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

Chapter 284 Mr. Zhou, I'm with you!
Early in the morning of June 11.

【Huashang Brothers】

The office was deathly silent.

The brightly lit city outside the window is so dazzling that it makes one feel somewhat dazed.

I still remember the first time I stepped into the doors of [Huashang Brothers]. [Huashang Brothers] was just starting out, with only 7 employees...

She started from the bottom as an agent's assistant, following the Zhang brothers, Zhonglei and Zhongqiang, all over the country, enduring all kinds of hardships...

That year, he would revise the plan for three days straight without sleep for a project, drink until his stomach hemorrhaged at a dinner party to gain a voice, and even go to the film set to be a temporary assistant to the director for scarce resources, all so that his actors could get a suitable role in the crew...

During the most difficult time, she gritted her teeth and mortgaged her only house just to keep the company's projects afloat.

Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the CEO's office now, those days of hard work seem like yesterday, yet also as distant as a past life.

In fact...

When someone starts to feel nostalgic, there are probably only two possibilities.

One type is the nostalgia felt after achieving success and becoming a big shot following a company IPO; the other is the realization that everyone is gradually changing and starting to go in different directions and on different paths.

Huasheng Brothers went public in March of this year, surpassing Tianyu Media to become the largest entertainment company in China. The joy of their success has yet to fade…

But she keenly sensed that something was subtly changing.

The board of directors began to frequently reject her proposals, the Zhang brothers gradually reclaimed power from her, and her former comrades-in-arms began to go their separate ways...

In fact, it's not just them; everyone in the company seems to be gradually changing...

Some people are obsessed with the game of capital, manipulating the stock market at will;
Some people are content with the status quo, clinging to their vested interests and unwilling to take risks;

Some have long forgotten their original aspirations, exchanging their film dreams for cold financial statements.

She stood in the brightly lit office, looking at her somewhat tired reflection in the glass, and immediately rubbed her eyes.

Just then, there was a knock on the office door.

"The box office results are in..."

The assistant rushed in from the door, looking excited!
"Oh." Liu Jinghua nodded. At this moment, she no longer had any expectations for the movie's box office. She simply took the data report calmly and glanced at it silently.

However, she was still somewhat shocked when she saw it for the first time.

"Dektherman" grossed 2700 million yuan on its opening day, while "Wuhun 3" grossed 1900 million yuan.

Based on pre-sales figures, the opening weekend box office of "Devilman" should have been lower than that of "Wuhun 3", or at most the same.

Even if the attendance of "Darkman" suddenly surged after its premiere, it's impossible for it to suddenly be this much higher!
"Mr. Liu, we won!"

After reading it, Liu Jinghua nodded in agreement, but then sighed, "We won, but..."

Just then, the phone rang.

On the phone, the marketing director was still excitedly reporting the "comeback victory," vividly describing how their film's box office was initially not as good as "Wu Hun 3," but the film's appeal in China was amazing, and suddenly the word-of-mouth turned around, followed by a comeback against all odds. In the background, one could vaguely hear the clinking of glasses by the board members celebrating in advance.

After hanging up the phone, she smiled noncommittally, then asked her assistant to pull up a financial statement and silently looked at it.

As someone who witnessed the rise of [Huashang Brothers] step by step, she was actually very clear about every detail of the company. After reviewing the financial statements, she closed her eyes and sighed softly.

Since its IPO, Huasheng Brothers has become obsessed with cashing out...

Zhang Zhonglei tacitly approved inflated box office figures to boost the stock price, the finance department worked overnight to balance out "marketing expenses," and even theater managers hinted at the shady practice of "locking in screenings to fill seats." Much can already be gleaned from this financial report…

"Mr. Liu, the board of directors has requested that we increase the number of films scheduled for release to compete with the box office..." The assistant hesitated before continuing.

