Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 545 Disobedient Netizens
There have been constant speculations about whether Zhang Chen is the wealthy man who donated 200 million yuan, but Zhang Chen, the real person, has never officially responded.

All interview requests were rejected.

This made netizens more certain.

It's not you, why are you feeling guilty?
Zhang Chen: I...

After the box office of "2012" exceeded 1000 million, it was already stable, about million a day, and it would probably reach million by the end of June. If it can break million in July, it may even reach million...

The box office trends are basically in line with previous expectations.

Then, there was a sudden change in the past two days.

In every cinema, there was a sudden knock on the office door of the film schedule manager:
"Manager, the box office of 2012 has returned to around 3000 million."

The scheduling manager took a look at the box office report and found that it was true.

How is this going?

I was looking for the reason and saw the discussion online.

[I don’t care what you say, I’ve already watched it twice and I support Zhang Chen…]

[Zhang Chen, can you please come out and say something? Are you the one who donated 200 million? If it is you, I will watch it again...]

[If he did such a good thing, would he really not tell anyone? He didn't make anonymous donations during the previous snowstorm, so I don't think it was him...]

[It must be Zhang Chen. This guy never fails in big things. I believe in his character...]

On the Internet, some people believe that the person who donated 200 million yuan was Zhang Chen, while others are skeptical, and no one can convince anyone else.

The scheduling manager was enjoying the show and not forgetting to improve the scheduling.

On the Internet, the voices calling for Zhang Chen to come forward to testify are getting louder and louder.

Some people: Zhang Chen, tell them that it is you who donated the money. I can’t wait to see them get slapped in the face~
Another group of people said: Don’t try to get what’s not yours. There is no bottom line for the box office of the movie.

Some people in the middle: Wow, the quarrel is so intense~
Many TV stations were unable to invite Zhang Chen to speak in person, so they simply found a few experts, scholars and celebrities to participate in the discussion.

After a show, the debate was very intense and everyone seemed to have good reasoning, but in fact there was no conclusion at all.

Everything is speculation.

In the office, Zhang Chen was scratching his hair.

He already knew that this was done by Han Sanping and Ren Zhonglun.

People also had good intentions and criticized him, saying that at such a young age, why was he trying to hide his strength and bide his time?

Why am I keeping a low profile?

I'm hiding my light~
He is not afraid of being in the limelight. He has done everything possible to be in the limelight.

He just doesn't want to play the patriotism card.

In his previous life, "Wolf Warrior" hurt him a lot.

There is nothing wrong with being patriotic, but I hate using patriotism to hijack consumption.

Buying Huawei means being patriotic?
But Huawei doesn't love me~
Watching "Wolf Warrior 2" and "Nezha" means being patriotic?
It’s a good movie, and I bought tickets to support it, but there’s no need to watch it twice or three times just for the list!

But the box office's counter-cyclical growth in the past two days and the heated discussions on the Internet all told him that the scene from his previous life was being played out again.

Wanglaoji donated 100 million yuan, and netizens declared that they would buy out all the Wanglaoji in supermarkets so that they can earn the 100 million yuan back.

Even though Hongxing Erke was on the verge of bankruptcy, it still donated 5000 million to the disaster area. Netizens said, "You cannot go bankrupt if I don't allow you to."

These are all living examples!
People are very receptive to this and will support you with real money.

But Zhang Chen didn't want this.

Because there will definitely be backlash.

Netizens have no memory. They are the ones who support you now, but later on, they are also the ones who accuse you of making money from the national disaster.

But in the current situation, this trend has already appeared.

Netizens began to support "2012" mindlessly, and many people expressed their desire to watch it a second or third time.

The movie ticket for "2012" is not cheap, and all of this will be charged to Zhang Chen from now on.

After thinking about it for a long time, I couldn't find any good solution, so I just accepted the interview.

Since you can't avoid it, try to guide it in a positive way.

Zhang Chen was interviewed by CCTV Six Princesses and Sina.com.

