Chapter 188

Speaking of the movie *Duckweed* alone, one could list a bunch of shortcomings, but none of that could change one point: it was a good movie.

The well-timed humor and lyricism made this movie very comfortable to watch.

Hmm... much better than Han Han's previous work *The Continent*.

There was no chicken soup narration; it just told a story and showed a period of time. It wasn't a masterpiece, but it was a good work.

"My dream is: only singing in the dance hall, and just bathing in the sauna..."

In Tinglin Town, there were several "aspiring youths" who, following the playing of "Wanchai is always mine" from *Young and Dangerous* in the streets and alleys, formed the "Zhengtai Gang."

People have opponents, and things have yin and yang.

Then similarly, the opponent of the "Zhengtai Gang" was "Luo Li."

Xu Zhengtai guarded the dance hall for his mommy Xiaohua; Liu Yi guarded the beloved dance hall with Xu Zhengtai, besides brotherhood, it was to protect Jiayi; Luo Li fought for the dance hall, besides the task of gang boss Huang Zhiqiang, it was to let his beloved wife Songzi become the dance hall mommy...

Xiaohua used a gentle but firm maternal brilliance to "protect" Zhengtai so he didn't have to grow up like a child; Jiayi coldly said to Liu Yi, "I have someone I like"; "When I have money, I'll buy you a real gold chain." When Luo Li was released from prison, Songzi, sitting in Huang Zhiqiang's car, looked at Luo Li with a complex expression...

This world will change.

Bai Liang liked watching the works he had performed in. Before, he only watched TV series; watching a movie for the first time brought him another kind of experience.

Between the light and shadow of the movie, it was a completely different feeling from a TV series.

The story was tighter, and the space for imagination left for people was greater.

When the son played by Deng Chao said to his father, "You'll understand when you grow up a bit."

The whole cinema burst into laughter.

In this laughter, there was vaguely some helplessness; after all, who could know the world after growing up?

Liu Yi, who was frantically hoarding pagers, was waiting to make a fortune in five years; Xu Zhengtai, who invested in a video hall, was waiting for the cinema to go bankrupt; Little Ma, who was making the prototype of OICQ, always felt that something was waiting for him; Huang Zhiqiang, the "Hong Kong returnee" who was optimistic about real estate all the way...

All things are complicated, just go straight.

Liu Yi chose to seek revenge on Huang Zhiqiang on the day of his brother's wedding, using one of Huang Zhiqiang's hands as a wedding gift; Zhengtai chose to seek revenge for his brother when he was about to become a father; Little Ma chose to leave when he was confused to pursue his dream...

When Xu Zhengtai and Liu Yi shouted "The world will not change" and rushed to the rooftop, Tai Lang said to Little Ma, "This world will change," and Little Ma smiled, "This world will definitely change."

The movie *Duckweed* was telling a beautiful story.

Developing OICQ with dial-up internet that would disconnect when a call came in; no one focused on housing prices; collecting "property fees" with Du Yuesheng's ideals; not being asked who Jingjing was when saying they wanted to be quiet; loving someone from the age of four and seeing it through to the end... These were the pure beauties of that era, without a trace of dust from today's impetuous society.

Actually, this movie had a very interesting Freudian metaphor.

Under the comedic effect of "finding a mother-style mate selection," it was less about the ideal woman in this man's heart and more about the perfect mother in this man's heart.

And finally understanding the father meant understanding oneself.

It was like reconciling with the world again.

At the premiere, when the lights in the venue came back on, Bai Liang seemed to be stunned and motionless.

Sister Zhao, who was sitting beside him, thought this kid was fascinated or had some kind of emotion.

She patted his shoulder lightly, "We're going on stage."

Bai Liang turned his head and blinked, showing the phone hidden between his legs with the brightness turned to the lowest: "Give me a few more seconds, I'm sending a message to my dad."

"Why, want to say something mushy to him?"

"No, I'm a bit curious after watching the movie. I heard he was even more foolish than Xu Zhengtai in the past, just as unreliable. I'm asking him how my mom fell for him; this isn't reasonable. I really want to know how he feels after watching the movie; I feel like this movie is implying him."

