I really don't want to make bad movies!

The massive fan base flocked to theaters on the opening day, causing the popularity of "Atlantic Rim 2" to skyrocket!

After completing the first day of fan-circle promotion, Atlantic Rim 2 went all out and began a comprehensive, blanket promotion campaign.

The popularity of "Atlantic Rim 2" instantly overshadowed the overlooked gems of the Spring Festival season, and even secured a 20% screening rate in some cinemas.

Early in the morning, Xia Ming was invited to the conference room at Tencent Video's headquarters by a phone call from He Junyan.

The meeting room was not only filled with executives from Tencent Video, but also with representatives from all the investors of the "Atlantic Rim 2" production team.

Produced by Marco, with Hu Jia, Marketing Operations Director of Kiwi, and Ye Heng, Investment Director of the Publicity and Marketing Department of QuanQuan platform.

Everyone gathered for one thing—to pop the champagne!

Box office exceeded 100 million on opening day!

It opened with a 9.0 rating!

This is simply a miracle!

How could a film that went through bankruptcy restructuring and had an actual shooting time of less than half a month achieve such success?!

The investors present were all deeply moved.

"If this trend continues, our market share will likely exceed 30%, and the final box office revenue might reach 300 to 400 million?"

He Junyan projected a PowerPoint presentation showing the box office curves of "Atlantic Rim 2" in various regions, along with future box office predictions.

Everyone knows that this movie is of terrible quality, so Xia Ming deserves a lot of credit for its success.

"Releasing the film on Valentine's Day, leveraging the popularity of 'Pacific Rim 2,' and employing a strategy of precise promotion by fan groups for the premiere—it's the most ingenious tactic I've ever seen in all my years in the industry!"

Releasing a film on Valentine's Day is standard practice, but the precise promotion within the fan community is something that not everyone can do.

By leveraging the purchasing power and blind following of mindless fan groups, the film's opening day box office was inflated, thereby increasing its screening rate and maintaining an opening rating of 9.0, attracting even more uninformed casual viewers.

Wow, that's brilliant!

He Junyan was in a great mood as he looked at the chart showing all green lines.

If everything goes as expected, Tengzi, with its investment of 36 million, will definitely be able to double its money.

"Mr. He, I don't think the box office will reach 300 million."

Xia Ming glanced at the data materials on the table, his tone somewhat indifferent.

The data was even worse than he had expected.

"Can't get there?"

"With over 100 million yuan in box office revenue on its opening day and a 9.0 rating, it should naturally surpass 300 million yuan in box office revenue within a week, right?"

"These are all bubbles. Today the box office is over 100 million, but tomorrow it may not even reach 20 million." Xia Ming shook his head. "Those who participate in the rating are all extreme fans. Once ordinary fans and passersby join in, the rating will plummet rapidly."

"If the box office on the opening day does not reach 200 million, it will be difficult to raise it to 300 million later."

"When box office revenue plummets, our screening rate will also drop rapidly. Coupled with the pressure of word-of-mouth, we may be pulled from theaters in less than half a month."

Wang Yuan and Ju Jingyi's extreme fans helped him create a bubble in box office and reputation, but this bubble was far less huge than imagined.

Xia Ming looked at the group of investors present with a serious expression.

"Moreover, I'm facing a very harsh round of negative reviews, which will definitely affect the box office."

With 300 million in box office revenue, everyone can barely make a profit.

If it's less than 300 million, then everyone will lose money.

The last thing investors want to hear is "losing money," and everyone's brow furrows involuntarily.

"Does Director Xia mean we'll lose money?" He Junyan narrowed his eyes, his voice suddenly dropping several notches.

Xia Ming clasped his hands together and looked around at everyone present.

If we don't make the director's cut special effects shots, Atlantic Rim 2 actually only cost around eight million dollars, with most of the money spent on marketing and promotion.

An investment of eight million yielded a return of one hundred million. Even after deducting the ten million yuan paid to Wang Yuan as a film actor, this was still a film with an astonishing return on investment.

At this point, cutting out the director's cut meant all the budget was returned to its original source, making the film a huge financial success.

However, this won't earn you a good reputation!

He wants both box office success and critical acclaim!

In order to continue making director's cuts, he needs to generate more box office revenue.

After a moment of silence, Xia Ming slowly spoke: "I have one more move..."

……

Weibo.

The hashtags for Wang Yuan and Ju Jingyi have been exceptionally lively these past two days.

One of the biggest dreams of these idol-turned-stars is to play the lead role in a theatrical film.

Although the quality of this movie is somewhat appalling, core fans still tirelessly edit the scenes featuring celebrities and share them in the fan community.

When dissenting voices emerge in other parts of Weibo, they will report and complain in one fell swoop, overturning all comments that are unfavorable to their masters.