The interview with the Sixth Princess was arranged very early, in the third week of the film’s release, as a form of publicity that could stimulate the market.

Sina.com has an agreement with Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen’s personal publicity is now basically released first by Sina, and the two are deeply bound together.

This is also a little bit of his idea.

He should maintain a good relationship so that when Sina Weibo comes out, he can reap the benefits or even join the game.

In the Sixth Princess' studio, a makeup artist was touching up Zhang Chen's makeup. The show this time was called "Light and Shadow Star Podcast", and the hosts were Jing Wei and Yao Miao, who came over specially to say hello.

"Director Zhang~"

"Hello Director Zhang, I'm Yao Miao~"

Jingwei is an old acquaintance, and she hosted many movie premieres of Xingchen Entertainment.

This is the first time I have met Yao Miao, but she is also a well-known host of the Sixth Princess.

"Hello you two~"

"Director Zhang, can I ask you about those comments online?"

Before the interview, you should go through the script roughly to determine the scope of the interview.

Doing so is both a respect for the guests and a way to avoid recording accidents.

Many programs will do some weird things for the sake of effect, and will deliberately ask some questions that are beyond the scope. This is how Han Geng and Mango TV fell out.

"Okay, I will officially confirm the donation this time."

Jingwei and Yaomiao looked at each other, their eyes shining with surprise, as if a huge melon had fallen in front of them.

Full of expectation.

After receiving the notice, the director immediately instructed that he would talk about the movie first and then focus the interview on donations.

As long as it is a program, it must have ratings.

"Light and Shadow Star Podcast" is a program to promote movies, but promoting movies is not as attractive as gossip.

Not long after we discussed the script, we started the formal recording.

Different from general talk shows, there are no ordinary audiences on the "Light and Shadow Star Podcast". Zhang Chen only needs to talk to the two hosts throughout the whole show.

"Director Zhang, 2012 has been released for three weeks and the box office is approaching million. What do you think the final box office will be?"

"It's probably around 6 million. This is our internal consensus estimate."

"But I heard that the box office suddenly went from 1000 million per day to 3000 million per day in the past two days. What's going on?"

Jingwei always kept the director's instructions in mind and led the second question to that topic.

“I would also like to thank the audience for their love~”

Seeing that Zhang Chen did not give a direct answer, the two thought that Zhang Chen wanted to promote the movie more, so they brought the topic back to the movie.

This time the question was asked by Yao Miao: "From the current perspective, the box office of "2012" will definitely exceed that of "Pacific Rim". Both are your works. Which one do you think is better?"

Zhang Chen thought for a while and shook his head: "The two are completely different genres. Pacific Rim is about passion, the battles between giant mechas and monsters.

But what we actually see in "2012" is a visual spectacle, a concretization of the human concept of the end of the world.

The Mayan prophecy, everyone is talking about the end of the world in 2012, but no one knows what the end of the world will look like. This is the charm of "2012". It tells the audience that the end of the world may look like this..."

After asking a few more questions about movies, and Zhang Chen also sharing some interesting stories, Jingwei felt that the time was right, so he got straight to the point:

"Director Zhang, I wonder if you have read the comments online recently. The debate over whether the rich man who donated 200 million is you is getting more and more intense. I wonder if Director Zhang wants to say anything to the audience?"

Hearing Jingwei's question, Zhang Chen paused for two seconds, smiled bitterly, and nodded: "Yes, I am the one who donated 200 million."

Jingwei and Yaomiao looked at each other: "Is it really you?"

Although they had guessed it a long time ago, they still felt it was unreal until they heard Zhang Chen admit it himself.

Zhang Chen nodded again: "It is indeed me."

"Twenty million?"

"Two hundred million~!"

"Then why didn't Director Zhang admit it at first and why did he want to remain anonymous?"

"Because I don't want those false names, and I don't want to use patriotism to kidnap consumption~"

"?"

The two hosts looked at each other again: "Director Zhang, can you explain it in detail?"

