Chapter 684: The Girl Who Cries and Laughs, a Commoner

The 2015 New Year Slot has ended completely, with Tangrenjie Tangan's final box office reaching 980 million yuan!

It just missed entering the billion-yuan club.

This film earned only 823 million yuan in its original timeline; now it's over a billion more, which is normal—it knocked Mr. Six out of the running.

Moving this film's release to Christmas also made it reasonable to earn even more box office revenue.

It's a pity it didn't break one billion; clearly, Wanda and Alibaba still had influence, since Mojin: The Lost Legend also lost about two or three hundred million in box office.

But TikTok is rising, and Chang'e's platforms have traffic; Fang Hong isn't afraid of them.

Meanwhile, Ewok Angel earned 648 million yuan—this kind of movie could still get such box office numbers.

Today's audiences still have very high tolerance.

Other films had varying box office levels, from millions to tens of millions.

With the New Year Slot fully over, the Spring Festival Slot films are about to premiere; as the new year begins, auspicious snow foretells a bountiful harvest—it's another Spring Festival, and the snow-covered land is adorned with lanterns and decorations, glowing red and lively.

Early on New Year's Day, Fang Hong pasted couplets, hung red lanterns, and decorated the Villa into a festive scene.

The Villa's large living room had also been completely refreshed—of course, not by family members, but by hired cleaners.

The Villa is too big; cleaning it himself would be too troublesome.

In the sofa area, a tea table held various fruits and snacks; Liu Tianxian, Liu Xiaoli, and Xu Liyun sat side by side on the sofa, Heizi lay on the floor nearby, tongue lolling out, while several kittens chased each other wildly.

They ate fruit, watched Fang Hong ahead, and occasionally burst into laughter.

Just then, Fang Hong stretched his neck forward, one hand in front of his mouth, the other behind his buttocks, like a teapot, bending over and swaying back and forth as he walked.

His antics were comical and amusing, making them clap and laugh "hahaha," full of joy.

Liu Tianxian laughed the loudest, her laugh "gege" like a duck's.

She pulled out her phone and filmed this funny moment.

Fang Hong cooperated fully, bending his knees into an "O" shape, hunching his shoulders, pressing both palms downward on either side, waddling like a duck—his movements were especially comical.

"Gagaga," he also emitted a sound like a drake's quack.

"Cough cough..." Liu Xiaoli laughed so hard she nearly passed out, coughing continuously.

It was truly hilarious, so joyful.

Xu Liyun wiped tears from her eyes—she had laughed until she cried.

Liu Tianxian found it amusing; barefoot, she slipped on slippers and walked over to Fang Hong, mimicking his duck-like posture and emitting "gagaga" duck quacks.

She wore a flowy dress that clearly revealed her swollen belly—she looked like a fat pregnant duck, especially comical and funny.

Both mothers laughed "haha" until they couldn't breathe—these two goofballs were truly something.

In public they were serious; behind closed doors, they were ridiculously childish.

"Gua gua," Fang Hong again assumed the "teapot" pose, stretching his neck like a goose and letting out goose calls as he pecked toward Liu Tianxian.

Liu Tianxian sensed danger, waddling away while "gaga"-ing—her quacks mixed with laughter, no longer sounding like duck calls at all.

After all, holding back laughter during such silliness was extremely hard; in truth, her laugh threshold was quite low.

Both mothers laughed until their stomachs hurt, waving their hands helplessly.

"Gegege," Liu Tianxian collapsed onto the sofa, leaning backward, laughter continuing.

Fang Hong loomed above her, still maintaining his comical pose, pecking at her head like a goose—just tapping her head with his fingers.

"Don't hurt her," Liu Xiaoli pulled at her son-in-law, signaling him not to press on her belly.

Fang Hong was just joking; he stood up, returned to his serious demeanor, and picked up a peeled apple from the tea table, putting it in his mouth.

He'd imitated animal sounds until his mouth was dry.

Liu Tianxian stood up, adjusted her dress; as she leaned back, her white legs were fully exposed.

"I haven't been this happy in a long time," Xu Liyun wiped the tears from her eyes—tears of laughter.

Usually someone had something wrong or someone else had something wrong; days like this, with the whole family playing together, were very rare.

"With one more person coming, it'll be even more fun," Liu Xiaoli recalled how amusing her daughter had been as a child.

Adults simply aren't as adorable as children.

"It's coming soon," Xu Liyun glanced at Liu Tianxian's belly—it was already very large.

In five months, the belly grows fastest.

"Husband, play your 'Invincible' for the moms," Liu Tianxian reached out, urging Fang Hong to stand up.

