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

Chapter 358 The Next Zhou Yang

The script for "Building Dreams in the Entertainment Industry" was conceived in the first half of 2003, when Bi Zhengnan had just graduated with a master's degree.

Although he spent six months writing the script and another six months scouting locations, he lacked confidence in filming, which caused the project to be repeatedly shelved.

The turning point came in early 2004.

That year, when Bi Zhengnan accidentally saw the video of "Sun Wukong vs. Superman 2" online, he was immediately shocked!
Immediately afterwards, this work amazed him, and his dormant artistic inspiration was completely awakened.

What shocked him even more was that the films produced by [Xuan Shi Entertainment], which were criticized by the industry as "bad movies," all of them were box office hits.

Seeing directors like Zhou Yang, who have no professional background, and his colleagues with mediocre education, actually shining on the international stage in just a few years!
The shock Bi Zhengnan felt was beyond words!

Fuck!
Ultraman from the Universe: The Calabash Brothers Save Grandpa...

Fuck!
Movies like "Kung Fu Basketball" where people suddenly fly through the air during a fight...

Fuck!
These movies are all going to be hits!
My movie is destined to be a masterpiece!

At the beginning of this year, he repeatedly studied Zhou Yang's entrepreneurial journey. These stories, along with a series of films, ultimately acted as a powerful catalyst, completely igniting his long-suppressed artistic ambitions.

The flames within him finally exploded!
In early March, the explosive popularity of "Dark Knight" became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Zhou Yang, you son of a bitch!

A guy with no formal education can make movies...

Even bad movies can become hits!
I'm a master's graduate, for goodness' sake...

My "Building Dreams in the Entertainment Industry"—will it not be deified?

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

"In our film 'Building Dreams in the Entertainment Industry,' we plan to use montage techniques to deconstruct the entertainment industry ecosystem, making it the first film in China to employ this method. In fact, in a sense, this film is very similar to Zhou Yang's 'The Devil Knight.' Zhou Yang used 'The Devil Knight' to prove the awakening of Chinese audiences' aesthetic sense, while I will use 'Building Dreams' to deliver the final blow! Pushing this aesthetic to an even higher level..."

"I spent more than two years preparing the script for this movie. During that time, I visited many places and put in a lot of effort!"

"Someone asked me, why did this movie cost 1 million yuan to make?"

"Because we used real props in this film, in addition to that, we added all sorts of unexpected 'artistic scenes' to the film..."

"Zhou Yang has read my script!"

He said the film would win awards!

"Yes, he said he could win an award!"

"Zhou Yang once offered 5000 million to sign me for this movie, but after careful consideration, I still refused!"

"Because my goal is not to depend on Zhou Yang, but to become the next Zhou Yang!"

"..."

4 Month 2 Day!
After "The Devil Knight" topped the box office charts, a frenzy of research on the "Zhou Yang phenomenon" swept through the entire Chinese film capital circle.

The meeting room of the investors was piled high with analyst reports, trying to decipher the success code of this "king of bad movies". From marketing strategy to audience psychology, from release date selection to topic hype, every detail was repeatedly scrutinized.

Meanwhile, countless young people with dreams of becoming directors seemed to have discovered a new continent. They flocked to various film and television companies with their poorly made scripts, chanting, "If Zhou Yang can make 'Sun Wukong vs. Superman,' why can't I make 'Nezha vs. Transformers'?" They knocked on the doors of investors, declaring that they would become the next Zhou Yang...

In this wave, Bi Dao, who graduated with a master's degree, became the most storytelling "dream chaser".

Capital, in a sense, both loves to tell stories and loves to listen to stories.

Bi Dao is also a master of packaging. He accurately grasped the key moment in the power struggle between capital and Zhou Yang, and through carefully crafted persona and rhetoric, he successfully shaped himself into a highly promising "film innovator".

He stood in front of the conference room, his back to the projector and facing the investors, pointing to the exaggerated box office curve on the PPT. His voice trembled with excitement: "What's 1 million? How much did 'Dark Knight' cost? We're going to make a commercial art film that subverts tradition! Our goal for this film is 4 million at the box office, at least 3 million!"

From his academic background to his understanding of film, from his online popularity to his passionate acting on set, he was full of ambition!
In the conference room.

As the capital representatives watched this gesticulating young man, they were momentarily struck by a glimpse of Zhou Yang from years past...

That unbridled wildness, that madness of treating movies like gambling, and most importantly, that magic that makes audiences both curse and pay money.

After hesitating for a while, the investors finally nodded and invested in the film...

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

In early April, spring is gradually intensifying.

The popularity of "Dark Knight" is spreading like wildfire, continuing to sweep across the Chinese film market.

With the enthusiastic calls from movie fans and the joint efforts of theater chains, major theater chains across the country have officially announced that the film's release key will be extended to April 15th!
This decision instantly ignited the market, and the box office of "Dark Knight," which had been in theaters for over 30 days, soared again. Before April 14, it broke through 460 million RMB with overwhelming force, crushing the record in Chinese film history!

Meanwhile, "Fast & Furious" also surpassed 4.2 million yuan in cumulative box office thanks to the extreme visual impact of its car chase scenes. The two films together dominated the box office charts, completely overshadowing "Eragon"!

The media hailed this as an "awakening of the Chinese film industry," while on social media, under the hashtag #DarkKnightDelayed#, moviegoers are frantically posting their ticket stubs from their third or fourth viewings, declaring that this cultural counterattack is far from over...

With "Dark Knight" reaching the top!
A frenzy of discussion about the "era of Chinese blockbusters" has swept the internet.