This is exactly why Zhang Chen came to participate in the interview today. Hearing this, he took a deep breath and said, "If I donate publicly, I will definitely be at the center of the storm. If I donate more, it will appear that some people donate less, and I will definitely be envied.

My purpose is simply to contribute to the country, not to offend anyone, so I chose to remain anonymous. ”

After hearing Zhang Chen's reason, the two hosts nodded unconsciously.

"Then what about not wanting to use patriotism to tie consumption to something else?"

"It's just like what's happening now. Everyone knows that I donated money, and I'm the one who donated the most. They're all eager to support me by watching the movie twice or three times. This is what I don't want to see..."

"why?"

The two of them couldn’t understand Zhang Chen’s logic. Isn’t this a good thing?

Zhang Chen continued to explain: "Movies are movies. They have nothing to do with other things. If it's good, you watch it. If it's not good, don't watch it. It's that simple. There's no need to give it more meaning.

I admit that if the donations were used to hype the film, the box office performance would definitely be very good, and the hype would likely become a classic marketing case.

But I don’t like this. I just want to contribute and don’t want to hype it up. This kind of thing shouldn’t be hyped up.”

"So you don't want the movie to have as high a box office as possible?"

"Of course I hope so, but I hope that the box office of the movie is high because the movie itself is really good, not because of any reasons outside the movie."

This episode of "Light and Shadow Star Podcast" is scheduled to be broadcast the next day, and Sina.com will also broadcast the interview content simultaneously.

Both the Sixth Princess and Sina.com believe that after the broadcast, there will definitely be another wave of craze on the Internet.

As they expected, the interview received a strong response after it was broadcast.

[It’s confirmed, the person who donated the money is indeed Zhang Chen! ]

[I said, Zhang Chen will not let us down~]

【After watching his interview, I suddenly felt that I was a bit too narrow-minded~】

[Is Zhang Chen actually that rich? He can easily spend 200 million~]

[Conscientious entrepreneurs tried to do good deeds anonymously, but their identities were exposed by enthusiastic netizens~]

[Zhang Chen: I don’t want to be famous~]

Netizens were discussing it, and the media also joined in. Zhang Chen had made it very clear, but he could not control the behavior of netizens.

[I have decided, I will watch "2012" for the fifth time to support Zhang Chen~]

[Brother, I own a company. I don't have many people under me, about 200 people. I have confirmed that I will book the entire theater to watch "2012"~]

[Brothers, who understands me? I am also going to watch "2012" for the third time. I feel proud of myself when I watch this movie...]

[I have watched "2012" four times. I watched it once because I was looking forward to it, watched it again because I was moved, watched it a third time because I admired it, and watched it a fourth time because of its structure. I give a thumbs up to Director Zhang...]

[I watched it three times. Those who said they would watch it three or four times, stop bragging and show your ticket stubs. I’ve posted the picture~]

For a while, it became popular to post ticket stubs online.

The screenshots sent out were all ticket stubs for "2012".

Many people watch it three or four times, and there are also quite a few who watch it five or six times.

Although Zhang Chen has made his position clear, netizens don't care.

The message from one netizen received the most likes, and his message was: Those who carry firewood for the public should not be allowed to freeze to death in the wind and snow.

A lot of people responded below, yes, Zhang Chen spent 200 million at once, I must make him earn the 200 million back~
I also contribute~
Count me in~
I can still afford a movie ticket~
Supporting Zhang Chen is equivalent to contributing to the national crisis~
Zhang Chen was numb after seeing these comments. It felt like everything I said in the interview was in vain.

Supporting Zhang Chen is equivalent to contributing to the national crisis. Wouldn’t it be better for you to donate the money directly?
For this purpose, he specially published a blog - Consume Calmly!
The kindness of the Chinese is engraved in their bones.
Good deeds will be rewarded. This is the simple and valuable value of the Chinese people, and it is also an important part of the culture of respecting virtue and pursuing kindness that has been passed down for thousands of years.

I understand that everyone thinks I performed well and wants to support me.

But I also hope that everyone consumes rationally.

No matter how good "2012" is, it is enough to watch it once or twice. There is no need to watch it three or four times.

