This director lacks vision.

Chapter 182 Though I became a melon, I set a record.

As Gao Yuanyuan left the movie theater, the melody of Eutopia and the song "When You Are Old" kept playing in her mind.

She found the movie "Back to 20" not only funny, but also very touching.

It's the kind of movie that makes you laugh and then cry.

In her mind, the movie deserves full marks, but she worries that it's just a case of "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

After all, in Gao Yuanyuan's eyes, Jiang Yifeng's talent was already overflowing.

She made a point of listening to the discussions among the audience after the show.

"This movie is awesome. Jiang Yifeng really didn't disappoint."

"It's really good, I think it's even better than Let the Bullets Fly!"

"No, definitely not. Let the Bullets Fly is more exciting. Back to 20 is better than Let the Bullets Fly in terms of music and emotion, but the story depth and logic are not as good as Let the Bullets Fly."

"Pfft~ I don't understand what you're talking about. I just love 'Back to 20'. This movie is number one in my heart!"

This is a conversation between a couple.

Clearly, in the boys' minds, "Let the Bullets Fly" is more exciting, with its various metaphors and dialogues, making it a very enjoyable watch.

But in a girl's mind, the man in "Let the Bullets Fly" is too dramatic, and she doesn't like it.

"Back to 20" is a female-centric film with several songs including "Little Apple," "When You're Old," and "Eutopia," making it not only lighthearted and funny but also emotionally resonant.

Women are emotional creatures, so from her perspective, she would naturally prefer to return to being 20 years old.

When Gao Yuanyuan arrived at the cinema lobby, she listened to some audience members' discussions and found that it seemed to be true.

Overall, people have given positive reviews to Let the Bullets Fly and Back to 20.

Most men prefer to let the bullets fly, while most women prefer to return to their 20s.

As for Feng Xiaogang's If You Are the One 2, it was very controversial. Many people said it was not good, with too many product placements and a boring plot.

Gao Yuanyuan herself thought so too; she felt that returning to her 20s was even more touching.

Especially since she knew about Jiang Yifeng's parents' deaths, watching this movie felt even more magical.

When Gao Yuanyuan got home that evening, she checked the trending topics on Weibo.

The "Life Anti-Addiction System" is the top trending topic, corresponding to the famous quote, "Life is supposed to be bitter, this is the anti-addiction system for the game of life."

This is Jiang Yifeng's marketing strategy.

A good quote can significantly boost a movie's box office performance.

For example, Han Han's line, "Liking is unrestrained, but love is restraint," brought a lot of attention to the movie "The Continent" and boosted its box office.

The movie "Back to 20" has a lot of marketing potential in terms of its content.

The songs "When You Are Old" and "Eutopia," highlights featuring Liu Yifei and Yang Mi, and Liu Xiaoli and Shu Chang's square dance battle are all examples of segments that can be used for marketing.

However, the medium for spreading memorable quotes is text, which is relatively the slowest.

Therefore, Jiang Yifeng puts the key quotes first in the discussion, and then gradually markets the other content later to ensure sustainable popularity.

However, after reading these comments, Gao Yuanyuan felt that the focus of everyone's discussion was on the memorable quotes, and that they didn't understand the movie "Back to 20" at all.

After thinking it over, she still posted a Weibo post.

I went to see "Back to 20" today.

In the movie theater, I cried and laughed like a child.

My parents were the same.

This is the first time I've ever seen my dad cry.

After watching this movie, I have a lot to say, but it's stuck in my chest, and I don't know where to begin.

Then I thought of the poem Jiang Yifeng once gave me—"You Are Still By My Side".

The waterfall's water flows upstream
Dandelion seeds drifted back from afar, gathering into the shape of an umbrella.

The sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
The bullet returned to the chamber.

Athletes return to the starting line

I returned the admission letter, forgetting the ten years of hard work I had put in.
The aroma of food wafted from the kitchen.

Please sign my test paper, turn off the TV, and help me put on my schoolbag.

You are still by my side.

Jiang Yifeng once told me that a creator's regrets and pain are his greatest treasure.

Only by understanding this poem can you gain a different perspective when watching "Back to 20".

Gao Yuanyuan's Weibo post was intended to use Jiang Yifeng's previously written modern poems to evoke emotional resonance in the audience, thereby enabling them to better appreciate Jiang Yifeng's films.

Unexpectedly, an account named Yu Yanli commented immediately: "I understand what Gao Yuanyuan means. Jiang Yifeng lost his mother when he was very young, and his father also passed away a few years ago."

