Chapter 563: Taking On a Country

Seeing Zhang Jingying wouldn't listen to advice, everyone else expressed helplessness, and the topic was dropped there.

Going too deep would easily offend people, and it wouldn't be good if they couldn't even be friends afterward.

They ate and chatted through the meal, and after finishing, they went their separate ways—Zhang Jingying had to run around various shows to sing; it was the end of the year and there were quite a lot of events.

For example, Liu Tianxian was busy this year and didn't attend Weibo Night; her "Gravity" was about to be released.

Shuchang also had to help promote a TV drama, "Huese Xiang," in which she played a supporting role.

Shuchang had roles to film now; it wasn't like later when she gradually stopped getting any.

Liu Tianxian and Fang Hong took a plane back to Beijing.

"Hey, you usually don't bother with things like this—why so enthusiastic this time?" Liu Tianxian sat beside him, quite interested.

She was referring to the matter of advising Zhang Jingying earlier.

"We're all so close now, watching her sink is a bit hard to sit by, but if she won't listen there's nothing I can do—I can only let her be. Other people's matters are just suggestions from others; no one can really manage them."

Fang Hong was mainly moved to some compassion by the Yao Beina incident—after all, that scene, anyone would soften a bit.

And Zhang Jingying was Liu Tianxian's best friend; if something happened later, Liu Tianxian would probably be sad for a while again.

Besides, he was also very familiar with Zhang Jingying—had eaten together many times, sung together a few times—and seeing that matter about to happen, he gave her a reminder.

"Oh, that's nice—treating my friends as your own." Liu Tianxian was quite comforted.

It seemed this man's mindset had changed somewhat, integrating into her small circle; before there had been some distance.

As for Zhang Jingying's matter, they could only advise; the rest they couldn't control—fulfilling the duty of being a friend was enough.

The two were on the plane now, sitting in first class; Liu Tianxian had brought some snacks, eating them herself and occasionally feeding the man beside her.

"Are you in a better mood now?" Fang Hong turned his head to look at her.

"Much better. The hardest time has passed—at first, seeing the person gone really was hard to accept, very sad, but now it's much better, though I'll still think about it in my heart." Liu Tianxian said.

Thinking about Yao Beina, every night when she lay down to sleep and things got quiet, she would think.

"That's good then." Fang Hong nodded.

"But I won't delay things either. Once we're back in Beijing and I've tidied up, I'll get to work running the 'Gravity' promotion." Liu Tianxian spoke with renewed spirit.

This had already delayed a long time; the movie's release was less than a month away.

And that movie had only her as the absolute lead—without her promoting it, it wouldn't work.

"No need for all that trouble. Just stay home and adjust your mood, and work out to prepare for filming 'Lucy 2.' I've already figured out a method for the promotion." Fang Hong had spent the last few days thinking about how to promote "Gravity."

It was about using a gimmick to ignite public opinion.

After all, it was almost February and nearly New Year; others like "From Vegas to Macau 2," "Dragon Blade," "Zhong Kui: Demon Hunter," "Wolf Totem" and so on were already promoting like wildfire.

This year Hong Kong films were leading the charge again; if nothing unexpected happened, this slot would again be the era of Hong Kong film box office—except that in recent years the variable "Jade Rabbit" had appeared, which suppressed the Hong Kong films.

But a centipede dies yet never falls rigid!

Of course the opponents knew there would definitely be a Jade Rabbit film in this Spring Festival Slot—Jade Rabbit never missed any good slot, except for the previous two years when it fired blank shots at Huayi, it basically never sat out.

And there were already signs of promotion—a space sci-fi film, reportedly invested with several hundred million.

They didn't dare slack off either, all running very aggressive promotional campaigns.

If Liu Tianxian went running roadshows now it would be too late—she definitely couldn't out-promote them; whether in lineup or in status, she held no advantage.

Those films were all big names, all top figures in the film circle—not washed up in this era.

And it's rare that a film can be boosted by stars running roadshows—stars can play a role, but the role isn't big.

Otherwise those idols with tens of millions of fans should be able to carry a film, but not a single one has managed it.

It still relies on gimmicks, on promotion to draw people into the cinema.

"What method?" Liu Tianxian asked, puzzled.

"I won't say that for now." Fang Hong played coy.

"Hey, you're hiding things from me?" Liu Tianxian was unhappy, threw an arm around his neck, and got wild again.

"It's about creating a powerful enemy, and using that enemy to ignite public opinion." Fang Hong was pinned under her arm.

"What kind of enemy could have such a big effect? Other films or film production companies won't work, right?" Liu Tianxian didn't understand.

Competitors stepping on each other was a routine tactic—no matter how loud the noise, it was hard to ignite public opinion.

"Of course it wouldn't be an enemy like other films—what effect could they have, their own box office is hard to say. This enemy is a country." Fang Hong said.

