Hoffman, is very appealing. Second, "Hook" has a strong fan base, as it is part of the Peter Pan film series, and Peter Pan is a classic IP character.

But what about this "Pirate King"?

Putting aside director Wu Yuchen, the cast is nowhere near as good as "Hook," and it's an original story with no existing fanbase. Frankly, if Wu Yuchen hadn't challenged "Pearl Harbor" to a showdown, putting the two films in direct competition, Gasol would have been struggling to promote "The Pirate King."

But as the film unfolded, Gasol found that "The Pirate King" brought him many surprises: the eccentric yet not unlikeable pirate Jack Sparrow, the charming and handsome Will Smith, the beautiful and persistent Elizabeth, the thrilling and intense sea chases and fights, the elegant and unrestrained English fencing duels, the skeleton pirates, the eerie curse of gold coins...

The combination of these various elements is surprisingly interesting!

Yes, Gasol felt that this "Pirate King" was much more interesting than the other pirate movies he had seen before!

Especially when the Black Pearl appeared, the sight of the skeletons on board under the moonlight was absolutely stunning, and he was completely immersed in this fantastical adventure.

About two hours later, the film ended with Will and Elizabeth embracing and Captain Jack sailing the Black Pearl out to sea.

Before the theater lights even came on, some people started clapping, and others cheered: "Unbelievable! An epic and incredibly fun pirate movie!"

Even Keira Knightley, the lead actress who had always been somewhat skeptical of the film, was quite surprised after watching it. She was astonished that this was a movie she starred in! How could a pirate movie achieve such an effect?
Then she looked at Depp next to her. She didn't expect that the guy who seemed effeminate and talkative on set would have such a unique charm on screen.

The filming process was actually very tough, and since everyone was just filming without any special effects, it was hard to imagine what it would look like with special effects added. That's why everyone was so surprised when they saw the film for the first time, realizing that this was what they had actually filmed.

Spielberg smiled at this moment, and at the same time breathed a huge sigh of relief. After all, this was a big production of $1.4 million, and DreamWorks had invested as much as $8000 million. Before seeing the movie, he was still a little uneasy.

But now, after watching the movie, in his opinion, he dares not say how high the box office will be, but he feels that at least it won't lose money.

"Wu, this is the most interesting pirate movie I've ever seen!" Spielberg said to Wu Yuchen with a smile.

David Geffen, standing nearby, joked, "Steven, Pirate King will definitely surpass your Captain Hook, aren't you sad?"

Spielberg laughed loudly: "Hahaha, I wish it could double in success and leave Captain Hook far behind!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen chuckled and replied, "Steven, you said it yourself~"

Spielberg chuckled at this. He was just joking, after all, Hook had grossed $3 million worldwide. If that doubled, wouldn't it be $6 million? If Pirate King could achieve that, he'd be laughing in his sleep!
At this point, Katzenberg suddenly asked, "Wouldn't Captain Jack Sparrow be controversial? I mean, he looks a bit like Gay."

Before Wu Yuchen could speak, David Geffen voiced his dissatisfaction: "Hey! Jeffrey, what do you mean? Are you discriminating against us?"

"David, can you please not be so sensitive? I'm just talking business."

Katzenberg then said to Wu Yuchen, "Wu, I didn't mean anything by it. This movie is very interesting, but will this have any impact on us?"

Katzenberg has always been dedicated to animation, so he is very sensitive to these elements because they are now not allowed to appear in animated films, otherwise they would attract a lot of criticism for affecting children's healthy development.

Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "Jeffrey, I understand, but I don't think it's a big problem. Captain Jack Sparrow is just a less traditional, unorthodox pirate, but he's not gay. His girlfriend will be mentioned later."

Katzenberg nodded upon hearing this, then smiled and said, "Wu, it seems you're really confident and have already thought of the sequel's plot."

"Of course, Spielberg said that Pirate King would be twice as good as Captain Hook, so I'm naturally very confident!"

However, Wu Yuchen then asked, "Steven, have you chosen the distribution channels?"

