Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 441 Social Network Weekly Box Office Tops Gu Bei Gets a Terrible Blow
Zuckerberg's unexpected appearance surprised the media present.

It's worth noting that Zuckerberg and Ben Mozrich, the author of the original novel *The Social Network*, don't get along.

During Ben Mozrich's North American tour autograph sessions,

Zuckerberg's PR team has been fighting a PR battle with him from beginning to end.
It's almost like Mozrich would answer a few questions at a book signing, the next day Zuckerberg's PR team would issue a rebuttal to Mozrich, and then Mozrich would rebut them again at the next book signing.

Before this, everyone thought it was just an ordinary premiere ceremony, but unexpectedly, they caught such a sensational news story.

“Bruce, I didn’t expect you to know a billionaire like this.” Karen looked at Gu Bei with slight surprise.

We've only met a few times.

Gu Bei smiled and walked towards the slightly reserved Zuckerberg.

He wasn't particularly close to Zuckerberg. He had met Zuckerberg while helping Liu Yifei find investment opportunities, and bringing him to the premiere of the social media show was a pleasant surprise.

As he walked over, the media were asking Zuckerberg: "Mr. Zuckerberg, does your appearance at the premiere of the social media show mean that you endorse the content of the original work and the film?"

"Of course not. I have repeatedly stated that much of the content in that book is fabricated by the other party!"

Zuckerberg remained stubbornly opposed, then he saw Gu Bei walking over and said, "The reason I came to the premiere is because I received an invitation from Bruce."

He told me that the movie is very different from the original story, and that he thinks I might not like the movie now, but I will really like it in ten or twenty years.

This piqued my curiosity, which is why I came to the movie premiere!

Before the media could ask any questions,

Gu Bei smiled and said, "Mr. Zuckerberg is right."

I only saw the finished film after it was edited, and it was very different from the Mr. Zuckerberg I knew.

But the film's audiovisual charm, a feeling that lies between fantasy and reality, will undoubtedly make it a classic in film history!

Social Network is Gu Bei's favorite biographical film.
Actually, the movie has almost nothing to do with the original story.

When the screenplay was being written, the original novel was less than a third complete. The adaptation rights were primarily based on the research conducted by the original author.

It also reflects director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's thoughts on Zuckerberg's entrepreneurial story.

Although David Fincher's Social Network is overly polished and somewhat contrived, the level of detail in this script is among the highest of his works, making it a true classic.

Gu Bei brought Zuckerberg over to support him because it was to pave the way for the future Social Network 2, since the story of the future Facebook... no, it should be called Meta is quite exciting.

He looked at Mark Zuckerberg and extended his hand: "Welcome to the premiere of The Social Network!"

Mark Zuckerberg also shook hands with Gu Bei, and then followed Gu Bei into the inner room, where he met David Fincher, the director of The Social Network, and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, as well as Ben Mozrich, the original author whom he disliked very much.

The screening room went dark.

Zuckerberg calmed down and watched the movie quietly.

Just as Gu Bei said when he invited him, the movie is indeed quite different from the original novel.

Moreover, there is a big difference between visuals and text. Visuals can leave more blank space, which greatly reduces the nerd feeling that he emphasized in the original work, who was trying to help socially awkward kids like himself meet girls, and the unpleasant feeling he evoked by his several betrayals.

However, Zuckerberg still felt somewhat unhappy after watching the movie, since his lawsuit with the Winklevoss brothers was still ongoing!

He turned to Gu Bei beside him and said, "Bruce, I still really don't like this story."

"It's okay, this is normal!"

Gu Bei said nonchalantly that Zuckerberg had already arrived, and his collaboration with Jesse Eisenberg was enough to make social networks headline news.

Whether Zuckerberg likes the story or not, Gu Bei's marketing goal has already been achieved. In fact, if Zuckerberg doesn't like it, the controversy will be even greater.

"Then why did you make this story? I thought we were friends!"

Zuckerberg said, sounding somewhat annoyed.