"If it's not necessary this year, don't go back; it's easy to get beaten up," Sister Zhao said, holding back her laughter.

When they went on stage to accept applause and interviews, besides showing behind-the-scenes footage and some humor, Sister Zhao was asked a very interesting question.

Was she the same type of person as Xiaohua in the movie?

The reporter who asked this question was obviously trying to lead the topic to her and Bai Liang.

Just like Xu Zhengtai in the movie was so childish, while Xiaohua was full of maternal love; putting it into reality, it had that "younger man" flavor.

However, after Sister Zhao looked at Bai Liang, she said: "Xiaohua tried her best to make her man live like a child, but I hope there is a man who can make me live like a child."

Deng Chao reacted quickly, smiling and holding the microphone: "Bai Liang, out!"

——

The current Spring Festival film season is considered the strongest period of the whole year.

Under normal circumstances, most of the annual box office champions come from the Spring Festival season.

But this year should be an exception.

Bai Liang couldn't remember the specific box office of the "little shrimp" movie *Duckweed*, only having a vague impression that it seemed to have broken one billion.

But his impression of *Wolf Warrior 2* was still quite profound.

This thing would ruthlessly crush the ambitions of all movies this year and leave a very profound mark in film history.

"Our movie's screening schedule is only 13%; it's a bit far from those few."

Backstage at the roadshow, Sister Zhao said with some worry, feeling that it was lagging far behind from the beginning.

"13% is not bad. I heard that when negotiating with the theater chains, Xiao Bai played a significant role."

"Me?" Hearing this, Bai Liang became interested, "I haven't even acted in a movie; can I still help with the screening schedule?"

"You are a top-tier celebrity; your role in marketing is too great. Director Han Han said you saved him at least 10 million in promotion expenses. The closer it gets to the New Year, the higher the frequency of you causing trouble; isn't that just saving money?" Deng Chao, this old hand, said with a laugh.

"How much did the screening schedule increase by mentioning my name?" Bai Liang asked curiously.

Deng Chao held up five fingers.

"5%?!" Sister Zhao almost screamed, thinking to herself, is the younger brother so useful?

"0. %."

"Damn, that's not much at all~"

"It's really not much, but this isn't our fault. Who told Director Han Han to press the production time to such a limit? People are saying he's making a shoddy product to cheat money."

In fact, the marketing expenses for *Duckweed* exceeded 50 million, which was higher than the production costs of some movies.

As for the so-called Bai Liang saving money on promotion... This money wasn't saved in the end; no matter how much was supposed to be spent, it was spent in the end.

Bai Liang didn't understand much about these things; he just looked at the screening ratio list that Sister Zhao got.

Among the Spring Festival movies, *Duckweed* was only ranked fourth.

The first-ranked *Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back* had a screening rate of 34%, which was more than double theirs.

The second-ranked *Buddies in India* was almost double theirs.

Only *Kung Fu Yoga* was a few percentage points higher than *Duckweed*.

This start could be considered quite unfavorable.

However, since the movie had already started showing today, the actors had done everything they could: Weibo reposts, various interactions, program promotions; the rest could only depend on the movie's performance.

As for the gold content of Bai Liang, this top-tier celebrity, this movie actually couldn't verify it very well.

After all, there were Deng Chao and Zhao Liying and the others.

Generally speaking, if you want to know the box office appeal of a top-tier celebrity's fans, it's best to specifically make a fan-oriented youth movie to rake in money.

The box office appeal of fans is what protects the lower limit of a movie.

Fake top-tier celebrity: only knows how to market things like national popularity and public favor; when it comes to spending money, there aren't many living people.

Real top-tier celebrity: no matter what type of movie or bad film, they can guarantee a box office of at least 200 to 300 million or more.

This is considered the main understanding in the circle at present.

It's not without reason that capital favors top-tier fresh meat; the premise is that you are really a top-tier celebrity, not a look-good-but-useless product blown out of proportion. Bai Liang also wondered in his heart: Am I a look-good-but-useless product, or a real top-tier celebrity?

