Chapter 191: The Sugar Mama Fan Who Paves the Way with Gold and Silver

Take "Ride the Wave" on its own — you can rattle off a pile of flaws, but none of that changes one thing: this is a good-looking movie.

The humor and the sentimentality land just right, making the whole film a very comfortable watch.

Mm. Quite a bit stronger than Han Han's previous "The Continent."

No chicken-soup narration, just a story told and a stretch of years shown — not a masterpiece, but a fine piece of work.

"My dream is: sing only in the ballroom, bathe only in the sauna."

In Tinglin Town there were a few "ambitious young men" who, as "Young and Dangerous" blared "Wan Chai is always my turf" from every alley, founded the "Zhengtai Gang."

People have rivals, things have yin and yang.

So likewise, the "Zhengtai Gang's" rival is "Luo Li."

Xu Zhengtai guarded the ballroom for Mama Hua; Liu Yi guarded beloved ballroom with Xu Zhengtai — beyond brotherhood, for Jiayi; Luo Li fought for the ballroom — beyond gang boss Huang Zhiqiang's mission, to put his beloved wife Songzi in as the hall's mama.

Hua, with a gentle yet steely maternal glow, "protected" Zhengtai so he could stay a child and never grow up; Jiayi told Liu Yi coldly, "There's someone I like"; "When I have money, I'll buy you a real gold chain" — when Luo Li got out of prison, Songzi, sitting in Huang Zhiqiang's car, gave him one complicated look.

This world can change.

Bai Liang loved watching his own work, but until now it had always been TV dramas — his first time seeing a film gave him a whole different experience.

The play of light and shadow on screen feels utterly unlike a TV drama.

The story is tighter, and there's more room left for the imagination.

When the son played by Deng Chao tells his old man, "You'll understand when you're a bit older."

The whole theater burst out laughing.

In that laughter there was a faint note of helplessness — after all, who can know what the world looks like once you've grown up.

Liu Yi, frantically hoarding pagers, waiting to strike it rich five years later; Xu Zhengtai, investing in video halls, waiting for cinemas to go bust; Xiao Ma, tinkering with an OICQ prototype, always feeling something out there waiting for him; and the "returned-from-Hong Kong" Huang Zhiqiang, bullish on real estate all the way.

A thousand tangled matters — walk the straight road.

Liu Yi chose to go after Huang Zhiqiang for revenge on the day of his brother's wedding, offering one of Huang Zhiqiang's hands as a wedding gift; Zhengtai chose to avenge his brother just as he was about to become a father; Xiao Ma chose to leave in a haze of confusion and chase his own dream.

When Xu Zhengtai and Liu Yi charged the rooftop shouting "The world won't change," Tailang told Xiao Ma, "This world can change," and Xiao Ma smiled: "This world is definitely going to change."

"Ride the Wave" is just a story about something beautiful.

Dial-up internet that drops the second you make a call, used to develop OICQ; no one paying attention to housing prices; collecting "property fees" with a Du Yuesheng ideal; saying "I want some quiet" without anyone asking who Quiet is; loving someone from the age of four, faithfully to the end — these are the pure, lovely things of that era, unstained by a single speck of the restlessness of today's society.

In fact, this film has some very interesting Freudian metaphors.

Beneath the comic effect of "looking for a mom in a mate," it's less the ideal woman in this man's heart than the perfect mother.

And in the end, understanding the father is understanding yourself.

Like making peace with the world all over again.

At the premiere, when the house lights came back on, Bai Liang seemed to freeze in place.

Little Zhao-jie, sitting beside him, thought the kid had just been mesmerized, or was about to get sentimental.

She gave his shoulder a light pat. "We're going on stage."

Bai Liang turned his head, blinked, and flashed the phone he'd hidden between his thighs with the brightness turned all the way down. "Give me a few more seconds — I'm sending my dad a message."

"What, going to get all mushy with him?"

"No, after watching the film I'm a little curious — I heard he used to be even more of a goofball than Xu Zhengtai, just as scatter-brained. I want to ask him how on earth my mom ended up with him, it doesn't add up. I'm kind of curious what he felt after watching the film — I get the feeling it's sort of a dig at him."

