Nobody knows movies better than me

Chapter 77 was a huge hit in its first week.

If the previous word-of-mouth promotion by the media couldn't sway some viewers, then after the opening day, those who had seen the film spontaneously became "word-of-mouth advocates," contributing to the film's box office growth.

Many people were recommended it by friends, classmates, and family, and many viewers who had already seen it went to see it again, this time bringing a few more people with them.

Most viewers who have seen the film rave about it, though of course there are some who don't like it, but the percentage of those who don't is very small.

After achieving great success on Qixi Festival, "About Time" dominated the weekend movie market, earning 765 million yuan in box office revenue on Friday, once again shocking the media and industry.

Leaving aside the media, let's talk about those in the film and television industry, especially those who are directors and make movies.

They were all puzzled by one thing: why would a young person who was not a director and whose parents were not famous directors or involved in the film industry make a box office hit?

You're talking about Zhang Yimou, who at least graduated from the Cinematography Department of Beijing Film Academy. Chen Gezi's father, on the other hand, was a highly respected veteran artist.

Even Lu Chuan, who was previously compared to Zhang Jun, has family ties to the arts and culture scene, and she herself is a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy with a master's degree.

Zhang Jun, however, had no family connections and no background in the arts. Although he claimed to have obtained the investment by deceiving his classmate, he repaid his classmate's trust with solid box office returns.

Such people can achieve success, yet their works keep failing, and many more don't even get a chance.

So, out of curiosity, many people went to the cinema to see "About Time".

Even with a biased perspective, these people have to admit that the popularity of "About Time" is indeed well-deserved.

Ordinary viewers don't care about those things; they just know the movie was good and they didn't waste their ticket price, and that's enough for them.

As a result, "About Time" earned another 1035 million yuan at the box office on Saturday, and although it dropped slightly on Sunday, it still earned 858 million yuan.

On Monday morning of the following week, YTV6's special program "China Film Box Office Ranking" informed viewers of the news.

"The romantic comedy film 'About Time,' which premiered last Thursday on Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day), dominated the box office, earning 3188 million yuan in its first four days and driving up the overall market. Please see the detailed report below ————"

Media outlets and newspapers, especially those related to entertainment, all reported on the huge box office success of "About Time".

This is indeed a bit frightening. A movie without a big-name director or big-name Hong Kong actors actually grossed more than 30 million in its opening week.

It's important to know that these days, many movies don't even reach 30 million in total box office revenue, and it's very difficult for them to even break 10 million.

Everyone is analyzing and exploring the reasons behind it, wanting to see what exactly made "About Time" successful so they can learn from and draw inspiration from it.

The entertainment section of the Beijing Youth Daily stated: "We can observe from the cinemas that the majority of those who went to see the movie 'About Time' were young people."

The 16-25 age group, in particular, accounts for a large proportion.

Therefore, the success of "About Time" is largely due to its popularity among young people.

The Southern Metropolis Daily commented on the film's quality: "After watching the premiere, I predicted that this film would be a great success at the box office."

In my opinion, the success of "About Time" is due to its telling of a touching love story.

In addition, the film is emotionally rich, the characters are well-developed, and the composition of the scenes is beautiful.

This is a rare genre in Chinese-language films, and Zhang Jun has proven his proficiency in romantic comedies and heartwarming family comedies.

The media is paying attention, and directors in the industry are also taking notice.

When Zhang Yimou was promoting his new movie "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles", he was asked about this by reporters.

He said, "I haven't seen the movie yet, but I've heard from friends who have seen it that it's really, really great."

I am very happy, this proves that our Chinese-language films have successors, and I hope everyone will support Chinese-language films more.

While Chen Gezi was busy promoting "The Promise," she was also asked about it by reporters. Surprisingly, Chen Gezi had actually seen the film: "My wife and I both saw it, and she really liked it."

Chen Gezi said, "However, I still have a few points to make. This movie is great, but it could be even better."

Firstly, there's the issue of character development; Chen Kun's character could have been developed in more depth. Secondly, there's the problem of time travel abilities; I think the various time travels felt somewhat minor and ineffective.

Overall, however, this is still a movie worth seeing in theaters.

Zhang Jun accepted Zhang Yi's formulaic compliments with a smile, but felt somewhat helpless when he saw Chen Gezi's compliments.

You can praise someone all you want, but you deliberately pick out a few flaws to show off your abilities and demonstrate your seniority.

Most importantly, Zhang Jun couldn't refuse this favor. Because the person was a senior, praising him was a sign of respect.

In the film and television industry, where seniority and factionalism are prevalent, disrespecting a senior is a major taboo unless they are deliberately trying to make things difficult for you.

What can Zhang Jun do? Could it be that Chen Gezi's praise was inappropriate?

He could only accept it with tears in his eyes, and he would still have to go and support Chen Gezi's "The Promise" and use his fame to help "The Promise" lure the audience into the cinema.

He's quite popular right now, and with his latest movie showing high box office numbers, he's generating a lot of buzz.

