This director is vindictive.

Chapter 465 Eel: Director says competitor is unsuitable. Dumpling: I didn't say anything?

The swamp eel is really going crazy!
In fact, "Fengshen Part 2" did accumulate some fans and moviegoers because of the first part.

But as the saying goes, the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

During the preview screenings, there were already quite a few criticisms of "Fengshen Part 2".

However, the criticisms and complaints from ordinary people, and even film critics, do not have much impact, since the movie has not been officially released yet.

Controlling public opinion is relatively easy, and you can use online trolls to counter it.

Although the second installment was indeed not as good as the first, he was still confident that it would achieve good results.

But Chen Mo is completely different! His influence is too exaggerated.

Moreover, you can control the comments of other ordinary people, but Chen Mo is simply unethical this time, going straight for the enemy and using his ultimate move. How the hell can you control that?
Moreover, to put it bluntly, if you want to use capital to deal with Chen Mo, that's truly foolish.

In the Chinese entertainment industry, Chen Mo and the Shengshi Pictures behind him are the real big capital, okay?

They're just playing within the rules. If they really break the rules, Chen Mo can crush them in a heartbeat.

So, this is just unsolvable!

Most importantly, Chen Mo's comments are incredibly sharp. In the past, even with bad movies, Chen Mo would at least save face and make some sarcastic remarks. Although there was some impact, it was mostly interpreted and ridiculed.

But this time, what the hell is Teletubbies? What the hell is the Smurfs vs. Voldemort? It's almost like they're pointing their fingers at Wuershan's face and yelling, "What kind of garbage are you filming?!"

The impact came very quickly.

#ChenMo's Commentary on Fengshen: The Smurfs vs. Voldemort# immediately went viral and became a trending topic.

Although it's incredibly popular, if we have to say that being infamous is still fame, then "The Second Part of Fengshen" is definitely infamous right now.

It's just a pity that the black and red color is something the eel really doesn't want right now!
Because the pre-sale channel for "Fengshen Part 2" opened after the premiere, the pre-sale box office was quite good, thanks to the fan base accumulated from the first film.

Although it's not as good as those top movies, it's still acceptable.

However, Chen Mo's direct and blunt comment completely crushed "The Investiture of the Gods Part 2".

The previous attempts to control the narrative have become meaningless, and many moviegoers who saw the preview screenings have begun to speak out.

The most direct impact was that the pre-sale of "Fengshen Part 2" was immediately met with a wave of ticket refunds!

Now, not only Wuer Shan, but the other companies are also trembling with fear, because this wave of influence is too explosive.

Although they knew beforehand that Chen Mo's influence was terrifying, especially over the years, Chen Mo's actions had given him a natural air of authority.

It could even be said that, at present, no one in the Chinese entertainment film industry is more authoritative on film than Chen Mo, at least in the realm of commercial films.

However, they still underestimated the impact of Chen Mo's direct attack.

Wuershan couldn't sit still any longer. Although he was well aware that "Investiture of the Gods Part 2" was indeed somewhat poorly made, he knew the reason for it all too well.

This is a matter concerning his core interests.

However, he certainly wouldn't dare to resort to underhanded tactics against Chen Mo. After all, only magic can defeat magic, but the problem is that Chen Mo is a true Grand Magister!

But he can't just do nothing!
Wuershan convened his core team overnight to discuss countermeasures; the meeting room was filled with smoke.

The publicity director slammed his fist on the table first: "Chen Mo is breaking the industry's unspoken rules! If a director publicly criticizes a competitor, who will dare to invest in movies in the future?"

Many people echoed this sentiment, believing that a counterattack must be launched from the perspective of "professional ethics."

There's really nothing we can do about it, because they can't compare to Chen Mo in terms of strength or influence!

The head of the screenwriting team had a flash of inspiration: "We can issue a statement emphasizing the harmfulness of 'directors criticizing each other'—today Chen Mo can criticize 'Fengshen,' tomorrow all bad movies can shift the blame to each other!"

He excitedly pulled up the data, "Look, everyone, the seven films released during last year's Spring Festival had an average Douban score of 5.2. If we really let them start attacking each other, the whole industry will be finished!"

The person in charge of public opinion monitoring smiled wryly: "Netizens are all on Chen Mo's side now. The third trending topic is #SuggestingChenMoBecomeTheDirectorOfTheFilmQualityInspectionBureau#, and the fifth is #TheFengshenFilmCreationTeamOrderedTeletubbiesCopyrightOvernight#."

He projected a meme from netizens: Wu Er Shan was photoshopped into a Smurf with a speech bubble above his head saying, "Director Chen, I was wrong. The third film will be remade as 'BabyBus'." In the end, Wu Er Shan made the final decision: "The press release will focus on two points: First, the director's evaluation should be objective and professional, not entertainment-oriented, implying that Chen Mo is just trying to attract attention for the sake of traffic; second, it calls for respect for the complexity of the film industry, implying that there are indeed difficulties with the 7 million yuan special effects fee."

He paused for a moment, then added, emphasizing, "Don't say Chen Mo's film reviews are untrue; emphasize that they are 'unprofessional and not objective'!"

Soon after, the production team of "Fengshen Part 2" released an official statement regarding Chen Mo's film review.