"You want me to dance, I dance; you want me to sing—isn't that asking me to embarrass myself?" Fang Hong said.

"Oh come on, no embarrassment—let the moms hear your singing voice."

Liu Tianxian teased again, turning to the mothers: "His newly released song is awesome—I'll let you hear it."

"Oh, little Fang, didn't know you could sing! You've got to show us then," Liu Xiaoli became interested.

"Someone else wrote it for me; I just sing it casually—it's not even good," Fang Hong didn't want to sing; he had no million-dollar audio engineer, and even he couldn't stand listening to it.

"It's good, come on, come on," Liu Tianxian urged, pulling him.

Fang Hong didn't budge—he'd heard it before.

"It's fine, we'll just enjoy it; we're not professionals, it's the New Year—just have fun," Liu Xiaoli still really wanted to hear her son-in-law sing.

Xu Liyun smiled, saying nothing—her mood was good, so anything was fine.

"Sing, sing—we won't laugh at you," Liu Tianxian urged again, pulling him.

"I'll sing, and you moms can laugh—but you can't laugh," Fang Hong said to Liu Tianxian.

"I won't laugh," Liu Tianxian shook her head.

"You said so," Fang Hong pointed at her.

"Yes, I said so," Liu Tianxian raised her hand as if swearing, slipped on her slippers, and said: "I'll go get the backing track."

"You're really eager," Fang Hong said.

The two mothers exchanged a glance and smiled at each other.

Liu Tianxian turned on the TV and adjusted it; the entire back wall of the house was a screen, huge and internet-connected.

Internet TV set-top boxes already existed and were a focal point of competition among major internet companies.

Tencent, Youku, and iQiyi could display their logos and brand names.

But soon a document arrived, rendering all those companies' promotions and efforts useless—those without licenses could not appear on TV channels or display logos.

Those internet companies could only provide content or collaborate with licensed entities.

This dealt a crushing blow to those companies, but they endured it—even if their resources and funds went down the drain, they could bear it.

Chang'e Video never expanded into the TV platform, only distributing content to them.

Liu Tianxian found the video of that song and paused it; the MV wasn't the original, but a compilation of Fang Hong's showy appearances at various events.

There were clips from symposiums, award ceremonies, and the Macau Film Festival—everything was edited together by netizens.

This version was the most popular because it included numerous boastful quotes.

Liu Tianxian pulled a microphone from a drawer in the TV cabinet and handed it to Fang Hong: "Sing well!"

"Don't laugh!" Fang Hong warned.

"Mm-hmm, I won't laugh," Liu Tianxian said, biting her lip—she already wanted to laugh, but held it back.

The MV played; the energetic music echoed through the villa as Fang Hong picked up the microphone and began singing: "How wonderful it is to be invincible."

"Hahaha!" Liu Tianxian burst into laughter, bending over with mirth.

Fang Hong shot her a mock-angry look—he'd just told her not to laugh.

"Hehehe," Liu Tianxian shamelessly leaned in, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, forcibly turning his body and planting a loud "smack" on his lips.

Then she boldly placed one foot on the coffee table, lifted her skirt, and swayed her body gracefully, dancing beside him—even with her swollen belly, her figure remained supple.

But her dance ruined the "Tianxian" image; yet she never thought of herself as a celestial being—she was just a down-to-earth woman who cried, laughed, and made jokes.

Liu Xiaoli covered her face, unable to bear watching her daughter.

Xu Liyun laughed continuously—"hehehe"—clapping her hands, clearly delighted.

They didn't care whether Fang Hong sang well or not—just that he made them happy.

When others sing well, it's merely pleasant to listen to; when your child sings, it's to make you laugh.

On TV, they saw Fang Hong's heroic moments at various events: at Beijing Film Academy, he said: "The thirst for knowledge, the pursuit of love, the uncontrollable compassion for human suffering."

At the Macau Film Festival, he said: "We must be the most impartial film festival!"

At the Ten Economic Figures event, he said: "Please treat our fellow citizens kindly."

These clips appeared alongside the song, mixed with boastful quotes; after listening to this song, people gained a rough understanding of Fang Hong's mindset.

People hadn't noticed before because the span covered many years—it wasn't obvious until now.

Now, after netizens edited them together, they felt this man possessed a compassion common to ordinary people—not the cold-bloodedness of capital.

While Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian laughed and chatted at home, enjoying their New Year's Eve dinner.

"The Mermaid" opened with 271 million yuan on its first day, 243 million on the second, breaking 500 million in two days—truly terrifying, setting a new record for single-day box office.

With the film's release, its reputation emerged in sharp polarization: some praised it highly, others cried, "Xing Ye has run out of ideas!"—rehashing old material again.