The main reason he accepted Gu Bei's invitation was that on the day Gu Bei helped Liu Yifei sign the investment agreement for Facebook, the unexpected arrival of the financial crisis proved Gu Bei was right. The scene of witnessing history left a very deep impression on him.

But Gu Bei, Liu Yifei, and Rose Pictures actually changed the social network, which made him very unhappy.

“Mark, there is a big difference between artistic creation and commercial competition. Commercial competition does not require weaknesses, while artistic creation requires contradictions. A god with weaknesses is far more likable than an omnipotent god.”

Gu Bei didn't mind the displeasure in Zuckerberg's tone at all, and he didn't care whether Zuckerberg would hold a grudge against him.

After all, if Gu Bei wants to sell WhatsApp to Facebook in the future, the higher the price offered by a close ally, the harder it will be for him to accept.
On the contrary, it is this familiar yet slightly hostile state that...
This would be more likely to persuade Zuckerberg, whose personality is somewhat extreme, to stick to his own ideas.

Future recently acquired WhatsApp for nearly $200 billion.

Betting heavily on the metaverse gimmick, Facebook was renamed Meta.

And in AI competitions, they poach talent by spending several times or even ten times more money than others.
These are all manifestations of the extreme aspects of Zuckerberg's personality. No matter how much he pretends to be like a robot, he cannot hide the personality revealed in his behavior.

Zuckerberg looked thoughtful upon hearing this.

Subsequently,

When asked by the media about his impressions of the film...

Zuckerberg didn't resist as much as he had with Gu Bei. He just smiled and said, "If Bruce had approached me during the scriptwriting stage, perhaps the film wouldn't be filled with so many fallacies now."

However… I really like the character played by Jesse Eisenberg; the role he portrayed does have some similarities to other characters!

Gu Bei smiled slightly after hearing Zuckerberg's words.

Zuckerberg is indeed very clever. He continued the strategy of his previous public relations team, denying betrayal during the startup process, but without pointing out the errors in the original work and the movie.

Moreover, after hearing Gu Bei's words, since the public likes contradictions, he accepted the role of himself played by Jesse, so as to transfer the audience's love for Zuckerberg played by Jesse to himself.

This approach can be said to be the perfect embodiment of the philosophy of "wanting both" and "having both".

But... is there any better publicity for a biographical film than the real person endorsing their portrayal of them?
Zuckerberg, you really did manage to get in!
"Hey Bruce, Andrew, did you hear that? Mr. Zuckerberg approves of my portrayal of him!" Jesse said to Gu Bei and Andrew with a slightly excited tone and a silly grin on his face.

"Wow! Jesse, you're so lucky!"

Andrew looked at his friend with some envy. Being recognized by the real-life figure gave Jesse a greater chance of winning an award this awards season.

Unfortunately, Gu Bei only knew Zuckerberg, not the real-life figure he portrayed.

“I also feel very lucky!” Jesse said with a smile.

Gu Bei looked at Jesse with some pity.

Zuckerberg is still a pioneer in entrepreneurship and a representative of young people in internet startups, so it's perfectly normal for Jesse to like him.

But by the time Zuckerberg is rumored to be a lizard man on the internet in the future, this character will be Jesse's most hated character.

The Social Network began its nationwide theatrical run in North America.

As Rose Pictures' first independently produced film without Gu Bei's deep involvement, it still benefited greatly from Rose Pictures' previous stellar track record.

The film was released two weeks before Thanksgiving.
This is a highly competitive time slot.

It generated significantly more buzz than Gravity, which was released in October.
How fierce is the competition?

The top two films of last week both grossed over $3000 million in their opening weekend.

These are DreamWorks' animated film, Supervillain, with a production cost of $1.3 million.

And the due date of the road comedy starring Robert Downey Jr., who plays Iron Man.

Even though these two movies have been in theaters for a week, they still occupy most of the screenings this week.

Secondly, this week also features Denzel Washington's Critical Speed, an A-list production by 20th Century Fox with a budget of over $100 million.

Next week will be even more terrifying, as the final installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will firmly occupy the prime time slot before Thanksgiving.

