Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 683 2021 Spring Festival Film Season

It's not unusual for people to receive gifts on variety shows. Back in 2019, a well-known host mentioned that he received too many gifts from fan clubs backstage while recording a program.

Furthermore, these gifts were covered with stickers featuring the idol's image, and the stickers were stuck on very firmly, so they could only be used by the recipient.

This clip didn't cause much of a stir at the time, but it has been unearthed by netizens a year later.

Also unearthed was a list of gifts received by the variety show.

Gifts ranged from brand-name coffee machines to cosmetics, from cameras to telescopes, and even gold bars.

In addition, some netizens revealed that the staff of those programs specified an expensive support meal of 8500 yuan for the fans of popular celebrities.

If fans participating in the show don't buy these expensive support afternoon teas to give to the hosts or guests, they won't be able to get in to see their idols. The original price of the set meal was less than 3000 yuan.

In other words, afternoon tea purchased through normal channels costs less than 3000 yuan, while the variety show staff sold it to fans at a "designated restaurant" for 8500 yuan.

Alternatively, fans could hand over the money directly to staff members, who would then purchase expensive support meals from a "designated restaurant."

A package that costs less than 3000 yuan is being sold for 8500 yuan, and even the 3000 yuan package price is inflated.

It can only be said that in this era, the fan economy is truly a powerful tool for exploiting ordinary people.

The person involved immediately apologized on Weibo for the incident.

The following day, the television station also issued an official response to the matter, stating that it firmly opposes the behavior of hosts and artists accepting gifts from fans, and that it is investigating the complaints from netizens. If the allegations are found to be true, the matter will be dealt with seriously in accordance with the law and regulations.

They also stated that they will strengthen the management of hosts and artists, and reserve the right to pursue legal responsibility for malicious defamation.

In response, People's Daily published a commentary criticizing this trend, stating that it has spread throughout the entertainment industry and become an open secret, and calling for "not to let unhealthy practices poison more young people."

However, only heaven knows how effective such criticism will be. In any case, even Xinghe Group and Wang Hao are powerless to change the chaotic situation of traffic idols in the entertainment industry.

He and his superiors can restrain idols and their companies, but they cannot restrain those mindless fans and fanatics.

Yes, even someone like Wang Hao, who considers himself young, couldn't help but marvel at the diversity of life after seeing the comments from many fan groups on platforms like Weibo and Douban.

In his view, the entertainment industry today has truly created a series of small, self-contained cliques because of the internet.

Idols, internet celebrities, and stars, as well as fan circles and the film and television industry, are basically in a parallel state, with little overlap between them, and their audiences are almost completely different.

Xinghe Group is also involved in this, especially since it owns Douyin (TikTok). As the largest MCN company in China, it actually belongs to Xinghe Group.

Time passed amidst all the commotion and arrived in 2021. After the New Year's Day holiday, everything seemed to be on the fast track.

Compared to last year, the festive atmosphere this year is undoubtedly stronger. After a year of hard work, the tense environment has finally returned to normal. At least, whether it's going out or gathering, people are basically the same as they were a year ago.

For example, Xinghe Amusement Park has already started its Spring Festival celebrations. The park is decorated with lanterns, couplets and many other Spring Festival elements, creating a festive atmosphere. It is almost always packed with people.

Correspondingly, as a result, the film market seems to have returned to what it was a year ago. Major film and television companies have invested a lot of money and energy in promotion, trying to make a comeback during this Spring Festival season and make up for the losses of the past year.

Some of their film crews have started nationwide roadshows, covering not only first- and second-tier cities, but also third- and fourth-tier small towns.

Some film crews, however, spend large sums of money to cooperate with ticketing platforms for subsidy activities. Although there are explicit regulations from higher authorities that ticket subsidies cannot be too large, they can still find ways to circumvent them, such as giving away Coca-Cola, popcorn, and other merchandise with ticket purchases, or shopping mall vouchers, etc.

In addition, some production teams promoted their films online, spending money to hire a large number of online trolls. They also had the directors and actors create scandals, whether it was gossip or the death of their mothers, all of which could be used to trend on social media.