"If you don't have to this year, better not go back — you're likely to get a beating." Little Zhao-jie said, barely holding back a laugh.

When they went up to take the applause and the interviews, beyond the behind-the-scenes bits and the usual laughs, Little Zhao-jie got asked a rather interesting question.

Was she the same type of person as Hua in the film?

The reporter asking clearly meant to steer the topic toward her and Bai Liang.

Just like Xu Zhengtai in the film being so childish while Hua radiates this motherly quality — projected onto real life, it has that "younger-man" flavor.

But Little Zhao-jie glanced at Bai Liang and said: "Hua tried her hardest to let her man live like a child, but I, on the other hand, hope there's a man who can let me live like a child."

Deng Chao reacted in a flash, grinning as he grabbed the mic: "Bai Liang, you're out!"

——

Today's Spring Festival slot is, in a way, the strongest window of the entire year.

Normally speaking, most annual box-office champions come out of the Spring Festival slot.

But this year should be the exception.

Bai Liang couldn't recall the exact box office of this "small-time" film "Ride the Wave," only a vague impression that it broke a billion.

But his impression of "Wolf Warrior 2" was still quite sharp.

That thing would ruthlessly crush the ambitions of every other film this year, leaving a very deep mark on film history.

"Our film only got a thirteen percent screening share — that's quite a gap from the others."

Backstage after the roadshow, Little Zhao-jie brought up the screening data with a touch of worry, feeling like they'd been trailing from the very start.

"Thirteen percent isn't bad — I heard when they were negotiating with the theater chains, Dou Xiao Bai actually played quite a role."

"Me?" Hearing this, Bai Liang perked up. "I've never even been in a film — how could I help with screenings?"

"You're top-tier — your pull in marketing is huge. Director Han Han said you saved him at least ten million in promotion costs. The closer it gets to New Year, the more often you stir things up — isn't that saving money?" Old fox Deng Chao said, laughing.

"How many extra screenings did dropping my name get?" Bai Liang asked, curious.

Deng Chao held up five fingers.

"Five percent?!" Little Zhao-jie nearly shrieked, thinking to herself that her little brother was actually this useful?

"Zero point five percent."

"Damn, that's not much either~"

"True, it's not much, but that's not on us — who told Director Han Han to compress the production schedule so tight? Of course people are going to say he's cranking out shoddy work for a quick buck."

In fact, "Ride the Wave's" marketing budget topped fifty million — higher than the production budgets of some films.

As for the so-called savings Bai Liang brought to promotion — that money didn't end up being saved in the end; whatever needed to be spent still got spent.

As for these things, Bai Liang didn't really understand them either; he just took a look at the screening-ratio list that Sister Zhao had gotten.

Among the Lunar New Year slate of films, *Ride the Wind* was only ranked fourth.

The number-one *Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back* had a screening rate of thirty-four percent—more than double theirs.

The second-place *Buddies in India* was roughly double theirs as well.

Only *Kung Fu Yoga* had a screening rate just a few percentage points higher than *Ride the Wind*.

This opening could be considered quite unfavorable.

Still, since the film had already begun its theatrical run today, everything the actors could do—Weibo reposts, various interactions, show promotions—had been done; all that was left was to see how the film performed.

As for whether Bai Liang, this top-tier idol, actually had the gold content to his name, this film couldn't really verify it.

After all, Deng Chao and Zhao Liying were still there.

Generally speaking, if you wanted to know a top-tier idol's real box-office pull with fans, the best way was to make a dedicated fan-service youth film designed to cash in.

Fan-driven box-office pull guarantees a film's floor.

The fake top-tier idol: only knows how to market national recognition and casual goodwill, and the moment money's on the line, barely any real fans show up.

The real top-tier idol: no matter the genre, even with a stinker of a film, can guarantee a minimum of two to three hundred million at the box office.

That's the prevailing view in the industry right now.

It's not without reason that capital favors top-tier fresh-faced idols—the prerequisite being that you really are top-tier, not a hollow shell hyped up. Bai Liang wondered to himself: So bro, am I a hollow shell or a real top-tier?

