Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 86 Hello, Teacher Wu!
In the afternoon, in a classroom in the Beijing Film Academy's teaching building, the students of the 96 Acting Class gathered together, chatting with roommates who had just met. Today was their first group meeting since registering for the new semester, and they were waiting for their class teacher, Ms. Cui, to arrive.

"Hey, Xiaoming, you're from Qingdao? I heard people from Shandong province can really hold their liquor. How about we go out for a drink sometime?" Shi Guanghui, a burly man from Northeast China, said, putting his arm around Huang Xiaoming.

Huang Xiaoming blinked his big eyes and said seriously, "My mom doesn't let me drink alcohol."

This left Shi Guanghui speechless. He felt that Huang Xiaoming was just going through the motions, but his expression seemed very sincere. Was he really acting that well?
Just then, a young man walked in through the door, attracting everyone's attention. Shi Guanghui immediately nudged Zu Feng beside him: "Zu Feng, is this guy from your dorm?"

Zu Feng shook his head: "I've never seen it before."

At this moment, Huang Xiaoming interjected, "I saw him at the dormitory entrance before!"

On the other side, Zhang Jiabei pulled Yan Danchen aside and covered her mouth, saying, "Hey, he's even more handsome than that blond guy behind him!"

Sitting alone at the back of the classroom, Chen Kun, with his dyed blond hair, looked at Wu Yuchen, whom he had met briefly a month ago, and wondered why he was in their class.

Zhao Wei was equally surprised. She remembered that Wu Yuchen had stood next to her and Liu Ye when they were rehearsing a skit for the third audition at the Central Academy of Drama. She never expected that he would become her classmate now.

Wu Yuchen strode forward, smiled slightly at the new students, but didn't stop. He walked directly to the podium, picked up the chalk, and wrote several large characters on the blackboard.

He then turned around, put down the chalk, tapped it on the table, and looked around at everyone: "Hello, my name is Wu Yuchen, and I am your class's teaching assistant!"

Everyone paused for a moment upon hearing this, then quickly sat up straight. They had assumed the handsome guy was a classmate, but it turned out he was a teacher!

Wu Yuchen chuckled: "Then you all should introduce yourselves first, so you can get to know each other."

He casually pointed and said, "Yan Danchen, you can start first."

Yan Danchen, who was sitting at the front, quickly stood up and bowed nervously: "Hello, Teacher Wu, hello everyone, my name is Yan Danchen, I'm from Hunan..."

After Yan Danchen finished speaking, Wu Yuchen said with a smile, "Very good, but Danchen, have you been eating well these past few months? You can't stop paying attention to your figure just because you passed the art exam!"

Yan Danchen had gained some weight, her face was chubby, and she looked quite innocent and cute, but it overshadowed her later beauty when she played Chang'e. After listening, she nodded shyly before sitting down.

"Hello Teacher Wu, hello everyone, my name is Zhao Wei..."

"Hmm. Zhao Wei, be more careful in the future. Don't be so careless. You can lose something as important as your exam admission ticket. What will you do if something serious happens in the future?"

This was different from when he was joking with Yan Danchen earlier; it carried a hint of criticism.

Zhao Wei opened her mouth, but dared not refute it. After all, she had indeed lost her admission ticket before the exam, and according to the rules, she was not eligible to continue taking the exam. If Cui Xinqin hadn't seen her crying pitifully and helped her get a replacement, she would have been out of school.

And so, everyone stood up and introduced themselves, and Wu Yuchen either nodded or said a word or two.

"Hello everyone, my name is Chen Kun." That was all Chen Kun said.

Wu Yuchen thought to himself that Chen Kun was indeed a bit aloof at this moment, but he didn't pay it any mind and instead said:

"Chen Kun, you need to get a haircut, otherwise you won't be able to participate in military training tomorrow."

Chen Kun nodded and sat down obediently. He had only recently dyed his hair at the request of customers at karaoke bars and nightclubs, but going to school was definitely more important.

Just then, the stool clattered open, and Huang Xiaoming stood up, grinning broadly to reveal his pearly white teeth.

"Hello Teacher Wu, hello everyone, I'm Huang Xiaoming, from Qingdao. People around me say I don't have any major flaws, except for one thing..."