“Tell them, if they keep going…” she sighed bitterly, “Once Zhou Yang feeds the ‘box office fraud’ information to the media, we’ll be the first stock to trigger a circuit breaker in Hong Kong…”

"Actually, it's not about manipulating the price. In fact, this is the result that R-party [Yuangu] Company and its backers, [Huashang Brothers], and the three major cinema chains all wanted to see. With the listing in March, everyone was thinking about driving up the price to cash out for the first time. Isn't this the day that everyone in the company has been waiting for? Moreover, after you cash out your shares, you will also have hundreds of millions in income..."

"Did Zhang Zhonglei tell you this?"

The assistant paused for a moment, then nodded. After another pause, she looked at Liu Jinghua and said, "It's not just about stocks. In fact, everyone knows that Zhou Yang's undefeated myth must be shattered... otherwise, the consequences will be dire..."

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

"The opening box office performance of 'Wu Hun 3' was a failure!"

"Ultraman Deckardman grossed 2700 million RMB, while Wuhun 3 only grossed 1900 million!"

"With such high pre-sale ticket prices, how could they lose?"

Yes, we lost!

"Isn't losing normal?"

"After all that hype about it being the pride of Chinese-made films, it got completely humiliated by the original tokusatsu? Zhou Yang's 'martial spirit' has turned into a 'useless spirit,' hasn't it?"

"Pre-sales are soaring, but once it's released, its true colors will be revealed! As expected, knock-offs can't compete with legitimate IPs!"

"Isn't Zhou Yang known as the 'box office killer'? Why is he so quiet this time? Chen Anhua's 'Hulk' hasn't even been released yet, and he's already chickened out?" "Wasn't he making a big splash before the release? Talking about this and that... and then he wilted when it came to the real battle?"

"..."

Early morning of the 4nd!
When news broke that "Wu Hun 3" was crushed by "Dek Ultraman" at the box office on its opening day, the internet exploded.

Countless filmmakers in China were initially taken aback by this scene…

The frenzy surrounding the pre-sale tickets for "Wu Hun 3" once led them to believe that Zhou Yang was about to create another box office miracle!

But, to everyone's surprise, "Wu Hun 3" didn't even beat "Dekker Ultraman" at the opening box office...

Not only did it fail to surpass "Ultraman Deckard," but after seeing that "Ultraman Deckard" grossed an astonishing 800 million RMB more than "Wu Hun 3"...

Everyone was somewhat shocked!
This huge gap in box office revenue and pre-sale ticket revenue instantly ignited the entire Chinese film industry!
On the internet, hashtags such as #MartialSoul3BoxOfficeFailure# and #ZhouYangMythShattered# rapidly climbed the trending topics lists on social media platforms like Kuaibo and Weibo, sweeping across the entire website like a madman. The comment sections were immediately flooded with countless sharp, sarcastic remarks...

Some mocked the collapse of Zhou Yang's "box office myth," some accused Zhou Yang of manipulating box office figures, some advised people not to idolize Zhou Yang, and some even said that "Wu Hun 3" was at best a movie that met the minimum acceptable standard...

Of course, some people have questioned whether "Dektherman" was inflated at the box office, but they have not been able to find any evidence!

All three major cinema chains in China have denied the allegations of box office manipulation, and have released various customer ticket purchase receipts and tax information, including videos and photos showing theaters packed to capacity with an astonishing 130% occupancy rate...

And the box office figures for the following week were astonishing...

"Wuhun 3" was consistently crushed by "Devil Ultraman"...

According to box office statistics, after earning 1900 million yuan on its opening day, "Wu Hun 3" saw a surge in box office revenue the following day, exceeding 2000 million yuan in a single day. On the third day, it climbed to 2120 million yuan, with the occupancy rate continuing to rise.

However, apart from the 12 cinema chains under Zhou Yang maintaining the screening of "Wu Hun 3", 15 small and medium-sized cinema chains under the three major cinema chains in China collectively changed their strategy, increasing the screening rate of "Dek Ultraman" from 35% to 58%, with the proportion of prime time screenings exceeding 70%.

