Who said this top flow is crazy! This top flow is awesome!

Chapter 217: A heated exchange of insults between the film's producers and audience members elevates "The Boss" to a level it doesn't deserve.
"How...how could you say that! It has so little resin, so little resin!"

Jinming had never been insulted like this before. He was so angry that he trembled with rage and shouted, his face red and neck bulging, "Do you have any manners at all?"

"Teach me a thing or two! Are you a representative of the investors? What kind of brain-dead garbage are you investing in? Even an AI could write a better script than this. Are you mentally challenged?"

"Open the door, open the door!"

"Let us out!"

The moviegoers erupted in a collective outburst, and Jinming wanted to say something more, but Director Yang, who had already realized what was happening, pulled them back. After a two-second silence, Director Yang suddenly shouted, his face flushed, "Stop! Stop!"

Everyone was stunned.

When Director Yang saw that it was effective, he could no longer suppress the anger he had been holding in—the audience's reaction and the various "uncivilized and disrespectful" behaviors during the screening made him feel deeply "insulted".

In other words, he's a bit broken now.

We've worked so hard to make this epic film, and these trashy viewers still don't know how to appreciate it?
They want a refund?
He pointed at the hot-tempered man and shouted, "Do you guys understand art? Do you understand the art of film?!"

Everyone was stunned once again.

The creators of "Shanghai Fortress" and a few friends from the Beijing entertainment circle realized what was happening and tugged at Director Yang's sleeve: "Don't make a fuss, the media is still here!"

"I'm asking you, do you even understand art?!"

Director Yang at this moment resembled a creator whose defenses had been completely broken by criticism. Seeing his "child" being disliked in every way, he was already a bit emotionally overwhelmed.

"Don't stop me... China has never made a sci-fi film before, so don't we have to learn step by step? Your attitude is disheartening for us filmmakers..."

"Heartbreaking, my ass!"

The hot-tempered guy realized what was happening and charged over: "You're feeding us shit and we can't even resist? Fuck you, come here, come here..."

"...What are you doing! What are you doing!"

Director Yang was startled, but after calming down, he quickly took a few steps back.

"Fuck you! If you've got the guts to poop, you should have the guts to eat it! Come on, give me your opinion on this lump, tell me how you made it. You've been holding it in for three years and this is all you've produced? And you call this art?!"

Director Yang's face trembled: "Idiot!"

"Huh? The director is swearing in public, huh? Come on, everyone, record this! Quick, record this! This is the director of 'The Fortress of Shanghai'..."

The scene had descended into complete chaos.

The many big names who came to participate in "The Fortress of Shanghai" today were all dumbfounded by what they saw, looking at each other in disbelief—the director and the audience were passionately arguing offline?!

What did they see? !

Although similar incidents have happened before, Director Yang, you're different!

Who do you think you are? How could you... how could you be so insane!
in addition…

What should we do in this situation?
Let's go, it's not a good idea, but if we don't go... there are so many cameras and viewers... what will people outside say about us?
Damn it, I really shouldn't have come to this premiere.

The various big names who came to support us today are now filled with regret, and some have already shaken their heads and walked to a corner, afraid of getting involved.

"It's over, it's over, everything's over now."

Watching this scene, Lü Xiaoming kept shaking his head—this kind of thing happened at the premiere…and it was because of quality issues…“The Fortress of Shanghai” is probably going to be a huge disaster for everyone.

Suddenly, he remembered the premiere of "The Boss" five days earlier.

At that time, the audience was still enjoying the show, and it ended with zero negative reviews. He was thinking that "The Boss" might just be unlucky, as it was released five days later by "The Fortress of Shanghai".

Now that I see it... is that really the case?
Inside the office, the cinema manager, phone in hand, nodded: "Yes, yes... I think there was indeed a significant error in judgment... Yes, I suggest we give the screening slots for 'The Fortress of Shanghai' to 'The Boss'..."

"Are you sure? What if the box office results for 'The Fortress of Shanghai' in the following days are exactly as predicted? Then we'll..."

"Boss, trust me, you wouldn't know unless you were there... There's almost a fight going on! 'The Fortress of Shanghai' is really no good... I feel like we don't even need to work until the next day, we can see the results today."

The manager paused, then exclaimed sincerely, "In all my years in this industry, this is the first time I've seen a movie explode like this right after its premiere... It's outrageous!"

On the other end of the phone, the boss was silent for two seconds before hesitantly nodding: "Okay, then let's do it your way."

……

The cinemas that premiered the film in the capital have decided to give up the original screenings of "The Fortress of Shanghai" and "return" them to "The Boss," which had just had some screenings cut.

But this is just a small matter. Currently, with the end of the first preview screening of "The Fortress of Shanghai", the official "exposure" of the full film, and the passionate exchange between director Yang and movie fans at the premiere, the popularity of "The Fortress of Shanghai" has completely exploded.

