Chapter 673: Release of

In mid-May, "Charlotte Troubles" officially wrapped up filming.

As for Luo Mo's "The Wandering Earth," there was at least another two months of shooting left.

The post-production, costs, and time required for the two films also differed vastly.

Once the post-production work for "Charlotte Troubles" was fully completed, it could be sent for review, and then scheduled for release in early August during the Shuji Dang.

Since the summer break was getting closer, the series of promotional activities for "Sheep Without a Shepherd" also had to follow suit.

For the loyal viewers of "Mist Theater," they had long been looking forward to the release of this film.

Moreover, as far as the current situation goes, the Blue Star version of "Sheep Without a Shepherd" had far too many advantages compared to the one on Earth.

On Earth, "Sheep Without a Shepherd" was considered Xiao Yang's breakthrough work for his transformation.

Before this, even though he had appeared in many films, most were comedies, such as his supporting role in "Detective Chinatown," and "The Passionate," which only made people remember him as a lecher.

Precisely because of this, many netizens at the time raised doubts: "You dare to believe that the guy who sang 'Little Apple' is going to act in a suspense film?"

Furthermore, "Sheep Without a Shepherd" was a remake, and the previous versions all had very good reputations, so there were even more skeptics.

Looking at Blue Star, the advantages were truly overwhelming.

Wang Rong had already proven in "Dying to Survive" that he was an excellent Best Actor-level Actor, and not just an excellent Comedy Actor.

At the same time, there was the audience base established by "Mist Theater," as well as Luo Mo's heaven-defying Box Office Appeal.

Most importantly, the original version did not exist on Blue Star, so "Sheep Without a Shepherd" was not considered a remake.

The audience was completely ignorant of the direction of the Drama, and would not be like on Earth, where anyone who had seen the original could guess the gist of it.

Under the support of various factors, "Sheep Without a Shepherd" had consistently ranked first in the Want to Watch index on all major ticketing apps.

Looking across the entire internet, many people also held a positive attitude toward the film.

Luo Mo had already demonstrated his skills in Suspense within "Mist Theater."

Therefore, no one felt that "Sheep Without a Shepherd" would be a bad film.

Many even felt that Luo Mo might directly break the domestic box office record for Suspense films.

Currently, the box office record for Suspense films in Blue Star Huaxia was a film called "Heart Eye."

This film was released last year and ultimately raked in 1.13 billion at the box office.

The male lead of the film was a blind man, but though his eyes were blind, his heart was not.

His assistant became his eyes, and they had great chemistry.

In the Niche category of Suspense films in everyone's eyes, taking over 1 billion at the box office was truly a massive win!

But Luo Mo knew very well that Suspense films were not Niche at all.

The domestic audience base was actually increasing year by year!

As everyone knew, Luo Mo had once made a "harsh statement" at a Review Department meeting, boasting that he would reach 8 billion with 3 films.

Now, only a small goal of 1 billion remained.

"Sheep Without a Shepherd" was created by the original cast and crew from "Dying to Survive," and Luo Mo was now at the height of his career as Huaxia's first Hundred Billion Box Office Director, so there was no longer anyone mindlessly mocking him.

8 billion would definitely be achieved.

Now, it was just a matter of how many billions he would exceed it by!

………

………

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, more than a month had gone by.

This period of time was a happy one for Ding Xiaoyu.

Although the filming schedule for "The Wandering Earth" was very heavy, and she was so tired every day that she would fall asleep the moment her body touched the bed, even her dreams were filled with smiles.

Life spent with her master always made her feel at ease.

It was just a pity that happy times were always short-lived; "The Wandering Earth" was already wrapping up, and according to the filming plan, the entire cast would finish in another 20 days, even if they encountered any trouble, it would take at most another month.

And the day for the release of "Sheep Without a Shepherd" was also getting closer and closer.

This film was scheduled for release on June 30th, and the official Weibo accounts for the four web dramas in "Mist Theater" were also actively promoting it.

On ordinary days, they didn't dare to post on Weibo for fear of netizens dunning them for debts.

"When is 'White Night 2' coming out?"

"'Forensic Qin Ming' could totally be a series, hurry up and release the second season!"

"I'll endure the others, like 'The Bad Kids' which could be considered a normal ending, but you must give me a second part for 'White Night'!"

"Hurry up and release it, I don't want to die without seeing 'White Night 2', and I'd have to ask my grandson to burn a tablet for me, and I don't even know if there's internet in the afterlife."

Everyone was willing to go to the cinema to watch "Sheep Without a Shepherd," but that didn't stop us from scolding you.

