Save the Bachelor of Heaven

It is by no means an easy task for an artist who has quit the industry for 20 years to come back.

On the one hand, it is whether he has the ability to come back. After all, after 20 years of retirement, his acting skills have deteriorated, his figure has lost shape, and his popularity has dissipated. He is basically an ordinary person. One can imagine how difficult it is for ordinary people to debut as a star.

On the one hand, it is whether the market is willing to accept it again. Capital is for profit. It does not consider how popular you were twenty years ago, but how valuable you are now.

After 20 years of quitting the circle, no matter how long the fans are, they may forget you, and the commercial value is almost zero. In this case, there is no chance of a comeback.

But Cong Shan's comeback is just a matter of one sentence.

Because Xiang Nan has unlimited resources to help her prepare.

It doesn’t matter if your acting skills degenerate, the most outstanding acting teachers in Hollywood will come to assist directing skills immediately; it doesn’t matter if your body is out of shape, you will have the best fitness instructor in the United States to help you shape your figure; modeling……

There is no script suitable for Chinese Americans in Hollywood, so Xiang Nan immediately worked on it; if there is no capital and is willing to invest, Xiang Nan has the money himself; and he has so many friends in Hollywood, top directors, big-name stars, choose at will, choose at will... whoever you want to be with Cooperate with whomever you want.

Therefore, under his operation, Cong Shan's first comeback work "Instant Universe" was vigorously promoted.

"The Universal Universe", originally written by Yang Ziqiong and Guan Jiwei in 2022, tells the story of a Chinese mother who travels through multiple universes to save her daughter and protect her family.

After the film was released, it gained a very high reputation and box office. Xiang Nan planned to use this movie as the beginning of Cong Shan's comeback.

After reading the script, Cong Shan was really interested, so she quickly prepared for it.

The original version starred Yang Ziqiong, a Kung Fu actress, and there are many fighting scenes in the film, so Cong Shan also needs to do a period of fighting training. Not to mention how well he played, at least he had to look past it.

In addition, physical fitness and acting skills must also be strengthened. After all, filming is different from doing housework, it is still physical labor. In many cases, in order to catch up with the show, it is likely to have to work overtime to shoot, which is a heavy burden on the body.

Cong Shan hasn't been affected for half of her life, and now she has to make full preparations for her comeback.

...

Just when Cong Shan started preparing for "The Transient Universe", Xiang Nan also took the crew to Morocco, London, and Vienna for filming.

Because he is a top international superstar, he is still very popular with audiences wherever he goes, and the governments of various countries and cities are also very willing to cooperate, so the filming process is still very smooth, and the progress is faster than planned.

In April and May, Universal Pictures released "Underworld 4" and "Australia".

The fourth part of the "Underworld" series has been filmed, and the first three have a global box office of around 100 million US dollars, but they are not lost. However, its DVD sales are very good, and it is also very popular on online video platforms, so Universal Pictures has been investing.

Only from the third part, "Underworld" has been transferred to the branch company MGM Pictures for production and distribution.

"Underworld 4: Awakening" has an investment of 70 million US dollars, which is the highest investment in the whole series. It continues to tell the battle between vampires, werewolves, humans and super werewolves.

Compared with the first three works, this movie has larger scenes, more gorgeous special effects, and better production, so it was very popular after it was released. In the end, the global box office grossed 160 million U.S. dollars, which is the highest-grossing movie in the series.

Seeing this, MGM intends to shoot the fifth part of "Underworld".

And "Australia in Troubled Times" tells the love story of a British aristocratic girl and an Australian turkey cowboy in Australia during World War II.

The film was financed and produced by DreamWorks, and most of the crew were Australians, especially starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

The script of this movie is a bit imitating the feeling of "Gone with the Wind", and the film also called it the Australian version of "Gone with the Wind" when it was promoted. It's just that Nicole Kidman's performance is not as amazing as Vivien Leigh.

The media criticized her exaggerated acting skills, declining appearance, and out-of-shape figure, thinking that she was completely unworthy of the role.

Coupled with the fact that Americans are not interested in Australia's history, the movie only grossed $55 million in North America, and ended up with a global box office of $210 million.

And its cost was as high as 130 million U.S. dollars, which caused DreamWorks Pictures to lose at least 100 million U.S. dollars. Such a huge loss left Xiang Nan speechless.

...

In June, Universal released Bad Boys 2, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. It's been ten years since the sequel and its predecessor.

The reason for such a long interval is mainly due to the fact that the two parties could not agree on the remuneration.

Will Smith has developed very well in recent years, "Rival of All People", "National Superman Hancock", "Men in Black", "Shark Story", "Seven Pounds", "I Am Legend" and so on, are all A popular and well-received blockbuster movie.

So this also gave him the lion's confidence to speak up. Not only did he ask for a salary of 50 million US dollars, but he also asked for 10% of the box office dividend.

And because this play is a two-hero play, Martin Lawrence also asked Will Smith for the same conditions. But his development in recent years is far behind Will Smith.

In recent years, he has filmed "The Jungle Attack", "The Wilderness", "The Journey", "Welcome Home", "University Tour", etc., all of which did not perform well at the box office.

And his performance was also criticized for being too stereotyped, just a few tricks over and over again, and they laughed at him as an old dog who couldn't do new tricks. Martin is obviously out of date now, and he doesn't deserve the salary he offered.

As a result, negotiations have been at a deadlocked stage.

Until last year, things ushered in a turning point.

First, Xiang Nan promised Will Smith a salary of 30 million US dollars and a 10% profit share, but he signed him and Jaden Smith and his son. Because he is preparing to cast "New Kid Veyron", which is "Kung Fu Dream" starring Jackie Chan and Jaden.

After Will Smith thought about it, he felt that this deal was a good deal.

"Children's Veyron" is Xiang Nan's famous work. Now that the series is restarting, Xiang Nan must attach great importance to it, and the box office must not be wrong.

His son Jaden is in the movie, which is likely to be an instant hit. At that time, the money lost now can be easily earned back, so he agreed to Xiang Nan's condition.

Second, Xiang Nan told Martin Lawrence that his salary was only five million dollars. If he won't say yes, replace him with Chris Rock.

Chris Rock is also a comedian and stand-up actor. He is very popular in the United States, much better than the outdated Martin.

After Martin Lawrence considered it, he decided to accept Xiang Nan's conditions, so "Jedi Men 2" started shooting.