This director lacks vision.

Chapter 307 Sue Me If You Dare
Jiang Yifeng was telling the truth, but the truth is often hard to hear.

Moreover, Jiang Yifeng's words sounded very familiar.

When John Wick was released, Wang Zhonglei made some careless remarks, saying that John Wick was inflating its box office numbers.

This ultimately led to Huaying Film Group and several cinema chains issuing a joint statement, asserting that the "Rapid Pursuit" operation did not involve any box office manipulation.

Many bystanders believe that Jiang Yifeng's current statement shows he's a sore loser.

In particular, Jiang Yifeng also discussed the issue of Chinese films and television dramas going overseas in the interview, stating that currently only Fengxing Media has the capability to go overseas.

She also denied the rumors that The Legend of Zhen Huan was affiliated with HBO.

That's a very unpleasant thing to say.

In 2013, Zhou Xingchi still had a huge fan base in mainland China, with an estimated 3 million fans.

His reputation is also quite good; after all, Zhou Xingchi is indeed very talented in film.

Otherwise, the Mermaid's marketing strategy of "we all owe Stephen Chow a movie ticket" would not have been successful in the future.

In addition, the drama "Empresses in the Palace" has a large fan base.

These people were the first to criticize Jiang Yifeng.

"The dragon slayer eventually becomes the dragon. Jiang Yifeng has finally become the person we hate. Who does he think he is? Does he think the whole world revolves around him to make money?"
The goal is to be number one at the box office; if someone surpasses it, it's because the other party manipulated the box office.

Only his Fengxing Media can export film and television dramas overseas; other companies cannot.

Clearly narcissistic and inflated ego.

"After reading the report, I really have a hard time commenting. Suddenly, I saw Huang Xiaoming's shadow in Jiang Yifeng. What a greasy man."

"Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons is so popular. When I went to the cinema, the occupancy rate was extremely high. How could it be box office manipulation? Jiang Yifeng has really made a fool of himself this time."

"Stephen Chow's movies have always been very popular. His market appeal is definitely top-tier in China. Isn't it normal for them to achieve high box office returns?"

"Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons is better than Fengxing Media's Yanjing Love Story, right? Chen Sicheng's movies have no quality at all."

Released in the same period as Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons was Chen Sicheng's Love Story in Yanjing.

The film has grossed 2.3 million yuan in its first ten days of release, and its total box office is expected to reach 4 million yuan.

Because Chen Sicheng is a newcomer to film, the focus of the film's promotion, like that of "Love is Not Blind," is still on Jiang Yifeng.

Jiang Yifeng is always positioned in the center of the movie's promotional posters.

Many viewers went to see the movie because of Jiang Yifeng, only to find that he was just a cameo character with a total of only two minutes of screen time, and that was after Chen Sicheng edited it out.

In addition, the quality of the Yanjing Love Story was generally mediocre.

Therefore, this movie did not receive good reviews, far less than Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons.

This is typical of Chen Sicheng's films; they often receive mediocre reviews but perform very well at the box office.

However, this mediocre reputation affected Jiang Yifeng.

When Jiang Yifeng said that Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons was inflating box office numbers, some people used The Love Story of Yanjing to criticize Jiang Yifeng.

Coupled with press releases from rival companies like Huayi Brothers, there has been considerable criticism and ridicule of Jiang Yifeng online.

Jiang Yifeng was already used to this situation.

When a person reaches a certain level, they are bound to be controversial.

The time when Yao Ming was at his most popular was also the time when he had the most haters.
Jiang Yifeng is incredibly popular right now, and the anti-Jiang group is growing stronger every day.

Fortunately, Jiang Yifeng has a lot of supporters.

Especially this time, when Jiang Yifeng said that Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons was inflating its box office, the theaters remained silent and did not issue a statement.

This point has been repeatedly emphasized by Jiang Yifeng's fans.

Zhou Xingchi's fans, on the other hand, argued that the innocent have nothing to fear and no statement is needed. They claimed that Zhou Xingchi doesn't have the same influence as Jiang Yifeng, so he was targeted.

The two sides argued fiercely, making the topic a hot one.

While many people seem to be questioning Jiang Yifeng, the controversy surrounding the alleged box office manipulation of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons has attracted even more attention.

On the afternoon of February 22, during a promotional event for Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, Zhou Xingchi publicly responded to Jiang Yifeng's remarks.

Zhou Xingchi, who usually prefers to avoid controversy, was unusually anxious this time.

"Jiang Yifeng is talking nonsense. My movies never inflate box office figures. Every single box office payment is supported by the real money of my fans."

His words are not only disrespectful to the film industry, but also an insult to my films and my fans!

Following Zhou Xingchi, the lackey emblem also stepped forward.

He said, "I think the accusation of inflating box office figures is particularly boring. Where would we get that much money?"
Box office revenue is easily over a billion now. Are we going to spend a billion to buy box office revenue?
Wouldn't that be a huge loss? Besides, we don't have that much money!

Any normal person who can do the math wouldn't question the possibility of inflated box office figures.

These past two years have been the peak period for heraldry.

In terms of achievements, his TV dramas have become hits and his movies have achieved high box office success.
In terms of connections, he became the godfather of Li Lianjie, and his fund was linked with a group of capital tycoons.

This guy is currently enjoying immense success, and his arrogance and conceit are growing. He's become so outrageous that he's even unwilling to put on a show and will directly curse people on air.

They even dare to stand up and criticize Jiang Yifeng now.

For those who don't know much about heraldry, the concept of heraldry makes a lot of sense.

After all, movies are meant to make money, and spending hundreds of millions at the box office is a losing proposition no matter how you look at it.

