Chapter 332: Take It Back for a Re-Review

Now, "The Partners" is being viciously criticized online, with people calling the movie utterly garbage and unbearable, and Jing Tian is being dragged down along with it.

They say her acting is an outrage to gods and men, that she's the only flaw in the entire film, just like the treatment Liu Tianxian once received.

But her public opinion is relatively minor, driven only by spontaneous audience actions, with no organized force deliberately steering the narrative—they're targeting the movie itself.

Audiences don't care who Jing Tian's father is; if they're upset, they just insult her freely, and her impression on viewers was already bad—they inherently believed her acting was terrible, just another resource-dependent actress.

Just like Liu Tianxian, audiences had an innate perception that her acting was poor.

This made Jing Tian extremely frustrated!

Due to fierce competition from rivals, "The Partners" earned only 42.24 million yuan on its second day, still dropping.

Combined with the first day's 54.45 million, the two-day total reached 96.69 million, failing to break 100 million.

Everyone in the industry believed this film would break 100 million within two days—even Fang Hong and Chen Zhixi themselves thought so—but it didn't.

If it doesn't break 100 million, the box office will stall, and when "Iron Man 3" releases, it will be cut short.

This performance left Zhang Songwen himself somewhat discouraged, deeply troubled inside.

"Don't be so pessimistic; this is already quite good. Many films in the past didn't even reach 100 million—earning tens of millions was already impressive." Wen Muye patted his shoulder.

At this moment, they were together with Shen Teng, though he couldn't interject—he was just a minor lackey.

Right now, they've merely gathered to discuss "Dying to Survive"; filming hasn't officially begun yet.

"You're the director—don't you feel heartbroken seeing how the movie's turning out?" Zhang Songwen said.

"I do feel heartbroken, but what can I do? My earlier films didn't even get screening rights—yet I still got through it." Wen Muye replied.

Directors like them usually shoot countless irrelevant projects to hone their craft.

"Sigh, the Principal invested so much in me, and here I am, barely surviving—it's so disheartening." Zhang Songwen sighed.

His films are hit-or-miss: "The Big Man" was good, "Cold War" received praise but not box office success, earning little money.

And he himself doesn't seem to carry box office weight—he's constantly overshadowed by Huang Bo, Xu Guangtou, and Wang Baoqiang, even Wenzhang outperforms him.

Yet he's the actor at Yutu with the most film resources, rivaling even Liu Tianxian.

Previously, he had "Meeting Seattle," now "The Partners," and "Now You See Me," and next he'll shoot "Dying to Survive."

His resources have never dried up—he's been consistently well-supported, even more so than Liu Tianxian; Liu Tianxian, including "Now You See Me," has only five films, the first two being low-budget romances.

But somehow, he doesn't make as much money as Liu Tianxian, doesn't create much value for the company.

At this moment, Fang Hong suddenly entered: "What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, it's just that Songwen is upset about 'The Partners'' poor box office—I'm trying to cheer him up." Wen Muye stood up.

Zhang Songwen and Shen Teng also rose to greet the newcomer.

"It's fine—box office success and failure are normal; don't take it too hard." Fang Hong patted Zhang Songwen's shoulder, then added: "You might even win Best Actor for this film."

"What?!" Zhang Songwen exclaimed.

"I'm predicting you'll be my pick for Golden Rooster Best Actor."

Fang Hong made a light joke, then turned to Wen Muye: "Muye, when you shoot 'Dying to Survive,' send me your director's script."

"Of course!" Wen Muye agreed.

"Alright, you guys get back to work." Fang Hong waved his hand and left.

He wanted to compare the director's script with what he'd seen in his past life, to offer suggestions.

Ning Hao's absurdist comedy and dark humor style isn't easy to imitate.

Throughout this exchange, Fang Hong didn't speak to Shen Teng at all.

This made Shen Teng insanely envious of Zhang Songwen—he couldn't understand why Zhang Songwen was complaining. If the Principal gave him this treatment, he'd wake up laughing in his dreams!

But his role as lead was personally assigned by the Principal!

"See? The Principal and others won't judge a person based on one or two films. You're overthinking. He even said you could win Best Actor—not because your acting is bad, but because it's excellent; the box office failure has nothing to do with you." Wen Muye comforted him.

Honestly, Zhang Songwen's performance was flawless—nuanced, emotionally rich, and perfectly matched the character.

But this kind of thing is hard to explain—it's not his fault!

This May Day is the release date of "Iron Man 3," and the propaganda campaign has been massive, instantly overshadowing "The Partners."

Disney—rich, with extensive channels, dominant worldwide!

Many audiences are waiting for May Day to see this Hollywood blockbuster; they loved the first two films.

So anticipation for "The Partners" has weakened.

"Once 'Iron Man 3' releases, 'The Partners' is basically out." Xiao Wang, the General Manager, sounded quite pleased.

They originally planned to launch a propaganda strike against the Principal, but seeing the giant presence of "Iron Man 3," they abandoned the idea.

Pressure the Principal for two days, let "Iron Man 3" take over—perfect!

"The Principal hasn't made a single move—could he have some hidden strategy?" Da Wang, the General Manager, worried.

The Principal always stays eerily calm before acting—then suddenly strikes hard. Last time, the ticket subsidies worked this way; bringing in feminist outrage worked this way too.

"What hidden strategy could he have? Tomorrow's the 30th, the day after is May Day—can he make 'Iron Man 3' go back for review?"

Xiao Wang thought it impossible, then added: "Whether we make money or not doesn't matter anymore—we just can't let the Principal make money. Let's see who outlasts whom."

This is the same strategy Fang Hong once used, but now Huayi has the confidence—its market value has surged to over 15 billion yuan, doubling from before.

