Chapter 354: Exhausted Tricks

Since "Now You See Me" had its premiere in all major cities nationwide, no high-end figures or literary critics were invited to review it.

Only local students or fans were invited to watch.

Of course, these people could still buy tickets to see it—there was no restriction, as long as seats were available.

Tickets could be purchased both online and offline.

Fang Hong didn't stage any grand global premiere ceremony, didn't invite a crowd of stars or celebrities to walk the red carpet, didn't invite professional film critics—just let the actors promote it themselves.

Because he knew this movie was merely entertaining, with little logical plot coherence; inviting professional critics would get it torn to shreds.

So even before the movie's release, its reputation had already emerged—online discussions were extremely heated, and it became popular before even screening.

"Disappointing! The storytelling is a mess, the plot is full of glaring flaws, the male lead is constantly idiotic with random twists, the handheld camera work and spinning shots are inexplicable, the characters lack presence, the cast is wasted, though the magic is very impressive."

"There are stars, special effects, climaxes, suspense—what more do you want?"

"Honestly, the magic theme is very fresh; though the plot has flaws, the scenes are wildly cool, flashy, and over-the-top."

"The editing and pacing are so dazzling that much of the plot just flies by. The whole movie can be seen as an extravagant Sleight of Hand—after watching, you feel empty but exhilarated."

"Can you understand how I felt after watching this movie? Shocked, astonished, awed—it's beyond words. The film cleverly blends magic, crime, and plot development. Magic can be so wondrous: achieving a grand illusion right before everyone's eyes, the Now You See Me gang takes what they want and escapes flawlessly; the ending's magical twist also lays the groundwork for the next installment."

"Unexpectedly great—truth and fiction blurred, impossible to tell apart—a movie I strongly recommend."

"I absolutely hate this film—the bad writing and direction were intolerable from the first shot, the editing is chaotic, the dialogue is crude and weak, the awful soundtrack runs throughout, the 'clever' gags are just stupid, the magic scenes feel fake and exaggerated, the great makeup is utterly wasted. If there were a good script and director, I'd hope for a sequel—magic is a great theme."

"The forced, unnatural feeling made me sleepy."

"."

Everyone who saw it criticized the plot's flaws but praised the scenes as over-the-top, and the visuals and special effects were unquestionable.

But one thing: few audience members commented on the actors' performances—whether they were good or bad—as if this movie had drastically reduced the actors' presence.

Honestly, "Now You See Me" was just Fang Hong's transitional film, shifting from traditional production to special effects-driven production.

So there was never any intention to polish the plot—it was just copied outright.

As long as the visuals were good, the special effects were good, and it was fun to watch—that's enough!

Currently, "Now You See Me" has both positive and negative reviews, including orchestrated negative buzz—its reputation is sharply polarized.

Polarization is good—any massively successful film always has heated controversy, and that drives the buzz.

If no one discusses it at all, it's basically dead—like "Blind Detective," where they're still denying Liu Tianwang acted in a bad film.

This movie relies entirely on Liu Tianwang's influence.

Because Yutu and the cast kept hyping "Now You See Me," "Shen Du Long Wang" seemed to have little presence.

There was nothing to be done—they never intended to release it at this time; they only leaked rumors of a release to inconvenience the Principal, and had no plans to invest in any propaganda.

If they invested heavily in promotion now, what would they do when it truly released? That would mean real budget overruns.

So on July 3, the day before "Now You See Me" premiered, "Shen Du Long Wang" announced its withdrawal from the schedule.

This surprised both insiders and outsiders—outsiders barely knew about "Shen Du Long Wang" and didn't know the details.

Because little propaganda budget had been spent, just like Fang Hong's previous empty threats.

When reporters asked Hua Yi's Xiao Wang for the reason, they simply said: "Technical adjustments."

But to some, this was panic.

"Hua Yi is trying to use the Principal's own tactics against him, but he didn't take the bait," said Li Xiaoping, Vice President of Guangxian.

"Those two brothers have exhausted all their tricks."

Wang Zhangtian said: "We all rose with the tide of the times—back then there was little competition; just having a Hong Kong production team or a good director was enough to stand firm. In truth, we were all amateur troupes, unlike Yutu, which fought through thorns, created its own model, and cultivated talent."

"So companies like Hua Yi can't handle challenges—once someone challenges them, they panic and don't know how to respond."

"They've never experienced setbacks—only good runs, never comebacks," said Li Xiaoping.

"Exactly—they can only bully people like Liu Tianxian, who are all show and no substance. Any film company in this industry with real capital could crush them," Wang Zhangtian hit the nail on the head.

Too many new film companies have risen—after "Tiny Times" came Tianyu and Huanrui; what can the old powers do about them?

Theater terminals don't care—they show whatever movie has the most buzz and makes the most money.

Actors also have their own circles; if you rely on them, you still use the same old guys—you have no intention of cultivating anyone.

Even Zuoshandiao at China Film Group shook his head in sigh, worried about the future of the film industry—this endless fighting, what will the film world look like later?

But he couldn't intervene—he was about to retire anyway.

