[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-literary-master-of-tokyo":3,"chapter-literary-master-of-tokyo-literary-master-of-tokyo-chapter-249":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Literary Master of Tokyo",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2355098,4607,"Chapter 249: The Box Office Flop","literary-master-of-tokyo-chapter-249",249,"\u003Cp>An excellent film often needs to balance two aspects: the artistic quality of the film itself and its commercial viability.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in essence, these two factors are contradictory—for instance, from the starting point, artistic quality is a form of self-expression by the author, while commercial viability is a performance meant to please the audience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Films that can make the two cooperate and complement each other are undoubtedly masterpieces in film history, such as Akira Kurosawa's *Seven Samurai*, which is one of the representatives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the film Akiwara Yuto is currently watching, *Five Stories of Survival*, has an excess of artistic quality but a lack of commercial viability.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From beginning to end, this film tells five stories: \"Zoo,\" \"Kazar and Yoko,\" \"So-far,\" \"Seven Rooms,\" and \"Poem of the Sunny Spot.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But unlike the original work by Otsuichi that he \"plagiarized,\" it has undergone a very high degree of \"drastic adaptation.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, \"Zoo\" tells the story of a murderer who kills his girlfriend but insists the killer is someone else, thus engaging in a day-after-day cycle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in this film version, a large amount of the murderer's inner monologue and obsession with the girlfriend's body and other adult content were added, with a scale that is breathtaking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or take \"Poem of the Sunny Spot,\" a simple story about a robot girl discovering the beauty of life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, it added a large amount of memory content regarding \"apocalyptic death,\" highlighting the value of life through the contrast between \"death\" and \"rebirth.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for \"Kazar and Yoko,\" \"So-far,\" and \"Seven Rooms,\" they have also been changed in some places to varying degrees.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After pondering it, Akiwara Yuto discovered that these adapted parts also have some benefits, namely deepening the themes and depth of these stories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there are disadvantages as well, which is that this film has too many prohibited elements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is not a good thing, because due to the Japanese film rating system, all films need to undergo rating review by the Film Classification and Rating Organization of Japan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And this drastically adapted version of the film will definitely be rated R-18 because of the excessive prohibited elements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that case, the audience under 18 is excluded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for the audience pursuing violence and adult plots, the large amount of inner monologue depicted using \"stream of consciousness\" techniques is also very \"boring.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon seeing the ending, Akiwara Yuto could already tell what the box office of this film would be like.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the screening of the film, which lasted over a hundred minutes, the lights in the screening hall came on, the director walked onto the stage to bow and give thanks, and the many audience members below gave applause—but in Akiwara's view, the polite and perfunctory component was greater.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A preview screening is not a premiere, so there was no banquet after it ended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, as the author of the original work and also the person with the highest social status at the venue, Akiwara Yuto was warmly entertained by the crew members.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The director, Nishitani Yuito, walked up and said in a polite tone: \"Akiwara-sensei, what do you think of this film?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt a bit uneasy; after all, due to a series of previous incidents, he had replaced the original director halfway through and had no fame in the industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the film's script itself had undergone very large changes from the original work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Akiwara Yuto expressed disapproval through public channels, it was estimated that this film would have an even more \"bumpy fate\" later on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Akiwara Yuto smiled and said: \"I think this film will be praised by many film critics.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although he was not optimistic about the film's box office, he had to admit that this film was very representative in terms of artistry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For such art films, there are still many film critics who like to come and \"join in the fun.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing Akiwara Yuto's praise, Nishitani Yuito \"breathed a sigh of relief\" in his heart, then asked: \"Akiwara-sensei, then on the film's poster, can we highlight your name?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Akiwara Yuto weighed it for a moment and still agreed to this request.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter what, this could not be considered a bad film, so there was no need to worry about it affecting his reputation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, adding the original author to the poster is also a customary practice in film promotion; for example, Keigo Higashino's series of adapted works all add his name.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although he was dissatisfied with some old conventions, he did not have much objection to this point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two chatted for a while longer, and then Akiwara Yuto was introduced to the film's actors—because it was a film composed of five stories, there was no so-called absolute lead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After exchanging business cards, Akiwara Yuto politely declined the invitation to dinner and left with Satake Maki.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the car on the way back, he couldn't help but sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the box office could not be a big hit, his idea of wanting to participate in the box office share of other works would undoubtedly fall through.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When that time came, what should he do?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time passed quickly. After the preview screening ended, this film called *Five Stories of Survival* began its promotion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the production cost of the film itself was very low, so the promotion budget was not much, only about 20 million yen, not even as high as the legal fees Akiwara Yuto spent on his lawsuit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the crew was very clever; through posters and advertorials, they heavily utilized the reputation of the original author, \"Akiwara Yuto.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under this strategy, many film critics and commentators also began to pay attention with great interest and voiced their opinions through newspapers, television, radio, and other channels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also because of this exposure, this film, which could be considered \"niche,\" took over 140 screens in its first week of release and achieved a box office of about 80 million yen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But good times didn't last long. As more and more audience members expressed that they \"didn't understand\" or \"found it tiring,\" a large number of related comments began to spread on the internet, influencing a batch of audience members who hadn't seen it yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even some loyal readers of the *Zoo* series felt that this film was not what they wanted at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, because of the decrease in attendance, theaters also reduced screenings one after another, causing the film's box office in the second week to begin a Waterloo-style decline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the time it was pulled from theaters in the fourth week, the cumulative box office barely reached 300 million yen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After deducting taxes, theater shares, and actor fees, it only allowed the film company to break even and earn a bit of hard-earned money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In stark contrast to the performance of many audience members, some film critics gave it high praise one after another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because compared to commercial viability, the film's own artistic quality was more prominent, and it heavily depicted \"high-brow\" elements such as death, life, and desperate situations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some film critics even believed that the theme of this film was higher than that of the original work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the word-of-mouth was good, the fact that the film's box office was average was undeniable, which also brought certain negative effects, causing Akiwara Yuto to encounter some problems in the negotiations for *The Devotion of Suspect X*.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Akiwara-sensei, this is the new condition offered by our Toei Film; please take a look.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the office conference room of Ankyu Bookstore, the person in charge from Toei Film smiled and handed over the proposal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And after Akiwara Yuto finished reading all the content, his brows furrowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to the previous proposal, this time they not only offered a lower signing fee, but even intended to reduce the budget of the film itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a long silence, he looked directly at the other party and responded in an icy voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sorry, regarding the authorization of the copyright, I do not recognize your side's sincerity!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With conditions like these, he would rather let the copyright rot in his own hands than hand it over to them!\u003C\u002Fp>",1354,"2026-06-21T03:58:02.196Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","4e92113c7d08355939f8f15751b8057056f59caecada6b638d0f85fd9f3fdec8","literary-master-of-tokyo-chapter-250","literary-master-of-tokyo-chapter-248",334,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fliterary-master-of-tokyo-cover.jpg"]