This director is vindictive.

Chapter 264: The Chinese cultural trend is going crazy! Netizens: I'll pay for this cultural export!
February 14, 2021, is a Valentine's Day that many couples are destined to remember.

Although the documentary "Phoenix Blossoms" certainly cannot be compared with the tens or even hundreds of millions spent on promotion and distribution of some Spring Festival films, whether in terms of cost or publicity.

However, Valentine's Day is a special holiday, and it can be said that no documentary is more suitable for Valentine's Day than this one.

The reversal of public opinion surrounding Chen Mo's alleged double standards and accusations of being a "two-faced capitalist" has further fueled the documentary's popularity.

Of course, the most crucial point is that the quality of this documentary is truly phenomenal.

As the documentary "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" continues to gain traction, the combination of traditional wedding customs and modern aesthetics has become a hot topic, effectively igniting this Valentine's Day.

It has become one of the hottest topics on Valentine's Day.

Online, this is being discussed everywhere, especially by netizens who have seen it and are enthusiastically recommending the film to their social media circles.

On Weibo's trending topics, related topics have almost completely dominated the list.

Besides the top ten trending topics, there were also topics like #DetectiveChinatown3Disappointing#, #Hi Mom's Box Office Comeback#, and #ChenMoProphet#.

The rest are almost all related to the documentary "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness".

What's even more outrageous is that several other trending topics related to the entertainment industry are also related to Chen Mo in some way.

In other words, Chen Mo has topped the charts once again.

On Weibo's trending topics list, the hashtags #PhoenixAuspiciousWeddingDresses# and #CulturalConfidenceInDocumentaries# dominated the top three spots, accumulating over 10 billion views.

A renowned cultural scholar commented, "This wedding was not only a visual feast, but also awakened the younger generation to re-examine traditional rituals."

The film was equally popular offline. Cinemas in many cities urgently added special screenings, and tickets were even hard to come by. Data from a ticketing platform showed that its Valentine's Day box office share reached 37%, far exceeding that of other romance films released during the same period. Furthermore, wedding planning companies revealed that inquiries about "the same style of Chinese wedding" surged by 500%, and orders for intangible cultural heritage crafts such as hand-embroidered wedding dresses and traditional jewelry featured in the film doubled.

Netizens raved about the documentary, and the previous claims of it being a "harvesting of韭菜 (a metaphor for exploiting consumers)" were completely overturned at this moment.

"All I want to say is that this Valentine's Day, this movie is the one I feel was the most worthwhile money I spent!"

"No problem, every frame is meticulously crafted, every scene is beautiful, and most importantly, the details are so well done. Although it's a mockumentary, it's really captivating to watch."

"So Jay Chou is absolutely right, Chinese style is the coolest, and only our thousands of years of Chinese history could have created such a magnificent and ceremonial wedding ceremony!"

"All I want to say is that I hope there will be more movies like this released during Valentine's Day and similar holidays each year. It would be much more meaningful than watching a romance movie!"

However, any topic that becomes popular is bound to be accompanied by controversy.

Some netizens questioned the documentary for "overly glorifying the wedding of the wealthy," but this was quickly refuted: "What is truly touching is the sincerity in cultural inheritance—from the betrothal letter to the hair-tying ceremony, every detail can be found in classical texts."

Various folk custom experts also appeared, and various live broadcasts and short video clips analyzed the origins of various rituals in "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness".

This also further promotes the topic beyond its original scope.

On Valentine's Day evening, CCTV's "Cultural Viewpoint" program invited folklore experts to interpret the etiquette in the film, and the endorsement from official media shifted the discussion to a deeper level of cultural identity.

The comment section is filled with messages like "I want to get married instantly after watching this"—this trend started by the documentary has transcended the realm of entertainment and become a phenomenal cultural event.

In fact, Chen Mo did not expect CCTV's sudden naming and shaming.

However, he soon realized that it was actually a confirmation of what Lei Jun said: "If you stand at the right place at the right time, even a pig can fly."

