Huayu: Traffic is king

Chapter 175 The film's lead actor surpasses one billion
Gu Jingyi, wearing Bluetooth earphones, replied with a smile into the phone.

He himself wasn't very keen on throwing birthday parties, and since entering the entertainment industry, he didn't have many friends who were close to Gu Jingyi.

If Gu Jingyi really wanted to organize a gathering, the most he could invite would be the "Three Sons of Yuehua," Wang Jiaer, Yang Zi, and Shen Yue, given the limited number of people he knew.

With so few people, we can't even fill a table.

Wang Jiaer knows quite a few people, including Justin and Yang Zi, these "social terrorists," so if they go and recruit more people, they can easily fill a queue.

But Gu Jingyi didn't know the people they had called; they were either "unfamiliar faces" or "acquaintances with whom they only had nodding acquaintances."

"A friend of a friend" isn't even his friend; they were complete strangers before. How could they possibly become close just because they're lining up for a birthday party?

Given Gu Jingyi's current popularity, countless people will be eager to curry favor with him. The thought of everyone trying to piggyback on his fame is just too much trouble.

Forget it, it's better for some people not to meet each other.

"So what? Given our relationship, if Jingyi really throws a birthday party, I'll fly back to attend even if I have to take leave. Besides, filming is almost over. I guess if I rest a little longer, we'll be meeting up with the 'Go Go Squid!' crew again."

Yang Zi said nonchalantly, showing a clear understanding of the situation.

Asking for leave from the film crew is just a matter of saying a few words to the director, at most the director will be unhappy. But approved leave will not be hesitated at all.

Celebrities' schedules are public information; it's impossible for Gu Jingyi not to know that she was filming.

It's worth paying a small price to gain favor with Gu Jingyi.

Despite her current success, "Ashes of Love" hasn't even aired yet. Although the entire industry is optimistic about its success thanks to the popular actor Gu Jingyi, things aren't entirely settled yet. While Yang Zi is also looking forward to the final product, she's been in the industry for quite some time, having started as a child star.

I've also witnessed some highly anticipated dramas that ultimately "started strong but ended weakly."

Therefore, Yang Zi, who has not yet transformed from a "female lead" to a "popular actress," does not actually have the same popularity as in later generations.

When Gu Jingyi heard that she was willing to take leave for him, his tone softened.

"It's alright. We'll meet during the promotional events for 'Ashes of Love' and the filming of 'Go Go Squid!' It's already very kind of you to remember my birthday, Sister Zi."

"Alright, I won't say anything more. Gu Jingyi, the gift has been delivered to your company building. 'Kuai Ge' is a great book, keep it up, Jingyi."

Yang Zi ended the call with a smile.

However, the phrase "Kuai Ge" that she mentioned in the latter part of her speech made Gu Jingyi somewhat suspicious.

It feels like someone's targeting him. Did Yang Zi also book the whole place?

Gu Jingyi opened Weibo directly and entered the super topic using his alternate account.

[@Gu Jingyi's Donuts]: #Gu Jingyi Super Topic#, #Kuai Ge#, #Take My Brother Away#
As of now, the box office for the leading male role movie starring Gu Jingyi has reached 8.27 million yuan. Xiaotian has compiled a list of those who have posted on Weibo to support Gu Jingyi:

(Cai Xukun, Justin, Zhu Zhengting, Fan Chengcheng and other members of Milk Bubble Forest, Yang Mi, Luo Yunxi, Yang Zi, Zhu Xudan, Dilraba, He Jiong, Xie Na, etc.)

The following venues were booked out for Gu Jingyi:

Dilraba Dilmurat, He Jiong, Yang Zi, Li Yitong, Cheng Xiao, Wu Xuanyi, Wang Jiaer.

It's clear that this is in stark contrast to listing a long list of people who have given their support.

Those who actually supported Gu Jingyi can be counted on two hands. I'm not saying this to start a fight, but just to give an example so everyone knows. Anyone can offer support with words, but the real test is when it comes to spending real money.

I know many people became fans for the first time because of Jingbao, and some even watched "Idol Producer" after researching Jingbao's background. Some even believed the brainwashing narrative that Gu Jingyi had a good relationship with some of his teammates, and some even shipped him with "sugar" (referring to a romantic relationship)! They went from being solo fans to shipping (couple) fans, and some even started to have biases!

Don't forget, it all started with Gu Jingyi.