The one who was truly unhappy wasn't Zhang Jun, after all, his new movie was a box office hit. Although there were one or two people who were annoyed, he was generally happy. The one who was most unhappy was actually Lu Chuan.

He was initially quite pleased with himself, as his film "Kekexili" received six nominations at the 25th Golden Rooster Awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Dobujie), Best Cinematography (Cao Yu), and Best Original Score.

With so many nominations, he should be able to win one or two!

Regardless of how this film came about, winning an award proves that he is still a leading figure among the younger generation of directors.

In contrast, Zhang Jun's "Little Miss Sunshine" only received a nomination for Best Directorial Debut, and it's not even certain that he will win.

He had heard that the award had already been decided in advance. But the judges were hesitant because not awarding the prize to Zhang Jun might raise questions.

Of course, the Golden Rooster Awards have been questioned more than once or twice, and they don't seem to care much.

Therefore, Zhang Jun will definitely not win the award in the end; it will belong to the person who was predetermined to receive it.

Zhang Jun didn't seem very enthusiastic either, and he didn't go out for meals or socialize with the judges. Lu Chuan felt that his directing career was over; you can't get by in the entertainment industry without connections!

Unexpectedly, Zhang Jun's new film "About Time" grossed over 3000 million yuan in its opening week.

Suddenly, all of Lu Chuan's local culture and network of connections lost their persuasiveness in the face of naked box office success.

We live in a commercial society, the era of commercial films. Do you really think you can achieve such high box office numbers just by relying on connections and influence?

These days, making money is the only thing that matters in movies.

Fortunately, Weibo doesn't exist yet, and reporters wouldn't bother interviewing Lu Chuan for no reason, so he didn't have a chance to make any outrageous remarks.

Otherwise, if he mocks "About Time" and then the movie becomes a huge hit, he'll probably lose face.

Zhang Jun didn't care much about awards. When he heard that the Golden Rooster Awards only gave him an award for his directorial debut, he wasn't even interested in participating.

However, the funniest thing wasn't the Golden Rooster Awards, but the Huabiao Awards. "Little Miss Sunshine" was nominated for Outstanding Children's Film, and Qi Ruyi was also nominated for Best Child Actress.

At first glance, something seems a bit off. After all, what children's or kids' movie can gross over 40 million at the box office? We've never seen anything like it in this era.

But upon closer reflection, it makes perfect sense, since the film's lead actor is indeed a child, and it tells the story of a child's journey to pursue their dreams.

However, its overly mature and intellectually sophisticated style often makes people overlook this fact.

The Huabiao Awards didn't forget this characteristic, so they gave a nomination for Outstanding Children's Film and also gave Zhang Jun a nomination for Outstanding Director.

After all, the fact that Zhang Jun can make such great children's films truly proves that he is very talented.

Zhang Jun definitely needs to participate in this award. Unlike the Golden Rooster Awards, the Huabiao Awards are government awards. He can ignore the Golden Rooster Awards, but he can't afford to skip the Huabiao Awards.

The screening period for "About Time" is still quite long, and Zhang Jun has continued to travel to several stops for promotional tours with Chen Kun, Gao Yuanyuan, Fan Bingbing, and others to continue promoting the film.

As the movie became a hit, their promotional tour also became very popular, with enthusiastic fans in large numbers.

As the roadshow expanded, various photos and videos from the event began circulating online, and Zhang Jun's handsome face once again sparked heated discussions.

"Which one is the director?"

"The one standing on the side, the most handsome one, is him."

"Isn't Chen Kun the most handsome?"

"Bullshit, I think he's not as good as the director. By the way, why doesn't Director Zhang act himself? I feel he'd be perfect for the lead role."

During the roadshow, an audience member actually asked this question.

Zhang Jun's answer was the same old one: "Compared to performing on stage, I personally prefer to be in control behind the scenes. Of course, sometimes when the mood strikes, I'm open to making a cameo appearance."

The male actors breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, Director Zhang didn't want to be an actor, otherwise they would have had one less opportunity.

Another thing worth mentioning is the issue of piracy. In fact, pirated copies of "About Time" appeared online as early as the second day after its release.

However, compared to the theatrical version, the picture quality is not as good, and there is a lot of background noise.

But for viewers who don't want to spend money to go to the cinema, this drawback isn't a drawback, and they can tolerate watching it.

Moreover, "About Time" is indeed good, and some people won't find the picture quality and background noise bothersome after watching it.

Piracy has always been a destroyer of the film and even the entertainment industry, but there are almost no effective ways to control it, and we can only rely on the audience's self-discipline.

Therefore, neither China Film Group nor Zhang Jun cared too much about this issue.

Ye Xiaoyi was the only one who was indignant about piracy. She wanted to fight against piracy, but Zhang Jun persuaded her to stay.

With the plot of "About Time" already set in stone, Ye Xiaoyi also finalized her plans to study abroad. She wasn't going to USC, but rather UCLA, which also offers a film program.

It has a higher QS ranking and is closer to Hollywood.

It seems that Zhang Jun has fully ignited her ambition, and she is determined to make a name for herself in the movie theater industry.