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

Chapter 1453 The beginning of the worst-performing film season during the 2025 Spring Festival! Target box office: 10 billion!

"Putting everything else aside, I'm going to call out 'Investiture of the Gods Part II' for you. It's a complete piece of crap!"
The only truly courageous character in the entire film is Deng Chanyu. Ji Fa hesitates and wavers, indecisive and powerless. The lives of everyone in the city are in his hands, yet he can't bring himself to kill Wen Zhong. It's laughable! Is the screenwriter insane?

"The dialogue scenes were so bad they were practically unbelievable, and the special effects were so terrible I thought I was watching a pirated movie. That Yin Jiao with three heads and six arms was responsible for all the laughs in the whole film; he was practically a one-headed, two-armed character!"

"To be honest, when Ulsan thanked the audience of the first film at the end of the movie, I even felt that he was mocking me."

Netizens have thoroughly criticized "Fengshen Part 2: War in Xiqi".

Meanwhile, the neighboring "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero" also couldn't escape it.

"A story that would take 60 episodes to tell in a TV series is covered in a movie, which only covers more than half of it. The death of the Seven Heroes of Jiangnan, meeting Hong Qigong, learning the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms, obtaining the Nine Yin Manual... all are glossed over. What's the difference between this and a short video that takes 5 minutes to watch a TV series?"

Temujin: Are you still the Guo Jing who listens to me? Guo Jing: I've never changed. Temujin: Then call me Father. Guo Jing: Father!

Everyone, calm down and stop cursing. Tsui Hark's film isn't *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, it's *The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Investiture of the Gods*!

"At the very end, I'll show you a circus act where they jump through hoops of fire. Hahaha, it's hilarious! I was so angry I laughed!"

While these two blockbusters are being criticized, "Operation Jiaolong" is not escaping criticism either.

"The plot logic is terrible, it lacks the portrayal of the spirit and character of naval soldiers, and the decision-making logic has huge problems. We are not a country of individual heroism, much less an army that makes so-called democratic decisions."

The action scenes were chaotic, the camerawork was disorienting, and overall, it was a complete flop. I'll give it two stars out of consideration for the hard work the Jiaolong Commando actors put in, but it's really not worth watching.

"Singing a song and everyone comes back to life? And the entire submarine is repaired all at once? What kind of incredible sci-fi movie is this?"

"I think I've figured it out. The mainstream ideology is completely doomed. When will the production companies realize that everyone is already tired of mainstream ideology, let alone this kind of quality..."

"A bunch of grown men, and they're not even as good as the robot dog, I'm speechless."

However, unlike the three films that were criticized, "Ne Zha" received widespread praise online!
"Shen Gongbao: The life of a small-town exam taker. I feel that he worked really hard and tried to climb up to the strong in order to get ahead. It's really inspiring."

"The quality of the dumplings is truly solid. This film is undoubtedly a comprehensive upgrade from the first one. The yin-yang aesthetics are even more extreme. Elements such as water and fire, red and blue, good and evil collide and blend in many ways, ultimately generating a surging and magnificent impact."

Moreover, the transformations and weapon usage in this installment are more exciting, exhilarating, and imaginative.

Emotionally, it still combines laughter and tears, but at its core, it goes beyond just resisting the injustice of fate. It's not just Nezha who fights against injustice, but also many ordinary people trapped under predetermined constraints with nowhere to retreat.

When individuals become a collective, the portrayal of personal fate transforms into an insight into the fate of the era. This thematic elevation makes the film even more memorable and definitely worth watching twice!

"I watched all the movies in the Spring Festival lineup today. Just a heads-up, just aim for 'Ne Zha 2' and go for it."

"..."

With the release of first-day reviews and online comments for the 2025 Spring Festival films, the box office landscape of several movies has, unsurprisingly, undergone a rapid and dramatic change.

Early on the second day of the Lunar New Year, major media outlets rushed to release box office reports, directly posting the performance figures for several films:
"Ne Zha: The Demon Child Conquers the Dragon King has a fantastic opening day! It raked in 5.87 million yuan at the box office on its first day, breaking a new record for animated films!"

