The Best Director

Chapter 354: Chapter 354 The Kung Fu Craze is Coming

“Paranormal Activity” failed to secure the first place for the third consecutive week. After the week of April 15-21, it fell to third place with a box office of 15.21 million US dollars. Its North American total rose to 94.84 million. According to this downward trend, reaching 110 million in North America might not be possible, but comfortably entering the 100 million club seems to be no issue.

Another newly released horror movie, “Amityville Horror,” took over the throne with a first-week box office of 29.6 million US dollars. With a production budget of 19 million, the movie was a joint venture among Dimension Films, MGM, United Artists, Platinum Dunes, and Radar Pictures. Looking at the Flame’s Lone Ranger style, “Firefly” bearing the entire production cost of 200 million shows a thought-provoking contrast. MGM, responsible for the North American distribution, fought a tough battle successfully. Despite the freshness scores of 24%/21% and an approval rate of 64%, qualifying for an overwhelming wave of bad reviews; riding on the market momentum of “Paranormal Activity 3,” it definitely has the potential to break the 100 million mark in the global box office.

“Amityville Horror” was initially Chloe Moretz’s breakthrough role, and now, with her role in “Paranormal 3,” another young girl had a successful audition and performance.

In second place this week was the dismal failure “Sahara Cavalry,” whose second-week box office of 16.57 million declared the death of this blockbuster; “Sin City” landed in fifth place with an addition of 8.92 million, showing no hope of breaking the 100 million mark in North America with a 21-day total of 63.53 million.

“Kung Fu Hustle” continued in just seven theaters, each performing impressively with an average of 51,308 US dollars. The praises for this Chinese language film, produced on a budget of 20 million US dollars, were torrential, with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 90%/85% and an audience approval of 86%.

Andrew Sun of “Hollywood Reporter” said, “An insanely silly and splendid combination, Stephen Chow, the comedy king from Hong Kong, has elevated the kung fu comedy genre to a raucously new height.” Chris Vognar of “The Dallas Morning News” said, “If you’re not entertained, it’s time to wake up a little.” Roger Ebert of the “Chicago Sun-Times” said, “When I saw it at the Sundance Film Festival, I wrote that it was ‘like a party with Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton (famous stone-faced comic) meeting Quentin Tarantino and Bugs Bunny,’ watching this kind of movie can satisfy all your desires.”…

Sony/Columbia is more than happy with the favorable situation of “Kung Fu Hustle,” and it seems that even the uninvolved Flame is thrilled, as “Kung Fu Panda” in May and “Firefly” in June are about to be released. Both can be considered kung fu action movies, especially with “Kung Fu” in the title of “Kung Fu Panda,” the current success of this genre, without saturating the market, ideally helps in heating up for Flame’s upcoming animated and live-action movies.

However, it’s regrettable that if “Kung Fu Hustle” were distributed by Flame, they would not have been stingy with the promotion, and it might have achieved box-office success akin to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” rather than just scooping up profits after a successful trial run.

The success of “Kung Fu Hustle” has kept Stephen Chow in good graces with Sony/Columbia, who are clearly interested in a new film collaboration with him. Flame has also received preliminary consent from Stephen Chow for him to co-star with Jim Carrey in “The Green Hornet.” On the other hand, Oscar-nominated Jim Carrey, in high spirits, found everything about Flame appealing, and he too, has preliminarily agreed to this collision of Eastern and Western kings of comedy.

Flame has recently made substantial acquisitions of adaptation rights and several scripts to expand its filming inventory, including the rights to the British author Christopher Priest’s famous novel “The Prestige” for a film project; another is the film rights to “The Green Hornet,” which was agreed upon by the families of its creators, George Trendle and Fran Striker, for Flame’s adaptation.

Who to pick for adapting and directing “The Green Hornet”? Wang Yang and Flame learned that Stephen Chow is somewhat of a loner and a “tyrant” with high control during the creative process and not the best temperament. Hollywood is not short of such filmmakers, like “Hollywood’s scariest person” James Cameron, who routinely yelling actors to tears on set is just commonplace. However, with a topic like “The Green Hornet,” which involves a clash of Eastern and Western cultures, many disagreements are bound to arise. Columbia learned that lesson the hard way, as creative differences led to Chow’s complete withdrawal, leaving the “The Green Hornet” project to end in discord.

