I really don't want to make bad movies!

As early as the third day after the release of Atlantic Rim 2, Star Wars broke out online.

At first, people thought it was just an ordinary bad movie trying to ride the wave of popularity.

However, Pacific Rim 2 did not meet expectations after its release, with a serious decline in quality, which made many casual viewers pay attention to Atlantic Rim 2, which was released at the same time.

This domestic sci-fi film, created by renowned young director Xia Ming, was touted during its promotion as a direct challenge to Universal Pictures' "Pacific Rim 2," and it seems to have a strong momentum at the box office.

However, as public opinion grew and netizens delved deeper, they discovered that the movie was not as simple as it seemed.

First, there's its box office performance, which doesn't live up to its reputation.

How could a movie with such poor production quality be advertised as having an 80 million investment?

Where did all the money go?

Moreover, the content of this film could even be used as a psychological weapon in modern warfare!

Every audience member who enters the theater leaves in a daze.

That's insane!

Compared to Atlantic Rim 2, Bureau 849 actually looks quite good!

In "Bureau 849", Wang Junkai at least knew to wear a uniform. In "Atlantic Rim 2", Wang Yuan wore pajamas and pajamas and stuck on two cardboard signs to claim it was armor!

In terms of plot, the two films are about the same.

One of them wanted to go to an internet cafe before the end of the world.

One is falling in love with an alien before the end of the world.

Speaking of aliens, Ju Jingyi's portrayal of an alien has also aroused widespread indignation among netizens.

She was clearly not acting; her expression was blank throughout, she wore bizarre makeup, and her lines were unclear. If it weren't for the subtitles, you wouldn't have known what she was saying at all.

During the promotion, slogans such as "Ju Jingyi breaks through himself and presents a brand new screen image" were used to attract the audience's attention.

When I got to the theater, I found that the design was indeed novel, but also quite outrageous!

The two stars delivered the most cringe-worthy performances in the drama, and Wang Yuan even sang a mind-numbingly absurd song. Naturally, the studios of these two stars were the first to be criticized by netizens.

"When are you, Ju Jingyi, going to stop ruining the film and television industry? You took 100 million out of the 300 million budget for 'Chinese Paladin 4,' and for this 80 million budget for 'Atlantic Rim 2,' did you take 40 million as well?"

"I remember Wang Yuan was perfectly normal when he was a child, right? How come his face is ruined and his throat is damaged now? Did he smoke too much?"

"Get out of the film industry! Go back to making your idol dramas! Don't come here and ruin Chinese science fiction!"

"You two stars have completely ruined the reputation that Director Xia built up with his previous film, 'The Swindlers'!"

"..."

……

Amidst the overwhelming online discussion, Guo Hong immediately contacted KIKI, and the two met offline.

"Didn't they say the box office wouldn't rise? Why did it break 400 million in just a few days?" Guo Hong angrily pulled out his phone, which showed real-time data that "Pacific Rim" was about to break 500 million at the box office.

Both studios had planned to take a cold approach to Atlantic Rim 2.

Box office performance is the best proof of a director's worth. When "Atlantic Rim 2" flops at the box office, they will use their connections in the industry to put Xia Ming in a very difficult position.

With the help of investors, Xia Ming will soon be disgraced and may even be kicked out of the film industry.

But now, the box office of "Atlantic Rim 2" is soaring, and Xia Ming has become a darling of investors.

KIKI remained calm, signaling to her opponent to calm down.

"My PR team has already come up with a plan. As long as we follow it, our reputation will gradually recover."

Guo Hong's eyes lit up, and he immediately sat back down, ready to listen attentively.

He had heard of Ju Jingyi's public relations skills.

If Wang Yuan's studio had public relations of that caliber, Wang Yuan wouldn't have made such a spectacular debut, only to end up doing increasingly poorly.

"First, we need to reason with netizens and hire more online trolls to let everyone know that it's inappropriate to just blame the actors for a movie that's so bad."

"His first film was a notoriously bad movie, so he has a history of bad films that can be used to make a big fuss about."

Guo Hong nodded: "Shift the focus of fire?"

"Then, we need to make good use of information gaps and purposefully reveal information about the production crew."

KIKI pondered for a moment and said, "For example, Director Xia insisted on revising the script, turning the original nine-point story into one-point. Also, he deliberately tampered with the contract, and we didn't receive a single penny, which led the actors to deliberately slack off and refuse to cooperate with filming."

Guo Hong became increasingly excited as he listened, giving a thumbs up: "Brilliant! A mix of truth and falsehood, confusing everyone!"

"And another thing, Xia Ming, as the producer and executive producer, produced a film of this quality with a budget of tens of millions. Where did the rest of the money go?"

KIKI sneered: "I don't care whether he returned the funds to the investors due to pressure to repay them, or whether he pocketed the money himself. As long as we insist that he embezzled and laundered money, he won't be able to defend himself."

"In short, portray us as the weaker party, let your artists play the victim online, and the public opinion will collapse on its own."

Guo Hong clapped repeatedly, his heart filled with praise.

"The truth is, Director Xia had absolute power in the crew, and the final product was terrible. We were just victims, toys of capital, forced to make bad movies."

KIKI picked up her bag, put on her coat, and glared at Guo Hong before leaving: "We've been completely ripped off this time, we didn't earn a single penny. But you did get paid, so you should do your part in controlling the online comments."

