This director is vindictive.

Chapter 338 Questioning? No, this is the fuse for the revelry.

The Spring Festival film season is approaching.

The entire market has been affected over the past three years, and the film market can be described as experiencing a severe winter.

At the end of 2022, it was officially declared that the three-year-long special period had come to an end!
This led to a surge in box office revenue during this year's Spring Festival season.

After all, people have been holding back for so long, so there's bound to be a desire for revenge spending.

As expected, "The Wandering Earth 2" and "Man Jiang Hong" unsurprisingly ignited the film market during this year's Spring Festival.

The success of these two films led many to discover that Chen Mo was once again an unavoidable theme.

Because he succeeded once again, and with an astonishing precision.

Shengshi Pictures' stock price soared once again. There was no way around it, even though these two films were the hottest and most anticipated films of the Spring Festival season.

However, unfortunately, both films were invested in by Shengshi Pictures.

It can be said that Chen Mo's reputation as the god of investment in the film and television industry has been resounded once again!

Meanwhile, Chen Mo's endorsement of these two films suggests that the "Master of Yin and Yang" persona may indeed be in jeopardy this time.

The dust had barely settled from the Spring Festival film season when major film companies were already tallying their results. When Enlight Media announced that "Man Jiang Hong" had grossed over 48 billion yuan, the industry was in an uproar—this was not only Zhang Yimou's highest-grossing film as a director, but it also propelled this historical film into the top ten of Chinese film history.

However, "The Wandering Earth 2" unexpectedly failed to surpass its predecessor. This sci-fi sequel grossed 43 billion yuan, second only to "Man Jiang Hong".

The two films together contributed 67% of the box office during the Spring Festival, and were dubbed "Chen Mo's Double Blast" by the media.

"Chen Mo actually didn't use any Yin-Yang techniques this time. Both of his movies were huge hits, which completely shattered his image as a Yin-Yang master!"

"Man Jiang Hong has indeed become the best historical film, and Chen Mo's work is still going strong!"

"It's a pity that The Wandering Earth 2 didn't surpass the first one!"

"Haha, the clever me already invested in Shengshi Pictures before the new year. You can always trust Chen Mo's investment acumen in the film industry! (Attached is a stock profit chart.JPG)"

Film critic Zhou Xiaobin wrote in his column: "While other films were fighting tooth and nail for screen time, Chen Mo used red carpet performance art to promote 'Man Jiang Hong' and used two film history records to maintain the buzz surrounding 'The Wandering Earth 2'."

The two films complement each other wonderfully, rather than squeezing each other out as the industry had anticipated.

As everyone saw, when the top two were locked in a fierce battle, the rest were simply knocked into oblivion!

Chen Mo himself was quite pleased when he saw the box office results of the two films.

The reason is simple: the box office revenue of these two films in their previous lives was several hundred million less than that in this life!

This means that my influence and my support for these two movies did have some effect!
Of course, this kind of enjoyment is something that others cannot experience.

At this moment, Chen Mo was lying by the pool at his Sanya villa, while seven women and children were building sandcastles on the beach. Yang Mi rushed over with a tablet computer in hand: "Sir, Wang Changtian said he wants to set up a longevity tablet for you!"

"Huh?" Chen Mo's sunglasses, which he had just taken off, slipped down to the tip of his nose again.

"Look!" Yang Mi handed the tablet to Chen Mo.

Good heavens, Enlight Media's stock price has hit the daily limit for three consecutive days!

Enlight Media did indeed issue an announcement declaring that "Man Jiang Hong" was a huge success, and that its overseas rights had been sold to 28 countries and regions! The announcement concluded with a special thank you to Mr. Chen Mo for his discerning eye.

In fact, the huge success of "Man Jiang Hong" had little to do with Chen Mo.

However, at this point, everyone felt that Chen Mo had at least influenced the box office of several hundred million yuan, which was expected to be a huge success for the film.

So it's no wonder Yang Mi joked that Lao Wang should set up a longevity tablet for Chen Mo!
In fact, this is consistent with the fact that although Zhang Yimou was very famous in the past, his commercial box office performance was not very good.

Therefore, with this sudden surge in box office revenue, praising Chen Mo is clearly more effective than praising Zhang Yimou.

