Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 378

Wu Yuchen is the big boss of Miracle Pictures, the production company, and he has the final editing rights for the film. Therefore, the editors naturally follow Wu Yuchen's instructions, and Wu Baige can only watch helplessly from the sidelines.

Many directors' works have a strong personal style, making them instantly recognizable as their films; Wu Baige's action movies were one such example. However, now, seeing her film "Taken" completely transformed after being heavily edited by Wu Yuchen, Wu Baige feels somewhat uneasy.

However, Wu Yuchen didn't care whether he felt good or not; "Taken" was a movie made to make money. The aesthetics of action movies have changed. In recent years, audiences have increasingly preferred movies with a fast pace and exciting, thrilling fights, like the Bourne series. Therefore, he had to edit the film to suit the audience's tastes.

While overseeing the post-production of "Taken," Wu Yuchen was also pondering the film's release date.

Compared to last year, Hollywood's summer blockbuster season has fewer major releases this year, or rather, less competitive ones. The most anticipated films this summer are undoubtedly *The Batman*, *Spider-Man*, and *Superman*. This shows that Hollywood has entered the superhero era.

Yes, the release dates of these three movies are all related to Wu Yuchen. First is Spider-Man, which is a collaboration between Marvel Studios and Sony. The first two movies were released in early May at the beginning of the North American summer movie season, and this year's Spider-Man 3 is no exception, with its premiere scheduled for May 2nd.

Then there's *The Batman*, directed by Wu Yuchen. He plans to release it in late May, three weeks after *Spider-Man 3*, so there's unlikely to be any fight scenes involving him. This arrangement is also a way of reciprocating the favor of *The Batman*, which will be the opening film of this year's Cannes Film Festival, thus promoting the film and boosting its popularity.

Last year, Cannes awarded him the Palme d'Or, so Wu Yuchen still had to give him some benefits. This kind of mutual hype with Cannes, without affecting the film's promotion, was a win-win situation.

While the Superman project has nothing to do with Wu Yuchen, it is still a major production and distribution project for Warner Bros., and The Batman is also a Warner Bros. production. Therefore, Warner Bros. would not let The Batman and Superman fight each other, so it was scheduled for late June, a full month later than The Batman.

These three movies have already started their promotional campaigns and are among the most anticipated films of this summer's blockbuster season. In addition, there are "X-Men 3" and "The Da Vinci Code" in June and July respectively, but their popularity still can't compare to the top three.

Wu Yuchen looked at the release schedule and figured that "Taken" could basically avoid these movies. After thinking about it, he decided to schedule it for mid to late July. Without strong competitors, it might even be able to take the top spot at the box office for a few weeks!

On March 6, 2006, the 78th Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA.

On the red carpet, Jiang Qinqin, arm in arm with Wu Yuchen, was overjoyed, listening to the cheers of the audience on both sides. After all, this was the Oscars, the center of the global film industry. She had always watched Wu Yuchen walk this path on television, but this time she was attending the Oscars as a leading actress, and her film even had a good chance of winning a Hong Kong Film Award. How could she not be happy?
Compared to many in the crew who were attending the Oscars for the first time, Wu Yuchen was much more composed. He was a regular at the Oscars, and he walked gracefully with Jiang Qinqin and the others, displaying a relaxed and carefree demeanor.

After entering the theater, Wu Yuchen saw an old acquaintance next to their seats, Li An, who had recently competed with him for the Olympic proposal.

Wu Yuchen greeted him with a smile: "Director Li, you guys are definitely the focus of this year's Oscars!"

While Wu Yuchen and *Departures* received four nominations, it paled in comparison to Li An and his *Brokeback Mountain*. *Brokeback Mountain* garnered eight nominations, including several major awards such as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress!
In fact, since its release last year, the film "Brokeback Mountain" has generated a great deal of discussion. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival last year and the Best Director award at the Golden Globe Awards. The controversy it sparked far exceeded the awards themselves, making it the most watched film at this year's Oscars, without a doubt!