Guo Hong immediately nodded and then contacted his own publicity and legal advisors, spending a lot of money to hire online trolls to launch an offensive.

The next day, online opinions gradually changed.

"The actors have no real power. Xia Ming is the only one who holds absolute power in the crew, colluding with several investors to maliciously harass the artists!"

"We've confirmed with the crew that Xia Ming is the producer, director, and screenwriter. If he's incompetent, don't blame the actors for being bad!"

"A web series is a web series, and a movie is a movie. Xia Ming just can't handle the sci-fi genre. Didn't his first movie, 'The Big Hornet,' teach you a lesson?!"

The online debate is raging, and "Atlantic Rim 2" has gradually shed its gimmicky exterior, revealing its utterly terrible nature to the general public.

Whether it was fans who believed in Xia Ming, casual viewers who mistook it for "Pacific Rim 2," or fans from the two fan groups, they all stopped contributing to the box office.

Ultimately, Atlantic Rim 2's box office totaled 600 million.

However, 600 million is enough to provoke the anger of netizens!

How could a movie like this earn 600 million?

Xia Ming claimed in a promotional interview that he was being targeted and the film was forced to change its name. Who exactly was he being targeted by?

If Universal Pictures saw you release "Atlantic Rim 2," they'd be grinning from ear to ear!

The forced name change seems to be a publicity stunt.

In reality, they simply changed the name to ride the coattails of "Pacific Rim 2" and tricked unsuspecting passersby into going to the movie theater!

"How could such an adorable model like Wawa end up in such a terrible movie?"

"It feels like the entire movie's budget wasn't even as high as the budget for just one model of Wawa?"

"Wait a minute, I remember Director Xia released a teaser of the mecha model in an interview. It had tens of thousands of joints and a metallic sheen that was almost lifelike. Where did all those models go?"

"Don't you get it? First, create a sophisticated model to scam funding, then ignore it and run away with the money!"

Will Director Xia direct "The Swindlers 2"?

"My brother was tricked by Xia Ming! He graduated from Berklee College of Music, how could he possibly sing like that! It's definitely malicious auto-tuning!"

"I heard that Ju Jingyi was originally supposed to be a female lead, a scientist saving the world, but Xia Ming forcibly changed the script to what it is now. Isn't that disgusting?!"

"Money laundering directors, get out of the film industry!"

"..."

Driven by some vague "evidence," more and more netizens began to condemn Xia Ming.

Ju Jingyi's studio posted the contract to prove that they did not ask for a penny of payment and even paid out several million yuan in maintenance costs in the early stages.

Wang Yuan's studio also issued a statement, stating that their salary consisted of a deposit plus subsequent payments, totaling ten million yuan, no more and no less.

Where did the remaining tens of millions of dollars go?

With the two celebrity studios pushing the issue back and forth, people's attention gradually shifted away from the two celebrities and turned to attack Xia Ming, who had remained silent.

As Atlantic Rim 2 gains more and more fame, its predecessor, Bureau 849, is repeatedly brought up and criticized.

Both "Bureau 849" and "Atlantic Rim 2" are utterly terrible films that will go down in film history.

The former grossed 400 million yuan at the box office, while the latter surpassed it, raking in 600 million yuan.

Xia Ming's video "Bureau 849" has recently seen a surge in views, inexplicably returning to the recommended spots on Yin Fu and Lvguo Short Video.

……

Online public opinion has reached its peak, with some even writing letters of complaint to the Film Bureau, demanding that Xia Ming be banned.

This isn't a web movie like "The Big Hornet"; everyone pays for tickets to go to the cinema, so it's natural to get emotional when you see a bad movie.

Pan Ning from Tiangong Visual Effects couldn't stand it anymore. He was scrolling through Weibo on his phone when he looked at Xia Ming beside him and said, "The online criticism is too harsh. Why don't you release some pictures first?"

"Everyone says you're laundering money, but only we know you've actually poured all your money into special effects!"

Xia Ming shook his head helplessly: "So, Brother Pan, you'd better get your men to work faster, or my bounty will be catching up with Luffy's."

Pan Ning sighed, feeling rather helpless: "If you're going to prioritize quality, then we can't be fast."

"Urban combat is the essence of Pacific Rim. If we want to learn from it, we need to simulate extremely complex lighting environments. We need to maintain the sense of oppression from the aliens in low light, while also using lighting to present the details of the mechs. That's very difficult!"

"Is it a problem with lighting and shadow?"

Xia Ming raised an eyebrow and picked up his laptop.

When it comes to lighting and shadow direction, I really have my own methods—Kubrick's master-level lighting and shadow techniques!

He had already prepared a rant video, but he hadn't released it yet because he was waiting for the rating of "Atlantic Rim 2" to drop.

Pacific Rim 2 is facing widespread criticism online, and its popularity is at its peak.

In stark contrast to its peak popularity, Atlantic Rim 2's rating on DB is quite low.

I opened the DB website and took a look.

The initial hype has dissipated, and after the dust settles, the film ultimately garnered a mere 1.4 points, firmly holding the bottom spot on the DB website's rating chart, a position of considerable weight!

His account also coincidentally became popular again, and the number of views for "Bureau 849" started to rise again, which brought him some fans.

No matter how you look at it, now is the perfect time to release a rant video about Atlantic Rim 2.

Xia Ming pulled out the video he had prepared long ago and released it simultaneously on three platforms.