During my years at China Entertainment

Chapter 494: The whole nation is furious and incompetent

The 2012 Lunar New Year movie season has officially arrived, but unfortunately it’s off to a bad start.

Feng Dapao's "2810" was not a big hit on the first day, but it was not bad either. It earned million, which is pretty good for such a heavy subject.

After all, the movie tells the story of that period of heavy suffering, the natural disaster that displaced millions of people, and the tragic reality that countless people starved to death.

Such tragic content is almost destined to have a ceiling on the box office.

However, the reviews on the Internet are almost all positive. Even the most discerning audiences only say "I don't want to go to the theater and make myself uncomfortable" or "I don't want to watch it a second time" when faced with this movie.

The Impression Network score is as high as 8.6 points, which is the highest score among Feng Dapao's works so far.

But all this seemed a little ridiculous to Huayi.

The production cost exceeded 2 million yuan, and it took nearly 15 months from project establishment to shooting and then to post-production release, including the twists and turns of the review process.

After the film was released, not only was the box office revenue sharing ratio negotiated, but the scale of early publicity was also maximized.

In order to increase the number of screenings, they even signed an exclusive screening agreement with IMAX, and forcibly squeezed "Life of Pi" out of IMAX theaters.

But I didn’t expect the result to be like this!

With a first-day sales of 2810 million, even making a profit has become a big problem, let alone breaking 10 billion.

At this moment, the atmosphere in Chairman Huayi's office seemed unusually cold.

Wang Zhongjun's eyes were bloodshot and he was trying his best to control his emotions. Wang Zhonglei beside him was in a similar situation.

The executives at the scene were also silent, extremely dissatisfied with Feng Dapao's willful behavior.

You know, Huayi is a listed company, and the movie box office is directly reflected in the stock price. From the first day of box office results to now, the stock price has fallen by 9 points.

Everyone present suffered a huge loss!
Only Feng Dapao appeared slightly calm, and even had a faint smile on his lips. After all, he had already obtained the fame he wanted most.

"Tell me what should we do?"

In response to Wang Zhongjun's questions, the executives began to talk at once.

Some proposed applying for an extension, some proposed increasing publicity efforts, and some, considering the capital market, proposed launching a new play to boost investor confidence.

"Everyone's opinions are very pertinent, so let's take multiple approaches and use multiple methods to attack the enemy."

"Brother, tell me."

"You go and communicate with the Film Bureau and try to get the extension key."

Seeing that Wang Zhonglei seemed to have something to say, Wang Zhongjun interrupted him directly, "I know it's not easy, but no matter what, you have to do your best. Even a mountain eagle can't cover the sky with one hand."

Wang Zhonglei opened his mouth, but in front of his subordinates, he ultimately did not refute his brother's decision and nodded in agreement.

But he was not optimistic about the extension. Han Sanping could not cover everything up, but he could interfere.

You know, Zuoshandiao is famous for being petty, and the previous incident happened not long ago.

"National restoration."

"exist."

"Invest another 2000 million yuan in publicity funds. Lao Zhang and the others should not stop. The roadshow period will be extended to 20 days."

"I understand." Chen Guofu nodded immediately.

"Xiao Gang."

"Director Wang, I'm here."

Wang Zhongjun looked at Feng Dapao with a complicated look in his eyes. "You have submitted the script three times and have 2 million yuan in production funds. The company has done its best to support you in the project of . Now, we need you to support the company."

Feng Dapao was not a person who didn't understand. In this matter, Huayi Brothers had indeed done their utmost, so he nodded and said:
"I will immediately prepare for the next movie, a purely commercial comedy, and the company can release the news."

"Well, if you need anything, just tell Zhong Lei. I only have one request, as soon as possible!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Wang."

If "1942" won in reputation but lost in box office, at least it achieved one of the above, then Lu Chuan's "The Banquet" can be said to be a complete failure.

The first day's performance of 890 million made the industry burst out in laughter.

More importantly, the reputation collapsed directly, with the online impression rating being only 5.8 points, and the comment section was full of curses.

"This is a damn screenwriter, right? The dialogue and narration are so hypocritical. The movie is so bad that even Daniel Wu's looks can't save it."

"Stupid director, did you shoot this for yourself? Who the hell can understand it?"

"What a bunch of shit, it's a scam, 10 billion for fuck's sake"

"Xingmei and Yinghuang are also crazy. They let Lu Chuan direct a historical film? Does he have the ability to do so?"

