Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 264 Warm-up
"Today, the host country that has treated me kindly for 30 years is facing serious difficulties. The rich have fled, and the poor have been forced to stay. They don't know where to go, they have no money to escape, and aren't they facing the danger of being massacred? Shouldn't we try to help them? At least save some people?"

“These were endless years of terror, and no amount of imagination could overstate it. In the rain, my refugees huddled together in the courtyard, silently watching the beautiful yet terrifying flames. If the flames reached us, these poorest people would have no way out; I was their last hope.”

On the plane, Wu Yuchen closed "The Diary of John Rabe" again. Although he had read it many times, he was still filled with emotion and regret every time he read it.

Schindler and Rabe, two Germans, one in Poland and the other in China, respectively under the bayonets of the German and Japanese armies, did their utmost to save Jews and Chinese who had nowhere to escape under the iron heel. The former sought skilled workers in factories, while the latter established international safety zones.

If we simply consider the number of people rescued, Schindler rescued 1200 people, while Rabe rescued a staggering 20. From this perspective, Schindler is at most a small fraction of Rabe. Of course, such a comparison is inappropriate; the actions of both Schindler and Rabe are worthy of praise, commendation, and remembrance.

Because of the film "Schindler's List," the whole world knows Schindler, and the image of the Jewish people's suffering has been further promoted and spread to everyone's mind. However, many people do not know who John Rabe was. Even in China, if you ask ten people on the street in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, you're lucky if one of them knows him, let alone in the vast rural areas.

It's easy to imagine how big the difference in influence between the two films is.

Now that Wu Yuchen knows the biggest opportunity for next year's Oscars based on his past life experiences, he naturally won't miss it. In the second half of the year, Wu Yuchen's focus will be on returning to China to film another Oscar-contending film, specifically an anti-war film with a Chinese theme.

What he lamented was that "The Diary of John Rabe" was not a good choice for him now!
The biggest reason is that before *The Diary of John Rabe*, there was already *Schindler's List*. You can't deny that if a film based on *The Diary of John Rabe* were made, the first impression would be that it was imitating *Schindler's List*. This is extremely detrimental to an Oscar nomination.

While the significant influence of Jewish voices undoubtedly contributed to the awards won by *Schindler's List*, its high quality is undeniable. With *Schindler's List* setting such a high bar, it's difficult to expect the Oscars to award a similar story and structure any major prize. Furthermore, Wu Yuchen lacks the confidence to find a completely new angle to make *John Rabe* even more outstanding than *Schindler's List*.

Before returning to China, Wu Yuchen had also discussed some issues with many people in Hollywood and Spielberg himself. In the current perception of Hollywood and even the United States, the Holocaust was a "human catastrophe," while the massacres suffered by the Chinese during the invasion of China, such as the Nanjing Massacre, were merely "a problem in the relationship between the two countries."

The resulting discourse struggle, the Jewish voice's dominance, and the position of Western discourse within the Chinese context are all significant issues. However, these are the current objective realities, and this is the general perception abroad.

From Wu Yuchen's perspective, a high-grossing commercial film with an international context might be more effective than ten academic works in conveying the suffering China endured during the invasion of China, provided it receives sufficient publicity and promotion. And what could be more effective for promotion than the Oscars?
Therefore, whether from a personal or national perspective, Wu Yuchen wants to make a high-quality, universal film about the anti-China war that people from other countries can empathize with and be moved by.

Having abandoned "The Diary of John Rabe," he resolved to choose another work. Although it didn't have an original work to refer to like "The Diary of John Rabe," it gave him more room to maneuver and wouldn't be trapped in the shadow of "Schindler's List."

……

Jiang Qinqin, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, suddenly threw herself into Wu Yuchen's arms, but the next moment:
"Hiss? What are you doing?" Wu Yuchen said, gently patting Jiang Qinqin's bottom.

Jiang Qinqin gave Wu Yuchen a light bite where his neck and shoulder met, leaving a red mark. She grumbled and said with a hint of resentment, "I told you not to come back for so long!"

