Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 314 Prediction
During the Spring Festival, Wu Yuchen had a very comfortable time, but a shocking case occurred that rocked the entertainment industry.

At 2 a.m. on February 3, actor Wu Ruofu and his friends left a bar in Beijing when several strange men suddenly appeared in front of them. They claimed to be police officers, handcuffed Wu Ruofu, and in the blink of an eye, they dragged him into a car and drove off. By the time his friends realized what had happened and called the police, the men had already disappeared.

Perhaps because this involved a celebrity being kidnapped, which had a serious impact, the police reacted quickly, immediately setting up a special task force. They solved the case in just 22 hours and rescued the person.

"Look at this, how scary! It's not the theft itself that's scary, it's the thief's eye on you! Chenchen, you need to be more careful in the future. If you should hire a bodyguard, then do so. We all know from our last trip to America that many places there aren't safe, so don't take it lightly!"

Hearing his mother's concern, Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "Mom, don't worry, I've already thought about this!"

The reason Wu Yuchen's mother said this is because it was just revealed that the gang of thugs who kidnapped Wu Ruofu had actually been watching him for more than half a year. As early as July last year, they had already tried to kidnap Wu Ruofu, but they failed because they couldn't stop Wu Ruofu's car.

Afterwards, the group learned from their first failure and made more thorough preparations. Six months later, they succeeded in one fell swoop. Moreover, their target was not only Wu Ruofu, but also Emperor Zhang Tielin.

Because Zhang Tielin has been embroiled in the "two wives suing Zhang Tielin case" for the past six months, on the one hand, the robbers think Zhang Tielin is a scoundrel, and on the other hand, because the case exposed a lot of his personal information, it also made these people target him.

However, the Emperor was lucky; those people didn't see him come out that night...

In short, this kidnapping case has caused widespread panic among celebrities in the industry, with those who can afford it considering hiring bodyguards.

Wu Yuchen smiled and said to his mother, "Mom, I'm not worried about being kidnapped. After I finish eating tangyuan and celebrating the Lantern Festival today, I'll fly to Hollywood tomorrow. But for you and Dad, how about I hire two bodyguards to go with you?"

"The two of us? You must be joking! What good would it do to tie us up?" Zhou Shulan shook her head with amusement.

"Mom, you don't understand! Look, if they really kidnap me, who will the kidnappers ask for money from? But it's different if they kidnap you. I'll definitely have to pay to ransom you!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Shulan's eyes widened, finding her son's statement quite reasonable. However, she then raised her voice three octaves: "According to you, your father and I have become your Achilles' heel!"

Wu Yuchen waved his hand dismissively: "What weakness! That sounds awful. You're the apple of my eye!"

"Go away, go away, go use those mushy words to coax Xiaoran!" Zhou Shulan said with a look of disgust.

Wu Yuchen fell silent upon hearing this, but his mother didn't let him off the hook:

"Let me tell you, don't think we don't know about you two just because we don't tell you. Xiaoran's mom has hinted at it to me twice already. You two grew up together, you can't..."

Wu Yuchen swallowed the last glutinous rice ball in his bowl and mumbled, "Mom, I'm done eating. I'm going back to my room to pack my things!"

"Hey, this kid..."

Zhou Shulan wanted to continue, but Wu Jianping interrupted her, saying, "Alright, the children are all grown up and have made something of themselves. Let them handle this kind of thing themselves!"

“No matter how capable he is, I’m still his mother! Besides, once you’ve established yourself, you have to start a family, right? I’m still counting on him to take care of his kids! When we get older, will you still be able to take care of them?” Zhou Shulan retorted to her husband again.

Wu Jianping glanced at his wife: "I'm not in a hurry. Isn't life good enough as it is now? Aren't you tired?"

"Being tired at night or early in the morning is tiring anyway. Besides, I'm happy to be tired!"

Wu Yuchen returned to his room and overheard Zhou Shulan's words outside. He knew she was speaking to him. But he wasn't even 27 yet; why would he want a child? That would require a lot of thought and effort. He'd think about it after he turned 30!
……

Two days later, in Los Angeles, at Sony Columbia.