According to reports, "Dekker Ultraman" consistently outperformed "Wu Hun 3" in daily box office, even surpassing an astonishing 3200 million RMB, with the highest single-day difference reaching 900 million RMB!
"Dai Ke" 3200 million vs. "Wu Hun" 2300 million...

In the early hours of November 9th, after four days of release, "Ultraman Deckard" had grossed an astonishing 1.01 million RMB in China!

The sequel, *Dekker Ultraman*, continued to create its own legend. Although *Wuhun 3* achieved a 92% occupancy rate after positive word-of-mouth, non-alliance theaters continued to reduce its screenings, further widening the gap in box office revenue between the two films. *Dekker Ultraman*'s opening week total box office of 2.1 million RMB far exceeded *Wuhun*'s 1.4 million RMB, a devastating blow that felt like a slap in the face.

From November 4th to November 11th, over a week, the box office results of this battle shook the film industry like a thunderclap.

As box office figures fluctuate, filmmakers in the Chinese film industry continue to publish articles mocking the industry. One film critic even wrote an article overnight titled "On the Industrial Ceiling of Knockoff Films," which was full of sarcasm: "I suggest that some directors who are trying to piggyback on the success of this film should watch Director Chen's new work on their knees and learn what Oscar-level narrative is."

The five directors who had long harbored grudges against Zhou Yang tacitly shared the box office comparison chart, all with the same caption: "Let the market teach us a lesson..."

A storm of public opinion swept across social media platforms.

Under the hashtag #WuhunWarriorsRaiseWhiteFlag#, some netizens photoshopped movie characters into cartoon images of surrendering, and the viral meme even alarmed the Japanese copyright holder.

Strangely, [Xuanshi Entertainment] fell into complete silence despite being besieged across the entire internet.

The official website has not updated its statement, the official Weibo account has been inactive for three days, and even the "Zhou Yang's Home" Baidu Tieba, which has millions of active fans, only has a lonely pinned post titled "Believe in Yangyang".

This eerie silence emboldened the opponents, with one forum post even boldly proclaiming: "Silence is surrender! The Zhou Yang era is coming to an end!"

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

"Mr. Zhou, they're just inflating box office numbers. Are we supposed to do nothing and ignore it?"

Early morning on December 11th.

Seeing the frenzied online discussions, Zhang Jingya became somewhat angry and finally started to get restless.

She walked into Zhou Yang's office...

The three major cinema chains occupy nearly 40% of the Chinese market, while the 12 core chains in the [Cinema Chain Alliance] only account for 25% of the market, and the other 15 chains account for 35%...

The difference in the size of the theatrical market, coupled with the fact that these people were frantically boosting box office numbers, naturally led to "Wu Hun 3" being completely suppressed!
“This time they’re really throwing money at it…” Zhou Yang took the box office data, a smile appearing on his face.

Their methods for inflating box office numbers were indeed clever. The cinemas distributed a large number of free movie tickets through methods such as "fan reward lottery" and "member points redemption," which not only avoided the suspicion of booking out entire theaters to inflate ticket prices, but also filled the seats with real people.

This tactic is strikingly similar to the methods used by Zhou Yang's fans during the release of "The Lord of the Rings: The Second Ring".

Of course, with the support of capital, the scale is even greater—in the surveillance footage of the early morning screenings suddenly sold out, you can see "audience members" everywhere holding free tickets but playing on their phones the whole time. And on the theater's books, every free ticket is counted as a full-price box office, which can both promote the movie and, through certain means, turn some "investment" into legal box office revenue, which can be described as a win-win situation.

“Even if they’re throwing real money at it, they’re still inflating box office numbers… Mr. Zhou, how about we… we just do it too? If you give the call, I believe…”

"No rush, let them play a little longer, let the box office rise a bit more..." Zhou Yang smiled slightly.

Then the phone rang.

The call was from Liu Jinghua...

There was only one sentence on the other end of the phone.

"Mr. Zhou... Shall we talk?"

"..."

(End of this chapter)