As June arrived, the summer movie season continued to burn hot.
Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End took three consecutive North American weekend box office titles, and Knocked Up, which opened on June 1, didn't cause the slightest threat.
So far, Spider-Man 3, released on May 4, had reached 287 million dollars in North America, temporarily ranking first on the annual domestic box office chart.
Its global box office had reached 632 million dollars, also temporarily ranking first worldwide.
Even though the series faced many criticisms, the fanbase accumulated from the first two films, combined with high-quality visual effects, still gave it strong market competitiveness.
Shrek 3, with 261 million dollars in North America, ranked second domestically. Its global box office hit 556 million dollars, placing it third globally.
Pirates of the Caribbean 3 accumulated 246 million dollars in North America, temporarily ranking third domestically.
However, in the global rankings, with a total of 562 million dollars, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 overtook Shrek the Third.
Worth mentioning is that Pirates of the Caribbean 3 featured Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-fat.
Most well-known actors in the Chinese-language film circle dream of breaking into Hollywood, this international stage, but very few truly make a name for themselves.
Not counting the older era's Bruce Lee, Jet Li is one—several of his films performed decently. The most successful is Jackie Chan; his Rush Hour series and The Mummy-themed series are his representative works in Hollywood.
Because of that, even though the kung-fu trend has faded in Hollywood, Jackie Chan can still maintain a 20-million-dollar paycheck.
Gilbert's contributions were undeniable—his The Adventure of Jackie Chan series single-handedly elevated Jackie Chan to Hollywood superstardom.
Of course, several other Chinese-language actors who did well in Hollywood also had ties to Gilbert, such as Shu Chang and Li Bingbing.
Unfortunately, Shu Chang was heavily restricted by her shortsighted family. But for now, Shu Chang was still the top actress among the post-80s generation. Even the wildly popular Fairy Sister couldn't surpass her.
There was no helping it. No matter how much Fairy Sister was hyped up, Shu Chang's international achievements spoke for themselves. Hard numbers were Shu Chang's biggest advantage.
Another recent story was the film The Forbidden Kingdom, which brought together kung-fu giants Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
This film was jointly produced by China's entertainment giant Huayi Brothers Media and Lionsgate. From the moment the project was approved, Huayi Brothers began aggressively hyping it up.
First, Wang Zhongjun boldly announced that the film would be made with a full Hollywood production team. Then Wang Zhonglei stated they were already discussing the possibility of Hollywood director Gilbert taking the helm.
After that, new rumors kept appearing—Tom Cruise might join the cast, Brad Pitt was reportedly very interested in the script…
In short, they hyped it as much as possible to drive attention upward.
Gilbert's assistant office had indeed received Huayi Brothers' invitation. But such trash invitations rarely reached Gilbert himself; the assistant office simply tossed them out.
Regardless, the project made no splash at all in Hollywood. Even Lionsgate wasn't particularly invested. But in China it caused a huge stir, with many people pulling strings trying to join the production.
Aside from Jackie Chan and Jet Li, who were confirmed early on, Li Bingbing defeated another "Bingbing" and several other actresses to secure the role of the White-Haired Witch.
Her method was simple—she presented her lead roles in The Adventure of Jackie Chan trilogy, and Huayi, eager for international exposure, couldn't overlook that.
This competition wasn't an audition—auditions weren't common in the Chinese-language entertainment circle. Before auditions, there was always an internal decision round, and that was what truly determined whether an actor got a role.
For example, Li Bingbing would accompany the two Wang brothers from Huayi, along with producers and investors, for a dinner. She would present her credentials, and within a few words the decision would be made.
It sounded rash, but the Chinese-language entertainment industry had operated like this for many years.
And not everyone could join such dinners. If you weren't "one of them," you wouldn't even get a seat.
But that's another story.
The most coveted role was, of course, Golden Swallow, which triggered fierce competition among young actresses. In the end only two finalists remained—Shu Chang and Fairy Sister.
In the previous lifetime, Shu Chang would have had no competitiveness at all.
But things were different now—her international achievements were undeniable. Even the usually laid-back Fairy Sister felt the pressure, let alone her mother.
Privately, the two actresses were good friends who shared plenty to talk about. But when it came to roles and status, friendship had to be set aside.
Especially for Fairy Sister's mother—what "daughter's good friend"? She was fighting precisely against her daughter's good friend.
Besides, Shu Chang had once taken a role from her daughter. If not for her, Yifei would already be an international superstar.
Shu Chang had high international recognition and strong achievements. Fairy Sister had strong connections, and her mother was working behind the scenes. Huayi Brothers found themselves torn and didn't know whom to choose.
At a dinner in Hong Kong, Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei were with Jackie Chan and Jet Li discussing the candidate for Golden Swallow.
Jackie Chan recommended Shu Chang—after all, he enjoyed working with her in the The Adventure of Jackie Chan series. Jet Li did not recommend anyone, since he wasn't familiar with either girl.
Just then, Gilbert unexpectedly called Jackie Chan, inviting him to his birthday banquet.
Jackie Chan casually asked, "Director Gilbert, I'm preparing a film here, and there's a role called Golden Swallow that's still undecided. Right now there are two candidates—Shu Chang and Yifei."
"Yifei? Who is that?"
Gilbert said just that one sentence, and Fairy Sister immediately lost her eligibility for the role, allowing Shu Chang to successfully secure the part of Golden Swallow.
Gilbert truly didn't do it on purpose. If you'd said Fairy Sister, he would definitely have known who it was; but Yifei, her real name, was something he hadn't heard in so many years that forgetting it was completely normal.
Only after hanging up did Gilbert remember—that was Fairy Sister's name. But he didn't care. Whether it was Fairy Sister or Witch Sister, to him they were all small fry.
As a globally renowned, prestigious director, he had no need to concern himself with the emotions of a suddenly emerging actress.
It wasn't like he wanted to sleep with her, and it wasn't like she would necessarily give him that opportunity anyway.
If they weren't his own women, Gilbert usually couldn't be bothered to pay attention.
With just one sentence, he changed the trajectory of two actresses. Fairy Sister felt a bit disappointed—her mother had already told her how important this film was.
Breaking into international recognition and opening the markets in Japan, Southeast Asia, and the United States all depended on this movie.
She had already fallen behind too much and couldn't afford to lose this chance again.
But in the end Shu Chang still took the role, and under her mother's influence, Fairy Sister began to develop different thoughts about Shu Chang.
Things were also complicated for Shu Chang, mainly because of her family. But this time things were better, and it didn't affect her taking the film.
...
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