Chapter 495: line with translation of chapter title

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the news came out.

Various media outlets reported that the opening day box office of The Devil Angel of the Heroic Legion was 2.71 billion RMB; although it did not break the previous record, it was still a very impressive result.

Upon hearing the news, Jiang Heng merely smiled faintly and did not take it to heart.

How to put it? A film's opening day box office can indeed indicate whether it is popular, but its relationship with the final box office performance is not particularly significant.

Typical examples like Wolf Warrior 2 had an opening day box office of 1.2 billion.

In the Chinese-language film market at the time, where it was not favored by various parties and lacked advantageous screening slots, achieving such box office was already quite astonishing.

Even more surprising, its final box office turned out to be 5.6 billion, and it was not surpassed by The Battle at Lake Changjin until several years later.

Among mainland films, those with exceptionally high opening day box office include The Wandering Earth 2, which took in 4.72 billion on its opening day, but its final box office was 4 billion, still inferior to the first installment.

Also, Zhang Yimou's Full River Red broke 4 billion on opening day; Jia Ling's Hot and Spicy Crazy Roll took in 3 billion on opening day.

But due to their mediocre reputations, neither managed to surpass Wolf Warrior 2.

A film's box office performance is not necessarily better just because its opening day box office is higher.

It is related to the market environment at the time, people's consumption psychology, and the release window and screening schedule.

For example, by 2024 the industry had visibly slumped, with far fewer people willing to go to cinemas than before.

However, in 2014 the industry as a whole showed a thriving and prosperous trend.

Even though the film Journey to the West: Sun Wukong's Three Strikes Against the White Bone Demon had only average reviews, it still garnered an opening day box office of 1.4 billion, exciting Starhao Pictures Company immensely.

Boss Wang Haifeng summoned producer Liu Xiaoguang and director Zheng Baorui together and told them the film's opening day box office.

Upon hearing it, both of them wore excited expressions.

After all, they were competing head-on with Jiang Heng's big film in the same release window!

Given that they were at a disadvantage in investment, cast, and screening schedule, securing half of the opponent's opening day box office was already quite good.

"Judging by this opening day box office, we should be able to exceed ten billion!" Liu Xiaoguang exclaimed excitedly.

Wang Haifeng puffed on a cigar and declared boldly: "Tell the media we estimate fifteen billion!"

The other two were noncommittal; publicity, after all, is just about boasting openly! Wang Haifeng added: "The opening day result is good, but we need to keep up the effort, spend money, and have the media continue promoting—we must keep the hype going!"

Liu Xiaoguang asked: "What about the Heroic Legion side?"

Wang Haifeng fell silent for a moment; following the usual business-war tactics in the film industry, it would naturally be necessary to bribe the media to smear them, but that was only done when several companies had comparable strength.

For instance, during the era when Xianggang's film world was a three-way stalemate, the companies really were "fighting back and forth"—either you poached my people or I exposed your dirt.

But the situation between Starhao and Outstanding Rising Film Company is different.

Not to mention the gap in film quality, just the scale and influence of the two companies in the Neidi market are incomparable.

Just considering theaters and screening schedules, Wang Haifeng dare not lightly provoke Jiang Heng.

Smearing the Heroic Legion Series would allow his Journey to the West: Sun Wukong's Three Strikes Against the White Bone Demon to earn even more money.

But if he seriously offends Jiang Heng, it will become difficult to make easy money in the Neidi market thereafter.

"Better to value harmony; let's just forget it!"

Wang Haifeng pondered for half a day and then said that. Liu Xiaoguang and Zheng Baorui, upon hearing it, also had nothing more to add.

After all, they are professionals, and they still have some discernment.

Just as Zhang Yimou knows how bad his The Great Wall is, Wang Jing, after watching it halfway, knows this film is a dud! Liu Xiaoguang also knows the gap between Journey to the West: Sun Wukong's Three Strikes Against the White Bone Demon and Jiang Heng's Journey to the West-type series films.

At this moment, the greatest wish is still for the film to smoothly pass ten billion, recoup its costs, and maybe earn a little extra.

This film's total investment is claimed to be 4.5 billion, but in reality it's nowhere near that amount.

In the Neidi market, once box office exceeds ten billion, the investment is basically recouped.

Selling distribution rights overseas and getting a share of box office revenue can also yield profit.

Once the first installment succeeds, there will be room to maneuver for the sequels.

Judging from Jiang Heng's attitude, he may not necessarily shoot another Journey to the West-type work in the short term.

Then Starhao Pictures could roll out first "True or False Monkey King", "Pansi Cave", "Battle Nine-Headed Insect", etc., which is still quite promising! Everyone at Starbright Pictures looks forward to the future with great anticipation and is willing to spend money on promotion.

Despite the film's clearly poor reputation, its box office turned out to be not bad.

First, there are indeed many precedents domestically of bad films making big money; second, it's also due to the subject matter.

The Devil Angel of the Heroic Legion has fans from its predecessor and from the League of Legends game, as well as fans of Jiang Heng and the main crew members in the film.

Journey to the West: Sun Wukong's Three Strikes Against the White Bone Demon, however, uses the top IP in the Chinese-language film market! Young people aside, most went to see the Heroic Legion Series right away.

Meanwhile, some slightly older viewers, finding it hard to get tickets for the Heroic Legion film, went to see Journey to the West instead.

They naturally expected a spectacular effects blockbuster featuring Sun Wukong, not far off; the result was that after watching, many remained silent, while those who went online to post complaints were mostly young people.

The box office for the 2014 Spring Festival slot surged forward against this backdrop. The Devil Angel of the Heroic Legion quickly broke through box office milestones of 500 million, 1 billion, 1.5 billion, 2 billion, and so on, charging toward 3 billion.

As the film ran hot, its main cast and crew also successively topped the hot search lists.

The first to benefit was naturally the angel who, in the opening chapter, subdued the crocodile god Suo Dun.

This is the first near-perfect angel image in Chinese-language film history.

She has a slender waist, an absolutely beautiful visage, heroic spirit tinged with a hint of tsundere, and her combat power is exceptionally high.

Her popularity instantly surpassed that of the first film's "goddesses" such as Leina, Rose, Kirin, Rui Mengmeng, and placed her on par with Sacred Caisha and Angel Yan.

The problem is that those two, no matter how beautiful, are generated by virtual technology; no matter how much audiences like them, there is no real artist to whom they can entrust such feelings.

The Angel Chaser is played by Guli Nazha; although her screen time in the film is only a few minutes and she can hardly be called the lead, audiences still love her! In a short time, several hot-search items were all about her.

And as her popularity exploded, many negative resurfaced.

In fact, when Xiao Xuan'er, who appears in Battle Through the Heavens, became popular online, a lot of negative gossip about Na Zha surfaced.

At the time, the company, in order to safeguard the film's box office prospects, directly deployed a PR team to minimize the impact.

Who would have thought that this time, after the popularity of the Angel Chaser role exploded, those negative rumors would resurface again.

Outstanding Rising Film Company, inside the chairman's office.

Gulnaza sat on the sofa, crying with tears like pear blossoms in rain; Jiang Heng pulled out two tissues and handed them over, saying, "It's okay, nothing's wrong—quickly wipe them!" (End of chapter)