Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 240 Jay Chou's Surprise (The Olympic bid isn't until tomorrow!)
Speaking of Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, Spielberg remarked to Wu Yuchen:
"I never imagined Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow would be so popular. Audiences' tastes have changed so much since our time. I'm starting to feel like I'm falling behind the times and the audience's tastes. I have to admit I'm getting old!"

Wu Yuchen knew why Spielberg said that. The movie *Pirates of the Caribbean: At its core, it's a treasure-hunting adventure film, and frankly, Spielberg was the one who popularized this genre.

In 81, Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" set a benchmark for this type of treasure-hunting adventure film. It can be said that for decades afterward, similar films, whether it was "The Mummy," "The Pirate King," or "National Treasure," all followed the structure and pacing of "Indiana Jones."

The screen image of Dr. Indiana Jones, the male protagonist of "Indiana Jones," has become one of the most successful film characters in Hollywood.

Dr. Jones is a typical example of a hero who can wield a pen to eloquently depict history, fight on horseback to conquer the world, and is handsome, brave, and intelligent. He is a Western hero and a university professor—an all-around heroic idol. He is the American version of a "great and all-encompassing" and "perfect" figure. This type of protagonist was a trend in the 1980s and 90s and was a favorite of audiences of that era.

Now, times have changed, and this type of perfect hero is no longer popular. Instead, characters like Captain Jack Sparrow from "Pirate King" have taken their place.

Captain Jack Sparrow has a ton of flaws: sloppy, carefree, womanizing, cunning, comical, incapable of fighting, effeminate… A character like that would never have been a protagonist in the past. But now he's become a fan favorite!
Therefore, through the changing tastes of the treasure-hunting film market, Spielberg also felt a sense of loss, realizing he was getting old and unable to grasp the market.

Wu Yuchen smiled at Spielberg and said, "Steven, you've got a long way to go. I bet you can keep making films until you're 80!"

He didn't know if Spielberg could keep making movies until he was 80, but in his memory, Spielberg was still making movies even 20 years later.

"However, Steven, you're right about one thing: the market trend has indeed changed. The main trend in movies is now in the hands of young people. The post-80s generation has grown up, and they are becoming more and more individualistic. They no longer like the same perfect hero characters, but prefer protagonists with their own personality, flaws, and unique personal charm, like Captain Jack Sparrow."

Spielberg nodded thoughtfully, then smiled at Wu Yuchen and asked, "Is this why you acquired Marvel?"

Wu Yuchen couldn't help but admire Spielberg's quick thinking; the moment he mentioned it, Spielberg immediately connected it to Marvel. He gave Spielberg a thumbs up: "You even figured that out!"

Spielberg smiled and said:

"It was after watching 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and hearing your point of view that I started to think about a lot of things. Twenty years ago, the most popular characters were superheroes like Superman and Batman, and protagonists like 007. But in recent years, Superman, Batman, and the 007 series have all fallen on hard times, which aligns with your statement. If this is the case, and audience tastes and trends change in the future, will Marvel heroes replace Superman and Batman as the main characters?"

Spielberg is truly insightful!
The rise of Marvel superhero movies is proof of this. Marvel's superheroes all have their flaws, but that doesn't stop them from being popular and sought after. The reason they rose to prominence not in the 80s and 90s, but at the beginning of the new century, is partly due to advancements in special effects technology, and partly due to changes in audience tastes and trends.

Wu Yuchen also told Spielberg, "In my opinion, this is how it will develop. If Superman and Batman want to succeed, they must make changes and come down from their pedestals. In the future, audiences will no longer like a god, but will prefer superheroes who are more down-to-earth and more like humans, because this will resonate more with the audience's emotions."

This is something that happened in a previous life. Several Superman movies were not very successful, but Batman, which Nolan gave human nature, added many human weaknesses to him, and brought him down from his pedestal to be more down-to-earth, which is why he was able to rebuild the glory of the trilogy.

Spielberg laughed at Wu Yuchen and said, "Warner Bros. should really hire you as a consultant to reinvent Superman and Batman for them."

Wu Yuchen shook his head and said, "Come on, Steven, I'm already too busy with 'Pirate King' and Marvel right now!"

These past two years have been busy enough with "The Pirate King" and "Spider-Man," and Wu Yuchen doesn't want to take on any more responsibility for himself right now.

Spielberg chuckled. He was just saying it casually; he certainly didn't want Wu Yuchen to be making Batman or Superman movies for Warner Bros. What business was it of DreamWorks? *Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales* was DreamWorks' top priority! They should be using that time to urge Wu Yuchen to start filming the sequel as soon as possible!
……

On the other side of the ocean, in Taiwan, the annual Golden Melody Awards ceremony is underway. This is currently the highest award in the Chinese music scene, something that every musician in the Chinese music industry strives for.