"Don't panic, Brother Chao's got your back~" Sister Zhao seemed to read something, and added with a grin: "He's the lead. If the sky falls, even if the film flops, it's on him—it has nothing to do with us."

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

The non-stick pan?

When it comes to billing order, aside from the group-photo C-position battles, this is the easiest thing in the entertainment circle to spark fan wars.

In terms of screen time, Bai Liang's part was only slightly less than Deng Chao's—basically a dual male lead—so putting him in second billing was perfectly reasonable.

But Sister Zhao was both a senior and a top-tier A-list actress, so giving her second billing wasn't unacceptable either.

In any other crew, they probably really would have fought it out.

Their crew fought it out too—Bai Liang and Zhao Liying had a fierce round of politely declining each other, and in the end Zhao Liying pinched his ear and made him take second billing.

After the movie poster went out, this matter also got spread around in time, and the fans on both sides were remarkably harmonious.

Fighting? Impossible. They looked ready to join forces and unite against outsiders.

The only reason they hadn't deliberately shipped a CP was that Sister Zhao would have joined the battlefield long ago.

By then, it would probably take Reba and Nazha teaming up to handle it.

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Actually, the film's producers had floated this idea before—after all, Bai Liang had quite a reputation when it came to shipping CP.

Among the current top-tier idols, he was the one who'd pulled off the most tricks up there, and the most dedicated.

He had CP chemistry with everyone.

But Sister Zhao refused—no reason given, she just refused, don't ask about her business.

—

Lunar New Year's Day, the total box office broke the 800 million mark, setting a new record!

And the most-watched darling of the Lunar New Year slate, *Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back*, set a new Chinese film-history record with presales exceeding 100 million 34 hours before release, and the highest presale box office in Chinese film history, while also breaking 312 million within 19.5 hours of public release.

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

Such results made Wu Yifan—who had been losing to Bai Liang repeatedly—suddenly stand up!

Because *Ride the Wind*'s opening-day box office wasn't even a third of theirs.

Just over eighty million—couldn't even break 100 million on opening day.

With such a comparison, Wu Yifan's fans completely lost it and launched a "counterattack" against Bai Liang.

But oddly, they mainly just amused themselves in places like the Super Topic; not many actually went to Bai Liang's Weibo to make their presence felt.

They were easily suppressed by Bai Liang's fans.

Some big fans were distraught—wait, why? If you won, you gloat! You should go mock them to their faces!

But the little fans weakly replied: "I'm afraid he'll scold me, and I'm even more afraid he'll get worked up and go scold Fanfan."

It hadn't actually been that long since Bai Liang and Lin Genxin had teamed up to slaughter anti-fans in the comments section.

These two's combat power really taught a lot of fangirl circle girls a lesson.

Trading insults with them was one thing—but what if this "lunatic" decided to @ the main idol?

Of course, this line of argument was the marketing rhythm Sister Yanzi was pushing.

Anyway, since Dou Xiao Bai already did it, they might as well build up an image of being someone you don't want to mess with.

In one sentence: the fans act, the idol pays the price.

A bit embarrassing to say, but the inspiration came from Shuangzi. Because Sister Yanzi noticed that ever since Shuangzi went further and further down the road of going crazy, there really weren't many who dared to mess with her.

Of course their own Dou Xiao Bai wasn't that outrageous, but he was clearly also quite someone-you-don't-want-to-mess-with.

In person he was especially mild, but online his combat power was like a complete polar opposite.

Gaming's great! Gotta play more!

Likewise, Bai Liang's fans were fired up too—what the hell are you bragging about? The investment and screening rates of these two films were never equal from the start.

*Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back* had production plus marketing costs approaching 600 million; *Ride the Wind*'s combined costs topped out at 200 million—and you can directly compare their box offices?

Han Han's previous film only made a few hundred million at the box office, but *Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back* had shouted the slogan of targeting *The Mermaid*—that thing made over three billion.

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

On word-of-mouth, *Ride the Wind* had the highest rating among the Lunar New Year slate, pulling far ahead of second place.

But *Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back*'s word-of-mouth failed to keep up, which directly led to its high-dive afterward—second-day results plunging 37%.

