I was just thinking about taking the arts exam and you said I've been playing supporting roles

Chapter 425 This time, Hua Yi is truly finished!

October 2012, 8, evening.

Huayi's office was still brightly lit; Wang Zhonglei had just come out of a meeting with the public relations department.

A group of Huayi Brothers' stars were also in the office at that time.

In the past two days, they have been besieged and insulted by countless netizens on Weibo. Even top female artists like Fan Bingbing, who have a huge number of fans, have been affected.

Too much of a good thing is bad; extremes always lead to their opposites!
The more arrogant Huayi was a while ago, the more cyberbullying it is now facing.

Faced with such overwhelming negative reviews, the PR firm has run out of options and has already switched to several different firms.

The well-known companies in the industry have stopped accepting orders.

Most importantly, this incident has seriously damaged Huayi's reputation and even affected the stock market.

This is the real reason why Wang Zhonglei was not calm.

Limit down!

Today, Huayi was affected by the "anti-Huayi incident" on Weibo. Many shareholders who were originally optimistic about Huayi sold their shares, and even several large institutional investors have fled.

It's easy to imagine what kind of situation Huayi will face next.

One limit down might not be enough to offset the aftermath of this incident; it might take two or three. In other words, the market value that surged recently due to "Painted Skin 2" will be completely wiped out, and may even be lower than the stock price before the release of "Painted Skin 2".

This is a prediction made by a market financial analyst. Given Huayi's terrible reputation online, it is very likely to affect all Huayi films released this year. As a result, the outside world is not optimistic about Huayi's future in the financial market.

This is the most deadly.

If that's really the case, many of Huayi's major shareholders will actually withdraw their investment or sell their shares; it will be difficult to obtain large-scale financing in the future. Huayi had already started negotiations with Alibaba regarding Alibaba's Digital Media and Entertainment Group.

It seems we should let things cool down for a while before making any further decisions.

The only thing that can save Huayi is movies.

This is their core base.

Only a blockbuster film can completely reverse market confidence in their company's operations.

No one expected that Huayi Brothers, which was at the height of its success just a few days ago and made a bold statement about breaking the record in the history of Chinese film and determined to regain its position as the leading company in Chinese film industry, would encounter such a bizarre "black swan event" in just a few days!
The scenes from the celebration banquet are still fresh in our minds. In just a few days, Huayi has experienced a dramatic reversal from heaven to hell.

"Go back and rest!"

"These next few days, try to stay silent online if possible, and those participating in events should also be careful to refuse any questions from reporters!"

"Agents, please take note!"

Wang Zhonglei was speaking to some of the artists under his management.

Of course, these are not his subordinates. People like Fan Bingbing, Zhang Guoli, and Feng Xiaogang all own Huayi Shares.

Since they are all in the same boat, they will definitely all stand on Huayi's side.

Huayi's stock price plummeted, and they were all affected, basically hating Chen Jin and Dianke to the core.

But they had no choice.

Just like when Chen Jin watched the box office of "Painted Skin 2" rise day by day, he could only watch his box office data soar; now everyone at Huayi Brothers is in the same boat, and Fan Bingbing doesn't even want to look at the pre-sale box office of "John Wick".

With the buzz on Weibo over the past two days, this movie has completely captured the massive influx of attention, with pre-sales hitting new highs every day.

The main problem was that this preview screening was a total rip-off.

With only a few screenings scheduled each day, not only are movie fans unable to get tickets, but audience members also find it extremely difficult to obtain them.

Not only are screenings sold out, but in some major city cinemas, tickets are being resold for as much as 200 yuan each, and demand still exceeds supply.

With such popularity, it would be difficult for Fan Bingbing not to pay attention.

It's so popular.

Not only were the preview screenings a huge success, but the word-of-mouth was also unprecedented. Now, people are no longer praising Chen Jin's acting skills and action scenes in "John Wick," but rather the film's rating, which was released on Douban long ago.

8.5 points!
What does an opening score of 8.5 mean?
This year, no Chinese domestic film has scored above 8 points, so how did this film manage to get an 8.5?

The key point is that it's still an action movie, and based on its opening score, if the current trend of positive reviews continues, it could potentially reach 9 points before it leaves theaters.

This is by no means Fan Bingbing acting crazy; rather, the situation on Weibo has already affected Douban's rating system.

If it weren't for the fact that many netizens have strong likes and dislikes, and are like diodes, they wouldn't be able to distinguish right from wrong.

