Chapter 2029 2031【Instant Universe】

   It is not an easy task for an artist who has been out of the industry for 20 years to come back.

   On the one hand, it is whether I have 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 industry, 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; it doesn’t matter if your body is out of shape, you will immediately have the best fitness instructor in the United States to help you shape your body; modeling…

There is no script suitable for Chinese Americans in Hollywood, so Xiang Nan immediately worked on it; what if he has no capital and is willing to invest? Just work with whoever you want.

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

   "The Instant Universe" was originally written by Yang Ziqiong and Guan Jiwei in 2022. It tells the story of a Chinese mother traveling through multiple universes to rescue 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. Yang Ziqiong is a Kung Fu actress. 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 parts 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.

  Just 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 previous 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".

   "Australia in Troubled Times" tells a lingering love story between a British aristocratic girl and an Australian wood turtle cowboy in Australia during World War II.

  This film is invested and produced by DreamWorks. Most of the crew are 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" during promotion. 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.

  Combined 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 it cost up to 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 Pictures released the movie "Bad Boys 2" starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Ten years have passed between this sequel and its predecessor.

  The reason for such a long interval is mainly because the two parties could not agree on the salary.

Will Smith has developed very well in recent years, "Rivals of All People", "National Superman Hancock", "Men in Black", "Shark Story", "Seven Pounds", "I Am Legend" and so on, are all A 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 to have 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, with just a few tricks repeated over and over again, mocking him as an old dog who can't do new tricks. Martin is obviously out of date now, and he doesn't deserve the salary he offered.

   Therefore, negotiations have been in 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 dividend, but only 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 thinking about it, Will Smith 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 will star in this 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.

  Secondly, 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 thinking about it, Martin Lawrence decided to accept Xiang Nan's conditions, so "Bad Boys 2" started shooting.

  (end of this chapter)