Chapter 63: A Successful Premiere

  August 23rd, this day is destined to be an extraordinary day. Historically, on this day in 1912, Hollywood's king of dance and film star Gene Kelly was born in the United States. In 1926, Rudolph Valentino, a major Hollywood movie star at just 31 years old, passed away, causing an entire generation of women to mourn his loss. In 1960, music master Hammerstein passed away. In 1992, on this day, across the ocean, the first Changchun Film Festival opened its curtains, marking a new era for mainland Chinese cinema.

  Today, next to the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, at the luxurious cinema named "Tang Dynasty Cinema" by Stephen Chow, he will be hosting the premiere of his second film as a director, "The Shawshank Redemption". This movie is also one that Stephen Chow has high hopes for. If "A Better Tomorrow" was Stephen Chow's practice piece, then "The Shawshank Redemption" is his masterpiece. Stephen Chow not only hopes that "The Shawshank Redemption" will do well at the box office but also expects to win an Oscar at next year's ceremony.

  Although Los Angeles has a typical Mediterranean climate, with hot and dry summers, August is usually the hottest time of the year in LA. However, today was an exception, as it rained in LA for the first time in a long while, bringing some coolness to the sweltering summer.

  At 9:00 am, Song Tang and his entourage arrived at the Datang Cinema. The spacious hall of the cinema was already packed with reporters and fans who had gathered in advance. As the protagonist of the day, Song Tang's arrival instantly became the focus of attention from the crowd. Fortunately, with the help of the staff, Song Tang was able to enter, and under their guidance, he quickly arrived at a guest room next to the cinema.

  Just then, Song Tang soon discovered that a middle-aged man of about 40 years old had entered the living room under the accompaniment of staff. When Song Tang saw the person, he burst out laughing and thought to himself, "Haha, dear Mr. Stefan, you've finally arrived."

  Stephen was visibly delighted today as well, seeing Song Tang come over. Stephen changed his usual serious expression and walked over to give Song a big hug before laughing and saying: "Congratulations, Song! Congratulations on your film's upcoming success."

  "Haha, without you, there wouldn't be the present-day Shawshank. I think this joy should belong to all of us, Steph." Song Tang smiled and said.

  "I'm honored, Song. If it weren't for you, I think I wouldn't have seen such a satisfactory prison life," Stephon said, "Song, how's the effect of the film?"

  "You'll know soon enough, Stefan. It's really classic, I think no matter what happens in the future, this will be one of my best films." Song Tang said with a faint smile and then spoke mysteriously.

  "Now that you've said so, I can rest assured." Stefan heard Song Tang's affirmative reply and couldn't help but feel secretly delighted. After all, being able to adapt his own work into a classic film would be an exciting thing for anyone, and Stefan was no exception.

  Song Tang looked at the time and saw that the premiere of Shawshank was about to begin. He quickly turned to Stefan and said, "Stefan, the premiere of Shawshank is about to start, are you interested in going together?"

  "Of course." Stefan heard Song Tang's words and readily accepted Song Tang's invitation. He made a please gesture to Song Tang, who didn't decline and led the way to the cinema hall, followed by Stefan, George, Danny, Charlie, and others.

  With the arrival of Song Tang and others, the big screen in the cinema soon displayed the unique five-clawed golden dragon logo of Datang, followed by the formal screening of the film.

  "Everyone is their own god. If you give up on yourself, who will save you? Everyone is busy, some are busy living, others are busy dying. You're busy chasing fame and fortune, you're busy with the mundane tasks of life, stop for a second: has your brain been institutionalized? Where is your god?"

  "Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure."

  Bitter and astringent prison life, as well as the gorgeous Rita Hayworth poster. In the film, Andy never gave up on freedom in prison, but for decades, he only had that black-and-white beautiful poster, and that movie, which was watched for decades, but some birds are destined not to be locked in cages.

  Finally, Andy's body and spirit were together, finally redeemed in Shawshank. Redemption was not bestowed from above, but rather Andy dug his way out, millimeter by millimeter, over the course of twenty years, bursting through the high wall behind Warden Norton. Bursting through the wall, redemption came to Shawshank. Andy gave himself a brand new world of freedom. That night, Andy slid down the sewer and emerged into the stormy rain, liberating himself. That night, as Andy raised his arms towards the sky, a bolt of lightning suddenly illuminated the dark sky. The lightning was just like the calligraphy on Warden Norton's office wall: God's judgment is swifter than expected, and Norton received his due punishment.

  Prison life is dull and hopeless, but the entire film still conveys a pursuit of hope, freedom, and friendship. In this way, over 140 minutes of film played out in an oppressive and dull atmosphere, yet with an unusual sense of tension. But at that moment, the entire theater was silent, with no one speaking or applauding. Song Tang saw this and couldn't help but feel a "thud" in his heart - had he failed?

  Although before this, with confidence through his own corrections, the film would exceed the original film to some extent, and Song Tang also believed that the film could be successful, but no matter what, these were all Song Tang's wishes, and without going through public testing, Song Tang knew that all his guesses were empty fantasies.

  But just as Song Tang was lost in thought, the entire cinema erupted into thunderous applause. "Too classic." "Not bad, very profound." "What movie, can't understand it at all." "Only true intellectuals can appreciate such a film festival."...

  Anyway, Song Tang saw the applause in the cinema and heard the audience's comments on the movie "The Shawshank Redemption". At this moment, Song Tang smiled. And it was a very happy smile, because Song Tang knew that at this moment he had succeeded, Shawshank had been recognized by everyone. Thinking of this, Song Tang looked at Stephen sitting next to him with a smile.

  Stephen looked at Song Tang's gaze towards himself, smiled at Song Tang, and then gave Song Tang a thumbs up. Seeing Stephen like this, Song Tang knew that this film not only conquered many movie fans but also conquered Stephen, the proud author.

  At the same time, the reporters who had just finished watching the film surrounded everyone related to the film, including Song Tang, Stefan, George, and Danny, forming a large circle around them. Seeing this, Song Tang knew that if he didn't come up with something satisfying for these reporters today, he wouldn't be able to escape.

  Song Tang gave Stefanie and the others a helpless and loving gaze, then looked around at the crowd of reporters. It wasn't until then that Song Tang slightly put his mind at ease, because among these reporters, he hadn't found the figure that made him feel so helpless. However, as soon as Song Tang felt relieved, he also felt a small sense of loss in his heart.

  Without mentioning what Song Tang thought, at the same time as the premiere of Da Tang Film Studio, all 3,000 cinemas under Da Tang Film and Television in the United States also started screening "The Shawshank Redemption". In a cinema in New York, Annie, dressed in a black dress, muttered to herself after watching the movie: "I didn't expect this big wolf to be more talented, I wonder what would happen if he were here in Los Angeles today?"

  In a cinema far from Annie's in New York, two sexy beauties wearing beige short-sleeved tops and tight jeans were also watching "The Shawshank Redemption". At this moment, the two of them were watching the movie while occasionally commenting on it.

  The same scene, this all-American movie theater has been continuously staged, and just after the first screening of "Shawshank Redemption", nearly 3,000 movie tickets were sold out on the same day in New York, Los Angeles, Washington and other major cities. The phenomenon of ticket shortage even appeared, which is astonishing!

  According to the data on that day, on August 23rd, all 3,000 cinemas in the United States had an average attendance rate of 85% throughout the day. In some prime time slots, it was even a full house. On August 23rd alone, "The Shawshank Redemption" earned nearly $15 million at the box office.