There's no need to wait until the next day.

That's right, it took a whole day and night for "The Boss" to gain positive word-of-mouth before it gradually improved.

But as the saying goes, it's hard to get better, but it only takes a moment to go bad.

"The Fortress of Shanghai" doesn't need a good reputation because it doesn't even have one!
That very evening, just after Director Yang finished his verbal sparring session with the audience, the topic of the premiere of "The Fortress of Shanghai" had already flooded Weibo's trending topics, Douban, and other streaming media platforms like Douyin.

#The Fortress of Shanghai is a terrible movie#
#YuYan's bangs defend against aliens#
#YuYan's acting is terrible#
#ScienceFictionMovies#
#Director of the film "The Fortress of Shanghai" angrily criticizes audiences for not understanding art#
#Demanding refund at premiere#
#……#
Related trending topics skyrocketed almost instantly because "The Fortress of Shanghai" had generated so much buzz and hype beforehand, with years of anticipation—something that most movies couldn't match.

As a result, casual viewers and movie fans gave the best treatment to "The Fortress of Shanghai". For this reason, they even angrily criticized "The Boss" and Ikeno for trying to piggyback on its popularity before the release of "The Boss". They were repeating their old habit of trying to ride on the coattails of others.

So, at today's premiere, we were presented with this?

Do you think you deserve our support?

Does this do justice to Chinese science fiction films?

Do you think you've done right by the strangers who spoke up for you?
The producers of "The Fortress of Shanghai" have let down the audience and casual viewers, and the audience and casual viewers have also let down "The Boss" and Ikeno.

An apology can be delayed, but the backlash must be dealt with immediately!

The number one trending topic on Weibo, #TheBadMovieShanghaiFortress#, had already reached over 3000 million views by midnight. The huge red "hot" title speaks for itself. Even casual viewers who hadn't seen the movie and were still observing knew what was going on just by looking at this trending topic.

The comments below were all greetings and vomiting.

"history!!"

"The first time I watched a movie in a theater, I felt like I was sitting on pins and needles. Those who managed to finish it are the ones who give a thumbs up."

"The first epic, stinky thesis defense of 2026! Congratulations to the viewers who were there on time tonight to enjoy this epic spectacle! Let's congratulate them!"

"The difference between Yu Yan's and Chi Ye's acting skills is roughly equivalent to the difference between 'The Fortress of Shanghai' and 'Go Go Squid!'"

"That idiot director even lashed out at the audience. I fucking regret it. How could I have had any expectations for this bunch of trash?"

"..."

This is the grumpy guy after eating on time.

There are also viewers who have eaten history, but are relatively mild-mannered and prefer to use a praising tone when commenting on "The Fortress of Shanghai".

"Fun fact: The ultimate goal of aliens attacking Earth is to destroy the shared bicycles in Lujiazui, Shanghai." "Even a mothership can be hacked by a Huawei phone; we suggest aliens install 360 antivirus before their next invasion of Earth."

"Alien invasion? No problem, we'll launch a copy of 'The Fortress of Shanghai' and the aliens will be disgusted to death on the spot."

"The most 'sci-fi' blockbuster I've ever seen."

"Haha, the residents of the post-apocalyptic dungeon are still drinking beer and eating hot pot. I have to say, the production team really understands Mr. Hu's refined tastes."

These are viewers who have actually watched "The Fortress of Shanghai"!

The plot is told in a very convincing way, and everyone is so eloquent that they wish they could all transform into "See You, Chi Ye" and have a satisfying and unrestrained performance.

Of course, besides the issues with the film itself, the creators, actors, and director of "The Fortress of Shanghai" also received "friendly greetings" from movie fans that were hard to imagine.

The controversy even spread to the "international internet" because the title of "China's first industrialized sci-fi blockbuster" was indeed too impressive. While the West was fine, there were also many viewers in Southeast Asia who were looking forward to "The Magic Fortress".

result…

That's it?

"Tell me, what's going on?"

Early morning in Shanghai.

The publicity manager I met with last time is also up all night. He originally planned to use the "Magic City Fortress" IP and its "phenomenal popularity" to promote Magic City.

He had even calculated the end date of Ikeno's contract, but...

The level of popularity is indeed "phenomenal".

But it wasn't quite what he had imagined.

Ok…

It's very different.

So he called Jinming: "What am I supposed to do? You're really messing with me!"

There seems to be a heated argument going on over there today and tomorrow, making the environment a bit noisy.

After a long pause, the other end of the line quieted down, and Jinming said in a wooden voice, "Stop talking, don't call me."

"what happened to you?"

The person in charge frowned, sensing that Jinming's tone was a bit off.

"They lost...lost...lost half the company..."

Jinming, completely devastated, exclaimed, "I fucking bought more than half of this company, and it lost me all the money as soon as it was released! Damn it!"