He has simply benefited from the current surge in confidence in Chinese culture.

And the day after Valentine's Day, when the box office figures for Valentine's Day were released, they dazzled countless people.

The total box office revenue in China on Valentine's Day reached 14.4 billion yuan!
Despite its poor reviews, "Detective Chinatown 3" still topped the daily box office on the third day of the Lunar New Year, which is also Valentine's Day. However, compared to the previous film's record-breaking 7.37 million yuan daily box office, it dropped by 200 million yuan, taking in 5.37 million yuan that day.

In contrast to "Detective Chinatown 3," "Hi, Mom" ​​started to catch up with "Detective Chinatown 3" at the box office because the latter, which was released at the same time, had such a poor reputation. It earned 4.44 million yuan on its opening day.

However, what surprised everyone, or rather, what was most glaring, was the film ranked third.

"The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness!"
This documentary, which was not originally in the release plan and was almost added at the last minute, far exceeded everyone's expectations at the box office.

This includes Chen Mo himself. He never expected that this documentary, or rather, this "promotional film," would achieve box office numbers second only to "Hi, Mom."

2.42 billion!
This is the box office data that "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" generated on Valentine's Day.

This data directly broke all the records that documentaries could break, making it a unique phenomenon.

Interestingly, "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" has a rating of over 9 points on Douban! While it's somewhat inappropriate to compare a documentary's rating with that of a film, it does demonstrate that this documentary is indeed of high quality.

However, while "The Phoenix" may not have a significant impact on the top films of this Spring Festival season, such as "Detective Chinatown 3" and "Hi, Mom" ​​(according to the film's producers), it will have a considerable impact on later films such as "A Writer's Odyssey," "Boonie Bears: Wild Land," and "New Gods: Nezha Reborn."

Because of the increased screenings of "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness," it actually occupies more of the screenings of other films.

In particular, "A Writer's Odyssey" originally had a box office of at least 90 million yuan on that day, although it fell below 100 million yuan. However, due to the encroachment of screenings and popularity by "The Phoenix", the box office directly fell below 70 million yuan that day.

The following two films were also affected in the same way.

Although everyone knows that a documentary like "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" can't continue to be a box office hit like a movie, Valentine's Day is special.

Even so, this box office figure still caused an uproar in the industry.

"Chen Mo sets a new record once again – a new box office record for documentaries!"

"The Phoenix's Auspiciousness" grossed 2.42 million yuan in a single day, becoming the first documentary in history to break 100 million and 200 million yuan!

"Official endorsement for 'The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness'!"

The media was immediately in an uproar.

There's no way around it, this is just too outrageous and bizarre.

However, "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" brings more than just these benefits.

The most fatal blow is official recognition; any film or television work that receives official approval will take off immediately.

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the official WeChat account of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism published a special article entitled "The Contemporary Vitality of Traditional Wedding Customs," affirming its value in "activating intangible cultural heritage through innovative expression" and announcing that the "Six Rites" process presented in the film would be included in the list of intangible cultural heritage for promotion.

Meanwhile, the official overseas social media accounts reposted clips from "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" with the caption: "The beauty of Chinese wedding ceremonies, a romance that transcends time and space," sparking heated discussions among international netizens, and the YouTube views exceeded 300 million in a single day.

In the comments section of a popular YouTube clip, an overseas viewer named Nick commented: "Oh my god! The Chinese wedding in this documentary is amazing! Every frame is like a classical painting, completely overturning my understanding of weddings."

A Twitter user retweeted the clip and commented: "The gorgeous wedding dress and the details of the ceremony remind me of classical European aristocratic weddings, but the subtlety and symbolism of the East are even more captivating."

After a wedding blogger on Instagram shared this clip, overseas netizens flooded the comments section with inquiries: "Where can I order a hand-embroidered wedding dress like the one in the video? I want to have one custom-made for my wedding!"

"Compared to the fast-paced Western weddings, this sense of ritual makes people rethink the meaning of marriage—it is not only a matter between two people, but also a continuation of family and history."