In Jiang Yifeng's film and television works, he always reminisces about his relatives.

Soon, some people began to question Yu Yanli.

"Where did you get this inside information?"

“I was Jiang Yifeng’s junior high school classmate, and we grew up in the same village.”

Yu Yanli's comments quickly attracted everyone's attention.

Especially since Gao Yuanyuan deleted Yu Yanli's comments shortly afterward, it was clearly an attempt to cover up the truth.

Deleting it won't help, as many netizens had already taken screenshots beforehand.

Soon, the topic of "Jiang Yifeng's parents have both forgotten him" became a trending topic and quickly rose to the top of the trending list.

Netizens are amazing; they started searching for all sorts of evidence.

Jiang Yifeng's past experiences have all been exposed.

"No wonder Jiang Yifeng never participated in the Youth Photo Studio challenge, and even avoided the red carpet at the premiere. He probably doesn't have any close relatives and doesn't know who to ask for photos."

"Seeing this news really made my eyes sting. Thinking about Jiang Yifeng's previous writing of 'You are still by my side' and the 'Waiting' series of photos, these must be the pain and regrets in his life."

“Gao Yuanyuan is right. Only by understanding Jiang Yifeng’s poems and his life experiences can one truly appreciate the film ‘Back to 20’.”

"Life is inherently bitter; this is the anti-addiction system for the game of life. This sentence must have been written by Director Jiang based on his own experiences of hardship."

"Damn, hearing you guys say that makes me want to cry. Is 'Back to 20' going to be a sentimental movie?"

"No, it's a family-friendly comedy. I suggest you take your whole family to see it."

"Some mothers can return to their 20s, while others are forever left in the past. Director Jiang, RIP."

……

As the saying goes, those who eat melons eventually become melons themselves.

The "curse" that Shu Chang and Liu Yifei cast on Jiang Yifeng has finally come true.

Netizens were already puzzled by Jiang Yifeng's continued refusal to participate in the Youth Photo Studio challenge.

Now that it has been revealed that both his parents have passed away, all the explanations make sense.

Jiang Yifeng's previous short films and modern poems have been unearthed and analyzed by netizens.

Even CCTV joined in the fun. The poem "You Are Still By My Side" was used in a public service advertisement by CCTV.

After noticing the trending topic on Weibo, CCTV rebroadcast the public service advertisement that same evening.

This sparked another round of heated discussion among netizens.

Seeing this, Gao Yuanyuan felt very guilty and called Jiang Yifeng to apologize.

"It's alright, people will find out about this sooner or later," Jiang Yifeng comforted him. "It'll just add some buzz to the movie."

"Are you really not angry with me? I'm coming to find you now, and you can punish me as you please~"

"It's not convenient now. I've become the subject of gossip, and two girls are gloating over my misfortune. Tonight, I must suppress them forcefully and teach them a lesson!"

"Alright then, I'll come see you in a couple of days."

Of course, it was Shu Chang and Liu Yifei who were "gloating".

These two, who were promoting the movie with Jiang Yifeng, were actually quite saddened after seeing the gossip online.

Liu Yifei was reminded of Grey, the male protagonist of "Fifty Shades of Grey".

She had always felt that Jiang Yifeng was not very similar to Gray. Gray appeared to be very strong, but was actually weak inside. He relied on his dominant position in communication to gain a sense of security.
But Jiang Yifeng was very assertive in every way.

Now that she knows Jiang Yifeng's parents are both dead, Liu Yifei has an epiphany.

It turns out that Jiang Yifeng, like Gray, also has a weak side, but it's been hidden.

Thinking about this, Liu Yifei felt that she understood Jiang Yifeng better, and their relationship had become even closer.

As for Shu Chang, she also lost her parents. Seeing Jiang Yifeng's experience, she felt that she had found a kindred spirit and a sense of kinship.

Both women wanted to comfort Jiang Yifeng, but didn't want to be sentimental, so they deliberately "schadenfreude" and played games with him to relieve his sadness.

In fact, Jiang Yifeng was no longer sad. Seeing that Liu Yifei did not believe him, he had no choice but to take out his teaching rod and discipline the naughty fairy. Shu Chang was also implicated and suffered along with him.

Although the story has been widely circulated, the revelation of Jiang Yifeng's experience of losing both parents has indeed made the movie "Back to 20" even more talked about.

This movie has received just as much positive reviews as "Let the Bullets Fly," and it's even more popular among female viewers.