They can make money from the stock market; whether they make films or not doesn't matter anymore.

Truly, once a company grows large enough, it wants to do other things—making films is exhausting and unrewarding.

"Once 'Iron Man 3' releases, we stop. Don't spend any more money." Yu Pangzi instructed his Propaganda Director, Sun Chen.

"Understood, Director Yu." Sun Chen nodded.

They don't have Huayi's deep pockets—after this one push, they're counting on "Iron Man 3" to crush "The Partners."

Fundamentally, driving the narrative against "The Partners" involves Yu Pangzi, Guangxian, and other film industry players to varying degrees.

But these people are low-key, not leading the charge—they prefer to follow behind Huayi and cause trouble.

It's normal—Yutu Group's film output keeps increasing, and they always get prime slots; eventually you'll cross paths, they're competitors. And they've never failed; every film turns a profit. Who can do that?

Every film company has had failed investments to some extent, but Yutu Group never has, so nobody wants to go up against them—they'd rather find ways to weaken them.

Recently, news came that Yutu is building a Digital Film Production Base.

If they pull it off, their production standards won't just crush others—they'll already be on a completely different level.

Plus, every film gets Yutu Ticket subsidies, plus ground-level propaganda and promotion.

If this keeps going, what's going to happen?

Yutu Ticket is no longer limited to online promotion—it now has a ground team that travels nationwide to every cinema to promote films.

They paste promotional posters, install lightbox ads, and also partner with local subway and bus advertising platforms.

Elevators are the same.

They're expanding every channel, preparing to fully take over distribution and promotion—otherwise, with such narrow channels, how will they ever promote films in the future?

This promotes films—and the app itself!

Ticket subsidies have always existed, not limited to any single film; nearly every film gets them—any ticket bought on Yutu Ticket gets a five- or ten-yuan rebate.

With group purchases, there are additional discounts—this is how they burn money, just to burn every other competitor out. They've got three billion yuan; they can burn it freely.

The ticketing market is currently an era of chaos.

On the third day, the 30th, The Partners earned 47.78 million yuan, a slight increase from the previous day.

It doesn't matter—all eyes are fixed on Iron Man 3's performance after its May 1 release; once that film opens, The Partners won't be able to make waves.

The box office level would be capped then.

Just as everyone awaited Iron Man 3's release to strike Yutu down—

A headline exploded through the film industry:

"Iron Man 3 announced to reschedule its release to May 17!"

This news, like a bomb, shattered all the scheming calculations.

People were stunned, bewildered, confused?

"How is this possible?! How is this possible?!" Xiao Wang was dumbfounded.

It was supposed to be May 1—why did it suddenly change?

He couldn't control himself—he called Wubing, president of DMG Entertainment, one of Iron Man 3's co-investors.

DMG handled everything regarding Iron Man 3, so they'd know best what was going on.

"Hello, Wu Zong, what's going on? Why did Iron Man 3 reschedule?" Xiao Wang couldn't hold back and demanded immediately.

Wubing was annoyed but replied: "Above said our film needs re-review."

"Why re-review?" Xiao Wang involuntarily slapped his own mouth.

He'd actually been right—the film really was being re-reviewed. His mouth was terrifyingly accurate.

"We can't disclose the details," Wubing said.

They'd been notified of the re-review on the 29th, negotiated for two days, saw no effect, and finally leaked the rescheduling to the media.

The exact reason couldn't be stated—only left for outsiders to guess.

Simple: the villain's name is Mandarin, which hurt national sentiment.

Chen Zhixi reported it through respected Academy figures—they had to take it seriously.

Since reviews weren't that strict now, Sino-U. S. relations were still good, and Marvel's double standards hadn't yet become infamous, they let it slide.

But if someone reports it and escalates it, sending it back for re-review is normal.

Actually, many people didn't know the villain's name before the film's release, but Fang Hong knew—and so did the reviewers.

Those who'd seen the overseas trailer probably knew too, but most hadn't thought about it.

After hanging up, Da Wang heard their conversation and said: "I told you the Principal must have a move—he wouldn't just sit and wait."

Xiao Wang remained silent, furious—people must rely on themselves; relying on others is ultimately unreliable.

The plan was for Iron Man 3 to crush The Partners' box office—now all effort was wasted.

Not just Huayi, but BoNa and Guangxian hadn't expected it either. Yu Pangzi sighed deeply: "All for nothing."

Without Iron Man 3, The Partners couldn't be stopped. Tomorrow, all Chinese are on holiday—they could only give up.

They couldn't stop people from watching movies on May Day—and now The Partners had no rivals.

Fan Xiaopang, as one of the actors, was equally stunned—he'd thought appearing in a Hollywood blockbuster would make him look cool.

Actually, she wasn't even in the overseas version; even Wang Xueqi had only one line and a pair of hands.

They added three minutes of their scenes only because they wanted a co-production—but the authorities didn't recognize it—they still treated it as an imported film.

Yutu's special edition strategy was learned from these double-standard Hollywood studios.

Take Marvel, for example—classic double standards, steeped in cultural bias. Later, the authorities saw through them, so many films were denied import.

They constantly blacken you on screen, publicly insult you before the whole world—can you tolerate that?

Don't talk about being thin-skinned—Crazy Alien mocked the United States, and they banned it too.

With this mountain removed, the May Day holiday began, and competitors abandoned their attempts to manipulate the narrative—the tide had turned.

Plus, Iron Man 3 pulled its promotion and couldn't screen—its advertising was now meaningless.

The Partners' promotional slogans, no longer suppressed, surfaced at once—more people learned about the film.

On May Day, box office broke through 100 million yuan for the first time in history—wildly explosive.

Total box office surpassed 250 million yuan—Number One!

(End of Chapter)