"A country?!" Liu Tianxian let go of him, very startled—her man was going to take on a country? That was too crazy!

"Yes, a country!"

Once back in Beijing, Fang Hong immediately found Chen Zhixi to discuss the promotion matters with her.

"Pull the United States into it for promotion—just say the United States wants to ban 'Gravity.'" Fang Hong stated the plan directly.

"Huh?!" Chen Zhixi was also completely baffled—what kind of tactic was this.

"Just do as I say—say the United States feels 'Gravity' threatens their security and wants to ban the film. Play the patriotism card." Fang Hong explained.

Hearing his plan, Chen Zhixi immediately understood his meaning, astonished beyond words: "Playing it like this, is it really okay?"

"It's fine—who cares about small fry like us." Fang Hong waved a hand, speaking nonchalantly.

"What if it actually becomes reality and they really ban us?" Chen Zhixi worried.

"Gravity" was distributed by Universal; a month ago it had already launched a promotional campaign globally—of course not a big one; it was a domestic film, after all, and they still lacked confidence.

"You have to understand, the market Hollywood brings in here is far larger than our market in North America. If they really ban us, the higher-ups won't agree—we agreed on mutual reciprocity. If that happens, the higher-ups would have a perfect reason to make their films suffer too; their loss would be bigger than ours." Fang Hong wasn't worried at all.

Over the past year, Hollywood films' annual box office in the country exceeded 7 billion, equivalent to 1 billion US dollars.

And this year had seen an explosive surge—how could they possibly ban "Gravity"? If they banned it, Hollywood's films would probably be kicked out entirely, completely losing the principle of reciprocity.

Chen Zhixi said nothing, lowered her head and thought for a moment, and felt the plan was workable—very workable.

Mainly, there was a wall in the country; news was hard to get abroad, and even if it did, it wouldn't cause a ripple; even if it caused a ripple, it would benefit "Gravity."

And it also fit the international environment, fit the patriotic fervor—who could even think of this, the Principal really is a goddamn genius.

In February, this year's New Year Slot plus Spring Festival Slot was seen as the longest and most fiercely competitive slot in history—over 70 films piled into 95 days, a true free-for-all.

The market had visibly grown, and everyone wanted a piece of the pie.

In the Spring Festival Slot, *Road to Surprise*, *Wolf Totem*, *From Vegas to Macau 2*, *Dragon Blade*, and *Zhong Kui: The Demon Subduer* were the fiercest competitors.

Each one had plenty of hype.

There were also several Hollywood films—*Night at the Museum 3*, *The Seventh Son*, *The Hobbit*, and so on. These films weren't released during the Spring Festival Slot, but they all came out in January during the New Year Slot.

None of that matters—the Spring Festival Slot is home turf for domestic films.

As the Spring Festival Slot drew near and release time approached, the major film directors and producers all began sniping at each other with veiled barbs.

Wang Jin took a jab in an interview, subtly mocking *Dragon Blade* as too serious and unsuited to the Spring Festival Slot atmosphere. He put it this way: "The Spring Festival is a time for everyone to have fun. Audiences prefer lighthearted films, not heavy historical ones."

Fang Long then responded: "Films aren't just entertainment—they should also carry cultural and historical depth."

These remarks were seen as a veiled retort to *From Vegas to Macau 2*.

The Hong Kong circle isn't a monolith either; it has plenty of big and small cliques, and Fang Long's film was backed by Huayi Brothers.

Wang Jin's film was backed by Bona Film Group—the two sides were competitors to begin with.

*Zhong Kui: The Demon Subduer* and *Wolf Totem* also sniped at each other. The director of *Zhong Kui* said in an interview: "Some films may look artistic, but that doesn't mean they truly move the audience."

The director of *Wolf Totem* responded: "The core of a film is its story and emotion, not hollow images propped up by special effects."

Then the director of *Dragon Blade* took a shot at *Zhong Kui*: "Some films may have gorgeous special effects, but they lack the support of genuine emotion."

Other films were sniping at each other too. Wang Jin even opened fire on a variety-show film, saying it flew the family-entertainment banner but was really just riding variety-show buzz to fill seats.

Everyone was sniping at everyone else in total chaos—no matter how good their private relations, when money's on the line, whoever you are, you snipe if sniping is called for.

And their sniping and mutual trampling—it's hard to say it wasn't for mutual traffic-driving. Hard to tell. Treating the audience like fools is common enough.

But they all seemed to have forgotten about *Gravity*, which is normal—*Gravity* hasn't made any moves yet.

If they rashly picked a fight with that film, they'd be handing it free publicity—doing Jade Rabbit a favor—so they all tacitly ignored it.

But Fang Hong knew that this year's domestic films were basically all terrible—none of them were good. Audiences would call them the most miraculously bad films in history.

Every single one was bizarrely awful!

