Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 930 Conflict (24)

You've worked hard for several years, what's wrong with enjoying yourself a bit?
Well, it wasn't exactly enjoyable; Shen Yan was also very career-oriented...

After all, once a person lies down, it's easy to form a habit!

I still have to work...

Oh, and he's also been keeping an eye on the Spring Festival film season...

"Monster Hunt 2" had an exceptionally high opening day box office, directly breaking the peak of the Chinese film market: 4.96 million yuan!
—This is the highest single-day box office record in China, previously held by "The Fate of the Furious" with 4.87 million yuan…

Then there's "Detective Chinatown Prequel": 3.4 million;
Operation Red Sea grossed 1.72 million yuan on its opening day;
The reputation of "The Monkey Kings" had already collapsed after one round of preview screenings, and you couldn't stop the criticism even if you wanted to!
Many marketing accounts are saying things like, "It's a completely different style from the old version of 'The Monkey King 3'; the former is alluring and charming, while the latter is youthful and beautiful," "Zhao Liying's looks and appearance live up to the description of someone who can fall in love at first sight," and "Only after experiencing the world can one see through its illusions."

It's useless; it still doesn't change the fact that this is a terrible movie!

The most upvoted film review: Of all the eighty-one tribulations, "The Kingdom of Women" is the most unique.

Unlike the battles and killings of demon-slaying, "The Kingdom of Women" tests the protagonist's love life. This means that a delicate and moving love story is the key to success in this story.

However, Director Zheng completely failed to delve into the pure and restrained love story between Tang Sanzang and the Queen of the Women's Kingdom. The only two slightly touching scenes in the entire film were the scenes of holding hands and copying scriptures.

By the way, Operation Red Sea received rave reviews!
It's absolutely packed!

"It has the quality of a Hollywood blockbuster; 120 out of its 152 minutes are gunfights and explosions, with exciting tank chases. In terms of realism, it's less like a domestic version of 'Black Hawk Down' and more like an upgraded version of '13 Hours'..."

"Exceeded expectations, extremely exciting, several major battles, blood and flesh flying everywhere, probably setting a record for the most explicit Chinese-language war drama in recent years."

Most importantly, the ending doesn't force a thematic elevation or saturate the film with individual heroism. The entire movie is a series of tightly-knit and highly challenging missions, covering almost every terrain and combat scenario, including mountains, deserts, and airborne operations. The sniping and rescue sequences are particularly thrilling, and the ending is crisp and powerful.

"The war scenes are truly breathtaking; the explosions and gunfights are incredibly moving. It has a blockbuster feel!"

Douban rating: 8.6!
The films released during the Spring Festival season received the highest praise!
The next day, the screening share of "Operation Red Sea" increased to 20.5%, and the screening share of "Detective Chinatown 2" also increased to 27%...

The films whose screenings were mostly cut were "Monster Hunt 2" and "The Monkey King 3"...

……

Yang Mi was speechless...

She posted several photos of her trip to Sanya on Weibo, including pictures of Liu Shishi and Shen Li...

Then the comments section was full of people criticizing her.
They accused her of hiring online trolls to smear "The Monkey King 3"!
She was completely bewildered—this Spring Festival film season had nothing to do with her. The poor reviews of "The Monkey King 3" led to its screenings being cut by theaters. What did that have to do with her?
Okay, when the screenings of "The Monkey King 3" were repeatedly cut and it could only compete with "Boonie Bears", and its box office was destined to be hopeless, only Zhao Liying's fans insisted that it was a good film, that it was "persecuted by capital", and that it was "smeared by the rival's paid online army". They even attacked normal movie fans who criticized the film, calling them "the rival's paid online army" and "sent by Yang Mi"!
For someone like Zhao Liying, who follows the path of traffic marketing and idol stardom, it is, to a large extent, much more difficult than being a low-key, talented actress.

Because she is already a top-tier female celebrity in China, attracting widespread attention and criticism, the industry's expectations of her are so high that they cannot tolerate even a single misstep.

If any of her new works fails at the box office or in terms of viewership, it will directly lead to huge doubts about her popularity and traffic, and her competitors will never miss the opportunity to kick her when she is down—as the saying goes, "If you want to wear the crown, you must first bear its weight."

But this time... Yang Mi really wasn't targeting her!

Looking aggrieved, she pulled Shishi over, told her about it, and then asked, "Why did you say I sent them? Why didn't you say you sent them out?"

Shi Shi thought for a moment, then said, "Maybe... you're more famous!"

"...Am I more popular?"

"Yes, you're a leading figure among those born in the 85s!" "Who said that?"

"Many people say that..." Shi Shi thought for a moment and said, "Brother Yan says so too!"

"He also said that I am the leader?"

"Yes…"

Yang Mi was quite happy and turned to ask Shen Li, "Did your brother tell you any of this?"

Shen Li shook her head: "No, he usually doesn't talk about actors in front of me..."

"Did he have any favorite celebrities before?"

Shen Li glanced at Liu Shishi and then said, "When we were kids, we usually watched martial arts movies, and we didn't have any particular favorites... But I heard him say that he really liked the fourth daughter-in-law of the Yang family in 'Young Warriors of the Yang Clan'... which is the role played by Sister Shishi!"

Liu Shishi looked surprised: "Really?"

"of course it's true!"

……

Of course it is fake!
In "Young Warriors of the Yang Clan," the only female character Shen Yan remembers is Chen Xiuwen, who played She Taijun, because she once co-starred with the handsome actor Jiao Enjun as Mu Guiying in "Mu Guiying Breaks the Heavenly Gate Formation"...

Then she played She Taijun!

"Mu Guiying Breaks the Heavenly Gate Formation" was the first TV series about the Yang family generals that Shen Yan watched!

Although Liu Shishi also appeared in "Young Warriors of the Yang Clan," she didn't stand out much in that drama...

In fact, before his debut, Shen Yan's goddess was the same as most boys born in the late 80s and early 90s—Liu Yifei!

Zhao Ling'er!

Oh, Zhao Liying's biggest rival... is Yang Mi, of course!
Both of them rose to fame through costume idol dramas specially provided by Hunan TV, leading to a complete conflict in terms of film and television resources and commercial endorsements.

Yang Mi's strengths include her ability to attract viewers, her large fan base, and her online popularity.

A direct confrontation with Zhao Liying!

To be honest, Yang Mi was a little anxious at first, after all, Zhao Liying, with Huang Bin's help, was getting all sorts of resources—the movie "The Monkey King 3" and the TV series "The Story of Ming Lan" produced by Daylight Entertainment, which are top-notch film and television resources for actresses today.

In particular, "The Monkey King 3" has a larger production and marketing budget (reportedly 550 million yuan) than its predecessors "The Monkey King" (680 million yuan at the box office, runner-up in the 2014 Spring Festival box office) and "The Monkey King 2" (760 million yuan at the box office, third place in the 2016 Spring Festival box office). It aims for at least 15 billion yuan at the box office and is targeting 2 billion yuan.

If the role of "Queen of the Women's Kingdom" can achieve the same success and positive reputation as "Niu Aihua" in "Duckweed," then Zhao Liying will have achieved a leapfrog development... and her future prospects will be even brighter.

Overtaking on a curve is a bit difficult—Yang Mi has collaborated with Xinghuo Studio on many films, which have achieved high box office results!
But it's still possible to keep pace...

Her current agent, Huang Bin, was known for his extremely unsavory behavior when he was managing Xiaoming, using countless press releases to discredit partners and competitors!
Working with Zhao Liying now is a perfect match...

That's really using the post-85 generation for marketing!

(End of this chapter)