Not only that, after hanging up the phone, Chen Mo noticed that the women were all suppressing their laughter.

Jing Tian suddenly held up her phone: "Honey, you're in The Economist again."

The title was boldly proclaimed: "The Godfather of Chinese Entertainment: How to Leverage a Billion-Dollar Market with Foam Slabs."

Fan Binbin, swirling his champagne, added insult to injury: "Netizens say you're the Yang Chaoyue of the film and television industry—winning without lifting a finger."

Chen Mo smiled and nodded, saying, "The netizens really have good taste. I just won without lifting a finger. Besides investing, all I did was help promote it, but they've given all the credit to me."

Suddenly, screams erupted from the beach. Little Dou Dou and six "little pirates" had built a large sandcastle. Zhang Yuqi, that tigress, even aided and abetted them, attaching a wooden sign to the sand sculpture from who-knows-where. The sign read: "Chen Mo Testifies - Real Man Sand Sculpture."

The Spring Festival film season is over.

The release date for "Sunny Sisters" is approaching.

In fact, March can be considered an absolutely unpopular period for movie releases.

Generally speaking, during this period, there are very few big-budget productions or movies with high box office expectations being released.

After all, it's not a holiday, and the Spring Festival film season has just ended.

But with fame comes controversy, and Chen Mo was too successful and too outstanding.

It can be said that Shengshi Pictures has become a huge mountain weighing down on other companies in the domestic film and television industry.

As the key figure, Chen Mo is naturally of paramount importance.

Chen Mo has too many accolades, the most prominent of which are his reputation as "never making a mistake" and "the god of film and television investment".

This time, it can be said, is the best opportunity for those who criticize Chen.

Chen Mo has made very few mistakes, but even if he did, the blame for "Candle in the Tomb: Yunnan Insect Valley" couldn't really be placed on him.

But this time it was completely different.

The movie "Sunny Sisters" was not only invested in by Shengshi Pictures and directed by Chen Mo, but the key point is that even the lead actors were Chen Mo's "family members"!
Meanwhile, this film has already been analyzed by many industry insiders.

It's fair to say that the casting itself was a major problem.

Despite what many people say about Chen Mo doing reverse publicity, you should know that Chen Mo has never been this "cowardly" before.

The fact that the film was released in March, a period in which there has almost never been a truly blockbuster film in the history of Chinese cinema, makes it easy to interpret as a lack of confidence!
Therefore, this time, it can be said that Chen Mo is most likely to fail!
Film promotion is certainly important, and no one can deny that Chen Mo is virtually unmatched in film promotion and distribution in China.

However, the quality and content of the film itself are equally important.

And clearly, "Sunny" doesn't look like a blockbuster movie at all!

As March approached, a week before the release of "Sunny Sisters," a large number of questions suddenly arose online.

Film critic and film observer with three million followers was the first to fire the scathing attack.

The film observer, a self-media account, has always had a fair and objective style of film reviews, which has earned it a considerable number of followers.

This isn't the first time this account has attacked a movie, but no one expected that this time its guns would be aimed directly at the most talked-about movie right now, "Sunny Sisters"!
"Even Chen Mo's halo can't save 'Sunny Sisters'! Disagree? Let's debate!"

"A detailed list of the seven deadly sins of 'Sunny'!"

"The first deadly sin: Remakes are the original sin!"

For other directors, it seems that remaking classic works is a sure way to avoid failure, and even a remake with a different skin can still yield impressive box office results.

But for Chen Mo, the number one figure in Chinese cinema, remakes are inherently sinful!
Because the audience had such high expectations for his movie!

Second sin: Unpopular release dates

The March 8th Women's Day film season lacked box office explosiveness, and the market was sluggish after the Spring Festival. Historical data shows that the highest box office for this period was only 170 million yuan (for films that started showing in March, not those currently playing in theaters!), making it difficult to support high expectations. The third problem: Lack of confidence.

Who is Chen Mo? He's the highest-grossing actor in Chinese cinema. It's safe to say that from the past to the present, other films have always avoided his films; this is the first time he's actively avoided other films!
Although direct competition was avoided, missing out on the traffic boom during the Spring Festival can be seen as a sign of "lack of confidence"!

The fourth deadly sin: casting issues!

As is widely known, the original "Sunny" is hailed as a classic of "sisterly nostalgia" films.