Soon it was February 18, New Year's Eve. Tomorrow was the day the Spring Festival Slot films would hit theaters.

"Strange—why hasn't Principal made any move at all?" Xiao Wang was baffled.

At this point, the promotional approach for that most expensive Jade Rabbit film was still lukewarm—just offline posters, with zero buzz online.

"He's probably plotting something against us again. Stay alert," Big Wang instructed.

Having been burned by Principal several times before, he had to keep his guard up.

"What trick could he possibly pull? I'm not stupid enough to fall for his empty threats again. If he bluffs, I should thank him—he left the screening slots open for us." Xiao Wang still remembered Fang Hong's bluff.

That incident left a deep impression on him—how could it not? He'd lost over a hundred million.

"Still, stay sharp. Call Yu Fatty and tell him that if Principal plays any tricks, we present a united front," Big Wang instructed.

"Got it!"

Xiao Wang nodded at once, pulled out his phone, and called.

Sometimes when they were scheduling release dates, they'd communicate privately—for instance, spacing out their New Year Slot releases; the big players did talk to each other.

So they all had each other's phone numbers. Even Fang Hong had the numbers for Enlight Media and China Film Group, and when there was no conflict they'd call Jade Rabbit to ask which day its film was set for so they could avoid a clash.

Just as those films were all trampling each other and waging public trash-talk wars for more traffic, and the big players were coordinating with each other—if Principal played dirty against them, they'd band together to deal with him—

A news item instantly blew up public opinion:

"The US Department of Commerce has banned the film *Gravity* on 'national security' grounds!"

The article claimed that the Bureau of Industry and Security under the US Department of Commerce issued an emergency administrative order on February 18.

It placed *Gravity* on the Entity List, banning the film from distribution, theatrical release, and streaming transmission within the United States.

The article also listed reasons for the ban, claiming that the particle-effects technology used in *Gravity* was suspected of harvesting biometric data from audiences.

Anyway, it sounded plausible enough that for a time Wangyi and the media took it at face value, and it drew widespread attention.

The mainstream outlets and portals didn't report it; the ones that did were self-media. Seeing this news, a flood of netizens were outraged, cursing the United States online.

"F*** the United States—are they even polite?"

"Then stop importing American films either—ban theirs in return!"

"Everyone boycott Hollywood films—nobody go see *The Avengers*."

"Foreign suppression means they're afraid of our film culture."

"Everyone go watch *Gravity*—support the rise of domestic films, don't watch Hollywood films."

"Not watching *Gravity* is unpatriotic."

"Right—it's unpatriotic."

"Tu Piaopiao has presale tickets—everyone go grab them!"

"."

For a moment, netizens were fired up, pouring out their patriotic passion online regardless of whether it was true.

Whatever the United States boycotted, they'd support; whatever the United States supported, they'd boycott.

Nobody knew where this news came from, but all kinds of media piled in to cover it—free traffic of this magnitude would be foolish to pass up.

"US bans *Gravity*—whether real or fake, it can't stop the rise of our cultural power!"

"US Department of Commerce bans *Gravity*—cultural barrier or political game?"

"*Gravity*: a strong Chinese cultural note—why can't it fit the North American tune?"

Internet headlines like these flooded the web for a time, even rocketing to the top of the trending searches at lightning speed and holding the top spot.

At this rate, the buzz wouldn't die down on New Year's Eve; whether it would die down on the first day of the New Year was anyone's guess.

Such a small trick was enough to give *Gravity* unprecedented buzz, drowning out every other film—including other social topics.

Liu Tianxian didn't even have to leave the house — the film she starred in exploded in popularity.

"You're incredible — let me see how your brain is put together," Liu Tianxian marveled, reaching over as if to grab Fang Hong's head and pull it toward her.

At the time she had only heard that Fang Hong was going to "find an enemy for Gravity" — she hadn't expected it to turn out like this.

Public opinion blew up in an instant, stirring people into a frenzy of excitement.

At that moment they were sitting cross-legged by the tea table, while Liu Xiaoli and Xu Liyun were in the kitchen preparing the New Year's Eve dinner.

"Look at you — touching my head again. How many times have I told you? A man's head isn't something you just touch whenever you feel like it."

Fang Hong ducked, then said, "I was only afraid you'd be running around everywhere and wear yourself out. It's the New Year and you'd still have to go out and work hard — how lonely is that? So to save you some physical energy, I could only waste some brainpower."

"All right, all right — not bad at all, you know how to be tender with your wife." Liu Tianxian laughed, patted his shoulder in praise, then added, "Then I won't need to go running around doing publicity anymore."

"Not at home, but overseas we still do. Let's go to the United States for publicity — isn't that basically a work-funded trip?" Fang Hong said.

It's the matter of Big Hero 6 being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film — whether it wins or not, we have to make the trip.

(End of chapter)