Chapter 426: Winning Hearts by Routine

Time passed quickly. "Dad Where Are We Going," which had been in theaters for a month, was now drawing to a close.

The film's total box office was 696 million, just shy of 700 million. After deducting taxes, the special fund, and the cinema chains' share, their profit came to 220 million.

After costs were deducted, the profit was 200 million.

Jade Rabbit took a 30% share, netting 60 million in pure profit; the rest went to Rabbit Ticket and Tian Yu.

One could say this film made peers click their tongues in amazement, green with envy and hatred—making tens of millions in a month or two, even listed companies harvesting leeks weren't this ruthless.

This was even faster than harvesting leeks.

Tian Yu was also overjoyed, having never made so much money in one go in a month or two before, so they got excited and started putting together a "I Am Who I Am" movie.

It was about the "Super Boy" variety show.

Starring were the divine-tier fresh idols of the Chinese music scene, the gods of "You Are My God."

Of course, this time they weren't playing with the Jade Rabbit system; they took the lead themselves and went to play with Enlight Media. The Principal was too greedy—giving them the copyright alone cost them a 30% profit share.

Never seen anyone so greedy.

They didn't want to play with Jade Rabbit, and Fang Hong wasn't keen to play with them either, as if making variety show movies amounted to much.

All sides in the film market were competing fiercely in promotion, while Jade Rabbit's "Love Like the束" hadn't really done much yet, just letting the lead actors and main creators go out and do some rounds.

The New Year falls on the 30th this month. "The Monkey King" premiered on January 21, while "Love Like the束" premiered on January 22.

This premiere was staged on a grand scale, held at Lu Mi Ai Ying Cheng, one of Beijing's top ten cinemas. A long red carpet was laid out, stretching all the way to the elevator outside.

A banner hung at the site, reading: "Love Like the束 Global Premiere."

On both sides were various "Love Like the束" lightbox advertisements.

On both sides of the red carpet and around the area were fans and invited reporters. Since it was inside the cinema, no one felt cold.

Film critics and professional film scholars were also invited to attend, such as Zhang Wei, Standing Vice President of the Film Critics Society; Hu Zhi Feng, Vice President of the Literary Critics Association, and others.

It's a masterpiece—no fear of their nitpicking.

Outside, a light snow was falling. One luxury business car after another pulled up, and various stars, directors, and film people stepped out.

There were Zhao Xiaodao, Zhang Songwen, Nazha, Chen Xiao, and other Jade Rabbit-signed artists—all top-tier celebrities, so when Jade Rabbit held an event, the star power was still ample.

They didn't wear gowns, just simple suits, down jackets, trench coats, etc. —no dress code required.

Liu Tianxian's good friends Yao Beina, Shuchang, Zhang Jingying, and others also came to show support.

In addition, Chen Sicheng and his wife were there, the newlyweds in their sweetest moment. Directors Wang Ran, Wen Muye, Guo Fan, Lu Yang, and other Jade Rabbit directors, as well as directors who had previously collaborated, also came.

Xue Xiaolu was there too—the film was her work, and she wanted to see people's reactions. She brought Cao Baoping along as well.

She wanted to see what this so-called masterpiece was really like.

The scene was lively and a bit noisy. Reporters kept snapping photos, capturing various stars and celebrities, while fans and audience members shouted.

No one knew what they were shouting.

In any case, the fans were kept separated from the stars by security, for fear of stampedes and shoving incidents.

Liu Tianxian and Bai Yu appeared at the scene. The two had been doing joint promotions for this film recently, and tonight was no exception.

Bai Yu was a newcomer, but the moment Liu Tianxian appeared, her popularity soared—many people shouted her name.

She smiled and waved to both sides.

Long black hair draped over her shoulders, a pink off-shoulder top paired with a mermaid-style long gown—she looked utterly charming, gentle and graceful, with the warm, demure air of a wife.

"Ahhhh!"

One male fan couldn't contain his impulse, broke through the barrier, and lunged at Liu Tianxian.

The scene turned chaotic for a moment, which startled Liu Tianxian. Fortunately, the male fan was grabbed by security and pushed back.

A guy whose hormones got the better of him—seeing Liu Tianxian, beautiful as a heavenly fairy, radiating alluring charm, just wanted to pounce.

Liu Tianxian was at the peak of her looks now, and with some tender loving care, she wasn't just beautiful but also seductive—losing control was perfectly normal.

The brief chaos quickly returned to normal. Liu Tianxian was a little startled but kept walking forward and entered the cinema.

The cinema lights were on. People were streaming in continuously, with faint murmurs of conversation. Some noticed Liu Tianxian entering and were watching her.

Yaya looked at her, eyes full of envy—this girl's circumstances were really far better than hers.

Nazha's gaze was also complicated, no telling what she was thinking.

Liu Tianxian paid no attention to the others; after a quick greeting to Bai Yu, they parted ways.

She glanced around the venue, then walked toward Yao Beina and the others in the second row, greeting them: "You all came so early."

"Came to cheer you on."

Zhang Jingying smiled, stood up, and whispered in Liu Tianxian's ear: "I heard you got your marriage certificate."

"Mm!" Liu Tianxian said coquettishly.

"Then congratulations! Wow, I didn't expect that among us, you'd be the first to get married." Zhang Jingying sighed.

