Chapter 1638 - American film vs. Chinese regulations!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

That night.

At home.

When Zhang Ye drove home, he saw the speechless looks of his family’s faces.

“Dad, Mom, you still haven’t left?” Zhang Ye said with a smile.

His father said angrily, “Why do you always speak so recklessly!”

His mother also said angrily. “Can you not brag for once? Huh?”

Zhang Ye chuckled and said, “Wasn’t I just trying to promote the new movie?”

His mother stared at him. “You’re really good, huh? Aren’t you afraid that your wife will punish you?!”

Zhang Ye laughed, “Hahaha!”

“You still dare to laugh!” His mother was infuriated.

From nearby, Wu Zeqing laughed. “Mom, it’s fine. Can’t you see that he was just joking?”

However, Sisi was having none of it. She had also watched the livestream together with her grandparents. She went right up to her father and tugged on his sleeve. “Daddy, Mommy is pretty! Mommy is pretty!”

Zhang Ye dotingly picked her up. “That’s right, your mommy is the most beautiful in the world.”

Only then was Sisi satisfied. “Mhm.”

Wu Zeqing also smiled and patted her daughter on the head.

Posturing was an art form.

And today, Zhang Ye had performed it to perfection.

Back in Zhang Ye’s previous world, the netizens unanimously elected four people as the Kings of Posturing. These four people 1 were:

Wang Jianlin 2 , the one who had nothing to his name.

Ma Huateng 3 , the one who hailed from a normal family.

Ma Yun 4 , the one who regretted setting up Alibaba.

Liu Qiangdong 5 , the one who doesn’t know his wife is pretty.

This was because these four people had all publicly talked about things that were so unbelievable that it shocked China’s citizens. Each and every one of those words they uttered had been laughed at by the people of his previous world, with all kinds of screenshots, all kinds of emotes, and all kinds of ridicule aimed at them. And today, Zhang Ye had brought the famous words of these four people out to use at the press conference. As a result, Zhang Ye had become the King of Posturing in this world overnight. There were absolutely no competitors at all!

…

In China.

Online.

The netizens were all laughing nonstop!

“Fuck! This fellow is too reckless with his speech!”

“Hahahahaha!”

“Aiyo, I’m dying of laughter!”

“A small goal of a 100 million? I don’t see any problems with that, buddy!”

“This fellow is making me so angry that I want to laugh! If you’re from an ordinary family? Then maybe we all should just die!”

“Motherfucker, not even the world can hold down this fellow anymore!”

“He’s really bragging to the Heavens this time!”

“This is the first time I’ve seen someone posture so shamelessly!”

“You don’t know that your wife is pretty? I can only give it to you when it comes to posturing!”

“Pfft, hahahaha! The reporters at the scene were all crying and didn’t know how to respond! This is the first time I’ve seen a celebrity make a bunch of reporters not want to ask any further questions!”

“This era’s King of Posturing has been born!”

“The way he postures is refreshing!”

“Does this fellow intend to drive everyone to their graves?!”

“Yeah, he’s obviously fucking showing off!”

“If I can have a wife as beautiful as that, I would die a happy man. I can’t believe this fellow had the cheek to say that he doesn’t know if his wife is pretty! Oh my god, I’m gonna faint! Why don’t you just go to hell!”

“Face-smacking Zhang is beyond redemption!”

“That mouth of Zhang Ye’s! Hai!”

“This fellow weighs 60 kilograms, but 59 of them are in his mouth!”

Ridicule!

Speechlessness!

Hilarity!

The four famous quotes from Zhang Ye’s press conference instantly resounded throughout China!

Emote packs converted from screenshots of the livestream by some meddlesome netizens went viral across the country and were crazily forwarded by countless netizens. In an instant, China’s netizens found themselves anticipating the screening of Wolf Warrior 2 even more. They wanted to find out why Zhang Ye had suddenly become so confident of himself.

