Chapter 572: Is This Box Office Crazy?

Luo Mo sat at the desk with his legs crossed, and upon hearing this, he looked up at Xu Chujing.

"What do I want to do?"

"I want to cure my habit of crossing my legs."

After saying this, he pulled Xu Chujing, who was wearing a black silk nightgown, into his arms, pressed her onto his lap, and took the opportunity to straighten his legs out, saying:

"Cured."

Upon hearing this, Xu Chujing first gave a helpless smile, then suddenly turned her head to glare at him, immediately shifting her bottom to avoid being poked.

"Does this count as crossing legs too?" she secretly spat in her heart.

Luo Mo held her slender waist with one hand, while his other hand continued to tap on the calculator.

"The new films from a total of 7 directors have already been released, with a current total box office of 4.6 billion."

"Rong Ge and Tian Ou's new films are estimated to still have quite a bit of box office to gain, but I reckon that even with all seven added together, they won't reach 5 billion." Luo Mo turned off the calculator and said.

That these seven people could reach nearly 5 billion was thanks to the fact that the new films by Wang Rong and Tian Ou both had decent box office results.

Although both films were purely commercial and their word-of-mouth was quite average, they were very enjoyable to watch, so they sold well.

Therefore, whether in the industry or online, many people are already Singing the praises of the failure of the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】.

Everyone knows very well that wanting to break 10 billion is, in itself, a very difficult thing.

Otherwise, there would be no need to set up this plan, right?

But if 7 people added together might not even break 5 billion, then that would be a bit unsightly.

The 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】 had a total of 11 directors participating, and now only 4 remain.

4 people, and the total box office needs to break 5 billion!

The task is heavy, and the pressure is immense!

What's more, among these four, only one director named Lin Tian is considered a top contender.

Newcomers like Luo Mo who are just there to make up the numbers and entered the plan through the back door are not favored at all.

Therefore, many people feel that the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】 can already be declared a failure in advance.

This year, if the Huaxia film market wants to challenge for the throne of the world's second-largest box office, it is Afraid that it cannot rely on the 11 people in this plan, heh heh.

At this moment, Xu Chujing had been distracted by Luo Mo to the point where she couldn't really listen anymore, and for a moment, she even forgot the question she had just asked; he still hadn't given an answer.

Seeing that she didn't continue to press him, Luo Mo didn't intend to say more about his ambition or his expectations for "Medicine God".

He is a person who loves to do, not to talk.

So...

He held Xu Chujing in his arms, sitting on his lap, his chin just able to rest on her fair shoulder.

Luo Mo moved his chin and forcibly pushed down the shoulder strap of the silk nightgown on the shoulder of the Heavenly Queen.

He wanted to sit like this, and then go into her heart.

July 30th arrived very quickly.

Today, countless eyes in the industry were fixed on one film—"I Am Not a Medicine God".

Even though Tian Ou's new film "Car King 2" reached a new high in total box office today and released another celebration Poster, hardly anyone cared.

No other reason, Luo Mo's side... is too evil!

The tactic of Large-scale Preview is very evil.

But the box office and word-of-mouth obtained are even more evil!

Today, almost all ticketing apps have 【Opened Ratings】, because the cumulative number of ratings on various platforms has almost exceeded 10,000.

This is the first time on Blue Star that a film has had its 【Rating】 clearly displayed in front of everyone before it was even officially released.

Looking around, damn it, there isn't one below 9.5!

Admittedly, film ratings on ticketing apps are falsely high.

As mentioned before, because the rating mechanism of these apps is that if you don't take the initiative to rate after watching the film, the system will automatically give a positive review after a period of time.

This point is the same as on Earth; the ticketing apps on Earth also have falsely high ratings.

Many good films with decent word-of-mouth generally have ratings around 9.

But what the hell is this all-9.5-and-above thing!?

"Fans performing large-scale 【Rating Control】?"

"But other traffic stars' fans can't control the ratings this high!"

"Are you stupid? Others have many anti-fans, and there are plenty of people giving low ratings. Luo Mo's public favor is ridiculously good!"

"That makes some sense."

In the circle, some people are trying to frantically convince themselves.

And some people have already begun to gradually realize something.

"This film, I'm Afraid, has been underestimated by us."

"And it is very likely to have been greatly underestimated!"

Many industry insiders and netizens who like to look at data have set their sights on a platform called 【Petal】.

The ratings on major ticketing apps are falsely high.

【Petal】 doesn't have that automatic positive review function; on the contrary, the people here are very "stingy" with their scores.

Many films with ratings above 8.5 on ticketing apps might only have four or five points here on 【Petal】.

Like Wang Rong's new film, the rating on 【Petal】 is 5.6.

Tian Ou's is simply lower, only 5.3.

Although in many people's eyes, the ratings on the 【Petal】 platform don't have much to do with a film's final box office.

But who told Luo Mo to be so uncanny, and this "Dying to Survive" to also look so uncanny?

It might be better to have more data for reference and see what the scores are like on 【Petal】.

As a result, they didn't know until they looked, and once they looked, they were all dumbfounded.

"9.2 points!?"

"Am I fucking seeing things?"

For filmmakers, this shock was truly too intense.

Especially for the likes of Actors and directors.

Their films were blasted so miserably on 【Petal】.

Many industry insiders view this place as a gathering spot for trolls, feeling it is full of pretenders and a bunch of idiots who pretend to understand when they don't.