"Xiao Zhou, you're amazing! You got four nominations on your first visit. You truly are a talented person!" Huang Xiaoming said, giving Jay Chou a thumbs up.

Jay Chou usually wears a baseball cap in public, which makes him look cool. However, at this moment, he gave a somewhat shy smile: "No, Brother Xiaoming, it's all thanks to the company's support that I've received so many nominations~"

These are Xiao Zhou's honest thoughts. He is indeed very happy at this moment, not only because he, as a newcomer, came here full of expectations and aspirations, but also because he has been nominated for four major awards, including Best Newcomer, Best Composer, Best Album Producer, and Best Album!

For a newcomer who just released his debut album last year, receiving so many nominations and recognition is naturally incredibly exciting. He's also very grateful to his record company, Little Bear. Having been in the industry for two or three years, he's no longer a complete novice and knows that even the Golden Melody Awards require connections and public relations. The company's efforts in securing so many nominations for him demonstrate their high regard for him!

However, Jay Chou still didn't dare to act arrogantly in front of Huang Xiaoming. Although his debut album "Jay" was quite popular and received positive reviews from many music critics, in terms of influence and current status in the industry, it's incomparable to top Asian boy bands like F4. The difference in popularity between him and Huang Xiaoming is like several Maydays in size.

F4 and Jay Chou are both artists under Little White Bear Entertainment, so it was natural for them to sit together at today's Golden Melody Awards. Moreover, one is a group and the other is a solo artist, so there is no competition between them, and they naturally get along quite well.

Huang Xiaoming believes that Jay Chou is a talented songwriter, and if he can build a good relationship with him, he might be able to commission songs from him in the future.

Huang Xiaoming asked with a smile, "Jaylen, are you confident you can win a few awards today?"

Jay Chou quickly shook his head: "Brother Xiaoming, how could I possibly have any confidence? I'd be grateful if I could win the Best Newcomer Award, I don't even dare to dream of the other awards!"

This was truly what Xiao Zhou felt. The other awards had many veteran awardees. Chinese-language awards are heavily influenced by seniority, so he didn't dare hold out much hope, nor did he believe his talent was significantly superior to these veterans. His best chance, he felt, was for this year's Best Newcomer Award!

Huang Xiaoming also sent his blessings to Jay Chou: "I think you're definitely a shoo-in for Best Newcomer this year!"

"Hehe, thanks, Brother Xiaoming~"

Shortly after the Golden Melody Awards ceremony began, the first award concerning Jay Chou, the Best New Artist Award, was presented, which captivated many people.

"Let me look at this year's Best Newcomer nominations..."

On the big screen, several music videos representing the new artists were played in turn: Sun Yanzi's "Darkness Falls," Jay Chou's "Lovely Woman," Penny Tai's "Don't Want To," Christine Fan's "Can't Reach," and Freya Lim's "Living Alone."

If Wu Yuchen were there, he'd probably be amazed by the quality of this year's Best Newcomer nominees, but to everyone present, it all seemed perfectly normal. This is the Chinese music scene right now, still in its golden age!

Jay Chou stared intently at the stage, hoping that the next moment the award presenter would call out his name.

"This year's Best Newcomer is... Sun Yanzi!"

With a "whoosh," a girl with a middle parting and full of energy jumped up from her chair, her face beaming with joy.

While some are happy, others are sad. Heartbroken Xiao Zhou watched Sun Yanzi skip and hop onto the podium, filled with envy.

However, he also knew that it was quite normal for the Best Newcomer Award to be given to Stefanie Sun, because Stefanie Sun's "Darkness" was incredibly popular. Both released self-titled albums last year, but Stefanie Sun's album sales across Asia were more than double his, and she had more fans and greater influence. Stefanie Sun truly deserved the Best Newcomer Award.

Although he knew this was true, Jay Chou was still very disappointed to see the Best Newcomer Award slip away, as this was his best chance at the Golden Melody Awards. Now it seems he will have to go home empty-handed…

At this moment, Huang Xiaoming patted Jay Chou on the shoulder: "Jay, don't be too sad. In my opinion, you are the best newcomer. Your creative talent is much stronger than Sun Yanzi's!"

Hearing Huang Xiaoming's words of comfort, Jay Chou felt a warmth in his heart and smiled at Huang Xiaoming: "Thank you, Brother Xiaoming, I'm fine. I came here today just to broaden my horizons!"

Huang Xiaoming chuckled, then said to Jay Chou, "Jay, isn't Director Wu's 'The Pirate King' showing in Taiwan these past few days? I'm renting out a whole theater tomorrow, so bring your friends and we can watch it together!"