Either make it clear from the start that he is “only starring” and not involve Stephen Chow in the writing or directing phase, which he is only preliminarily agreeing to because he dislikes such collaborations, or he must script and direct, and take control of the film.

Jim Carrey has never been interested in directing and has only contributed to writing the TV series “In Living Color” and the 1994 “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”; he’s shown little interest in producing either, only taking on the role twice. This time for “The Green Hornet,” he has stated he will only act and leave other matters aside, so either give the creative reins to Stephen Chow and his team and trust them, nipping any conflicts in the bud.

Which choice to make? Flame has pondered this dilemma for many days now, with Wang Yang leaning toward the latter. Stephen Chow, as an avid Bruce Lee fan, has his unique interpretation and sentiment toward “The Green Hornet,” inspired by his idol’s signature role. It’s this temptation that makes a tyrant consider agreeing to “only star,” and tyrants often have a stubborn streak, never wanting to do things halfway; he would be all in for “The Green Hornet.”

However, considering the cultural differences between East and West, and recalling Stephen Chow’s 2009 disaster with “Dragon Ball” as a producer, whichever plan is chosen, “The Green Hornet” will need a gold-standard producer with vast experience and exceptional commercial acumen.

The documentary “Yao Ming Year” ranked 67th at the box office this week, grossing $33,345 across 12 theaters, averaging $2,779 per venue. Essentially, the screening rooms were near-empty, similar to swatting flies all day, and without a second week the film was hastily pulled from cinemas. The distributor’s “boutique route” could only consider DVD and other merchandise sales channels.

“DIRECTED-BY: YOUNG-WANG, WRITTEN-BY: YOUNG-WANG&JOSS-WHEDON, PRODUCED-BY: YOUNG-WANG, JOSS-WHEDON…”

As the final shot of the “Firefly” movie ended, the sound of serene, yet sorrowful, end credits music filled the theater, and the screen transitioned to the cast and crew roll call—directors, writers, producers…. The audience in the screening room erupted into a crisp and enthusiastic round of applause, honoring Joss Whedon, Valerie Fiest, Jan Kaczmarek, Hans Jimo, Margaret Goodspeed, Lee Smith, Sean Walsh, Kevin Cavanaugh….

“Incredible!” All the main creators of “Firefly” were gathered here, now unanimously directing their applause and praise to the young director. Perhaps other movies had a lot of uncertainties, but this one they all forged together was truly a classic without a doubt! Joss Whedon wiped his moist eyes, still immersed in the profound and complex, yet clear, atmosphere of the movie. The final deadly blow had arrived, and he exclaimed in admiration, “TOP… It’s unbelievable.”

Valerie Fiest looked at both Jan and Hans, couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up. Regardless of whether it was dramatic or action scenes, whether the visuals were static or dynamic, the music was always so harmoniously appealing and touching, successfully expressing the director’s intentions through music. Especially the latter part’s battle in New Shanxi and the conclusion, which kept the viewers’ hearts tightly gripped with excitement and sorrow, she lavishly praised, “The score perfectly accentuated the visuals!”

“Thank you, but actually, we should be thanking you!” Hans Jimo also started praising. Such stunningly realistic special effects, explosive combat, and beautifully picturesque scenes that could be frozen into paintings—everything was just… As a serious and earnest German, he couldn’t help but commend, “This will be the best sci-fi movie of the year!”

“OK, guys!” Seeing that they were going on praising each other, Wang Yang, feeling it was getting too cheesy, called a stop to it. He clapped his hands vigorously and smiled, “Mission accomplished, thank you for your hard work! And for the recognition, I hope the audience will find it just as enjoyable.” Everyone immediately started speaking without any modesty: “Of course!”, “Director, I think you don’t need to worry.”, “Good movies and bad movies are easy to distinguish, we’re not blind.”, “It’s a classic among classics.”, “It’s so captivating! Right to the depths of the soul!”…

Wang Yang watched the scrolling credits on the screen, shaking his head and sighed, “You know what? You guys are the least modest crew I’ve ever known.”