Huayi Brothers was relentlessly attacked online, while CETC's film suddenly became the victim, leading many netizens to log onto Douban and start giving it 5-star reviews. It's actually very difficult to give a good review, but netizens are just that bored.

Most people who use Weibo also have Douban accounts.

Currently on the internet, these are two websites and apps that heavily overlap.

What Huayi Brothers found most unbearable was that Douban ratings could be given without watching the video.

This led to any registered account being able to comment, and without exception, many people gave it a 10, causing Douban's rating system to crash.

The current score of 8.5 is the score before the system crashed.

This is clearly the first time such a thing has happened since Douban started, so there is no way to deal with it. The only thing to do is to lock the score there and then start to collect the normal ratings. The score can only be updated again after the maintenance is completed.

Right now, it's stuck at 8.5.

Netizens don't care about the crashes or abnormal data; in their eyes, it's just that "Painted Skin 2" gets a 3.9 rating and "John Wick" gets an 8.5 rating.

Yes, as the Weibo incident unfolded, the ratings of "Painted Skin 2" were inevitably affected as well.

For every person who gives "John Wick" a high score, there's an equal number of people who give "Painted Skin 2" a low score.

Didn't you hire people to give John Wick bad reviews?
Then we Weibo users will spontaneously give you bad reviews.

This not only caused the ratings of "Painted Skin 2" to plummet, but also affected the box office performance of other films still in theaters.

Originally, "Painted Skin 2" was making around 1000 million yuan in box office revenue every day, with even higher revenue on weekends. Huayi Brothers had already stopped trying to boost the box office. It's only in the last few days after its theatrical run that if it doesn't surpass "The Battle of Nanjing" and doesn't reach 18 billion yuan, it might make up for some of the lost box office revenue.

As of now, "Painted Skin 2" grossed over 612 million yuan yesterday, which is more than 200 million yuan less than the day before.

This is definitely influenced by the Weibo incident.

Otherwise, the difference wouldn't be so large. Huayi could afford a difference of around 100 million, but this difference of over 200 million is indeed outrageous.

In fact, market predictions suggest that "Painted Skin 2" may only reach 17 billion yuan, not even 18 billion yuan, and it's basically impossible for it to surpass "The Battle at Lake Changjin" (17.89 billion yuan) and "So Young" (17.31 billion yuan).

This could be considered the final straw that broke Huayi's back.

It's important to know that Huayi's initial goal was to break this record.

You tolerated the attacks on your ratings, and you even tolerated the online insults directed at your parents and ancestors for eighteen generations. But the dream of spending 3-4 million yuan plus 2 million yuan on marketing to help "Painted Skin 2" top the Chinese film history record has been shattered. This... You can't tolerate this!

Damn it, cursing Huayi's parents and ancestors might only make the big and small kings angry and furious, but throwing 6 to 7 million yuan of real money into water is more painful than cutting off their flesh.

The two brothers, who were in so much pain, didn't sleep well last night.

Huayi suffered a complete and utter defeat in this match, the kind of humiliating one where they celebrated with champagne at halftime only to be ultimately eliminated. From extreme joy to utter despair.

It would be one thing to suffer a crushing defeat, but what truly pierced the hearts of both King and Queen was that their opponents... were still sending out good news every day.

It's a bit like the feeling of having suffered a defeat while the opponent is frantically conquering territory.

And every time we climbed a city wall, we had to tell him the same thing.

He can't ignore it; you'll always see it.

"Whoo~~~"

Wang Zhonglei rubbed his face and plopped down on the office sofa.

He didn't sleep a wink last night, and now his head is throbbing, but he just can't fall asleep. His mind is filled with the news that "John Wick" has broken 2 million in pre-sales, which he really doesn't want to see!
But they also promoted it, and it was everywhere.

Mobile push notifications, computer pop-ups—even a simple video conference can be sent you a "major announcement" by Tencent!
Even with Huayi Brothers employees and the PR firm present, breaking news broke that pre-sales for "John Wick" had surpassed 2 million yuan.

At that moment, Wang Zhonglei even had the urge to smash the video TV.

"Is there nothing Da Li can do either?"

Wang Zhongjun sat up from his office chair, puffing out a cigarette. He usually didn't handle Huayi's work; that was his younger brother, Wang Zhonglei.

Even if there are meetings, he doesn't actually need to attend.

The main reason is that, given the current situation, he doesn't want to face his subordinates, lest he lose face.

Da Li is currently the most powerful public relations manager in the capital. Many celebrities in the industry have had their scandals exposed by paparazzi, and his company has been the one to handle them, contacting the best crisis public relations firms in the industry.

