Chapter 437: National Outrage and Futile Fury

The 2012 New Year Slot has officially arrived, but unfortunately, it has had a somewhat unfavorable start.

Feng Dapao's *Back to 1942* did not explode on its first day, but it wasn't bad either; a result of 28.1 million is actually quite decent for such a heavy subject matter.

After all, the film tells the story of that bitter and heavy history, that natural disaster that displaced millions of people, and the tragic reality of countless people starving to death.

Such tragic content almost doomed its box office ceiling.

However, the reviews online are almost unanimously positive; even the most critical audiences, when faced with this film, only expressed that they "don't want to go to the cinema to make themselves feel bad" or "don't want to watch it a second time."

The Yinxiang Net rating is as high as 8.6, which is the highest-rated work among Feng Dapao's films to date.

Yet all of this seems somewhat laughable to Huayi Brothers.

With a production cost exceeding 200 million, from project initiation to filming, and then to post-production and release, it took nearly 15 months, and even the censorship process was full of twists and turns.

After the final film was completed, not only was the box office revenue-sharing ratio negotiated, but the scale of the initial promotion was also pushed to the max.

In order to increase showtimes, they even signed an exclusive screening agreement with IMAX, forcibly squeezing *Life of Pi* out of IMAX theaters.

But who would have thought it would end up like this!

With a first-day result of 28.1 million, let alone thinking about breaking 1 billion, even breaking even has become a major problem.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the Huayi Brothers chairman's office feels exceptionally cold.

Wang Zhongjun's eyes are bloodshot, and he is trying his best to control his emotions; Wang Zhonglei, who is beside him, is much the same.

The executives present are also silent, exceptionally dissatisfied with Feng Dapao's stubbornness.

One must know that Huayi Brothers is a listed company, and the film's box office is directly reflected in the stock price; from the moment the first-day box office results were released until now, the stock price has already fallen by 9 points.

Everyone present, every single one of them, is suffering heavy losses! Only Feng Dapao appears slightly calm, with even a faint smile hanging on the corner of his mouth; after all, he has already obtained the reputation he wanted most.

"Everyone, speak up, what should we do?"

Facing Wang Zhongjun's inquiry, the executives begin to talk all at once.

Some suggest applying for an extension, some suggest increasing the intensity of promotion, and others, considering the capital market, suggest launching a new film to boost investor confidence.

"Everyone's opinions are very pertinent, so let's proceed on multiple fronts and use multiple methods. Zhonglei."

"Brother, go ahead."

"You go and communicate with the Film Bureau to strive for an Extended Key."

Seeing that Wang Zhonglei looks like he has something to say, Wang Zhongjun interrupts him directly, "I know it's not easy, but no matter what, we must try our best. Zuoshandiao cannot cover the sky with one hand."

Wang Zhonglei opens his mouth, but in front of his subordinates, he ultimately does not refute his brother's decision and nods in agreement.

It's just that he doesn't think it's likely to be extended; Han Sanping cannot cover the sky with one hand, but he can certainly cause trouble.

One must know that Zuoshandiao is notoriously petty, and it hasn't been long since the previous incident.

"Guofu."

"Here."

"Invest another 20 million in promotional funds. Don't let Old Zhang and the others stop; extend the roadshow period to 20 days."

"Understood." Chen Guofu nods immediately in agreement.

"Xiaogang."

"Chairman Wang, I'm here."

Wang Zhongjun looks at Feng Dapao, his expression somewhat complex: "Three script submissions, 200 million in production funds—on this *Back to 1942* project, the company has already used all its strength to support you. Now, it's time for you to support the company."

Feng Dapao is not someone who doesn't understand the situation; on this matter, Huayi Brothers has indeed done everything they could, so he nods immediately and says: "I will prepare the next film immediately, a pure commercial comedy. The company can release the news."

"Hmm, if you have any needs, tell Zhonglei directly. I only have one requirement: as soon as possible!"

"Rest assured, Chairman Wang."

If *Back to 1942* won critical acclaim but lost at the box office, at least it occupied one of the two, then Lu Chuan's *The Last Supper* can be described as a total failure.

The first-day result of 8.9 million made the industry laugh their heads off.

More importantly, the word-of-mouth collapsed directly; the rating on Yinxiang Net is only 5.8, and the comment section is full of abuse.

"Is the screenwriter Annie Baby? The dialogue and narration are so pretentious. The film is so rotten that even Yanzu's looks can't save it."

"Stupid director, did you make this for yourself? Who the hell can understand it?"

"Damn it, a pile of dog shit, purely a money-grabbing scam. 1 billion, my ass."