Huang Xiaoming tossed his head and said, "Not cool enough!"

The whole class couldn't help but burst out laughing, even Wu Yuchen almost couldn't hold it in. He felt that this young man was acting a bit silly. But looking at Huang Xiaoming's serious eyes, he couldn't tell if the guy was showing off on purpose.

Wu Yuchen coughed and then said, "Yeah, be careful when you cross the street in the future."

On the eve of Huang Xiaoming's art exam, a car ran over his foot while he was crossing the street, fracturing his toes without him even noticing. The driver got out to check on his injury, and Huang Xiaoming took a couple of steps, thinking he was fine, and let the driver go. But after a few more steps, he couldn't move anymore, so he had to be carried to the art exam.

"Thank you for your concern, teacher!" Huang Xiaoming sat down with a silly grin.

Next, Zu Feng, Guo Xiaodong, and others stood up one after another to introduce themselves. After everyone had introduced themselves,

Wu Yuchen nodded in satisfaction, then walked off the stage with his hands behind his back.
"Great! For the next four years, you will be the closest of classmates and will spend the most enjoyable and memorable college years of your lives."

I have something to remind everyone first: don't think that you can become a big star without any worries after entering the acting class. Based on past experience, it would be very good if two or three of you could become famous!

However, as long as you study hard at school, you will have no problem earning a living and supporting your family in the future.

Furthermore, while acting is important, being a good person is even more important. To learn acting, first learn to be a good person!

As Wu Yuchen spoke, he deliberately glanced at Zhao Wei, who quickly straightened her back and corrected her posture.

Wu Yuchen glanced around, noticing the slightly serious atmosphere, and then smiled:

"The art exams have been over for a few months now. Let me see if you've made any progress during this time."

Just then, he walked up to Huang Xiaoming and patted him on the shoulder: "Come on, Xiaoming, come to the front."

Huang Xiaoming obediently followed Wu Yuchen to the front of the classroom.

"Xiaoming, you seem like a pretty honest kid. Give the teacher a demonstration of throwing a tantrum."

Huang Xiaoming scratched his head: "Teacher, I won't lose my temper."

"Can you have an argument with someone?" Wu Yuchen asked again.

"Teacher, my mom says that arguing isn't good for children!"

The students sitting down covered their mouths and snickered. Now they could see that Huang Xiaoming was just like a naive child.

Wu Yuchen thought to himself, "Damn, this kid is being protected way too much by his family!"

"Then...then could you, um, demonstrate catching crickets?"

Huang Xiaoming said innocently, "Teacher, we don't have crickets in our island city."

"If there are no crickets, there must be butterflies, right?"

"But butterflies are only found in parks!"

The students in the class finally couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing.

Wu Yuchen was almost driven to despair by him:

"Just pretend this is a park, can you arrest me here?"

Huang Xiaoming stopped talking, turned his head to look around, and then suddenly slapped his hands and feet on the ground, sticking his butt out, in a posture like practicing the Toad Kung Fu. Then he pushed off with his feet and pounced forward.

Wu Yuchen didn't even have time to react to this series of actions. The whole class was stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter.

However, Huang Xiaoming's actions did not stop. After he pounced, he lay on the ground with his hands pressed down, then slowly got up with his hands covering his face, opened a crack in front of him, and made an exaggerated happy smile.

After the performance, Huang Xiaoming smiled and looked at Wu Yuchen: "Teacher, how was my performance?"

Looking at the child in front of him, who was practically begging for praise, Wu Yuchen couldn't bear to discourage him. He patted the child on the back and said earnestly:
"Xiaoming, I think you still have a lot of room for improvement. But I have a suggestion for you: don't go out and take on acting roles until you've practiced the basics for at least two and a half years!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Xiaoming grinned sheepishly and said, "Thank you for your guidance, teacher!"

"Alright, go back and sit down."

After Huang Xiaoming went back to his seat, Shi Guanghui, who was next to him, knew what kind of person he was. He suppressed a laugh and gave him a thumbs up: "Xiaoming, you're really something!"

Huang Xiaoming chuckled. He had been pampered at home since childhood, and during his school years, he was also doted on by female classmates and teachers because of his good looks and well-behaved nature. So he never thought that everyone was making fun of him. Later, when Zhao Wei thought he was childish and ignored him, he ran to ask Cui Xinqin why, only to be chased away by Teacher Cui.

