This director lacks vision.

Chapter 355 A roadside path and something that's become commonplace
Despite the constant criticism Feng Xiaogang receives, his comedies still had market appeal in 2013.

In its previous life, "Personal Tailor" had a lot of advertising, just like "If You Are the One 2," and was heavily criticized by the audience. It was even named the most disappointing film of the year by the Golden Broom Awards, but it still managed to gross 7 million yuan at the box office.

It is evident that audiences still have a habitual acceptance of Feng Xiaogang's comedies.

The Huayi Brothers brand still features Feng Xiaogang.

Jiang Yifeng's words labeled Feng Xiaogang's comedies as "coffee," directly hitting Feng Xiaogang's sore spot.

As soon as the premiere ended, Jiang Yifeng's remarks quickly spread across the internet.

Many netizens began to discuss whether Feng Xiaogang's comedies were truly out of touch with reality.

People have been comparing the main characters of the two "If You Are the One" movies and have discovered that the male lead, Qin Fen, is a returned overseas student who has made a fortune and can be considered financially independent. Shu Qi's character, Xiao Xiao, is a beautiful flight attendant who travels frequently and has a great deal of priority in choosing a partner.

The story of these two people is indeed not from the perspective of ordinary people.

Analyzing Feng Xiaogang's comedies further back, the protagonist of "A World Without Thieves" is a thief, the protagonist of "Cell Phone" is a famous host, the protagonist of "Big Shot" is a photographer who organizes a funeral for a famous director, the protagonist of "A Sigh" is a famous screenwriter having an affair, and the protagonist of "See You Again" is a story about Chinese Americans.

Among them, the film with the lowest-ranking protagonist is "A World Without Thieves," which is why this film received the highest rating.

Upon closer examination, Feng Xiaogang's comedies do not tell stories of ordinary people, but rather stories of social elites, or more specifically, stories of the "playboys" depicted by Wang Shuo, a member of a privileged family.

In the early years, China's film box office mainly relied on big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, and people yearned for or had a certain sense of identification with this elite lifestyle.

Therefore, Feng Xiaogang's comedies are effective.

However, with the market expanding, watching movies has become a form of entertainment consumption for the general public.

Feng Xiaogang's comedies naturally wouldn't work.

After careful consideration, everyone found that Jiang Yifeng's words made perfect sense. As expected of a great director, his comments on Feng Xiaogang's comedies were spot on.

A well-known film critic on Weibo, "Shark Chili," posted a film review titled "The Curtain Falls on Feng Xiaogang's Comedies."

"Yesterday afternoon, I attended the premiere of Private Customization. After watching the movie, I felt very strange."

The film's visuals, soundtrack, and dialogue all demonstrate director Feng Xiaogang's meticulous design.

In order to compete with director Jiang Yifeng, Director Feng really put in a lot of effort.

But the movie felt like it only scratched the surface.

I never found a comedy movie very funny, or rather, I found the laughter forced.

There was laughter at the premiere, but it was sporadic and not very hearty.

I hadn't figured out the reason before, but after seeing Director Jiang's analysis just now, I finally understood the problem with personalized customization—it's not down-to-earth, or rather, it lacks authenticity.

The story of personalized customization is similar to that of client and service provider, where several main characters come together to help people realize their dreams.

When I used to watch "Party A and Party B," I didn't think there was anything wrong with it; I just laughed it off.

Now, when I watch Personal Tailor, one question keeps popping into my head: what are the motivations of the main characters?
Why would they do this?
The costs they incur to help others realize their dreams far exceed what the clients can afford.

Isn't this just losing money to gain publicity? Don't they have their own lives? Don't they need to earn money to support their families?

Is it really for the sake of the company's slogan—"To please others, you disgust yourself"?

Once you have this doubt, you'll feel that the whole movie has lost its realism and is just a contrived skit.

In contrast, in Director Jiang's "Lost in...", Geng Hao is an ordinary person, and his experiences are things that ordinary people would also encounter.

We can easily immerse ourselves in the story, thus creating emotional resonance; we laugh especially happily and cry sincerely.

Perhaps from the very beginning, Feng Xiaogang's comedies were telling the stories of the "playboys" depicted by Wang Shuo.