But no matter how much hype or trending it gets, ultimately, a movie's quality is what matters.

By the eve of Chinese New Year, the number of people who wanted to see the animated film "Ne Zha 2" on the Taobao ticketing platform had exceeded 400 million, while the number of people who wanted to see the second-place film "Hi, Mom" ​​was less than 80% of that.

In addition, the pre-sale box office of "Ne Zha 2" has also exceeded 2 million yuan, which is a first for animated films.

Those competing films in the same period originally thought that this Spring Festival season would be easier since there were no films released by the Galaxy Cinematic Universe and no big boss like Wang Hao. But unexpectedly, without Wang Hao and the Galaxy Cinematic Universe, another film, "Ne Zha 2," suddenly appeared.

What they didn't know was that the reason "Ne Zha 2" became so popular was influenced by the game "Black Myth: Ne Zha" released last year.

The game that was originally supposed to be released alongside "Ne Zha 2" caused quite a stir after its early release, just like "Black Myth: Wukong".

Moreover, the character Nezha in the game left a deep impression on countless players, which led to everyone's love for the movie "Nezha 2" and their high expectations for it.

However, even though "Ne Zha 2" performed well, other film producers were still not very worried.

Because in their view, "Ne Zha 2" is still an animated film, which inherently has a limited ceiling.

With this in mind, those films still invested a lot of money in promotion.

In particular, "Hi, Mom," which was Jia Ling's first film as both director and actress, was a project she put a great deal of effort into.

With the movie's release imminent, she certainly couldn't give it up.

Therefore, leveraging her excellent connections within the industry, Jia Ling mobilized many celebrities to promote her film online.

Meanwhile, in online promotion, she also played the female independence card, relying on her identity as a female film director, which is very rare in the entertainment industry, to guide the release of "Hi, Mom" ​​towards a female narrative and a path for women to break down prejudices in the entertainment industry.

To be fair, this tactic has some effect. Some independent women fall for it, and when they speak on Weibo, they say that Jia Ling's emergence is an attack on the patriarchal authority system of the entertainment industry's director profession.

Even so, the reality was still somewhat, no, quite different from their expectations.

When reporters spotted Wang Hao at the promotional event for "Ne Zha 2," and countless microphones were thrust in his face, asking for his opinion on the film and his box office predictions, Wang Hao gave a jaw-dropping answer.

"I've seen the movie, and I believe it can create another miracle in the history of Chinese cinema."

To create another cinematic miracle, especially an animated film, seems like an overstatement. We'll find out on January 19th, 2021, the first day of the Lunar New Year.

When it was still the morning and noon of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the movie theater was not crowded because people were visiting relatives and friends.

But in the afternoon, after lunch, the villagers, having finished visiting their relatives, had nothing to do and began to think about finding some fun.

With most places closed for the Chinese New Year, where can we find some fun?
Watching a movie in a theater seems like a good option.

So starting in the afternoon, more and more moviegoers began to enter major cinemas to watch their favorite films.

At this time, the number of screenings for "Ne Zha 2" was not particularly exaggerated, only 41.1%.

However, the occupancy rate of this animated film is not low. Reporters from entertainment media visited several cinemas and found that almost every screening room for "Ne Zha 2" was full.

Moreover, the audience members were very active during the movie screening, with cheerful laughter erupting every ten minutes or so.

According to those reporters, among the films released in the same period, only "Hi, Mom" ​​received this kind of treatment.

It was under these circumstances that, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, with a total box office of 14 billion yuan, "Ne Zha 2: The Demon Child Conquers the Dragon King" achieved a box office of 5.78 million yuan, nearly half of the total, with over 1800 million viewers, successfully breaking the record for the highest-grossing opening day for an animated film in Chinese film history.

In comparison, "Hi, Mom" ​​grossed less than 3 million yuan, stopping at 2.93 million yuan, while "A Writer's Odyssey" only grossed 2.38 million yuan.

And it's not over yet.

The next day, the second day of the Lunar New Year, after most of the movies had been seen by audiences on the first day, the real word-of-mouth reviews of several films released during the Spring Festival began to spread and ferment on the Internet.

