I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 278 The King Returns!
The internet was still buzzing late at night.

As calls for action arose from all directions, the pinned post on the [Zhou Yang's Home] forum was lit up by countless people, with replies refreshing at a rate of dozens per minute.

The posts were all filled with photos of movie tickets, and there were all sorts of supportive voices, it was quite crazy...

Meanwhile, countless supportive posts appeared on social media platforms such as [Movie House] and [QuickBlog].

Someone dug up a photo of a September movie ticket stub for "Black Robe Alliance" and a movie ticket for "Wu Hun 3" and uploaded it online. The edges of the ticket stub were wrinkled, but it was still carefully preserved...

Someone shared a montage video of "Martial Soul," featuring sword fight scenes accompanied by high-energy music, making it incredibly addictive...

In an internet cafe in a small third-tier city, high school student Wang Lei was staring at the pre-sale data when he suddenly sent a message in the class group with red eyes: "Brothers! Remember Zhou Yang's 'Saw'? When we pooled our money to rent a theater, we said we'd watch it as long as he made it! Now he needs us, I'm renting out a theater for you guys for 'Wu Hun 3'!"

Five minutes later, the class group chat was flooded with screenshots of "tickets purchased".

In an office building in Beijing, Zhang Ying, a white-collar worker who had been working overtime until late at night, rubbed her sore eyes and silently looked at the news online.

She was exhausted from working overtime for several days, but after seeing the news on the internet, she instantly perked up and immediately called her fiancé, film critic Liu Jiasheng!
"Old Liu, buy me a few tickets!"

"quick!"

"faster!"

"Already bought it? Great!"

After hanging up the phone, her fatigue vanished instantly, and then she looked at the comments on the internet.

From Tieba to forums, from QQ groups to [Kuaibo], at this moment, everything is suddenly filled with all kinds of support for "Wuhun 3"!

As Zhang Ying watched, she suddenly felt a little touched...

They may be complete strangers, or perhaps just a tiny fraction of the massive box office numbers, but at this moment—

Everyone was doing the same thing without anyone knowing: to let the person who had once brought them passion and emotion stand at the top once again!
..............................

Eleven o'clock at night.

The pre-sale data page for [Movie House] was still stuck in the loading state, but Liu Jinghua's phone kept vibrating.

Messages from the marketing department kept popping up—

Lin Guodong of [Shanghai F1 International Racing] booked prime-time screenings at ten cinemas, and the slogan "Martial Spirit Will Prevail" was flooding the employees' group chat!

The production line of [Bingbing Yang Cola] worked overnight to produce co-branded commemorative cans. Owner Luo Hongming grinned broadly during an interview, saying, "Kids should watch 'Heroes of China'!"
In the warehouse of [European Apparel], Xu Wei personally supervised the deliverymen as they shipped the "Martial Soul 3" themed T-shirts to franchise stores nationwide. He even publicly clasped his hands together in an interview, saying, "Meeting President Zhou back then was the most worthwhile investment of my life..."

……

Seeing the messages on my phone and the internet, publicly released...

Looking at these brands that have experienced almost unchecked growth from last year to this year...

Liu Jinghua's fingers trembled slightly as she held the phone!
Her expression grew increasingly shocked!

But then he took a deep breath.

A year ago, Lin Guodong's racetrack was deserted, Luo Hongming's cola was unsold and expired, and Xu Wei's garment factory had a backlog of moldy inventory.

Zhou Yang used the transformation device from "King of Beasts" to promote products and the racing scenes from "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Rings" to boost the popularity of Qinzhou Automobile, even attracting the president of Audi to personally visit and seek cooperation...

Flipping through the information on each brand...

Liu Jinghua silently closed her eyes!
Over the past year, Zhou Yang has not only been making movies, but has also deeply intertwined his interests with these brands, forming an astonishing industrial chain!

Zhou Yang doesn't even need to say a word; these people have already tied their lives and fortunes to the [Xuan Shi Entertainment] chariot.

Just at this time……

The assistant rushed in.

"Mr. Liu, all 12 cinema chains in the [Cinema Chain Alliance] have issued statements!"

"What statement?"

Liu Jinghua took the laptop from her assistant and paused slightly when she saw the joint statement on it.
[Joint Statement] Explanation regarding the adjustment of screening schedules for "Devilman" and "Wuhun 3".

