Actor: Thank you.

What are you most afraid of when you're at school or in class?
What I fear most is a teacher's sudden show of concern.

"Come on, Zeng Jia, come up here and do this problem."

At this point, anyone who isn't a top student would be covered in sweat.

Even in Harry Potter, it's not like someone like Hermione would enjoy hearing this.

Zeng Jia's grades were decent when she was in school.

But it's just okay.

They are clearly quite afraid of this kind of problem.

Besides, if the teacher asks a question, you can simply shrug and say, "I don't know how to do this question."

But now it's my boss asking the question.

"I'll give you three minutes to think about it?"

You say you don't?

Are you still going to continue?
If you can't do anything, what use are you to me?
Work is different from school, so when Zhang Yuan asked this question, Zeng Jia gasped.

The pressure is at its peak!

"think."

"Think about it carefully."

Think about it carefully.

Zhang Yuan started timing.

It's been with me for a while now.

He was always getting excited with Yang Siwei, always feeling that he was better than her inside and out.

Zeng Jia is relatively thin, and compared to fat women, she exudes a sense of female superiority at first glance.

That's why she was always resentful.

In particular, Zhang Yuan has always entrusted many publicity and promotional tasks to the other party.

Zeng Jia kept thinking to herself, "So what if they arrived a little earlier than me? What's with the attitude?"

The exam is about to start.

Regardless of whether you accept it or not, just show me your true skills.

Now that we've encountered a problem, how should we handle it?

The boss's questions were already nerve-wracking, and then there was a time limit.

If time-limited game levels are already incredibly stressful, imagine how much more stressful real life must be.

After more than two minutes, Zeng Jia finally spoke weakly.

"I have a few ideas, but I don't know if they're right?"

"Right is right, wrong is wrong. You're a manager with so many artists under your management, how can you be so hesitant when handling things?"

When giving actors roles, is there only an option of accepting or not accepting?

"Be decisive!" Zhang Yuan first reprimanded.

Zeng Jiahan was sweating profusely, her heart pounding.

My boss is usually very amiable, but today he was incredibly domineering.

It seems we still need to consider different aspects.

"I think we should first find the root cause of the island nation's behavior, and then try to communicate and find a solution."

"At the same time, we contacted our connections in mainland China to find relevant parties."

"We need to find solutions from both the inside out and the outside in," Zeng Jia said, sharing her thoughts.

"anything else?"

But after hearing Zhang Yuan's follow-up questions, she knew that the boss was not satisfied.

But he didn't deny it either, which means he at least wasn't wrong.

"Hey……"

"Time's up." She was still hesitating when Zhang Yuan announced the end of the game.

"You still haven't learned it."

Zhang Yuan rubbed his eyes, looking somewhat helpless.

"First of all, you have to throw away everything you learned at Rongxingda."

"Whether it's Li Xiaowan or Sister Wang Jinhua, they are people from the previous era."

"Their way of thinking and doing things is outdated and has many aspects that are no longer appropriate."

"Especially when facing the internet!"

Zeng Jia almost stood at attention when she heard this.

Good guy!
The moment you opened your mouth, you criticized those two senior figures as utterly worthless.

"Your approach covers the most basic elements of public relations; you need it, no problem with that."

"What about the advanced parts?"

"You don't have in-depth processing of the content."

"Doing only public relations is like raising your arms in a fight, only passively taking hits."

"I don't like getting hit here. I like to pull out a wrench from my pocket and give the other person a wrench while I'm blocking."

"To catch someone off guard and gain benefits at the same time."

"What you're saying doesn't bring any real benefit, so I'm not satisfied."

Public relations costs money.

Spending a lot of money might only eliminate the negative impact at best, and might not even achieve that.

Isn't this the worst-case scenario?
"Let me think about it some more..." Zeng Jia planned to spend a night thinking about it before writing a report to her boss to ease the tension.

But Zhang Yuan refused outright.

"Don't waste your energy. If you can't figure it out in 3 minutes, it means you haven't entered this mindset."

“This time I’m telling you, and you’ll remember it.”

Zeng Jia hurriedly took out her notebook, and Zhang Yuan could hear the click of the pen pressing down even through the phone.

"I have a question for you."

"I took a model to the movies in Paris, and it was reported by the Japanese. After they objected, what happened?"

"If you had done a summary, you should have understood it just now."

Zeng Jia's brain was working at lightning speed.

After being hailed as a treasure of the island nation, she became popular in China, and then... she finally understood what had happened after tracing her steps all the way here.

Judging from the change in her breathing, Zhang Yuan roughly guessed that she understood, and nodded with satisfaction.

Not stupid, just slow to think things through.

There was a movie in later generations called "Alien: The Deadly Ship".

This is the domestic translation; a direct translation would be "Alien: Romulus".

Romulus and his brother Remus were the founders of Rome and the first Roman kings.

Of course, this is just a myth.

These two brothers are the two babies in the famous Roman sculpture "The She-Wolf Nursing the Infants," which depicts two infants suckling at the breast of a she-wolf.

