Chapter 961 Detonation (1)
Lu Yanhe asked Li Zhibai if he wanted to continue acting in "Buried Alive 3".
Li Zhibai said, "Of course I wanted to."
Since they are not the same characters, this series can be developed indefinitely with the current development approach, as long as there is a good story.
With the success of "Buried 1" and "Buried 2", each subsequent film has the potential to gross over $100 million worldwide.
And who knows, one of them might catch a lucky break at some point, become a global box office hit, and become a top-tier IP.
Lu Yanhe doesn't mind continuing to collaborate with Parameters on the "Buried" series, provided that their collaboration is pleasant.
Lu Yanhe agreed to authorize Parameters to film "Buried Alive 3". However, Li Zhibai must continue to play the lead role and have the creative rights to the film. Similarly, the script must be approved by both Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai before filming can begin.
The negotiations for Buried 2 had stalled due to this clause, causing significant delays. This time, however, Parameters readily agreed.
Lu Yanhe can receive a $1 million copyright licensing fee from "Buried 3", as well as 5% of the film's global box office revenue in his personal capacity, and a share of subsequent derivative revenue.
This is the first time Lu Yanhe has received a direct share of box office revenue, rather than a share of box office profits.
This means that for every dollar the movie grosses, Lu Yanhe will receive 5 cents.
Based on the current performance of "Buried 2", if the global box office of "Buried 2" reaches $100 million, then Lu Yanhe can receive a profit of $5 million.
Lu Yanhe is to the Buried series what James Wan is to The Conjuring. Even though he is no longer the director and screenwriter, everyone will still regard every Conjuring film as his work.
The mark has been made.
Lee Ji-baek finally received a $7.5 million salary for "Buried 3".
From $500,000 for "Buried 1" to $7.5 million for "Buried 3", Lee Chi-pak's salary has seen a huge leap.
There were some questions about the parameters themselves, but Lu Yanhe dismissed them with a single sentence—
Besides Li Zhibai, could any other actor in this film series be accepted by the audience?
This is not an ensemble piece.
Both "Buried Alive 1" and "Buried Alive 2" feature Lee Chi-pak as the lead actor, carrying the entire film on his own.
In other movies, even if one lead actor leaves, another can still carry the story, and moviegoers will still buy into it.
But Buried does not have that possibility.
Therefore, Parameters also knows that Li Zhibai does indeed hold the initiative in this regard.
They dared not let Lu Yanhe leave the series, nor did they dare let Li Zhibai leave.
In fact, despite this, the production cost of "Buried" could still be kept between $20 million and $30 million, preventing the film's production costs from skyrocketing.
Li Zhibai's $7.5 million was exceptionally well-deserved.
This series doesn't need a second well-known actor with a high salary to carry it.
Li Zhibai alone is enough.
This is a characteristic of this film series.
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Li Zhibai's $7.5 million salary has attracted a lot of attention and discussion.
Starting with Lu Yanhe, more and more Chinese actors are earning over $3 million a month in Hollywood, no longer just a few individuals, which has surprised many people.
Whether it's Jiang Yuqian, whose salary per film has risen to $5 million after "Red Eye" and "Doomsday," or Yan Liang after "Flypaper," both have made huge leaps in their salaries in recent years.
Jiang Jun and Huang Feng, needless to say.
For Asian actors in Hollywood, very few can earn such a salary.
Lu Yanhe, however, led a group of people into the high-salary actors' club.
How could anyone not be envious and tempted by this?
One Asian actor who grew up in the United States even said publicly: "The appearance of Lu Yanhe and others has encroached on our already thin living space. There are already very few Asian roles in Hollywood, and now they have all been taken away by them."
In response, the media interviewed Jiang Yuqian to ask for her opinion.
She didn't mince words, responding directly: "Really? Most of the roles I've played in Hollywood weren't taken from other Asian actors. 'Red Eye' was a script tailor-made for me by Lu Yanhe. My character in 'Doomsday' was initially conceived as a Western woman. As for 'The Window'... well, okay, it was indeed an Asian woman from the start, but I didn't snatch it from anyone. The director chose me from the beginning. In a way, I think that because of actors like us, Hollywood has actually produced many more Asian roles, even scripts featuring Asian characters as protagonists. I receive at least three to four lead roles in Hollywood every month. From what I've seen, there are quite a few Asian roles, but very few are actually made. I think it's not because there are too many Asian actors like us, but because there are too few."