The media reports were also spreading like crazy.

“Zhang Ye has face blindness?”

“Zhang Ye: I come from an ordinary family!”

“Zhang Ye’s advice to young people: Earn a 100 million first!”

“Zhang Ye’s expressions go viral!”

“Zhang Ye’s new movie has gone viral even before it is screened!”

Online.

Offline.

The news spread everywhere.

It had to be said that this press conference was indeed such a success. After all, Zhang Ye had held the press conference in order to promote the movie. As a result, Zhang Ye and Wolf Warrior 2 ended up dominating the headlines overnight as their topicalities were pushed right up to the top!

…

The next day.

Early in the morning.

The Celebrity Goof Group was very active.

This had been the chat group for the top veteran celebrities of the Chinese entertainment circle years ago and was dying out. But ever since Zhang Ye’s return, it had miraculously been revived.

Ning Lan: “@ZhangYe are you up yet?”

Shu Han: “Teacher Zhang, come and chat with us. I was doing a shoot yesterday and could only watch the press conference that you held last evening today. Hahahaha, it kept me laughing all morning!”

Amy: “Genuflecting to Lord Zhang!”

To everyone’s surprise, Zhang Ye really appeared in the chat. “Sorry for incurring your ridicule.”

Chen Guang: “This is the first time I’ve encountered anyone promoting their movie in such a way!”

Fan Wenli: “Zhang’er, that mouth of yours is beyond redemption.”

Zhang Ye: “Hahaha @YaoJiancai @DongShanshan It won’t be long until the movie gets a release date. The promotions are already underway, so let’s give our best.”

Dong Shanshan: “Bye!”

Yao Jiancai: “Hur hur, we can’t posture as well as you did!”

Li Ke appeared. “Wishing you a record box office earnings.”

Zhang Ye: “Thanks, Old Li.”

Li Xiaoxian sent a smiley face. “We also helped you promote your new movie on our Weibo.”

Xiaodong: “I forwarded it this morning.”

Huo Dongfang: “I’ve forwarded it as well. All the best for your box office earnings.”

Zhang Ye: “Thank you, everyone, thank you so much!”

Ning Lan said in an extorting tone: “If the box office earnings reach 500 million, you’ll have to treat us until you’re broke!”

Another film director also popped into the chat. “Haha, I agree!”

Zhang Ye smiled as he typed back: “500 million?”

Shu Han: “There’s still a chance of hitting that mark.”

Yao Jiancai: “I’ll be satisfied with 300 million.”

In this world, in the mindset of China’s citizens and the industry’s people, a movie would be deemed quite good if it could cross 300 million in box office earnings. Even for Li Ke and several of the other big-name directors in China, they wouldn’t dare to claim that every one of their movies could surpass 500 million, much less for a new director like Zhang Ye.

But clearly, Zhang Ye did not think this way.

300 million?

500 million?

He found it too little even if it was ten times that amount!

This was fucking Wolf Warrior 2 they were talking about!

The Wolf Warrior 2 that had made everyone in his previous world piss their pants!

However, he did not say it publicly in the group. This was because the movie had not even been released yet. For now, he didn’t dare to say such big words yet. If Wolf Warrior 2 somehow didn’t work out in this world, he would be humiliated. After all, he did not make the first movie and jumped straight to filming the second movie.

Anxiety.

Anticipation.

Excitement.

He was in a very complicated mood right now.

That same day, Zhang Ye had just returned home and did not take any further rest. He brought the film crew out to do more publicity work. Yao Jiancai, Jiang Hanwei, Dong Shanshan, Sophia, and Jacques were also part of the team this time.

Interviews.

Appearing on television.

Posting on Weibo.

The promotional activities were in full swing!

…

Meanwhile.

In America.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Commando 2’s promotional activities were also launched around the world. Be it the Hollywood brand, Wilson’s reputation, or the Commando franchise’s influence, all of those had an immediate impact in hyping up the attention and anticipation of the movie fans of this world.