And it had to be said, these loyal viewers were indeed very supportive.

"Sheep Without a Shepherd" hadn't even been officially released yet, but the Pre-sale Box Office had already exceeded 100 million on the afternoon of the 29th!

Given the current film environment, a first-day box office of over 100 million wasn't rare, but a Pre-sale Box Office directly exceeding 100 million was still very, very terrifying!

The value contained within this was completely different.

Not to mention, the major cinema chains in the country had finally learned to be smart.

Or rather, after Luo Mo repeatedly created miracles, they became increasingly willing to bet on him.

"Suspense themes are very Niche, not worth giving too high a screening rate."

"What? You say it was filmed by Luo Mo, and it's the original cast and crew of 'Dying to Survive'?"

"Add it! Add more for me!"

This made the first-day screening rate for "Sheep Without a Shepherd" as high as 32.9%!

This was also the film with the highest first-day screening rate among all of Luo Mo's films to date.

And opening Weibo, the current number one entry on the Hot Search was: 【Who was wrongly killed】.

Since this movie is called "Sheep Without a Shepherd," one can already discern a portion of the content from the title alone.

However, everyone is currently still stuck in the tropes of Suspense films.

They think the content will be about someone being accidentally killed, and then the male lead solving the case.

There is no helping it; the trailers for Luo Mo's films never contain any spoilers, so it is impossible to know what they are about.

Little do they know, this movie is not about the male lead solving a case at all.

Instead, it is about how the male lead takes his family along to... commit a Perfect Crime and deceive the world!

It is precisely because of this that Section Chief Zhong Lin of the Review Department was incredibly conflicted when she was reviewing it.

In Blue Star Huaxia, there has not been a movie about a "Perfect Crime" to date.

There are even fewer cases of successfully deceiving the world!

Fortunately, the filming location for this movie is Siam, which gave Section Chief Zhong a way to save face.

Tsk! This man is truly thoughtful.

Please type "Luo Mo, Gentle" on the public screen.

June 30th, explosively hot.

I don't know if it's global warming or some other reason, but July hasn't even arrived yet, and the maximum temperature in many parts of the country has already exceeded 40 degrees.

During the previous plum rain season, everyone complained about it raining every single day.

Now that the rain has stopped, everyone is dazed by the heat, and they are thinking in their hearts: why can't it just rain to cool things down?

So, on such a hot day, are you sure you don't want to engage in some cool indoor activities?

Blowing the air conditioning in a Cinema, then watching a murder in a movie for a refreshing chill—don't you think that sounds pretty good?

Today, a viewer with a very special identity bought two tickets for the afternoon screening of "Sheep Without a Shepherd" and prepared to go to the Xindi Cinema to watch it.

His name is Xiao Wei, he is a bit chubby, and his identity is a subordinate of Section Chief Zhong Lin and a member of the Review Department.

Taking advantage of his time off, he bought two tickets, planning to go to the Cinema with his girlfriend to watch Luo Mo's new film.

Xiao Wei possesses many powers within the Review Department, so he actually rarely goes to the Cinema to watch movies, because he can completely see them first and get his fill before the movie is released, and he can even cause trouble for the production team, making them go back and redo their work.

But Luo Mo's movie is different.

His works are solely the responsibility of Section Chief Zhong Lin.

So...

Want to watch it?

Then go to the Cinema and buy a ticket obediently!

After queuing to enter, while the advertisements were playing, the girlfriend asked Xiao Wei: "Do you think Luo Mo will appear in this movie himself?"

"I don't know." Xiao Wei replied helplessly.

"When I ask you about Luo Mo, you really don't know anything at all!" the girlfriend complained.

"Well, he's a special case. If it were anyone else, I..."

"Alright, alright!" the girlfriend interrupted impatiently.

On normal days, Xiao Wei would go on and on about things she had no interest in, showing off his special privileges.

Now, she, who never chases after stars, is only interested in Luo Mo, yet he can't even get a word out.

Seeing that Xiao Wei was also a bit aggrieved and troubled, she thought about it and felt there was no need to be angry with him like this, so she leaned slightly against him, and this man immediately beamed with joy again.

There is nothing to deny; when Xiao Wei was desperately pursuing his girlfriend, it was just because he lusted after her body, for no other reason.

The time arrived, the lights in the Cinema dimmed, and "Sheep Without a Shepherd" officially began.

At the very beginning of the movie, the male lead Li Weijie is sitting in Song Shu's shop, chatting while watching a movie.

This reveals a part of his character: Li Weijie is fanatically obsessed with movies.