"What Da Li means is that keeping quiet is the best public relations strategy!"

“Sending that lawyer’s letter before was a mistake. We should have researched Huayi’s reputation online beforehand, and we should have bought some manpower…”

Wang Zhonglei's liver ached whenever he thought about it.

They didn't really think much about it.

Just like when I first asked some people to give "John Wick" bad reviews, I didn't think much of it, because normally, a movie can't be without bad reviews, so who would notice if they were mixed in with these bad reviews?

Unfortunately, the two kings miscalculated this time.

What they didn't expect was that Chen Jin's directorial debut would be so outstanding.

Moreover, directing for the first time is a plus.

Netizens will spontaneously side with him.

For someone directing for the first time, this is already quite outstanding.

Admiration for the strong, sympathy for the victims, idol worship... these diverse portrayals of netizens are the biggest trigger for Huayi's public relations failure this time.

The two Wangs thought that posting some negative reviews was no big deal and didn't take it to heart. Then they were caught off guard by a lawyer's letter from the power company.

Everything then took an unexpected turn, exceeding the expectations of the two kings and even Chen Jin herself.

He never expected Huayi to be so hated.

When Huayi issued its lawyer's letter, it undoubtedly pushed the heat of the incident to its peak.

It would have been better not to post it at all.

If netizens don't criticize it for a couple of days, this matter might be forgotten. Huayi Brothers might just pretend to be dead for now, and their movie might still be a big hit in the future.

But now, the double damage isn't additive, it's multiplicative. Netizens already dislike you, and you've gone and sent lawyer's letters right to their faces. Who else are they going to target if not you?!

This has led to a situation where Huayi is now in a very difficult position to resolve.

The stock price collapsed, the reputation was ruined, and the artists under its management were also affected, causing Huayi's reputation to plummet.

Wang Zhonglei's current headache is no longer about the state of the electronics industry and "John Wick," but rather how Huayi Brothers can weather this crisis.

He no longer cared about his opponent's life or death; he could barely protect himself, so why should he care about his opponent?!

"Da Li's suggestion is to cool things down!"

"Let Huayi 'disappear' for a while. It would be best to postpone the movie's release. Anyway, 'Tai Chi' definitely won't be released next month. It will definitely be affected by this incident and may even cause another riot by these internet thugs!"

Wang Zhonglei was clearly gritting his teeth as he said this.

He hates Chen Jin and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, but he hates these damn netizens even more, who cursed his wife and daughter for not having children, and even dug up his ancestors.

"cool down?"

Wang Zhongjun sneered: "How long will the cooling-off period last? Half a year, a year? Or two or three years!"

"He didn't say a specific time!"

"Let's say that once the hype has died down and netizens have forgotten about it, Huayi Brothers will release another movie—"

"Then how the hell will it still sell?"

Wang Zhongjun picked up the cigarette in his hand and crushed it into the ashtray.

"That's what I said too, but Da Li said that releasing it now would only get us criticized..."

"At least there's still data!"

Wang Zhongjun grumbled and cursed, and although he didn't manage the accounts, he often analyzed and observed industry trends: "Being controversial is still being popular. I don't think it's as exaggerated as he said. As long as the movie 'Tai Chi' gets good reviews, it will definitely win back some movie fans!"

"I feel the same way about celebrities whose careers have collapsed; if you really stay away from the industry, you're doomed!"

The Wang brothers know the realities of the entertainment industry better than anyone else.

Forget two years, if you haven't shown your skills for even a year, who will take you seriously when you step back onto the field?!
Not to mention that celebrities still have some fame, Huayi Brothers might not even be as well-known as many celebrities who have made a comeback.

"So... shall we have a photoshoot for Tai Chi next month?"

Wang Zhonglei was hesitant to take the risk, but his boss's confident demeanor made him think that what the other party said made sense.

If Huayi really stays away from this industry for a year or two, all the accumulation of Huayi over the years will be gone forever.

Even celebrities need to pop up every now and then to seek exposure, so film companies obviously need it even more.

"Let's go for it! This time, we won't do any publicity. Let's see if we can make a profit at the box office with just a few lead actors!"

"Let's wait and see. If the word-of-mouth is good, then we can find someone to do publicity!"

Wang Zhongjun thought to himself: "Da Li is right about one thing: cooling things down. We need to minimize Huayi's influence on the film, and it's best if no one knows that we produced this movie!"

"The netizens will find out eventually..."

"Then let them not know!"

Wang Zhongjun said menacingly, "Contact Weibo and we'll delete the comments!"

(End of this chapter)