The person in charge was shocked: "Why are you swearing?!"

Jinming: "...I'm already showing good manners, buddy, by being able to refrain from 'killing' him."

The person in charge: "...Sigh, this is really the end. I'm going to have to eat potstickers too...I'm fine with eating potstickers, but...we gave you so many resources and opportunities, helped you build so many scenes, opened so many green channels, and you...sigh!!"

He didn't finish his sentence, but Jin Ming knew what he meant.

—Now, the higher-ups are probably dumbfounded too.

China's first sci-fi blockbuster suffered a catastrophic collapse in reputation after just one preview screening.

Yes, it was an avalanche. In just over two hours, "The Magic City Fortress" achieved a series of records and accomplishments, including shattering China's decade-long dream of making science fiction films, cultural deployment, bankrupting at least two film and television companies, causing the lead actors to collectively "collapse" (become famous), and more.

It can be described as the most spectacular production to flop in the Chinese entertainment industry in the past decade.

And who says a phenomenal bankruptcy isn't phenomenal?!
This is no less successful than "My Love from the Star"!
That night, the Beijing entertainment circle was filled with accusations and infighting, but they didn't argue too fiercely... because they still held onto some illusions... who says bad reviews mean bad box office?
"The Wrath of the Gods" also received poor reviews, but it still grossed a solid 45 billion yuan at the box office!
They no longer care about reputation, they only care about breaking even at the box office. As long as they can break even, everything will be fine.

Unfortunately, the main creators of "The Fortress of Shanghai" still haven't realized the seriousness of this incident. With their quality, even if they didn't have any major competitors in the same time slot, the audience wouldn't be fooled into spending another penny.

The wind rose, the sun shone brightly, and all things took shape.

The following day, "Big Boss," whose box office growth had plateaued after the Dragon Boat Festival holiday and was unlikely to break 2 million yuan in a single day, took off in a "takeoff" that no one had ever dared to imagine, thanks to the suicidal boost from "The Fortress of Shanghai."

Countless deceived passersby turned around and saw "The Boss," and then began "revenge" consumption.

Moreover, some viewers also had something to say: "After watching 'The Fortress of Shanghai,' I was suddenly moved by the dedication to making movies in 'The Boss,' and I didn't want Chinese films to end, so I watched it a second time."

"After watching Fortress, I realized how amazing Chi Ye's acting is. Zhao Tai is absolutely incredible. He even scolded Chi Ye before, and he feels guilty if he doesn't make amends."

"I'm such an idiot. I actually thought Chi Ye was inferior to Yu Yan... Are these two even in the same league? Putting aside acting skills and professional abilities, are they even in the same league in terms of popularity?"

"Indeed, Yu Yan isn't even worthy of carrying Chi Ye's shoes. I couldn't see it before, I just thought the fan wars were annoying and I didn't support any popular idols. But after this comparison, I understand why Chi Ye is called a 'high-quality idol.' In terms of singing, acting, looks, and popularity, how does he not crush Yu Yan?"

"I've been seeing Zhao Tai all over my social media feed these past few days. After watching Fortress, I was already a bit PTSD about movies with a lot of hype. Today, I bought a ticket for 'The Boss' with a skeptical attitude... Now that I've seen it, all I can say is, Chi Ye is really amazing!"

"..."

Thus, amidst this public opinion, on its sixth day of release, "The Boss" achieved a record-breaking 270 million yuan in daily box office revenue, surpassing the previous record for Chinese crime films by nearly 200 million yuan, truly making history.

Then came the seventh day, the eighth day…

In just eight days, "Big Boss" successfully grossed over 15 billion yuan, and by the tenth day of its release, it had already surpassed 20 billion yuan, becoming the biggest dark horse of this summer's box office.

With an investment of 150 million yuan and 50 million yuan spent on marketing and distribution, a total investment of 100 million yuan raked in 2 billion yuan at the box office in just ten days…

Such a stunning achievement, which can be described as shattering the reputation of the Chinese entertainment industry, is already evident to everyone.

—I was stunned.

Everyone was confused.

20 billion in ten days... Dude, the highest predicted amount was 25 billion... and you reached it in just over ten days?
Why?

To be fair, while "The Boss" is of good quality, its subject matter is limited. Even if it were to become a hit, it could never have achieved the terrifying momentum it has now.

Previously, the predictions of major authoritative institutions were reasonable. If "The Boss" could break 20 billion yuan in box office before its final screening, it would be an achievement so dazzling that it would be hard to look directly at it.

But now...

—The emergence of "Fortress" has elevated "Big Boss" to a level that it doesn't belong to!

The same thought arose in everyone's mind, and then... everyone's eyes fell on Chino and the Jingquan faction.

Mainly from the Beijing circle.

The feeling of personally sending your opponent to "ascend to godhood"... I wonder what they think now.

(End of this chapter)