"The second part of 'Fengshen' had a lukewarm start, with its 3.12 million yuan opening day box office failing to offset its poor word-of-mouth, leaving audiences utterly disappointed!"

"Boonie Bears: Reboot" has been a solid success, with its opening day box office of 2.38 million yuan continuing the IP's appeal, making it a top choice for families with children.

"The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero" couldn't save its quality with its massive fan base; its 2.89 million yuan opening day box office was entirely driven by fan support.

"The box office of 'Operation Jiaolong' suffered a major setback, earning only 8635 million yuan on its opening day, and patriotic blockbusters are facing a crisis of 'aesthetic fatigue'."

The combined box office of the five films reached a total of 15.12 billion yuan on the first day of this year's Spring Festival season.

This figure is about 1.2 million higher than the same period last year.

Despite the apparent market recovery, word-of-mouth and box office figures present an extreme contrast!
The "Boonie Bears" series continues to perform steadily, winning the approval of parents with its consistent family-oriented positioning and heartwarming storylines.

"Ne Zha" is absolutely stunning!

Whether it's the grand visual effects of Nezha and Ao Bing joining forces to fight against the giant sea monster, or the profound core message of breaking the concept of fatalism, both have won high praise from the audience.

After only one day of release, its Douban rating quickly soared to 8.5, making it the only critically acclaimed hit during the Spring Festival season.

In contrast, the other three films have fallen into a quagmire of "competing to be the worst".

"The Second Part of Fengshen" was supposed to be a hot contender for the Spring Festival film season.

The positive reviews of the previous work have only heightened audience anticipation.

However, the absurd plot of Yin Jiao draining the power of Yuanshi Tianzun, the crude special effects of the three-headed, six-armed little blue man, and the illogical plot completely shattered the audience's trust.

This is not deification, it's desecration of the gods! And it's already spread all over the internet!
In contrast, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero" attracted a lot of fans thanks to Xiao Zhan's popularity and Xu Ke's directorial reputation.

However, the fact that Guo Jing's love scenes overshadowed the main chivalrous storyline, and that the fight scenes relied entirely on slow motion, caused the film's reputation to decline.

The audience was furious, saying that this was a fan film and not a martial arts film at all!
What worries the industry the most is "Operation Jiaolong".

As a patriotic blockbuster that Bona Film Group had bet on, it was intended to replicate the success of "Operation Red Sea" produced by Feiyue Films. However, due to issues such as unrealistic plot, stereotypical characters, and forced sentimentality, it not only suffered a dismal box office performance but also made the industry realize that patriotic blockbusters were about to be completely doomed!
On China Film Group's side, Fu Ruoqing was starting to panic.

The project "The Chinese People's Volunteers: Bloodshed for Peace" has been approved and filming will begin after the Spring Festival.

But now, the situation of "Operation Jiaolong" is making him worry: can this IP continue to be developed?

"It just won't stop..."

The project team's response was clear: the actors had been cast, the film had been approved, and all the production companies had transferred their funds into the account.

Now they're suddenly going to pause? Isn't that a joke?
Fu Ruoqing: "..."

Unlike his distress, Feiyue Films was already celebrating.

Compared to other terrible films, the high quality of "Ne Zha" is undoubtedly very rare and precious.

It didn't rely on popular celebrities or over-exploit IP nostalgia; instead, it truly moved the audience with its solid story, excellent production, and profound themes.

It serves as a reminder to all filmmakers that only by respecting the audience and refining their work can they truly win over the market!

The market never hesitates to favor high-quality works.

In the following days, under the watchful eyes of the entire film industry, the box office performance of "Ne Zha" soared like a rocket!
Starting with 5.87 million on the first day, it broke through 6 million on the second day, and then surged to 7 million on the third day. Subsequently, the milestones of 8 million and 9 million were successively conquered.

Box office figures have been climbing at a visible rate, and the cinema's share of screenings has remained consistently the highest, with many screenings experiencing a situation where tickets are hard to come by!

On the day the Spring Festival film season officially ended, "Ne Zha" achieved an astonishing record of breaking 10 billion yuan in box office revenue in a single day, and its total box office revenue in a week directly exceeded 40 billion yuan!
This achievement not only broke the box office record for animated films during the Spring Festival, but also means that it is only one or two days away from breaking the previous record of 52.68 billion yuan set by "Ne Zha".