"Starmei and Emperor Motion Pictures must have brain damage too. Letting Lu Chuan direct a historical film? Does he have the ability?"

"To the person above, you're being conservative. It's not that Lu Chuan lacks the ability to direct historical films; this dog-shit thing has no ability at all. Was *The Missing Gun* even directed by him?"

Unlike *City of Life and Death* back then, which still had a group of biased die-hard fans, this time *The Last Supper* received overwhelmingly negative reviews.

There is no need for anyone to snipe it; there is simply no chance of a comeback!

At this moment, Boss Yang is trembling with rage.

This film had an investment of 140 million, and if you add the marketing costs, Emperor Motion Pictures' investment exceeded 100 million.

At this rate, I'm afraid it will be difficult to even break 100 million at the box office; at least 50 million has gone down the drain this time.

Recalling the time she chatted with Wei Jin at the cocktail party and the way he looked at her like she was a fool, Boss Yang really wants to slap herself.

"Damn it, how did I get bewitched and believe this idiot? Fuck!"

Wei Jin naturally wouldn't know the mood of Huayi Brothers and Boss Yang.

Catching the first day of December, he finished his promotion in North America and arrived in Europe with everyone.

At the same time, back in the country, the smoke of the New Year Slot has begun to rise. *Life of Pi* grabbed the first-mover advantage; despite being set up by Huayi Brothers, it still maintains an absolute lead. After 12 days of release, the box office has already reached 465 million.

Meanwhile, *Back to 1942*, relying on its good word-of-mouth advantage, took in 30.3 million on its second day; after two days of release, the box office is 56.4 million.

Some media predict that the box office might be even higher entering the weekend, but Huayi Brothers doesn't dare to relax at all.

In contrast, *The Last Supper* has fallen to the bottom; it didn't rise but fell on the second day, with a box office of only 8.5 million.

A netizen commented sharply: "Among the three directors in the New Year Slot, the gap between Feng Xiaogang and Li An is at least a hundred Lu Chuans."

"So according to the data, we can easily draw a conclusion—the gap between Feng Xiaogang and Li An is not that big!"

Once the review came out, it quickly sparked heated discussion among netizens and surged onto the trending topics.

However, at this moment, something strange happened.

Suddenly, a large number of positive reviews for *The Last Supper* appeared on film review websites like Yinxiang Net, Douban, and Maoyan, and they were all uniformly five-star ratings.

So much so that, in just the span of a single day, *The Last Supper* went from one-sided negative reviews to polarized word-of-mouth, and its rating also climbed to over 6.5.

Media within the industry publicly questioned: "It is suspected that *The Last Supper* hired 'water armies' to flood the internet with positive reviews and mass-produce five-star ratings on film review websites."

In fact, without the media saying much, most industry insiders could guess it; after all, the box office was only over 16 million after two days of release, and the rating had dropped to 5.5. If the producers didn't save themselves, they would truly be sitting ducks.

Moreover, this kind of thing is not uncommon in the circle; it's just that it wasn't done as nakedly as *The Last Supper*.

But no one expected that at this time, that fellow Lu Chuan would actually admit it publicly on Weibo: "Yes, we did indeed hire a water army."

Once this Weibo post came out, not only was the industry in an uproar, but even the producer Qin Hong was completely dumbfounded and summoned the head of the company's publicity department.

"Didn't I tell you all to be a bit more low-key? What is going on with Lu Chuan? How did he know?"

The person in charge looked both annoyed and amused: "Chairman Qin, the people we arranged haven't even started yet. It was Lu Chuan who paid for people out of his own pocket."

Qin Hong slapped his forehead, feeling as if he were about to crack: "Damn it, what is this idiot thinking? Is his head full of shit?!"

Qin Hong was trembling with rage. You want to pad the ratings, fine, but what is the meaning of jumping out to expose yourself? Now it's great, a record has been set: the first director in the history of the domestic film industry to voluntarily and publicly admit to using a water army, and Starmei will also be nailed to the pillar of shame along with him!

Originally, he had thought about using a sliding-scale box office split to spite Huayi Brothers, but now, before the fight had even started, he had already collapsed himself.

At this moment, Qin Hong wished he could give himself a hard slap in the face.

"Fuck!"

Qin Hong would not have guessed that Lu Chuan's operations did not stop there.

That same evening, Lu Chuan posted a tearful essay on Weibo: "Many netizens left comments asking me why I hired a water army. I just want to say that the mastermind behind the scenes is too cruel. From the moment *The Last Supper* was released, it has suffered from a large amount of targeted, unfair, and despicable malicious smearing.