Wu Yuchen chuckled and said, "I've been busy, haven't I? Besides, why didn't you come to America to see me when I asked you to?"

Jiang Qinqin patted Wu Yuchen on the shoulder: "You think you're the only one who's busy? My schedule is packed every day too!"

At the beginning of this year, Zhang Dahuzi's version of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was broadcast. Because of the comparison with the old version in 83, Liu Ye and Jiang Qinqin's portrayal of Guo Jing and Huang Rong still received a lot of criticism. There's no way around it; people always prefer the beauty of their youth, especially since it was the first time.

However, compared to the previous version starring Li Yapeng and Zhou Xun, Liu Ye and Jiang Qinqin are much better. This is not only because of their own performance, but also because they were already a classic couple in "If Love Has a Destiny", which brought them a built-in fan base. Therefore, a large number of people cheered for them.

In short, after "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Jiang Qinqin, who played Huang Rong, was busy promoting the series everywhere, doing various media and magazine interviews, and shooting various commercials.

After Jiang Qinqin finished speaking, she saw Wu Yuchen rub his neck, and then she reached out and gently rubbed Wu Yuchen's neck: "Does it hurt?"

"Of course it hurts!" Wu Yuchen immediately exclaimed.

"Then I'll blow on it for you~" Jiang Qinqin said, gently blowing on the red mark left behind.

"What's the point of blowing air?"

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Jiang Qinqin asked, tilting her chin up.

Wu Yuchen chuckled: "When I was little, I'd lick every scrape or cut I got."

"You wish!" Jiang Qinqin said arrogantly, but the next moment she leaned in and kissed Wu Yuchen's neck a few more times, her little tongue sticking out and licking his neck and heart, making him feel itchy.

"You're not a dog, so why are you biting people?" Wu Yuchen joked with a laugh.

"Hmph, even a rabbit will bite when cornered!" Jiang Qinqin pouted cutely; she was definitely born in the Year of the Rabbit. Wu Yuchen then wrapped his arms around Jiang Qinqin's waist, leaned close to her ear, and said with a mischievous grin, "If you put it that way, rabbits also love to eat big carrots!"

Jiang Qinqin blushed and said in a slightly softer voice, "Who knows if that carrot will last long enough? It might get bitten to pieces in no time!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen was furious and immediately lowered his head to bite!

……

"Director Wu, why did you choose to make a martial arts film this time? Was it influenced by last year's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'?"

"It had a slight impact, but it wasn't the main reason. Like most Chinese people, I actually had a martial arts dream when I was a child. When I was a freshman in college, I participated in the production of a documentary called 'Dance of Martial Arts,' but I had already had the idea of ​​'Brotherhood of Blades'."

Now, having experienced Hollywood filmmaking and being exposed to cutting-edge special effects technology, I felt the time was right to make a martial arts film, so I brought this story to the big screen!

At this moment, Wu Yuchen was being interviewed on a CCTV program. This was Wu Yuchen's first return to China after his great success at this year's Oscars, so he naturally received many interview requests from the media.

Since winning the Oscar for Best Picture, domestic media outlets have been praising Wu Yuchen to the skies, after all, this is the biggest award among the world's most prestigious film awards. Although *A Beautiful Mind* is not a Chinese-language film, the director, Wu Yuchen, is Chinese!
The debate over whether Chen Kaige or Zhang Yimou is the top director in China is over. There is no doubt that Wu Yuchen is now the leading figure in Chinese cinema, and he has become a benchmark and a flag bearer.

Actually, Wu Yuchen wanted to start preparing for the film as soon as he returned, but he couldn't refuse some interviews, such as those from CCTV. Besides, "Brotherhood of Blades" will be released in just half a month, so this interview discussing "Brotherhood of Blades" is a good opportunity to promote the film.

With Wu Yuchen, an internationally renowned director, at the helm of "Brotherhood of Blades," the film followed a large-scale production process aligned with international standards. It even experimented with various techniques and approaches used in Hollywood blockbusters, essentially setting a template for Chinese commercial films.