Although the film's distributors and promoters were still trying to control the narrative, the film's ratings and reviews were rapidly becoming more accurate under the public's pressure.

The general consensus on the film "Endgame" is that it's somewhat funny, but still a poor imitation.

Viewers generally consider "The Yin-Yang Master" to be garbage that even Chen Kun and Zhou Xun couldn't save, and even worse than "The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity".

Opinions on "A Writer's Odyssey" are mixed.

Some people say the plot is mediocre, lacks logic, and the story of a father searching for his daughter isn't touching at all.

Some people say the movie's special effects are outstanding, capturing the essence of Chinese fantasy.

As for "Hi, Mom," the reviews for this film are quite positive.

At least the emotions in the story are touching enough, and the first half of the movie is also full of laughs, in which Shen Teng plays a significant role.

Although some people still question Jia Ling's directing skills, she is a new director, so it's not appropriate to be too harsh or demanding.

The last one, and the only one to receive universal praise on the entire first day of the Lunar New Year, was the animated film "Ne Zha 2: The Demon Child Conquers the Dragon King".

Basically, anyone who has seen this movie will take out their phone after leaving the theater and eagerly share their viewing experience, recommending the movie to friends and people around them.

Even though it's just an animated film, it doesn't stop adult audiences from liking it.

[Director Jiaozi's skill is truly solid. This film is a complete upgrade from the first one, pushing the yin-yang aesthetic to its extreme. Elements such as water and fire, red and blue, good and evil collide and blend repeatedly, ultimately unleashing a surging and magnificent impact.]

While it lacks the stunning line "My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens" from the first book, it offers more structural reflections on "How can one not know the rules of this world, and who sets them?" The Immortal Wuliang's idea of ​​"individual anomie replacing systemic anomie" is truly the best entry point. I eagerly await the third book!

A truly exceptional work that blends laughter and tears!

[The humorous scenes, fitting the current era, are indeed appealing to the general public's aesthetic sensibilities in this entertainment-driven age. Overall, from special effects and character design to costumes, dialogue, and voice acting, it's definitely worth watching. This is a good start, or rather, it shows that Chinese animation is on its way.]

……

There are countless similar accolades, and this timely feedback from the audience is also simultaneously compiled by the theaters.

So, on the nights before the second day of the Lunar New Year, major cinemas consciously adjusted the proportion of movie screenings, exchanging a small number of good time slots for some other movies that had little prospect of success.

And so, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, "Ne Zha 2" continued to lead the pack with 45.4% of screenings.

The total box office revenue for the day was 18.1 billion yuan, an increase of 4 million yuan compared to the previous day.

However, the box office of "Hi Mom" ​​did not change much on the second day of the Lunar New Year, only increasing slightly, with the daily box office just exceeding 3 million yuan.

The same goes for "A Writer's Odyssey," which has remained stable at just over 1 million.

Only "Ne Zha 2" managed to increase its box office by 80% on its second day of release, in a way that was completely incomprehensible to industry insiders, jumping from 5.78 million to 9.62 million, almost breaking the 10 billion mark.

The key point is that despite the huge increase in box office revenue and the near doubling of the number of viewers, the film's reputation has not only not declined but has actually improved, with ratings on Douban and Taopiaopiao both increasing compared to yesterday.

It can only be said that the public has discerning eyes; they can distinguish what constitutes a good work.

On the third day, the popularity of "Ne Zha 2" not only did not cool down, but instead intensified.

Compared to the second day of the Lunar New Year, perhaps because important relatives had already paid their respects in the previous two days, the box office on the third day of the Lunar New Year saw another surge, with the total daily box office exceeding 20 billion yuan, which is the highest single-day total box office in nearly a year.

The reason for this is simply because of "Ne Zha 2: The Demon Child Conquers the Dragon King".

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, apart from "Hi, Mom," which ranked second at the box office and saw its daily box office increase by 1 million yuan compared to the previous day, surpassing 4 million yuan, the box office performance of other films did not change much.

As for "Ne Zha 2," which ranked first, its daily box office finally broke through the 10 billion yuan mark on the third day of the Lunar New Year, becoming the highest-grossing film in China at the moment.

(End of this chapter)