"You're next, right? How's it going, still seeing that guy?" Liu Tianxian asked. "Yes." Zhang Jingying looked downcast—that man hadn't made any move at all.

They were getting married next year. That girl was the one who proposed to him, and he only married her because he was forced to, and in the end she was swindled out of 600 million.

Before that, she and that man had caused quite a few scandals. Her mother couldn't stand it and publicly exposed that man as a scumbag, saying he was cheating, but she chose to believe him, not her mother, and fell out with her mother over it.

The whole world knew that man was a scumbag except her. The whole thing was pretty melodramatic anyway.

Liu Tianxian wanted to say something but held her tongue—even her own mother couldn't control her, what could she do?

If she meddled too much, she might not even remain best friends.

In this respect, she was quite like Fang Hong—never sticking her nose in other people's business.

"Such a big thing and you didn't even tell us? You really don't treat us as friends, do you?" Shuchang said reproachfully.

"Oh, I didn't not tell you—I'm telling you now, aren't I?" Liu Tianxian said in a coquettish tone.

"Then you have to treat us, together with the Principal." Shuchang said.

"Sure, sure."

Liu Tianxian was very free and easy, then said: "You guys chat, I'll head over first."

"Alright, go ahead!" The three nodded.

Liu Tianxian went to find Fang Hong. Fang Hong was sitting in the front row, legs crossed, chatting with CJ chairman Li Meijing about cooperation.

She sat down beside Fang Hong. Fang Hong turned his head, saw her, leaned close to her ear and said: "My mom's back, did she tell you?"

"She did. I've been really busy lately, haven't had time to visit your place yet." Liu Tianxian had been in touch with Xu Liyun.

"Mm."

Fang Hong said something, took hold of her little hand, then turned back to continue chatting with Li Meijing.

Recently, International Market performed extremely well in the South Korean market. After a month in theaters it had already been pulled, setting multiple records.

Cumulative viewership broke 3 million in 10 days, 5 million in 15 days, reached 7 million in 18 days, and took the weekend box office crown for four consecutive weeks.

On January 13, 2014, it finally broke the ten-million-viewer mark, becoming the first "ten-million-viewer film" of 2014.

This achievement made director Yin Ji Jun the first director in South Korean film history to "break ten million twice," and also refreshed the personal single-film box office record for lead actor Huang Zheng Min.

On the 20th, South Korea's Asia Economy reported that, according to statistics from the Korean Film Council, as of the 20th of this month, the cumulative viewership of the film International Market had broken 12 million.

It surpassed the 11,746,135 viewers set by Tae Guk Gi, taking 8th place on the all-time South Korean domestic film box office chart — simply terrifying.

Of course, domestically no one cared about this. The film had nothing to do with the domestic market; only a handful of media outlets reported on it.

CJ wanted to bring it into the domestic market, but it got held up by the relevant review department. She still wanted Fang Hong to lobby for it.

Fang Hong didn't have that kind of pull — his own films had been held up by review several times.

The import plan had to be dropped. International Market broke 80.3 million dollars at the South Korean domestic box office; Jade Rabbit could take 16.06 million dollars, equivalent to 110 million, and the rest went to CJ Entertainment.

Jade Rabbit had also invested in this film; it wasn't simply providing the script and project. South Korean production costs aren't high, and their actors' pay is very low.

Although it couldn't be imported domestically, both sides were still very happy about the cooperation, so they wanted to do another one — Train to Busan.

A zombie film — domestically you can't shoot that, so it could only be made in South Korea. This film is the same as before: for Best Special Effects, they had to find Jade Rabbit.

This was only an intention so far; it depended on how the talks went.

Liu Tianxian listened to them chat for a while, then stopped paying attention. She turned to look beside her — sitting next to her was director Xue Xiaolu, who was chatting with Cao Baoping.

Waiting for a lull in their conversation, Liu Tianxian greeted: "Director Xue, Teacher Cao."

The two nodded politely, acknowledging each other.

Liu Tianxian asked: "Director Xue, CCTV has an interview scheduled recently — will you be there?"

This was a Propaganda Department arrangement; the main creative team basically all had to go.

"I'll be there. They've already notified me."

Xue Xiaolu nodded, then said: "It's just that with this film we still have to trouble you all. When we go out, the audience doesn't even know who we are."

"It's only right." Liu Tianxian nodded.

The entire theater was murmuring in conversation. As time went on, all 457 seats in the venue were filled up — it had been planned that way from the start.

There were also cameras pointed at the audience. This was to collect material — recording anyone who got teary-eyed during the film and so on.

This was a trick Fang Hong had played before, and he was preparing to play it again. Last time it was done roughly, and there were no celebrities shedding tears.

Now it's different. Arrangements were made for actors like Chen Sicheng and Zhao Xiaodao to attend, and after watching they would shed a few tears, along with others — a bit exaggerated.

Since sincerity can't hold them, you win hearts with tricks. That's how bad films play it.

The theater lights went dark. The film hadn't started yet — the big screen was still playing ads from Bilibili and Jinri Toutiao, when a pure, gentle singing voice came through.

"How lucky to have met you, but I've already lost the right to weep for you."

Yao Beina stood on the stage up front, holding a microphone, singing this song "A Little Happiness."

(End of chapter)