Wu Yuchen felt that their visit was enough, so he knocked on the table to quiet everyone down.

"Does anyone want to volunteer to be class monitor?"

Seeing that no one was taking the initiative, he said directly, "Then I'll take one. Zu Feng, you're the eldest brother, so you'll be the class monitor from now on."

"Huh?" Zu Feng was taken aback.

"Alright, now let your class monitor Zu Feng organize a short period of free discussion for you. I'll go and invite Teacher Cui over."

After Wu Yuchen finished speaking, he called Zu Feng to the front and then swaggered out of the classroom. Zu Feng, the newly appointed class monitor, didn't have much credibility yet, and as soon as Wu Yuchen left, the class erupted in discussion.

"I thought it was one of our classmates, but it turned out to be our counselor!"

"Yeah, how come our counselor is so young!"

"Are even the counselors at our film academy this handsome?"

"I felt like he was staring at me the whole time he was talking, which made me nervous!"

"I think what Teacher Wu said was very good; she even taught us principles of being a good person!"

"Xiao Ming, are there really no crickets in your island city?"

Just as everyone was chatting happily, Cui Xinqin walked in, and the classroom immediately quieted down again.

Seeing Zu Feng standing alone in front, Cui Xinqin asked curiously, "Zu Feng, what are you doing?"

"Teacher Cui, Teacher Wu asked me to be the class monitor, I..."

"Wait, Teacher Wu? Which Teacher Wu?" Cui Xinqin asked, her face full of confusion.

“That’s our class’s teaching assistant, look.” Zu Feng pointed to the blackboard.

When Cui Xinqin saw the three big characters "Wu Yuchen" written on the blackboard, she opened her mouth and couldn't react for a while.

Wu Yuchen walked back in a cheerful mood. It was quite fun teasing the freshmen of Class 96, especially Huang Xiaoming, who gave him quite a "surprise." As for Teacher Cui, he had already chosen the class monitor for her, and she would surely be very happy.

On the first Friday night after the start of the school year, Wu Yuchen took Jiang Qinqin to a nearby movie theater.

It wasn't that there was a new movie they wanted to see, but rather that they were going to see "Coherence".

At the ticket window, Wu Yuchen asked for two tickets and then asked the ticket seller:
"Hey sis, are many people watching this movie?"

The ticket seller wasn't one to mince words: "It's alright. It's only been a few days since it opened, and at its peak, it's about 70% full. Today is the first weekend, so maybe we can sell out the tickets."

Wu Yuchen nodded. It seemed that the promotional gimmicks on the posters outside, such as "18-year-old Berlin Golden Bear Director" and "Best Film at the Sydney Film Festival," were indeed able to lure people in.

After Wu Yuchen led Jiang Qinqin inside, the theater was already quite full, mostly with young people. The two of them casually found seats. Actually, they had seen the film countless times back in Sydney, and this time they mainly came to see how the audience reacted.

Then they heard the voices of several students sitting in front of them talking.

"Was this movie good? It's supposed to be both sci-fi and suspenseful, how can that even be combined? And can China even make sci-fi movies?"

"Not only is it suspenseful, but it's also absolutely sci-fi! I was quite skeptical when I came to see it the day before yesterday, but I was stunned after watching it. I never thought that a sci-fi film could be made like this!"
And I'm telling you, from the very beginning you need to try your best to remember their dialogue and details. I came back to rewatch it specifically to look for these foreshadowing elements!

"Hey, you asked me to ask about Schrödinger's cat because of this movie?"

"Yes, you'll see when you see it!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Qinqin and Wu Yuchen exchanged a smile. After all, it was a film they had worked so hard to make, and they were very happy that it could be released and recognized by their own people.

Ninety minutes later, the movie came to an end.

"That's it? I thought Amy was going to kill her boyfriend too!"

"That's the suspense they left, but judging from her last look, she definitely wanted to kill me!"

"What do you mean by killing her? You've got the point wrong. Shouldn't you be focusing on the fact that Amy was on the other end of the phone with her boyfriend? I really didn't expect science fiction and suspense to be combined like this!"

