Chapter 319: Release, Confrontation

The hottest comment online summarized the three movies and three directors currently released in the film market.

"Between Feng Xiaogang and Ang Lee, there is at least a gap of over 100 Lu Chuans!

So we pondered for a moment and came to a conclusion: Feng Xiaogang and Ang Lee aren't that far apart!"

This sentence was recognition for Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" and Feng Xiaogang's "Back to 1942," and also the ultimate humiliation for Lu Chuan.

Lu Taro created a record; he was the first in the domestic film circle to publicly admit to using internet trolls!

The circle was in an uproar; this news was truly explosive.

At this time, Lu Chuan stood up again to cry and complain:

"'The Last Supper' has suffered a large amount of targeted, unfair, and despicable smearing, bad reviews, and abuse, with up to thousands of negative comments per hour; we were forced to do this..."

"'But even so, the person in charge of the internet trolls we hired was asking us if we wanted to give up."

"Because the speed at which they were brushing positive reviews and giving high ratings was far behind the speed of the mastermind team smearing us, and the quantity was even further behind."

"This means the mastermind has deep pockets and great strength... determined to put 'The Last Supper' to death; perhaps there is more than one mastermind..."

Just like that, Lu Chuan started writing small essays on Weibo, tearfully accusing certain "competitors."

It might be that the audience and netizens really had a bad impression of him; anyway, his "suicide-style exposure" didn't receive any effect, but instead backfired.

More mockery popped up online.

"Pretentious, stubborn, won't admit it's a bad movie."

"Why be a director? Just be an actor. Your acting in selling misery and pretending to be pitiful is not bad!"

"Still looking down on 'White Vengeance'? That movie is a hundred times better than your 'The Last Supper'!"

Like Lin Nan, many top producers and directors in the circle were blinded by Lu Chuan's operation.

How stupid must this guy be to do such a thing?

He actually didn't discuss it with the two producers and took it upon himself to spend money to hire internet trolls, and then jumped out to admit it!

What? Did he think sincerity was a killer move that could move everyone?

Did he really not know what his image and popularity were like in the eyes of the audience? They were all negative, Taro!

The black spots of "City of Life and Death" couldn't be washed away; no one would support him, and besides, the movie was indeed very bad.

"Lost in Thailand" officially joined the war of the New Year's slot.

"I heard that both Emperor and StarMe are about to explode; they probably have the heart to kill Lu Chuan."

Yue Jun laughed happily.

Although the box office of "The Last Supper" on the second day was still hanging at over 8.8 million, these audience members almost all walked into the theater out of curiosity.

After coming out, there were many more curses online; it is estimated that this movie won't last many days either.

"How is 'Lost in Thailand'?"

"From the information fed back by the theater chains, the attendance rate is very good; after all, it's a comedy, and the scheduling is equivalent to 'Back to 1942.' After the first-day box office comes out tomorrow, there may be adjustments."

It wasn't just Lin Nan's side that cared about the box office of "Lost in Thailand"; the producers of other New Year's films were also paying attention.

After all, the market for the New Year's slot was right there; whoever ate more, others would have to eat less.

The situation of four films fighting was quite worth watching.

"Back to 1942" had a box office of 30.1 million on the second day, an increase of nearly 4 million, but Huayi didn't dare to relax at all; this daily box office data was still far from the break-even line.

Even Feng Xiaogang rarely stayed up late at night, scrolling through Weibo, constantly forwarding the positive reviews of "Back to 1942" from the audience.

This completely showed how much pressure Huayi was under this time.

The next day.

Lin Nan rarely got up early.

The data for several movies was clearly placed in the prominent positions of film and television information.

"'Life of Pi' domestic total box office has broken 500 million, showing signs of decline."

"'Back to 1942' reported 35.5 million on the third day, approaching the 100 million mark."

"'The Last Supper' daily box office began to decline, with 8.05 million in revenue on the third day. Director Lu Chuan's purpose of hiring internet trolls to protect himself was not achieved..."

"'Lost in Thailand,' produced by Lin Nan Film Industry, the second part of the 'Lost' series, had a first-day box office of 39.18 million, far exceeding the first one..."

At this time, the entire film circle remembered the words of Lin Nan and Xu Zheng at the premiere of "Lost in Thailand."

One day's box office was 13 million more than the three days of "The Last Supper"; if this isn't a complete victory, what is?

"At this moment, I want to slap myself."

"Ye Ning just called and said the same thing, haha..."

Lin Nan laughed unscrupulously.

At that time, Han Sanping and Ye Ning had personally expressed their stance, believing that "Lost on Journey" hadn't broken 100 million, and the second one would be at most a little over 100 million; they were too lazy to get involved with that investment cost.

But now the first-day box office of "Lost in Thailand" reached 39.18 million, which meant this movie would be a hit.

It's hard to say how far the total box office can go; after all, there are too many big movies in the New Year's slot, and the competition is fierce. But breaking 500 million at the box office is definitely no problem!

This was equivalent to an opportunity to make money while lying down being placed in front of them, and they had all ignored it.

On the other end of the phone, Han Sanping's cursing voice grew quieter, because it was his own decision; regretting it now was of no avail.

"Wang Changtian is probably going to laugh silly."

"Then you guessed wrong; Chairman Wang's idea back then was roughly the same as yours, feeling that its box office wouldn't be very high."

"So the distribution and promotion costs were bundled, totaling 12 million, with the bulk being promotion costs, a little over 10 million."

"Sigh, he doesn't regret it as much as I do! Forget it, forget it, thinking about it more is even more heartbreaking..."

Lin Nan smiled and was too lazy to respond; if it were him, he would probably regret it to death.

