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

Chapter 372 Suicide Ticket Price!
"This is fucking suicidal pricing!"

"Holy crap, is this guy crazy?"

"Eight yuan? Wait, am I seeing things? A movie costs eight yuan? Are you sure it's 2006 now, not 2000?"

"My God, this..."

"..."

9:16 am on February 3th.

[XuanShi Entertainment] suddenly updated its official website with an explosive announcement: "Deformed Steel Bar" is scheduled for release on September 19th, with tickets priced at 8 yuan!
The moment the announcement was released, the entire Chinese internet erupted in chaos.

Countless night owls frantically refreshed the page, and the comment section exploded with dozens of comments per second, staring incredulously at the ticket price!

Someone took a screenshot and posted it on [Kuaibo]. As soon as the screenshot was taken, the entire [Kuaibo] exploded!
When everyone confirmed that the ticket price was real, and that there was even a discount on the 8 yuan, their eyes widened!
They think Zhou Yang has gone mad!

He's completely gone mad!

The hashtag #ZhouYangIsCrazy# surged to the top of the trending topics list within ten minutes.

At the very bottom of the screenshot of the announcement, there is a line of small print.

This line of tiny print is suffocating!

[Those who purchase a ticket stub for "Deformed Metal" can enjoy a special price of 6 yuan for "Deformed Steel Bars"!]

After the announcement was released, the entire film industry fell into a deathly silence.

Immediately afterwards...

Everyone realized that a terrifying and bloody storm was about to break out...

……

"This madman is going to drag the entire market into hell!"

【Tianyu】

The bright red announcement from [Xuan Shi Entertainment] on the screen was like a knife, piercing deep into everyone's hearts.

Deng Baichuan stared intently at the 8-yuan ticket price, his eyes bloodshot, and his voice hoarse as he squeezed out a few words: "What can you make with 8 yuan? You can't even break even! This is just losing money to gain publicity! This guy is crazy, a madman!"

Before he could finish speaking, he slumped into his chair, knowing full well that this attack had nearly cost him his life!

This could turn into a major disaster!
He looked at Chen Lei beside him.

Chen Lei remained silent, staring at the numbers on the screen, his face growing increasingly grim.

Behind the 8-yuan ticket price lies the almost insane money-burning tactics of the coal bosses behind Zhou Yang.

This is no longer a business competition, but a complete and utter annihilation of Transformers, almost overwhelming and leaving no room for compromise!
They are faced with only one path: follow in Zhou Yang's footsteps, continue burning money, continue the subsidy war, and then subsidize until no one makes money, until the entire market collapses, until the entire industry is buried with this war, ultimately reduced to a mere cinema-integrated service...

Do not!
There is another way, and that is...

Let's talk to this lunatic!
but……

In business, any "talk" comes at a price, and whoever speaks first pays the price first!

Chen Lei closed his eyes!
He couldn't speak!
The atmosphere in the [Tianyu] office remained tense. Deng Baichuan didn't know how to break the deadlock, Chen Lei remained silent, and Xu Haibo simply kept his head down, unsure whether to stay or leave...

During this time, Chen Lei kept going in and out to answer phone calls.

The calls came from theater chains, Hollywood studios, and also from Wanda Properties, Taobao.com, Weibo, and more...

Starting with a movie, Zhou Yang ignited a spark, which then instantly engulfed the entire market. At this moment, the market is short of money everywhere, and fires need to be put out everywhere.

Even though Chen Lei and his group have billions of dollars in capital behind them, they still can't stop burning through it so recklessly. But now they're in a quagmire, and they can't afford to stop burning through their capital!

This oppressive and suffocating atmosphere lasted until the next morning!
The next morning at eight o'clock.

Xu Haibo's phone rang.

He heard the news that Zhou Yang had started live streaming again...

Immediately afterwards, he logged into [Movie House]!
"What kind of trouble is this guy up to now!"

Chen Lei, who was on the phone, subconsciously hung up and leaned closer to the screen, staring intently at it!

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

8:00 AM on September 16th.

"Good morning, everyone! This is Zhou Yang..."

In front of the camera, Zhou Yang wore his signature black suit, with the huge logo of [Xuanshi Mall] in the background.

He smiled and stared at the screen!

"Today's live stream will not be sentimental or full of empty promises; it will only do one thing, and that is... to express gratitude..."

He pushed up his glasses, and data suddenly lit up on the large screen behind him.

The bright red text of "[Fourth Quarter Cumulative Discounts of 4 Million Yuan]" stung everyone's eyes.

Countless netizens stared at that line of text, completely stunned!
“Some people say I’m crazy, that an 8-yuan movie ticket is suicide…” He silently picked up a stack of movie tickets and placed them on the table: “But… family, Zhou Yang, who was just scraping by for lunch three years ago, never dreamed he would be standing here.”