Many of the accounts leaving comments were registered that very day and had no reviews of other films. Their purpose is self-evident: to smear and suppress *The Last Supper*! Out of consideration for maintaining our reputation, we had no choice but to do this. Even so, the person in charge of our water army is almost in despair, because the speed at which they give high ratings is far behind the speed at which the other side smears us. This means that the other side is determined to put *The Last Supper* to death, and perhaps there is more than one mastermind behind this."

Facts proved that after *Nanjing*, Lu Chuan's public favor was truly very poor, and the black marks all over his body really couldn't be washed away. Of course, *The Last Supper* was indeed filmed very poorly.

Therefore, Lu Chuan's "sincere ultimate move" of self-exposure and crying did not have any effect. On the third day, the box office actually fell instead of rising, reporting 8.21 million, and on the fourth day, it fell directly below 8 million.

You have to know, this was the weekend of the New Year Slot; what a waste of such a good release window.

The internet was filled with mockery: "Let's just say, is it possible that the newly registered users were indeed disgusted? You have to know that silence is the majority. Director Lu should ask the film review websites for some traffic fees, hahaha."

"The duck is dead but its beak is still hard. *The Last Supper* is just a bad film; does it even need others to smear it? What kind of thing was filmed? Do you have no self-awareness?"

"Don't even mention it, Lu's crying scene is actually quite good, at least better than Yang Ying's. Just stop being a director and switch to being an actor."

That fellow Lu Chuan still wouldn't give up and came out for the third time to post on Weibo: "I don't understand, why must film promotion be such a life-or-death struggle?! Can't we have harmonious win-win results? A release window can fully accommodate two to three blockbusters. For the sake of profit, do competitors have no bottom line at all?"

Once the Weibo post came out, the industry was shocked. Is Lu Chuan already starting to bite people like a madman?

This wasn't even hinting anymore; this was naming *1942* and *Life of Pi* for malicious competition. Who gave him the guts? The media, watching the fun and not fearing the chaos, directly "translated" Lu Chuan's words.

"Director Lu Chuan accuses *1942*, *Life of Pi*, and other films in the same period of deliberately smearing *The Last Supper* to achieve the goal of seizing the market!"

Li An was recently in North America, busy with the Oscar campaign for *Life of Pi*, and was not very sensitive to domestic news. Moreover, he had always avoided getting involved in the disputes of Mainland China directors.

But Feng Dapao did not tolerate that fellow Lu Chuan and posted on Weibo that very day.

"As the saying goes, a poor man blames his house foundation. If your own box office is poor, can you turn into a mad dog? And 'life-or-death struggle', is the box office of *1942* very good? But have I blamed anyone these days?

I have been promoting desperately to get more audiences into theaters, rather than engaging in these crooked ways and making a fool of myself! By the way, let me report a piece of news to everyone: I am already preparing a new film, returning to the comedy genre. Gold-medal screenwriter Wang Shuo is already writing the script, tentatively titled *Personal Tailor*."

Perhaps because his reputation had been good recently, Feng Dapao cherished his feathers, and the wording of this Weibo post was very restrained, basically containing no harsh words.

But the five words "a poor man blames his house foundation" were nothing short of naked contempt.

On the internet, and even in the circle, there was one-sided applause. Jiang Wen, who had never gotten along with Lu Chuan, even specially liked and reposted it with a comment.

"The summary is very incisive. You're in your forties, and you don't know how to look for the reasons within yourself. It seems that kicking you out of the crew during *White Vengeance* was truly prescient. It's a pity that the hundreds of millions in funds from Chairman Yang and Chairman Qin went down the drain. What kind of thing was filmed?"

Looking at the Weibo posts of Feng Dapao and Jiang Wen, Lu Chuan was about to explode with anger.

But before he could take action, he received a call from Qin Hong.

"You idiot, can't you be quiet and let the film be released peacefully? I'm warning you, don't stir up trouble again."

Qin Hong came from the streets; although he was dissatisfied with Huayi Brothers, if he lost in a head-on confrontation, he had to admit it. At the very least, he shouldn't lose his composure.

But with Lu Chuan acting like this, it made it seem like he, Qin Hong, couldn't afford to lose. It was too damn embarrassing.

"Chairman Qin, what do you mean by me stirring up trouble? I get a cut of the box office. Everything I do is for the good of the film. Now it's obvious that our film is being targeted. Are you saying it's my problem?"

"If not you, then who? Without that ability, why learn to make films? I must have been blind back then to hand over tens of millions in funds to an idiot like you. Damn it."

A barrage of verbal abuse caused Lu Chuan to break down. After hanging up the phone, he instantly transformed into a desktop cleaning master.

"Fuck!"

(End of chapter)