This translation is used in China for the sake of popular appeal, since not many people know who Romulus is; this is common knowledge in Western cultural circles.

This film itself is a major IP.

But the problem, like the title, is that it's a major IP in the Western world.

The influence of "Alien" in China is clearly no match for IPs like "Marvel", "Disney", and "Transformers".

Their brand recognition is far lower.

Even within the Western film industry, not to mention the audience, many directors are fans of "Alien," and the series boasts a stellar lineup of works directed by world-class directors such as Ridley Scott, James Cameron, and David Fincher. However, in essence, this IP remains a niche IP in Asia.

The domestic audience base largely comes from the two prequels, Alien: Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

The audience base is relatively weak.

Moreover, unlike other Hollywood sci-fi IPs, although "Alien" is also a sci-fi film.

But it's a space science fiction horror film, so it's ultimately a horror film.

The Alien Ship also didn't have any big stars, and the actors were generally not well-known.

If it weren't for the fact that Hollywood blockbusters have become increasingly weak in recent years, making this film the best of a bad bunch, it might not even qualify for a summer release.

Yet this one film grossed nearly 800 million yuan at the domestic box office, accounting for almost 30% of the global box office of 350 million US dollars.

In the entire 24 years, only one Hollywood blockbuster could beat his: Godzilla vs. Kong 2.

Moreover, despite having a much larger intellectual property, this film only grossed over 9 million yuan at the domestic box office, without achieving a dramatic lead.

Besides having terrible opponents and decent quality, the most important factor for "Alien: Fatal Ship" is its marketing and promotion!

At first, his screening schedule was normal, and initially, only fans of the series went to see it; the audience wasn't that large.

Until one event occurred that piqued everyone's interest.

Someone posted online about taking their child to see a movie, vehemently criticizing it for being bloody, violent, disgusting, and giving them nightmares, and explicitly stated that they would report the film.

It sounds like a parent's tone.

This news caused an uproar!
All I can say is that "the world has suffered from parents' complaints for far too long!"
"Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf", "Boonie Bears", "Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit Seven Heroes", and even "Ultraman" have all been reported and taken off the shelves by parents.

Admittedly, there have been cases of people imitating "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" by tying their companions to trees and setting them on fire, causing serious burns.

However, it is not advisable to give up eating altogether because of a minor choking incident.

Most parents simply blame their own educational failures on any external factors, such as society or the world.

I even want to report those historical dramas you guys are watching.

Why don't you report pornography?

Oh, if you want to see it yourself, then there's no problem.

It's like constantly criticizing your child for only playing on their phone, only to find that playing on your own phone is perfectly acceptable after scrolling through TikTok and other short videos. Right and wrong are ultimately determined by the preferences of these "parents."

This behavior has affected many people, making many indignant and resentful towards these parents who like to report others.

So when they heard that "some parents want to report it."

That's it, the rebellious mentality has kicked in.

My salary isn't much, but I'm still quite rebellious.

Did you scare your child? Disgusting?

Then I really have to go and check its quality.

Even if it's shit, I have to taste it myself.

And just like that, a horror movie managed to sell out in big cities on weekends, with tickets sold out.

Whether the complaints were genuinely filed by parents or were orchestrated by the distributor, it remains unclear.

If this was a publicity stunt, then there must be a mastermind behind it.

It very accurately captured the pain points of domestic audiences.

Besides the rebellious attitude, there's also a "watch it now, or it'll be taken down and I won't be able to see it anymore" mentality.

Food doesn't taste good if you don't fight for it, and goods don't sell well if there are no purchase limits. That's just human nature.

So the "parents reporting" tactic, besides appealing to rebellious psychology, also has a bit of a scarcity marketing element to it.

The same principle applies to Zhang Yuan, and to the present day.

He told the producers of "Fast & Furious" that the vitality of the Chinese market could definitely fill the gap in the island nation market.

The question is how to ignite the enthusiasm of Chinese film audiences.

"I understand!"

"What we should do now is use this as a publicity stunt!"

"That's right!" Zhang Yuan clapped his hands to congratulate Zeng Jia.

To turn big problems into small ones, and small problems into nothing.

I'll do the opposite!
We need to make this a big deal, so that everyone knows about this "bad thing".

Because once everyone knows about it, it may no longer be a "bad thing".

"First, they'll make an issue of my being blacklisted by the island nation."

"To put it bluntly, let's not even talk about 6% of cinemas not allowing it to be shown."

"Just say it's a complete ban, but you must bring up the reasons."

"Secondly, we need to add fuel to the fire, saying that the island nation is exerting its influence in the domestic market and trying to get the mainland market to block me as well."

"do you understand?"

Just when I was worried about having no one to teach me, a sticky rice cake fell from the sky!

I'm worried because "Fast & Furious 4" didn't do well at the box office in China, and we'll have to wait for the fifth installment to be released to see it become a hit.

Little did I know that the Japanese would send me a "gift package".

