Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 721 We finally made a movie like this.
"Dying to Survive" grossed 12.38 billion yuan in its opening weekend, shocking everyone!
Moreover, the film is not just about box office success. The subject matter of "Dying to Survive" naturally attracts social attention, and the film has sparked widespread concern about exorbitant drug prices and cancer patients!

This is the resonance between film and social sentiment. Once a film can resonate with or evoke this social sentiment, its success is guaranteed.

Some netizens even said that a movie like "Dying to Survive" should be the greatest film in history.

"We've finally made a movie like this."

Just moments before, CEOs were saying on forums that the industry was in a downturn, but then this fall they released a film called "Dying to Survive," which ignited the market.

What does it mean to be the first privately-owned film company to go public?

The film's opening weekend box office of 12.38 billion yuan suggests that its total box office may reach 30 billion yuan, or even higher, as predicted by Li Qiutang.

The social discussion sparked by "Dying to Survive" is no less than that of "Wolf Warrior 2" back then.

The pressure is on "Hidden Man" and "Asura," but the three films have different themes and target different audiences, so the competition shouldn't be too great.

Even the unexpected success of "Dying to Survive" boosted the summer box office, which benefited subsequent films.

On Thursday, Feng Xiaogang and the "Cellphone 2" crew, who had been silent for more than a month, finally made a move.

Since Feng Xiaogang posted his declaration of war on Weibo, neither Feng Xiaogang nor Cui Yongyuan has said a word.

But the matter didn't end there. Cui Yongyuan's article about Feng Xiaogang laundering and stealing gold coins is still on his Weibo account, and the State Taxation Administration has also issued a statement saying that it will investigate.

In the past month or so, Huayi's stock price has been under pressure, and its market value has dropped by another three to five billion yuan. However, Wang Zhonglei gritted his teeth and said that he would finish filming "Cellphone 2" and would not change the name.

Now, Feng Xiaogang announced on Weibo that filming for "Cellphone 2" has officially wrapped up and posted "Ten Questions for Teacher Cui".

The article begins by saying that he has been busy filming for the past few months and has no time to engage in verbal sparring with Cui Yongyuan. It claims that Cui Yongyuan is using screenshots of contracts and reports to intimidate this person today and threaten that person tomorrow. The article states, "You are not a patient, you are a bad person. Tolerating bad people is condoning evil."

Then I asked Cui ten questions.

The fourth point is particularly interesting. Feng Xiaogang accused Cui Yongyuan: "You impersonate the conscience of society, portraying yourself as the spokesperson for the people. I don't know about other things, but it's a fact that you've been a spokesperson for fraud groups. You criticize GMOs to sell your overpriced chickens and rice. Don't you feel guilty? Over the years, you've been traveling around hosting shows and opening many companies, making a lot of money. Don't just report others; dare you show your tax returns and financial statements?"

This refers to his relationship with the CEO of Kuailu Group.

Don't you know about Kuailu Group? It's the company that handled the securitization of the box office revenue from "Ip Man 3". Kuailu Group set up several film and television companies and media companies for Cui Yongyuan, hoping to take over Cui Yongyuan's business and enter the film and television industry.

The film "Ip Man 3" went awry, the company's P2P lending platform also collapsed, and the company's CEO absconded.

Otherwise, where would Cui Yongyuan get so many top-secret documents?

So, to be honest, there's not much justice to be found in this matter.

Following Feng Xiaogang's "Ten Questions," Cui Yongyuan immediately responded and launched an essay contest titled "Responding to Feng Xiaogang."

As everyone knows, Feng Xiaogang doesn't have a very good reputation online. Netizens have offered various suggestions and contributed humorous comments such as "Take off Feng's pants," "Feng Xiaogang's response: a primary school student cheating version," and "Feng Xiaogang, I'll slap you ten times."

The film was finished, and the people had criticized him, but Feng Xiaogang was in a very good mood.

