Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 306 Wang Zhonglei: Then I'll be begging on my knees?

Huayi, inside the president's office.

"No, Mr. Li, we agreed that the screening ratio of 'Youth' in the first week would not be less than 30%."

"Special circumstances? It's just that 'Better Days' did a bit better in its preview screenings!"

"As Feng Xiaogang's latest masterpiece, 'Youth' already had its world premiere in Toronto a few months ago. Is it really inferior to a film about youthful pain?"

Feng Kuzi, who had been invited to discuss business, shifted uncomfortably as he listened to Wang Zhonglei's increasingly agitated voice on the phone.

He craned his neck to look towards the desk and saw Wang Zhonglei gripping the phone tightly, veins bulging on his forehead, as if he were enduring something...

"What does it mean to reduce the number of screenings? Is it a technical adjustment?"

"Huayi's stock price today is just a technical correction!"

"No, Mr. Li, we had an agreement, hello, hello?"

Wang Zhonglei held the phone, his mouth moved a couple of times, and he cursed quite rudely, but it was unclear who he was cursing.

Seeing him smash the phone back onto the landline, Feng Kuzi, who had been sitting for more than ten minutes, simply got up and walked over.

"Zhonglei, what's wrong?"

"Sigh... it's all about scheduling!"

Wang Zhonglei sighed, took out two cigarettes from the pack, put one in his mouth, and handed one to Feng Kuzi.

As he lit up, he exhaled smoke while venting his frustration: "Li Xiaowen from Jinyi Cinema just called me and said he wants to reduce the screenings of 'Youth' by 5 percentage points from the original schedule. Can you believe it?"

"Who will get the reduction?"

As an insider in the industry, Feng Xiaogang naturally knows that cinemas won't leave screenings empty; if he lowers his own screening schedule, other movies will correspondingly raise theirs.

However, Wang Zhonglei seemed even angrier when this topic came up.

"Who else could it be given to but 'Better Days'?"

"Oh~~"

Feng Kuzi drew out his words, tilted his head slightly, and darted his eyes around, revealing his calculation.

"So it was a movie produced by Mr. Chen's company."

"That's right... Hey? Why are you calling him President Chen? Last time, didn't you say he was disrespectful to his seniors and arrogant?"

Wang Zhonglei stared at him, thinking that this old guy had urged me to teach Chen Xiu a lesson last year, but now he was calling him "President Chen" so affectionately and attentively. Could it be that he had softened and wanted to go and kneel down to Chen Xiu?

Feng Kuzi, perceptive enough to tell from appearances that he had revealed his thoughts too obviously, quickly coughed twice to cover them up.

"Ahem, I just happen to call Chen Xiu 'President Chen' when I chat with others, and I'm used to it. I can't change it all at once."

"Oh, like this."

Wang Zhonglei nodded slightly, feeling that Feng Kuzi's words were not entirely true, and still harbored some suspicion towards him.

Seeing this, Feng Kuzi quickly changed the subject.

"You just said that the screening schedule for 'Youth' was given to 'Better Days'. What exactly happened? Aren't the screening schedules for the first week all predetermined?"

"The distribution contract only specified the minimum number of screenings. Anything beyond that would fluctuate depending on the situation on the day. I really didn't expect that those companies would cut the screenings of 'Youth' based solely on the preview screening results."

"How many? Isn't it just Jinyi?"

"Dadi, Hengdian, Zhongying... cut them all down!"

Wang Zhonglei didn't mention Wanda. Ever since he poached Ye Ning, Huayi's films had received "special treatment" at Wanda Cinemas, so it was best not to bring it up.

Feng Kuzi gritted his teeth, his expression shifting between anger and uncertainty, and asked, "How many screenings of 'Youth' are left?"

"Originally, the overall screening share was over 30%, but now it is estimated to be around 25%."

"This won't do! We have to take action; we can't just sit here and wait to die!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhonglei quickly removed the cigarette from his mouth and moved closer to Feng Kuzi.

"What's the plan? The movie is about to be released, and all the necessary promotion has been done. What else can we do?"

"You are confused!"

Feng Kuzi flicked his cigarette ash with practiced ease, looked at Wang Zhonglei with a sly expression, and hinted, "Isn't 'Better Days' already a prototype? Let's just copy it!"

"Copy it verbatim..."

Wang Zhonglei frowned and muttered it twice, then suddenly widened his eyes and stared intently at Feng Kuzi.

"Are you telling me to do what 'Better Days' did and have 'Youth' promoted on Douyin?"

"Yeah! Isn't it good to promote it on Douyin?"

"Hiss~~, do you even know whose company Douyin is?"

"It's President Chen! Everyone knows about him. That photo from the Dongxin dinner party has been all over the internet."

Feng Kuzi grinned, showing his buck teeth, and chuckled, seemingly oblivious to the inappropriateness of his suggestion.

Wang Zhonglei stared at him and asked, "You want me to find Chen Xiu and ask him to help promote 'Youth' using Douyin's traffic?"

"Yes."

"I have to pay for this data; otherwise, it's useless."

"Yes."

"In other words, I'm going to give money to Chen Xiu and ask him to promote my movie."

"Yes."

"Then I'll be begging on my knees?"

"If you want to say that..."

Feng Kuzi burned his fingers with the cigarette, the pain making him notice Wang Zhonglei's dark face. His voice gradually lowered: "Buying traffic for exposure is really like begging on your knees."

"grass!"

Wang Zhonglei angrily stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, paced around the chair twice, and stopped to face Feng Kuzi directly. "So, according to you, if I don't buy publicity from Chen Xiu to promote my movie, I won't be able to make a living in the film industry!"

"No, Zhonglei, let's keep our business separate and not get agitated."

"Am I excited?"