"The 'hair-tying ceremony' in the documentary brought tears to my eyes. It seems that our culture lacks this kind of ritual that symbolizes eternity."

"Even official accounts recommend it, which shows that this is not a performance, but a true cultural treasure. China's protection of tradition is admirable." Of course, there are also some doubts: "Is this a genuine tradition or a modern reconstruction? We hope for more historical background analysis."

Soon, Chinese students studying abroad refuted those doubts by using historical texts from the documentary.

Many Chinese netizens have also circumvented the Great Firewall to share their experiences.

Soon, more related clips were uploaded to overseas social media platforms by Chinese netizens.

This even sparked self-deprecating humor among Western netizens: "Why can China produce such cultural documentaries, while our TV stations only broadcast reality shows?"

Although Chinese people are much more confident now than in the past, especially in terms of cultural confidence, they still attach great importance to the opinions of "outsiders".

The export of "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" overseas has sparked heated discussions, and this wave of export of traditional Chinese wedding culture has made many netizens feel proud and honored.

Many people initially thought that the reason why "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" was able to gross more than 200 million yuan was mainly due to its special connection with Valentine's Day. Even the most optimistic people did not think that this "unexpected" documentary could continue to reap box office rewards.

But the result was completely unexpected; the film actually broke out of its niche and even went international.

As a result, although the number of screenings and box office revenue for "The Phoenix" did drop significantly on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the box office revenue still exceeded 100 million yuan.

Cumulative box office of 3.5 million!
Such data left many people dumbfounded.

Of course, the influence created by "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" spread very quickly.

Although it has only been two days since its release, and even if it is difficult to maintain this level of popularity and the box office is expected to plummet, it is still quite remarkable.

The most direct impact is on the film and television industry, with many production companies urgently launching projects on traditional cultural themes. ByteDance has even announced that it will invest 5 million yuan to create a "new Chinese style documentary universe" and will invite Chen Mo to serve as a cultural consultant.

Although it was just an idea, it has garnered praise from countless netizens.

Meanwhile, the offline impact was even more intense. The sales department of Huayun Apparel was inundated with calls, and the price of the "Ming Dynasty wedding" package replicated in the film by the wedding company soared to 20 yuan per event, yet it was still in short supply.

The ancient film city building area of ​​the film studio has become the preferred wedding venue for countless newlywed couples.

Meanwhile, inheritors of the Jiangnan embroidery intangible cultural heritage are openly recruiting apprentices: "Orders are booked for the next three years, and we need more young people to join us."

The education sector has also been affected, with several top domestic universities offering courses on "Visual Anthropology," using "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" as an interdisciplinary case study to analyze its "reconstruction of cultural memory through audiovisual language."

Despite the overwhelming praise from mainstream public opinion, there will always be people who nitpick, and this time is no exception.

When "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" became a phenomenal success and its influence exploded, some people still questioned: "Does the documentary's focus on 'aristocratic weddings' obscure the diversity of commoner wedding customs?"

Interestingly, this questioning quickly led to another topic.

One netizen commented below: "What do you mean by 'blocking out the diversity of ordinary people's wedding customs'? How many different kinds of weddings do you want from a documentary?"

"And this won't stump @ChenMo, after all, this is just the beginning, there's also @ZhaoLiying @YangMi @FanBinbin @ZhangYuqi @GaoYuanyuan!"

"Haha, right, I just remembered something. I hope Chen Mo can hurry up with the upcoming Qixi Festival, next year's Valentine's Day, and next year's Qixi Festival. Look, people are saying that you've blocked out the diversity of common people's wedding customs. Why don't you come up with a few more?"

"As expected of you, you're a marketing genius. If you call yourself second, no one in the film and television industry dares to call themselves first! It would have been amazing enough to use brand promotion to hold your own wedding, but I never expected that this would also make hundreds of millions in sales and even go international, bringing a wave of cultural export!"

"So the question is, how do we plan to hold the remaining five weddings?"