Dear viewers and partners

In order to strictly comply with the market rules of the National Film Administration regarding the "Domestic Film Protection Month" and to fully respect the audience's right to choose when purchasing tickets, after consultation among the 12 members of our cinema alliance, the film schedule for November 3rd is hereby adjusted as follows:

[Strictly adhering to basic screening obligations for imported films, "Dekker Ultraman" will retain compliant screenings;]

[Given that the pre-sale box office for "Wu Hun 3" has broken historical theatrical records (real-time data screenshot attached), to meet audience demand, additional IMAX screenings during prime time will be added starting today.]

Due to the need for theater resource optimization, some screenings of "Dekker Ultraman" will be moved to non-peak hours. Please refer to the announcements of each theater for details.

We firmly believe that high-quality content is the cornerstone of a win-win situation for cinemas and audiences.

[XuanShi Cinema Alliance Management Committee, October 31, 2004]

……

Upon witnessing this scene, Liu Jinghua immediately closed her eyes.

The assistant looked flustered, as if he had received some news.

"We just received a call. Apart from the three major cinema chains and the 12 chains in the [Cinema Chain Alliance], the screening ratios for 'Wu Hun 3' and 'Dekker Ultraman' are roughly equal among the other 15 chains... We don't have any screening advantage. Moreover, I just received some news that the pre-sale tickets for 'Wu Hun 3' seem to be incredibly popular..."

Right after the assistant finished speaking...

The pre-sale ticket data on [Movie House] and various platforms has finally been updated!
Liu Jinghua subconsciously glanced at the pre-sale ticket data...

After the clock struck 8 p.m., the pre-sale box office curves for "Wu Hun 3" and "Dekker Ultraman" soared like two roaring dragons on the data chart...

Initially, thanks to its fan base built up over twenty years, Ultraman's pre-sale tickets far surpassed others, exceeding 10,000 in just ten minutes...

But soon, the curve of "Wuhun 3" suddenly surged at the fifteenth minute, fiercely catching up...

Below the data report, North China, South China, East China...

In cities across the country, pre-sale windows are seeing a surge of all sorts of orders...

9 o'clock, one hour later!
The pre-sale tickets for "Dekker Ultraman" have exceeded 30!

The pre-sale tickets for "Wuhun 3" have exceeded 27...

After 10 o'clock...

"Dektherman" surpasses 45 copies!

The number of pre-sale tickets for "Wuhun 3" has exceeded 43!

11 PM to midnight...

The pre-order speed for "Ultraman" has gradually slowed down, reaching 55 copies.
However, the pre-sale tickets for "Wuhun 3" are still rising at an astonishing rate, on par with "Dekker Ultraman", and even showing a slight trend of overtaking it...

..............................

4am!
In the conference room of the toy wholesale market, smoke and silence mingled.

Xu Chunyang stared at the pre-sale data on the computer screen...

Somewhat shocked...

Somewhat surprised!

But more than anything, I was excited!
They saw that the pre-sale tickets for "Wu Hun 3" had exceeded an astonishing 130 million, officially reaching the market's screening saturation!
However, the pre-sale ticket data for "Devilman" reached exactly 125 million, which was officially surpassed by "Wuhun 3"!
This is……

Xu Chunyang had never even dreamed of such a situation before!

He looked at the computer screen!
At this very moment, social media is still buzzing with activity on computer screens! But even more striking is the sudden influx of brands, all vying for attention and trying to capitalize on the trend…

"Tickets are sold out!"

"The box office for 'Wuhun 3' has sold out. We wanted to support it, but how can we support it now that it's sold out?"

"When will the tickets for the second day be available? We at [Smooth] Shampoo hope to represent our company in supporting Mr. Zhou's movie!"

"We at [A Liang Fast Food] also support this! On November 3rd, the premiere day of 'Wu Hun 3,' all [A Liang Fast Food] locations across the country will offer a 50% discount based on your premiere ticket!"

"And also, [Langchao Socks Industry], we were just having a meeting and didn't expect to be late! Everyone, to thank you for your support of Mr. Zhou Yang, [Langchao Socks Industry] is willing to provide fashionable socks for free at the entrances of major cinemas..."

"..."

Seeing all sorts of statements suddenly appearing from various brands...

Xu Chunyang was a little dazed!
and many more!

It seems that some brands haven't collaborated with Zhou Yang, right?

Why are they suddenly jumping on the bandwagon to ride the wave of popularity?

Just as Xu Chunyang was somewhat stunned, he heard a few coughs coming from the conference room.

then……

"This is fucking..." someone in the corner stammered out half a curse.

Under the blue light of the projector, the faces of more than a dozen distributors flickered between light and shadow.

