Chapter 474: Total Silence of Ten Thousand Horses, A Long Road Ahead

In the film market, after the two films *The Amazing Spider-Man* and *Batman* raked in over 500 million in box office, they retired in glory.

The remaining three Hollywood blockbusters also reached the end of their theatrical runs, lukewarm and tepid.

Yet, domestic films did not rise to the occasion.

*White Deer Plain*, which had been in theaters for over 10 days, had completely fizzled out, with a box office total of 108 million, essentially seeing no further growth.

There were no shortage of people in the industry cursing Wang Quanan; he had botched a literary masterpiece.

And that film with the promising start, *Bronze Sparrow Terrace*, also failed to hold on until the holiday.

After grossing 52 million in its first three days, the subsequent box office had been in a continuous decline; currently, after 6 days in theaters, the box office had reached 73 million, with the single-day box office having already fallen below 5 million.

The key was that the word-of-mouth online was also quite poor; the rating on Yinxiang Net had already dropped to 6.1, with room to fall further, and a large number of negative reviews appeared in the comments section:

"Was the script written with feet? What kind of bullshit is this!"

"The thing that left the deepest impression was Cao Cao sitting there bleeding all over the floor at the end; I thought he had a miscarriage."

"The part where Fa Ge turned his back to Su Youpeng and Youpeng started singing really cracked me up; I was genuinely afraid Fa Ge would turn around and say, 'I Want You!'"

"Only styling, no history! The actors worked hard, but the script was weak."

"Yi Nengjing showed her inner thighs twice and made a cameo; Su Youpeng just sang one song back and forth and made a cameo; Hiroshi Tamaki had his JJ cut off and was still just making a cameo; Yang Mi's voiceover was so frequent it made me mistake this for an art-house film. In short, one word: trash!"

"."

According to the current box office trend and word-of-mouth, the industry unanimously judged that even with the 8-day holiday boost, whether this film's box office could catch up to its 120 million production cost remained an unknown.

Just as domestic films were in a state of total silence, Huayi's *Tai Chi 0* was officially released.

For this "steampunk action film" that cost over 100 million, not only did Huayi have high hopes, but media and industry attention was also very high, with cinema chains even giving it an average screen share of over 20%.

From the morning on, Huayi's announcements were constant.

Things like "presale box office exceeded expectations," "seating capacity is bursting," and "fans are struggling to get a ticket," as if the film were truly incredibly popular.

Regarding this empty hype, Wei Jin paid no mind; whether it was a mule or a horse, he would know the next day.

At this moment, he was preparing for the premiere of *Bottom-Tier Girl*.

Facts proved that as long as female artists didn't wear gowns, makeup time could absolutely be cut by more than half.

In just over an hour, with the help of her team, Jing Tian was all set, standing prettily before Wei Jin.

Today, Jing Tian was wearing an autumn student outfit similar to the one in the film: a slim-fit white shirt paired with a sky-blue blazer and a matching knee-length skirt.

Her delicate face was adorned only with simple, natural makeup, but relying on her super-high attractiveness, it just happened to add a touch of the elegant freshness of a lotus flower emerging from water.

Her long, jet-black hair wasn't overly styled either, draped somewhat casually over her shoulders, and she wore a two-finger-wide headband, making her look even more simple and fresh, with a sweet, youthful aura rushing toward him.

Reaching out and holding Jing Tian's small hand, Wei Jin said softly, "Tian Tian, let's go, it's time for us to head out."

"Mm, let's go."

Although the production cost of *Bottom-Tier Girl* wasn't large, the scale of this premiere was not small.

At this moment, Lu Zheng and Chen Zhiming, as the executive heads of the production company, were receiving guests both inside and outside.

On the red carpet, batches of industry bigwigs walked by, followed by the artists under their respective companies.

No sooner had the people from Bona and Starlight walked in than those from Orange Sky and Fiber came, and even Huayi had sent quite a few people.

From Emperor, Boss Yang walked onto the red carpet with Huo Wenxi, followed by Xie Feng and others.

Zhang Yimou, Guo Fan, Lu Yang, and other directors signed to Shanhe Media, as well as numerous artists from Starry Sky Culture, all stepped onto the red carpet chatting and laughing.

Other major directors and producers in the industry were not to be outdone; the star-studded lineup of Jiang Wen and his wife, Gu Changwei and his wife, Chen Kaige and his wife, and Feng Dapao and his wife was even more luxurious, with Huang Xiaoming, Deng Chao and his wife, Li Bingbing, Wang Baoqiang, Hu Jun... followed by the cinema chains and the major state-owned enterprises making their grand finale appearances: China Film Group, Shanghai Film Group, Western Film Group, Wanda, Dadi Cinema, and Shanghai New Film Association. The reporters on site were also kept incredibly busy, the flashes in their hands never stopping.

