The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 599 Confrontation
"what happened?"

After Qin Hong finished the call, Lu Yuan asked.

"Lu Chuan is up to something again."

Qin Hong looked unhappy and said, "You may have heard that after the release of The Banquet, the reputation of the film was terrible. The ratings on Douban and Time.com kept falling. The Douban rating dropped to 5.8. There were a lot of negative reviews, with 9000 negative reviews accumulated every day."

Lu Yuan nodded. The criticism of "The Banquet" seemed to have become a trend.

Even though the main creator Wu Yanzu deliberately released the news of his wife's pregnancy during the film promotion period, Liu Ye was also helpful in announcing that he would arrange a baby marriage with Wu Yanzu.

But this does not affect the overwhelming negative reviews of "The Banquet".

Lu Chuan herself has even become a unit of measurement. The statement that there are 100 Lu Chuans between Li An and Feng Xiaogang quickly became popular on Weibo.

After seeing numerous negative reviews, a large number of viewers said they did not want to watch the film.

But compared with "1942", "The Banquet" is just bad. Considering Qin Hong's face, Lu Yuan did not say this.

Qin Hong said angrily: "It must have been criticized badly. The publicity staff of Lu Chuan Studio reported to reporters that the reason why "The Banquet" received so many negative reviews is because it is suffering from malicious attacks by online trolls. Multiple teams are attacking "The Banquet" at the same time, and the spearhead is directly pointing at "1942."

"Later, Lu Chuan responded on Weibo, saying that if the Internet trolls could take a break, the box office would be better. The Internet trolls posted thousands of Weibo posts every day, drowning out the film and making it impossible to hear the voices of real audiences. He was forced to apply for 5 yuan in funds during the promotion process to hire Internet trolls to boost the score."

"What the hell?" Lu Yuan just felt incredible: "He admitted that he hired water army."

"Yeah, do you think he is ill?"

Qin Hongwu made a big statement and complained: "My scalp is numb now. In fact, everyone in the industry has done this, but it is meaningless to bring it up. Does he think this is just a game? He is just like a child. He complains when he can't beat him?"

"Isn't Xingmei in charge of publicity?"

"No." Qin Hong shook his head and slapped himself, regretting it deeply: "I had already delegated the publicity rights of "The King's Feast" to Lu Chuan a long time ago. I was so stupid."

After listening to him, Lu Yuan remained speechless for a long time.

True gold fears no fire, a good movie will speak for itself, good word of mouth will spread by itself, a good movie can be "naturally fragrant like musk".

This is true, and it makes sense.

However, the current domestic film and television industry has become impetuous.

Everyone in the industry knows that attendance in the first few days of a film's release determines the theater's screening schedule, and early word of mouth will influence the audience's choice and directly determine attendance.

To this end, producers spend huge amounts of money on extensive publicity, either to maliciously slander their opponents or to create positive public opinion for their own films.

These are commonplace and not worth mentioning.

If "The Banquet" was really released honestly, without any tricks, and if it suffered injustice and played the sympathy to the media, it would not be difficult to understand.

But Huayi stabbed in the back first and broke up with Star Media. The two films happened to be released at the same time. Both sides are not easy to deal with, so it is inevitable that they will smear each other.

Qin Hong said it well, so the propaganda was delegated to Lu Chuan.

However, Lu Yuan did not believe his lies. He must have secretly praised "1942". It was just that Huayi was better at publicity.

So the current situation is that Lu Chuan, seeing that he cannot win, wants to overturn the table?

The key point is that when he spoke up, it would not be a big deal if his reputation was damaged, but it would make people suspect that Xingmei had helped in this.

Qin Hong said: "He is still promoting himself in various places. I will have a good talk with him when he comes back. We can go our separate ways."

Okay, Lu Chuan took the initiative and decided to terminate her contract with Xingmei this time.

"Teacher Lu, prepare for the next scene."

"Ok."

It was early December.

While Lu Yuan was filming "Chinese Partners", Wen Muye started a roadshow with the creative team of "New World".

In fact, the promotion of this drama has been carried out simultaneously since the crew started filming.

Regularly update Weibo, release the latest news about "New World", and hire some Weibo celebrities and water armies to spread it.

When the promotion really started, as usual, Guangxian was responsible for traditional ground promotion, such as subway stations, bus stops, electronic billboards in large shopping malls, large screens in large squares, etc.

Yuanfang Media is responsible for online.

This was thanks to the huge box office success of Lu Yuan’s previous films, as well as the fact that “1942” was too depressing and “The Banquet” was too rubbish.