"Yeah, the director and screenwriter are really good at writing! They even came up with the idea of ​​someone killing themselves! I'm impressed!"

"What nonsense! Didn't you read the explanation of Schrödinger's cat and quantum mechanics? Hey Li Zhen, do you physics majors study parallel universes?"

"Huh? I haven't studied that in depth yet. Maybe I'll research it when I get my PhD?"

"Come on, let's take turns and see how many times those eight people switched places!"

Even after the movie ended, many people in the theater were still reluctant to leave, engaging in lively discussions, especially a group of boys.

This is the advantage of screening the film near universities; students can generally understand it and develop a strong interest and desire to explore it.

However, Wu Yuchen had already taken the opportunity to slip away with Jiang Qinqin, as it might cause some trouble if Jiang Qinqin, the female lead, were recognized.

Once outside, Jiang Qinqin happily linked arms with Wu Yuchen and asked, "They seem to be having a really enthusiastic discussion. Do you think our movie will be a hit?"

Wu Yuchen thought for a moment and said:
"It's hard to say. This cinema is close to universities, so there are a lot of college students. If it were another cinema, it might not have the same effect. But it's already much better than I expected. Maybe if you go to other universities in a couple of days, you'll even run into someone asking for your autograph!"

Jiang Qinqin chuckled upon hearing this, then asked, "What about the box office?"

"I can't figure that out. I'll ask on Monday."

For small films like these, there's no way to track opening weekend box office figures in China right now. For example, it might have been showing in Beijing for three or four days, but it might have just premiered in Shandong province today.

"I thought you knew everything~" Jiang Qinqin said with a smile.

Wu Yuchen hugged Jiang Qinqin tightly and kissed her.
“I don’t know about other things, but I know you must miss me.”

Seeing that Jiang Qinqin didn't speak, Wu Yuchen pinched her and asked with a smile:

"do you miss me?"

"Think~"

"how to think?"

"I miss you and love me~"

Upon seeing Jiang Qinqin's alluring and beautiful face, Wu Yuchen immediately took her in his arms and headed straight for the nearest hotel.

……

On Monday, Wu Yuchen made a phone call to China Film Group.

"Hey Director Wu, we were just about to tell you, 'The Night the Comet Came' has grossed 512 million at the box office so far!"

Could you explain it to me in more detail?

"No problem. It's been showing in Beijing for 5 days and grossed 102 million; in Shanghai for 5 days and grossed 73; in Guangzhou..."

Wu Yuchen listened for a moment. He explained that cities like Beijing and Shanghai have the most universities and are economically developed, so their box office revenue is naturally higher. Other regions saw significantly lower figures. However, the combined box office revenue from 15 cities was still over 500 million yuan, which was quite good.

Will the number of copies increase?

Each additional copy increases box office revenue, and cinemas will try their best to show the film in order to recoup the cost of the copies, unless it's truly so bad that nobody watches it.

"Director Wu, we'll probably need more copies. I've heard that some cities are selling well and are also ordering copies, but I estimate that we'll only get another forty or fifty at most. You know our environment."

Wu Yuchen nodded. The other party was referring to the piracy situation. Piracy wasn't happening that fast yet, but if a movie became popular in a certain place, pirated copies would definitely appear within a week.

"Manager Liu, may I ask another question? How long can 'The Night the Comet Came' stay in theaters?"

"Judging from your condition, it will probably take at least two months, and at most three months."

Currently, the domestic film production is not high, and the competition for release slots is far less intense than it would be twenty years later. Films like "Rumble in the Bronx" and "True Lies" have been on the market for more than half a year.

Wu Yuchen did the math himself and figured the movie's box office would be in the tens of millions. Although it was still far from the 96 million that made it the tenth highest-grossing movie in 3300, it was far beyond his expectations, considering the movie only cost 15 to make.

As for the total box office revenue, we'll only know that in two or three months after the settlement.

He has already informed everyone on the film crew about the release of "The Night of the Comet." Since some people can't get together, they'll have to watch it individually. However, the box office performance and audience feedback should bring them quite a pleasant surprise.

All of Huang's experiences were based on his own words, as told by his classmates and Teacher Cui.

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(End of this chapter)