Jiang Yuqian's response was a direct and forceful rebuttal.
Lu Yanhe also received phone interviews from familiar media outlets, who wanted him to respond.
He said, "I understand that people say some extreme things when their careers are not going well. However, I came to Hollywood and at this stage, I think I can say that I am not here to compete for anyone's job. I am here to create jobs for many people. I do not need to take anyone's place to gain a foothold here. No one else can take my place."
A very assertive response.
However, it is indeed true.
No one can refute that.
Lu Yanhe has at least three to five projects in Hollywood every year, and these projects can all get the green light because of him.
Each green light can provide anywhere from dozens to hundreds of jobs.
If it weren't for him, these projects would never have progressed so smoothly.
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"But Lu Yanhe now wields power in Hollywood and is also forming cliques. That's an undeniable fact, isn't it?"
"Yes, even a senior and influential actor like Chen Pinhe has been repeatedly defeated by Lu Yanhe's influence in Hollywood. We know of several roles that he has even lost."
"So, Lu Yanhe and Chen Pinhe really don't get along. They rarely even appear on stage together."
"Isn't Chen Pinhe the only actor who can develop his career overseas without relying on Lu Yanhe?"
"His starring roles in 'Death Stranding' and 'The 17th Floor Reboot' are indeed very popular on overseas streaming platforms."
"However, these things have always been just speculation by fans, right? Were the roles that Chen Pinhe didn't get really because of Lu Yanhe? There doesn't seem to be any evidence, does there?"
"How can we find evidence for this? There's no way we can find evidence for something like this."
...
In China, news of a rift between Lu Yanhe and Chen Pinhe once again spread like wildfire within the industry.
Those old grievances have been brought up again.
But this time, Zhang Yuezhen did not help Chen Pinhe suppress the hype.
Lu Yanhe's side did not exert any pressure either.
The online public opinion is escalating.
Even the exact origins of the feud between the two sides were unearthed.
Previously, Lu Yanhe had been subtly and indirectly squeezed out by various forces within Hollywood; now, however, some people in China are accusing him of forming cliques and attacking dissidents.
Lu Yanhe was stunned when he saw such public opinion online.
What is that?
ah?
Is Chen Pinhe the reason he's accused of forming cliques and attacking dissidents?
If it weren't for the fact that the person trying to stir up trouble hadn't actually done anything, and instead looked too much like a die-hard fan of Chen Pinhe going crazy out of their mind, Lu Yanhe would have really thought that Chen Pinhe and Zhang Yue were just buying the hype.
Normally, if someone wanted to stir up trouble, they wouldn't bring up such a crazy topic.
Although, at present, some people do think that Chen Pinhe was bullied by Lu Yanhe.
Even the comment section of Lu Yanhe's social media platform was attacked by some of Chen Pinhe's fans.
There were many questions and some insults.
Lu Yanhe ignored it.
He didn't care about any of that at the moment.
Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan are no longer trying to suppress the popularity of related topics because as long as they don't directly expose the true relationship between him and Chen Pinhe—given that both of them tacitly don't want this matter to be exposed—letting everyone clearly know that the two of them are at odds and making this a done deal will not have any substantial negative impact on Lu Yanhe, but will have a lot of negative impact on Chen Pinhe.
Just like in Hollywood, if you become an open enemy of Leonardo DiCaprio or Tom Cruise, your path will definitely not be smooth or easy. They don't even need to make a special effort to get along with you; to ensure future collaborations with them, they won't easily cooperate with you, thus creating potential problems for themselves.
Lu Yanhe is now at roughly that stage.
He has already reached the top of his age group as an actor, and is also a genius screenwriter who can sweep the box office and awards. Not only that, he also has his own production company, and has very deep cooperative relationships with Midoriya, Soren, Parameters, and D19.
It seems he's about to collaborate on the film "Legion of the Moon".
Who dares to say they will never cooperate with Lu Yanhe in the future? If this opportunity comes their way, but they are blacklisted by Lu Yanhe because they once cooperated with Chen Pinhe, wouldn't they regret it to the core?
Chen Ziyan said, "Yan He, although we are not like those protagonists in those wish-fulfillment novels who directly overthrow everything, we have managed to get Chen Pinhe into this situation in less than ten years. I want to say, you did a great job. This is the path you should take. You don't need to destroy everything with him. You can let him be slowly boiled like a frog in warm water and slowly die. In the long life ahead, he will gradually go downhill."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
"Also, I've made progress on Zhang Yuezhen's side," Chen Ziyan said. "I've identified a few people. If she really did push you into the river back then, we'll definitely find her. Officer Qiu Ling is assisting me with the investigation."