I don't want to say anything more. Gu Jingyi has been the "biggest blood bag" ever since she participated in that lousy show. Some "BL fans" are trying to use Gu Jingyi's name to "support" the other teammates under the guise of "shipping" (a term for romantic pairings between male and female fans). If anyone still remains unmoved after seeing this and thinks Gu Jingyi should "heal" her teammates and others, then you are insulting the fan, not Gu Jingyi's fans. Don't use Gu Jingyi's name to promote your teammates. [If anyone else acts like this, I'll curse them out.]
"..." Gu Jingyi was speechless after reading it.

This nickname is clearly Tian Xiwei.

It's strange, I suddenly have energy again.

Your dedication has taken over, and you're lying in bed yawning countless times as you write this "submission," right?
If I had known, he wouldn't have been so gentle with her this morning.

The thought arose, and a flame of desire flickered in Gu Jingyi's eyes.

"Jingyi, are you looking at the super topic?"

Lin Ze turned his head, and the super topic page was clearly visible.

He didn't think much of it, assuming that the posts about Gu Jingyi's birthday fan meeting yesterday were flooding the super topic.

"Autograph session girls" and fans who have attended "offline" events often like to write reports after seeing their idols in order to brag.

Most reports are illogical, filled with all sorts of messy punctuation and sentence order.

But the whole piece is filled with the joy of meeting your idol and the excitement of that moment.

Many fans love doing this, so of course I have to record it. After all, not just anyone can attend Gu Jingyi's fan meeting.

Gu Jingyi felt a little embarrassed by Lin Ze's sudden remark. If it were another fan's post, he would have just skimmed through it and skipped it.

Who can blame me when that person is Xiaotian? I was initially curious, but then I got distracted after reading it.

That's how Lin Ze misunderstood.

Gu Jingyi was a little embarrassed, but his tone was very normal.

"Indeed, everyone is sharing yesterday's birthday fan meeting, discussing how generous the gifts were given to fans and how handsome I looked yesterday. Several fansite admins also uploaded 4K 60fps videos of yesterday's performances, and the response was quite good."

Having been an artist before makes a difference; Gu Jingyi's casual remark didn't arouse any suspicion from Lin Ze.

Lin Ze chuckled, assuming Gu Jingyi had just seen the stage. He added with a smile, "That's natural, since it's your first time organizing a birthday fan meeting. The treatment and stage were so good, and the fan benefits were plentiful. The more the fans who went rave about it, the more envious the fans who didn't go become. To be honest, because your birthday fan meeting only had one session with 500 people, Huace was even criticized by fans, and even the company's official website had comments from your fans."

"This is normal, which is why I said from the beginning that holding a birthday fan meeting for 500 people was just asking for trouble. The venue is too small, and the fans can't even turn around properly. Using a lottery system only makes this move by the company even more disliked."

Gu Jingyi was not surprised by the fans' reaction at all. Huace had insisted on not selling tickets. Instead, they used a lottery system as a perk for the fans, which is why the number of tickets had decreased from 10,000 to a mere 500.

It's not like they're really only drawing 500 tickets; Huace will have to distribute some to the "fans" and Gu Jingyi's fan site administrators.

There were only a little over 400 tickets available for the lottery.

These votes are nothing compared to Gu Jingyi's "super likes".

As a current top-tier celebrity, Gu Jingyi has quite a few fans who can reach this level of popularity on Weibo.

Just like in a game, if the odds of winning are too low, players will only complain.

As expected, Gu Jingyi and Lin Ze had just gotten to this point.

The supertopic only pushed those reports and fancams to him. The fans' reports were too subjective, and Gu Jingyi was too embarrassed to even look at them.

However, Gu Jingyi actually played the stage video on silent mode for a while after seeing it.

Fortunately, they were all ballads, and there weren't any dance tracks.

Otherwise, it would be quite awkward for Gu Jingyi to view his own stage from this outsider's perspective.

Fans love dance music with a touch of sex, so hip thrusts are a must.

The thought of myself appearing in a video dressed in Dior haute couture, giving a wicked smile and thrusting my hips forward...

Gu Jingyi's face immediately turned bright red; he couldn't bear to lose face like that.

"So it's better to reassure the fans. I'll go to the company for a short live stream this afternoon. Just open the gifts from the fans and read the letters. Jingyi, you are a perfect idol. I don't need to say more; I believe you can do a great job."

Lin Ze understood Gu Jingyi quite well, and he quickly calmed Gu Jingyi down.

Back at Huace, the company listened to a phone call from Lin Ze on the way.

When Gu Jingyi arrived at the company, all the venues had been set up very well.

