Chapter 38: Reached the Standard

Fang Hong feared nothing more than insufficient controversy, insufficient intensity—after all, the ones being cursed weren't him, but the "Principal."

He was merely the nominal Principal!

On day one, the screening share of Those Years was low, only around 11%, which was normal—wait for market performance.

Screening share means the proportion of showtimes; for example, if a cinema schedules 100 screenings in a day, 11 of them are yours.

It's a debut director's debut film—only Liu Tianxian holds it up, everyone else is minor talent, and there's even a homogenized competitor, Love Notice, so they won't give it many slots.

After all, Love Notice has Wang Laoer's fans backing it—they've got nothing else.

Just a few pictures of audiences crying!

The highest screening shares now are Aftershock at 29% and Full Alert at 24%, Love Notice at 14%.

The first two didn't premiere on the same day; they've been out for a while, but both are in the summer slot.

But Fang Hong compressed Those Years to 90 minutes, meaning if viewership is high, under the same screening share, more showtimes can be added.

For example, Aftershock runs over two hours—four screenings per hall per day is about max; but Those Years, within the same daily window, can fit five or seven screenings.

This can be adjusted anytime—create the gap!

Cinemas usually open at 12 p. m., and a hall can fit at most seven screenings per day.

As long as occupancy is high, cinemas naturally favor shorter films and schedule more showtimes.

No other reason—it makes more money!

One extra screening brings in 2,500 to 5,500 yuan; what about ten extra screenings? A hundred?

On day one, public opinion around Those Years hadn't heated up much; box office reached 5.45 million.

Compared to Love Notice's box office, it was lower, but Those Years also had a lower screening share.

On day two, the screening share naturally increased.

As long as the film is screened, more people watch; more people learn about it online; audiences have begun recommending it to friends, many bringing boyfriends or girlfriends, even watching twice.

This is the internet age—with over 450 million netizens and rampant piracy—Those Years' songs spread fiercely through pirated channels, making more people aware of the namesake film.

But controversy also grew: mainstream media began reporting that Those Years was plagiarized.

That Friday, August 13, day two's box office hit 6.55 million, showing an inverse drop trend!

It surpassed Love Notice's 6.06 million!

On day three, Saturday, everyone was off—Those Years' box office broke 10.75 million.

Love Notice plummeted to 5.41 million; this film had only three peak days—due to word of mouth, it collapsed on day four.

In his past life, it performed better, but in this timeline, there's a competitor—and its quality is exceptionally high.

Watching Those Years' box office climb, Wang Laoer panicked and invited numerous Hong Kong and Taiwan stars to host an event to boost momentum.

Among them were Zhou Naicha, Yu Chengqing, Mo Wenwei, Xiao S, Feng Delun, Fang Wenshan, Wang Ruolin—truly a constellation of stars.

Liu Tianxian didn't attend; her promotional duties were done, she was filming, and besides, her current focus was Those Years!

No other reason—word of mouth is excellent; Douban ratings started at 8.0, a level that qualifies as a classic.

Had it not been for the plagiarism scandal, it would've been even higher—simply because Fang Hong's filmmaking was more professional, the female lead more beautiful, surpassing the original version!

Love Notice scored only 5.9—a pure black mark!

Wang Laoer was deeply frustrated—he shouldn't have listened to that man's nonsense about "art" and "kindred spirits."

On day four, Sunday, box office hit 14.89 million—starting this day, Those Years exploded in popularity!

At this box office level, in this era, the film and its songs could both be called hits.

Four-day total box office: 37.64 million; day five was Valentine's Day—box office would surely surge, possibly breaking 50 million.

This box office performance, in this timeframe, was second only to Aftershock, which averaged 32 million per day.

That's a big-budget blockbuster from a major studio—with massive promotional power Fang Hong couldn't match!

Besides, what he was riding wasn't even anything worthwhile!

Rumor had it—just rumor—that the film's box office was fake, and the controversy was huge.

On this day, a reporter asked Wang Laoer: "How do you view Those Years surpassing Love Notice at the box office?"

Wang Laoer replied directly: "I won't compare my film to a plagiarized one."

His words sparked a storm; with celebrity influence, the plagiarism scandal around Those Years escalated further.

Affected by this, the original author Jiu Ba Dao watched the film and filed a lawsuit against Those Years.

He told reporters he was furious, calling the "Principal" a thief, disgusting, garbage, vowing to defend his rights, refusing to compromise, fighting evil forces to the end!

The controversy escalated rapidly; major media began large-scale condemnation of Those Years for plagiarism.

They raged that the screenwriter was a "literary thief," the director was garbage!

Portals and literary media all jumped in to report the plagiarism case—the scale of the storm was reaching eruption point.

Reporters tried contacting Those Years' creators for responses, but couldn't find anyone—they seemed to have vanished, all playing dead.

Even Yutu Film Industry's address was unknown.

Liu Tianxian couldn't be reached either; besides, this had nothing to do with her—she was just an actress.

When films get accused of plagiarism, people blame the director and screenwriter, not the actors.

Netizens were stunned—this film was plagiarized? They should go to the cinema and protest!

After going, they realized the film was genuinely good, Liu Tianxian was stunningly beautiful—yet it had been stolen from, leaving them bitter; those who stole it should be punished!

No matter how big the scandal, it only boosted Those Years' buzz; on Valentine's Day, August 16, box office broke 26.94 million.

Five-day total box office: 64.58 million!

Fang Hong and China Film Group had bet on a minimum 50 million box office—they won!

The profit split can now be lowered to 10%!

Now see if they can break the second standard of 80 million—if reached, the split drops to 8%!

"Those Years" was a low-budget film, costing only sixty million, and breaking six hundred million was a classic case of successful marketing.

This caused many marketing companies to begin imitating it!

Investors who had previously read the screenplay of this film were all taken aback to varying degrees.

Guo Xiaosi sighed; if only he had copied it back then!

Even if he had copied it, he couldn't have done it well—he never believed this story could make money in film; to copy it would be idiotic!

In the office, Li Xiaoping stared fixedly at the box office trends and media storm displayed on his computer, rubbing his forehead.

To be honest, she felt a bit regretful; she had been very tempted by this film at the time, yet ultimately turned it down.

If this trend continues, the profit will be at least a fivefold return—by today's Hua Guo box office standards, this is already a high return.

"Xiaoping, I heard the creator of 'Those Years' approached you, didn't he?" A middle-aged man wearing glasses and exuding a scholarly air entered the office.

This man was Wang Changtian, the General Manager of Guangxian.

"Yes, General Manager Wang, I admit I misjudged it," Li Xiaoping conceded.

"It's fine; no one could have predicted it. This has given me an insight—we should pay more attention to young directors and Producers; they have ideas and dare to innovate."

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(End of Chapter)