When Wu Yuchen returned to Hollywood this time, he didn't go to "The Pirate King" first, but went to "Spider-Man 2". He is still listed as a producer of "Spider-Man 2".

After the first Spider-Man movie was completed, director Sam Raimi had already fully proven his abilities, and Wu Yuchen trusted him completely. Therefore, he put Kevin Feige on behalf of him and Marvel as the producer, and the power of the production team was also in Sam Raimi's hands.

Actually, Spider-Man 2 was filmed last year and was scheduled for release on May 7th this year. However, some problems arose at the end. Some scenes involving the big villain Doctor Octopus didn't look good in the final cut, so the crew decided to reshoot some scenes at the end of last year.

The problem is that the Dr. Octopus's lair, which took eight weeks to build, was demolished last year, and rebuilding the set has taken another month, causing Sony a lot of trouble. Wu Yuchen came here to discuss this matter.

"Wu, Sam, you need to give us a definite answer: can the movie be released on May 7th as scheduled? If not, we'll contact the major theater chains to postpone the release date and readjust our promotional strategy. There's still time!"

Wu Yuchen glanced at Sam Raimi, appearing quite calm: "Don't worry, most of the post-production for Spider-Man 2 is already complete. Only this reshooting is left. It will take at most a month to get everything done!"

"Okay, Wu, we trust your professionalism and hope there won't be any more accidents."

After the Sony Columbia people left, Wu Yuchen said to Sam Raimi, "Sam, if we can't get this done in a month, we'll both be infamous!"

"Wu, thank you! I'm sure I can finish filming on schedule!"

Wu Yuchen rubbed his temples. He had come here intending to dive into the post-production of "The Pirate King," but he was unexpectedly entangled with "Spider-Man 2." Even though he had handed it over to Sam Raimi, he still had to stay on set for two or three days.

The filming of Doctor Octopus was done using physical props this time. His metal tentacles and equipment seen in the movie were all made in real life, mainly his rubber spine and four rubber mechanical arms. The claws of these mechanical arms are called "Death Flowers" and require four puppeteers to operate simultaneously.

Choosing physical equipment is partly for the sake of realism, and partly because making it entirely with CGI technology is significantly more expensive than shooting with real objects.

On the set of "Spider-Man 2", Wu Yuchen was keeping an eye on the filming while also checking other completed parts. After seeing a clip, Wu Yuchen couldn't help but smile.

When Tobey Maguire initially used his back injury as an excuse to negotiate with the production team, Wu Yuchen and the team were not happy. Therefore, after discussing it with Sam Raimi, they added a scene to the plot that made fun of him.

In the scene, Peter Parker, having lost his powers, shouts joyfully as his abilities are briefly restored, "I'm back! I'm back!" But the next moment, his powers suddenly malfunction again, causing him to fall from a height to the ground, crying out in pain, "My back! My back!"

The use of the word "back" in this dialogue is both a clever design, implying that anyone in the know will burst out laughing.

After checking the parts that had already been completed, Wu Yuchen found that there were no other problems and breathed a sigh of relief. After spending three days on the set of "Spider-Man 2", he returned to DreamWorks to continue his work on "Pirates of the Caribbean 2".

In fact, his efforts to ensure the release of "Spider-Man 2" in May, in collaboration with Sony Columbia, were partly motivated by self-interest. After all, "The Pirate King 2" was already scheduled for early July, and if "Spider-Man 2" were postponed, it might actually clash with "The Pirate King 2," a situation Wu Yu-chen naturally didn't want to see.

Actually, while Wu Yuchen was away celebrating the Spring Festival, post-production work on "Pirate King 2" didn't really stop. The dubbing, subtitles, and other necessary tasks had already been completed. Hammerdis was still responsible for the music, and he provided several musical excerpts for Wu Yuchen to choose from.

The most important thing is the special effects. Although it can be done without Wu Yuchen, it is unknown whether the director will be satisfied with the result. Moreover, these things usually need to be adjusted according to the director's desired effect. Therefore, some of the special effects that were not completed were delayed.

