Huayu 97: The Beginning of a Marriage Fraudulently

Just as everyone at Huayi Brothers was overjoyed about the company's IPO and the overnight fortune they would make,

The release date for "The Forbidden Kingdom" has finally been set.

Taking advantage of Huayi Brothers' IPO, Wang Zhonglei used every trick in the book to promote "The Forbidden Kingdom".

All our promotional materials are benchmarked against "Dunhuang Code"—we can only surpass it, we can't do without it!
In no time, promotional posters for "The Forbidden Kingdom" appeared in every major city across the country, wherever advertising could be found.

Even old ladies in the countryside know that a violent movie called "The Forbidden Kingdom" is about to be released, since eggs are given away along with the "The Forbidden Kingdom" poster.

The phenomenal box office success of "Dunhuang Code: Light of the Silk Road" has raised expectations among major cinema chains for big-budget productions.

Therefore, "The Forbidden Kingdom" achieved a screening share of over 50% with virtually no competitors.

The wolf is coming!
This is the sentiment of many filmmakers in mainland China.

While they were still begging and pleading for investments of hundreds of thousands or millions.

Enlight Media is already producing movies worth hundreds of millions of US dollars.

Now, Huayi Brothers' $7000 million blockbuster is about to be released.

Having just lost screen time to "Dunhuang Code: The Light of the Silk Road", it is now facing further pressure from "The Forbidden Kingdom".

Those who can only survive in the cracks voice their discontent online.

"All the screenings have been given to big-budget productions, and our small-budget films have become cannon fodder!"

However, it was quickly overwhelmed by Huayi Brothers' massive publicity campaign.

Although Enlight Media's film promotion was also extensive, it was much milder compared to "The Forbidden Kingdom".

However, the strategies of "The Forbidden Kingdom" and "Dunhuang Code: Light of the Silk Road" are the same.

That means it will be released in North America first!
The release date was uneventful, with little competition in the market.

This is also the strategy of Huayi Brothers and Lionsgate.

We can't go head-to-head with those real Hollywood blockbusters.

The Forbidden Kingdom is not Dunhuang Code.

Lionsgate may not be one of the Big Six Hollywood studios, but its distribution capabilities are still quite good.

Through their efforts, "The Forbidden Kingdom" capitalized on the tail end of the kung fu craze, successfully securing screenings in over 3100 cinemas.

The logic of "The Forbidden Kingdom"... is a complete mess in the eyes of Chinese people!

But those foreigners don't understand these things!
They can enjoy watching anything made within the framework of Hollywood industrial films!
Therefore, The Forbidden Kingdom's opening day box office reached $800 million.

Although it can't compare to "Dunhuang Code: Silk Road Light", it still managed to become the box office champion during the off-season in North America.

As a result, Huayi Brothers stepped up its promotional efforts!
The Forbidden Kingdom!
North American box office champion!

The box office champion with 800 million is also a champion.

Therefore, in Huayi Brothers' promotional materials, "The Forbidden Kingdom" is touted as the new flag of Chinese kung fu!
Thanks to Huayi Brothers' extravagant promotional efforts, "The Forbidden Kingdom" was finally released in China.

The box office in China reached 1600 million yuan on its opening day!

However, after the premiere, criticisms of "The Forbidden Kingdom" from media professionals and netizens on the internet snowballed.

CNN film critic: Utterly stupid, the dialogue is ridiculous, and the action scenes are superficial.

Wenhui Daily: The hodgepodge of traditional myths is a compromise product of Sino-US co-production commercial films.

The netizens' complaints were varied and diverse.

"Okay, I admit that every frame of The King of Kung Fu is full of laughs."

"I suppose Heaven also has its own CET-4 and CET-6 exams, after all, the Jade Emperor apologized in English."

"Li Binbin's biggest stain on her life is that she caught Jet Li's urine!"

"After all, there's a fight between the two Js, so let's watch the movie with a filter on."

……

A first-day box office of 1600 million should have been a very happy thing.

However, when relevant media outlets and netizens began to criticize "The Forbidden Kingdom," Wang Zhonglei became anxious.

"Brother, what should we do? The wind direction outside is very unfavorable for us!" Wang Zhonglei said, gritting his teeth in frustration.

Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents.

But now it's countless netizens who are cutting off his source of income!

Wang Zhongjun was also somewhat at a loss.

Wang Zhonglei accompanied the entire filming of "The Forbidden Kingdom".

Wang Zhonglei's report also indicated that there were no problems.

However, after hearing the netizens' analysis, Wang Zhongjun was furious.

But getting angry now won't change anything.

"I don't care what methods you use to steer the tide or divert attention, 'The Forbidden Kingdom' cannot have any mistakes!"

Wang Zhonglei also shuddered.

"Okay, bro, I'll get right on it!"

As a result, large-scale online trolls in China all received orders from Huayi Brothers.

There's only one request: praise "The Forbidden Kingdom" to the skies!
Nobody turns down money.

A massive online troll campaign has begun to defend "The Forbidden Kingdom"!
Soon, the criticisms of "The Forbidden Kingdom" were overwhelmed and scattered.

"The Forbidden Kingdom" has become a once-in-a-century kung fu king!

At the same time, rumors about Li Binbin and Fan Binbin began to circulate wildly online.

That's why ordinary viewers love watching celebrity gossip!

Thanks to Wang Zhonglei's shrewd tactics, the box office of "The Forbidden Kingdom" rebounded after a slight dip!

Encouraged by this, Wang Zhonglei intensified his efforts!

They widely publicized the rumors related to Li Binbin and Fan Binbin.

Shuangbin was also indebted to those who accepted his help.

After all, they also received equity incentives from Huayi Brothers.

So even though I was annoyed, I still had to say thank you when I saw Wang Zhonglei.

However, as more and more movie fans were "fooled," the lid finally couldn't be kept shut!
The harder you press, the bigger the rebound!

The Douban rating for "The Forbidden Kingdom" also plummeted at lightning speed!
Even the media outlets that had received bribes from Wang Zhonglei couldn't sit still in the face of the immense buzz.

They all started to enter the fray.

The Forbidden Kingdom instantly went from being adored by millions to being universally condemned.

Chen Siyuan's office at Enlight Media.

Wang Changtian was smiling as he drank with Chen Siyuan.

"Old Chen, you still have a sharp eye. 'The Forbidden Kingdom' is doomed!"

Chen Siyuan also shook his head. Although Wang Zhonglei's unconventional approach had fooled some viewers, the truth would eventually come out.

"The impact on North America is not significant, and there hasn't been much pressure during this period, so we should be able to recoup some costs. However, the domestic box office has collapsed, and losses are inevitable. Now it's just a matter of how much we'll lose."

"They're blindly following the trend! Their actions have caused the audience's confidence in big-budget productions to drop again."

Enlight Media's "Dunhuang Code" gave audiences a boost of confidence, enhancing their faith in large-scale, high-investment productions.

But you can't stop other people from feeding you shit!

It can only be said that the era of Chinese blockbusters has a long way to go!
"Now we'll see if Wu Kebo's 'Red Cliff' can salvage some of his reputation."

Chen Siyuan chuckled.

That's a huge lump, okay?

(End of this chapter)