Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 528 Discredit
No movie can please everyone.

The same applies to "Mojin: The Lost Legend". Some viewers criticized the film for its superficial romance, its overly childish concept of the "other shore flower", and its poorly crafted comedic elements, among other things.

Is the concept of the spider lily a joke? Then the crystal skull and aliens in Indiana Jones 4 are not jokes either.

None of these reviews are enough to prevent "Mojin: The Lost Legend" from becoming the biggest winner of the Lunar New Year film season.

On its third day of release, Sunday, "Mojin: The Lost Legend" grossed 4.1 million yuan. The film topped the Chinese film history record for its opening weekend box office with 12.52 billion yuan.

It's more than twice the size of its predecessor, "Monster Hunt".

Such achievements deserve the title of "phenomenal movie-going frenzy".

Based on the general principle of three times the box office in the opening weekend, "Mojin: The Lost Legend" is very likely to lead domestic films to the peak of 30 billion yuan, which will be a new record in Chinese film history.

The entire Lunar New Year film season was filled with talk of "Mojin: The Lost Legend," as if not watching it during this period meant falling behind the times.

With the immense popularity of "Mojin: The Lost Legend," it's no surprise that celebrities from all walks of life have jumped on the bandwagon.

Whether they knew each other or not, everyone on Weibo said they had watched "Mojin: The Lost Legend," praised it, bought a plush toy, and showed it off.

"The best thing Li Qiutang did was to choose the right actors. Compared to Hu Bayi with a Taiwanese accent in 'Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe,' Shirley Yang who wasn't pretty enough, and Fatty Wang who was unpleasant, the cast of 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' is full of veteran artists. Liu Yifei is prettier and better at fighting than Yao Chen. She is a better Shirley Yang."

"Li Qiutang really knows what kind of roles Liu Yifei is suitable for. From the rich heiress in 'In Time' to Shirley Yang in 'Mojin: The Lost Legend,' Liu Yifei has always played characters who are wealthy, good-looking, and skilled in martial arts. These 'unrealistic' roles are really suitable for Liu Yifei. They all rely on their husbands' connections. Why would Yao Chen think she is suitable to play Shirley Yang?"

There are also people online shipping them as a couple: "I've noticed a key point: Liu Yifei is the female lead in director Li Qiutang's two most expensive films, 'In Time' and 'Mojin: The Lost Legend,' which are also Li Qiutang's most important works to date. The director really spoils Yifei." This wasn't intentional.

However, something happened very early in the new week.

Someone reported online that Autumn Pictures committed financial fraud, as well as that of Li Qiutang and Liu Yifei, a married couple.

The whistleblower report alleges that Autumn Pictures has inflated profits and concealed losses for many years through temporary project companies, subsidiaries, and holding companies, causing significant losses to its partners.

Li Qiutang and Liu Yifei, a married couple, illegally evaded taxes through their studio and various investment and charitable channels.

The truth is no longer important, and Li Qiutang doesn't care about the truth at all.

The internal response was very swift. He, as chairman, led a crisis response team composed of the CEO, CFO, IR head, compliance officer, general counsel, and legal counsel for the lead underwriter.

Autumn is currently in a critical quiet period for listing, and it must be handled with utmost care. One wrong move and years of hard work could be wasted.

Reports of unpaid debts in the fall are relatively easy to handle; such matters are readily resolved. However, financial issues are the most challenging, often taking three to five months to uncover the truth.

This is why the company believes someone is pulling the strings behind this. Why did they choose to release this information only in the fall when they couldn't speak out?
This was followed by personal smear campaigns against Li Qiutang and Liu Yifei, as well as Zhang Zhao, Chen Zhixi, Xu Lin, and other core executives of Autumn Pictures.

"Liu Yifei is an American citizen, and Li Qiutang has already become an American citizen with Liu Yifei through marriage. Their hearts are not in China at all. After making money from Chinese people, they went to the United States to enjoy themselves."

"Autumn Pictures' aggressive expansion into overseas business is aimed at transferring assets. The main operator is Autumn Pictures CEO Zhang Zhao. Much of the funding for Autumn Pictures' overseas channel development comes from loans within China. Zhang Zhao's wife has already obtained foreign citizenship; this is blatant asset transfer. A thorough investigation of Autumn Pictures is strongly recommended." "Li Qiutang has no fixed assets in China. Before his marriage, he lived in a long-term rental room at the Kerry Hotel. Even after marriage, the house is not in his name, and the car is registered to the company. If he wanted to flee, he could simply pack a couple of clothes, grab his passport, and run."

Li Qiutang issued a gag order within the company, prohibiting anyone from responding to the attack through any channel, including rebuttals, clarifications, and even comments.

Are you angry? I'm extremely angry.

But during the quiet period, Autumn Pictures really can't respond as it usually does.

All that can be done in the fall is to quote the original prospectus, declare that its finances are in compliance, and say that the company has disclosed potential risks in the prospectus.

Autumn Pictures can't say anything else.

Is it possible to use a third party to voice our opinions?
Yes, but risks still exist.

At least companies that have collaborated with Qiu Tian cannot speak up for her. Wan Da's collaboration with Qiu Tian, ​​"Mojin: The Lost Legend," is still showing in theaters. Ye Ning speaking up for Li Qiutang is pushing him into a fire pit.

There's nothing else to do in autumn but to endure it.

Just wait until the 12th of next month, the quiet period will be over.

Fortunately, Li Qiutang and Liu Yifei have a large fan base, and they certainly don't believe the accusations against them online.

"Coward, you take advantage of the fact that Qiu Tian can't speak during her quiet period and just attack her. That's all you're good for."

"They don't even dare to use their real names, and they think they can take down the biggest film company in China with this little bit of stuff?"

"Looking for trouble out of nothing, case closed."

"You call Autumn a traitorous company, and I'll say you're smearing my national enterprise. Your intentions are despicable."

But ordinary viewers only care about whether the movie is exciting or not; who cares about your company's petty affairs?

On Monday the 21st, "Mojin: The Lost Legend" easily surpassed 100 million yuan at the box office, reaching 1.08 million yuan.

However, viewers noticed that while "Mojin: The Lost Legend" had promotional events scheduled in Changsha, Qingdao, and Ningbo that day, director Li Qiutang was absent from all of them.

On the same day, Huayi Brothers held a grand premiere in Beijing for their Lunar New Year film "Mr. Six". Feng Xiaogang praised Huayi Brothers, saying, "For so many years, we have been doing one thing: making high-quality Chinese films. I would also say that this is a film that goes against the tide. We want to be the kind of people who do the kind of things that we want to do. Just like the character I play, Mr. Six, he is a bit out of step with the times, but we have our own persistence and artistic ideals."

Director Gao Qunshu went even further, saying that if the film doesn't do well at the box office, then it would truly be the end of Chinese cinema.

However, with numerous films being released during the Lunar New Year season, especially "Mojin: The Lost Legend" which is aggressively heading towards becoming the highest-grossing film in history, how "Mr. Six" can stand out has become the focus of everyone's attention. At the premiere, Li Yifeng invited the audience to come to the cinema to watch the film and made a bold statement: "We have a movie star, beautiful women, and fresh meat here. If you're not convinced, come and fight!"

(End of this chapter)