Huayu: Are you even sitting up straight? You're going to be the director?

Chapter 66 Are you an eagle?!

Hear the words.

Han Sanpin remained silent.

Cao Zhong is too arrogant.

"You're my only way out?"

After hanging up the phone, Han Sanpin decided he wasn't going to chat with Cao Zhong anymore. Exciting!

But it's meaningless.

Arrogance is a good thing, but with movies, it's hard to say.

Movies that receive good reviews online are not necessarily box office hits.

A movie that grosses a lot at the box office isn't necessarily a good movie.

Han Sanpin suddenly thought of Chen Kaige, the great director he had always supported, and couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken.

A great director was stunned by the criticism from the audience.

This is a great loss for him.

Therefore, in order to revive the Chinese film industry, he invested in "The Warlords" and "Red Cliff" this year, selected directors from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and both have already started filming.

……

Yun Chencheng and Jia Zhangke are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to watch the movie.

In fact, the prelude to the war initiated by Cao Zhong had already become the focus of attention for many unknown people by taking advantage of the commemoration of the "70th anniversary of the death of the compatriots" and the "70th anniversary of the July 7th Incident".

China Film Group's propaganda is on television, not in the public sphere.

Meanwhile, many viewers in front of the television do not enjoy arguing online at all.

Some of them remain silent, do not pay attention to online trends, and rarely go online to argue about meaningless things.

But in their hearts, there is a scale.

For movies like this, especially those with good promotion, I'll always go and lend a hand.

This is the most basic moral value of the Chinese people.

For example, in Lushun, Dalian, Liaoning, a middle school held a themed event this year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan. The activity chosen by these students was to watch a movie directed by Cao Zhong.

What Nanjing has experienced is something many cities have gone through.

This is one of the best options for summer themed activities.

Balancing the need for a group-based activity with personal choice, all the students opted to go to the cinema.

Similarly, many high school students and college students have become the main audience for movies.

Of course, those liberal arts students from specific schools who mocked Yun Chencheng are not included in this category; they are simply waiting for online comments before launching their mockery.

……

Some of Jia Zhangke's supporters, as well as those who had joined the criticism of Cao Zhong online early on, also bought tickets.

I don't know the movie's plot, so it's not appropriate to criticize it!

It appears to lack objectivity and neutrality.

They are good at making judgments and narrating from an objective perspective, but if they make baseless claims without watching the movie, they will naturally not gain more recognition from netizens.

Therefore, this batch of films also contributed to the box office success of "Nanjing Photo Studio".

They prepared keywords well in advance while watching the movie.

"Curiosity, gore, incitement of hatred, hemophobia..."

However, such scenes are very restrained in movies and rarely appear.

This gave the group a bit of a shock.

……

Jinan, at the entrance of the Youth Palace Cinema.

"Do you want a ticket? This is a movie voucher, it's cheaper than a movie ticket."

As soon as an audience member buys a ticket, scalpers will swarm around and try to sell it.

"How much cheaper?" someone asked with a shrewd look in their eyes.

"I can offer you a 5 yuan discount."

"I can offer you an 8 yuan discount." Then other people came to steal the business.

Tickets for "Nanjing Photo Studio" in cinemas cost around 43 yuan, but if you buy vouchers from scalpers, each ticket can be 5-10 yuan cheaper.

These ticket scalpers had started buying up large quantities of vouchers at low prices as early as two weeks ago.

In traditional cinemas across the country, there are many ticket scalpers who make a fortune by reselling movie vouchers.

Movie vouchers are often company-issued benefits, and many people sell them even if they don't actually watch the movie, giving scalpers an opportunity.

These box office figures will also be included in the final box office statistics.

What surprised the scalpers was that

The scalped tickets for "Nanjing Photo Studio" were not many, but they sold out quickly.

By 2 p.m., all the scalped tickets had sold out.

Therefore, they had to contact their organization to continue requesting vouchers.

Previously, there had been instances of ticket scalpers fighting and undercutting each other to compete for customers.

But this time, it's different.

The ducks are the first to know when the river warms in spring.
Ticket scalpers were among the first to keenly observe certain things.

"Even if Nanjing Photo Studio doesn't try to lower the price, these tickets seem to be selling out pretty quickly..."

This discovery took them by surprise.

It's Wednesday, after all.

Is it because today is the anniversary of Japan's surrender?

Why are there so many people watching a movie with a script?
Thinking about this, some scalpers became even more indignant. Why didn't you release such a profitable movie earlier? Did you think it was too late for the summer season?
Wouldn't August 6th or August 9th be better?

Your movie sells so well, you should release it sooner!

Let's start a fucking movie nuclear war!
Scalpers know best that tickets for this movie are selling out even faster than tickets for "Golden Milk" last year!

……

After the movie ended, the discussion on Tianya Forum immediately became heated and very lively.

"Has anyone gone to see Cao Zhong's movie? Holy crap, 'Nanjing Photo Studio' has a really strong aftereffect!"

"When I went to the cinema, I found a lot of people there. What kind of movie is this? It's so distorted and cruel, and they still say it's not profiting from the national crisis? That's a bit outrageous. Can a radical youth really influence the film industry?"