"Doesn't anyone think this director named Xia Ming is completely incompetent? He made my brother look so ugly!"

"Does anyone have Xia Ming's Weibo account? I want to go to his profile and tear him apart!"

"The other side is disgusting too. They drew something all green and tried to piggyback on my brother's fame. How nauseating!"

There's basically nothing to talk about in the movie, so fans in the supertopic will steer the conversation towards other people, completely ignoring Wang Yuan's own flaws.

At this moment, a post from a level 20 core fan was quickly pushed to the top.

Only Love Tangyuan: [Sisters, our rivals are saying the entire movie's box office was contributed by their Tangerines! If this movie didn't have Wang Yuan, it would have grossed at least 300 million!!!]

[LOL, that old woman from the rival company can't possibly attract any box office revenue. Are people going to see it because of her a fetish for ugly women?]

[I watched it once on opening day, and then again in the early morning. Can you really say our fans didn't contribute to the box office?]

A level 20 account named "Only Love Tangyuan" posted several screenshots of posts from the Ju Jingyi supertopic next door.

In the post, a legendary account named "Miju Xiaoliang" made a public statement, saying, "Wang Yuan's cow-like mooing and his eye-searing appearance ruined this movie and ended Ju Jingyi's movie career."

That tangerine-loving Liang somehow got the information that Ju Jingyi didn't ask for a salary to participate in this drama, and was only aiming for awards, while Wang Yuan asked for a whopping tens of millions of yuan in salary, which took up most of the budget.

It was Wang Yuan's domineering behavior that strained the film's special effects budget, ultimately leading to its abandonment.

Miju Xiaoliang also posted dozens of comments defaming Wang Yuan, and showed off several movie tickets, claiming that everyone went to support Ju Jingyi, but ended up being fed a mouthful of shit by Wang Yuan.

Several posts by "Miju Xiaoliang" instantly ignited Wang Yuan's super topic, attracting tens of thousands of reposts in just one hour.

At this point, Wei Ai Tangyuan forwarded another link, which, when clicked, turned out to be the official Weibo account of "Atlantic Rim 2".

The official Weibo account only has one post, which is a popularity poll for the two lead actors.

"Between Wang Yuan and Ju Jingyi, who is the rising star in the film industry?"

The official Weibo post was intended to support two newcomers in the film industry, but a comment from Miju Xiaoliang instantly ignited a war between the two sides!

Miju Xiaoliang: [Judging from their contribution to the box office, Ju Jingyi clearly outperforms Wang Yuan. I won't comment on who's just a side character.]

This post was followed by tens of thousands of comments, each of which included screenshots of people buying tickets to support Ju Jingyi at the cinema.

Miju Xiaoliang is a top-tier fan and a key figure in the super topic. His comments naturally garnered support from all the super topic fans, who joined in by posting their votes.

Moreover, Xiao Liang's comments also explained why this movie was so bad—because Wang Yuan's salary was too high, which affected the film's production!

Ju Jingyi didn't ask for a salary and made such a big sacrifice in the movie, while Wang Yuan earned tens of millions just by singing in thermal underwear. Why?

Wang Yuan's fans were not to be outdone. Led by a level 20 fan named "Only Love Tangyuan," they followed suit by posting their tickets online to show their support for their idol.

A fan war erupted under the official Weibo account of "Atlantic Rim 2", accumulating hundreds of thousands of comments in a short period of time.

From simple verbal attacks to violent mudslinging, it eventually turned into an economic war of box office competition.

Whichever fanbase brings in more box office revenue for "Atlantic Rim 2" will make their idol a rising star in the film industry!

On Ju Jingyi's side, a fan just booked out a theater and staged a ghost movie.

On the other hand, Wang Yuan's wealthy female fans booked out an entire theater, taking home all the box office revenue for "Atlantic Rim 2" for the day.

Nobody cares what kind of movie Atlantic Rim 2 is.

They only want to win the fan war.

The cinemas didn't care about all that. Seeing that "Atlantic Rim 2" was making money, they naturally increased the number of screenings, allowing the two fan groups to buy tickets to their heart's content.

By the end of the third day, "Atlantic Rim 2" had already surpassed 400 million in box office revenue!

The average screening rate of major cinemas is close to 30%, but the occupancy rate is less than 5%!

They're all ghosts!

……

"Four hundred million! Four hundred million!"

At Tengzi Video's headquarters, the head of marketing operations rushed into He Junyan's office with the financial report, beaming with excitement.

He Junyan took the report and couldn't hide his smile any longer.

With a box office of 400 million, they invested 36 million and took 18% of the revenue, which meant they had already earned more than 70 million.

The movie is still showing, and it should earn at least another ten or twenty million.

With an investment cycle of less than two months and a return of at least 300%, is there any business in the world that makes money faster than this?

