This director lacks vision.

Chapter 44 Success and Controversy

Silence fell over the meeting room.

After a long pause, Wang Wei said, "Old Boys is so well made. This movie will be competitive even if it's released in theaters."

Putting it online would be a complete game-changer!
Sohu Video's leading market share is unlikely to change in the short term.

We must expedite our fundraising efforts and reposition the company in the market.

The layman looks at the excitement and the insider looks at the doorway.

After watching Old Boys, Wang Wei knew that Sohu Video had become the dominant force and had taken up the mantle of original content production for video websites.

Tudou.com can be imitated, but it's basically impossible to surpass it in a short period of time.

Wang Wei's strategic adjustments to the company are the highest praise for "Old Boy".

When Wang Wei made the strategic adjustment decision, a young man named Yi Zhenxing in Changsha had also finished watching Old Boys.

He wiped away his tears and opened the comments section.

I saw a comment from someone who spent 1000 yuan to tip for charging, and it was ranked first.

"Director Jiang is awesome (voice cracks)!!! This movie is both funny and touching, and it captures the youth, regrets and dreams of ordinary people."

The song "Old Boy" is very nice and fits the storyline perfectly; its emotional and tear-jerking effect is very natural.

Then two reversals occurred, which were unexpected but also reasonable.

Especially the scene where the school beauty turns around at the end, it's absolutely amazing!

Seeing this scene, a feeling naturally welled up inside me, one that I couldn't quite explain.

In this glance back, it seems there are also my youth and regrets.

Perhaps if I had been braver and tried harder back then, the outcome would have been very different, or perhaps nothing would have changed.

After all, it was just a glance back.

That's the charm of movies—they bring unique feelings and insights to everyone.

Thank you, Director Jiang, for giving us such a wonderful film.

Below this comment are all comments from people who tipped, with amounts varying from large to small.

"Such a good movie would be a masterpiece even if it were shown in theaters, but Director Jiang uploaded it to the internet and let me watch it for free. I can only say that Director Jiang is awesome!"
This is my first time tipping someone, just a small token of my appreciation. I hope Director Jiang will create many more great works in the future.

"Director Jiang is such a great director! I used to think Gao Yuanyuan wasn't pretty, but after watching this movie, I'm completely captivated by her. She's so beautiful, a perfect school beauty goddess!"

“Li Mingqi’s teacher, Susan, was also very impressive. When I was in school, I hated the strict discipline of my teachers. Now, I really have to thank them.”

If it weren't for Teacher Su, Dapeng might have ended up like Qiao Shan, only able to run a hair salon and unable to buy a house.

Pursuing dreams comes at too high a price; ordinary people like us can't afford it. Studying hard may not be the best choice, but it's certainly the safest and most reliable.

"With ever-increasing housing prices and increasingly pragmatic women, what's the use of having excellent grades in school? They still can't compare to the family background of a kept man."

While Oldboy has some contrived elements, it's still very authentic overall and worth watching.

"I cried while watching it. This movie is very emotional, and I gave it a small reward for that. But to be honest, the movie still has many shortcomings, and there are some illogical parts in the plot. I would give it a 6 out of 10."

"I agree with the comment above. This movie is too sentimental and not very interesting overall, but I still support Jiang Yifeng. I like his 'Dashan Dadaoshan' style."

Upon seeing these comments, Yi Zhenxing also tipped them using his Alipay account and commented: "I always hear people say that ordinary people don't have a youth, let alone deserve to have dreams."

These things seem to be exclusively for handsome men and beautiful women, talented men and beautiful women.

The good thing about Old Boys is that it tells the stories of ordinary people.

Life may have worn down our edges, and we may have lost the impulsiveness and drive we once had, but we still have the right to dream.

You still have to give it your all in many things. At least if you've tried, you won't have any regrets.

At the end, when the school beauty looked back, I felt that Director Jiang was telling us that if you had tried a little harder and fought bravely back then, the outcome would have been different.

Perhaps you can't be with the school beauty in the end, just like the Dashan duo stopped at the top 64.