Spielberg nodded: "I'll arrange for someone from Universal to come over in a few days to watch the film and then discuss distribution. The distribution fee should be around 10%-12%. But Wu, are you sure you really want it to be released on the same day as 'Pearl Harbor'? We don't necessarily have to..."

"Steven, this topic has been going on for half a year now. If we back down before we even start, we might as well not release it at all. The audience will laugh at us!"

Spielberg sighed upon hearing this and said nothing more. However, after seeing the finished product of "Pirates of the Caribbean," he had gained some confidence that it might actually beat "Pearl Harbor."

Having decided to compete with Pearl Harbor, DreamWorks no longer hesitated or wavered, and directly contacted Universal as the distributor, announcing that the film would be released on May 25, 2001.

The reason for choosing this day was that Disney had previously announced that "Pearl Harbor" would be released during Memorial Day in 2001, which was May 25th. This was a natural gimmick for the subject of "Pearl Harbor" and also aimed to encourage people to go to the cinema by taking advantage of the holiday's gratitude to the martyrs.

Since Pearl Harbor has already been confirmed, Pirate King will naturally follow suit and be released on the same day. Universal is, of course, happy to take on this business and watch DreamWorks and Disney clash.

……

"Director Wu, I'd love to work with you and I'm really looking forward to it. There's just one problem: I might be joining the production a little later. As you know, I have a very good chance of winning Best Actor this year, and I'll definitely give it my all!"

The person Wu Yuchen was talking to was Russell Crowe, the male lead of "Gladiator". Wu Yuchen and producer Glazer, who was preparing "A Beautiful Mind", visited him together, hoping that he could play the male lead of "A Beautiful Mind".

However, Russell Crowe is a strong contender for this year's Oscars with "Gladiator," so he naturally wants to focus all his efforts on public relations and won't be able to join the production until after the Oscars at the earliest.

Glazer and Wu Yuchen exchanged a glance: "Russell, please allow us to discuss this."

Russell Crowe smiled and nodded, then he and his agent went to another room first.

Glazer said, "Wu, what do you think? Do you think we have enough time?"

Wu Yuchen was pondering the matter carefully. Actually, if you include the second half of the year, there is plenty of time. However, he also wants to go back to China to shoot another Chinese-language film in the second half of this year, so he wants to finish the film "A Beautiful Mind" in the first half of the year.

Then he calculated the release date of "The Pirate King". As the director, he would definitely have to cooperate with the promotion of "The Pirate King" at that time, so he would only have two months to shoot "A Beautiful Mind".

Wu Yuchen shook his head again. No, no, it shouldn't be calculated that way. It's not that Russell Crowe has to come to film. Although he is the male lead and the movie revolves around him, we can film some of the other scenes first.

If you calculate it that way, filming can start in February, which is plenty of time. Unlike *The Pirate King*, *A Beautiful Mind* doesn't have many big scenes; it mainly depends on the actors' performances. Wu Yuchen isn't too worried about that, as the main actors for this film are all established talents. After a moment, Wu Yuchen said to Russell Crowe, "Russell, you can join the crew after the Oscars, but start preparing for your role now, is that alright?"

Russell Crowe readily agreed: "Of course, no problem!"

Then Glazer began negotiating Russell Crowe's salary with his agent. A year earlier, Russell Crowe's salary was between $500 million and $800 million. He only received $500 million for "Gladiator," and before "Gladiator" was released, he also starred in "Proof of Life," for which he received $700 million.

However, now that his starring role in "Gladiator" has been a box office hit and he is very likely to win an Oscar for Best Actor, his salary will definitely increase significantly.

Ultimately, both parties agreed that Russell Crowe's tentative salary would be $1200 million, and if he could win the Best Actor Oscar this year, his salary would be $1500 million.

In fact, Wu Yuchen didn't care how much Russell Crowe was paid, because he didn't directly invest in the "A Beautiful Mind" project. He mainly received a 20% share of the full copyright, so he wasn't too concerned about the cost, as long as the film was well made.

