Chapter 82

The month entered December, dubbed the most insane New Year Slot in history, with a cluster of blockbusters and fierce box office battles.

A total of nineteen films were released this month, with four standing out: Let the Bullets Fly, The Orphan of Zhao, If You Are the One 2, and The Laughing Jianghu.

And yet, an audacious newcomer, Lost in Love 33 Days, also crashed in.

But no one took this film seriously—it was just a minor player, unworthy of notice, ignored by all, and made not even a ripple.

Even Hong Kong and Taiwan forces like Heigu and Peng Yuyan made not a single ripple during this slot.

Among these four films, Ge Daye carried three New Year Slot blockbusters: Let the Bullets Fly, The Orphan of Zhao, and If You Are the One 2—truly the favorite director of the capital circle.

Yet this man, originally meant to be the lead, ended up playing a supporting role in all of them—even If You Are the One 2 was overshadowed by Yan Wang.

When a man grows old, he must accept his age!

Still, this indirectly proved the strength of the Beijing circle, where everyone scrambles to curry favor.

Just consider the resources of the Beijing circle—who among the stars doesn't drool over them?

Facing the Beijing circle's three big films, Zhao Dashu told the media:

"One Ge Daye is terrifying; three Ge Dayes aren't terrifying—they just crowd together, and it's no big deal."

Was this an insinuation that the Beijing circle had no actors left?

Of course, this also showed that the Beijing circle was an insular group, hard for outsiders to penetrate.

The first round of the box office battle: The Orphan of Zhao versus The Laughing Jianghu!

These two films opened just one day apart—on the 3rd and the 4th.

With such close release dates, mutual attacks, insinuations, and free-riding on hype were inevitable.

Some said: "The Laughing Jianghu" is just a bunch of people performing errenzhuan.

Others said: "The Laughing Jianghu" targeted "The Orphan" because it was easy prey—after all, Jiang Wen's "Bullets" never miss.

This meant Zhao Dashu's film was trash and its director was a coward.

In truth, "The Orphan" changed its release date twice before choosing "The Laughing Jianghu"—could that be said aloud?

Whether because Chen Daren was known for his petty temper or not, online parodies of "The Orphan" resurfaced.

But netizens had grown smarter—they didn't credit the videos, leaving their sources anonymous.

After The Promise incident, netizens learned this man didn't take jokes well.

Even Haitai Tai aired parody videos of "The Orphan," and unsurprisingly, it drew complaints.

In response to the complaints, Haitai Tai didn't even bother replying—only stating that as long as it didn't violate copyright rules, they'd air it; what could you do about it?

After all, Chen Daren only bullied the honest; when faced with tough opponents, they ignored him.

This left Chen Daren embarrassed; facing reporters, he told the story of Kong Rong giving up the pear, claiming "yielding" was a virtue—what a lot of stories.

Previously, the Beijing circle and the Northeast circle had no issues—but as soon as the films premiered, all kinds of chaos erupted.

Even Xiao Wang from outside the circle butted in, cursing "The Orphan": "A pure piece of trash—the result of a great screenwriter paired with a terrible director; the director kept changing things, making it all head-heavy and tail-light, with disjointed plot and ideas."

Both films were criticized; both faced back-and-forth attacks!

Who knows if there was manipulation behind the scenes—or if there was manipulation—we don't know, and we dare not say.

The film market's struggle was fierce, especially during this slot—that's why Manager Lei advised Fang Hong to switch his release date.

You simply can't afford to play this game; they spend money and get countless people cheering for them—what do you have?

But Fang Hong wasn't idle—he recalled Chen Zhixi; without her cooperation, he couldn't fight this battle.

Meanwhile, To Youth was being shot normally!

Fang Hong was only skilled in strategic matters—his vision was long-range, knowing many future events, able to borrow others' "tactics."

But micro-management? He couldn't handle it—that still needed Chen Zhixi.

No matter how well a plan is made, if execution fails, its value plummets.

"Big brother, you're really brave—putting your release date on the same day as If You Are the One 2! May I ask, who gave you the courage? Your Liu Tianxian?"

The moment Chen Zhixi returned, she couldn't help but complain.

That was an IP film, carrying its own buzz, with the red-pants-and-Ge-Daye combo—unbeatable at this stage!

They didn't even treat competitors as threats!

Look, did they even treat their Principal as a threat? When they saw two films releasing together, they didn't even acknowledge it.

"Don't worry about who gave me the courage—I called you here to solve this," Fang Hong said.

"How do I solve it? I can't solve it—they have absolute power; your tiny propaganda budget won't even make a splash," Chen Zhixi didn't understand how he thought.

Why not just endure it? Why provoke trouble?

"Don't get worked up—listen to me first. After I finish, you can say whatever you want," Fang Hong said.

Chen Zhixi glanced at him, saw his calmness, sat up straight, and signaled: go ahead.

Fang Hong continued: "This time, we won't promote ourselves—we'll promote Huayi."

Chen Zhixis couldn't help laughing: keep going.

"I've noticed you all carry prejudice—you always think Huayi is invincible, but in my eyes, it's paper-thin." Fang Hong couldn't help saying.

"It's not invincible—it's that we're too weak. Even if it's a paper tiger, it's still a tiger. Know your place," Chen Zhixi said.

Fang Hong said: "What if we borrow momentum?"

"Borrow momentum? Whose momentum?" Chen Zhixi was puzzled.

"Who is our film made for? Isn't it women? What if we borrow the momentum of feminist movements?" Fang Hong countered.

The reach and combat power of the female demographic need no explanation—men were beaten into wailing and begging.

In the end, they could only choose non-cooperation, non-participation—in plain terms, they couldn't win.

This left Chen Zhixi stunned.

"As long as you have feminist momentum, how could you worry about your film lacking heat or box office? It's just a matter of how much." Fang Hong added.

After its release in his previous life, this movie was almost universally recommended by women and wildly popular among them, but the creators failed to leverage this advantage, instead promoting it as nothing but "heartbreak"!

This time, Fang Hong will do the opposite: he will amplify this advantage by tying it to the feminist movement.

Throughout the entire film "33 Days of Heartbreak," the female lead remains at the center; though abandoned and broken up with, she is always the one being catered to.

Simply put, this movie is an unthinking manifesto of female groupism.

Why not use such a strong advantage?

In contrast, "If You Are the One 2" is nothing but an advertisement film—the ads are so intrusive they disgust the audience, and this is precisely why the IP film completely died.

Fang Hong not inserting ads into the movie is precisely how he protects it; even the best word-of-mouth and advantages can be worn down by ads.

And it will also bring black marks upon Liu Tianxian.

Her acting skill is already inadequate; adding ads gives the audience even more reasons to criticize her.

(End of Chapter)