He really wanted to shake the Japanese soldier's hand vigorously, and he had to say something.

"Thank you!"

He is probably the only person in the mainland film and television industry who can still laugh even after being "blacklisted" by foreign countries.

The key is to have a good mindset; it all comes down to one's attitude.

The sound of a ballpoint pen quickly scribbling came through the phone.

Zhang Yuan was about to say, "What's the use of just taking notes? You have to use your brain to remember," but he immediately remembered his teacher from his school days and swallowed his words.

When I grow up, I will become you...

"After that, there are other things to do."

"Think about it again," Zhang Yuan said, posing another question.

Zeng Jia, holding the pen, suddenly felt a blank.

"When doing problems, once you know the formula, you have to work through it step by step. That's what it means to have learned the formula."

"Otherwise, it's just rote memorization."

Zhang Yuan was very patient.

"After we do the publicity and distribution, people will pay attention to the film."

"But it's already been three weeks since it was released, and movies usually only get a four-week run."

"Once the four weeks are up, it's not a question of whether or not to allow the broadcast, but rather that the video's key will expire, and you won't be able to broadcast it even if you want to."

"So what you need to do now is contact China Film Group to schedule your filming."

"Go and communicate with the Film Bureau again to extend the key."

"Otherwise, the film might become popular, but it won't be able to be broadcast."

"Wouldn't that just be a waste of effort?"

“Oh…” Zeng Jia quickly added this.

Zhang Yuan finally understood where his math teacher's look at him like he was an idiot came from.

Doing publicity and promotion is actually just like solving a math problem.

If you don't know, you just don't know; it's too much trouble to teach you step by step.

Zhang Yuan tried his best to be patient and not to complain or curse.

After all, people's understanding is based on their own perspective. What you think is simple and can be understood in the blink of an eye may not be so for others.

Just like Qian Xuesen's famous saying.

"Even someone who's not very smart can't learn calculus."

That's a bit much... Mr. Qian was too well protected; he'd never seen us intellectually disabled monkeys.

Furthermore, according to Qian Xuesen's theory, a person's intellectual peak is around age 20, so one should graduate from elementary school at age eight and begin learning calculus at age twelve...

Even the prodigy classes at Tsinghua and Peking Universities were nothing more than slightly smarter monkeys in Qian Xuesen's eyes.

A PhD is a monkey that knows how to read books.

Professors are probably the only ones who can be considered "normal".

Being half a step ahead of others makes you a talented person, being a step ahead makes you a genius, but being ten steps ahead makes you seem like a lunatic.

Zhang Yuan explained things in detail because he was afraid that the other party might understand but not fully comprehend, and thus make things go wrong.

After giving his all, he began to wait for the news to spread online.

Although the internet is not yet fully mature, it is no longer the kind of frenzy enjoyed by a small group of people at the beginning of the century.

Within two or three days, with the help of online trolls, the news of his "ban" in the island nation spread exponentially and at an incredibly fast pace.

The question is whether the message is circulating online or has actually been implemented; this still needs to be confirmed.

But soon, the proof was delivered to our door.

"I heard you've been blacklisted by the Japanese?" Nicholas Tse was in a good mood lately and tried to make light of things.

The biopsy results for his mole have come back, and it has been diagnosed as skin cancer.

But the doctor said it was in the early stage, and based on the biopsy results, it should be benign.

He felt much more at ease after that.

A benign one will at least not erupt in a short period of time and cause death.

My life was saved, and I felt much better.

But the doctor still advised him to get treatment as soon as possible.

So he made an appointment at a private hospital in North America, planning to have the procedure done after filming this movie.

If the excised tissue is large enough, perform another pathological examination to confirm whether it is benign.

If it remains benign, then there's no problem.

If you take precautions and get checked every year, you can prevent it.

His mother, Deborah, advised him that he was young and that it might not be a bad thing if he discovered it early and became more careful.

Moreover, my mother consulted a Thai fortune teller who said that he was destined to face this calamity.

But his friend saved him from this ordeal.

Fortune tellers always say that, because you like to hear it.

But he thought to himself, "Wasn't it Zhang Yuan who saved me from this?"

They became even closer.

So as soon as I saw the news online, I came here to ask.

Seeing that he already knew, Zhang Yuan was relieved to know that the news had been largely implemented and had achieved its intended effect.

"Yes, it's a little troublesome."

"It's alright, I can always work in the mainland from now on," Young Master Xie reassured him. "Anyway, the Japanese market isn't that big."

“I might not be able to stay in Japan forever,” Zhang Yuan retorted.

"You're quite confident!"

"Of course, my confidence stems from my ability."

"So cool?" Xie Tingfeng habitually flicked his shaved bangs, finding it rare to see someone even more arrogant than him.

"As always." Zhang Yuan didn't joke with him seriously.

But Nicholas Tse didn't expect there would be something even more awesome.

"Brother Zhang Yuan, there's a phone call."

"I answered the unfamiliar number."

"Oh, who is it?"

"They said they were... from Shaolin." (End of Chapter)