The movie had already wrapped up filming.

The publicity work and distribution of the movie quickly followed.

The cinemas in the UK placed an importance on this blockbuster film.

The cinemas in France filled their schedules with the movie.

The Japanese theaters also gave the green light for it to be shown there.

The Korean theaters were giving the movie a lot of publicity.

The work on Commando 2 was progressing very smoothly in multiple countries around the world.

All except for one country where it met with multiple obstacles!

At Wilson’s office.

A white man came running in, huffing and puffing.

Wilson said, “How’s the preparation for the distribution of the movie?”

The man said, “It’s going very well in the other countries.”

Wilson nodded. “Hehe, that’s great.”

The man immediately said, “But it encountered some problems in China!”

“What?” Wilson frowned. “It didn’t get approved?”

The man said, “Yeah, it didn’t! Their censorship board rejected it! They said that our movie has too many gory and violent scenes, so they didn’t approve it!”

Wilson was floored. “Gory? Gory my ass!”

The man said angrily, “Yeah, didn’t a lot of Hollywood movies also get shown all the same in China?”

Wilson said, “All the countries in the world approved it, all except for China? What are they trying to do?”

Although they’d never placed much priority on the Chinese film market, they still knew that the box office earnings there wouldn’t be too bad. At the least, it would be the icing on the cake for them. Besides, who doesn’t want to make more money? As such, even though Wilson had made those outrageous claims, he wasn’t actually thinking of giving up on the Chinese market.

Wilson clenched his teeth and said, “Edit the movie as per their requests and send it in for approval again!”

The white man sulked, “Understood.”

Two days later.

Another piece of news came!

Commando 2’s second approval submission had been knocked back as well!

This time, the reason given was: The movie’s runtime was too long and didn’t adhere to the Chinese requirements.

The film crew of Commando 2 nearly blew their top!

“What do they mean?”

“The movie’s too long?”

“This can even be a fucking reason?”

“Holy shit! How can they call a movie with a two-and-a-half-hour runtime too long?”

“What can we do now?”

Wilson decided, “Edit it again! Edit it according to their requests!”

Not long after, Commando 2 was rejected by the censors for the third time!

Wilson said anxiously, “How can it be possible for the movie to keep getting rejected for approval? What was the reason this time?”

The reporting staffer’s face had turned green with anger. “They said that our ticket price is too high and that it doesn’t adhere to China’s requirements, so we were told that we had to lower it!”

Wilson was very dumbfounded to hear that. “Why didn’t they just tell us everything in one go! Aren’t they deliberately doing this? And what has the ticket price got to do with them? Do they have any say in that?”

The staffer wiped his sweat away and said, “The Chinese censors have a say in everything.”

Wilson was so infuriated. “They’re taking it too far! Those goddamn Chinese regulations!”

Once!

Thrice!

Five times!

Commando 2 kept getting rejected from showing in China!

In the end, someone from the Directors Guild with knowledge of the matter quietly informed Wilson. This made Wilson see red!

The director said, “Who oversees the approval of films in China?”

Wilson answered, “The SARFT.”

The director continued, “And who oversees the SARFT?”

Wilson answered, “I think it’s the Central Publicity Department?”

The director asked, “Do you have any idea who Zhang Ye’s wife is?”

Wilson was taken aback. “Who is she?”

That person said, “She’s a minister at the Central Publicity Department!”

Wilson and the Commando 2 film crew were floored!

They finally realized what was happening behind the scenes. When they decided to use Zhang Ye to hype up their movie, they offended a lot of the citizens and leaders in China!

Wilson nearly cursed out loud!

Fuck!

A hooligan like Zhang Ye who dared to hit someone at the Nobel Prize award ceremony that was broadcast live actually managed to get a wife? And she was even a minister at the Central Publicity Department?

There must be a mistake somewhere, right?!