"Don't panic, Brother Chao is covering you~" Sister Zhao seemed to see something and added with a smile: "He is the first lead; if the sky falls, even if the movie flops, it's his fault, it has nothing to do with us."

Deng Chao:... o this is why you, Zhao Liying, gave up the second lead?

Non-stick pan?

Regarding the issue of billing, this is the easiest thing to cause fan tearing in the entertainment industry besides the competition for the center position in group photos.

In terms of screen time, Bai Liang's screen time was only slightly less than Deng Chao's; it was basically a dual-male lead, so it was very reasonable to be ranked second.

But Sister Zhao was both a senior and a first-line female top-tier celebrity; it wouldn't be impossible to rank her second.

If it were another crew, they might really have to tear each other apart.

Their crew also tore each other apart; Bai Liang and Zhao Liying fiercely yielded to each other, and in the end, Zhao Liying pinched his ear and made him rank second.

After the movie poster was sent out, this matter was also spread in time, and the fans on both sides were harmonious.

Arguing was impossible; they had a posture of uniting to exclude others.

It was just that the two sides didn't deliberately hype up a CP; otherwise, Sister Zhao would have joined the battlefield long ago.

At that time, I'm afraid it would really take Reba and Nazha joining forces to win.

!. Read

Actually, the movie producers had mentioned such a concept; after all, Bai Liang could be considered to have a good reputation in hyping up CPs.

Among the current top-tier celebrities, he had the most tricks and was the most professional.

He had CP chemistry with everyone.

But Sister Zhao refused; she didn't say the reason, anyway, she just refused. Don't ask about sister's business.

——

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the market hit a record high of 800 million!

And the most watched darling of the Spring Festival season, *Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back*, set a new Chinese film history record with a pre-sale box office of over 100 million in 34 hours before release, and at the same time, the film's box office exceeded 312 million in 19. hours of public screening.

It broke the record for the highest single-day box office for a Chinese-language film and set the record for the fastest Chinese-language film to break 200 million and 300 million!

Such results made Wu Moufan, who had lost consecutive battles to Bai Liang, stand up all of a sudden!

Because the first-day box office of *Duckweed* was not even one-third of theirs.

It was only over 80 million; it didn't even break 100 million on the first day.

In contrast to such results, Wu Moufan's fans reached a climax and directly started a "counterattack" against Bai Liang.

However, strangely, they were mainly having fun in places like Super Topics, and there weren't many who ran to Bai Liang's Weibo to find a sense of existence.

They were easily suppressed by Bai Liang's fans.

Some big fans were heartbroken; no, why? If you win, you have to be crazy! You should go and mock them to their faces.

As a result, those little fans said weakly: "I'm afraid he'll scold me, and even more afraid he'll get anxious and go scold Fanfan."

The scene where Bai Liang and Lin Gengxin joined forces to scold black fans in the comment section hadn't actually passed for long.

The combat power of these two had truly taught many fan circle girls a lesson.

Scolding them back was fine, but what if this "lunatic" pointed out the main person?

This kind of argument was, of course, the marketing rhythm led by Yanzi.

Anyway, Brother Xiao Bai had already done it, so let's establish an image that is not easy to mess with.

In a word, fan behavior, idol pays the bill.

Speaking of which, it was a bit embarrassing; the inspiration came from Shuangzi... because Yanzi found that ever since Shuangzi went further and further on the road of going crazy, there really weren't many who dared to mess with her.

Her own Brother Xiao Bai was certainly not that outrageous, but he was clearly also quite hard to mess with.

He was extremely gentle offline, but his combat power online was like a polar reversal.

Playing games is good! Must play more!

Similarly, Bai Liang's fans were also quite strong. What are you blowing about? The investment and screening schedule of these two movies were not equal from the beginning.

The production cost plus promotion of *Journey to the West* was close to 600 million, while *Duckweed*'s two combined were at most 200 million; can this be directly compared in box office?

Han Han's previous movie box office was only a few hundred million; *Journey to the West* had shouted the slogan of benchmarking *The Mermaid*, which had a box office of over 3 billion.

Besides, let's look at the word-of-mouth?