"The above poster is too conservative. It's not that Lu Chuan doesn't have the ability to direct a historical film. This bastard has no ability at all. Did he direct "Looking for the Gun" himself?"

Unlike the original "Nanjing", which still had a group of die-hard fans, this time "The Banquet" has received overwhelming negative reviews.

There is no need for anyone to snipe, there is no chance of a comeback at all!

At this moment, Boss Yang was so angry that he was shaking with anger.

The investment for this drama was 1.4 million yuan, and including the publicity and promotion costs, Ying Huang’s investment exceeded 1 million yuan.

According to this situation, it will be difficult for the box office to exceed 100 million yuan. At least 50 million yuan has been wasted.

Thinking back to when he was chatting with Wei Jin at the cocktail party and the other party looked at him as if he were a fool, Boss Yang really wanted to slap himself in the face.

"Fuck! How could I be so foolish as to believe this idiot? Fuck!"

Wei Jin naturally had no idea how the Huayi brothers and Boss Yang felt.

On the first day of December, he finished the promotion in North America and arrived in Europe with everyone.

Meanwhile, in China, the battle for the Lunar New Year box office is gradually rising. Life of Pi grabbed the first-run advantage, and despite being tricked by Huayi, it still maintained an absolute lead, with a box office of 12 million after 4.65 days of release.

"3030" relied on its good word-of-mouth advantage and earned 5640 million the next day. After two days of release, the box office grossed million.

Some media predicted that the box office might be even higher during the weekend, but Huayi did not dare to relax at all.

In comparison, "The Banquet" hit rock bottom, with its box office falling instead of rising the next day, reaching only 850 million.

One netizen made a sharp comment: "There is a gap of at least a hundred Lu Chuans between the three film directors in the Lunar New Year period, Feng Xiaogang and Li An.

So based on the data, we can easily draw a conclusion - there is not much difference between Feng Xiaogang and Li An! "

As soon as the comment was made, it quickly sparked heated discussions among netizens and became a hot topic.

But at this time, something strange happened.

Suddenly, a large number of positive reviews for "The Banquet" appeared on several film review websites such as Impression.com, Douban, and Maoyan, and all of them were five-star reviews.

As a result, in just one day, "The Banquet" went from having overwhelmingly negative reviews to having polarized word-of-mouth, and the score also jumped to over 6.5.

Some media in the industry openly questioned: "The Banquet of Kings seems to have hired a large number of Internet users to give a large number of positive reviews online and a large number of five-star reviews on film review websites."

In fact, most people in the industry can guess it without the media saying much. After all, the box office was only more than 1600 million in two days of release, and the score dropped to 5.5 points. If the producers don’t save themselves, they will really be waiting for death.

Moreover, this kind of thing is not uncommon in the circle, but it is not as blatant as in "The Banquet".

But no one expected that at this time, Lu Chuan actually publicly admitted on Weibo: "Yes, we did hire a group of Internet trolls."

As soon as this Weibo post came out, not only did the circle get in an uproar, but even the producer Tan Hong was confused and called in the head of the company's publicity department.

"Didn't I tell you to keep a low profile? What about Lu Chuan? How did he know?"

The person in charge looked at a loss whether to laugh or cry: "Boss Qin, the people we arranged haven't started yet. Lu Chuan paid for them himself."

Tan Hong slapped her head, feeling like it was going to split open: "Fuck, what is this idiot thinking about? Is his head full of shit?!"

Qin Hong was so angry that she was shaking. If you want to increase the ratings, just do it. What's the point of jumping out and self-exploding?
This is a record-breaking move. He is the first director in the history of the domestic film industry to publicly admit to using internet trolls. Xingmei will also be nailed to the pillar of shame!

Originally, I was thinking of sharing the box office revenue in a decreasing manner to help Huayi, but now, the movie has collapsed before the fight even starts.

At this moment, Qin Hong wished she could give herself a big pussy.

"grass!"

Qin Hong would never have thought that Lu Chuan's actions would not stop there.

That evening, Lu Chuan posted a tearful essay on Weibo:
“Many netizens left messages asking me why I hired Internet trolls. I just want to say that the mastermind behind the scenes is too cruel. Since its release, The Banquet has suffered a lot of targeted, unfair, despicable and malicious smears.