It received rave reviews and was heavily promoted, achieving a 36% screen share on its first day.

It can be said that the right time, the right place, and the right people are all in place.

Under these circumstances, the box office performance of "Back to 20" truly took off.

On its opening day, it grossed 4780 million yuan at the box office;
The following day, it even reversed the trend and directly took in 5330 million in box office revenue!
It grossed over 100 million yuan in just two days, becoming the fastest domestic film to reach that milestone.

Jiang Yifeng was already very satisfied with the data.

This box office figure is close to the current market limit.

After all, "Back to 20" is a 2D movie with a ticket price of around 30 yuan, unlike 3D movies, which can cost an average of 60 yuan.

With limited ticket prices and a limited number of venues and screens, the box office revenue is ultimately constrained by daily sales.

If Jiang Yifeng remembers correctly, Transformers 3 will gross 1.02 million yuan on its opening day in July this year, setting a new record for opening day and single-day box office in the Chinese market.

In terms of ticket prices, blockbuster movies with special effects have a significant advantage.

Fortunately, the momentum of returning to 20 years old is strong. Although there are restrictions on a single day, it is very powerful every day.

On January 3, the daily box office exceeded 50 million again, reaching 50.9 million.

The box office still reached 32.4 million yuan when the holiday ended and work resumed on January 4th.

……

After 7 days in theaters, "Back to 20" has grossed 3.12 million yuan!
It not only broke the record of 2.4 million yuan for the highest opening week box office for a domestic film, which was just set by Let the Bullets Fly, but also surpassed Avatar's 2.89 million yuan.

It became the highest-grossing film in its opening week in Chinese film history!

When Jiang Yifeng announced this data on Weibo, it shocked the entire internet!
Everyone expected "Back to 20" to do well at the box office, but no one expected it to be this high.

"Return to 20" became the highest-grossing opening week in history!

"Jiang Yifeng finally defeated Avatar."

"I want to see Liu Yifei play Avatar."

……

These terms trended on Weibo, and related topics were reported by numerous media outlets, maintaining the high level of interest in returning to one's 20s.

The impact of "Back to 20" on "Let the Bullets Fly" is relatively small, given the strong popularity of "Back to 20".

Because the two films don't overlap much in terms of genre or release date.

However, it had a significant impact on "If You Are the One 2".

Both films are comedies, and their release dates are only 9 days apart.

Putting aside everything else, just looking at the film scheduling, "Back to 20" squeezed out "If You Are the One 2".

Initially, only Wanda Cinemas showed a significant bias, but other cinema chains followed suit.

After all, If You Are the One 2 didn't have a good reputation, and its attendance rate was much lower than that of Back to 20. Cinemas need to make money.

After the box office success of "Back to 20", the box office of "If You Are the One 2" was halved.

Faced with this situation, Hua Yi and Feng Xiaogang did not sit idly by.

Although I had drunk with Jiang Yifeng before and we seemed to be on good terms on the surface, box office revenue is real money, so we still had to fight.

Starting from January 2nd, two opposing views emerged online.

One view is that Jiang Yifeng is disgusting, using his deceased parents for marketing and profiting from their misfortune.

Another argument is that the appearance of the Crown Group in "Back to 20" should be boycotted.

The Crown Group is a bully and has been boycotted and banned in Korea.

For the sake of fairness and justice, China should also ban the Crown Girls Group and boycott the movies they star in.

The first argument has no market.

Because Jiang Yifeng never talks about his family affairs in public, and he avoids answering questions when interviewed.

This matter was discovered by netizens by chance.

Therefore, Huayi focused on promoting the second type of argument.

Soon, multiple media outlets focused on reporting the bullying incident involving the Crown Group, bringing this old story to the forefront.

"The Crown Group are disgraced artists. They still invited them to star in 'Back to 20'. Jiang Yifeng is a heartless businessman who still wants to promote these disgraced stars."

After these remarks came out, quite a few viewers were indeed swayed by the narrative.

Everyone was talking about it.

The related topic even trended on Weibo.

Seeing this, Jiang Yifeng smiled slightly. The Crown Group was a "weakness" he deliberately left to lure his competitors into a trap.

If Hua Yi doesn't attack this point, Jiang Yifeng will attack himself in a few days and hype this up.

On the one hand, they used the popularity to help the Crown Group clarify the bullying incident and make their comeback;
On the other hand, it also helps to generate buzz for the "Back to 20" campaign.

(End of this chapter)