For example, before filming began, the film had already partnered with numerous advertisers, including Procter & Gamble, Toyota, and China Mobile. These advertisements brought in over 4000 million yuan in revenue for "Brotherhood of Blades".

Converted to US dollars, it might be around 500 million US dollars, which is incomparable to many big Hollywood productions, but it's already quite astonishing in China at this time! You have to know that there are only a handful of Chinese films each year with a budget of 4000 million yuan.

Extensive development of merchandise related to "Brotherhood of Blades" was also undertaken. A comic book personally drawn by Hong Kong cartoonist Ma Wing-cheng for "Brotherhood of Blades" was released to coincide with the film. The novel of the same name, adapted from "Brotherhood of Blades," was also released in early April 2002.

This novel wasn't written by anyone else; Wu Yuchen's father, Wu Jianping, personally polished and perfected it, adding more plot points not shown in the film *Brotherhood of Blades*, such as filling in the storylines of the eldest brother Lu Jianxing and the third brother Jin Yichuan. The film, due to time constraints and market considerations, focused primarily on the male protagonist Shen Lian, but the novel had much more room for development, and some of Jiang Wen's ideas were realized within the novel.

This coincided with Wu Yuchen winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, and riding on this momentum, "Brotherhood of Blades" launched a full-scale promotional campaign. The first print run of the novel was 50 copies, priced at 20 yuan. The first print run has long since sold out, and a reprint of 100 million copies has been made, with sales currently performing quite well.

Meanwhile, to coincide with the promotion of the film "Brotherhood of Blades," 3000 sets of "Brotherhood of Blades" stamps will be released in limited quantities one week before the film's release. These will be distributed in batches to maintain the film's popularity beyond its theatrical run.

So even though Wu Yuchen wasn't in China, the promotional campaign that started months in advance had already generated a lot of buzz for the movie "Brotherhood of Blades." Besides the traditional actor promotion, this series of coordinated actions was something never seen before in China, and it had really piqued the interest and viewing desire of people all over the country.

The dazzling series of operations spearheaded by Miracle Films has stunned everyone in the industry. Now they are all looking forward to seeing what kind of success "Brotherhood of Blades" can achieve.
Putting aside everyone else, Han Sanping was filled with anticipation, praising Wu Yuchen as follows:

"Brother Wu, if your 'Brotherhood of Blades' model can be successfully implemented, it will make a significant contribution to the entire Chinese film industry. Future films and film companies can learn from it!"

Wu Yuchen laughed and said, "Haha, I've been in Hollywood for a few years to learn from them, so I have to share some of my advanced experience! This time, 'Brotherhood of Blades' is also a way of learning from Hollywood's methods. Whether it succeeds or not, it's a meaningful attempt for Chinese films, and from that perspective, I think it's worth it!"

Han Sanping gave a thumbs up and said, "Brother Wu, you are truly righteous! But you are too modest. With you here, I don't believe 'Brotherhood of Blades' can't succeed!"

Wu Yuchen smiled when he heard this. If we only consider the economic aspect, the movie "Brotherhood of Blades" has already been a success.

With Wu Yuchen's name on the credits and a cast including Leslie Cheung, Jiang Wen, and Jiang Qinqin, the film has already attracted high bids from overseas distributors even before its domestic release. For example, it sold for $500 million in South Korea, while Japan is willing to offer a staggering $1000 million.

As for Europe and America, Wu Yuchen chose Sony as the distribution agent this time. With the huge success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as an example, and with Wu Yuchen's name involved, Sony directly paid $4000 million to acquire the full rights for North America and regions outside Asia. For the North American box office, they chose a normal revenue-sharing model with Miracle Pictures. They can also sell DVD and videotape rights, which will bring in several additional sources of income.

However, Wu Yuchen has reached this point, and his requirements for his film are no longer just box office success. He also hopes that "Brotherhood of Blades," which he has upgraded and improved in various aspects, can gain public recognition.

While the failure of one film wouldn't have a significant impact on him—after the release of "Hero" in his previous life, Zhang Yimou remained one of the most influential directors despite facing a deluge of criticism—who would rather receive praise than be criticized?

(End of this chapter)