He Junyan couldn't help but put his legs up on the desk and muttered to himself, "Making movies is great, I have to make movies."

He held the X Theater plan that Xia Ming had left behind in his hand and carefully flipped through it with great interest.

He's set his sights on Xia Ming, seeing him as a cash cow!

The same situation occurred in the offices of various investor representatives.

They were closely monitoring the situation of "Atlantic Rim 2" and received news almost simultaneously that the box office had surpassed 400 million.

Marco is a personal investor and his emotions are relatively calm.

He thought Xia Ming's abilities would be enough to cover costs, but he never expected him to make so much money!

Ye Heng achieved another outstanding result right after being promoted to supervisor, injecting a large amount of fresh blood into the company's cash flow.

Moreover, the appearance of the Circle platform in the main plot of the movie, although it brought a lot of criticism, also had a real promotional effect.

As long as Ye Heng doesn't make any mistakes in his supervisory position, he can steadily advance to the director position within a year.

The thing I regret most is the kiwi.

Because of Yang Xianghua's influence, they withdrew most of their investment, leaving only a meager seven million yuan for publicity and distribution. With the distribution revenue share, they expect to earn twenty to thirty million yuan.

It seems like a lot, but you could have earned much more!

This money will only be used to fill the gaps in the year-end financial statements.

Looking at the densely packed reports in front of him, Wang Hui was filled with regret.

……

Xia Ming, the mastermind behind all of this, was sitting in a coffee shop in the Kiwi Science and Technology Park with Huang Xuke.

Huang Xuke held the box office figures for "Atlantic Rim 2" in his hand, his mouth agape wide enough to fit a coffee cup.

Xia Ming posted a few sentences in the super topic using two accounts, and the effect was even better than his painstaking million-dollar promotion!

There's even an account that belongs to his roommate! Isn't that ridiculous?!

"How did you do that?" Huang Xuke asked humbly.

Xia Ming put down his coffee, smiled and shook his head: "Everyone has a competitive mentality, it's just that fan groups value it more."

"The key is to have a platform with enough buzz. For example, if our movie grosses over 100 million yuan on its opening day, that's enough to generate enough traffic. Once the public's attention is on 'Atlantic Rim 2,' the fandom will act accordingly to protect their idol's image."

"If a credible account takes the lead at this time, others will follow suit."

He spent money to buy a level 20 account in Wang Yuan's super topic, and then borrowed his roommate Xiao Liang's hall-of-fame account in Ju Jingyi's super topic, successfully starting a vote-buying war.

This matter was also recorded in a mythological movie in a previous life. Ultimately, it is about the sense of identity and belonging to a certain entity, and the desire not to lose face for the group that one identifies with.

The difference is that the mythological film had quality as a safety net, which ultimately allowed it to reach astronomical box office numbers in a weak film industry environment.

Atlantic Rim 2 is a complete flop, and this farce will soon come to an end.

But the 400 million yuan box office has exceeded all investors' expectations. No one would have thought that this movie would make everyone a fortune.

Xia Ming has delivered a perfect answer.

As a representative of the investor with six functions in one, he invested zero money and could participate in a 10% share of the profits solely through technology revenue sharing, in addition to a fixed salary of three million.

After filming this movie, he had already become a multi-millionaire.

"What are your plans for the future? You're already a millionaire, are you still going to make movies?" Huang Xuke asked with a smile as he finished packing up the materials on the table.

Xia Ming tightened his scarf and nodded: "Sure, of course I'll film it. I've made such an outrageous film, the next one has to be a real eye-opener for everyone."

"You little rascal!" Huang Xuke pointed at his nose, grinning broadly.

As someone with a background in the film industry, he was pleased to see that his junior had not forgotten his original aspirations.

He knew Xia Ming had the ability to make good movies; this time, he was just tricked by his own senior executives.

"With such a brilliant victory, investors will be scrambling to give you money from now on."

Xia Ming shrugged indifferently: "I already have enough money to fully fund a film. But they can invest if they want, but I must have complete control over the production team."

After this experience, Xia Ming realized one thing: the title of producer must be firmly on his head, otherwise, it's pointless to talk about who invests.

"How should I put it? I'll treat you to a meal." Huang Xuke finished his coffee and stood up.

Xia Ming shook his head, his expression suddenly turning serious: "No, you have something very important to do next."

Huang Xuke was puzzled. Everyone was happy after the money was divided, so what else was there?

"The more money Atlantic Rim 2 makes, the more criticism I and those two stars will receive. In a few days, your fan fiction competition might be severely impacted. You'd better focus on maintenance."

Huang Xuke was taken aback.

Sure enough, after the huge success of "Atlantic Rim 2", the two previously silent celebrity studios finally issued statements, pointing the finger at Xia Ming!