Theater chains look at the box office to decide; "Lost in Thailand" performed strongly, and the scheduling rate and volume increased immediately.

But where did these schedules come from? They must have come from movies with poor box office performance, such as "The Last Supper."

Even three movies shared some schedules from "The Last Supper."

Now, Lu Chuan wouldn't have it.

"Lin Dao, look at what that guy said in front of the media."

Lin Nan was acting as a cat litter cleaner, and Liu Yifei was chatting with him on the side, when Yue Jun's call came in.

Miss Liu, wearing slippers, trotted into the living room and opened the news webpage.

This guy Lu Chuan was crazy, starting to bite people indiscriminately.

"'The Last Supper' has suffered large-scale smearing and attacks by internet trolls, and they are trolls from multiple parties; the reason is nothing more than a conflict of interest."

"And which films have a conflict of interest is clear at a glance. For at least twenty days, no new big-budget films have entered, and those films have no reason to hire internet trolls to smear 'The Last Supper'..."

Lin Nan was so angry he laughed when he saw this report.

This was no longer an implication, but a direct naming of "Back to 1942" and "Lost in Thailand," and even "Life of Pi" could be matched.

The media news was very direct:

"Director Lu Chuan implies that films in the same slot like 'Lost in Thailand' and 'Back to 1942' deliberately smeared 'The Last Supper' to achieve the goal of seizing the market..."

Huayi seemed to be guarding the computer, and Feng Xiaogang's counterattack had already come out.

"If your own box office is poor, you can bite people at will? And 'clear at a glance'? I clearly discovered that 'The Last Supper' isn't worth the ticket price!"

"The box office of 'Back to 1942' is also very poor, but have you seen me blame anyone these past two days?"

"I'm always working hard to promote the movie to get more people into the theater, and in the meantime, I'm preparing for the next movie."

"By the way, let me tell everyone. Wang Shuo is already writing the script, a comedy, tentatively titled 'Personal Tailor'..."

Lin Nan finished reading Feng Xiaogang's Weibo reply; the latter looked to be in a good state of mind, which should be because "Back to 1942" had brought him a good reputation.

If it were any other time, Little Steel Cannon's Weibo couldn't possibly be so elegant; it would definitely be full of profanity.

Yue Jun, Xu Zheng, and others had already refuted it at the first opportunity, but this wasn't enough.

"Let me do it; you shouldn't show your face for this kind of thing."

Lin Nan looked at Liu Yifei, who had an angry face, and said softly; the latter was a bit unwilling, but still nodded.

Soon, Lin Nan's own Weibo was updated.

"'City of Life and Death' was released, you were sued, a magical reversal; 'City of Life and Death' was released, you were scolded by everyone for having a crooked butt; now 'The Last Supper' is released, you are still being scolded."

"Let's just say, you're over forty, not young anymore; can you look for faults in yourself? Complaining about heaven and blaming others for everything is very unpresentable!"

"Is it that hard to honestly admit that you don't have the ability, can't film commercial movies, and even less can film historical commercial movies?"

"The 'White Vengeance' crew kicking you out seems to have been very prescient. Chairman Yang and Chairman Tan giving you 140 million was purely throwing money into the water; what kind of thing did you film..."

Lin Nan was also a bit elegant; after all, Feng Xiaogang hadn't used profanity.

"Let's go, we still have to bathe them." Lin Nan flicked his head toward the door and said with a smile.

"Wait for me to finish forwarding and then give it a like. Hmm, alright, let's go."

Liu Yifei stood up, hugged Lin Nan's arm, and walked out of the villa with a giggle. She wouldn't care about things outside anymore.

Following Feng Xiaogang, Lin Nan's Weibo was like a bigger depth charge thrown into the entertainment circle.

Almost everyone in the circle saw the words of the two big directors refuting Lu Chuan; this was naked contempt and humiliation.

Any fool knew how to choose sides; those without concerns acted very quickly, liking, forwarding, and commenting in support.

"Well summarized, this kind of person shouldn't be indulged!" Jiang Wen was everywhere.

"Holy shit, Lin Dao is incisive!"

"Director Feng's shelling was so elegant, I'm a bit unaccustomed to it?!"

"Big directors are fighting, so lively."

"Lin Dao's tone is full of disdain and contempt; it's too hurtful to self-esteem, haha..."

The media was in a state of excitement; how long had it been since they saw such a lively scene?

Facing both Lin Nan and Feng Xiaogang, how could Lu Chuan have any power to fight back?

"Emperor and StarMe asked us to be quiet and stop causing trouble, to let the movie be released peacefully..."

"I'm causing trouble? I'm taking a share of the box office; now that it's like this, it's our movie being targeted, it's me being targeted; how can I be quiet?"

Lu Chuan roared hysterically.

He admitted that in terms of influence in the industry, he couldn't compare to Feng Xiaogang and Lin Nan.

Now that he had been publicly "educated" by these two people, he had lost all face, especially with people like Jiang Wen jumping out to be sarcastic.

Just when the circle was in chaos watching the fun, Lu Chuan's biological father, a veteran screenwriter, came out to call out.

"Hiring internet trolls to suppress and smear films in the same slot is an extremely shameless and base act."

"If you dare to do it, you must dare to take responsibility. Don't rely on your status, background, and achievements in the industry to be arrogant, rude, and look down on others..."

Lu's father didn't say anything explicitly, but it seemed he had said something.

But in the eyes of many in the circle, this scene seemed somewhat familiar?

Director Lu Chuan, he's calling for his parents again!

Just like when he quarreled with Jiang Wen on the set and was scolded by Lin Nan at the dinner table, in the end, there were seniors in the circle or school teachers who came out to intervene.

But this time, even his biological father came out, protecting his calf!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 320 =====