Balloons were pasted on the wall, and the gifts were neatly arranged. The letters, needless to say, had already been sorted out and placed on the other side.

As soon as Gu Jingyi started her live stream, viewers flocked to her.

Undoubtedly, "Kuai Ge" was repeatedly mentioned by fans in the barrage comments.

I don't know if they were paid trolls hired by the production team or Gu Jingyi's fans.

That's why fans are so concerned about the movie's real-time box office performance and trying to predict when Gu Jingyi, the lead actor, will break the 1 billion mark.

After the live stream ended, Gu Jingyi glanced at several apps, including Douban.

The growth of "Kuai Ge" and its real-time box office are both very good, and it seems that it is only a matter of time before it reaches 1 billion.

As for reputation, Gu Jingyi glanced at the document.

Even now, the Empress could never possibly like him.

Gu Jingyi sighed, picked up his tablet, and probably went to Douban to open the movie's review section.

Can I give this plot ten stars?!

[The male lead didn't seem like such a bad guy, but the movie was still good.]

[After watching this movie, I was particularly moved by the male lead. He was loyal, compassionate, and protective of his sister. Shi Miao is truly lucky to have such a brother.]

【…】

I was initially obsessed with Gu Jingyi's looks, but as the plot unfolded, my emotions became less controllable.

Although everyone in the production team knew that the five-star reviews on Douban were somewhat inflated, since Gu Jingyi's fans and casual viewers who liked him were the main audience for the movie.

Even knowing that these comments were biased and not entirely objective due to the actors' bias, the level of discussion still made Gu Jingyi feel involuntarily happy.

If the box office continues to grow at this rate, and as long as nothing unexpected happens, there is still a good chance that the total box office will reach the 1 billion mark.

Breaking the box office of a TV series or movie starring a male lead exceeding one billion
In 2018, Gu Jingyi truly achieved a meteoric rise in four fields: music, film, television, and fashion, all within the same year…

By mid-October, on its 22nd day of release, "Fast Brother" finally broke the 10 billion yuan mark at the box office.

However, at this point, there were only a few days left before "Brother Kuai" was taken off the screens.

On this day, Gu Jingyi had just finished his schedule.

Lin Ze told him very seriously, "Jingyi, we've secured the Givenchy global brand ambassadorship."

How much was the endorsement fee this time?

Gu Jingyi asked directly about this, as the endorsement fees for top-tier cosmetic brands are what he cares about most right now.

From an industry perspective, endorsement fees directly reflect a celebrity's current status and commercial value.

For example, the endorsement fee for Chris from the original timeline is lower than that of a four-character actor who has successfully transitioned to a different career without any works.

Aside from Chris's own qualifications, it's also related to his ability to make a living.

Luck is also a part of ability; Gu Jingyi has a knack for choosing scripts.

With his works to back him up, Gu Jingyi's endorsement fee is naturally the highest in the industry.

He is good-looking, has a good figure, and is very tall; these physical attributes alone make him superior to the Crown Prince.

He is also the male celebrity with the most high-end luxury brand endorsements in the industry. The "three-luxury male celebrity" will soon become the "five-luxury male celebrity" with the huge success of "Kuai Ge".

Givenchy just wants to sign Gu Jingyi as soon as possible, lest his endorsement fee increase significantly next year.

In addition, there are only so many top-tier luxury brands, and only so many brands that are suitable for celebrity endorsements.

Gu Jingyi is currently the most expensive, with his fee quoted at 1200-1500 million yuan per year.

Even so, his shop was always packed with customers because he never bid low for endorsements, so luxury brands gave Gu Jingyi a lot of face.

"1500 million a year is almost the highest price in our current price range."

"When will the official announcement be made? When will we shoot the official announcement ad? When will we attend the offline brand launch event? When will we support our fans?"

Gu Jingyi pressed for more information, as this was what he was most concerned about.

"We'll have to wait for Givenchy's endorsement contract details. But normally, they'll announce it in November and start those activities then. After all, Singles' Day is coming soon. Congratulations, Jingyi, in November you'll become the first male celebrity in China to have both blue and red bloodlines—a 'five-luxury male artist'."

"Our Clarins brand ambassador will be announced in October."

"Okay, I understand. I'll leave the coordination to you, Brother Ze."

Gu Jingyi spoke with a smile.

Next, Gu Jingyi enjoyed a three-day holiday.

"Brother Kuai" broke the record for domestic youth films by grossing 10.52 billion yuan on its 24th day of release.

Gu Jingyi also became the youngest "billion-yuan box office man".

(End of this chapter)