He is not the type who just watches them; he is the type who studies them, even learning knowledge and techniques from classic films.

The television in the shop happens to be playing a movie right now.

Li Weijie introduces it to them: "Hey, this here, this is a technique from the movies."

"It's just camera editing combined with sound effects; it looks exciting, but it's all a trick."

What he is introducing is actually the "Montage" from Earth.

It just doesn't go by that name on Blue Star.

Li Weijie's many subsequent methods of deceiving the world also make extensive use of Montage techniques.

During their chat, the police officer Sang Kun, who is sitting to the side talking to someone, suddenly slams the table and shouts a few times, signaling them to shut up.

The sudden outburst startled many of the audience members in the Cinema.

"Why is this person like this?"

"What a display of official authority!"

"Damn it, why are you yelling so loudly!"

The male lead Li Weijie starts asking Song Shu why that jinx Sang Kun has been hanging around so much lately.

Song Shu begins to recount a case, but this Sang Kun is supposedly investigating while actually shaking people down everywhere.

This case is personally taken on by the police chief, Layun.

Li Weijie cannot help but start bragging, saying: "If I could be a police officer, I would have solved this case in a minute."

Song Shu seems to have long been accustomed to him being like this and cannot be bothered to pay him any mind.

Li Weijie says: "Song Shu, if you had watched over a thousand movies, you would find that there is absolutely nothing bizarre in this world."

"As for these police officers, I express my deepest regrets..." Li Weijie keeps talking, not noticing at all that the police officer Sang Kun has already walked up behind him.

Sang Kun patted his shoulder, and he immediately cowered.

It seemed that this man was incredibly weak and incompetent.

"Keep bragging, and watch out, or I'll collect taxes from you!" Sang Kun shouted at Li Weijie, his spit even splattering onto his face.

Then, Sang Kun glanced at Song Shu; despite not paying, he acted incredibly arrogant, simply shouting "Put it on my tab" before walking away, while Song Shu still had to force a smile.

This segment of the Drama was telling the audience that this border town in Siam was actually incredibly chaotic and dark.

Xiao Wei looked at the large screen in the Cinema, his attention still on the line from earlier: If you have watched more than a thousand movies, you will find that there is absolutely nothing bizarre in this world.

"Haven't I watched more than a thousand?" Xiao Wei couldn't help but whisper to his girlfriend.

Due to his job, the number of movies he had watched was simply too high.

In reality, this line was establishing Li Weijie's character.

He was a rational person.

He knew deeply that so-called bizarre events were merely created through various means.

This was also laying the groundwork for the subsequent Drama.

However, the movies Xiao Wei reviewed were mostly terrible films, completely devoid of logic and full of flaws.

But that didn't stop him from feeling a sense of immersion!

"So it turns out this is a story about people like me!" Xiao Wei started to put on airs.

His girlfriend rolled her eyes at him and couldn't help but whisper: "Since you're so amazing, why don't you guess what happens next for me?"

Xiao Wei smiled; men, when watching a Suspense film, often love to show off their courage, rationality, logic, and wisdom in front of women.

I've reviewed so many films, how could I not understand?

He said in a very low voice: "Look, the beginning already established that the ordinary police in this town are very arrogant, yet very incompetent."

"At the same time, he also looks down on Li Weijie."

"Then, this case is very sensational, and it is being handled personally by the Police Chief Layun."

"So, the follow-up will naturally be Li Weijie assisting Layun in solving the case, slapping this Sang Kun in the face."

"The big shot is at a loss, the little guy steps in to help, get it?"

In his view, Luo Mo was someone who knew how to tell a story well, a rare and excellent screenwriter and director in the country.

In many details, Luo Mo would certainly do a great job, making this movie very watchable.

But the tropes were likely just these tropes.

Old wine in a new bottle is also quite good, isn't it?

Xiao Wei even started to boldly guess: "Although I don't know who the deceased is yet, the movie title is called 'Manslaughter', after all."

"Who kills whom by mistake would be the most exciting and the most unexpected?"

"Let me guess, perhaps someone really intends to kill, but it doesn't actually succeed, and the deceased accidentally killed themselves!"

Tsk! Genius!

Come to think of it, his girlfriend was actually bluffed by him.

After speaking, Xiao Wei smiled confidently, as if saying to his girlfriend: "I'm familiar with all the tropes; I could do it too if I were in his shoes."

(PS: Gratitude to Alliance Leader 【Nüemie】 for the fourth 100,000 Qidian coin tip, Gratitude~)

(End of this chapter)