It's reasonable for me, a stuntman, to live a crazy life, right?

Chapter 1366 Alibaba Digital Media & Entertainment Group Exits the Animated Film Market!
Inside the theater, the aroma of popcorn mingled with the air conditioning.

On the big screen, the opening credits of "The New Gods: Yang Jian" are flashing.

Looking around, the silver-armored war god held a three-pointed double-edged sword, and the Heavenly Eye behind him glowed with a dark blue light.

Dumpling popped a kernel of popcorn into her mouth and muttered, "The previous work, 'Nezha Reborn,' set the story in modern times. Where will Yang Jian's story go this time?"

He's currently busy working on "Ne Zha: The Demon Child Conquers the Dragon King" and hasn't learned anything about "New Gods: Yang Jian".

Li Yang, who was studying the visual effects, shook his head upon hearing this and said, "I did watch the trailer. It says something about 'a shocking scam behind splitting the mountain to save one's mother'? Anyway, the specific story is still being kept under wraps."

Compared to the production difficulty of "Ne Zha: The Demon Child Conquers the Dragon King", "The Longest Day in Chang'an" was easier to produce.

Therefore, Li Yang did not completely "go into seclusion" like Dumpling; he continued to keep an eye on outside news.

Chen Fei chuckled and said, "I did take a look. From the information that has been circulating online, it seems that Yang Jian has fallen on hard times and become a bounty hunter, making a living by catching monsters."

Then one day, he received a mission to capture Chenxiang, who had stolen the Lotus Lantern. As he investigated, he discovered that the truth behind Chenxiang splitting the mountain to save his mother was connected to the story of his own mother being imprisoned under Peach Mountain.

To put it bluntly, it's a conspiracy between the uncle and nephew to overthrow the old Heavenly Court.

"The old Heavenly Court?" Dumpling raised an eyebrow. "Are they turning mythology into a political intrigue drama?"

"More or less." Chen Fei nodded. "It's said that there are many hidden clues, such as why Yang Jian's third eye is blind in one of them, and whether Yu Ding Zhenren is a good guy or a bad guy in the story."

There was also a dancer named Wanluo who seemed to be helping Chenxiang, but actually had her own ulterior motives.

The most interesting part is that the Investiture of the Gods war is portrayed as "a pretext used by the gods to fight for power and profit," clearly indicating a sequel is in the works, showing considerable ambition.

Li Yang suddenly laughed and said, "Isn't this just 'Parasite' in ancient costume? The lower class wants to climb up, the upper class desperately tries to cover it up, and in the end, they all overturn the table together?"

Chen Fei gave him a thumbs up: "That's true, but animation has to be family-friendly, so it uses steampunk to package mythology and adventure stories to wrap up class conflicts. It wants to make kids entertained while also letting adults appreciate something. It remains to be seen how well it balances things out."

As we were talking, the movie had already started playing.

However, before the stunning cloud sea effects at the beginning of the film had faded, a pure white "Celestial Dog" suddenly appeared on the screen.

At first glance, it turned out to be a girl with pigtails, who was coquettishly calling Yang Jian "Master".

Dumpling almost spilled the popcorn in her hand and whispered, "This gender swap is too blatant. How did the loyal and brave Howling Celestial Dog from the original work become the female lead in an idol drama?"

Chen Fei and Li Yang both remained silent.

The movie's plot progresses rapidly, and the first fight scene arrives as expected.

Li Yang suddenly frowned and said, "The background music is also no good. The fight scene should be exciting, but there is some kind of electronic synthesizer noise mixed in the background sound, like a suona and an electric guitar being forcibly twisted together, which disrupts the rhythm of Yang Jian's sword swings."

Chen Fei nodded slightly, fully agreeing with these words.

Dubbing is crucial for film and television dramas; if this aspect is not done well, the final product will definitely suffer.

However, to the three of them's utter surprise, what was even more jarring was the visual style!

When the 3D camera swept across the Heavenly Court, the reflections on the glazed tiles looked like a cheap sticker, and the armor of the heavenly soldiers and generals had a plastic-like sheen.

Dumpling couldn't help but complain: "The quality is worse than the CG in web games from ten years ago!"

Someone nearby chimed in, "Exactly, it's not as polished as Genshin Impact, which I play."

As the plot progressed to the halfway point, the three of them frowned even more deeply.

Chenxiang's motive for stealing the Lotus Lantern changed from "saving his mother" to "acting out of spite." Wanluo's reversal came without any foreshadowing. Yu Ding Zhenren was kind and benevolent one second, and then suddenly changed his expression and said, "I want to rule the Three Realms." It was as abrupt as a tree branch that had been forcibly broken.

Chen Fei shook his head slightly: "The characters' motivations are all castles in the air, twists for the sake of twists, how can the audience empathize?"

What disappointed him most was the portrayal of Yang Jian.

The story clearly foreshadows the forced discovery of a "sky eye," but it always avoids delving into the details.

