This director is vindictive.

Chapter 480: 10 Billion Reached! Not a Movie, But Social Currency! Haven't Seen It? You're Already Socially Dead!

What happened in Xu Bin's family is just a microcosm.

This is actually not a marketing strategy for "Ne Zha".

After all, no matter how awesome someone is, they can't be awesome to this extent.

This is entirely because the film has become a major hit and has created a social impact.

When this effect began to sweep across the country, it was often just that unreasonable.

With "Ne Zha" achieving phenomenal box office success and becoming a social phenomenon, it's only natural that school teachers would start recommending that children watch the movie.

Because this is in line with the times and is a basic need.

They might even test it on exams; this is no joke.

Especially now that "Ne Zha" has become the highest-grossing domestic film and is even about to reach an exaggerated figure of 10 billion, this kind of movie, regardless of whether it is good or not, at least the data is there and it has already created a siphon effect.

When anything becomes a leader in an industry, it naturally transcends being just a movie; it becomes a cultural symbol.

Although teachers are not required by their superiors or mandated by the school, they still keep up with the trends.

Meanwhile, as Xu Bin's son said, almost everyone around him went to see it, and the children talked about Nezha and played with Nezha toys.

They'll think that watching this movie is a very "trendy" and "cool" thing to do, and you haven't seen it yet?
Therefore, they will naturally be excluded from the small circle.

For parents, it's just a movie; spending a hundred or so yuan to take their child to see it is an easy task.

Anyway, I usually take the kids to see other movies.

What difference does it make what we look at? It's not worth making the child sad over a hundred yuan.

This phenomenon naturally makes some people unhappy.

They started criticizing it as a form of bundled marketing, but in reality, everyone knows the truth.

Neither Shengshi Pictures nor Enlight Media have this capability. This is no longer a marketing issue, but a natural occurrence!
It's worth noting that even some mainstream films from that era, despite having official endorsement, could hardly achieve such a situation.

Moreover, it's just a few film companies.

Over the weekend, Xu Bin couldn't resist his son's crying and fussing, so he took him to the cinema to see "Ne Zha".
Xiaoyu was very happy because he had been looking forward to it for a long time.

After today, he can finally play happily with his friends again and have common topics to talk about.

Upon entering the cinema, Xu Bin noticed that the theater was almost entirely filled with adults and children, and the occupancy rate was remarkably high.

Xu Bin sat in the last row of the movie theater, arms crossed, brows furrowed.

My son, Xiaoyu, seemed to enjoy watching it, laughing out loud every now and then.

On the screen, Nezha was engaged in a fierce battle with the old peach, the special effects were explosive, and the entire audience held their breath. Only he occasionally sneered and scribbled in his notebook: "Logical flaws", "Empty lines", "Vulgar dialogue", "Another shouting performance".
Suddenly, he felt his sleeve being tugged.

Turning my head, I saw my son, Xiaoyu, spring up halfway from his seat, his little hands clenched so tightly they turned white, his eyes wide open, his pupils reflecting the flames of Nezha soaring into the sky on the screen.

The child's mouth was agape, and he even forgot to chew his popcorn—he looked just like the first time he saw a real lion at the zoo.

In the final scene, Lady Yin was holding Nezha, her body pierced and bleeding profusely, and all the children in the audience couldn't help but sob.

Xu Bin wrote in his notebook: "Forced emotional manipulation."

But suddenly he heard his son sobbing beside him. He turned his head and saw that the little guy's eyes were also red and tears were streaming down his face.

He looked at the big screen, then at the notes he had written, and then at his son who was crying his heart out.

For a moment, I felt inexplicably irritable for no apparent reason.

As the crowds dispersed, Xiaoyu remained unusually quiet. Only after they crossed the mall's glass skybridge, where the setting sun cast long shadows of father and son, did the child suddenly stop: "Dad, Nezha is a little hero!"

The toe of his shoe scraped against the crack in the paving stones: "Li Xiaopang said... he said after you watched the movie you called Nezha a bastard."

Xu Bin's Adam's apple bobbed. The long critique he had prepared stuck in his throat—his professional analysis of "confused values," "excessive marketing, excessive sentimentality, and exploitation of emotions" suddenly seemed pale in the face of his son's clear gaze.

He could only vaguely push up his glasses and say, "You're too young, you don't understand. Artistic evaluation is very complicated."

Late at night, Xu Bin, as if possessed, sneaked into the children's room.

Under the moonlight, the Nezha figurine that he once scorned was still held in his son's hand, the plastic Hun Tian Ling shimmering faintly.

After watching the movie, he noticed his son staring at the figurine, clearly wanting it but holding back from asking. In the end, he couldn't resist buying it for him when his son kept turning his head to look at it.

His son absolutely loved it. He even slept with it in his arms. He gently took it from his son's hand and carried it into the study. In the warm light of the desk lamp, the figure's stubbornly raised chin reminded him of Xiaoyu's questioning expression.

As he ran his fingertip across the curve of Nezha's lips, he suddenly realized that the indomitable spirit in the eyes of this cartoon character, whom he had been scolding for nearly half a month, inexplicably overlapped with the way his son grinned even after falling off his bicycle and getting bruised knees.