The "Pirate King" project is basically settled, and the main details of "A Beautiful Mind" are also finalized. With producer Glazer overseeing things, Wu Yuchen is quite at ease. However, there's still "Spider-Man," and as one of the producers, he can't just walk away. Fortunately, Wu Yuchen has found a reliable person who can be of great use.

Kevin Feige, while studying at the University of Southern California, interned under producer Lauren Schuler Donner and later became her right-hand man after graduation.

Kevin is extremely knowledgeable about Marvel Comics' background settings and the Marvel Cinematic Universe's structure. It was for this reason that Lauren began to explore his abilities and appointed Kevin as the assistant producer for the first film in the X-Men series.

With the huge success of the X-Men movies, Kevin's life began to improve. However, the transition from assistant producer to producer is a difficult one. Although he now has some experience, he still cannot independently serve as a producer. He needs to accumulate more qualifications before he is qualified to produce smaller projects.

However, just as he was contemplating his future, he received an invitation from Wu Yuchen, a well-known and highly sought-after director in Hollywood. So Kevin Feige eagerly went over.

Hello, Kevin.

"Hello, Director Wu, it's a real honor to meet you!"

Kevin Feige is four years older than Wu Yuchen, but Wu Yuchen is now composed, while Kevin Feige is very enthusiastic, like a young lad.

Wu Yuchen smiled and gestured for him to sit down. The man before him, Kevin Feige, was the one who had created "Iron Man," "Captain America," and "The Avengers," leading Marvel Studios to its zenith.

“Kevin, I’ve heard Stan Lee talk about you. You did a great job on the X-Men project and you have a great understanding of Marvel comics.”

"Thank you for the compliment. To be honest, I've been a huge Marvel comic book fan since I was a kid, a die-hard one. Back when I was still in school, I could talk to my roommate about all sorts of Marvel heroes for days on end with my eyes closed!"

Wu Yuchen looked satisfied: "Very good! You may have already heard that the Spider-Man project is currently in preparation. I would like to invite you to join Marvel Studios and serve as a producer for Spider-Man as a representative of Marvel Studios. Would you be willing?"

Kevin Feige immediately showed an excited expression: "God! Thank you so much, Wu! Being able to participate in the production of Spider-Man is my dream of 20 years! I would be willing to do it even if I didn't get any compensation!"

Kevin Feige nearly jumped out of his chair at this point, visibly excited. He meant it; Wu Yuchen had not only involved him in the Spider-Man project but had also promoted him from assistant producer to producer—a difficult step to take! Therefore, he was willing to work for free.

Looking at his somewhat fanatical appearance, Wu Yuchen had no doubt about the guy's passion for Spider-Man. With evidence from his past life and Kevin Feige's experience in X-Men, he wasn't worried that the guy would mess things up.

"Kevin, I have high hopes for you. If you perform well enough this time, I'll consider having you join the project to build the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Of course, you'll need to prove yourself first. Otherwise, even if I recommend you, you might not pass the Marvel committee's approval, understand?"

Kevin Feige immediately stood up and bowed repeatedly to Wu Yuchen: "Wu, I can't express my feelings at this moment. Thank you so much for your trust. I will definitely live up to your expectations!"

Wu Yuchen smiled. He planned to have Kevin Feige stationed at the Spider-Man site as Marvel Studios' representative and also as his agent. If there were any problems, they could contact him at any time. This would be a satisfactory explanation to Sony, and he himself could go back with peace of mind!
……

At the end of December, Wu Yuchen returned to Beijing, and Cai Yinong personally came to pick him up at the airport.

Inside the car, Wu Yuchen remarked with emotion, "I've spent most of this year in America and haven't had a chance to properly experience the changes in our country."

Cai Yinong immediately said, "Director Wu, you are now shooting blockbusters in Hollywood, bringing glory to the country. We in China can understand that. You've really worked hard!"