Many of the comment accounts were registered on the same day, and there were no reviews of other movies. Their purpose is self-evident: to discredit and suppress "The Banquet"!
We had no choice but to do this in order to maintain our reputation. Even so, our water army leaders were almost desperate because their speed in giving high scores was far slower than the speed at which the other party could smear us.
This means that the other party wants to put "The King's Feast" to death, and perhaps there is more than one person behind this."

Facts have proved that after "Nanjing", Lu Chuan's popularity among the public was really bad, and there was really no way to wash away the black spots on her body. Of course, "The Banquet" was also indeed filmed very badly.

Therefore, Lu Chuan's self-exposure and crying out of "sincere killer move" did not play any role. On the third day, the box office actually dropped instead of rising, closing at 821 million. On the fourth day, it directly fell below 800 million.

You know, this is the weekend of the Lunar New Year holiday, and such a good time is wasted.

There was even more ridicule on the Internet:
"Let's say, is it possible that the newly registered users are really disgusted? You know, the majority are silent. Director Lu should ask the film review website for some traffic fees, hahahaha."

"The duck is dead but its mouth is still hard. The Banquet is just a bad movie. Is there any need for others to criticize it? What kind of shit is this? Don't you have any idea?"

"You know what, Lu Tailang's crying scene is pretty good, at least better than Yang Ying. He might as well stop being a director and become an actor instead."

Lu Chuan still didn’t give up and posted on Weibo for the third time:
"I don't understand why movie promotions have to be so fierce? Can't we just achieve a win-win situation? One schedule can easily accommodate two or three blockbusters. For the sake of profit, don't the competitors have any bottom line?"

As soon as the Weibo post came out, everyone in the circle was shocked. Has Lu Chuan started biting people like crazy?

This is not even an allusion, this is pointing out the malicious competition between "1942" and "Life of Pi". Who gave him the courage?
The media, eager to watch the fun, directly "translated" Lu Chuan's words.

"Director Lu Chuan accused that films released at the same time, such as 1942 and Life of Pi, deliberately discredited The Banquet in order to seize market share!"

Li An is currently in North America, busy with the Oscar promotion for Life of Pi. He is not very sensitive to domestic news, and he has never been involved in disputes among mainland directors.

But Feng Dapao would not tolerate Lu Chuan and he posted on Weibo that day.

"As the saying goes, when you are poor, blame the foundation of your house. If your box office is bad, you will become a mad dog? You are still fighting to the death. The box office of Nineteen Forty-Two is good, right? But have I blamed anyone these days?

I am working hard to promote the film so as to attract more audiences to the theaters instead of doing these crooked ways and bringing shame upon myself!
By the way, I have a piece of news to share with you all. I am already preparing a new play, returning to the comedy field. The gold medal screenwriter Wang Shuo is already writing the script, and the tentative title is "Personal Tailor."

Perhaps because of his good reputation recently, Feng Dapao is very careful about his reputation. The wording used in this Weibo post is very restrained, and basically does not contain any unpleasant words.

But these five words "People are poor because of the poor foundation of their houses" are nothing but naked contempt.

Online, and even within the circle, there was overwhelming applause. Jiang Wen, who had always been at odds with Lu Chuan, even liked, reposted and added a comment.

"The summary is very insightful. You are in your forties and you still don't know how to find your own reasons. It seems that they had foresight to kick you out of the crew of "The Feast of Hongmen". It's a pity that hundreds of millions of dollars of funds invested by Director Yang and Director Qin went down the drain. What a crap shoot."

Looking at Feng Dapao and Jiang Wen’s Weibo posts, Lu Chuan was furious.

But before he could take any action, he received a call from Qin Hong.

"You idiot, can't you just be quiet and let the movie be released peacefully? I warn you, don't cause trouble again."

Qin Hong comes from a gangster background. Although he is dissatisfied with the Huayi brothers, in a head-on confrontation, he has to admit defeat. At least he will not lose the battle.

But when Lu Chuan did this, it seemed as if Qin Hong couldn't afford to lose, which was so damn embarrassing.

"Boss Qin, what do you mean by I'm making trouble? I get a share of the box office revenue, and everything I do is for the good of the movie. Now it's obvious that our movie is being targeted. Do you think it's my fault?"

"If not you, then who is it? If you don't have the ability, why would you learn to make a movie? I was really blind to give tens of millions of funds to a fool like you, damn it."

The barrage of criticism immediately broke down Lu Chuan's defenses. After hanging up the phone, he instantly turned into a desktop cleaning master.

"grass!"

(End of this chapter)