For a moment, he was somewhat taken aback, and also somewhat sighed.

The computer screen was still lit, and the title of the unsent negative review in the document was glaring: "On how Nezha 2 ruined the aesthetics of a generation."

Xu Bin's finger hovered over the delete key for a long time before he finally just gently turned off the desk lamp.

In the darkness, the energy ring on the sole of the figure's foot emitted a faint blue light, much like the unquenchable flame in Xiaoyu's eyes in the dark of the movie theater.

Time passed day by day amidst the nationwide frenzy surrounding Nezha's release.

News of how much the box office of "Ne Zha" has increased and reached new heights continues to be updated.

It wasn't until February 12th, when "Ne Zha" had reached an astonishing 98 billion yuan at the box office, just shy of the 2 billion yuan mark, that things really took off.

The entire internet is in an uproar again!
#ChenMo's 10 Billion Yuan Prediction Comes True#
#Prophet Chen Mo#
#Chen Mo predicts the deification of gods!#
Such terms and phrases surged to the top of trending searches, and social media went into complete frenzy.

At 3 a.m., the hashtag #10BillionCountdown was seeing tens of thousands of new discussions every minute. Some netizens shared screenshots of midnight screenings at cinemas across the country: during what should have been a quiet time slot, the theaters were packed.

The camera panned across the audience, who held up their phone flashlights and chanted in unison, "Ninety-eight! Ninety-nine! One hundred!"—as if welcoming the New Year's bells.

Online, countless netizens left comments and shared photos of their tickets.

The hashtag #1 billion bet on 10 billion box office revenue# is now completely boiling over, with its real-time refresh rate comparable to firecrackers on New Year's Eve:

"From criticizing it on opening day to breaking records, I brought the whole family to buy tickets today! Mr. Chen was right—'True fragrance' may be late, but it will never be absent!" (The accompanying image shows a nine-square grid of ticket stubs arranged to form the flame pattern of Nezha)

"Hey bro @Wolf of Wall Street, are you there? I just booked a Wanda VIP room and have 'Ne Zha' playing on repeat. Keyboard ready, here's the live stream link!" (Comment section: Screenshot taken, don't let it slip away.jpg)

"I just caught the film critic @MovieJudge, who was the most vocal critic back then, in the children's theater! Although he was wearing sunglasses and a mask, his bald head gave him away!" (The bald man in the candid photo is secretly wiping away tears.)

"I made a bet back then that it wouldn't surpass 'The Battle at Lake Changjin' at the box office, and now I'm voluntarily conceding! I've booked the IMAX theater at XX Cinema tomorrow at 3 PM, and I'll randomly select 100 people from the comments section to watch 'Ne Zha 2' for free. The only requirement: after watching, you must shout 'Chen Mo, the Prophet!' (Attached: Enlight Media's stock return: +217%)"

"This isn't admitting defeat; it's clearly a Versailles-style display of wealth!"

"At the time: 'Billions in box office? Unless all primary and secondary schools in the country write a movie review!'"

Now: In classes where teachers haven't assigned homework, parents spontaneously organize movie-watching team-building activities in their group chats...

Chen Mo's strategy, operating at the "atmosphere level," involves using profits from the stock market to fund box office revenue, and then using that revenue to fuel his stock price, creating a closed loop.

On February 13, when the box office counter for "Ne Zha" jumped over 99.99 billion yuan and finally stopped at 10 billion yuan, cinemas across the country erupted in thunderous cheers.

The hashtag #10BillionDollarAchieved# is trending on social media!

Chen Mo can be considered to have achieved god-like status once again.

The opening news report of "Goodbye Mr. Loser" from back then has also been dug up by netizens.

"Good heavens, Chen Mo's prediction is absolutely outrageous!"

"Wow, it really is 10 billion! I'm blown away!"

"This happened several years ago? Chen Mo predicted it back then, and the worst part is, it actually came true!"

At the same time, all the peers fell silent, and even the haters shut their mouths.

Because regardless of whether the movie is good or bad, regardless of how reasonable the previous criticisms were, and regardless of any marketing or promotion involved.

With that exaggerated data standing there, from this moment on, "Ne Zha" has truly achieved legendary status.

Perhaps in the future, some people will still say that this movie doesn't deserve such box office success, but so what?
The facts speak for themselves! The fact is, this movie is already a phenomenon.

When a movie has even become a form of social currency, then the movie itself is no longer so important.

When it broke through 10 billion, many people finally understood why Chen Mo said that 10 billion was just the starting point, because once the number of 10 billion was reached...

Later, it truly ceased to be just a movie; it became a cultural symbol, a unique banner.

You didn't watch it? You haven't seen it? You actually haven't seen it?
This is a real social phenomenon!

Meanwhile, many primary and secondary school teachers across the country have started assigning homework, asking children to write reflections after watching the show.

This is certainly not mandatory, but because when it breaks through the 10 billion mark, it is actually the same as those current news events and those major social events!

Pay attention! This is important for the exam!
(End of this chapter)