Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 372 The Welcoming Lineup: Another Baby
"No, all the tickets have been sold."

"Never mind then." Wu Jing led the child inside.

There were so many people asking for tickets, especially after they learned that Chen Shouzhe would be participating in the year-end performance; everyone wanted to show off their skills offstage.

It's true that Lao Guo reserved some tickets, but he also has friends.

They say they won't give away tickets, but you can buy them yourself and then give them away.

Those remaining tickets should be retained by the platform and purchased with money from the platform.

Later, Zhang Hanyu, Yu Entai, and other people also came, as well as some singers from the rock scene.

Chen Shouzhe didn't invite anyone. He wasn't the birthday boy, so there was no need for him to invite anyone. Besides, it was his master's birthday, so why would he invite his friends?

Only those who had a good relationship with Yu Qian received the invitation; of course, there were also those who came uninvited, even if their relationship was not so close.

All visitors are guests; we can't just turn them away.

After a lively chat at the horse farm, we went to a nearby hotel for dinner in the evening.

The apprentices of Deyun Society performed a show, and Lao Guo also went on stage to say a few words. They pushed a cake up, and Yu Qian on stage was a little moved, holding the microphone.

"I am very grateful to all my friends for coming. To be honest, I didn't originally want to celebrate my 50th birthday so grandly. After all, 60 is the real birthday, and I planned to have a big celebration for my 60th birthday. But I have a good apprentice, who I think needs no introduction. He is my pride and joy. He is right. Life is both long and short, so we should cherish every day. So I invited my friends and family to my birthday banquet. Thank you all for coming!"

Chen Shouzhe stood aside and applauded. Yu Qian's status was the same as his father's. In fact, he had spent more time with his master than with his own father. The two were more like father and son than father and son.

Chen Shouzhe also took out his gift, an emerald pendant, which anyone who knew its value could tell at a glance was quite expensive.

He always joked about the bubbly, watery medicated oil, so he bought a piece of bright green emerald jade.

After the lively birthday party ended, I went to work on the 25th to keep busy. The birthday party did make it to the top of Weibo's trending topics.

Guo Degang and others posted congratulatory messages on Weibo, and other celebrities present shared photos from the event.

Many people noticed the jade pendant around Yu Qian's neck. Some commented that the jade was worth tens of thousands of dollars and was recently bought by a mysterious buyer at an auction.

Everyone was amazed at how rich Chen Shou was, giving such a large piece of jade to his master.

After finishing the birthday party, the next day I had to get busy again, preparing for the premiere of the movie "Zootopia".

It's the end of the year, and everyone is holding premieres. Ning Hao's movie premiere was also quite large, and it was held last week. Chen Shouzhe and Ning Hao have a good relationship. They became friends through Huang Bo, and Chen Shouzhe even attended the premiere.

We're all in the same circle; people help each other out, and that's how you rise to the top.

Ning Hao and Xu Zheng also attended the premiere of "Crazy Animals".

Many people think that the premiere of an animated film is unnecessary, since there are no live actors, and at most some people are invited to give voice acting.

For example, Hollywood animated films sometimes invite Chinese stars to participate in voice acting for the Chinese market.

Guo Jingming, Yang Mi, and Liu Yifei have all done voice acting for animated films.

However, Chen Shouzhe's animated film hired professional voice actors, and for the foreign language parts, he invited some Hollywood stars, and even singer Taylor Swift, to participate in the dubbing.

We're confident in our ability to promote our products and services domestically, but we need these celebrities to drive our international promotion.

When it's released globally simultaneously, the best time for a film to be released worldwide isn't the Chinese New Year, but rather Christmas. Christmas in China has a strong festive atmosphere due to business promotions, and with holidays abroad, it's the perfect time for a global release.

The movie "Blue Planet II", which was released last month, grossed $2 billion worldwide, but only $200 million in China. In terms of the global market, the domestic market is still not large.

The premiere was in the morning, and the banquet was at noon. Many people were invited, and the scale of the event was definitely not smaller than that of Huang Bo's film.

All the film directors from the film company were there; as soon as they opened the door, they saw a row of people welcoming them.

Chen Shou stood to the left with Guo Fan, Wu Ershan, and Shen Yijie, and to the right with Wu Jing, Huang Bo, and Wen Muye.

None of them had a box office of less than 3 billion, which shocked and surprised many people.

All seven of them were the ones that the actors present were eager to curry favor with, and even the top stars present felt pressured in their presence.

"Good heavens, are you trying to scare us to death?" Jiang Wen and her husband were startled when they came in and saw seven people greeting them at the door.

"Why don't you come and stand here too?" Chen Shou said with a smile.

“Okay.” Jiang Wen said, letting his wife Zhou Yun go in first and then standing with them. After a while, Zhou Xingxing also arrived and was pulled by Jiang Wen to stand with them. Now, seven people became nine, representing half of the Chinese entertainment film industry.

Animated films, in theory, have little artistic merit, but Chen Shouzhe's influence was so great that almost all the prominent directors and A-list celebrities came.

Chen Shouzhe saw Shen Teng and Ma Li, and went up to hug them both. After all, they were the two lead actors in his first movie, and Liu Yan and Yue Yunpeng would also be coming later.

Over a thousand people attended, making it a star-studded event, more complete than most award ceremonies have ever been. Many film and television industry bosses and directors were present.

Chen Shou walked onto the stage alone. There was a large screen where a movie would be shown.

The people in the audience were sitting at round tables; they would be having a banquet after the movie.

The scale of the premiere has dominated Weibo's trending topics. After all, the red carpet was so grand, and nine big-name directors were there to greet the audience at the entrance, all of which made it to the trending topics.

As one netizen put it, they're all walking money.

"First of all, thank you all for coming. Originally, an animated film wouldn't have been worth inviting you all. It was my colleagues who gave me face to come, and I feel very honored. I am very honored to be here to share the film with you. My original dream was to become an excellent crosstalk actor like my godfather and master. However, for some reason, I changed careers and made movies. Of course, I'm not trying to show off. I'm just reflecting on my choice back then."

On stage, Chen Shouzhe stood confidently with one hand in his pocket, while thousands of people watched from below. Some wore smiles, while others watched calmly.

I bet some people are thinking to themselves, "Why can't I just be a comedian? Why do I have to compete with them for a living?"

The problem is they can't even compete with someone from another industry; it's so embarrassing to admit it.

Yang Mi stood there expressionless, guarding Chen Shou. Her choice back then had brought her everything she had now, but it had also cost her some freedom. She touched her belly; more than two months had passed since the last Golden Eagle Award. This child would take her surname.

At another table, Yan Danchen, sitting with Chen Kun and others, smiled at him. A joke she made back then had opened that door herself. Afterwards, she received a constant stream of movie offers, became the fairy Chang'e, and became a top-tier celebrity.

Dilraba attended the event in a glamorous black dress, adorned with numerous high-end custom-made accessories.

The girl who had just graduated and was taken to the villa by Yang Mi is now one of the highest-paid female celebrities in China. Many people envy her luck and wish they could take her place.

On stage, Chen Shou spoke at length. Finally, when the time came, the movie officially began to play. It told the story of a group of animals' crazy experiences. The plot was childish, but the production was excellent, making many company employees who were preparing for the Spring Festival release feel like they were facing a formidable enemy.

Here comes the wolf.

(End of this chapter)