This happened with nearly every one of his films upon release.

"From Vegas to Macau 3" was met with nothing but criticism; the film was clearly made just to make money, with no sincere effort.

Yet the box office was still impressive: 170 million on opening day, 130 million the next, breaking 300 million in two days.

"Monkey King 2" also faced heavy criticism as a terrible film, earning 160 million on opening day, 110 million the next, totaling around 290 million—nearly 300 million.

These three films generated roughly 1.1 billion yuan in box office over two days, signaling further prosperity in the film market.

These three films dominated the entire Spring Festival Slot; other films were negligible—a million yuan in box office was already impressive.

Yet while the other two films saw box office declines of varying degrees, "The Mermaid" remained remarkably resilient.

On day three, it rose against the trend to 249 million yuan; on day four, it held steady at 249 million yuan.

In four days, its total box office surpassed 1.012 billion yuan, becoming the fastest film to break 1 billion yuan—surpassing even "Gravity."

Seeing such explosive box office, Xing Ye was ecstatic and declared: "If the box office exceeds 3 billion, I'll swim naked!"

Netizens cheered, eager to see Xing Ye naked.

On day five, box office remained at 245 million yuan; on day six, it held steady at 240 million yuan—just shy of 1.5 billion total.

It was truly impressive; Lao Wang Zong considered whether to give the Principal some trouble—but then he reconsidered; right now, only "The Mermaid" had strong box office, with no viable alternatives.

The other two had fallen below 100 million; if he caused trouble, he'd lose too—no one would come to his theaters.

Previously, during the New Year Slot, there were many alternative films; in this Spring Festival Slot, almost no film could compete with "The Mermaid."

Alibaba's online platform, Taopiaopiao, did divert some audience, but it posed little threat to Fang Hong, since Taopiaopiao and Chang'e Technology's promotional systems remained highly mature.

Taopiaopiao held 70% of the market share, consistently dominant; no other ticketing platform targeted it.

They wanted GMV transaction volume—targeting "The Mermaid" meant targeting themselves.

Seeing "The Mermaid"'s box office climb beyond expectations, Xing Ye grew depressed—depressed because he'd previously bet with the Principal: if box office exceeded 1 billion, he'd give him 100 million as a dividend.

That meant no matter how high the box office climbed, he'd pay only 100 million; beyond 2 billion or 3 billion, he'd get nothing more.

He agreed to this because he believed the box office would top out at just over a billion—1.5 billion was already a stretch; the Principal might make a little, but not much.

That bet was made two years ago; back then, a 1-billion-yuan box office was hard to achieve—who could have predicted that in just one or two years, the film market would explode like this?

He never imagined his film would perform this way.

Back then, he thought a 1.5-billion-yuan box office, with a 30% profit margin, meant 450 million in profit; after subtracting production and promotional costs, he'd barely break even above 100 million.

That meant he'd taken roughly 50% of the share.

Now, with box office at 1.5 billion and still exploding, if it didn't climb further, he'd feel balanced—the Principal wouldn't make much.

But if it truly surpassed 2 billion or 3 billion, he'd regret it bitterly—he should've demanded a share.

Chen Zhixi saw that "The Mermaid" had such box office performance, and her heart was delighted.

If this box office didn't collapse, they wouldn't be at a loss.

At first, when the Principal made a bet with Xing Ye on the box office threshold, she had opposed it, thinking it would be very difficult to reach the ideal box office level.

Because these Hong Kong directors' box offices were generally not high, fixed at a certain level, and the audience had some aesthetic fatigue.

Now she was relieved, as long as the box office exceeded 2 billion, it would be a big profit.

Overseas, "Fifty Shades Darker" was released on schedule on February 10th, earning $21.7 million on its first day in North America, and $46.3 million over its opening weekend.

The International Market opening week box office was $82.7 million, plus North America, the global opening week box office was $129 million.

Of course, this film was still met with a chorus of criticism, with a Rotten Tomatoes freshness rating of only 11%, but this didn't matter; what mattered was that people liked watching this kind of romantic action film.

However, there was an interesting phenomenon: a research institution surveyed and said that female viewers of "Fifty Shades Darker" accounted for 65%, mainly women aged 25 and above.

It also sparked discussions on human sexual behavior patterns, saying: "Women are very hungry for adult content!"

It also said: "Can female sexual desire truly be liberated under the patriarchal framework!"

The Boxing has begun, they are already liberated enough.

This film proved that women are more lustful than men; men are actually less lustful than women.

"Fifty Shades Darker" was not the North America box office champion though; the champion was "Deadpool," ranking second in the North America box office.

Marvel movies are still fierce, can't compare.

(End of this chapter)