"A big director's premiere is truly lively; counting them up, there are at least several dozen A-list artists."

"Mm, even more B-list ones, it's broken a hundred."

"That's normal, Wei Jin's pulling power is unique in the country!"

"They're here!"

A reporter shouted loudly, and in an instant, all lenses were aimed at the two Mercedes-Benz cars slowly stopping at the start of the red carpet.

The car doors opened, and first, a long leg stepped out. After Wei Jin steadied himself getting out of the car, he took Jing Tian's hand, and Bai Yu stepped out from the passenger seat.

Four people stepped out of the other car: Xu Yajun, Jiang Shan, Zhang Songwen, and Li Xian.

It wasn't just Jing Tian who dressed up specifically; the others were also wearing the prop costumes from the film. For example, Li Xian, who played the younger brother, wore a sports uniform, looking slightly lively.

Others like Xu Yajun, Jiang Shan, and Zhang Songwen were all wearing the work uniforms from the film, and Bai Yu was in a summer school uniform, having even specifically dyed his hair a light yellow.

The cast and crew stepped onto the red carpet with smiles, greeting the audience and fans on both sides along the way, drawing a massive amount of screaming and cheering.

Inside the venue, the atmosphere was very enthusiastic, with a large number of industry insiders moving about, clinking glasses.

As soon as Wei Jin and his group entered the venue, staff members came over to lead the cast to the front row; they would have to go on stage to share later.

Wei Jin, meanwhile, walked toward the circle of industry companies, where a group of bigwigs were chatting heatedly, each of them wearing a look of joy, as if they had won the lottery.

"Han Dong, Chairman Ren, Chairman Wang, President Wang..."

After a round of greetings, Wei Jin asked curiously, "What were you talking about just now?"

"Wei Jin, Han Dong was telling us about the latest policies."

Listening to Wang Changtian's explanation, Wei Jin had a look of sudden realization.

For a long time, because of protectionist policies, although domestic films were not as good as Hollywood blockbusters in terms of production, cast, or even quality, from 2002 to 2011, for nearly ten years, the box office share of domestic films in the film market had exceeded 50% every year.

Especially after the rise of Shanhe Media, this proportion had even been maintained at over 60% for several years.

But with the implementation of the China-US agreement at the beginning of the year, two or three Hollywood films were landing every month, and the share of domestic films was gradually being eroded.

As of now this year, the domestic film box office share had dropped to below 45%. Based on last year's total national box office, this was equivalent to domestic film box office being at least 2 billion less than Hollywood blockbusters.

And this was only in 9 months.

Therefore, the General Administration had already set a policy to allocate special funds to subsidize cinemas that screened more domestic films.

This meant that cinema screen allocations would tilt more toward domestic films, which was indeed a good thing for the various production companies. "Han Dong, has it been finalized?"

"Nonsense, would I say it if it weren't finalized? The notice will probably be issued tomorrow. In the future, there won't be any major losses in screen allocation. The higher-ups have already paved the way for everyone. You are all leaders in the production industry; domestic films still have to rely on everyone."

Han Sanping was still giving earnest instructions, but Wei Jin felt it was of little use; the policy was good, but the theater chains weren't stupid, and in the final analysis, it all came down to the quality of the film and its box office performance.

One could only say that the rise of domestic films still had a long way to go.

After more than half an hour of socializing, the premiere officially began.

Liu Yan, the host in a long black dress, walked onto the stage, and after a simple opening, she invited the guest performers to take the stage.

After taking a deep breath, Jing Tian walked slowly onto the stage.

As the ethereal music began to play, Jing Tian felt as if she had returned to that year's Oscar ceremony.

After this song, her life and Wei Jin's became intertwined from then on.

"When your dreams come alive you're unstoppable Take a shot, chase the sun, find the beautiful We will glow in the dark turning dust to gold And we'll dream it possible (possible, ah~) And we'll dream it possible"

Just as Jing Tian had said, she truly knew this song, "Dream It Possible," by heart, almost to the point of being able to recite it backward.

Throughout the entire song, there wasn't a single flaw, and her singing skills had become increasingly exquisite.

Once the song finished, applause erupted from the venue, Jing Tian bowed to thank the audience, and Liu Yan continued to invite the rest of the main cast and crew onto the stage.

By this time, seven chairs had already been prepared on the stage.

After Wei Jin led everyone onto the stage, he sat in the center, with Jing Tian and Zhang Songwen sitting on his left and right respectively; they were undoubtedly the lead actor and lead actress.

Beside Jing Tian were Xu Yajun and Jiang Shan, the family all together, while beside Zhang Songwen were Bai Yu and Li Xian.