Suddenly, support for Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons surged online, and Zhou Xingchi's fans were ecstatic. They even formed groups to mock Jiang Yifeng on Weibo for being bad at math.

At the same time, a Zhou Xingchi fan with the online name "Cute Star" wrote an article titled "Why are so many people criticizing Zhou Xingchi?"

This article, which is over 5 words long, describes Zhou Xingchi's life from childhood to his debut and rise to fame, and defends him against the "blackening" he has been subjected to over the years.

Simply put, Stephen Chow's life has been tough. His early death, his domineering mother, and his impoverished and broken family shaped his insecure and sensitive personality, but also honed his artistic taste and pursuit as a film master.

Under Jiang Yifeng's influence, the article "Why So Many People Hate Zhou Xingchi" was not only published a year earlier, but also included content accusing Jiang Yifeng.

Zhou Xingchi always tirelessly talks about his childhood.

He's too nostalgic and too sentimental, so he's prone to self-inflicted suffering.

"If I made a cartoon, would you go see it with me?"

"My dad said he would go see it with me once, and I'm really looking forward to it."

While everyone else is vying for power and wealth in the adult world, this middle-aged man, who is over 50, seems to still be lost in the world of his childhood, never having been tainted by the slightest bit of the sleazy air of a middle-aged man.

I can't help but think that if he had children, he would probably be the best dad in the world in their eyes.

This is the childlike innocence that Jiang Yifeng, a film businessman, will never possess.

Someone once said, "Stephen Chow only has two ages: one is a 5-year-old boy, and the other is a 100-year-old man."

On one hand, he is as insightful as an elder, and on the other hand, he is as innocent as a child.

This otherworldly yet childlike and ascetic temperament is something Jiang Yifeng never possessed.

If we're talking about who in Chinese-language cinema has best integrated commerce and art, achieving commercial success while also creating artistic films, then it's Zhou Xingchi!
Jiang Yifeng's films may seem to have high box office returns, but they are actually meaningless. He will never be able to make a comedy king or act in a Chinese Odyssey.

The Xiang family's oppression of Zhou Xingchi stemmed from financial interests, while Jiang Yifeng's feelings towards Zhou Xingchi were simply naked jealousy from a fellow industry peer.

So they're all criticizing Zhou Xingchi.

There were rumors at the time that the article was released by Zhou Xingchi's team, but there was no concrete evidence.

The topic of Jiang Yifeng questioning whether Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons had inflated box office numbers has become incredibly popular, and this article has only added fuel to the fire, completely igniting the fighting spirit of Stephen Chow's fans.

"If each of our 300 million Stephen Chow fans bought one movie ticket, we could push his movies' box office to over 10 billion! Does Stephen Chow need to inflate box office numbers?"

"Jiang Yifeng is a despicable villain who is jealous of Stephen Chow's talent. We must boycott all of his works!"

"Jiang Yifeng's math was taught by the PE teacher, please forgive him, he can't do math!"

"Do you think Stephen Chow is like Feng Xiaogang, someone you can bully at will? Stephen Chow's movies are a height that you, Jiang Yifeng, can never reach."

……

Jiang Yifeng didn't want to offend too many people by digging deep into the industry's secrets.

There are too many stakeholders involved behind this.

There are several ways to inflate box office figures in China, including handwritten tickets, falsifying box office data, bundled sales, and sales through dual systems.

These methods all involve theaters deeply involved in a film, usually the films they produce or the stakeholders who use these tactics to maximize their profits.

These methods are just minor skirmishes.

The real way to inflate box office numbers is to directly buy tickets with real money.

Those who don't know the industry think that 100 million in box office revenue requires 100 million to buy, but the actual cost is only about 10%.

First, there's the 5% film special fund and the 3.3% business tax, which are mandatory costs.

The next step is to give the cinemas a cut of the revenue.

It usually won't be too high, generally within 5%, and can even be as low as below 2%.

On the one hand, this is free money for cinemas, so they might as well take it. The seats and screenings that are bought to fill the box office are empty seats that the cinemas haven't sold yet, which are idle capacity.

On the other hand, hyping up high box office numbers can attract more viewers to watch the movie, which is itself a form of publicity.

This kind of hype can attract more viewers to the cinema, effectively increasing theater revenue.

Therefore, theaters welcome producers and distributors buying box office revenue.

This amount of money may seem like a lot, but it can actually be multiplied several times over in the capital market.

This is even after the box office performance of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons was not strong enough.

If a film has strong box office momentum and attracts a large audience to theaters due to the hype surrounding its high box office, then the initial cost of buying tickets can be covered by the subsequent box office revenue.

They might even deduct it directly from the box office revenue sharing, and no problems can be found in the accounts.

The more developed entertainment capital becomes, the more common this kind of gameplay becomes.

The same applies to Zhao Yanzi's debut work, "So Young".

This movie is destined to be a success. No matter how bad the quality of the movie is, the box office will definitely not be low because it needs to be coordinated with the stock market operations of "Yanjing Culture". The box office is guaranteed, and even if it doesn't have a high box office, it can still be bought to have a high box office.

Internet cafes often have recharge promotions, offering a 100 yuan bonus for every 100 yuan recharged.

If you recharge 100 million, the internet cafe will give you another 100 million, instantly giving you a 200 million balance in the internet cafe.

What a great deal!

What? You're not going? Are you stupid? Internet cafe balances aren't cash, are they?
Then let me ask you, are the empty seats in a movie theater that can't be sold cash?
Some idiots don't even know what "vanishable idle capacity" means, yet they come to me to talk about math. I don't know where they get their confidence from.
Since so many dogs are barking at my Weibo, I hereby solemnly declare:
My name is Jiang Yifeng, and I have been verified that Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons engaged in box office manipulation.

(End of this chapter)