"I'm not excited, I'm not excited. You always talk like that."

After offering a few words of reassurance, and noticing the bulging veins on Wang Zhonglei's forehead, Feng Kuzi tentatively asked, "I'll say something fair, you shouldn't be angry, right?"

"speak."

"It's about buying traffic for advertising on Douyin. Hey, don't get angry, let me finish."

"..."

Wang Zhonglei nodded, thinking to himself: What's with all this talk of fairness? I bet you're just trying to curry favor with Chen Xiu because he's so powerful. You used that same obsequiousness on Wang Shuo back then. Even Pavlov's dog wasn't as perceptive as you...

Feng Kuzi had no idea what Wang Zhonglei was thinking. He only thought he had hidden it well and that all his suggestions were for the benefit of the film.

"Well, putting aside your personal grudges with Chen... Chen Xiu, as things stand, buying traffic to promote movies on Douyin is indeed effective. Look at 'Better Days,' which is made up of all newcomers, yet it still earned 2400 million yuan in preview screenings. Isn't that all thanks to the traffic brought in by Douyin's promotion?"

"Everyone else is buying traffic to promote the movie. If we don't, our preview screening results will be worse than theirs, our early promotion will lag behind, and our opening week box office may even be poor."

"I'm doing all this for the sake of 'Youth'. After all these years, it's the masterpiece I've put my heart and soul into. It would be such a shame if it flopped because of inadequate promotion."

Even after patiently guiding him to the end, Feng Kuzi didn't forget to elevate his words.

However, Wang Zhonglei, who had already labeled himself a "traitorous ninja," was now unwilling to listen to this sincere advice.

“What you said makes a lot of sense, but the movie will be officially released in a week, so there’s no need to do any more online promotion.”

"The promotion for 'Better Days' was done on Douyin three days before the preview screenings. We still have a week to go, so it will definitely have an effect."

"Even if we want to do promotion, it doesn't have to be Douyin. Kuaishou and Weishi are both short video platforms, so we can buy traffic from them."

"This is different!"

Feng Kuzi looked at Wang Zhonglei with a helpless expression, feeling that he was putting personal matters before public duties and affecting the release of "Youth".

Wang Zhonglei, however, did not think so; on the contrary, he believed that his suggestion made a lot of sense.

"How is it different? We're all making short videos. Other movies go to Douyin for promotion, but all the traffic is snatched up. We go to Kuaishou and Weishi for promotion, doing what these internet companies call differentiated competition."

"No, you."

Feng Kuzi was utterly speechless, thinking to himself, "What are you pretending for, Wang Zhonglei? Do you even understand the internet? Do you think you're Chen Xiu?"
After mentally criticizing Wang Zhonglei, Feng Kuzi still managed a smile and advised, "Zhonglei, I've heard that most people on Kuaishou are from third- or fourth-tier cities and don't watch many movies. Wouldn't it be a waste of money for us to promote our content there?"

"No, Director Feng, what do you know about the internet? Do you think you're Chen Xiu?"

"..."

Feng Kuzi stared wide-eyed at Wang Zhonglei, almost fainting from his words.

Perhaps realizing that his words were inappropriate, Wang Zhonglei coughed twice and said, "Director Feng, you don't need to worry about the film's publicity and distribution. I'll contact the people at Kuaishou and Weishi later to see how to arrange the publicity for 'Youth'."

Seeing that Wang Zhonglei was determined to go against Chen Xiu, Feng Kuzi knew that there was no need to persuade him anymore.

"Fine, then I'll leave it at that."

"now it's right."

Wang Zhonglei glanced at Feng Kuzi, thinking that he still couldn't afford to offend him and that he should appease him.

"The success of 'Better Days' is only due to its promotion and high preview screening results. Once the movie is officially released, its box office performance will definitely be even higher and further."

"That's true."

"Director Feng, then you should think about where to hold the box office celebration party for the movie! Last month, Datang held a celebration party for 'The Unknown' with 8 million yuan in box office revenue. That was petty. If we're going to do something, we should do something with 20 billion or 30 billion yuan, and let them know what a top-tier movie is!"

"Hehe, 30 billion is too much, 20 billion is more like it."

Feng Kuzi looked at Wang Zhonglei with a smug expression; he couldn't possibly lack confidence in his own film.

Wang Zhonglei continued to praise the film for a few more minutes, and then discussed the roadshow locations for "Youth" with Feng Kuzi.

……

December 13th, Wanda CBD store, the premiere of "Better Days".

Ten minutes before the premiere ceremony, the film's main team was resting and preparing in the adjacent theater.

"Boss, is something on your mind?"

"what?"

Chen Xiu looked at Tian Xinwei, who had suddenly come over and said those words to her, with surprise, not understanding what she meant.

Tian Xinwei's bright almond-shaped eyes darted around for a moment before she said, "You've been sitting here for five minutes without moving, and your gaze is a little unfocused. You don't seem to be thinking about anything, so I'm wondering if you have something on your mind."

"You have a very keen eye."

Chen Xiu smiled slightly but did not answer. He had been thinking about Meng Ziyi. Before coming to the premiere, he had already sent Meng Ziyi to the airport.

Seeing the others gathering towards the entrance, Chen Xiu stood up and said to Tian Xinwei, "Shouldn't we go in?"

Yes! Right away.

"Let's go then."

"Hey, if you're in a bad mood, I can eat with you!"

Chen Xiu suddenly turned around, her surprise even greater than before.

Tian Xinwei shrugged: "Don't misunderstand, I heard that there's usually a meal after the premiere. When I said I'd accompany you, I meant eating at the dinner party."

"Thanks."

After saying that, Chen Xiu walked straight towards the door.

Tian Xinwei pursed her lips as she followed behind him, then quickly caught up.

(End of this chapter)