A movie is a movie. It has nothing to do with whether you support me or not, and it has nothing to do with anything else.

I am grateful for the support of every netizen. Every kind person should be treated well.

But movie tickets are not cheap, and it’s not easy for everyone to earn money, so there’s no need to spend it all on this.

Don’t worry too much about whether it’s 200 million or not. It all depends on your personal ability.

This money is also earned from everyone. It is taken from the people and used for the people.

As for "those who carry firewood for the public should not be allowed to freeze to death in the wind and snow."

I am deeply touched by everyone's comments on me, but I am not really "freezing to death in the snow and wind". "2012" is definitely going to make money, so please stop spending on impulse. 】

As soon as Zhang Chen’s blog came out, it immediately caused another even greater wave of enthusiasm.

The main characteristic of this generation of netizens is that they don’t listen to advice.

[Whether you donate money or not is your business, whether you watch the movie or not is our business~]

[How dare you teach me how to do things? Am I the kind of person who would listen to your advice? ]

[We don't allow you to have no profit~]

['Take from the people and give back to the people', that's a great saying. I'll let you take more~]

[Why are you stopping us? You are full of positive energy, but you don’t allow us to make progress? ]

In just one day, the single-day box office of "2012" reached a terrifying 5000 million again. Netizens demonstrated with their actions what it means to be united.

No, why don't you listen to my advice?
Upon seeing this, Zhang Chen posted three blog posts in a row, calling on everyone to consume with caution.

80 yuan for a movie ticket, that’s a lot of money!
But it's no use!
In the words of netizens, not only will I not let you freeze to death in the snow, I will also let you see the summer sun.

Zhang Chen really saw the summer sun, and not only him, but everyone in the industry saw it.

"2012" was released for 20 days and the box office exceeded million~
Good boy, Long is moving~
700 million~
The domestic film box office record just created by "Pacific Rim" has been broken, and the number is still growing rapidly at a rate of tens of millions per day.

Other domestic film companies are all jealous.

This is simply a money grab!

No, even robbing money is not as fast as this!
The most speechless thing is that Zhang Chen has been calling on everyone not to watch the movie. He is trying hard to push the money out, but the money seems to have grown legs and is rushing into his pocket.

Where does this make sense?

The most jaw-dropping was Warner Bros.

Even if you haven't heard of it, you still have to do statistics on the global box office.

"2012" performed very well, winning the weekly box office championship in almost all countries in the first week. In some places, it was even the box office champion in the second week.

But China's box office performance is really confusing.

In the third week of its release, the film suddenly grew against the trend, with the single-day box office comparable to the first week's data.

This is so unbelievable~
David Heyman immediately called China Film to confirm that the last time "Pacific Rim" had a box office of 2012 million, this time "", according to this trend, it would probably be more than billion. How is this possible?

David was also stunned after learning the reason.

What... is this operation?
Even though he has worked in the film industry for decades, he has never seen such an operation.

Is it a coincidence or deliberate marketing?

But no matter which one it is, it at least proves the huge size of the Chinese market.

The box office in China alone is close to 100 million US dollars. What does that mean?
It is definitely the second largest market in the world after North America.

The last "Pacific Rim" had already impressed them, and this time it was even more jaw-dropping.

Let’s go find the Buddha quickly, uh no, let’s go and negotiate the copyright for King Kong quickly, we will agree to any request from Universal.

Many people are speculating that after the box office exceeds 700 million, the growth rate will slow down.

After all, impulse buying is time-sensitive.

But "2012" did not, the daily growth remained very stable. Although it has declined, it seems to have great potential.

Seeing that it is heading for 800 million~
Zhang Chen is already tired~
I can't persuade you, I can't persuade you at all~
The more you persuade them, the more they spend.
There are already cases where people only buy tickets but don’t watch the movie~
The comments from netizens are also very real
[I've watched it six times and I'm really sick of it. May I ask if Xingchen Entertainment has any other movies released so I can support another one...]

