Chapter 199

In Xianggang, inside the private room of the Point Sand Mouth Grand Tycoon Nightclub, Zeng Zhiwei, Tan Yonglin, Chen Baixiang, and others sat together drinking.

Talking about the recent uproar over the 'Boycott Jiang Heng' incident, Zeng Zhiwei said disdainfully, 'I never thought a big Haolaiwu director would be outwardly strong but inwardly weak, actually bowing down to Jiang Heng like that!'

Chen Baixiang laughed: 'It's just to make money, right? The surname Jiang has great influence in Neidi; Old Wu wanted to make money in Neidi, offended them, and from production to release, he's suffered because of it.'

Tan Yonglin chimed in, 'Exactly, if one would rather lose money than not release a big blockbuster to compete with Red Cliff, Old Wu would surely be dumbfounded!'

Zeng Zhiwei wore a puzzled expression: 'You say, how does every film by this Jiang surname sell so well?'

Chen Baixiang took a sip of wine, set it down, and said: 'The special effects are awesome; they feel stronger than Haolaiwu's. Li An's Hulk, compared to Jiang Heng's, is completely not on the same level!'

Zeng Zhiwei also somewhat agreed with that, but he just couldn't understand how Jiang Heng dared to invest so heavily and shoot a commercially successful big-budget film with excellent special effects.

Aren't you afraid of box-office failure and losing several million dollars?

He genuinely hopes Jiang Heng loses money!

As early as several years ago, when Jiang Heng was just preparing The Matrix, he had already had a conflict with him.

Zeng Zhiwei wore a very devastated expression and exaggeratedly said, 'Come on, weren't we good brothers who share weal and woe? How can you not support me?'

Chen Baixiang patted Zeng Zhiwei on the shoulder and said, 'We definitely support you in spirit, but the problem is the wife has orders; we have no choice! Understand, understand!'

'Get lost!'

Before anything else happened, Wu Yusen first gave in and sought reconciliation.

I had thought this time we could take advantage of the feud between Jiang Heng and Wu Yusen, stir up trouble, and rally everyone to isolate Jiang Heng.

But the result was that Jiang Heng's films sold big every time, each one disappointing him, making him feel like he might burst a blood vessel from anger.

Seeing this, the people in Xianggang's entertainment circle also laid down their arms one after another.

When the conversation got heated from the drinks, Chen Baixiang said, 'Right, tomorrow I have to accompany my wife to see a movie; forget about that boycott thing you mentioned earlier.'

Later, after Jiang Heng became famous, he, under pressure, even apologized to Jiang Heng once.

Chen Baixiang laughed and said, 'Then we two will leave first; won't that delay you?'

But deep down, Zeng Zhiwei truly couldn't swallow this anger, hoping every day that Jiang Heng's box office would fail and he'd suffer misfortune.

Tan Yonglin also said, 'Same here, I have to bring my wife and kids to watch; it's not that we lack brotherhood, we really have no choice!'

Tan Yonglin's words were similar, which left Zeng Zhiwei feeling gloomy: 'Damn, I'll call two girls over to keep me company; that's better than your two barbecued pork.'

Tan Yonglin and Chen Baixiang are both semi-retired from the circle, and they don't care about Jiang Heng's influence; a few of them just get together to drink and chat aimlessly.

After all, the Xianggang market is really sluggish, and these people still hope to make money from the Neidi market to support their families!

Given that Wu Yusen couldn't bear the banner, these people dare not continue to openly oppose Jiang Heng; some have even gone north to submit.

Zeng Zhiwei unwilling to endure that anger, stayed in Xianggang refusing to leave, so he called his close brothers over for drinks.

Since they were longtime friends, Zeng Zhiwei didn't stand on ceremony, waving them off to leave.

He then muttered, 'Damn, what's there to see in a monkey show?'

He then tilted his head: 'Or should I find a girl to go see it with me? Damn, tickets must be hard to get, right?'

Just as Zeng Zhiwei had expected, The Journey to the West: Flat Top Mountain premiered in Xianggang to extreme popularity, with tickets for prime showings at popular cinemas sold out instantly.

Only non-prime showings still had some tickets, and the seats were relatively poor.

Zeng Zhiwei drove around the city aimlessly, seeing long lines at each cinema's entrance, and too lazy to take his female companion to watch, he muttered angrily: 'Damn, I really don't get it—what's good about this film? Isn't it just the Monkey King fighting monsters? How many times has it been on TV?'

His female companion replied, 'It's different; I heard the movie's monster designs are especially lifelike and scary, the fight scenes are also great—overall it's very exciting!'

Zeng Zhiwei sneered, 'How, is it more exciting than being with me?'

His female companion slapped his shoulder and said, 'You, you're terrible!'

Zeng Zhiwei laughed heartily, 'If a man isn't bad, women won't love him—does that mean I'm loved even more now?'

'Annoying, just drive properly!'

……

Although some stars in Xianggang's entertainment circle called for a boycott of Jiang Heng's films, they couldn't even come up with a decent slogan, and the citizens paid no attention.

Nowadays Hong Kong films are getting worse and worse, while Hollywood blockbusters, due to immersion issues, feel lacking; who knows how many Xianggang residents regard watching Jiang Heng's effects-heavy blockbusters as a must-do for summer or holiday season—how could they not go?

On its opening day, it grossed a total of 3.12 million Hong Kong dollars, breaking the previous record.

And in Neidi, The Journey to the West: Flat Top Mountain also opened to great popularity as expected.

Because it was a film invested in and distributed by China Film, there was no foreign blockbuster competition in the same slot.

No domestic film would be foolish enough to go head-to-head with Jiang Heng in the same slot; The Journey to the West: Flat Top Mountain dominated the holiday season, leaving audiences with nothing else to watch.

Plus, with the consistently high production quality, the opening day box office reached an astonishing 50.8 million, finally breaking the fifty-million mark.

Frankly speaking, this film is merely a lively, enjoyable commercial blockbuster; if one must speak of its substance, it's nothing more than a satire of the relationship between Laozi and the nine-tailed fox in the movie.

But many film critics became excited, excited to the point of being unable to contain themselves.

Because satirical films are becoming rarer and rarer—let alone satirical films, even satirical crosstalk and skits are dwindling.

One film critic wrote: 'The nine-tailed fox in The Journey to the West: Flat Top Mountain undoubtedly alludes to the phenomenon of officials' wives; the Golden Horn and Silver Horn are the two princes, while the Blue Ox Spirit combines the roles of secretary and driver, and displays a social power even greater than that of the princes.'

This time, the story originates from the nine-tailed fox's greed—she wanted to eat Tang Seng's flesh, which prompted the actions of the Golden Horn, Silver Horn, and Blue Ox Spirit; and in the story's finale, the director has Sun Wukong kill them all, which all the more reflects reality.

Because in the post-credits scene, they all resurrect without exception, just like wicked people in reality—as long as their backers don't fall, 'death' is merely temporary.

After this film review was published, it received much praise.

And in Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, The Journey to the West: Flat Top Mountain also achieved decent box office results.

And in North America, the film released the same day was Jim Carrey–starring, Paramount-produced Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which originally ranked 18th on the yearly list in history and thus wasn't very competitive; up against The Journey to the West: Flat Top Mountain, it was simply crushed.

However, the film Meet the Fockers 2, released a few days later, had some strength; having originally grossed $279 million in North America historically, it would have a certain impact on the box office of The Journey to the West.

(End of chapter)