The next day, he posted his review of "Dying to Survive" on Weibo, praising it as "a film with merit." However, netizens weren't buying it, and relentlessly attacked him: "Dying to Survive is a good film, but what's it to you? You didn't make it. Explain your stealing and laundering of gold coins!"

Wen Muye: Don't try to drag me into this.

"It's a disgrace to have your comment!"

Subsequently, Cui Yongyuan posted a photo of himself with Liao Fan and Eddie Peng at the premiere of Jiang Wen's new film "Hidden Man," claiming that the film was based on him and that "Hidden Man" had once again disgusted Feng Xiaogang.

Jiang Wen really went all out for "Hidden Man," not only going to "Produce 101," a show he was completely unfamiliar with—he probably couldn't even name any of the girls on stage—but also holding the premiere in an ancient town at the foot of the Great Wall.

She also participates in all sorts of talk shows, something Jiang Wenli would never have paid attention to in the past.

They praised Eddie Peng so much. That rooftop nude scene was completely unnecessary, but he insisted on filming it, saying, "With such a great physique, why not film it?"

They also said that Eddie Peng's physique is as perfect as an ancient Greek sculpture.

Every word that could be used was used.

However, "Hidden Man" only grossed 1.22 million yuan on its opening day, and even dropped to 1 million yuan on Saturday the following day.

It fell to 8000 million on Sunday.

Many people in the industry don't understand this result. This is Jiang Wen's work, the final installment of his Republic of China trilogy, which grossed 3 million in its opening weekend.
Li Qiutang treated the staff of Mojing Tianhe to a late-night snack. At the dinner table, someone mentioned "Hidden Man" and expressed surprise at its success.

Li Qiutang, however, felt there was nothing to be surprised about.

"You special effects artists might not understand the market very well. The 3.1 million yuan opening weekend for 'Hidden Man' is a result that should have been achieved."

"First and foremost, and most importantly, 'Gone with the Bullets' damaged Jiang Wen's reputation. 'Let the Bullets Fly' was so good; it made audiences rediscover Jiang Wen and think he was the best director in China. So before the release of 'Gone with the Bullets,' audiences had extremely high expectations for the film. But the result was that 'Gone with the Bullets' extremely personalized and carnivalesque narrative style greatly disappointed the audience. The key issue is that Jiang Wen is stubborn; he won't admit that he made a mistake."

"Gone with the Bullets" made the audience feel offended. With "Hidden Man", the audience will naturally choose to wait and see, or even not watch Jiang Wen's films.

To put it bluntly, Jiang Wen is the kind of director who knows how to educate the audience, saying that there's no need for them to make themselves uncomfortable after buying a ticket.

"The second reason is the mismatch between the publicity and distribution of 'Hidden Man' and the finished film. You see Jiang Wen going to the finale of 'Produce 101' to promote the film, and you think he lowered his status or something, but actually it was a bad move. The audience of 'Produce 101' and the audience who would watch Jiang Wen's film are not the same group of people."

“Young audiences attracted through traffic-driven means may not be able to accept Jiang Wen’s dark humor and historical metaphors. When they go to the theater, they find that the movie is not the ‘entertainment blockbuster’ they imagined, which can easily lead to negative word-of-mouth.”

"The third reason is the squeeze on screenings by 'Dying to Survive'. Although the two films are not of the same genre and are not in strong competition, 'Dying to Survive' has already gained momentum and will inevitably take away screenings and social discussion. Of course, this is a secondary reason."

Although Li Qiutang and Jiang Wen have a fairly good relationship, Li Qiutang still said: "Director Jiang Wen is not a mainstream director. 'Let the Bullets Fly' is actually an extremely special exception. I guess even Jiang Wen himself doesn't know why 'Let the Bullets Fly' became a hit."

"So, director, who do you think will win this argument between Cui Yongyuan and Feng Xiaogang?" We were just talking about the movie, how come we're talking about this now?

"I don't know." Li Qiutang truly had no idea; things had gone beyond his expectations.

They chatted about others to pass the time while drinking, and the group didn't disperse until after 3 a.m.

(End of this chapter)