He picked up a thick stack of yellowed movie ticket stubs, the top one for "Monkey King vs. Superman 2" already faded. "These ticket stubs were sent by Sister Wang. She said she's been taking her grandson to every movie since 03..."

The background screen suddenly lit up with a fan photo wall, featuring college students holding light sticks, veterans in wheelchairs, and young couples holding babies.

As the camera panned across each photo, Zhou Yang would watch silently, his eyes gradually reddening.

"Over the past three years, I have seen many warm faces and heard many touching stories of support for us..."

"For three years, my family has been by my side, helping me get to where I am today. In every battle, everyone has stood by me, always moving forward side by side with [Xuanshi Entertainment]..."

"And just yesterday, I saw my family members giving our Transformers a crazy boost..."

“We are not an international blockbuster, we don’t have Hollywood special effects, we are not famous global directors, and we have never even held a proper film premiere. But the support of 110 million moviegoers has really surprised me!”

"Just now, I received another message, and this message is even more surprising!"

"Someone told me that 110 million viewers is just the limit for our theater chain, not the limit for the countless viewers and movie fans who support us!"

"Many movie fans rushed to buy tickets, but unfortunately, they can no longer get them!"

"This passion is like fire, it burns within me and makes me feel warm and cozy..."

"Therefore, I have made a difficult decision. Over the next day, we will be opening more than 40 brand-new cinemas across the country, and we will be readjusting the screening schedules for these 40-plus new cinemas!"

"..."

He suddenly turned around and bowed ninety degrees to the camera: "This 8 yuan is not the ticket price, but my heartfelt gesture of treating my family to a movie! It is also a token of appreciation and a way of giving back to us directors who have come from humble beginnings..."

"Of course, 8 yuan is not the limit!"

"For the next six months, all movies produced by our [Xuan Shi Entertainment], including Hollywood movies, will have their ticket prices halved!"

"4 million RMB, real money, to subsidize our families!"

Zhou Yang said those words in a strong and resonant voice.

As he finished speaking, he gazed silently at the screen, his emotions running high as he tilted his head back slightly, tears seemingly uncontrollably streaming down his face.

"Back then, it was you who used ticket stubs to lift us up step by step from the abyss, allowing us to stand on this stage."

"Now, I hope that the last quarter of 2006 will become everyone's most cherished year-end memory!"

"thank you all!"

"..."

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

As the live stream screen gradually dimmed with Zhou Yang's bow, countless movie fans remained staring blankly at the black screen, unable to recover for a long time.

Especially those long-time viewers who have been following Zhou Yang's films since 2003.

On the [Movie Home] forum, a user who watched the live stream recalled that sweltering summer night: having just lost his job, he squatted outside a movie theater, munching on a steamed bun, just to find some solace in watching a "bad movie" that was being ridiculed online. The mockery of "how dare he live with a movie like this?" became the driving force that kept him going.

Inside the screening room, the plastic-looking special effects and melodramatic plot elicited bursts of laughter, but as the movie ended, a middle-aged man in the back row muttered, "At least this kid dared to make it!"

Who would have thought that three years later, this absurd movie-watching experience would become one of the most vivid fragments in my memory?

User "Beijing drifter Lao Zhang" shared a video he recorded with a second-hand DV camera years ago, in which he complains about how terrible "Monkey King vs. Superman 2" is, with the background noise faintly including a phone call from his girlfriend breaking up with him...

College student "Acha" unearthed old chat logs with her roommates, where they used to passionately vent their frustrations. Although they are now scattered across the country, the four of them are still watching movies produced by [Xuan Shi Entertainment]...

The most disheartening thing was that someone produced a DVD disguised as a movie with various titles like "Superman 2" or "The Great Escape," but the actual content was just "Sun Wukong vs. Superman 2." They claimed that they were ripped off by these "official" DVDs that year, buying one and getting the same thing, and almost smashing the DVD player...

"but!"

"As we kept criticizing them, we actually brought out the brilliance in Chinese films!"

"..."

At noon, the hashtag #TheBadMoviesWeCriticizedOverTheYears# trended on social media.

Some people recalled the water bottles they threw away when the main cast members bowed after the screening, but now they have tears in their eyes for Zhou Yang, who also bowed at a 90-degree angle.

Some people dug up the old banner that read "Zhou Yang Get Out of the Film Industry" and joked, "Now we're actually hoping he lives to be a hundred years old."

Over the past three years, the plastic armor on the screen has been replaced by sophisticated mechs, and the audience outside the screen has changed from angry young people to young people struggling with their families. The only thing that hasn't changed is that when the end credits come on, someone will always laugh and curse, "That son of a bitch, he actually made it."

……

Zhou Yang's memories are like a dull knife, slowly and deeply piercing into everyone's heart.

At this moment, viewers who liked it, hated it, had been deceived, or had been cheated all turned their attention to "Deformed Steel Bar"...

Upon seeing the cover, their faces twitched...

but……

Unconsciously...

I logged onto the [XuanShi Ticketing] website...

(End of this chapter)