It is by no means an easy thing for an artist who has been out of the entertainment industry for twenty years to come back.

On the one hand, it is whether you have the ability to make a comeback. After all, after being out of the industry for twenty years, your acting skills have deteriorated, your figure has gone out of shape, and your popularity has dissipated. You are basically an ordinary person. You can imagine how difficult it is for ordinary people to become stars.

On the one hand, it depends on whether the market is willing to re-accept it. Capital is for profit. It will not consider how popular you were twenty years ago, but what your value is now.

After being out of the industry for twenty years, your fans, no matter how long-lasting, may forget you, and your commercial value will be 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 deteriorate, the most outstanding acting teachers in Hollywood will come to assist you with your directing skills immediately; it doesn’t matter if your body is out of shape, the best fitness teachers in the United States will immediately help you shape your body; it doesn’t matter if your temperament is ordinary, the best fashion team in the United States will immediately come to design modeling……

There are no scripts suitable for Chinese Americans in Hollywood, so Xiang Nan immediately takes action; what if he has no capital and is willing to invest? Xiang Nan has money himself; and he has so many friends in Hollywood, top directors, big-name stars, he can pick and choose... whoever he wants to follow. Cooperate with whomever you cooperate with.

Therefore, under his operation, Cong Shan's first comeback work "The Instant Universe" was promoted with great fanfare.

"The Instant Universe" was originally written by Yang Ziqiong and Kwan Jiwei in 2022, telling the story of a Chinese mother traveling through the multiverse to rescue her daughter and protect her family.

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

After Cong Shan read the script, she was really interested and quickly started preparing 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 undergo a period of fighting training. It doesn't matter how good she is in fighting, at least she has to be passable.

In addition, physical fitness and acting skills must also be improved. After all, filming is different from housework, it is also physical work. Many times, in order to catch up with the show, you may have to work overtime and shoot, which is very heavy on the body.

Cong Shan has not been tired for half her life, so she naturally needs to be fully prepared for her comeback.

…

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

Because he is a top international star, he is still very popular with audiences wherever he goes. Municipal governments in various countries are also very willing to cooperate, so the filming process went very smoothly, and the progress was faster than planned.

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

The "Underworld" series has reached its fourth installment. The first three installments have a global box office of about 100 million US dollars, but it has not lost. However, its DVD sales are very good and it is also very popular on online video platforms, so Universal Pictures Just keep investing.

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

"Underworld 4: Awakening" has an investment of US$70 million, which is the highest investment in the entire series. It continues to tell the story of 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 more sophisticated production, so it was very popular after its release. The final global box office revenue was 160 million US dollars, making it the highest-grossing movie in the series.

Seeing this, MGM was interested in filming the fifth installment of "Underworld."

"Australia" tells the story of a sentimental love story between a British aristocratic girl and an Australian country cowboy in Australia during World War II.

This movie was invested and produced by DreamWorks, and most of the crew are Australians, especially the starring actors Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

The script of this movie is a bit imitative of "Gone with the Wind". When promoting the movie, it was also called the Australian version of "Gone with the Wind". However, Nicole Kidman's performance was not as stunning as Vivien Leigh's. .

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

In addition, Americans are not interested in Australian history, so the film only received US$55 million at the box office in North America, and the final global box office was US$210 million.

The cost was as high as US$130 million, which resulted in DreamWorks Pictures losing at least US$100 million. Such a huge loss left Xiang Nan speechless.

…

In June, Universal Pictures released the movie "Bad Boys 2" starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. This sequel comes ten years after its predecessor.

The reason why there was such a long gap was mainly because the two parties could not agree on the salary.

Will Smith has developed very well in recent years, such as "Rivals", "Hancock", "Men in Black", "Shark Tale", "Seven Pounds", "I Am Legend", etc. A blockbuster movie that received both critical acclaim and critical acclaim.

Therefore, this also gave him the confidence to speak out. He not only demanded a salary of 50 million US dollars, but also demanded a 10% box office dividend.

And because this drama is a two-hero drama, Martin Lawrence also requires the same conditions as Will Smith. However, his development in recent years has been far less than that of Will Smith.

In recent years, he has filmed "The Jungle Book", "Into the Wild", "The Ride", "Welcome Home", "College Trip", etc., all of which performed poorly at the box office.

And his performance has been criticized for being too stereotyped, with only a few tricks repeated over and over again, and they have ridiculed him as an old dog who can't come up with new tricks. Martin is obviously outdated now and is not worthy of the salary he was offered.

Therefore, the negotiations have been in a rigid stage.

It wasn't until last year that things turned around.

First, Xiang Nan promised Will Smith a salary of US$30 million and a 10% profit share, but he only signed him and Jaden Smith, father and son. Because he was planning to film "The Dragon", that is, Jackie Chan and "Kung Fu Dream" starring Jaden.

After thinking about it, Will Smith felt that this deal was still a good deal.

"The Dragon" is Xiang Nan's famous work. Now that the series is restarted, Xiang Nan will definitely attach great importance to it, and the box office will definitely not go wrong.

His son Jaden will probably become an instant hit after starring in this movie. By then, the money he lost now can be easily earned back, so he agreed to Xiang Nan's conditions.

Second, Xiang Nan told Martin Lawrence that his salary was only five million US dollars. If he refused to agree, then replace him with Chris Rock.

Chris Rock is also a comedian and talk show actor. He is very popular in the United States, much more popular than the outdated Martin.
Chapter completed!