"Any new leads?"
“Yes.” Chen Ziyan nodded. “There were no surveillance cameras or witnesses at the place where you fell into the water, and you didn’t see anything yourself. We could only search like headless flies for many years, which was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, our previous search was not fruitless. We have collected surveillance footage from different places and angles around the area, as well as other information. Now that we have a suspect, we can directly conduct comparative analysis.”
Lu Yanhe asked, "But even if we find it, what then?"
He doesn't understand.
In the eyes of the people in this world, he had only fallen into the water and had not died.
Only he knew that back then, someone really was killed.
Even if we could get Zhang Yuezhen to admit that she was the one who pushed him into the river, it would be impossible for her to actually be punished.
Unless... she crosses the line like she did to him.
Chen Ziyan clearly understood what Lu Yanhe was thinking.
“Yan He, you have to believe one thing: if someone has done one bad thing, they are very likely to have done countless bad things. Even if this one bad thing can't put her in jail, there's always another bad thing that can be investigated,” Chen Ziyan said firmly. “Even if, by some chance, she's only done one bad thing in her life, what's there to be afraid of? Is her life easy now? We've already got her on our radar. Her claws hidden in the shadows are being monitored at all times. Any further movement from her will become concrete evidence. Don't rush things. Haste makes waste. We've already endured and waited for ten years; there's plenty of time ahead. You need to know that your biggest advantage isn't anything else, it's always that you're younger than them. In terms of time, they'll never outlast you. Your very existence is a shadow hanging over their heads, one they can't shake off, one they can't get rid of.”
Chen Ziyan's words calmed him down easily and gave him an indescribable strength.
This force instantly restored his composure.
That's right.
That's how it is now, take it slow.
Are they doing well now?
No, they've never been truly happy since the day he became famous.
They are the thieves, they are the ones who feel guilty, they are the ones who toss and turn at night, and they are the ones who feel lost and unsettled.
Lu Yanhe smiled.
He logged onto Weibo and posted at @JiangYuqian: Sister Yuqian, I've written another script for you, it's an action movie, 'Tomb Raider'.
After posting the first message, he tagged Jiang Jun and said: "Teacher Jiang, I've also written another script for you. It's a detective film called 'Knives Out.' Let's talk about the script after you finish filming the spin-off movie of 'The Seventeen Floors.'"
Then, he tagged Wen Shengming and said: "Teacher Wen, would you be interested in making a spy movie? Playing a handsome and cool spy mentor? You're not only a veteran actor and a skilled performer, but you're also a charming and mature man! 'Kingsman' needs you!"
He tagged Li Zhibai and said: "Besides 'Buried 3,' remember to reserve some time for me next year. We need to shoot some top-tier Hollywood productions, right? I won't let you do 'The Fault in Our Stars,' you've done too many teen romance movies. Let's do something different, like a car chase, how about 'Fast & Furious'?"
He @Yan Liang: You've practiced martial arts for so long, I've prepared a script for you to fully showcase your talents. It's a sci-fi trilogy with incredibly cool characters. I promised you, welcome to The Matrix!
He tagged Li Yuefeng: After acting in so many horror and thriller films, it's time to let everyone see your handsome, gentle, and kind side. Is the male lead of "The Fault in Our Stars" coming?
He tagged Wang Jing: My old friend, a young acting fanatic, let everyone see your explosive power in "The Hunger Games"!
...
Lu Yanhe tagged more than a dozen friends in one go and posted more than a dozen Weibo posts.
He didn't ignite Weibo.
He directly ignited the entire film industry—the entire international film industry.
Anyone else would have thought this person was abnormal or had been traumatized.
However, this person is Lu Yanhe.
This year, he single-handedly raked in billions of dollars at the box office.
He didn't just post a dozen or so Weibo posts; he directly announced more than a dozen film projects.
The key point is that he did not communicate with anyone beforehand.
With this action, he clearly told everyone—
If this is called factionalism and attacking dissidents, if this can be a reason to attack him, then let the storm rage on.
He wanted to see whose ship was sturdy enough to survive the storms of this ocean!
(End of this chapter)
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