However, Wu Yuchen wasn't jealous. After all, Miracle Pictures invested in "Brokeback Mountain," and he earned a lot from the film's success!

Li An was also in high spirits at the moment, but he still maintained his usual humility: "It's just because of the subject matter; I'll be content if I can win one or two awards."

Wu Yuchen immediately smiled and shook his head: "Director Li, don't be so modest. 'Brokeback Mountain' will definitely be a success this year!"

“Then I’ll take Director Wu’s good wishes,” Li An said with a smile.

Regardless of whether it wins awards, *Brokeback Mountain* has already been a success. The film is beautifully crafted, evoking a strong emotional response from the LGBTQ+ community, who cheer it on in various settings. This has resulted in immense public interest, and its Venice Golden Lion win has attracted the attention of numerous global distributors willing to pay hefty sums for the rights. Of course, winning major awards at the Oscars would be even more perfect.

Li An then greeted Jiang Qinqin and Zhao Wenxuan. Jiang Qinqin had met Li An at the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon training camp, and Zhao Wenxuan was discovered by Li An, so they were not strangers to each other. The atmosphere among them was very harmonious.

While Jiang Qinqin and Li An were talking, Anne Hathaway from the "Brokeback Mountain" crew also came over, hugged Wu Yuchen warmly, and whispered in his ear, "Honey, is this your girlfriend in China?"

Wu Yuchen nodded.

"Is she a girlfriend like Bingbing? I've missed you so much these past few days, can't we hang out together?"

Wu Yuchen smiled and said to Anne Hathaway, "Anne, don't be silly, she doesn't know any of this."

"Oh, that's a real shame~ It seems I won't be able to be with you for the Oscars tonight. I'm a little sad just thinking about it~" Anne Hathaway said, feigning a melancholy expression.

Anne Hathaway was overjoyed to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Brokeback Mountain." She's already achieved great commercial success with the "Spider-Man" trilogy and two "Princess Diaries" films, and now this award, even a nomination, is a recognition for her, much to Jessica Alba's envy!
Anne Hathaway originally wanted to thank Wu Yuchen properly after he returned to Hollywood, but since he brought a so-called girlfriend to Hollywood this time, she had to give up on that idea.

Just then, Wu Yuchen saw Jiang Qinqin approaching and introduced her with a smile: "Qinqin, this is Annie, the female lead in 'Brokeback Mountain.' Her performance in the movie was fantastic!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Qinqin smiled and greeted Annie: "Hello, Annie, I watched your performance, it was really amazing, Best Supporting Actress!" "Oh! Thank you, it's just a nomination. If I could win this award, I would do anything!" As Annie said this, she inadvertently glanced at Wu Yuchen with a smile in her eyes. Naturally, she was saying this to Wu Yuchen.

Wu Yuchen remained unmoved. He was already doing well to get Anne a Best Supporting Actress nomination for "Brokeback Mountain," and she probably still had a long way to go to win. Even so, Anne received considerable praise for the nomination, with many saying she portrayed a completely different image from Princess Anne and that her acting had improved significantly.

Anne Hathaway then continued to praise Jiang Qinqin's performance in "Departures," which pleased Jiang Qinqin greatly, and her smile widened. Earlier, she had felt that Anne Hathaway and Wu Yuchen seemed very enthusiastic during their private conversation, which had unconsciously drawn her closer. But now she thought that foreigners were simply extroverted and outgoing, and that she had been overthinking things.

"Director Wu, Director Li! Hello! It's so nice to see you!"

Just then, an excited female voice came from the side. The group turned around and saw another Chinese face, none other than Zhang Ziyi.

There were indeed quite a few Chinese people at this year's Oscars, and the film "Memoirs of a Geisha" garnered considerable attention, receiving six nominations, although all six were technical awards and none of them were major awards. "Memoirs of a Geisha" features three Chinese actresses: Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, and Zhang Ziyi. As the film's lead actress, Zhang Ziyi naturally wouldn't miss the Oscars ceremony.