The production cost of the fully completed “Firefly” was set at over $190 million, with the majority of the budget attributed to cast salaries and special effects. It wasn’t a blockbuster in name only, but a genuine blockbuster providing the most cutting-edge and expansive visual pleasure of its time.

This was made possible by the IMAX camera and its large format, which also meant that “Firefly”, in addition to being screened at regular cinemas, would be printed from 65MM film to 70MM and 35MM film formats to adjust the screen aspect ratio for a worldwide release in IMAX theaters. While North America had less than a hundred such theaters, their high ticket prices and occupancy rates would bring considerable returns if managed well; the IMAX concept was one of the selling points in “Firefly”‘s promotion.

Not a documentary! The first live-action movie to utilize IMAX! Just the mention would set “Firefly” apart, without considering whether it was a good or bad movie.

For the substantial audience who went to the cinema upon the idea “Let’s go watch a movie tonight?” and chose the film either by researching online before leaving or by directly facing the poster wall at the cinema, the presence of IMAX for one movie and not for another, who knew what IMAX was anyway? Yet, having technology always seemed better and cooler than not having it, so having seen it, they would know, hence their choice: “Let’s watch ‘Firefly’.”

Of course, if a conceptual gimmick became oversaturated, untrustworthy, or unbearable to the audience, they might instead start to dislike it. For instance, when fake 3D became rampant, printing a bright red “NOT-3D” on a poster seemed more attractive.

With nearly 2 months left before the global premiere of “Firefly” on June 17th, Flame Movies had already sent it to the MPAA for rating review ahead of time. Now, except for participating in “Firefly”‘s promotion, Wang Yang was waiting for the moment to reap the fruits of his labor.

There was nothing left to do for “Paranormal Activity 3” except some interviews and photography for Liongate’s DVD production. Other projects such as “Kung Fu Panda,” “Assassin’s Creed,” and “Brokeback Mountain” were all complete and, like “Firefly,” were busy with promotion awaiting release. On the small screen, “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” with its steady viewership of around 20 million, had its own production team and didn’t require his attention; he had also stepped back from the main creative team of the third season of “Prison Break,” acting only as an advisory planner; whereas he would continue to hold the top responsible position for the second season of “The Big Bang Theory.”

With the arrival of summer, Wang Yang seemed to have some downtime, or perhaps it was just that he had been too busy before. Now he had more time and mind to spend with his expectant wife, as well as to develop new film plans.

“Hey, Yang.”

In the spacious and bright living room, Wang Yang was momentarily surprised to see the incoming number. He picked up the remote to lower the volume of the TV and answered the phone, “Hey, Helen.” On the other end, Helen greeted him calmly before asking, “Are you watching the game?” The television screen displayed the TNT channel broadcasting an NBA playoff game: Houston Rockets vs. Dallas Mavericks, Game 1 of the series. Today, both teams were in similar form, and now into the fourth quarter, the Rockets were leading by a small margin.

“Yeah, haha! Are you watching it too? T-MAC is doing great today.” Wang Yang looked at the TV screen with joy, supporting the Rockets one hundred percent. Not to mention Yao Ming’s factor, seeing Mark Cuban jumping around anxiously made him happy! He suddenly exclaimed, “Oh my god! That move and no foul call! What the hell! What a crap referee! It’s been like this all night, is this a rigged game or what? Oh man!”

“Wait a second, Yang, there’s something I have to tell you,” Helen said with a helpless chuckle, making Wang Yang come back to his senses, “Right, you called me… What’s up?” The phone then conveyed Helen’s voice, tinged with happiness, “Yang, I’m getting married.”

I’m getting married? I’m getting married? For a moment, Wang Yang felt like he had been doused with cold or hot water. Shaking his head and finally tearing his eyes away from the NBA world on the screen, he blurted out, “Getting married! Wow!” Rubbing the back of his head, he laughed, “Congratulations! Wow! Congratulations! Who’s the guy? Wow, who’s the guy? You’re amazing!” His emotions were a mix of happiness, excitement, and confusion, and his heartbeat undoubtedly quickened, “Who’s the guy? Is he a good man?”