On its opening day, *Ride the Wind and Break the Waves* didn't have a particularly strong presence; just like its screening allocation, its box office ranked fourth in the Spring Festival slate.

Three days later, it was still fourth.

But compared with the other films, *Ride the Wind and Break the Waves* was undoubtedly the most "special" and "unconventional" of the bunch.

Calling it special is because, amid the relentless bombardment of seafood galore, the first impression this thing gives—apart from Han Han's signature offbeat literary flair—is that its subject matter's affinity for the lower-tier market, that is, cities below the third tier, is completely different from the other films.

What makes the Spring Festival slate special is also that it's an unusually long race stretching from the first day of the Lunar New Year all the way to the fifteenth, and in between there's the phenomenon of first- and second-tier city crowds migrating back to work, a pattern you can clearly see from the daily box office share in past Spring Festival slates.

If the Spring Festival window is like a rally race, falling a bit behind at the starting line doesn't matter—what matters is the car's endurance.

Steady box office and rising screening allocations actually gave the core creators of *Ride the Wind and Break the Waves* more motivation to hit the road for promotional screenings.

Since the stability has been demonstrated.

What needs to be shown next is—explosive power!

The fan base that had been oddly quiet about supporting Bai Liang's starring films suddenly started making noise right at this juncture, as the holiday was about to end and work was about to resume.

The timing was too uncanny—*Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons*' word-of-mouth had already bottomed out, and Wu Yifan's fans barely dared to speak up, since the daily box office nosedive already said it all.

What "Void Champion" box-office smash? That piece-of-crap film would be lucky just to barely recoup its costs.

To recoup costs, it would need at least 1.5 billion at the box office.

Time to kick a man when he's down.

What do you call a fan group with super-strong organization?

The rich-woman fans started popping up everywhere, making their move just as theater attendance suddenly plummeted.

Movie theater buyouts begin!

They were organized and disciplined, specifically targeting theaters with the lowest attendance, racking up buyout records while trying not to disrupt normal moviegoers.

Some chat logs from Bai Liang fan groups also leaked at this point:

"Let's wait until the movie's box office starts sliding downhill, then start the buyouts, second viewings, third viewings—otherwise people will think the movie is just that good on its own. We have to let them know where the box office is coming from!"

Han Han and Deng Chao: Why does that sound like it's aimed at us?

Are fans really this "evil" these days?

Whether they're evil or not is secondary—what's truly terrifying is that organizational capability.

These fans can actually pull it off—when it's time to pump the box office, they all charge in together. That's just fucking absurd.

Especially on the seventh day of the New Year, they directly pulled off the terrifying feat of doubling *Ride the Wind and Break the Waves*' box office compared to the previous day, instantly proving to everyone what a top-tier star's box office floor really looks like.

Wait, how the hell did they do that?!

This stunt shocked way more than just the fandom circles—a whole bunch of industry insiders turned their eyes this way.

There are plenty of top-tier pretty-boy idols in the industry—why the hell can your fans, Bai Liang, pull off something like this?

Just because your acting is a bit better?

Bai Liang: Huh? I had no idea~

Though lately there really have been plenty of puff pieces praising his acting, but that's Sister Yanzi's handiwork—the budget was all reported to him.

In Sister Yanzi's words: We've got the chops, so we've got to pull away from the rest of the stinky fish and rotten shrimp. Who says a top-tier star can't be from the Yanji Sect?

As for the fans' moves, even Sister Yanzi isn't entirely clear on those.

She only knows that in many of Bai Liang's fan groups now, the ones whose words actually carry weight aren't the so-called professional fans or fan leaders, but a group of rich-woman fans who pave the way with gold.

Slam down dozens or hundreds of big red envelopes, and even the group owner has to step aside.

Originally Sister Yanzi, like everyone else in the industry, used professional big-fans to guide fan behavior and maintain a degree of control.

Now, though... it's basically "out of control."

Those rich-woman fans are busy "fighting" and don't have time to deal with her right now.

Actually, every top-tier star has no shortage of rich-woman fans—it's just that on Bai Liang's side... they seem to be especially numerous!

(End of chapter)