Some people repeatedly refreshed the page to confirm the data, some grabbed the phone to question the theaters about whether they had miscalculated the screenings, and some even dug out an order form for Ultraman toys from three months ago and frantically calculated the penalty for breach of contract.

"The cost of breaching the contract is quite high. How do we choose between these two options?" Old Chen, the general agent in South China, sighed, his voice tinged with bitterness.

The meeting room fell silent again.

In the silence, someone clicked on the trending topic "[Kuaibo]" first.

Just then, I saw an interview video with Xu Wei, the owner of [European Apparel]...

In the video, Xu Wei grinned as he held up a "Wuhun" co-branded T-shirt: "Betting on Zhou Yang back then was the most profitable deal of my life!"

"Look at this!" someone suddenly brought up the real-time comments on [Movie House].

One of the most praised comments read: "I couldn't afford an official Ultraman movie when I was a kid, but now I can finally watch Chinese Heroes with my son!"

The accompanying images are a crumpled ticket stub for "Black Robe Alliance" and a brand-new ticket purchase record for "Wuhun 3".

After another brief silence.

"Forget it, I'm not following anymore, I'm not choosing anymore, I'm going all in on 'Wuhun 3', so be it if I die!"

This one sentence instantly triggered a domino effect—

The North China distributor slammed his pen down: "I'm calling right now to cancel the production order from Japan! I don't want the distribution rights anymore!"

The representative from Southwest China immediately pulled out the company seal: "President Xu, did you bring your [Martial Soul] authorization agreement? I'll sign it now!"

At 5:17 a.m., more than half of the agents in the conference room had signed the new contracts.

As dawn broke outside the window, Xu Chunyang looked at the discarded Ultraman brochures scattered on the ground and suddenly recalled the arrogant words of a Japanese manufacturer from long ago: "Chinese people are only fit to sell pirated copies."

He stubbed out his cigarette, took a picture of the mess in the room, and posted it in the group chat: "Tell [Yuangu] company, this time the Chinese kids want to play their own heroes, we're not going to support them!"

..............................

10 month 31 day.

It was 9 a.m. on the last day of October.

The phone rang in the chairman's office of [Huashang Brothers].

This is a phone call from Japan...

On the phone!
Chairman Zhang Zhonglei heard a string of Japanese curses!

"Damn it, what's wrong with your Chinese market?!"

"Why are so many distributors signing return forms?!"

"What's going on? Are you all crazy?!"

"Stop giving you a choice between two options! When will I ever make you choose between two options? Tell me, when!"

"damn it!"

"..."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Zhonglei's mood was somewhat unpredictable.

Meanwhile, Liu Jinghua stared at Zhang Zhonglei: "Mr. Zhang, I've said before, we can't let the market force us to choose between two options. Zhou Yang is starting to have the power to overturn the table! It's not too late to remedy the situation now, otherwise, the stock price could very well have the opposite effect..."

..............................

"Mr. Zhou, should we add fuel to the fire?"

"That's about it. Please thank the partner brands as well..."

"Mr. Zhou, they're so grateful to you! Our marketing department has received countless calls from brands we haven't worked with before. They're all saying they want to support you online... some even want to give away their products, or even movie tickets, for free to moviegoers..."

"..."

"They don't want to miss this massive traffic surge. They even hope you can personally take to the internet and make a call to action to further boost the traffic! They say they want to follow in your footsteps and serve your fans..."

"Forget about making a call to action... Tell them I appreciate their good intentions. By the way, talk to the ten brands that are making the biggest fuss online that we haven't worked with before. If they're willing, we can take on their brand promotions. There are still advertising slots in 'Fast & Furious,' which I can offer them!"

"Ok!"

"Remember, brand collaborations can't be taken lightly; you have to be extremely careful, understand?"

"I know, don't worry!"

The morning sunlight shone on Zhou Yang's face.

Zhou Yang had just hung up the phone in the office.

Then, his gaze fell upon Che Xiao, who was still in disbelief and somewhat shocked.

"I told you, I would fight my way through a bloody path for you!"

"Now, this bloody path has been fought open!"

"you……"

"Can you feel a little more at ease now?"

Che Xiao trembled again, then nodded hurriedly, but was too excited to say anything!
Zhou Yang looked out the window...

"Since 'The Black Robe Alliance,' Director Shen has finally established himself in the Chinese film industry and is now a regular at the table!"

"Now it is your turn!"

"I will push you up step by step! I will make you stand at the pinnacle of Chinese cinema!"

"..."

(End of this chapter)