In response to the recent controversial comments online, and in keeping with our respect for the art of film, we offer the following statement:
Industry guidelines for mutual evaluation among directors!
Filmmaking is the culmination of collective wisdom, and directors should maintain a professional and objective attitude in their communication.

We urge the industry to avoid trivializing serious film and television criticism in order to maintain a healthy creative environment.

If subjective and emotional evaluations are allowed to spread unchecked, it could lead to a "bad money drives out good" situation—investors may avoid innovative themes in the future due to fear of public opinion risks.

The Complexities of Special Effects and Industrialization

The Fengshen series has always been committed to promoting the industrialization of Chinese-language films.

Of the 7 million budget, 60% was allocated to building a brand-new virtual shooting system and training a local visual effects team (link to the technical white paper attached). Some shots did not achieve the expected results due to technical adjustments, but as with all industrial explorations, short-term pain lays the foundation for long-term development. We welcome technical suggestions from professional film critics, but we reject the one-sided conclusion that complex processes are reduced to "web game effects."

A letter to the audience:

The film's art style is inherently controversial. The "magical realism" design of the Fengshen Cinematic Universe was intended to break away from traditional mythological narratives (for example, the cyberpunk transformation of Wen Zhong's mount is a metaphor for "divinity and technology"). We understand the audience's sense of disappointment, but we earnestly request that the Chinese-language special effects team be given time to grow. Starting today, we are launching a "direct feedback channel" for the audience; all criticisms will be incorporated into the optimization plan for the third installment.

Wuershan quickly forwarded the statement and added the following text:
"We accept criticism, but we refuse to be labeled. From 'Painted Skin 2' to 'Investiture of the Gods,' our team has always been challenging the ceiling of Chinese-language films. If 'Teletubbies' can awaken the industry's attention to special effects talent, I'll take the blame. PS: Wen Zhong's motorcycle in the third film has been converted to new energy. Welcome @ChenMo to come and check it out."

The other party's statement and Wuershan's repost response were indeed somewhat useful, but not very useful.

To put it bluntly, as a film director, everything depends on the work itself. If the work is good, netizens will naturally endorse it, and the audience will also take the initiative to explain and refute it.

But if the movie is poorly made, then I'm sorry, saying more will only make things worse.

Although it was quick, the other directors seemed to share a sense of sympathy and indignation, with directors like Chen Sicheng liking Wu Ershan's repost and adding the comment: "Directors in the same release period are already in direct competition, so in the past, few directors in the same release period would specifically comment on the works of their competitors, because it is difficult to remain objective!"

He wasn't wrong, but unfortunately, sometimes unspoken rules are just unspoken rules, and they're not legitimate rules at all.

It's just that everyone has been restrained in the past.

But this time, as mentioned earlier, it's completely different!

So what? You can criticize Chen Mo's "bragging," but others can't criticize your movie?
So netizens simply don't buy it.

"Haha! Where were you all this time? Besides, Chen Mo isn't the director of 'Ne Zha, the Demon Child Conquers the Dragon King,' so @Chen Sicheng, your punch missed a bit! Director Jiaozi says, I didn't say a word!"

"Speechless. Director Wu's statement, translated, basically says: We spent 7 million on scientific research, and making the movie was just a side project? I suggest applying for the National 863 Program, and the end credits should say 'This film is sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Special Effects Laboratory'! #WhereDidTheFengshenResearchFundsGo#"

"Formal statement! Our Baby Team refuses to engage in such image infringement! At least the Smurfs have hats, but Yin Jiao's look is clearly that of a Gloom-shroom from Plants vs. Zombies come to life! @乌儿鳝 Please pay the image infringement fee!"

Image caption: A still from the drama featuring Yin Jiao with the game interface of "Melancholy Mushroom + 50 Sunshine" photoshopped on it!
“乌导声明漏了重点：1.通天教主不是伏地魔，是伏地魔中国分魔 2.魔家四将的'天线'其实是5G信号接收器 3.7亿含3亿‘艺术想象力增值税’”！
What happened next was truly bizarre. While pre-sale ticket sales didn't improve much after the statement was released, data monitoring showed that searches for "Teletubbies" surged by 300%, and sales of Smurf hats on Taobao increased by 250%.
It's fair to say that it would have been better not to issue a statement at all. Aside from generating a few more memes for netizens to use, it served no purpose whatsoever.

The onlookers' attention quickly shifted, and for that, Wuer Shan really had to thank his colleague, Xu Laoguai.

Because the premiere of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero" is here.

As netizens say, this melon is guaranteed to be sweet!
In fact, the preview screenings of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero" also received poor reviews. However, due to the limited number of preview screenings and the official control of comments, almost all the leaked reviews were positive.

But anyone who sees it knows! Some things are very difficult to completely control, even with comment control.

"The Legend of the Condor Heroes" can be considered a classic in the world of martial arts, and many martial arts fans have their own set of standards for judging it.

To put it bluntly, this film has been criticized a lot since the promotional posters were released.

However, most of these complaints disappear almost immediately after they are posted.

Chen Mo was naturally not invited to the premiere of "The Great Hero of the Condor Heroes". After all, it was impossible for Tsui Hark to actually invite Chen Mo to the scene to perform his ultimate move in person!

However, with the excellent "Fengshen II" as a precedent, netizens are really looking forward to Chen Mo's film review!

(End of this chapter)