In the past, what we saw was the rebellious spirit of the "tough guys" and their critique of mainstream values;
Now we understand the truth about this group of troublemakers: they are almost all second-generation rich kids from wealthy families who don't have to worry about making a living.

They can rebel and criticize, but they always have their families to back them up.

But we can't. We're just ordinary people, and everyone has their own life.

Nowadays, no one reads Wang Shuo's books anymore, and no one cares about the stories and jokes of those tough guys, but Feng Xiaogang is still making these kinds of films.

Times are changing, but Feng Xiaogang is stagnant; it's time for Feng-style comedies to come to an end.

This film review immediately became a hot topic after it was published.

Jiang Yifeng also noticed this film review and forwarded "Shark Chili's" Weibo post, increasing its popularity.

In a short time, topics such as Feng Xiaogang's comedies being out of touch with reality and the need for Feng Xiaogang's comedies to come to an end sparked heated discussions across the internet.

Weibo also held a poll: "Do you think Feng Xiaogang's comedies are outdated?"

87% of viewers believe that Feng Xiaogang's comedies are outdated and should come to an end.

This ratio is extremely exaggerated.

The marketing effect that Huayi had previously achieved by leveraging the controversy surrounding the Spring Festival Gala was completely ruined after Jiang Yifeng's comments and deconstruction, and even had the opposite effect.

Once a person or a movie is labeled, the greater their fame, the higher the degree of labeling.

Upon seeing these comments and voting results, Feng Xiaogang was furious and immediately launched an attack on Weibo.

He first tagged more than a dozen film critics, publicly criticized them, and said things like, "I'm not Zhang Yimou, I won't swallow my anger. I'm at odds with you shitty film critics."

Then he tagged Jiang Yifeng, saying that this showdown was completely unfair, unfair in terms of media coverage, theater scheduling, and story subject matter.

When Feng Xiaogang talked about the subject matter of the story, he clearly admitted to it to some extent: the stories made for private clients were too superficial and the scripts themselves were not solid.

But Jiang Yifeng did not respond to him, because box office figures don't lie.

On December 19th, Lost in the Big Bang and Personal Tailor will be released together.

On its opening day, Lost in China grossed 1.47 million yuan, setting a new record for opening day and single-day box office in the Chinese film market.

Personal Tailor only grossed 3570 million at the box office.

This result isn't particularly bad, but the contrast with "Lost in Thailand" is too stark!
As a result, multiple media outlets have given similar reports. "Collapse at the first touch: Jiang and Feng's showdown ends in a crushing defeat for Feng Xiaogang!"

"The outcome was decided on the first day; Lost in the Big Bang's box office was four times that of Personal Tailor!"

"The box office gap between Jiang and Feng's films is too large, netizens commented: It's not even a competition on the same level."

"Feng's comedies have come to an end, but Jiang's comedies will enjoy enduring success! This is the choice of the times!"

Related reports are emerging one after another.

After all, the showdown between Jiang Yifeng and Feng Xiaogang is the biggest highlight of the Lunar New Year film season and the hottest news in the entertainment industry at the end of the year.

Despite media reports and online comments, Huayi Brothers has not given up. Press releases are still being issued, and online trolls are still working. The personalized rating on Douban has even been boosted to 6.8.

There have also been many negative reviews about "Lost in..." online.

But the market is the most pragmatic thing; movie theaters need to make money.

The following day, Lost in the Big Bang continued its strong box office performance, grossing 1.45 million yuan!
Personalized customization dropped to 3100 million.

Seeing this, the cinema immediately adjusted its screening schedule.

The screenings of "Lost in..." increased further, exceeding 65%, while the screenings of "Personal Tailor" were squeezed to around 20%.

The worst off are films like Ning Hao's "No Man's Land," which have seen their screenings drop to less than 5%.

Fortunately, the movie "No Man's Land" has been showing for two weeks, and its peak box office period has passed.

While increasing the number of screenings, cinemas also raised ticket prices, with the average ticket price for "Lost in..." reaching around 40 yuan.