Because this is a rare nostalgic youth film with sisterhood as its theme.

The biggest selling point of this type of film is that it evokes emotional resonance in female viewers!
Chen Mo's version of "Sunny Sisters" brings together a cast of the most top-tier new and middle-aged female stars in the Chinese entertainment industry.

Which girl, during her school days, is surrounded by classmates who are all stunningly beautiful and have the highest level of attractiveness?
How can this possibly evoke emotional resonance in people?
The film's adult cast is entirely played by Chen Mo's "harem," which can be described as a typical case of "resource waste," lacking novelty and easily leading to audience fatigue.

According to netizens, they shouldn't be called "Sunny Sisters," but rather "Fashionable Rich Girls' Group," which would be more fitting!

The fifth deadly sin: ambiguous categorization

Chen Mo considers his idol film to "provide emotional value to the audience," but female ensemble films need to balance sentiment and depth, and a frivolous positioning will not win word-of-mouth.

With the original "Sunny" set as a benchmark, any poor localization could easily lead to comparisons, especially since the youth nostalgia theme is prone to clichés.

The sixth deadly sin: Over-entertainment in propaganda
Since filming began, "Sunny Sisters" has repeatedly topped the trending topics list, which has undoubtedly increased audience expectations.

While marketing tactics such as the "red carpet uprising" at the premiere sparked discussion, they overshadowed the film itself and were criticized for "more hype than substance."

Chen Mo's "Yin-Yang Master" image led to over-interpretation of film reviews, with audiences focusing more on "whether Chen Mo has flopped" than on the quality of the film.

The seventh deadly sin: Lack of sincerity

Chen Mo's initial intention in making this film was simply to bring together the entire harem to act in one movie.

In a sense, this was not made for the audience at all, but was just an internal joke!

As a female-centric drama, it clearly lacks emotional resonance compared to other female-centric dramas such as "Love Myth" and "Hi, Mom".

It lacks sincerity, and even Chen Mo himself has "no confidence" in the film. At best, such a film is no more than the "Chinese Wedding Series," which is lively but lacks persuasive content!

In conclusion, even if a film gets some fans to buy tickets in the early stages, it's destined to go nowhere!
The potential failure of "Sunny Sisters" is not due to a single factor, but rather a combination of risks arising from its release date, casting, genre, and promotion. Although Chen Mo attempted to break through with marketing, the film's inherent flaws and the limitations of its release window made it difficult to overcome, potentially resulting in a rare "Waterloo" for the film.

Yang Mi suddenly reached out and closed the page, slamming the freshly squeezed orange juice down on the coffee table: "What do these people know? We're filming about sentimentality, it's—"

"It's a terrible money-grabbing film."

Chen Mo suddenly smiled and replied, casually swiping open the Weibo trending topics list.

Under the hashtag #SunnySevenDeadlySins#, netizens' mockery is overwhelming:

"I suggest renaming it 'Sunny Rich Women's Circle,' since besides Chen Mo's family, who else can stand it?"

"Released in March? Chen Mo has finally learned how to find graveyards for bad movies!"

"科普: The highest box office during the International Women's Day period in the past five years was 1.7 million yuan. We're waiting for the Chen Mo myth to be shattered!"

The sound of the waves suddenly became noisy. Jing Tian gently sat down, holding her sleeping daughter: "Actually, we never intended to make money from this, did we?"

Chen Mo smiled and nodded, saying, "No problem! I didn't have high expectations for this movie anyway!"

In fact, although he said that, he was not very optimistic about the film's box office performance.

But to be honest, as a director, it's impossible for Chen Mo not to feel uncomfortable when his own film is talked about like that.

But what can we do?
However, these haters, or rather, those behind the scenes who want to see Chen Mo "fail," underestimated Chen Mo's influence and the number of fans he has accumulated over the years.

They also underestimated the fighting power of Chen Mo's family group's fans!
Chen Mo himself hasn't played any roles for many years. His fans aren't as fervent as those of other celebrities, but that doesn't mean he has few fans.

On the contrary, many of Chen Mo's fans are actually the "silent majority"!
They mostly followed Chen Mo's movies quietly, and bought tickets to see them when they were released.

I rarely get involved in any arguments or disputes.

This led many people to not take it seriously.