Therefore, the audience generally has extremely high expectations for "New World".

Of course, there are other movies released in December, such as "Chinese Zodiac" starring Cheng Long, and "The Devil Walks in the Dark" starring Chow Yun-fat.

"The Chinese Zodiac" is directed and starred by Cheng Long. It is an action-adventure comedy film about the search and return of lost cultural relics.

In an interview, Cheng Long said that this was a life-threatening work.

He said that he had made a will for himself 15 years ago, and even thought that if he died suddenly after the filming of "Chinese Zodiac" was completed, that would be the best way to retire.

He didn’t want the audience to say to him in the future: “Please, you are so old, don’t fight anymore!”

He also used Bruce Lee as an example, arguing that he suddenly passed away at his peak and everyone still misses him today.

The director of "The Devil City" is Wang Jing, who has made many bad movies in recent years but has never lost money.

Based on the true story of gangster Du Yuesheng, starring Chow Yun-fat.
Shing Long and Chow Yun-fat are both veteran superstars in Hong Kong.

Lu Yuan is the rising leader of the new generation in mainland China and the current number one box office star in mainland China.

Therefore, in order to attract attention, gain traffic, and watch the fun, the gossipers will publish articles with shocking headlines.

"New World VS Chinese Zodiac, who will win the Lunar New Year box office?"

"Lu Yuan sounded the clarion call for mainland filmmakers to counterattack!"

"Who will be better, a 50-year-old Kung Fu superstar or a 28-year-old new generation superstar?"

"The rise of the new generation in the mainland and the dilemma of Hong Kong's veteran movie stars!"

"Lu Yuan vs. Cheng Long, can the new generation of mainland film industry break the monopoly of Hong Kong's old stars in Chinese-language films for many years?"

This move pushed "New World" and "Zodiac" into the spotlight, attracting media coverage.

Similar articles flooded major portals, with titles one more exaggerated than the other, sparking much discussion among the public.

"It's already been broken, okay? Just look at the box office, those old guys from Hong Kong and Taiwan have lost their appeal."

"I think we can't just look at the box office. The ticket prices were lower in the past, and the gold content was higher. The height of Hong Kong movie stars is hard to reach in the mainland now. Although Lu Yuan has great momentum, he is only limited to the domestic market. However, he is still young and can continue to create classics in the future."

"The Hong Kong generation is really too old. Now only Zhou Xinchi and Cheng Long still have appeal. The others are not that good. The new generation of Hong Kong is also broken and there is no outstanding one."

"The only reason they can rise in China is because of the mainland market. There is no such person overseas. It is estimated that tickets for New World, which is released simultaneously overseas, will not be sold. No matter how good the Hong Kong superstars are, at least they can spread Chinese-language films to the world, while the mainland superstars can only have fun in their own yards."

"It's hard for mainland films to go beyond the mainland, but the mainland market is big enough. Besides, it's natural for newcomers to replace old ones. If the old ones can't take over, the country's film industry will really be doomed. Lu Yuan still has a long way to go, and I'm optimistic about him!"

The dispute became louder and louder, and fans of both sides even fought with each other on Weibo, making it seem like they were at loggerheads.

Beijing, China World Trade Center, Faraway Media. "This is a conspiracy!"

In the conference room, Zhang Bowen and the head of the publicity team sent by Guangxian were reading reports related to "New World" with expressionless faces.

"The direction of public opinion is very wrong. I remember that at first only a few entertainment media published similar articles, but now the entire network is full of such content."

"Someone is behind the scenes fanning the flames and making small moves, intentionally creating a confrontation between Mr. Lu and Brother Cheng Long so that they can fish in troubled waters."

Zhang Bowen saw through the thoughts of the mastermind at a glance.

The publicity director of Guangxian is also aware of the problem.

“Although Cheng Long’s box office performance in the past two years has not been very good and her appeal has been declining year by year, she still has countless fans and a strong sentimental filter.

Besides, the genres of "Chinese Zodiac" and "New World" are different, so we don't need to take advantage of this traffic. Cheng Long is a senior after all, and such marketing may affect Mr. Lu's public image."

"Who is it?"

The two looked at each other and fell into deep thought.

Generally speaking, suspicion will first be placed on the rival films released at the same time.

They have been engaged in publicity work for many years, and naturally thought of "The Great Devil". Wang Jing and Zhou Runfa are not well-known in the industry.

But what benefits would it bring to them if Lu Yuan and Cheng Long confronted each other?
Although there is a possibility that the audience will feel that Lu Yuan is disrespectful to his predecessors, it is undeniable that this kind of public opinion can further expand the influence of "Zodiac" and "New World".

