Chapter 233

Xu Can's *Medicine God* has almost become the sole reason for audiences to walk into movie theaters.

In this situation, the film fans cultivated through *Spider-Man*, *The Dark Knight*, *John Wick*, and *La La Land* responded one after another,

and when the presale box office figures came out, the media nearly popped their eyes out.

"*Dying to Survive* presale box office exceeds 45 million yuan! The coldness of the Spring Festival slate seems unable to stop Xu Can's film!"

"This year's Spring Festival slate may give birth to a new miracle!"

Faced with such a situation, mainland film people all cried out, "WTF."

It is said that when director Jiang Wen was drinking with friends, he sighed greatly:

"It can sell even during Spring Festival? Xu Can is truly freaking awesome! If the Spring Festival slate really gets nurtured by him, we can all cash in on the dividends."

Seeing the film's release date drawing nearer, Ning Hao couldn't even be bothered to promote his own *Crazy Racer*, and focused entirely on dragging his team on roadshows to promote *Dying to Survive*.

Turning our gaze to the North American market, *Medicine God* does have some formidable opponents.

*Paul Blart: Mall Cop* had just been released for a week, raking in 30 million dollars in its opening weekend box office,

and there was also the heavyweight release of the realistic action film *Taken*, produced by great director Luc Besson, swearing to vie for the box office championship.

Luc Besson stated repeatedly to the media:

"The birth of this film was inspired by Xu Can's *John Wick*."

"Realistic combat where every shot is lethal and every punch lands flush will be the mainstream of future action films."

"I originally wanted to collaborate with Xu Can on filming, with the protagonist rescuing his girlfriend; unfortunately, he didn't want to star in the same type of film, so we could only revise the script and have Liam Neeson rescue his daughter."

"Going head-to-head with Xu Can this time is quite interesting too. I hope our films both do well, and preferably that mine edges his out a bit—hahahaha."

On the first day of the Lunar New Year of 2009,

As the entire Chinese community erupted with gongs, drums, and firecrackers, enthusiastically celebrating the traditional Spring Festival,

Xu Can's first serious-themed, biographical drama film *Dying to Survive* was released globally in sync! 。