"Okay, thank you, Brother Xiaoming!" Upon hearing this, Jay Chou thought of his good friend Vincent Fang.

Now, besides writing lyrics, that guy is single-mindedly focused on jumping into Little Bear's film and television production department. He's wanted to get to know F4 before, and this is a good opportunity to introduce them.

As for Huang Xiaoming, he watches every single one of Wu Yuchen's movies, regardless of whether they are Chinese or foreign. Inviting Jay Chou was just a convenient arrangement. A few more or fewer people won't make a difference.

Huang Xiaoming has never forgotten that he is an actor from the Beijing Film Academy. Although he is now a huge star across Asia thanks to F4, and much of his energy is devoted to singing and dancing, Huang Xiaoming has never given up on his dream of becoming an actor!
His ultimate dream is to play the male lead in one of Mr. Wu's dramas, but he also knows that he is still far from achieving that. For example, after acting opposite veteran actor Chen Daoming in the drama "The Emperor of Han Dynasty" which he filmed earlier this year, he realized just how much of a gap there is between him and these seasoned actors.

However, he will not give up on this dream. One day, he will use his acting skills to conquer Teacher Wu and make him proud of him!

Soon, it was Huang Xiaoming's turn to concentrate, because it was time for the Best Band Award, which concerned their F4.

Although he personally felt F4 had the best chance of winning this award, he was worried about an upset. After all, F4 isn't exactly a native Taiwanese group; the other nominees, like Mayday and Nuomi Band, are all Taiwanese. Especially Mayday, who he heard are quite famous in Taiwan right now. While they can't compare to F4 in any way yet, what if the Golden Melody Awards are trying to cultivate local musicians?
"This year's Best Band award goes to... F4!"

However, nothing unexpected happened. After hearing the results announced on stage, the F4 members all showed joy, but they were not too excited. After all, they had seen many big occasions, and winning this award was expected.

"Congratulations, Brother Xiaoming!"

After hearing Jay Chou's congratulations, Huang Xiaoming gave him a light hug, then winked at Jay and said, "Jay, I'm sharing some of my good luck with you, so you'll win an award next too~"

After speaking, Huang Xiaoming winked at Jay Chou, then followed his friends onto the stage to receive their award. Looking at Huang Xiaoming, Jay Chou felt a touch of emotion, thinking how incredibly kind and caring this older brother was!

On stage, when host Tao Ching-ying saw F4 come on stage, she immediately imitated the crazy fangirls of F4: "Wow! F4, I love you guys!"

Huang Xiaoming also smiled and said, "Sister Taozi, we all admire you and watch your shows all the time!"

"Really? I'd be so shy!"

The audience erupted in laughter as they watched Tao Jingying entertain the crowd with her antics.

A moment later, Huang Xiaoming addressed the audience, saying, "Thank you so much to the Golden Melody Awards for awarding Best Band to F4. This is the best reward and recognition for our hard work over the past year. Thank you to my parents, thank you to my teachers, thank you to the company, and thank you to our fans. We will always love you!"

……

Following that, many more awards were presented, just as Jay Chou had predicted...

"Best Composer Award... Li Sisong, 'Darkness Falls'!"

"Best Album Producer Award... Brother Li Zongsheng, for 'Karen Mok on the 12th Floor'!"

Xiao Zhou clapped below. As expected, the two awards he nominated missed out on; they were both won by the senior figures.

And the last award is also the most important award at the Golden Melody Awards...

The nominees for Best Album are:

Wang Fei's "Fable";
Sun Yanzi's "The Happiness I Want";
Karen Mok's "Karen Mok on the 12th Floor";
Jay Chou's "Jay";
Spicy English's "A Heartbreaking Romance".

Jay Chou shook his head inwardly. Look at who these nominees are. Even pop diva Faye Wong is among them. Compared to Faye Wong, he, Jay Chou, is just a nobody. What chance does he have of winning an award?
Therefore, Jay Chou had no expectations for this award. Instead, he analyzed the situation with a spectator's mentality, thinking that Sun Yanzi was unlikely to win, while Karen Mok's album, produced by the big name Li Zongsheng, had a chance. As for Spicy Girls... although she's a senior, he wasn't very familiar with her. However, the most likely candidate was probably Faye Wong!

Wang Fei's album "Fable" was a huge success upon its release, winning numerous awards last year, including the Hong Kong Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs, Top Ten Jade Solid Gold Songs, and the Global Chinese Music Chart.

Just as Jay Chou was lost in thought, the award presenter on stage, amidst the intense gaze of the entire audience, announced:
"The winner of this year's Best Pop Vocal Album award is..."