The Weibo hashtag #NextBoxOfficeMyth# has garnered over 3000 million views, with countless filmmakers and movie fans sharing a post titled "If Hollywood can do it, why can't we!" Amidst this media frenzy, investors and renowned directors have jumped in to generate buzz: Li Zhengtao's "The Great Wall: Taotie" has officially announced a $1.5 million investment, featuring a cast of award-winning actors and actresses including Wu Zuliang, Chen Jianfeng, and Zhang Mengna. Rumors also circulated that Zhou Yang was invited to participate, though the deal fell through, but his asking price was close to 2.3 million yuan, generating considerable buzz.

Wu Jiansen's "The God of Kung Fu" is touted as a 3 million yuan blockbuster, claiming to create an "Oriental superhero".

Even Bi Zhengnan's new director "Building Dreams in the Entertainment Industry" became a trending topic due to the gimmick that "Zhou Yang once offered 5000 million yuan." His declaration of "deconstructing the entertainment industry with montage" sparked polarized controversy.

Major film and television companies are ramping up their investments. Huasheng Brothers announced its plans for the film "Fengshen," Tianyu Pictures launched the "Shan Hai Jing" series, and even veteran directors who have been silent for many years have announced their participation, with their films having an investment of at least 100 million yuan...

Netizens joked, "These days, you're embarrassed to hold a press conference if you don't have an investment of hundreds of millions!"

However, behind the jubilation, doubts persist: "Is this a genuine industrial rise or a capital bubble?"

Especially when "Dream Building Entertainment" posted behind-the-scenes photos of "all the crew shooting against a green screen," film critics criticized: "Is this a movie or a PowerPoint presentation?"

Some have criticized the film for its poor quality, but it remains a hot topic.

Some questioned how the 100 million RMB investment was spent on a film that used only unknown newcomers, but Director Bi silenced everyone with just one sentence: "This is a film that Zhou Yang has his eye on!"
In late April, "The Devil Knight" officially ended its theatrical run, but before the film's popularity had subsided, a bizarre "Zhou Yang certification" craze suddenly swept through the Chinese film industry.

Every day, dozens of accounts claiming to be "young directors" post screenshots of chat logs on [Kuaibo], with captions such as "Zhou Yang asked me to talk about the script late at night" and "President Zhou said my 'Iron Man vs. Pigsy' has great potential."

Even more outrageous was a photo of a draft paper uploaded by a student from an art school, on which was scribbled "This idea is worth 5000 million - Zhou Yang", which went viral across the internet.

The capital meeting room was piled with bizarre business proposals such as "Nezha's Low-Carbon Life" and "The Overbearing CEO Falls in Love with a Zombie," all with the words "Zhou Yang's Handpicked Project" emblazoned in gold lettering on the cover.

Even extras in Hengdian held up signs saying "Zhou Yang praised my acting as better than Liang Yingdi" to compete for roles. All sorts of strange and wonderful characters appeared on stage, and this absurd and popular spectacle continued until mid-May without any sign of abating...

And the next Zhou Yang...

It once became a hot topic among investors!
One after another, directors emerged out of nowhere...

It has dominated the trending topics!
It brought the entire internet entertainment atmosphere to its peak...

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

mid-December.

The lobby of [Xuan Shi Entertainment] was packed with people, and dozens of directors sat in the waiting area with their scripts for most of the day.

Through the monitor screen, Zhou Yang watched as the group of people whispered to each other, fixed their hair in front of their phones, and one of them, wearing sunglasses, even took out a small mirror to practice his "painful contemplation" expression.

"Mr. Zhou, this is the seventh wave today." Secretary Xu Tingting flipped through the visitor registration form with a wry smile: "Yesterday, Director Liu from 'Ultraman vs. the White Bone Demon' just left, and today another one wants to film 'The Legend of Calabash Brothers'..."

As they were talking, a commotion suddenly broke out in the hall.

After finishing their phone calls, the directors quickly left the scene, jumped into luxury cars parked on the side of the road, and headed straight for Financial Street.

In the surveillance footage, a young director with a goatee is holding up a script and gesturing into a phone: "Zhou Yang personally said this project is worth two hundred million! Look at this signature!"

Looking at the real-time photos of the business meeting, Zhou Yang saw that the group of people were clearly holding promotional brochures handed out by the company's receptionist.

And these scripts...

Zhou Yang glanced at it!
The script is absolutely earth-shattering and awe-inspiring!

It's the kind of thing that makes you want to die on the spot after watching it!

The plot was so rambling and disjointed that even someone as worldly-wise as Zhou Yang found it incredibly horrifying!
Nima!

They all think that making bad movies is a way to make money.

Looking at those people...

He rubbed his temples, laughing and crying at the same time: "Well, another batch is using me as a cover."

"Mr. Zhou, shouldn't we clarify something?"

"What's there to clarify? These directors, you should send people to serve them tea and water, let them go and scam money from investors. These people are all bad news... none of them are genuinely interested in making movies..."

"it is good."

Just as Zhou Yang finished speaking...

The phone rang.

The call was from Carl from [Wyman Pictures]...

"week……"

"Mr. Carl?"

"Our co-invested film, *Iron Man*, has finished filming and is currently in the post-production stage. It's expected to be released in October, after the domestic film protection month ends. Could you help me secure a release date of October 1st in China? This time, whether we can truly establish ourselves in Hollywood depends on this film."

On the other end of the phone, Carl's voice was filled with tension and unease...

(End of this chapter)