"I used to think Chen Mo was such a jerk, having six female confidantes, he was just one short of becoming a modern-day Wei Xiaobao. But now why do I suddenly feel like he's not quite there? *laughs emoji*"

"Just learn from BYD. Look at the Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties—there are exactly seven prosperous dynasties. Chen Mo, hurry up, and let the female celebrities in the entertainment industry take the initiative to make up seven and recreate the wedding customs of each dynasty, haha!"

However, with fame comes controversy. Although the previous claims of exploiting fans were refuted by many netizens, the high quality and historical accuracy of "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" prevented it from gaining widespread attention.

However, with the huge success of "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness," the documentary alone generated hundreds of millions in revenue.

This will naturally make others envious.

Therefore, the "leek" theory has resurfaced. While mainstream opinion may indeed hype up a work's influence, there will also be many other dissenting voices.

"Your revelry is nothing more than money for Chen Mo!"

"This is nothing but a pretense of cultural heritage preservation to exploit people!"

"Chen Mo is indeed very good at making money, but does 'The Phoenix' really deserve such box office success?"

Such skeptical comments inevitably arose.

For example, why did "Hi, Mom" ​​go from being highly praised and lauded at the beginning to a reversal in public opinion later on?

It's because the movie itself made many people feel that the actor was "unworthy of his position"!
They believe that this film is unworthy of the title of box office champion in every aspect.

Even if "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" is amazing, it is still just a mockumentary. Does a documentary deserve such a big production and high box office?

Chen Mo also knew that this money was a hot potato, and it was an unexpected windfall.

Therefore, soon after, Shengshi Pictures and Huayun Apparel jointly issued a new announcement with the cultural and tourism departments.

The box office revenue from "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" will be used to launch the "Chinese Wedding Ceremony" series project in conjunction with the cultural and tourism departments. This project will bring together intangible cultural heritage experts and film and television teams to create a series of documentaries with different styles, based on the wedding culture of different historical dynasties.

And all proceeds will be used to support the Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Fund!

After this news broke, all the doubts vanished instantly.

The main problem is that their doubts immediately became untenable. They said Chen Mo was exploiting people and putting the money into his own pocket.

But this time, they didn't ask for a single penny. Instead, they collaborated with the cultural and tourism departments to create a series of documentaries on "Chinese Wedding Ceremony," and these documentaries were made for public benefit, with all proceeds donated to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Fund.

How can you criticize it now?
Because of this, Chen Mo, who had previously been criticized for "double standards," once again appeared on the cover of Caijing Weekly, with the headline pointing directly to "The Cultural Capital Game in the Era of Traffic."

The article reveals that he made hundreds of millions of yuan in sales through the documentary "Feng Yi Cheng Xiang" during this year's Spring Festival, but at the same time, he donated the profits back to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Fund.

It can be said that he truly achieved both fame and fortune!

It further points out that although this wave ultimately resulted in "no money being taken," the long-term impact and benefits to Shengshi Pictures, Huayun Apparel, and Chen Mo himself are countless!
The key point is that this decision-making makes him almost blameless! It even sets a model for contemporary "cultural capitalists"!
Netizens joked: "I admire this 'open strategy' - they made money and maintained a virtuous image at the same time."

"No doubt about it. To be honest, those people's doubts are just out of envy. But Chen Mo's actions have rendered their envy useless. I'm not taking a single penny, so what can you say to me?"

"Chen Mo is awesome, but what I'm more curious about and interested in are the remaining wedding ceremonies!"

Hard work always pays off, and Chen Mo's move quickly yielded substantial rewards.

After this wave, Huayun Apparel has solidified its position as the number one brand of traditional Chinese style clothing, and has also begun to gain a foothold in the traditional Chinese style wedding clothing sector, becoming the most sought-after brand.

However, this was not the end. Soon, when the news that "Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness" was selected as an annual case study in optoelectronics became a trending topic, a highly praised comment summarized: "It is like a mirror, reflecting young people's thirst for tradition - we hate preaching, but we will always pay for the beauty of sincerity."

(End of this chapter)