It will do more harm than good to "The Great Devil", so who could it be?

The conference room fell into silence.

After a long time, Wu Lang, who was sitting at the first seat, coughed and knocked on the table.

"Duh duh duh!"

They both focused their attention on him.

Wu Lang raised his index finger and said, "No matter who it is, the most urgent task is to suppress this public opinion as soon as possible and not let it continue to ferment. I will call the boss later and post a statement on Weibo."

"It's my duty." Zhang Bowen nodded, still wondering who the culprit was.

December 12, Changsha.

Wen Muye led a team to this city for promotion.

After finishing the recording of "Happy Camp", Liang Jiahui and others returned to the backstage to rest.

"Director Wen, what are you looking at?"

Wen Muye looked away from the phone screen and said, "I was checking Weibo. Brother Chenglong and the boss have responded to the recent public opinion."

"Really?" Liang Jiahui sat down and came over, "Let me take a look."

Wen Muye smiled and said, "Teacher Jiahui, why don't you open a Weibo account yourself?"

"I can't." Liang Jiahui shook his head.

“I hardly ever use social media because I like the realism of face-to-face communication between people.

Besides, I am already over 50 years old, and there are many things that young people today do not understand. It is easy for me to make a fool of myself. If I say something wrong and get held accountable, it will be very troublesome.

Movies are the best way to communicate with fans, so I'd better just focus on filming."

"That's right." Wen Muye agreed and handed over the phone.

Liang Jiahui squinted his eyes and swiped the screen.

Lu Yuan’s Weibo account published a blog post.

"I grew up watching the works of Brother Cheng Long. Brother Cheng Long opened a window for the world to understand Chinese Kung Fu and made Chinese-language films a global sensation. He is a role model for my generation.

Some of the recent reports have made me feel uneasy, and I thank everyone for their kindness, which I do not deserve."

Then he released a promotional photo of "The Chinese Zodiac".

Picture·jpg
Cheng Long’s reply on Weibo was also quite respectful.

"The Yangtze River's waves behind push the waves ahead, and each wave is higher than the last. It is inevitable that the old will be replaced by the new. I really don't mind. I sincerely hope that this scene can come soon, so that Chinese-language films can be popular all over the world and be accepted by fans all over the world, so that I can retire early.

Also @Lu Yuan, can you please not say in front of so many people that you grew up watching my works? It makes me look old. I can still fight! "

He also posted a promotional photo of "New World".

Picture·jpg
The onlookers left cheerful messages in the comment section of the two people’s Weibo.

"Hahaha, Uncle Long, you are so funny."

"Uncle Long, I also grew up watching your works!"

"Brother Xiao Qian, I grew up watching your works. When will the sequel to Magic Phone be released?"

"I like both actors. I feel better after seeing their responses to each other. The unscrupulous media is really too much. They are maliciously fanning the flames for traffic. How shameless."

"."

Liang Jiahui smiled when he saw this. Cheng Long was not like this when he was young. He had a temper like a firecracker and was reckless and would explode at the slightest provocation.

After leaving Hunan TV, the group moved to a new location and held a preview screening of "New World" at a cinema in Changsha.

At the preview, as the big screen dimmed, the iQiyi reporter stood up impatiently to ask questions.

"Director Wen, based on the audience's reaction, I think this film will be on par with Infernal Affairs."

Wen Muye shook his head: "We don't compare ourselves with any movies."

"So what do you think about the recent water army incident?"

Wen Muye held the microphone and talked about the matter at hand: "Internet trolls are useless. Using various Internet trolls to gain exposure will only have a negative impact on the entire industry.

Instead of getting good reviews on Weibo and high scores on Douban, it is better to improve the quality of the film. Our audiences are smart. True gold is not afraid of fire. The Internet trolls can only fool people for a while. "

The reporter from iQiyi's eyes lit up and asked, "According to the latest box office data released by the cinema chain, after ten days of release, 2.62 and The Banquet had a total box office of 6495 million yuan for the former and million yuan for the latter.

Director Lu Chuan is still complaining to the public about the film being criticized. True gold is not afraid of fire, so what you mean is that the quality of "The Banquet" is worrying?"

Wen Muye frowned and was about to explain, but the reporter from Qiyi had already sat down.

He stared at the other person in confusion for a moment.

After the preview ended, an iQiyi reporter exaggerated and published Wen Muye’s words.

"Wen Muye is dismissive of The King's Feast."

So, Lu Chuan went crazy!
……

PS: Two chapters have been blocked. Today is the weekend and the editor is not working.

(End of this chapter)