It was during this highly competitive period that

Social Networks still secured over 3,000 opening weekend screenings.
Rose Pictures is being treated the same as these A-list productions and Hollywood's $2000 million club stars because of its previous good reputation, which has made theaters willing to give social networks a chance to prove themselves.

And social networks did not let this opportunity slip by!
"I heard that social networks are selling like hotcakes again?"

Liu Yifei lay on the pink blanket, smiling as she asked Gu Bei on the other end of the phone.

"Yes, it grossed over ten million dollars on its opening day and over thirty million dollars in its opening weekend, ranking first in the 46th week weekend box office!"

Compared to the film's production cost of forty million US dollars, this is a rather attractive return on investment.

Gu Bei knew that the distribution manager might have sent box office figures to Liu Yifei.
But even if she posts it, Liu Yifei might not see it.
So he simply recited the numbers to Liu Yifei in one go, since he had basically memorized them after reading them once.

"so tall?"

Liu Yifei was somewhat surprised.

It's worth noting that Gravity's opening weekend box office was only $43 million, while Gravity's production cost was 2.5 times that of The Social Network, yet its box office was only slightly more than $10 million less.

"That's to be expected, considering this is the hottest biopic about the founder of Facebook right now, and I even got Zuckerberg to the premiere."

Gu Bei said with a smile that Zuckerberg's presence did indeed generate a lot of buzz on social media, contributing to the box office numbers; otherwise, it wouldn't have been easy to maintain the number one spot this week.

"Can we win the championship for another week?"

Liu Yifei asked curiously.

Gravity's opening weekend box office wasn't high, but thanks to its extremely low drop, it secured the top spot at the North American box office for two weeks, and its box office is now approaching $200 million.

"Do you mean you want social networks to kill Harry Potter?" Gu Bei asked with a smile.

"Hahahahahaha!"

Liu Yifei couldn't help but laugh out loud. She didn't know that Harry Potter was going to be released next week, otherwise she wouldn't have asked such a question.

After a pause,

She then asked, "Did Social Networks approach Summit Entertainment for investment this time, and they rejected it because they weren't optimistic? Will they blame us again this time?"

"Let them blame it; they're the ones with poor judgment!"

Gu Bei said calmly and confidently, "Anyway, the Twilight series is in our hands, and there are still two movies left, the final one. The global box office will be at least one billion US dollars. I don't believe they will dare to cause any trouble in the next two years!"

Gu Bei had no involvement whatsoever in the creation of the social network.

They originally hoped to attract investment and distribution from Summit Entertainment, similar to the Twilight franchise, but Summit Entertainment wasn't interested.

In the end, they only participated in the distribution, just like Gravity. Bernard Eisinger and others at Summit Entertainment must be kicking themselves.

The two chatted for quite a while.

Gu Bei then remembered the main purpose of the call: "You were just getting a lot of flak on Weibo, weren't you? Didn't you have any idea about this big battle between 365 and Tencent?"

"No!"

Liu Yifei was also somewhat troubled. "I don't know who leaked my QQ number before. I haven't logged into my QQ number for many years. As for 365, I don't use the phone much, so how could I know what happened between them?"
I really didn't expect that just posting one thing would get me so many insults!

"Things will be fine once this is over!"

Gu Bei offered Liu Yifei a word of comfort.

Liu Yifei was caught in the crossfire!

After banning Zhou Hongyi this time, Tencent was forever branded with shame, but Weibo's brand value also suffered a great loss, a move that hurt the enemy a thousand while damaging itself eighty percent.

Since no one could comment in Zhou Hongyi's Cyber ​​Cemetery, Liu Yifei posted something, which led to her being criticized by some onlookers.

Even Gu Bei couldn't do anything about this situation, since he himself, as the founder of Weibo, was criticized even more harshly.

In contrast,

Liu Yifei also has fans speaking up for her.
Gu Bei may have a lot of fans, but they are basically not very combative. In fact, not many people even follow his account. Instead, he gets criticized much more harshly.

He added with a self-deprecating laugh, "If you're unhappy, you can check my account; it's much quieter over there than mine."

"Hahaha!"

Liu Yifei couldn't help but feel schadenfreude.

(End of this chapter)