Chinese entertainment industry has been booming since 2008.

In a cinema in Chaoyang District, Beijing, the 9 a.m. screening of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" was 70% full.

The audience consisted mostly of young people in their early twenties, whose faces still held a youthful innocence.

The duty manager stared at the ticketing system data in astonishment, muttering to himself, "Zhang Yang and Liu Yifei's influence is simply incredible."

By noon, the situation was even more astonishing. All screenings of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" arranged by major cinemas in first-tier cities were sold out, while the occupancy rate of "Chasing the Shadow" at the same time was only 25%.

"Manager, many audience members are asking if we can add more screenings of 'You Are the Apple of My Eye'."

Faced with feedback from the ticket office, the manager could only pick up the phone and call his superiors. At the same time, online movie reviews began to appear sporadically.

"Huayi is putting a lot of pressure on us. We definitely can't move today. We'll see how things go tomorrow."

In response, the theater manager could only tell the ticket counters to continue pretending to be dead.

Zhang Yang and Liu Yifei and others went on a roadshow after roadshow, which made those cinemas with few screenings want to cry. They could have made money, but they could only watch helplessly. They were so sad and disappointed.

At 5 p.m. that day, the first non-prime evening screening of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" was 100% full.

At 7 p.m., the occupancy rate of the prime screening of "Chasing Shadows" was 35%, while tickets for "You Are the Apple of My Eye" in a corner theater at the same time were hard to come by.

Not only were tickets for prime-time screenings hard to come by, but even tickets for late-night screenings after 9 p.m. were in high demand!

By this time, after a day, quite a few people had watched the movie, and those who had finished watching began to frantically make their presence felt online.

"You Are the Apple of My Eye is so good! I cried so much! Why are there so few screenings?!"

"Please, theaters, give 'You Are the Apple of My Eye' more screenings! I can't even get tickets for a good time to see it again!"

"What is 'Chasing Shadows'? The plot is terrible, it was a waste of my money, I regret not listening to my friend and watching 'You Are the Apple of My Eye'!"

The word-of-mouth for "You Are the Apple of My Eye" spread so widely that even with paid commenters trying to control the comments, it couldn't completely stop the enthusiastic support from netizens.

.....

In the early hours of July 31, the data departments of major cinema chains were brightly lit.

A Wanda Cinema data analyst pointed at the screen, looking shocked, and said, "An occupancy rate of 98.7% and an average attendance of over 100 per screening—these figures are terrifying."

The theater manager made a decisive decision: "Immediately adjust the screening schedule and move the screenings of 'Chasing the Shadow' to 'You Are the Apple of My Eye'."

Similar scenes are playing out across the country, with cinema chains such as Stellar Cinemas, Dadi Cinemas, and Hengdian Cinemas adjusting their film schedules.

After all, capital always chases profits, and in the face of astonishing attendance, any personal relationships seem pale and powerless.

...

At noon on July 31, the box office data was released. "You Are the Apple of My Eye" raked in 45 million yuan with a 10% screening rate, directly overtaking "Overheard" to become the champion of the daily box office chart.

There is no doubt that "You Are the Apple of My Eye" was a success, and it is on the verge of becoming a huge hit.

As for "Chasing the Shadow," it only grossed 300 million at the box office. Yes, you read that right, only 300 million. It flopped.

This data was wildly reposted by Zhang Yang and Liu Yifei's fans and the media, while Huayi's rivals subtly mocked Huayi.

After all, the investment in "Chasing the Shadow" was 2000 million, while the production cost of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" was less than 1000 million.

The male lead of "Chasing the Shadow" is Wu Zhenyu, a veteran Hong Kong star known for his fiery temper. Wu Zhenyu is also the director of the film.

The male lead in "You Are the Apple of My Eye" is Zhang Yang, a newcomer to the film industry. Similarly, Zhang Yang is also the director of the film.

In comparison, "Chasing the Shadow" is the clear winner.

The female lead in "Chasing the Shadow" is Taiwanese actress Pace Wu, while the female lead in "You Are the Apple of My Eye" is box office poison Liu Yifei; the two are equally bad.

In terms of production costs, lead actors, and crew, "Chasing the Shadows" is far superior to "You Are the Apple of My Eye" in every aspect.

But what was the final result?

"You Are the Apple of My Eye" grossed 4500 million yuan at the box office with less than one-third the number of screenings of "Chasing the Shadow".

And what about "Chasing the Shadow"? Its opening day box office couldn't even match the last few cents of "You Are the Apple of My Eye".

As long as you're not just blindly criticizing, you can easily tell which movie is more successful!

So, after the data spread on the first day, netizens who hadn't yet seen "You Are the Apple of My Eye" were bewildered. What happened to the boycott?!

Netizens who went to see "You Are the Apple of My Eye" were also confused. What happened to Zhang Yang's terrible acting?!

Zhang Yang's fans, on the other hand, redeemed themselves and rallied online again.

Before the movie's release, the online reaction was overwhelmingly negative.

Zhang Yang's fans are struggling to stay afloat, it's a truly heartbreaking situation.

At the same time, they were also unsure of themselves. After all, Zhang Yang's acting in "My Love from the Star" was indeed not very good, and "You Are the Apple of My Eye" was Zhang Yang's first film as both director and actor. This made Zhang Yang's fans feel unsure of themselves when arguing with his haters online!

Fortunately, Zhang Yang did not disappoint them this time.

Ko Ching-teng's performance in "You Are the Apple of My Eye" was so convincing and unbelievable; he could completely transform his acting for any role.

Therefore, after watching the movie, they were full of confidence!

"My son Zhang Yang's acting skills aren't that great; he just brought Ke Jingteng to life and made him look absolutely brilliant!"

"Oh dear, Professor Li, how could you say that? Not only can you write songs, but you also sing so well. And not only that, you can produce singles. You're a jack-of-all-trades in music, and your acting is outstanding too. How are people going to criticize you now?"

"No one can be too perfect, or they will easily attract jealousy."

"Yes, let's quickly post a few more negative comments, coordinate our statements, and say that Zhang Yang's acting was terrible, extremely terrible!!"

"It's terrible, only slightly worse than an award-winning actor!!"

Zhang Yang's fans are everywhere in Versailles.

The haters who had previously looked down on Zhang Yang were furious.

However, some casual netizens were intrigued.

How well did Zhang Yang perform?

Was it a collaboration between the "You Are the Apple of My Eye" production team and Zhang Yang's fans, or has his acting truly undergone a qualitative leap?

Influenced by online public opinion, some netizens who were not originally very interested in "You Are the Apple of My Eye" went to the cinema out of curiosity.

As a result, the box office of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" reached a new high on the second day, soaring to 60 million yuan and winning the daily box office champion again. The box office exceeded 100 million yuan in just two days.

.....

Huayi, Wang Xiaoer's office.

Wang Xiaoer, his face ashen, gripped his phone and listened to the explanation on the other end.

"Mr. Wang, it's not that I don't want to help, but 'You Are the Apple of My Eye' had almost 100% occupancy. Audiences specifically requested it, and tickets sold out in seconds! 'Chasing the Shadow' has so many empty seats, I can't keep holding back!"

Wang Xiaoer hung up the phone with a livid face and dialed another number. The result was the same: he was sorry and said that they really had no choice but to add more screenings, otherwise the audience might smash up the movie theater.

boom!

Wang Xiaoer slammed his phone to the ground.

"Zhang Yang, I'll fucking kill you! I'll make you pay with my life sooner or later!"