[I have reserved the 13:30 show at the Xinghuo Cinema on Xinhua Street. I have left the ticket at the front desk. Friends who want to watch it can just go there. It’s my treat…]

At this time, Zhang Chen also came to his senses.

It can be considered as the right time, right place and right people.

Before the Olympics, the Chinese people had gone through various tests and were at their most united, with confidence overflowing and national consciousness at its peak.

Coupled with various natural disasters, when one side is in trouble, all sides will come to its aid.

Zhang Chen and "2012" happened to catch up.

Supporting "2012" actually has nothing to do with the movie itself. It has become a way for the Chinese people to vent their emotions.

No matter how many disasters there are, we will keep moving forward!
I control my own life!
I have decided to host this Olympics, even if God objects!

Western scoundrels, I will show you what man can conquer nature!
To sum it up, it is what the teacher said: The Chinese people have stood up from now on!

……

Domestic
Cheng Long's schedule has been very busy recently. He is the country's most famous card internationally, and he has to unconsciously participate in a lot of preparatory work.

Accompany to brush face~
But I will still pay attention to the box office performance of "2012".

To be honest, the recent counter-trend rise also scared him.

A box office of 700 million, this is definitely a result that I could never have imagined.

The key point is that 700 million is not the end point, and no one knows how terrifying the final box office will be.

Cheng Long was a little sad. Before this, his best performance in China was 1.9 million for "The Forbidden Kingdom".

It's nothing compared to "2012".

Moreover, Cheng Long's family knows his own business, and he knows very well that the incredible box office of "2012" has little to do with him.

Abroad, perhaps there are some connections.

Domestically, it’s really not big~
I just don’t know if there will be opportunities for cooperation in the future.

The phone vibrated twice. Seeing that no one was paying attention nearby, Cheng Long opened it and saw a copy sent by the publicity team.

"'2012' is a global hit, creating the highest box office record for a movie starring Jackie Chan!"

"Cheng Long proved with 2012 that he is more than just an action actor!"

From "2012", Cheng Long did reap considerable benefits.

Thanks to its super high box office, it returned to the top position in Hollywood.

In the past, the films that approached him were basically offered $1500 million + 10% of the box office share.

Now it is 2000 million US dollars + 15% box office share.

has reached the top.

It is impossible to achieve a high level simply by being an actor, unless you are also a producer.

"Jackie, can you sign an autograph for me?"

He was accompanying a delegation to show his face abroad when a little girl rushed up with a poster and said.

"Of course~"

Cheng Long has always been known for his approachable image, without any airs at all.

What the little girl handed over was the poster of "2012", and Cheng Long signed his name on it skillfully.

"I hope to see more of your works in the future. I really like you and Chen so much..."

After the little girl left, Cheng Long took a moment to react and realized that Chen should be referring to Zhang Chen.

I started to feel emotional again...

Jackie Chan's movies have always been the only beneficiary of Jackie Chan. No matter who the director is, the audience will only remember Jackie Chan.

The others are all tools.

But this time "2012" is different.

Zhang Chen's reputation was not inferior to his. No matter where they went, people always mentioned them together. Cheng Long felt a little jealous about this.

But it’s just for a moment. As adults, we shouldn’t be happy with things, nor sad with ourselves!
He remembered the call from Eagle King last night, asking him if it was possible for him to participate in Zhang Chen's next work.

No one knows what Zhang Chen’s next work will be.

There are rumors online that it is a zombie movie, while others say it is a sequel to Pacific Rim.

None of them sound credible.

A zombie movie will definitely not pass the domestic review, which is equivalent to losing the basic market, so Zhang Chen may not necessarily make it.

As for Zhang Chen's claim that his film could pass the review, he didn't believe it.

His influence is not small, but "Shinjuku Incident" still failed to pass the review.

As for the sequel to Pacific Rim, it's also unreliable.

Throughout Zhang Chen's film career, he has never directed a sequel.

……

I wrote a lot today. It’s the end of the month. Please give me a monthly ticket.

(End of this chapter)