In terms of word-of-mouth, *Duckweed* was the highest-rated film in the Spring Festival season, pulling away from the second place by a long distance.

While *Journey to the West*'s word-of-mouth failed to keep up accordingly, which directly led to its subsequent high-platform dive, with the second-day performance plummeting by 37%.

On the first day of the premiere, *Duckweed*'s sense of existence was not strong, and like the screening schedule, the box office was ranked fourth in the Spring Festival season.

Three days later, it was still fourth.

But compared to other films, *Duckweed* was undoubtedly the most "special" and "alternative" one.

Saying it was special was because under the bombardment of raw seafood, the first impression this thing gave people, besides Han Han's unique alternative literary style, was that the subject matter's friendliness to the sinking market... that is, cities below the third tier, was completely different from other films.

The special thing about the Spring Festival season was that it was a very long track from the first day of the Lunar New Year to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and it would also be interspersed with the phenomenon of people from first and second-tier cities returning to the city, which could be clearly seen from the box office share of the Spring Festival season every day in previous years.

If the Spring Festival season was like a car rally, it didn't matter if the start was slightly behind; the car's endurance was the key.

Stable box office and rising screening schedules gave the creators of *Duckweed* more motivation to run roadshows.

Since the stability was shown.

What needed to be shown next was... explosive power!

All along, the fan group that didn't seem to have any movement in supporting Bai Liang's movies suddenly started shouting at the juncture when the holiday was about to end and work was about to start.

This timing was too wonderful; the word-of-mouth of *Journey to the West* had already fallen to the bottom, and Wu Moufan's fans didn't dare to beep loudly anymore; after all, the box office that was falling wildly every day had already explained everything.

What kind of shockwave void champion, it would be good if this damn movie's cost could be barely recovered.

To recover the cost, it would need at least 1. billion in box office.

It was time to beat the dog in the water.

What is a fan group with super strong organization?

Rich woman fans emerged one after another and took action when the occupancy rate in major cinemas suddenly became low.

Movie buyout started!

They were organized and disciplined, specifically looking for cinemas with the lowest occupancy rates, and while trying not to affect normal audiences watching the movie, they frantically refreshed the buyout record.

Some chat records of Bai Liang's fan groups also flowed out at this time:

"Let's wait until the movie box office starts to go downhill before we start buying out, watching a second time, watching a third time; otherwise, people will think the movie itself is that powerful. We must let them know where the box office comes from!"

Han Han and Deng Chao: Listening to this, it sounds like it's aimed at us?

Are fans this "bad" now?

Whether they were bad or not was secondary; what was truly terrifying was this organizational ability.

This group of fans could actually do it, collectively rushing when it was time to refresh the box office... this was a bit too outrageous.

Especially on the seventh day, it directly made *Duckweed*'s box office complete a terrifying operation of doubling compared to the previous day, instantly proving to everyone what is the box office bottom-line ability of a top-tier celebrity.

No, how did they do it?!

This wave of operations shocked not only the fan circle, but a bunch of people in the circle also cast their eyes over.

There are many top-tier fresh meat in the circle; why can your fans, Bai Liang, do this to this extent?

Just because your acting is a little better?

Bai Liang: Ah? I don't know~

However, there were indeed many press releases blowing his acting skills recently, but this was Yanzi's handwriting... the funds were all reported to him.

In Yanzi's words: Since we have this ability, we must pull away the gap with other stinky fish and rotten shrimp. Who says top-tier celebrities can't be acting schools?

As for the fans' actions... this was something even Yanzi didn't know very well.

She only knew that many people who really had a say in Bai Liang's fan groups now were not those so-called professional fans or fan leaders, but a group of rich woman fans who paved the way with gold.

With dozens or hundreds of large red envelopes thrown down, the group leader had to give up their position.

Originally, Yanzi was the same as other people in the circle, using professional big fans to guide fan behavior and control it to a certain extent.

Now... it could be considered "out of control."

Those rich woman fans were busy "fighting" and had no time to pay attention to her for the time being.

Actually, every top-tier celebrity has a lot of rich woman fans, it's just that Bai Liang's side... seems to be exceptionally numerous!