But this time, a large wave of pessimistic opinions suddenly emerged, and even a fool could see that there was something fishy going on.

As mentioned earlier, many of Chen Mo's fans are middle-aged professors with strong purchasing power!
They fired the first shot in the "Battle to Protect Chen Mo".

Unlike other celebrity analysts who enjoy engaging in heated debates, their approach to support is simple, straightforward, and even blunt.

Soon, on Weibo, a longtime fan of Professor Beast spontaneously launched the #SunnySistersYouthCheckIn# campaign!

This event quickly swept across the internet.

A netizen with the ID "Movie Veteran" posted a record of purchasing 100 movie tickets for a private screening, with the caption: "When I watched 'My Love from the Star' back then, I was still a trainee lecturer. Now I'm supervising graduate students, and I still want to support Chen Mo. Youth isn't about casting; it's about everyone having their younger self living inside them."

From "Meteor Shower" to "The Vanished Girl", Chen Mo's works have accompanied us for more than a decade. He has never disappointed us, and "Sunny Sisters" is no exception!
Attached is an old photo with my best friend.JPG!

Sisters, let's relive our youth!

Soon everyone witnessed the economic power and influence of Chen Mo's fans!
Several companies were among the first to respond to this initiative, with executives purchasing tickets in bulk as a Women's Day benefit!

"Girlfriend movie-watching groups" have sprung up all over the country!
"The Beijing Normal University Affiliated High School's best friend group has assembled!"

"The Shanghai professor's best friend group has assembled!"

"The Fujian-Central Girls' Group has assembled!"

In no time, hundreds of "girls' movie-watching groups" appeared across the country!
That's no exaggeration.

The key point is that this was not initiated by Chen Mo at all, but was a spontaneous organization by them!
These uncles and aunts are incredibly powerful!

Unlike young people who like to argue, they express themselves through their actions!
In no time, the "girls' movie-watching group" quickly became a trending topic and even a temporary phenomenon.

Many young netizens commented online: "I only just found out that my mom is actually a die-hard fan of Professor Beast! The key point is that she is also the leader of our local girls' movie-watching group!"
"Mom's always right! I suddenly realized that everything we're doing now is stuff they've already finished!"

"Wow, wow! My mom has been so busy lately. She hasn't worn makeup in years, but she's actually started wearing it now. She said she's going to a movie-watching event with her girlfriends and can't let them outdo her!"

Of course, Chen Mo's fans are not limited to middle-aged people; there are also a large number of young fans.

Unlike the older fans, the younger fans are more aggressive.

"An Yin-Yang Master? This time we're serious!"

Some of Chen Mo's young fans imitated his sarcastic remarks and mocked his haters in reverse: "The way some people are pessimistic is just like the 'experts' who said that 'Lost in Thailand' would not exceed 3 million at the box office back then (smile)."

Some fans even used data to refute their claims.

Fans compiled a list of Chen Mo's past films that were "unpopular but became huge hits" (such as "Love is Not Blind", "Goodbye Mr. Loser", and "Dying to Survive"), with the caption: "History always repeats itself. Waiting to be proven wrong."

Some fans even satirized the idea of ​​the Seven Deadly Sins!
"Laughable. The so-called seven deadly sins, each one seems to make sense at first glance, but they are all nonsense!"

You have seven deadly sins, and I have seven reasons why you absolutely must read this!
First, this is Chen Mo's movie, a must-see!
Secondly, this movie boasts a star-studded cast of top celebrities in the entertainment industry, making it a must-see!

Third, if the promotional materials are so entertaining, how could the movie be bad? A must-see!
Fourth, Chen Mo's giveaway of money was so generous that I won a prize in a lottery that it was worth enough to rent out an entire movie theater. It's just a movie ticket, so why shouldn't I support him?

Fifth, learn about Chen Yin Yang Mo. Not recommended to watch = must-see!

Sixth, aesthetic fatigue? There are so many beautiful female celebrities in it, with all kinds of styles and ages. You're bound to find one you like. Aesthetic fatigue? Are you kidding me? Chen Mo's filter is the most beautiful time machine! Don't you understand?
Seventh, just because of this sudden surge of negative public opinion, it's a must-watch! Don't they know we young people are all rebellious?

(End of this chapter)