Chapter 741: Hollywood

During the New Year period, Beijing was shrouded in a sea of red festivity, with every household pasting red couplets and red lanterns hung everywhere, even on the trees.

Although firecrackers were banned, every household still had someone secretly setting them off, just not on major roads.

As long as the people don't report it, the authorities won't investigate.

On its opening day, The Demon Stalker earned 354 million yuan at the box office, ranking first on the charts, with a seven-day total of 1.15 billion yuan.

The combo of Xing Ye and Xu Laoguai is still awesome.

But this movie was savaged by audiences, who said its logic was unclear, the plot chaotic, the jokes awkward, and no one knew what it was even about.

Aside from Best Special Effects, everything else was utterly lacking.

Along with Xing Ye and Xu Laoguai, both were relentlessly dragged through the mud by audiences, accused of milking nostalgia and utterly disappointing fans.

"Xing Ye has run out of talent!"

"Xu Laoguai's earlier film, Super Body 2, was great—the Principal supervised it. Why can't he make it work with a new partner?"

"The Principal kept him in check, didn't let him rewrite the script, and made him stick to the planned style."

This movie was produced by Xing Ye and directed by Xu Laoguai.

This can be said to be another collapse of audience trust in big directors—from Mojing Wang to Lao Mouzi, then Xu Laoguai and Xing Ye.

The idea that big directors don't guarantee quality suddenly gained traction, urging people not to idolize these directors.

It seemed that from this year onward, the entire entertainment industry's credibility began to crumble; after this, men truly wouldn't watch films anymore—only women would.

Treating audiences like fools is nothing short of insulting them.

Other films were much the same: The Great Adventure in Tianshu opened with 187 million yuan on its first day and totaled 570 million yuan over seven days—a classic case of high opening, low retention, with the worst word-of-mouth collapse.

The plot was even worse than The Demon Stalker, receiving nearly unanimous pans, with no defenders left—Wang Baoqiang clearly still has room to improve.

But investors had set their expectations too high, since its opening day surpassed Fang Long's Kung Fu Yoga's 137 million yuan.

But Fang Long later caught up, reaching a seven-day total of 1.17 billion yuan—even surpassing The Demon Stalker!

It's just that the short guy was lifted up by the tall one, because Kung Fu Yoga was also panned—full of lame gags and clichéd scenes.

The plot was nonsensical too, but it followed a comedy route, somewhat like a Spring Festival Gala's didactic tone.

It's a family-friendly film, so naturally more people watched it—no surprise.

The Wind and Waves had the worst opening day at just 67.73 million yuan, with a seven-day total of 410 million yuan—it was the highest-quality film among them, yet its word-of-mouth was sharply divided.

Those who liked it said: "The plot structure is complete, Han Han has shown clear improvement as a director."

Those who disliked it said: "Male-centered perspective, women reduced to tools, obvious imitation."

Even so, compared to the other films, it was quite good—at least some audiences thought it was decent.

Zhao Xiaodao was also one of the lead actors in this film.

She is now desperately trying to shift to the big screen; in the entertainment industry, if you can move to the big screen, you should—big screen is more prestigious than small screen.

But very few actually make it to the big screen.

While the domestic market was still immersed in Spring Festival festivities, fiercely competing at the box office, internet competition was also intensifying.

After Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian finished visiting relatives during the seven-day Spring Festival, they traveled to Los Angeles, United States.

Los Angeles is a city with stunning scenery, where people of every race and skin tone can be seen on the streets—this is because so many immigrants have settled here.

The two arrived over half a month early to complete many preparations.

In the airport terminal, Fang Hong spoke English with a strange accent: "Hi! Mister Yu."

"Hello, Principal, your English is fluent!" Yu Xian stepped forward, opening his arms for a warm hug.

"Not bad—it's what I learned from my wife." Fang Hong patted his back.

Liu Tianxian stood beside them, wearing sunglasses; beneath them, she rolled her eyes.

The People's Name hasn't been released yet—it won't come out until March—so this joke hadn't surfaced yet, but Liu Tianxian knew it, because this man would learn it on the bed when he got excited, but he didn't really learn it.

"Then you'd better learn well—your wife is incredibly learned, with profound philosophical depth!" Yu Xian also patted his back; the two were very enthusiastic.

Guo Biting stood gracefully to the side, feeling somewhat nervous seeing the Principal, but seeing how close her boyfriend was to him, she felt proud of her boyfriend.

"This is your girlfriend, right? Very pretty—come say hello." Fang Hong opened his arms toward Guo Biting.

"Sister-in-law, long time no see—you've gotten even more beautiful," Yu Xian, with perfect timing, embraced Liu Tianxian.

The sudden switch in targets left both women startled.

Liu Tianxian was calm, extending one finger to press against Yu Xian's chest: "My Fang Hong gets jealous, you know."

"So petty!" Yu Xian sighed, unimpressed.

Guo Biting, however, was flustered—she felt she'd only been lightly hugged before being let go, with no excessive gestures.

