After being dumped by the diva, I was picked up by her arch-enemy.

The sob was very soft.

The screening room was too quiet.

Everyone heard it.

Immediately afterwards, a second sound rang out.

Third tone.

The lights did not turn on immediately.

The cast and crew list began to scroll across the screen.

The audience remained seated.

An elderly man with gray hair in the front row stood up, holding onto his seat.

He was wearing a faded Zhongshan suit.

His back is slightly hunched.

The old man did not go outside.

He turned around to face the screen and straightened his clothes.

Then he clasped his hands together in a fist salute.

Bowing.

The standard etiquette of Peking Opera.

The young man sitting next to him recognized him.

"That's Mr. Meng, a retired member of the National Peking Opera Company."

The sound spread.

Then someone else stood up.

ten.

One hundred.

Finally, all 1,200 audience members stood up.

No one applauded.

Everyone stared at the last three words on the list.

Cheng Dieyi.

When the lights came on, the theater manager was still standing in the last row.

He looked down and opened his phone.

I sent a message to headquarters.

"An additional show will be added tomorrow."

Headquarters responded quickly.

"reason?"

The manager glanced at the audience member who was wiping away tears.

"They will bring people to see it again."

Three o'clock in the morning.

The first batch of film reviews appeared.

There is no lengthy analysis.

The most popular comment only had seven characters.

"Go see it, and remember to bring tissues."

Article .

"I thought I was watching Cheng Dieyi, but in the end I realized I was watching an era."

The third comment comes from an ordinary viewer.

"After the movie ended, my mom called my grandpa. He used to be an opera singer and is eighty-seven years old. He asked three times what the movie was called."

Ticketing platforms are now open for business.

9:08.

130,000 people rated it.

Ninety-five percent of them gave full marks.

Six o'clock in the morning.

Cinemas across the country have temporarily adjusted their film schedules.

"Farewell My Concubine" rose from 12.5% ​​to 21%.

10:00 AM.

The occupancy rate was 97%.

The percentage of screenings increased to 28%.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

Long queues formed in the lobbies of many cinemas.

Some people couldn't buy seats together and had to sit separately.

Some people booked the entire small hall and invited their whole family and friends to come and watch.

At 4 p.m., the daily box office of "Farewell My Concubine" exceeded 300 million yuan.

at the same time.

A batch of negative reviews suddenly appeared online.

"The pacing is slow and the sentimentality is deliberately exaggerated."

"I don't understand it at all, it's not as exciting as 'Deep Sea Fortress'."

I fell asleep halfway through watching it.

These accounts post at very consistent times.

Between 1:40 AM and 2:00 AM.

Chen Hao sat in his office, his face flushed with anger.

"The movie started at 12:00 and didn't end until 2:51."

"They finished watching by 1:40?"

Su Yao retrieved the account information.

"The same group of marketing companies."

"For the past three months, we've been promoting 'Deep Sea Fortress'."

Chen Hao slammed his hand on the table.

"That bastard Gao Qiming is playing dirty tricks!"

"Hire online trolls to release the evidence!"

Jiang Yichen was sitting on the sofa, eating the second breakfast that Xu Zhiyou had brought.

After reviewing the information, he took out his phone.

Forward one of the negative reviews.

It was accompanied by a sentence.

"Next time we make a black film, we'll start by calculating the runtime."

Five minutes later.

This Weibo post went viral and became a trending topic.

Following the timeline, netizens quickly uncovered hundreds of accounts that left early but were still able to provide accurate commentary on the ending.

"Haha, I finished watching a three-hour movie at 1:40. I suggest you apply for the title of Time Management Master."

"When Cheng Dieyi drew his sword, were you already on tomorrow's subway?"

"Kuroko: I can watch movies using quantum technology."

Gao Qiming's name topped the trending searches.

The official Weibo account of "Deep Sea Fortress" issued three statements in a row, stating that it has nothing to do with the online marketing company.

Nobody bought it.

Even more fatal is the occupancy rate.

"Deep Sea Fortress" accounted for 31% of screenings on its opening day.

Average occupancy rate: 23%.

Farewell My Concubine has 28% of the screenings.

Average occupancy rate: 94%.

Six p.m.

Xinghai Cinema Circuit held an emergency meeting.

Qin Maosheng placed the data sheet on the table.

"After midnight tonight, the screenings of 'Farewell My Concubine' will be increased to 45%."

Some people hesitated.

"Isn't it too risky for a movie to make up 45% of the budget?"

Qin Maosheng put on his glasses.

"It's not something I wanted to give."

"It's the audience who wants it."

The first day has ended.

The box office of "Farewell My Concubine" is 463 million.

It broke the single-day box office record for Chinese-language art films.

The next day, 510 million.

On the third day, it reached 540 million.

After three days of release, the total box office exceeded 1.5 billion yuan.

Gao Qiming's line, "The audience doesn't owe Cheng Dieyi a movie ticket," has been turned into a meme.

Netizens responded in unison below.

"Indeed, we don't owe anything."

"We're willing to watch it a second time."

The film's influence began to spread beyond the theaters.

Tickets for the National Peking Opera Company's performances sold out overnight.

The number of applications received by opera troupes across the country has increased tenfold.

On short video platforms, young people have begun to imitate the water sleeves, catwalk steps, and singing styles.

There are long queues outside the Qilin Opera Troupe every day.

Hou Fei was forced to use a megaphone to maintain order.

"Don't attempt a backbend if you're not a beginner!"

"We already saw three off yesterday!"

It's been seven days since it was released in China.

The overseas release of "Farewell My Concubine" was launched simultaneously.

France, 120 cinemas.

In North America, there are 86 cinemas.

Forty-two cinemas in the UK.

It's not large in scale.

According to the distributor's prediction, a box office of eight million US dollars overseas in the opening weekend would be considered a success.

new York.

At the entrance of an art-house cinema.

Two hours before the first screening, the queue had already circled the street corner.

Someone drove all the way from Boston.

Some people were wearing jackets printed with images of Cheng Dieyi from the play.

The cinema manager added an extra screening in the early morning, but it still sold out.

Paris.

Morel sat in the last row.

This was the sixth time he had watched "Farewell My Concubine".

He didn't leave immediately after the credits rolled.

The following day, Screen Watch published his film review in a full-page spread.

The title has only two words.

Farewell, Yu Ji.

The article concludes by saying:

"We used to think that language was the biggest obstacle for films to reach the world."

"Jiang Yichen proved that the real obstacle has never been the subtitles."

The first week overseas has ended.

When the publisher received the data, they assumed there was a problem with the system.

Forty-eight million US dollars.

The highest single-venue box office for the year.

The North American theater chain expanded from 86 to 1,200 theaters.

The scale of the European screenings has quadrupled.

Two weeks later.

Farewell My Concubine has grossed over $500 million worldwide.

Domestic box office exceeded 3.7 billion yuan.

It has no explosions, flying cars, or superheroes.

There is only one stage.

A sword.

A person who refuses to wake up from the play.

September.

The China Film Association has officially announced this.

"Farewell My Concubine" will represent China in the competition for the next Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

The news was announced that evening.

Jiang Yichen received a phone call from Los Angeles.

"Mr. Jiang, I am Anderson, Vice President of the Academy of Sciences."

It's that same old man from the Cannes Film Festival backstage.

"The nomination list will be announced in twelve hours."

He paused.

"If it's convenient, I suggest you turn on the live stream."

Why?

Laughter came from the other end of the phone.

"Because of tomorrow."

We might say your name many times.