But you might have a romance with the school beauty, or you might even sing your own "Old Boy" song on stage!
At this moment, I am absolutely certain.

I'm going to chase my dreams!
I'm going to make my way in Yanjing!
On July 1, 2009, a video blogger named "Professor Yi Xiaoxing" decided to give it another shot at his dream of becoming a director!
Please follow me, I will definitely succeed! Yi Zhenxing's message quickly received thousands of likes and became a popular comment.

Many netizens encouraged him and wished him to become the next Jiang Yifeng.

Li Hongchou in Shijiazhuang also witnessed this scene.

He also wanted to try again and film "The Swindler".

Many bloggers who create online videos have been inspired by Oldboy and have started to take action.

……

Thanks to extensive prior publicity and capitalizing on the buzz surrounding Michael Jackson's death, Oldboy received a tremendous amount of attention.

The movie surpassed 1 million views within an hour and a half of its release.

Four hours later, the number of views exceeded 2 million!
Four hours later, the number of views exceeded 2 million!
It became the fastest online video to reach 10 million views across the entire internet.

The song "Old Boy" also became an overnight sensation, surpassing Zeng Yike's "Leo" and Murong Xiaoxiao's "Love Transaction" to become the most popular online song.

In just one day, Old Boy topped the QQ Music online streaming chart, and its downloads on Baidu MP3 soared to second place. Its ringtone downloads even entered the top five, and it's about to challenge for the number one spot!

This is why this situation occurred.

On one hand, there's Jiang Yifeng's "Old Boys," which is much better than the previous one in terms of script quality, cast, promotional resources, and production costs, resulting in a more outstanding final product.

On the other hand, Jiang Yifeng has taken into account a wider range of people, especially the underprivileged "Shamate" group in the film.

This group of people really gave me face.

After seeing Old Boys speak up for the "Shamate" group, they supported them with real money, spontaneously subscribed to Old Boys' song as a ringtone, and proudly told everyone they met, "Old Boys are also Shamate."

The support from the "Shamate" subculture allowed the film "Old Boys" to generate additional revenue from ringtone services, in addition to advertising and virtual gifts.

On the morning of July 3rd, Jiang Yifeng arrived at the company and saw that everyone was beaming with joy.

Dapeng and Qiaoshan, in particular, had smiles on their faces constantly.

The success of Old Boys further boosted the popularity of the Da Shan group.

In particular, they now have a signature song, which will greatly increase their income when they perform at commercial events in the future.

Of course, Dapeng and Qiao Shan are both signed artists of Jiang Yifeng Studio now, and they are all part of the same team.

As the income of the Dashan group increases, the overall income of the studio will also increase.

Seeing that everyone was getting too excited, Jiang Yifeng reminded them, "It's good to be happy, but we still need to focus on our work. With the popularity of 'Old Boys,' there will definitely be controversy."

We should leverage the controversy to make "Old Boys" even more popular.

The online phenomenon of "Old Boys" has become a hit across the internet, naturally sparking numerous controversies.

Whether it's smear articles from rival video websites, suppression from mainstream theatrical film circles, or outrageous remarks by fans of "Old Boys" that have sparked public resentment, it's all a result of the backlash.

These are all sources of criticism and controversy.

Moreover, there are indeed some issues with the quality of Oldboy products.

After all, it's just a 55-minute online movie.

It simply did a good job of designing emotional appeals and minor plot twists, which resonated with the audience's emotions.

The script still has quite a few flaws.

The online praise is overwhelmingly positive, creating a sense of misplacement and making controversy inevitable.

For Jiang Yifeng, this is a good thing; one-sided praise is not conducive to publicity.

Controversy generates buzz.

Sure enough, on the morning of July 3, a newspaper in southern China and Xinlang Entertainment jointly published an article.

Low-quality online dramas are lowering viewers' aesthetic standards; we must be wary of bad money driving out good!

This article served as a prelude to a surge in online criticism of Oldboy.

(End of this chapter)