"The person upstairs is an idiot, no need to judge." "Whether you're a pro-government commentator or an angry young man, you can argue all you want. Cao Zhong's movie is great. Whether it's the pacing, the plot twists, or the emotional impact, it's unparalleled among domestic films."

"Cao Zhong will definitely suffer the consequences. 'Patriotic food' will shorten one's life."

"Does that mean patriots don't deserve to eat, but those who hate their country can? I can't stand your rhetoric. If a movie is good, say it's good; if it's bad, say it's bad. You talk too much."

"I'm just an ordinary person in society. I don't even earn much money. Is it necessary for me to spend almost fifty yuan to pay attention to a movie that uses patriotism as a pretext to trick me into buying a ticket?"

"Although I don't know what's wrong with what the person upstairs is saying, something just feels off. You either say you're an ordinary person, or you say you're a middle-aged person who has entered society. What does it mean to be an ordinary person in society?"

"I just went to see a movie this afternoon. Putting everything else aside, I feel that as a Chinese person, it's hard to remain unmoved after watching this movie, whether the emotion is numbness, grief, or anger."

……

The arguments on Tianya Forum were just a small part of the situation on the day "Nanjing Photo Studio" was released.

The battles on blogs and forums have long been extremely heated.

The release of the film now merely reignites this existing hype, only to scorch the entire sky in the process.
In the evening, both sides, those who supported and opposed Cao Zhong, continued their verbal battles after work, buying tickets, watching the movie, and writing reviews, all preparing to stand on the moral high ground and bombard the enemy.

For several months in a row, many people had already gotten really angry.

They won't stop until they've beaten the other person to a pulp.

The main cast and crew of "Nanjing Photo Studio" also began to conduct promotional tours in various places according to Cao Zhong's arrangements, trying to attract fans by leveraging the star effect, and then expanding the promotion through fans to form a virtuous cycle.

……

Cao Zhong was waiting.

He sat for a whole day at the nearest movie theater.

He has done everything he was supposed to do.

In terms of bombardment, he has already launched his own.

When it comes to promoting movies, he's not as good as the actors.

So he is also counting the number of people who come to watch the movie.

Cao Zhong believes that expectations for this film are above 200 million.

In its previous life, in 2010, China had 5500 movie screens, and "Aftershock" grossed 6.7 million yuan.

In this life, Cao Zhong stirred up even more controversy in public opinion.

Cao Zhong believes that the reach of "Nanjing Photo Studio" should be wider than that of "Aftershock".

With over 3600 screens and no strong competitors, Cao Zhong is confident in this.

His eyes proved it all.

Back home, Cao Zhong felt a little relieved and went to sleep.

He was also very tired that day.

Constantly monitoring crowds and recording the number of people leads to mental stress.

Constantly checking online comments also caused him eye pain.

Cao Zhong slept until 10 a.m.

The next day, as soon as I woke up, I saw countless phone calls coming in.

Just as I picked up my phone, Zhao Haicheng called again.

Press the button to answer the call.

"Director Cao, the opening day box office figures are in," the other person said, clearly very excited. "Guess how much the opening day box office was?"

He didn't even ask Cao Zhong why he didn't answer the phone, but instead shared this absolutely wonderful news first.

He also made a point of turning on the hands-free mode because Han Sanpin was standing right next to him.

"I'm a child, why would I guess?"

Cao Zhong said something indifferent, which made Zhao Haicheng feel slightly awkward.

He could only proactively announce: "It's a blockbuster! The box office is a huge success!"

Zhao Haicheng shared a series of numbers:

"Beijing New Film Union's box office reached 564 million yuan, while Xingmei and Huaying South each had more than 2 million yuan. Guangzhou Feiyang Cinema had 870,000 yuan, and Shanghai United Cinemas had 386 million yuan. In total, the daily box office reached 1748 million yuan!"

Zhao Haicheng's face was flushed with excitement; they had only just received these compiled figures.

However, the individual reports from the cinemas were gradually compiled starting in the morning.

So he made many phone calls to Cao Zhong, wanting to share his experiences.
But what those phone calls wanted to say was far less impactful than this number.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

Han Sanpin's face also showed surprise. Although this kid was a bit arrogant, he probably didn't expect to get this number. Han Sanpin liked Cao Zhong's silent reaction.

He could already picture the scene on the other end of the phone.
The little eagle was most likely also dumbfounded, its limbs stiff.

Just now, Han Sanpin couldn't hold back in front of Zhao Haicheng.

That's the kind of shocked expression on his face.

Han Sanpin needs to keep a straight face. As the head of China Film Group, he also wants to share the box office with Cao Zhong, but he needs to restrain himself, be reserved, and appear calm.

This is more in line with his persona as a sect leader who remains calm even when Mount Tai collapses before him.

However, only a few seconds passed.

Cao Zhong responded.

"Well, that's expected."

Four very ordinary words.

Zhao Haicheng was stunned.

What kind of development is this?
His eyes turned to Han Sanpin, surprised.
Why isn't Director Cao excited at all?

"Chirp!"

Upon seeing Zhao Haicheng's gaze, Han Sanpin's blood pressure spiked, and a surge of blood rushed to the top of his head.

So able to pretend?

Can you really hold your nerve?

You're only twenty years old, aren't you?