Liu Yan first threw the topic to the cast and crew, guiding everyone to talk about interesting anecdotes during the filming process.

"If we're talking about fun, the one who left the deepest impression on me was Tian Tian; she was so well-behaved, she hadn't even been to a nightclub, and she didn't know how to roller skate, so I, as her mother in the film, had to take her out to have fun everywhere."

Jiang Shan's sharing drew laughter from the audience, and the people on stage couldn't help but laugh as well.

"It was also my first time trying to dye my hair; I complained about that look many times, and in the end, I really cut it short. And after the short hair, the director wouldn't let me wear makeup; it was all bare-faced..."

"The one who left the deepest impression on me was, of course, my good friend, Zhou Yiwei; he washed his hair while doing a handstand at the end of the film. We shot this scene many times, and he swallowed quite a bit of shampoo, hahaha."

"..."

Afterward, the others also chatted about many topics, and when the sharing session ended, the media reporters began to ask questions.

"Director Wei, we noticed that you also participated in the promotion this time; the last time was two years ago for 'Passengers'. Why is that?"

"Everyone knows that there are many competitors in this National Day Slot, and the subject matter of 'Bottom-tier Girl' doesn't have an advantage. I don't want to lose the National Day Slot championship I've held for two years just like that, hahaha."

The reporters reluctantly accepted this explanation and then continued to ask questions.

"May I ask Director Wei, after having an inspirational film like 'Whiplash', what was the reason that prompted you to film 'Bottom-tier Girl', which has a similar core?"

"First of all, I must correct you: the cores of the two films are not similar. This point should be clear to everyone after you watch the film later. As for the original intention of the creation..."

Speaking of this, Wei Jin turned his head to look at Jing Tian and smiled.

"Just because I liked it, so I did it."

The reporters were a bit suspicious; this was a line from 'Whiplash'—was it appropriate to use it here?

However, Jing Tian, who was beside him, looked at Wei Jin's profile with full joy, the love in her eyes seemingly about to overflow.

A sharp-eyed reporter noticed Jing Tian's unusual behavior and began to ask.

"Ms. Jing Tian, the last time you collaborated with Director Wei was three years ago for 'Lucy', which created a great result of 487 million domestically and 303 million USD globally. Do you think it will be even better this time?"

Listening to the reporter's question, many actresses at the scene looked up at the woman wearing the school uniform, feeling bitter in their hearts; a 303 million USD female-led film was still a pain in their hearts to this day.

"Hmm, the film market is developing so fast now, I think it should be better, and I also hope it will be better."

"I heard that the copyright for 'Bottom-tier Girl' sold quite well at the Cannes Film Festival. Can you tell us the specific transaction amount?"

Some media boldly asked this question, which was also something many people in the industry had been curious about.

Jing Tian looked at Wei Jin, and the latter smiled and nodded.

"38.56 million USD."

As soon as the words fell, there was an uproar at the scene, and the eyes of a group of production companies were turning red.

"This is even higher than the Golden Bear film 'The Hunt', right?"

"Yes, this has set a record again."

"Even Bona's earnings last year weren't this high, right?"

Listening to the noisy sounds at the scene, Yu Pangzi's face darkened; damn it, where could other companies be any better? Why point out Bona? The group of big directors sitting in the audience, including Zhang Yimou, Chen Shiren, and others, also felt bitter; a copyright price of nearly 40 million USD was unique in the country.

The female stars at the scene were also very uncomfortable; they knew from the start of the project that Starlight Splendid was one of the producers. This Jing Tian really gained both wealth and love.

With the end of the interview, the lights at the scene gradually dimmed, and the film began to play.

Without a doubt, 'Bottom-tier Girl' was a warm, healing, and inspirational film.

Compared to Wei Jin's previous commercial films, whether in terms of visual effects or plot pacing, 'Bottom-tier Girl' could not be considered outstanding, and was even a bit plain.

But the gold-standard reputation Wei Jin had built over the years allowed the industry insiders and the audience at the scene to settle down and watch.

As the plot progressed, many people began to immerse themselves in the film and feel that healing power.

The nearly two-hour film came to an end, and the whole venue erupted in thunderous applause.

Not only were the students from art schools and Beijing universities sitting in the back rows red-eyed, but even some film critics were deeply moved.

Numerous media reporters also admitted that, just as Wei Jin said, although 'Bottom-tier Girl' and 'Whiplash' were both inspirational films, their cores were not the same.

Many production companies competing in the National Day Slot also had grave expressions at this moment, clearly realizing that this film by Wei Jin was not easy to deal with.

In contrast, the main cast and crew of 'Bottom-tier Girl' felt much more relaxed.

It looked like the film was a success. (End of chapter)