Helen, not wanting to elaborate, said a few words, “Yes, he’s a classmate from Stanford, of Chinese descent, not as handsome as you, but cute.” Wang Yang oh’ed in understanding, she always had a thing for Asians, right? He laughed, “Tell me his name, and I’ll have friends in San Francisco keep an eye on him! If he dares to cheat, they’ll stuff him into a sack and toss him off the Golden Gate Bridge the next day.” But Helen didn’t laugh, speaking seriously, “Don’t joke about that! You know I don’t like it. He’s a good man, a hardworking person, and we love each other, that’s all.”

“OK.” Wang Yang nodded, knowing her style was to never be verbose, “When’s the wedding? I can’t wait to meet him.” Last year when he got married, he had told Helen about it, but she said over the phone that she didn’t want to come for fear of upsetting the bride, Jessica; but now he really wanted to see Helen in a wedding dress, not feeling awkward at all. He added, “Of course, I’m just your ordinary high school classmate, I’ll just sit there.”

“Enough, Yang, I wasn’t intending to invite you,” Helen flatly refused on the other end, laughing, “He knows about our past, there’s no hiding it, so many friends have witnessed our relationship, having a famous high school boyfriend isn’t really a good thing…” Her tone, somewhat complaining and playful, surprised Wang Yang. Helen continued earnestly, “But there’s no need for you to come to my wedding. You’d put pressure on him, adding instability to our marriage, and that’s not fun, you know that, right?”

Wang Yang didn’t know what to say when Helen suddenly took a deep breath, “And… I don’t want to see you sitting there.” She laughed a few times, “I was never as cool as you thought I was. You understand? When you went to the University of Southern California, I was angry, hurt, but I waited for you, for an hour, a day, a week, a month, waiting for your call. What did you give me? I cried for months! Goodbye, Yang.”

“What, wait…” Wang Yang was completely stunned, gaping. What did she say?! I waited for you? He let her down?… So she wasn’t that cool, huh? The memories came flooding back, and he couldn’t help but take a deep breath, “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I know you, I know you will remember these things, and you will be resentful,” Helen’s voice softened, as if she was consoling him as she used to, “But baby, do you understand? In that love, there were no losers, we were both losers.” Wang Yang pursed his lips, unable to stem the tide of emotions, “I get it, I’ve recently realized that we both messed up back then.” Helen immediately laughed, “That’s good you understand. So, goodbye!”

Wang Yang didn’t say goodbye, and suddenly said, “Helen, I’m going to be a dad this year.” Helen exclaimed in delight, “Congratulations! Seems like my call came at the right time? Best of luck to you!” Wang Yang said thanks with a smile, and Helen added with a laugh, “You’re going to be a dad, haha! You always have to beat me at something, don’t you?” Wang Yang smiled wryly, “Yes.” Helen said with a smile, “You win… I don’t know how things are between you and Jessica, but sometimes you can’t believe what a woman says, not all of it.”

“Thank you, I think I can trust all of what she says,” Wang Yang replied.

After hanging up the phone, Wang Yang leaned back on the couch and let out a long breath, unable to find the mood to watch the game anymore. So she wasn’t that cool, she was just a girl, coy, sarcastic, deceitful, waiting… What had he done? Yet these were no longer regrets; even if he could do it all over again, he would still think Helen was that cool, wouldn’t make that call, and then he would have moved on to the next planet, to now, the course of this world’s development just is what it is.

“Did someone call? I thought I heard you say ‘getting married.'” As he was deep in thought, Jessica, dressed in loose, comfortable clothes, came out of the kitchen, holding a large can of whipped cream. She always had a particularly high sensitivity and interest in the word “Marry.”

Wang Yang’s mood instantly brightened, becoming sunny and cheerful upon seeing Jessica and the baby in her belly, so what if she wasn’t that cool? This woman, why did she take so long in the kitchen before coming out? He glared and asked, “What have you sneaked to eat now!?” Jessica sat down on the sofa, leaning back comfortably, lifted the nozzle of the whipped cream can to her mouth, and as she sprayed said, “I only ate a few apples, who’s getting married?” Wang Yang replied, “Um, Helen, my high school girlfriend.”