The people who rate here are very double-standard; their criteria for domestic films and foreign films are completely different!

However, why is "Dying to Survive" so high?

The most absurd thing is, what the fuck are these film reviews actually saying?

Something about the hope for domestic films.

Something about the best of the year.

Something about a soul-stirring film.

Something about a milestone for domestic cinema.

Am I seeing things, or has 【Petal】 changed its nature?

Although in the initial 【Opening Score】 phase, the rating might be a bit inflated and will slowly drop a little, judging by the current word-of-mouth and momentum, "Dying to Survive" will likely maintain around 9.0 points!

What kind of concept is this?

This means this film can rank among the top of the 【Petal】 rating charts!

On the 【Petal】 platform, among the countless works in film history, and among most film works globally, it ranks at the top!

"Forget about breaking 9, has any film on 【Petal】 broken 8.5 in the last two years?" someone asked.

"There seems to be one..." someone replied.

"What?"

That person swallowed hard, their voice dry as they said:

"Luo Mo's 'Monkey King: Hero is Back'!"

………

………

On the third day of the preview screenings, the word-of-mouth storm for "Dying to Survive" had already begun.

But it was only just the beginning.

More and more people started buying movie tickets.

"I heard this 'Dying to Survive' is very good, the word-of-mouth is off the charts!"

"Yeah, let's go see it!"

"Honey, want to go see 'Dying to Survive' tonight?"

"'Dying to Survive'? The one Luo Mo directed? Sure, you wash the dishes, and I'll treat."

This caused the attendance rate in every Cinema to start skyrocketing.

Even for the afternoon screenings, the attendance rate was extremely astonishing.

In this game of chess between Luo Mo and the major cinema chains, the pressure suddenly shifted to the cinema chains.

On the internet, many netizens don't care about the rules of cinema scheduling, nor do they care about what 【Preview Screening】 or 【Official Release】 means.

We only know that I can't buy a ticket here!

We only know that I'm busy in the afternoon, but there are no screenings at night!

We only know that this film seems very good, but you won't let me watch it!

We only know that the cinema closest to my house has no screenings, and if I want to watch it, I have to drive for half an hour!

In summary, it turns into resentment: "Damn it, in this day and age, Laozi has money, I'm giving you money to earn, and you won't let me, right?"

This time, just like during the initial release of "Monkey King: Hero is Back", the Xindi Cinema Chain was highly praised on the internet for its active support of Luo Mo.

In some cities, other cinemas had no screenings at all, and only Xindi Cinema had it available.

As for the other cinema chains, they were all confused and dumbfounded.

"Do you understand or not, do you understand what a preview screening is!"

"There are already over ten thousand screenings; with over ten thousand, can that still be called a 【Preview】?"

However, do they really want to go against money?

Do they really want to go against their bread and butter?

——How could that be!

Please, feel free to insult me with money!

All cinema chains almost all transformed into the nightclub manager from "Dying to Survive", and their attitude toward the audience became: "You just wait for me!"

Add the screenings for me immediately! To hell with 【Preview Screening】, I want to make money!

If they don't follow the trend, all the benefits and reputation will be snatched up by the Xindi Cinema Chain.

This game of chess had only reached the third day when the major cinema chains chose to compromise.

The total number of screenings on July 31st was increased to 23,000.

The total number of screenings on August 1st was increased to 30,000!

At the same time, a huge problem was currently placed before them.

*Dying to Survive* premieres on August 2nd; how many screenings should be scheduled for it?

Or rather, it is not about how many screenings to schedule, but how many additional screenings to add on top of the original plan!

According to the original plan, on the First Day of *Dying to Survive*'s release, it definitely would not have accounted for 20% of the total daily screenings.

Getting a screening rate of ten-something percent would have been decent.

But what about now?

All cinema chains are wavering.

Luo Mo's method is very simple; he is using the daily box office and word-of-mouth during the 【Large-scale Preview】 period to sway their hearts.

Or rather, he is enticing them.

It is as if he is holding a stack of cash, fanning it in front of the major cinema chains, while saying, "Little money, you are truly sweet."

Many filmmakers only realized at this moment the terrifying nature of 【Large-scale Preview】!

Compared to this, everyone working hard to run 【Roadshow】s in various cities is simply seeing minimal results!

The effects and influence brought by this are worlds apart!

Everyone: "Have I been taught a lesson again?"

Late at night, the box office for today's preview of *Dying to Survive* can begin to be settled.

*Dying to Survive* total box office today: 46.19 million!

*Dying to Survive* cumulative total box office: 70.17 million!

In an instant, the entire film industry was dumbfounded: "Are they crazy!"

In Beijing, inside a high-end residential complex, Director Li Dongliang looked at the data before him, his heart incomparably shocked.

He knew what this number represented.

As mentioned before, his film had to undergo post-production face-swapping and delay its release because an Actor was involved in a scandal.

He is the last director in the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】 to release a new film.

"Large-scale Preview, is it?" he muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing slightly, lost in thought.

(PS: Second update, requesting monthly tickets. Let me mention that the side story written for the event, 【Hello, Baibaibai】, requires a full subscription to read for free.

Additionally, at the request of the old lecherous tycoon Huan Yu, I am recommending another book by a female author, *Great Nation Technology*.)

(End of this chapter)