Judging from the plot, his dissatisfaction with the Heavenly Court was only hidden in his sneers. When he rebelled, he was more like a child throwing a tantrum, and even the fierceness in his eyes revealed hesitation.

"If you don't even dare to be 'bad' thoroughly, how can you talk about overthrowing the old order?"

Dumpling sighed, suddenly remembering the line from her own creation, "Ne Zha," which reads, "My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens."

In contrast, the resistance here seems like a mere scratch on the surface.

In the second half, some parents in the back rows even took their children and left, muttering, "I don't understand it, and the fighting isn't interesting."

Actually, Chen Fei already understood where the problem lay after seeing this.

Alibaba Pictures and Light Chaser Animation tried to please everyone, but ended up failing to retain adult audiences who sought depth and losing children who preferred simple and exciting content.

Like that gender-swapped Howling Celestial Dog, it seems novel, but in fact it exposes the timidity of creation: it dares not adhere to tradition, nor has it been able to solidify its innovation.

As the end credits rolled, the applause in the theater was sparse.

Chen Fei took out his phone and saw that the Douban rating had already been released.

7.1 points.

The number is higher than the previous section, but the reputation can't support it at all.

He scrolled through the short comments.

Looking around, almost 7 out of 10 comments are criticizing the movie as terrible, 2 out of the other 3 seem to be fake positive reviews, and the other is just average.

Chen Fei looked up at the frozen image of Yang Jian's back on the screen and suddenly felt that the movie was like an exquisitely crafted empty box.

It appears to be covered in patterns on the outside, but when you open it, there's nothing there.

“Let’s go,” he turned around and waved to Jiaozi and Li Yang, “Let’s go back and check all our own animation projects to make sure there are no problems and we don’t repeat the same mistakes.”

They both nodded.

"Ne Zha" is still a long way off, but "The Longest Day in Chang'an" is expected to be released next summer, so it absolutely cannot afford to fail.

After leaving the movie theater, the three drove back to the company.

Meanwhile, the online public opinion had exploded!
The topic exploded on Weibo first, with the hashtag #YangJian'sPlotIsFragile# followed by a bright red "Explosive" button, and clicking on it revealed a dense barrage of negative reviews:
"Is Xiaotianquan (the Celestial Dog) really gender-swapped? A perfectly good divine dog turned into a coquettish young girl? Holy crap! Every 'master' I hear gives me goosebumps!"

"I advise the screenwriter to kneel down and kowtow to the art department right now."

"Why didn't you use any Chinese musical instruments at all? Do you think your score was very good?"

"No? I'd like to ask, does Light Chaser Animation really think the 3D web game style looks good? All those light gauze shawls look like those cheap plastic fiber fabrics you can buy for 15 yuan a meter on Taobao, they're really awful!"

"The characters' motivations are childish, the plot twists are inexplicable, and the character development is better left unaddressed. Otherwise, the screenwriter should just clean out the water in their brain before writing a script."

"Holy crap! Alibaba Pictures! Don't even bother making your next movie, just get out of here!" Movie fans were cursing, while professional film critics were even more scathing!

The editor-in-chief of "Film and Television Frontier" published a lengthy article directly:

"The 3D special effects are piled up so much that it looks like watching a PowerPoint presentation. The steampunk-style Heavenly Court is just an empty shell, and even the whisk of the Jade Cauldron Immortal has a plastic reflection."

The plot is disjointed and haphazard; the main storyline of Chenxiang rescuing his mother is scattered by numerous subplots, and by the end, even the villain's motives are unclear. This isn't an adaptation of mythology; it's a sloppy deconstruction of it!

Meanwhile, the short review section of the ticketing platform has also been completely overrun.

Someone posted a picture of their ticket stub showing them leaving early: "When I saw Yang Jian and Wanluo dancing the tango, I finally couldn't hold back anymore. Is this a fantasy film or a musical?"

One parent complained, "I brought my child to see this, and he asked, 'Why did the immortals have to steal the Lotus Lantern?' I couldn't answer him at all because I didn't understand it myself!"

"This is the 'New God Ranking' universe you're making? No way? Dude? You guys are kidding me, aren't you?"

Amid a barrage of criticism, the Douban rating plummeted from an initial 7.2 to 6.1, with over 30% of the reviews giving it a one-star rating!

Some netizens even created a "plot bug comparison chart":
Yang Jian's third eye was sometimes effective and sometimes not, and the magic power of the Lotus Lantern fluctuated...

The most outrageous thing is that the "animism" theory that suddenly appeared when Chenxiang was splitting the mountain had no connection to the previous plot.

One comment that received 100,000 likes reads: "It feels like the screenwriter forgot what they wrote in one section and just cobbled together a random ending to make money."

After returning to the company, Chen Fei checked the online reviews again.

He quickly came to a conclusion.

Light Chaser Animation has squandered a great opportunity. The world-building of "Nezha Reborn" was just established, and then "Yang Jian" rushed to cram in too much information, resulting in nothing being fully explored.