In the cinema, you can see audiences everywhere bringing their children to watch the movie for the second or third time.

On social media platforms, discussions about the film's plot, characters, and special effects remain highly popular.

It's no exaggeration to say that the number of views on topics related to "Nezha" often exceeds one billion, which is enough to show how popular this movie is.

In stark contrast to the phenomenal success of "Ne Zha," the other films suffered dismal failures.

After grossing 3.12 million yuan on its opening day, "The Investiture of the Gods II" saw its box office revenue halved on the second day, dropping to around 1.5 million yuan.

The situation continued to decline in the days that followed, with box office revenue hitting new lows every day.

After a week, the total box office was only over 7 million yuan. By the end of the Spring Festival season, the daily box office had dropped to just over 2000 million yuan, and the screening share was reduced to less than 5%.

The "Fengshen Cinematic Universe," once highly anticipated, has now become a "representative of bad movies" in the eyes of the audience.

After the heads of China Film Group, Tencent, Alibaba, Huaying Film Group, and Poly Group met, they did not hesitate at all and directly abandoned the plan to continue producing "Fengshen III".

In other words, this film, spearheaded by Jingxi, with an investment of 30 billion yuan and a shooting period of two and a half years, has been scrapped.

Because of a lack of money, Wu Ershan completely gave up.

The investors were in the same boat. At that moment, Song Ge, who was still in jail for tax evasion, burst into tears upon receiving the news.

"My life's work! My life's work! It's all wasted! All of it is ruined!"

On the other hand, the situation of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero" is even worse.

Despite the strong support from Xiao Zhan's fans, the film grossed 2.89 million yuan on its opening day.

However, as word-of-mouth continued to decline, audience enthusiasm for the film quickly waned.

The film grossed only 5.44 million yuan in its first week, and later on, the daily box office dropped to only 842 million yuan. In order to reduce losses, many cinemas even pulled the film from theaters early and gave all their screenings to "Ne Zha".

Once a classic martial arts IP, it has completely lost its former glory due to the influx of internet traffic and shoddy production.

China Film Group, as an investor, is now trembling with fear.

Fu Ruoqing didn't know how to face her superiors.

He'll probably leave next year, after his term ends...

The failure of "Operation Jiaolong" plunged Bona Film Group into an unprecedented crisis.

This patriotic blockbuster, which Bona Film Group considered a "bet on the future," not only performed poorly at the box office in its opening week, earning less than 3 million yuan, but also made some very basic mistakes in its marketing.

Bona Film Group actually released information to the public, claiming that during filming, in order to prevent leaks, the scripts of the domestic actors were not shown to the foreign actors.

Their intention was to use this to highlight the film's high level of secrecy and meticulous production.

But in the eyes of the audience, this approach was incredibly stupid!
Regardless of whether such differential treatment is reasonable, from a professional perspective, how can actors accurately grasp the relationships between characters and the logic of the plot if they cannot fully understand the script?

As soon as the news broke, a wave of mockery erupted online:

"Wow, is Bona Film Group making a spy movie?"

"They don't even dare to show the script to their co-stars. Do they know the film is bad themselves?"

"Alright, alright, stop explaining. We all know this film is a flop, so let's just leave it at that."

When these negative feedbacks, along with the dismal box office figures, reached Yu Dong's ears, he was completely devastated.

Previously, he had been hoping that "Operation Jiaolong" could replicate the glory of "Operation Red Sea" and lead Bona Film Group to a domestic listing, thus realizing his dream of making money.

But now, given the current situation, forget about the dream of going public; just maintaining the company's basic profitability would be a good result.

As for reputation, that's a luxury that's now out of reach for Bona!
After being bombarded with one terrible movie after another, its reputation has long since vanished!

Inside Bona's office at this moment.

Yu Dong was completely stunned when he saw the daily box office data of "Operation Jiaolong" on his computer screen, which was less than 500 million yuan.

He kept refreshing the page, as if that would change the numbers.

But reality coldly and cruelly told him that the movie was doomed, utterly doomed!
"Is this the end?"