Jessica clearly froze, her finger continuously pressed on the whipped cream can’s nozzle, rings and rings of white cream overflowing from her mouth onto her face. Then she suddenly sat up straight, “What! She’s getting married?!”

“Yeah!” Wang Yang swiftly caught the dollop of whipped cream that fell, stuffing it into his mouth. It was too sweet! Thinking about how a pregnant woman’s tastes and temper can become even more unpredictable, he still chose to speak diplomatically, “I won’t attend, we told her last year, and she told us too.” Jessica blinked constantly, her smile gradually appearing and as if a big weight was lifted off her chest, she suddenly couldn’t help laughing out loud, “Haha! Sorry, sorry, haha, congratulations to her! I’m so happy…”

“Sorry for what?” Wang Yang shook his head in annoyance, hugging her as she laughed until her shoulders trembled. Did this silly woman really care that much about his ex-girlfriend? It seems making that movie was indeed necessary. Jessica laughed and then paused, “I don’t know…” She frowned slightly as she looked at him, “Am I being too MEAN?” Wang Yang chuckled and shrugged, “Please! I don’t get what you mean. Don’t flatter yourself, Helen is very happy! Also, she’s not your rival, from the very second we met, your rivals, my rivals, everyone else was out of the competition.”

Jessica suddenly looked down at herself and asked quickly, “Have I put on weight? Have I?” Wang Yang shook his head sincerely, “No, you look great, what happened?” Jessica seemed impulsively excited, “I want to wear a wedding dress for you to see!” Before he could react, she sighed again, “But that wedding dress is very tight around the waist, could it harm the baby, maybe better not…”

“It’s alright, you’re beautiful just the way you are.” Wang Yang soothed her increasingly vain temperament, giving her lips a kiss and picking up the remote control to turn the volume up, “Watch the game! Watch the game! Go Houston!”

The game had come down to the final two minutes, and the Mavericks were mounting a desperate rally. Jason Terry had just scored a three-pointer, reigniting hope for the Mavericks. As he spoke, Jessica’s attention couldn’t help but shift to the game, and she declared confidently, “The Mavericks are bound to lose today!” Wang Yang nodded, “If it weren’t for the referees’ help, they would’ve lost already… YEAH!” At the same time, Jessica clenched her fist and shouted, “YEAH! Free throw! Haha, look at Mark Cuban’s expression!”…

In the end, the Rockets won the game against the Mavericks away with a score of 98:86; two days later, led by McGrady and Yao Ming, the Rockets won the second game of the series 113-111, leading the total score 2:0. McGrady’s dunk over Sean Bradley in the first quarter made the fans’ blood boil with excitement. With two away-game victories in hand, the Rockets returned to Houston with great prospects of advancing to the second round of the playoffs.

The North American box office from April 22-28 is in, and the newly released “Translation Storm” took the crown with $29.31 million; “Amityville Horror” came in second, “Sahara Cavalry” third; entering its fourth week, “Paranormal Activity 3” added another $6.51 million for sixth place, bringing its total North American box office to $101.35 million. “Kung Fu Hustle,” which expanded to 2,503 theaters this week, took in $8.6 million for fifth place. The lack of promotion was evident, and analysts predict its North American box office could reach $15-20 million.

Jessica’s birthday fell on the 28th, and Wang Yang, Joshua, and close family and friends celebrated with her, sharing a joyous prenatal birthday. A notable difference of celebrating a birthday during pregnancy is that Jessica practically finished her 24-layered birthday cake all by herself. Of course, she made a birthday wish before doing so, “Healthy birth for the baby, huge success for ‘Firefly,’ and happiness every day for the family!”

Entering May, “Firefly” smoothly passed the MPAA’s review, obtaining the intended PG-13 rating, which meant it targeted practically all age groups; and in this month, when the summer movie season officially kicks off, “Kung Fu Panda,” led by Flame Film, is set to premiere.

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PS: It’s New Year’s! Wishing everyone a happy Spring Festival! The update schedule for the next few days might be a bit unstable and could be quite late, but Wa Li promises to keep updating (giving it all)! Please forgive the inconsistency, there is just so much to do during New Year’s, happy New Year! (