Wu Yuchen nodded and smiled at Zhang Ziyi, but it seemed that she was the only one there. Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh were not present, which suggests that the two were not there, since their roles were relatively small compared to Zhang Ziyi, the leading actress.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the group took their seats as the awards ceremony was about to begin.

After the awards ceremony began, Wu Yuchen paid close attention to several awards. As expected, Anne Hathaway was not awarded Best Supporting Actress, and Yu Benchang, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, also missed out. This was all within Wu Yuchen's expectations.

The other two awards nominated for "Departures"—Best Original Score and Best Cinematography—also went unclaimed, coincidentally to "Brokeback Mountain" and "Memoirs of a Geisha," respectively.

Wu Yuchen wasn't particularly disappointed, as these two awards weren't particularly important. For "Departures," winning Best Foreign Language Film would be a victory.

Halfway through the awards ceremony, Hollywood's biggest Black star, Will Smith, took the stage: "Every year, outstanding films from all over the world gather here, showcasing different cultures through film, which is truly captivating! This year's nominees for Best Foreign Language Film are..."

At this moment, Jiang Qinqin, Zhao Wenxuan, and the rest of the cast and crew of "Departures" were completely absorbed, their attention drawn to Will Smith on stage.

Seeing Jiang Qinqin's tense face beside him, Wu Yuchen couldn't help but smile faintly and reached out to shake her hand. Jiang Qinqin, feeling Wu Yuchen's large hand, returned the handshake.

Wu Yuchen did not tell Jiang Qinqin that he was at least 90% confident of winning the award.

There weren't many strong competitors in this year's Best Foreign Language Film category, and with the added prestige of director Wu, "Departures" stood out like a crane among chickens among the five films. Some judges who were too lazy to watch the films might have voted for it simply because they recognized his name. Besides, those other directors from South Africa and Palestine didn't invest as much in public relations resources or have as much experience in it as he did; how could they compare?

In this situation, he almost completely crushed several competitors, unless there really was a movie of far superior quality to "Departures," a classic film that could be recorded in film history, but unfortunately there is no such movie.

Therefore, Wu Yuchen was quite calm at this moment. However, he wouldn't tell Jiang Qinqin beforehand that it was her first time attending the Oscars; it was better to keep some surprises for her to ensure a more perfect Oscar experience.

An accident? No, it didn't happen.

"Best Foreign Language Film...China, *Departures*!"

Upon hearing Will Smith announce the results on stage, the cast and crew of "Departures" erupted in cheers. Jiang Qinqin immediately jumped up from her chair and hugged Wu Yuchen.

"Oscars! We won the Oscars!"

Excitement and elation filled her entire body. At this moment, Jiang Qinqin felt that her career had been perfect! She won the Palme d'Or last year and the Oscar this year. She had fulfilled her dream! What more could she ask for?
Wu Yuchen gently patted Jiang Qinqin and said with a smile, "Yes, we got it! Okay, okay, there are other people here to congratulate us~"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Qinqin released Wu Yuchen and accepted the congratulations from the "Brokeback Mountain" crew next to her. Anne Hathaway then ran over and gave her a big hug, making her feel the warmth of the Americans. She didn't notice that she then threw herself into Wu Yuchen's arms.

"My all-powerful daddy, I knew it wouldn't escape your grasp!"

Listening to Anne Hathaway's whispers in his ear, Wu Yuchen maintained a smile, thinking to himself that Anne was getting more and more outrageous. He knew that the camera was pointed at him right now, and if some lip-reading expert really deciphered it, it would cause some trouble!

As she accepted the congratulations, Jiang Qinqin made way for Wu Yuchen to go up on stage to receive his award. Unexpectedly, Wu Yuchen smiled and said to her, "Come on, come up with me, Wenxuan is with you too."

"Huh?" Jiang Qinqin was surprised for a moment, then her face lit up with excitement.

Logically, the Best Foreign Language Film award should be accepted by the producer or director, not by the actors. But now, Wu Yuchen is completely disregarding these rules and insists on taking her up to accept the award with him. How could Jiang Qinqin not be moved and happy?
(End of this chapter)