In this context, on Saturday, December 21st, which was the third day of the film's release, "Lost in..." achieved a single-day box office of 1.88 million yuan, breaking the single-day box office record once again!
Sunday's box office dropped slightly, but still reached 1.73 million.

So far, Lost in China has grossed 6.53 million yuan in just four days!
This box office result shocked everyone.

Not only Chinese media outlets are vying to report on it, but overseas media are also paying attention.

The movie "Lost in China" grossed 600 million yuan in just four days. This is not just a problem with the movie itself, but also proves that the Chinese film market has begun to prosper.

For example, the Los Angeles Times headline read: "Jiang's new film grosses nearly $1 million in its opening weekend, making the Chinese film market a battleground for Hollywood blockbusters."

By the end of 2013, the total number of cinema screens in China had exceeded 2, reaching 60% of that in North America, and the growth rate was very fast. It was expected that China would surpass the United States in another two years.

This is the hardware foundation for the explosion of the film market.

Even without the "Lost in Heaven" flop, the super-bad movie "The Monkey King" would still have grossed 4 million yuan in 4 days and 6.2 million yuan in 7 days during this year's Spring Festival.

As for Transformers 4, which will be released during the summer season, it grossed 6 million yuan in just 3 days, setting even more box office records.

By Monday, December 23, after the start of the work week, the box office of Lost in China was still able to maintain a high level of 120 million yuan!

This result is truly phenomenal.

By this time, nobody cared about the Jiang-Feng showdown anymore.

Feng Xiaogang was like a stray dog ​​on the roadside, kicked away without a trace.

The movie "Lost in..." has created a siphon effect, with its huge box office success breaking into the mainstream and penetrating into the daily lives of ordinary people.

Especially on WeChat Moments, everyone is talking about this movie.

Even people who don't usually watch movies have learned about the movie "Lost in..." and become interested in watching it to find out why it's so successful at the box office.

Besides, there's another group of people who keep a close eye on the box office data updates, hoping that Lost in the Big Bang can create an even bigger miracle.

These people are both enthusiastic supporters, giving free publicity to "Lost in Thailand," and they also go to the cinema multiple times to watch the film, supporting it with real money.

Under these circumstances, Lost in China grossed over 10 billion yuan in its opening week!
It broke all the box office records in the Chinese film market in one go.

This opening week box office record is more than double that of Lost in Thailand and 4 million yuan higher than John Wick.

Jiang Yifeng's films have always been well-received and have a strong staying power, and everyone is looking forward to a new box office record.

As for "Personal Tailor," its opening week box office was 1.18 million yuan, which was far from ideal. Moreover, the box office for the next two days was only around 1000 million yuan, so it had no potential left and it would be difficult to break through 2 million yuan in total box office.

This week, Huayi Brothers' stock price fell by 13%, clearly because the market felt that the box office performance of "Personal Tailor" was below expectations.

Seeing this, Hua Yi Shuang Wang couldn't help but complain to Feng Xiaogang, accusing him of provoking Jiang Yifeng in the first place.

The accusations from the two kings are not unreasonable. If Feng Xiaogang hadn't provoked Jiang Yifeng, "Personal Tailor" could have not only earned more advertising sponsorship fees, but also easily raked in 7 million yuan at the box office, making a fortune.

But Feng Xiaogang was also furious and in a bad mood. After being criticized by the two kings, he had a big argument with them.

Feng Xiaogang announced directly to the public that he will take a year off next year and will not make any movies.

The Wang brothers were very angry, but there was nothing they could do.

The rift between the two sides has widened further.

The news of Feng Xiaogang arguing with the two Wangs did not generate much buzz for the private customization service.

Because all the buzz is about the movie "Lost in...".

The box office success of "Lost in..." was phenomenal, receiving official reports and praise, but it also touched a nerve with some people.

Suddenly, a large number of criticisms of "The Big Lost" began to appear online.

Just like movies such as The Wandering Earth and Nezha, which have been constantly attacked.

Da Jiong also received the same treatment.

Moreover, Jiang Yifeng and Fengxing Media have more competitors, and this attack is quite fierce.

Jiang Yifeng was already used to this situation.

After all, his movies frequently break box office records, so being targeted has become the norm.

(End of this chapter)