For the next month, Wu Yuchen devoted most of his energy to the post-production of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2," occasionally checking on the progress of "Spider-Man 2." The reshoots for Doctor Octopus were completed in about 10 days, and the following three weeks were spent on special effects processing and integration, finishing within a month.

This year's Academy Awards ceremony will be held on February 29, a month earlier than usual.

In fact, two years earlier, in 2002, the Academy decided to break with the tradition of holding the ceremony in March and move it to the end of February. However, since the schedule for the 2003 awards ceremony had already been finalized, it could only be carried out in 2004.

Actually, back in the 1960s, the Academy Awards ceremony was held every April. It was only from 1989 that the tradition of holding it in March every year was established.

The main reasons for bringing the Oscars forward twice were to boost television viewership, shorten the time for major film companies to campaign for votes, and prevent other award ceremonies from stealing the spotlight from the Oscars.

While the Oscars claim to be about pursuing art, the Academy has always treated it as a business, with viewership ratings and commercial revenue being of paramount importance.

Wu Yuchen didn't attend this year's Oscars in person. Instead, he sat on a sofa, his left arm around Anne Hathaway, his hand inside her bosom, enjoying the warmth, while his right arm was draped over Jessica Alba, his hand caressing her smooth thigh. Wasn't this much more comfortable than being there in person?

“Honey, how many awards do you think The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King will win?” Anne Hathaway asked.

This year's Oscars can be said to be the least suspenseful Oscars ever, since everyone knew the answer in advance, unless the Academy plans to pull some tricks and create a huge upset to prevent "The Lord of the Rings" from winning.

Since that's the case, the media can only change their approach to hype the topic, which is to change the suspense to how many of the 11 nominations "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" will be awarded.
Wu Yuchen smiled and asked the two women, "What do you think?"

Anne Hathaway thought for a moment and said, "I think eight."

“Then I’ll guess nine~” Jessica Alba said with a sweet smile.

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen smiled and shook his head. Seeing this, the two women both tried to coax him.

You haven't said it yet~

"Darling, don't you agree?"

Wu Yuchen revealed a sly smile: "If you ask me, the academy will give it 11 this time!"

"11?! That's impossible!"

"Give it all? Even Ben-Hur and Titanic didn't manage that, did they?"

Both women gasped in surprise upon hearing this.

The current record for the highest number of Oscar wins is 11, shared by "Ben-Hur" and "Titanic". However, "Ben-Hur" had 15 nominations and won 11, while "Titanic" had 14 nominations and won 11. Neither of them managed to win all their nominations.

But now Wu Yuchen says that "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" will win all 11 nominations, which undoubtedly makes the two women a little hesitant to believe it.

"Don't trust my professional skills? Then we'll wait and see. If I'm right in all of them, you'll have to be good little puppies tonight~" Wu Yuchen smiled and gently stroked the two women's hair.

Jessica Alba playfully retorted, "When have I ever not listened to you?"

"I'm not a puppy, I'm a kitten~" Annie licked her lips.

Amidst the laughter and conversation, the awards ceremony had already begun.

Just as Wu Yuchen said, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" showed an unparalleled domineering aura, winning all nine awards in a row, including Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, Best Sound Effects, Best Original Score, Best Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay!

This left Jessica Alba and Anne Hathaway speechless. Although the awards ceremony wasn't over yet, everyone knew that the Best Director and Best Picture awards would definitely go to "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King".

In other words, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is truly going to achieve a grand slam of 11 nominations.

The two women stared at Wu Yuchen in shock, then both grabbed him and asked, "Darling, how did you know?"

Wu Yuchen laughed and said, "Nobody knows the Oscars better than me!"

These words echoed in the ears of the two women, making them believe it without a doubt, after all, Wu Yuchen had made the prediction before the awards ceremony!

Wu Yuchen smiled and got up, starting to rummage through his gear. He had no interest in the latter part of the awards ceremony; nothing was as fun as walking the dog in the garden.

(End of this chapter)