Ultimately, it boils down to having too much ambition and not having the ability to keep up.

Trying to balance visual appeal and storytelling with depth ultimately resulted in failing at both.

On August 20th, the box office figures for the first day of "New Gods: Yang Jian" were released.

The achievement of 3665 million is a slap in the face to Alibaba Pictures and Light Chaser Animation!

However, that wasn't the most outrageous part. On Saturday and Sunday, the box office did surge, reaching 4932 million and 4763 million respectively.

The box office exceeded 100 million yuan in its opening weekend, reaching 1.33 million yuan.

However, by the fourth day, the box office had been halved, leaving only 2180 million.

On the fifth day, 1532 million.

On the sixth day, the number reached 1006 million.

At this point, the film's reputation completely collapsed, and even Alibaba Pictures' massive investment in publicity and marketing had no effect whatsoever.

On Taobao's homepage, the poster for "New Gods: Yang Jian" is still playing on a loop, and a large number of related products are being rolled out one by one, but the sales revenue is almost zero.

On the Tmall store homepage, the image of the silver-armored war god was like a glamorous bubble that had been popped, instantly replaced by other materials.

In the conference room of Alibaba Pictures, the central air conditioning was blowing cold air, but it couldn't dispel the deathly silence that filled the room.

On the long conference table, the box office report for "New Gods: Yang Jian" looked like a red-hot branding iron!
The figure of 1.97 million accumulated in 6 days was circled repeatedly in red pen, and the screenshot of the Douban rating next to it, with a number of 5.6, was so glaring that it hurt one's eyes.

Fan Luyuan pressed her fingers heavily on the edge of the report, her knuckles turning white.

He recalled his bold statement three years ago when he decided to collaborate with Light Chaser Animation: "We will make Alibaba's animation empire bigger than Disney's!"

But now, from the small profit of "Nezha Reborn" to the huge loss of "Yang Jian", nearly 2 billion yuan has been poured in over three years, as if it has been thrown into a bottomless pit!
"Is this what you mean by 'it's all settled'?"

Fan Luyuan spoke slowly, her voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing against wood, her gaze falling on Wang Wei opposite her.

Before the film's release, the founder of Light Chaser Animation confidently assured everyone: "Yang Jian's character design and steampunk worldview will definitely break into the mainstream!"

But now, those "innovations" that were touted as amazing have all become targets of ridicule from netizens!

Wang Wei's face turned bright red, and she was speechless for a moment.

He wanted to say that "the box office trend is in line with expectations," but he was stopped by the announcement on the data report that "the screening rate of 'Yang Jian' has dropped below 5%".

He tried to explain that "word of mouth needs time to ferment," but the 90% "not recommended" reviews on the ticketing platform felt like a slap in the face.

The audience analysis and market predictions that were done with great confidence at the beginning have now become a joke.

“We…we can also make spin-off series to complete the world view…” Wang Wei’s voice grew softer and softer, even she herself felt pale.

Fan Luyuan suddenly laughed, her laughter filled with exhaustion: "Complete it? If audiences can't even stand watching the movie, who would watch a spin-off?"

He grabbed the report and slammed it onto the table, scattering documents all over the floor!
"Do you know how much money Fantawild and Feiyue Pictures made with their 'Boonie Bears' series? They easily raked in 1 billion yuan at the box office during the Spring Festival! Merchandise sold even better than the movies! But what about us?"

The posters on Taobao's homepage change faster than anyone else, but the sales of related merchandise only reached 300 units in six months—not even enough to cover production costs!

Fan Luyuan's roar echoed in the empty conference room.

Some people wanted to advise him, but after opening their mouths, they didn't know what to say.

"never mind."

Fan Luyuan suddenly stood up, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a screeching sound.

His gaze fell on the banner on the wall that read "Alibaba's Big Digital Entertainment Strategic Blueprint," and he rubbed the words "Animated Film" across it with his hand as if trying to erase something.

"Pass the word down," his voice utterly powerless, "Alibaba Digital Media & Entertainment is withdrawing from the animated film market."

Wang Wei looked up abruptly, as if to say something, but saw Fan Luyuan wave her hand and walk dejectedly toward the door.

His shadow stretched longer and longer under the pale light, as if all his strength had been drained away.

As I walked down the corridor, I bumped into the marketing department taking down the promotional materials for "Yang Jian". The poster of the Silver Armored War God was crumpled up and thrown into the trash can.

In the conference room, Wang Wei looked at the reports scattered all over the floor and finally couldn't help but tear up.

He recalled that when he first collaborated with Alibaba Pictures, Fan Luyuan said, "Animation is a business of creating dreams."

But now, the dream is shattered, and along with all those ambitions about the "rise of Light Chaser Animation", they have also vanished into thin air!

Meanwhile, at Chen Fei's villa, a joyous birthday party was being held.

As Liu Yifei, holding her son, blew out the candles together, Chen Fei took out the script he had prepared for her and handed it to her...

(End of this chapter)