Then he suddenly raised his head and shouted, "Let's congratulate Jay Chou!"

wow...

Many people in the audience were surprised, not expecting that the award would go to Jay Chou's "Jay" when he had just debuted!
However, everyone reacted quickly, and the next moment, the whole audience burst into applause and turned to look at where Jay Chou was.

Jay Chou, unaware of what was happening, looked around. Then he saw Huang Xiaoming grabbing his shoulder, beaming, and shouting, "Jay, you won! Best Album!"

Me? Best Album? Best Album! I'm the winner!

Jay Chou felt completely bewildered. How could this be? Was he dreaming?

Seeing Jay Chou's dazed expression, Huang Xiaoming shook him and patted him hard: "Jay! You won an award! The biggest award of the day! Go up on stage to accept your award!"

To be honest, even Huang Xiaoming didn't expect that Jay Chou, a newcomer, would actually win the prestigious Best Album award at tonight's Golden Melody Awards! It's like the Best Film award in film!

He had only casually offered encouragement and comfort to Jay Chou, but unexpectedly it came true!

Jay Chou was shaken a few more times by Huang Xiaoming before he regained some composure. He then quickly hugged Huang Xiaoming, followed by hugs to the other three members of F4 who came to congratulate him. He kept nodding to the people around him who came to congratulate him, and then walked onto the stage with a silly smile.

After Jay Chou took the stage, host Tao Ching-ying couldn't help but joke, "Jay, congratulations on winning the award! But it's rare to see someone come up wearing a baseball cap like you!"

A slightly nervous Jay Chou quickly reached out to take off his hat, but Tao Ching-ying immediately said, "It's okay, you look handsome even with the hat on!"

The audience burst into laughter, and everyone could tell that this newcomer, Jay Chou, was an honest young man.

"Jay Chou, I just saw you chatting happily with Huang Xiaoming next to you backstage. Could you tell me what you were talking about?"

"It's nothing, it's just that Brother Xiaoming congratulated me on winning the award, and he said he'd take me to see Wu Yuchen's 'The Pirate King' tomorrow..."

Tao Jingying immediately made an exaggerated expression: "Hey, Huang Xiaoming, so you guys were discussing this kind of thing!"

But the next moment, his expression changed, and he pleaded, "Could you take me with you?"

Immediately, the audience burst into smiles again, and Huang Xiaoming naturally smiled and nodded as well.

Then, Tao Jingying steered the conversation back to the main topic: "Come on, Jay Chou, having received such an important award, what are your special feelings about it?"

Jay Chou's mind was blank as he repeated what others had said before: "Thank you to my mother, my grandmother... thank you to Brother Xian for bringing me into the industry..."

Fortunately, he remembered what Huang Xiaoming had said earlier, and immediately added, "Thank you for the company's training!"

At this moment, he was truly grateful to the company. Without the company's help, how could he have won the Best Album award this time?

At this moment, Xiao Zhou didn't care at all about losing the Best New Artist award. After all, the Best Album award was a much higher honor. He didn't realize that he would have plenty of opportunities to win the Best Album award in the future, but the chance to win the Best New Artist award was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

The following day, the results of this year's Golden Melody Awards spread throughout the Chinese-speaking world, and naturally, news also spread that Huang Xiaoming had invited Jay Chou and others to see "The Pirate King".

To be honest, given Wu Yuchen's current fame and the influence of "The Pirate King," he doesn't really need this kind of promotion at all.

Since Jurassic Park conquered Taiwan in 93, the Taiwanese film market has long been dominated by Hollywood. Hong Kong films have been utterly defeated here. In the past decade, apart from My Sassy Girl, all the box office champions in Taiwan have been Hollywood Western films. Even Jackie Chan couldn't make a difference and was completely crushed.

The Taiwanese film market is now basically Hollywood's backyard, so "The Pirate King" with Wu Yu-chen is almost the first choice for Taiwanese cinemas and audiences.

The fact that celebrities flocked to see "The Pirate King" only added a bit of interesting news to the film.

This time, "The Pirate King" has sparked a movie-going frenzy in Taiwan and Hong Kong due to its director, Wu Yuchen, and its family-friendly genre, with box office revenue soaring.

As for the mainland, although it has the support of the three Korean film critics, because it is an imported film, the release schedule will be slower. It cannot be released at the same time as other places. It is estimated that mainland audiences will not be able to see it until August.

Wu Yuchen was unaware of the situation regarding "Pirate King" in Asia, nor did he have the energy to pay attention. At this moment, he had already boarded a flight to Moscow, Russia, to participate in the bidding process for the host city of the 08 Olympic Games!
(End of this chapter)