Also, Yu Pangzi at Bona remained silent—he had sensed danger; the Principal was definitely coming for him too.

He didn't even spare Emperor Entertainment—how much less would he spare Yu Pangzi, who had clashed with him multiple times and often insulted him?

Most film bosses felt nothing—they didn't want to be number one, just wanted to make money in this increasingly prosperous film market. Hua Yi's withdrawal of "Shen Du Long Wang" removed all obstacles for "Now You See Me," increasing its screening share; major theater chains prioritized "Now You See Me" as much as possible.

If "Shen Du Long Wang" had released, it would have taken up part of the screening slots—now those slots were freed up.

Under these circumstances, on July 4, "Now You See Me" broke 100 million yuan at the box office, reaching 128 million yuan.

It broke the previous record for daily box office earnings by a Chinese-language film, becoming the highest-grossing single-day film ever.

This movie already had buzz, faced no major competition, and was a Chinese-language film with local advantages!

There was no choice—50% of screening slots went to "Now You See Me"; other films shared the remaining 50%, not even in the same league.

There were over seventy films releasing in this slot!

Only because of Tu Piaopiao's advantage—it had ground teams promoting it, online seat selection, and its opening screen was an ad for this movie.

Also, from any other channel entering Tu Piaopiao's page, the homepage prominently displayed the "Now You See Me" poster.

Additionally, Bilibili, Chang'e Video, and the newly launched Xiaohongshu promoted it with film reviews.

Xiaohongshu had only just launched, but its downloads had already exceeded tens of thousands—it had little fairies on it.

This didn't help promote or drive traffic; instead, it was allowed to develop freely, since many were fresh experiments—if growth was too fast, adjustments would be hard.

It's easy to see that now, Fang Hong no longer needs to rely on scheming to promote a film—his channels and resources will only keep growing.

In the future, he can crush competitors with sheer strength!

Because of Now You See Me squeezing them out, every other film, whether in screen-count share or box office, ran into the situation of being cut in half.

*Blind Detective* earned only 7.49 million on its first day — dismal; whether it can break a hundred million is anyone's guess.

Even *Tiny Times*, which had already been in theaters for several days, was comparable to it, with 7.22 million at the box office, and it too ran into the cut-in-half situation; the day before, this film still had 22.50 million.

All one can say is that *Now You See Me* is fierce!

The other films need not be mentioned — they all slipped to varying degrees; any film released in this time slot had no survivors.

The film schedule itself is a zero-sum game: one side's gain necessarily means the other side's loss.

Although *Now You See Me* exploded in the domestic market, in the North America market it was not so ideal.

Compared to the previous life, where it broke ten million dollars on its first day, in this life the North America first-day opening was only at 308 theaters, taking 2.96 million dollars at the box office.

The per-screen result was around 9,590 US dollars.

Looking at the overall box office, it's not much, but looking at the per-screen box office, it's still not bad — the screening scale can be expanded.

A Chinese-language film can't be given that many theaters for its opening — that all costs money; no one knows how your film will perform in the market, and being given several hundred theaters is already on account of Fang Hong's face.

Otherwise, they'd toss you a few dozen just for show!

But a box office of over two million dollars — this too can be blown up big time; any film that breaks a million dollars overseas can be hyped up big in the country.

"*Now You See Me* breaks two million dollars in North America, setting a new high for Chinese-language films."

"China's Best Special Effects blockbuster — how does *Now You See Me* overturn the International Market?"

"Liu Tianxian's *Now You See Me* takes 2.96 million US dollars in North America; Rotten Tomatoes' freshness rating is 50%, while the audience-favorability popcorn index is 71%."

"."

Such news stories, for a time, climbed onto every major online media outlet, lifting the prestige of *Now You See Me* another notch.

After all, being able to export culture — in the eyes of the people, is something worth being proud of.

Those above also don't really care how much box office is taken domestically, feeling that's as it should be — it ought to have results like this, not worth being proud of.

If it can take box office overseas and go out, that is the true display of ability.

For those above, this is a real achievement, and value.

In the film and television market, taking a million dollars overseas makes them happier than taking a hundred million domestically.

Moreover, internationally, France, South Korea, and the United Kingdom all seem to have performed not badly — all able to break five hundred thousand dollars at the box office — and that was also taken note of.

Calculated this way, the global box office should be around five million dollars.

The specific numbers from Universal haven't come back yet — only the North America numbers were sent, letting them be happy for now.

South Korea was still given to CJ Entertainment to handle distribution.

*Now You See Me* in the Hong Kong region was also passable, taking 990,000 Hong Kong dollars on its first day; *Blind Detective* remained dismal, with only 440,000 Hong Kong dollars.

Whether it can break even is unknown — it still depends on what follows.

In short, the release of a fierce film like *Now You See Me* beat down the box office of every other domestic film, leaving all sides rather silent.

That production's visuals were too gorgeous — looking at it, it wasn't on the same level of production quality.

Liu Tianxian has also finished the Propaganda Department roadshow and has already come back to rest.

(End of this chapter)