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

Chapter 350 The Final Impact
3 month 2 day.

Yanjing.

The midday sun shines on this land, and the courtyard outside the window is lush and green.

Liang Xiaogang sat on the sofa, silently looking at the various data points for "Devil Knight"...

The phone rang incessantly, with investors such as Tianyu Media and Huasheng Brothers calling one after another, all with a strikingly consistent core demand—that he publicly criticize Zhou Yang on social media, creating a media storm by exploiting their past conflicts…

He did not answer the phone.

He has never liked Zhou Yang.

Upon first meeting him, I felt that he had no professional ethics as a film critic. Most of the films he made were commercial flops that catered to the market. He used every possible marketing tactic and had never received a proper film school education. It would not be an exaggeration to describe him as a "scourge of the industry." The appearance of such a person undoubtedly lowered the taste of the entire industry.

But after the disastrous failure of "The Last Supper," Liang Xiaogang remained defiant for a while, then became dejected, and finally fell into deep thought.

Looking back on my film career:

Rooted in rural themes in the 80s, transitioning to comedies in the 90s, and moving into commercial blockbusters after the turn of the millennium.
As his status rose steadily, he drifted further and further away from the audience, and for a moment he forgot his original intentions. After calming down again, he gradually realized some things.

Looking back now, Zhou Yang, whom he despised, doesn't seem so hateful after all.

and……

The outcome of this battle will reshape the future landscape of the entire industry.

If they win, it will mark another milestone for the Chinese film industry.

If we lose...

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Liang Xiaogang stood up and went to open the door.

Then, I saw it was Li Zhengtao.

Li Zhengtao held a stack of movie tickets in his hand, a smile on his face.

"Want to watch a movie?"

"what movie?"

"Which would you choose, 'The Devil Knight' or 'Fast & Furious'?"

"..."

Liang Xiaogang stared at the movie ticket in Li Zhengtao's hand, his expression complex as he remained silent for a moment.

Finally, he sighed softly, took the ticket stub, and smiled wryly: "Let's watch 'The Devil Knight'! After all, that movie is still on the market, and I'm the screenwriter..."

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

Since the millennium...

Since China joined the WTO, the government has consistently encouraged foreign investment through investment promotion policies in order to drive economic development.

However, as many domestic industries are still in a relatively weak stage, the competitive landscape in some areas is gradually becoming unbalanced.

Given international trade rules and market openness commitments, the government is reluctant to directly intervene in specific areas and instead uses policy guidance and macro-control to safeguard industrial security and development.

This principle applies to everything from daily chemical products to other industries...

While the film industry hasn't explicitly prioritized Hollywood films, the official stance on the underlying competition and rivalry has remained silent, allowing it to develop freely...

Everyone thought that the contest between "Dragon Knight" and "Devil Knight" was nothing special.

……

But what no one expected was this!

When foreign capital was aggressively flooding the Chinese film market and "Eragon Knight" was resorting to massively inflating its box office figures to counter "Dark Knight," a special report on CCTV's "Midday News" acted like a signal flare, completely igniting the smoke of this box office war.

At this moment, countless filmmakers realized that this contest had escalated from a simple commercial competition to a life-or-death struggle for cultural discourse power.

……

"Someone is using despicable means to try and bring us down from our pedestal..."

"But we will not retaliate in the same way—"

"Because true warriors never need to let shadows obscure their sunlight!"

"Brothers and sisters! The flames of 'Demon Knight' have been ignited, yet some are attempting to extinguish them with dirty capitalist games!"

"They inflate box office figures, lock out screenings, and even manipulate public opinion... but so what?"

"We don't need to boycott any film, but if we win, we must win honorably!"

"From Beijing to Lingnan, from offline to online, every ticket-buying audience member is a bullet in this battle! Second viewings, third viewings, private screenings—we're using solid box office figures to shatter their lies! Let the world see that the choices of Chinese audiences have never been swayed by capital!"

"remember!"

"Darkness may temporarily obscure the starlight, but it can never extinguish the burning flames!"

"We'll fight to the bitter end in this battle!"

The box office battle for "Dark Knight" has entered a heated phase! At 1 PM on March 2nd, the official website of [Movie House] published a manifesto titled "The Battle Begins!" and pinned it to the top of the website's homepage.

Although Zhou Yang, as the platform's major shareholder, has absolute say, [Movie House] has always adhered to the principles of fairness and impartiality since its inception, never favoring any film work and rarely banning accounts that stir up trouble.

However, at this moment, this platform, which has always maintained neutrality, has officially entered the fray!

Although the article "The Battle Begins!" is short, its sharp wording is powerful and passionate, and it swept across major social media platforms like wildfire as soon as it was released.

Countless movie fans were thrilled after reading it, instantly sparking heated discussions across the internet!
At 2 PM, on social media platforms such as [Kuaibo], [Weibo], and [Wandou Movie Network].

