Chapter 499: National Outcry, Impotent Rage

The 2012 New Year Slot has officially arrived, though it 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 considered quite good for such a heavy subject matter.

After all, the film tells of that period of bitter and heavy history, that natural disaster where millions were displaced, 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 audience members, when faced with this film, only expressed that they "don't want to enter the theater 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, for Huayi Brothers, all of this seems somewhat ridiculous.

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 cut was finished, not only was the box office revenue-sharing ratio negotiated, but the scale of the early promotion was also pushed to the max.

They even signed an exclusive screening agreement with the IMAX company to increase showtimes, forcibly squeezing *Life of Pi* out of IMAX theaters.

But who would have thought it would result in 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 inside the Huayi chairman's office seems exceptionally cold.

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

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

One must know that Huayi 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, one and all, has suffered 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?"

Faced with Wang Zhongjun's inquiry, the executives began to talk all at once.

Some suggested applying for an extension, some suggested increasing the intensity of promotion, and others, considering the capital market, suggested 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 simultaneously. Zhonglei."

"Brother, go ahead."

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

Seeing that Wang Zhonglei looked like he had something to say, Wang Zhongjun interrupted 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 opened his mouth, but in front of his subordinates, he ultimately did not refute his elder brother's decision and nodded in agreement.

It's just that in his heart, he doesn't think an extension is likely; Han Sanping cannot cover the sky with one hand, but he can certainly cause trouble.

One must know that Zuoshandiao is notoriously petty, and the previous matter hasn't been over for very long.

"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 nodded immediately in agreement.

"Xiaogang."

"Chairman Wang, I am here."

Wang Zhongjun looked at Feng Dapao, his expression somewhat complex: "Three script submissions, 200 million in production funds—the company has already used all its strength to support you on this *Back to 1942* project. Now, it is 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 nodded immediately and said: "I will immediately prepare the next film, a pure commercial comedy. The company can release the news."

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

"Rest assured, Chairman Wang."

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

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

More importantly, the word-of-mouth collapsed completely; the rating on Yinxiang Net is only 5.8, and the comment section is filled with 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."

"Xingmei 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. Did he even direct *The Missing Gun* himself?"

Unlike the original *City of Life and Death*, which still had a group of biased die-hard fans, this time *The Last Supper* received one-sided 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 counting the marketing costs, Emperor Motion Pictures' investment exceeded 100 million.

At this rate, I'm afraid even breaking 100 million at the box office will be difficult; this wave has at least 50 million down the drain.

Recalling the time she chatted with Wei Jin at the cocktail party and seeing the look of someone watching a fool on his face, Boss Yang really wants to slap herself.

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

Naturally, Wei Jin would not know the mood of Huayi Brothers and Boss Yang.

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

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

Meanwhile, *Back to 1942*, relying on the advantage of good word-of-mouth, reported 30.3 million on the 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 does not dare to relax at all.

By comparison, *The Last Supper* fell to the bottom; it did not rise but fell on the second day, with a box office of only 8.5 million.

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

"So according to the data, we can easily draw a conclusion—there isn't much difference between Feng Xiaogang and Li An!"

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 Impression 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* has hired internet trolls 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 industry; it's just that it wasn't done as nakedly as *The Last Supper*.

But no one expected that at this time, Lu Chuan, that guy, would actually admit it publicly on Weibo: "Yes, we did indeed hire internet trolls."

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

"Didn't I tell you all to keep a low profile? What is going on with Lu Chuan? How did he know?"

The head looked both amused and annoyed: "Chairman Qin, the people we arranged haven't even started yet; it was Lu Chuan who paid for people himself."

Qin Hong slapped her forehead, feeling as if she 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 self-destruct? 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 internet trolls, and Starmei will follow along, nailed to the pillar of shame!

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

At this moment, Qin Hong wished she could give herself 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 internet trolls. 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 were forced to do this. Even so, the person in charge of our trolls 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 wants to put *The Last Supper* to death, and perhaps there is more than one mastermind behind this."

Facts have proven that after *City of Life and Death*, Lu Chuan's public favorability is really poor, and the black spots all over his body really cannot be washed away. Of course, *The Last Supper* was indeed filmed very poorly.

Therefore, Lu Chuan's "sincere ultimate move" of self-destructing and crying did not have any effect. The third-day 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; such a good release window was wasted.

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 movie; does it even need others to smear it? What kind of garbage 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."

Lu Chuan, that guy, 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 our competitors have no bottom line at all?"

Once the Weibo post was 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 *Back to 1942* and *Life of Pi* for malicious competition. Who gave him the guts? The media, watching the fun without fearing it was too big, directly "translated" Lu Chuan's words.

"Director Lu Chuan accuses *Back to 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 never involved himself in the disputes of Mainland China directors.

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

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

I have been promoting desperately to get more audiences into the theaters, instead of engaging in these crooked ways and making a fool of myself! By the way, let me report some news to everyone: I am already preparing a new film, returning to the comedy genre. The 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 without any harsh words.

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

On the internet, and even within the industry, there was one-sided applause. Jiang Wen, who had never gotten along with Lu Chuan, even specifically 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 reasons within yourself. It seems that kicking you out of the crew for *White Vengeance* was truly prescient. It's a pity that Chairman Yang and Chairman Qin's hundreds of millions in funds went down the drain. What kind of garbage 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 movie be released peacefully? I'm warning you, don't stir up trouble again."

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

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

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

"If not you, then who? Without that ability, why learn from others to make movies? My eyes were truly blind back then, handing tens of millions in funds to an idiot like you. Damn it."

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

"Fuck!"

(End of chapter)