"That's good parenting—you wouldn't understand." Fang Hong bluffed.

"Understood—I guess my parenting isn't good enough!" Yu Xian feigned a sigh.

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This made Guo Biting embarrassed—she wished she'd refused like Liu Tianxian, but she dared not.

As the group walked toward the airport terminal exit, Liu Tianxian casually draped one hand on Fang Hong's shoulder: "You're so proud now—you've got parenting figured out."

"I was just bluffing," Fang Hong whispered.

"Little guy."

Liu Tianxian smiled, playfully tilting his chin with her finger, then turned to Yu Xian ahead: "Have you been together all this time?"

"Yes, she spent the New Year with me here," Yu Xian slowed his pace to walk alongside them.

"That's great—used to always complain about being lonely, now you're not lonely anymore, huh?" Liu Tianxian laughed.

She'd always heard him say how lonely he was in the United States, especially during the New Year, how much he missed home—now that he had someone with him, it must be better.

"I still miss home, a little." Yu Xian said.

Guo Biting listened silently to their conversation, not speaking, quiet like a new bride, her cheeks slightly flushed.

Outside the airport terminal, the air felt warm as spring—Los Angeles' climate was simply good; even in winter, daytime temperatures remained around fifteen degrees, very comfortable.

Since they had arrived over half a month early, they stayed temporarily at Yu Xian's house; his villa was large and luxurious, with more than enough rooms.

They had been here before, staying on Beverly Hills, where they could overlook the Pacific Ocean, so it was still very familiar.

After settling in, the next day they went to Universal to meet Donna; they had visited before, so the route was second nature.

As for Yu Xian, he was busy filming Aquaman; picking them up was just stolen time. Guo Biting naturally followed her boyfriend, each busy with their own things.

In a reception room, Donna still had that afro—similar to the tight, curly afro of Black people, very abstract.

"The Martian had already screened for seven days in a commercial theater before December, with decent word-of-mouth and generally positive reviews, praised for its compelling plot."

"But since it wasn't the official release yet, it was only a limited screening, so the word-of-mouth hadn't spread—it was contained within a very small circle." Donna sat on a chair, legs crossed, describing the film's release situation.

She carried an air of upper-class confidence.

Controlling The Martian within a reasonable scope was reasonable, after all one must consider subsequent box office.

"Then let's start preparing the propaganda plan. The release date—internationally set for March. Are there any big films competing in March?" Fang Hong asked.

"Logan releases on March 3rd, Beauty and the Beast on March 17th," Donna said.

"This is truly being chased from the front and hunted from behind!" Fang Hong sighed; both were major films.

"Hahaha, there's also Kong: Skull Island on March 10th. If you're not in a hurry, push it to late March. If you're in a hurry, I'd even want you to put it at the end of February—but late February is Oscar season, and there's no suitable date." Donna said.

Oscar was on Sunday, February 26th; if you had to release, you could only put it on February 24th, to get the three-day weekend.

North America doesn't emphasize release windows particularly; they calculate windows by weekends.

You can see all three above are spaced seven days apart, all opening on Fridays; they have more rest days, and as long as it's a weekend, box office can surge.

Domestic summer vacation slots target students; New Year Slot targets couples around Christmas and New Year's.

Spring Festival Slot needs no explanation—it's basically a nationwide holiday.

Office workers don't have that much time to watch movies; even film capital doesn't seriously consider office workers as an audience—it's truly tragic.

"I said our domestic film competition is fierce, but I didn't expect yours to be this intense too—even without major holidays." Fang Hong sighed, glancing at Liu Tianxian beside him.

Liu Tianxian smiled faintly, lips pressed together, maintaining an elegant posture.

"The whole world is the same. Yours is still better—you have heavy local protection. Other countries have no local protection at all; they've been completely overrun by Hollywood."

Donna spoke frankly about the global film landscape, adding: "Look at Canada—does it have a production system? People just classify it directly under North America; we have total monopoly."

In Mexico, Argentina, and other American countries, we hold nearly 90% of the market share.

In Europe, except France, which holds 40% of its market share thanks to quotas, other European countries like Britain and Germany are dominated by us at around 80%.

Eastern Europe is even worse—the film system has completely collapsed; in South Africa, we control 85% of their cinemas.

South Korea has stabilized its market only through quotas and transformation, but only to about 50%; the other half is ours."

South Korean films really are very bold—bolder than anything the U. S. would make—this is how they've preserved their base.

"Japan relies on anime—that's truly their advantage—but live-action films have been completely lost. After Kurosawa and Kitano, they face a risk of talent gap—they can no longer produce good films."

"So I say, your country's filmmakers are the happiest—you have your government protecting you. No matter what you make, this market always stays open for you, keeping us from overstepping."

Donna adjusted her sitting posture; she was just chatting casually, not hiding anything.

They were already friends, having collaborated for six or seven years, knowing each other well; of course, she only said these things in front of Fang Hong, never outside.

Some truths, though real, are unpleasant.

(End of Chapter)