Wu Yuchen smiled and shook his head, then listened to Cai Yinong introduce various things inside and outside the company and the industry.

Although he was not in China, Miracle Films was thriving. In the first half of the year, their show "The Happy Life of Zhang Damin" achieved extremely high ratings in northern China, and in the summer, "Young Justice Bao" became a hit across the country.

The company still has several dramas that haven't aired this year, such as "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" starring Huang Haibing and Fan Bingbing, "Spring Bright Pigsy" starring Xu Zheng, and "The Grand Mansion Gate 2". They have all been secured by TV stations and will be broadcast next year.

As for Little White Bear Company on Hong Kong Island, it is now thriving.

If we're talking about Little Bear's most profitable business right now, it's definitely F4! Putting everything else aside, the albums F4 has released, along with their Asian tour over the past few months, have already brought the company over 100 million yuan in net profit. Yes, not gross profit, but net profit!

As for how popular the tour was, according to Cai Yinong, after F4 entered South Korea, the airport was so crowded with female fans that it crashed. They kept shouting "Oppa Oppa!" The fervor of the concert in South Korea made H.O.T., the most popular boy idol group in South Korea, feel threatened and actively carry out activities to consolidate their fan base.

H.O.T.'s original strategy was to expand internationally within the next two years, given their dominance in South Korea. However, they've been intimidated by F4. Even if they want to expand overseas, they need to protect their home base. South Korea is their foundation; they don't want to fail in their expansion efforts and have their home base stolen instead—that would be a truly heartbreaking situation!
I heard that HOT's company, SM Entertainment, is also planning to imitate F4 and prepare a drama series for HOT to promote in Asia, thereby expanding their reach further.

Wu Yuchen was not surprised by this. The Korean film and television industry used to imitate Hong Kong, and it was only in recent years that they have slowly developed their own path.

However, Little White Bear wasn't unprepared for this. Wu Yuchen had already planned F4's development for the next few years. Now, Little White Bear has even created idol dramas specifically for the F4 members, such as "Hotelier" for Huang Xiaoming, "Winter Sonata" for Zhong Hanliang, "Stairway to Heaven" for Qiao Zhenyu, and "Summer Scent" for Wu Kequn.

Moreover, Wu Yuchen set the tone, and these dramas will be filmed according to the standards of "Autumn in My Heart". The focus is on creating that atmosphere, and Cai Yinong will personally oversee the process.

With these dramas boosting their popularity, F4's popularity in Asia is guaranteed to reach new heights and achieve even greater success. Moreover, these four dramas alone will likely earn F4 another 100 million RMB across Asia.

As for the Koreans, let's not think about going abroad and rushing into Asia yet. Let's focus on guarding our borders against the impact of F4!

In addition, in the first half of this year, Wu Yuchen also arranged to invest in two movies for Little White Bear: "Infernal Affairs" and "Shaolin Soccer".

The filming of "Infernal Affairs" has now been completed, and two endings were specially filmed according to Wu Yuchen's request.

One version is for the locals in Hong Kong, which is Andy Lau saluting at Leung Chiu-wai's tombstone, which is also the original ending;

Another example is the scene where Andy Lau is arrested as soon as he steps out of the elevator. This was filmed for the mainland audience, because that's the principle there – to show that evil has its consequences and bad people can't be allowed to get away with it. And how can bad people be allowed to remain in the ranks? That's absolutely unacceptable! Therefore, to pass censorship, this is the only way.

In my previous life, "Infernal Affairs" wasn't initially imported to mainland China. However, because the film was such a classic, it was shown in Hong Kong for over half a year before being introduced to the mainland. By then, most people had already seen it, as piracy was rampant, and it still managed to gross several million at the box office.

However, this time, "Infernal Affairs" was produced by Little White Bear, and Cai Yinong personally submitted it for review, even making a special visit to Han Sanping. The power to import films rests with China Film Group, and whether or not it gets released is entirely up to Han Sanping. Given Wu Yuchen's current relationship with Han Sanping, it's naturally no problem.

(End of this chapter)