Yu Dong muttered to himself, his voice filled with disbelief.

He simply couldn't believe that "Operation Jiaolong," to which he had poured so much effort and resources, had become the biggest joke of the entire Spring Festival film season!

And he himself, once a powerful figure in the film and television industry, has become a laughing stock among his peers and audiences!

He wanted to tell himself that this was a dream.

But reality slapped him in the face again and again, telling him: "From today onwards, Bona is finished! Utterly finished!"

If you invest 5 million yuan and the return isn't even 1/10 of the cost, how can you possibly continue?
As for surpassing Feiyue Film and Television and Chen Fei's vision, it has long been an unattainable dream!
……

On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, Chen Fei returned to the company to prepare for work.

However, when he officially started the post-production of "The Three-Body Problem", he specifically convened the publicity team to have a discussion about "Ne Zha".

As of this morning, the film's total box office has surpassed 60 billion yuan, not only breaking the record of 52.68 billion yuan set by its predecessor, "Ne Zha," but also continuing to surge upwards with an astonishing daily box office of no less than 5 million yuan.

The projection screen displayed a scrolling chart showing the percentage of screenings in different tiers of cities, audience attendance rates, and social media buzz.

Every single statistic demonstrates the film's powerful vitality!

Anyone can see that before students officially start school, the box office of this movie will continue to surge, and may even break the record for the highest-grossing domestic film!

At this time, the box office record for domestic films was held by "The Wandering Earth 2" at 73 billion yuan.

Seeing that this record is about to be broken, and there is even a possibility of it continuing to rise, why not give it a boost?

Inside the meeting room, after taking his seat at the head of the table, Chen Fei spoke succinctly:

"Next, everyone involved in publicity and distribution will suspend all other work and focus entirely on the promotion and marketing of 'Ne Zha.' Our goal is..."

He paused for a moment, his gaze becoming increasingly resolute.

Under the tense gaze of everyone, he spoke each word with heavy weight: "Ten billion!"

"boom--"

In an instant, the meeting room erupted in commotion!
Tens of billions?

Can Chinese-language films also break the 10 billion yuan mark?

It's worth noting that no Chinese-language film had ever reached the 10 billion yuan box office mark before, so this goal seemed like a pipe dream to many.

Chen Fei raised his hand and pressed down, and the conference room instantly fell silent.

With a serious and earnest expression, he began to mobilize the team: "I know everyone thinks this goal is difficult, but difficult does not mean impossible."

"Ne Zha 2" is supported by solid content, has a foundation of nationwide discussion, and also benefits from the good distribution foundation laid by our team in the early stages.

Now, what we need to do is seize this last window of opportunity and further expand the reach of our publicity efforts.

The on-the-ground promotional activities in lower-tier markets need to be intensified, the incentive program for fan-created content targeting young audiences needs to be upgraded, and even collaborations with offline brands could be used to launch more movie-going benefits to attract more people to the cinema.

He paused, his eyes full of anticipation: "This is not only a breakthrough for 'Ne Zha 2,' but also a milestone for Chinese animated films and even the entire domestic film industry."

If we can achieve this goal, we can prove to the market that as long as the works are of high quality, domestic films are fully capable of reaching new heights.

I believe that as long as we work together, there is no difficulty we cannot overcome!

These words were like a shot in the arm, instantly igniting the fighting spirit of everyone present.

The initial doubts in everyone's hearts were replaced by excitement. Everyone's face was filled with excitement, and they raised their hands to speak, proposing their own ideas for publicity and promotion.

"I think we can start with children and families watching movies."

"We can use the 'worst of the worst' tactic to keep our competitors in the dust."

"Or we could just announce our goal of reaching 10 billion and ask the entire nation for their support. As long as we have a goal, there might be hope..."

"Surpassing Hollywood and setting a new box office record for domestic films..."

The atmosphere in the conference room was at its most enthusiastic at that moment.

Everyone is eager to get started and is ready to go all out for the "10 billion target"!
After the meeting, Chen Fei immediately returned to the post-production team of "The Three-Body Problem".

Meanwhile, "Ne Zha 2" officially launched its box office assault!
(End of this chapter)