Regardless of whether it's a platform related to Zhou Yang or not, at this moment, the hashtag #FightForTheDevilKnight# is flooding the screen, with countless netizens posting their ticket stubs from second or third viewings to prove their support, and their anger is deafening.

At 3 PM, long queues formed outside already crowded cinemas across China, with enthusiastic fans even organizing "relay screenings" to fill every time slot for "The Demon Knight." This fan-driven movie-watching frenzy is sweeping across cinemas nationwide at an astonishing pace!

After witnessing this grand occasion, the managers of 27 cinema chains across the country immediately announced their full support and quickly increased the number of screenings of "Dark Knight".

However, the influx of fans far exceeded expectations, and the existing cinema seats were still in short supply. In the end, even old cinemas in the suburbs of second- and third-tier cities were urgently mobilized, and all the idle screening rooms were put back into use.

Evening of February 2nd!
Chinese fans went completely crazy, launching an unprecedented "cultural defense war" with astonishing organizational skills.

The fan club established a "Dragon-Slaying Command Center" overnight to carry out multi-front operations:

On the advertising front, some wealthy fans have booked advertising on the entire Yanjing Metro Line 1, allowing the scarlet Demon Knight poster to travel through the city with the train; the giant LED screen of the Aurora Building on the Bund in Shanghai plays high-octane movie clips on a loop every hour on the hour, attracting tourists along the Huangpu River to stop and watch.

The media battleground was even more frenzied—local TV stations replaced their health product advertising slots with fan-made "Support Domestic Special Effects" promotional videos; in a third-tier city, moviegoers crowdfunded to buy out prime-time airtime on local radio, where the host trembled as he announced: "All members of the Knights Legion, please immediately proceed to Hall 7 of the New Century Cinema to provide support!"

The offensive in cyberspace was the most intense: the [Zhouyang's Home] technical team developed an automatic post-posting program to synchronize box office data to more than 3000 movie forums;

Some wealthy individuals directly purchased pop-up ads on the homepage of Wandou.com, which, when clicked, displayed a screen full of burning chain effects with the caption "Victory is certain in this battle"; even street food stalls launched 100,000 "Demon Knight Limited Edition Set Meals," permeating the support into every corner.

This nationwide cultural counterattack is sweeping across the country like wildfire.

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

evening.

sunset.

[Hongsheng Capital] entrance.

Chen Lei stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, silently looking at the computer screen.

The hashtag #FightForDemonicKnight# has swept across social media platforms like wildfire, with real-time discussions exploding and dozens of new trending topics appearing with every page refresh.

A variety of passionate cheering declarations emerged, creating a scene that was almost frenzied!
The massive amount of trending news and online marketing efforts that "Eragon" had invested in were instantly washed away by the fervent cheers of movie fans...

As online and offline data flooded in like a tidal wave, Chen Lei's brows furrowed deeper and deeper...

Whether it's the explosive spread on social media platforms or the near-frenzied viewing frenzy in offline cinemas, the popularity of "Dark Knight" is sweeping across the entire market with overwhelming force.

Chen Lei stared intently at the secretary who rushed in: "How's the situation with the cinemas?"

The report in the secretary's hands trembled slightly: "I just received news that the IMAX theater at Wanda Cinemas has been booked out by a state-owned enterprise for twenty consecutive rounds... all of them are 'Dark Knight'..."

Just as Chen Lei was about to speak, the phone on the table suddenly rang. The caller ID showed Li Minghao from [Huaying International], and the voice on the other end of the line sounded somewhat bitter.

"Mr. Chen, the situation is out of control! Audiences are blocking the ticket counter with their 'Dark Knight' ticket stubs, and all the reserved seats we had for 'Eragon Knight' are already occupied by actual audiences. Forcing us to continue showing 'Eragon Knight' now might cause conflict. What's more troublesome is that those fans are calculating the actual attendance rate for our 'Eragon Knight'."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Lei sat in his chair, looking out into the distance, and simply sighed softly.

"How are the offline sales figures for Zhouyangfang Cinemas?"

"Mr. Chen, things are completely out of control at [Xuan Shi Cinema]! They've switched all the screening rooms to a continuous loop of 'Demonic Knight,' and even added temporary seats to the staff lounge. They're gradually pulling back and rescheduling the screenings of 'Eragon Knight' that didn't do well..."

Upon hearing this, Chen Lei sat silently in his chair.

This was originally a sniping operation aimed at slowing down the box office progress of "Dark Knight", but he never expected that the entire market would react so strongly!
I don't know how much time passed...

He sighed.

wry smile……

"It backfired. We originally wanted to sabotage his ascension to godhood, but instead, we pushed him forward and made him a god in the end..."

"never mind!"

"We can leave the China market alone for now..."

"Is the global premiere of 'Eragon' about to begin?"

"Yes, Mr. Chen."

Chen Lei closed his eyes, just as he was about to say something...

The annoying phone rang again.

The secretary answered the phone.

Then, something rather unsightly happened.

"Their world premiere has to be squeezed in with ours..."

(End of this chapter)