Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 14 The Sixth Princess Invites You

No filmmaker would refuse, nor would they dare to refuse, the invitation from the Sixth Princess.

After all, the Sixth Princess's status is even higher than that of the top boss in the film and television industry. No one dares to disrespect anyone else, but no one dares to give face to the Sixth Princess.

Chen Shou was a little nervous on his first visit to the Sixth Princess. While all the national television stations were broadcasting the Spring Festival Gala, the Sixth Princess was probably broadcasting "The Founding Ceremony of the People's Republic of China".

"Director Chen, you seem a little nervous?"

The set in the studio was very simple. Apart from the host, there was only a group of people sitting on benches. There were no sofas, and everyone was sitting upright.

Besides Chen Shouzhe, the other four main actors were present, but the others were not.

"I am a little nervous," Chen Shouzhe said truthfully.

"Why are you nervous?" the host asked with a smile.

"This is my first time on the movie channel."

"It's alright, just treat it as a normal interview. You're a crosstalk comedian, you're not going to be nervous."

"Okay, if I say I spit out my lips, remember to cut them off for me." Chen Shou took a deep breath and quickly composed himself.

"Director Chen, let's officially begin."

After a few opening questions, the host suddenly asked, "What do you think of the film 'No End of the World' released in the same period? Compared to your film, which is better?"

After a moment of preparation, Chen Shou said, "I saw the movie on the day of the premiere of 'No End of Days'. Director Feng is my senior. He changed his usual style and made a disaster film. Actually, I have been looking forward to it for a long time. I have been looking forward to the release of the movie since it was announced. I went to see the movie as soon as it was released. It is definitely much better than my movie."

"Since you say your movie is worse than yours, why is your box office performance worse? As of today, your box office has exceeded 100 million for three consecutive days, breaking the record for the highest single-day box office for a domestic film. Breaking the record for the highest box office for a domestic film is just around the corner. Meanwhile, 'No End of the World' was released two days earlier than yours, and its box office has only just exceeded 200 million. Why is there such a big difference?" the host asked.

This might offend someone if said wrong, but since this was the Sixth Princess, Chen Shou thought for a moment and decided to speak his mind.

Everyone was watching him, and they had also discovered the trap.

"The difference in box office performance may be due to the advantage of my subject matter. Director Feng's film is excellent, and everyone who has seen it thinks it is excellent, but it is a disaster film. People's acceptance of disaster films is limited, especially during the festive season of the Lunar New Year. During their holidays, audiences are more willing to go to the cinema to watch a comedy and have a good laugh."

"So you mean disaster movies don't appeal to audiences, while comedies are more likely to do so?" the host asked sharply.

"Not necessarily. There are different types of disaster films. Director Feng's disaster films have a high artistic element. It's very difficult to maintain both artistic merit and high box office returns. On the contrary, comedy films and science fiction disaster films are more likely to attract audiences." Chen Shouzhe wasn't afraid of offending anyone, after all, this was the reality.

Art films rarely achieve high box office returns. Some films are hailed as masterpieces, receiving rave reviews and becoming classics, but their box office performance during their theatrical run is often lackluster.

Many films that win major awards are like this; they may win some international awards, but their box office is only a few million, and they may not even be released.

Comedy and science fiction films are criticized by many 'professionals', yet they are recognized by audiences.

Life is already full of pressure, so having a moment of happiness is more important than anything else. Who wants to be lectured after watching a movie after work?

Education is easy; just watch the Spring Festival Gala more often.

"There is no distinction between high and low in movies; the audience has the right to choose. I'm just a filmmaker, and I never expected the movie to be so popular. I thank all the viewers who support me, and I hope more viewers will go to the cinema to support other movies," Chen Shouzhe added.

The host interviewed them for a while longer before letting Chen and the others go.

After finishing the interview with Princess Liu, they immediately continued their roadshow.

"Keep up the good work and promote it more. I've already discussed it with Director Wang and the others, and we'll use a portion of the money to give everyone red envelopes," Chen Shou said.

Everyone's eyes lit up at the mention of red envelopes. The movie was destined to break records, and their net worth would skyrocket. Their hard work now was definitely for a better future, and they were even more excited to hear about the red envelopes.

Chen Shouzhe has already contacted several production companies to arrange for red envelope rewards for the actors. After all, with such high box office returns, they will definitely all receive red envelopes, and he himself will even receive an even bigger one.

Chen Shou invested his own money, including his salary, in the film. The advantage was that he held the film's copyright. He didn't hand over the copyright when he signed the contract; it belonged to his studio. All the proceeds from selling the copyright would belong to him.

The box office figures for the seventh day finally dropped, after all, the three-day holiday was over and people were back at work, but the box office was still stuck at over 90 million, which was quite absurd.

Other companies were extremely envious; the box office figures for the past seven days and week were 60127 million.

Six hundred million in seven days—at this rate, the record is bound to be broken tomorrow.

Many film and television companies couldn't sleep that night. When they woke up the next day and saw the latest box office figures, they were stunned.

It still grossed over 90 million, although it didn't reach 700 million, it has already broken the record for the highest box office gross for a domestic film.

The cinema allocated 40% of the screenings to "Goodbye Mr. Loser," cutting all the shares of other unsuccessful films and giving them all to the latter.

The momentum is overwhelming.

Chen Shou promoted the film for twenty days, which finally came to an end, but the film's popularity did not diminish at all. Twelve days later, it officially broke the 1 billion yuan mark, becoming the first domestic film to break the 1 billion yuan mark.

The Film Bureau issued a congratulatory announcement, and major film companies, looking at the box office results, were somewhat doubting their own existence.

"It's already broken one billion?"

Inside the China Film Group office, Han Sanye sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the box office statistics that Director Wang had brought over.

He considered making blockbusters, investing in films with big-name casts, and using blockbusters to break the monopoly of foreign films on the domestic film market.

Unexpectedly, the record was broken by a comedy film.

It's a mid-budget comedy film with an investment of 20 million yuan. The director and lead actors are both newcomers, and the investors are people the director had to beg for everywhere with a broken bowl.

He also knew that major film and television companies had rejected his request and even had security guards kick him out.

Now that the record has been broken, he really doesn't know whether to be happy or to smile bitterly. In short, China Film Group has had a stroke of incredible luck.

No wonder Mr. Ren from Ying's side called early this morning to congratulate him in a sour tone. He thought it was something serious. It turns out that Ying was also one of the people who kicked him out.

However, Xiying, which had been in decline, began to thaw. Although they had only invested 10%, it had brought a 20-fold return, enough to fill a year's and next year's annual reports. "Please invite him to the group in a couple of days. I haven't met this young talent yet," Third Master Han said to Director Wang.

"He's currently doing promotions in the south and is expected to be back in about a week," Director Wang said with a smile.

"Looks like you're really serious."

"Yes, both he and the main actors in the crew are very dedicated. They travel to several cities a day to promote the film. Haha, we can't give them too little in red envelopes."

"That's only right, they deserve a reward. That brings the total to over one billion. Thank you for your hard work."

"It should."

Although the box office was lower, the promotion continued non-stop.

After being released for twenty days, Chen Shouzhe stopped promoting the film. It broke 1 billion in 12 days and reached more than 1.3 billion in 20 days.

After all, the domestic market hasn't really taken off yet, and only a minority of people are going to the movies. Plus, pirated copies have already been leaked, so fewer and fewer people are going to the cinema. There are still ten days left. Right now, the daily revenue is hovering around 30 million, so it should be able to break 1.5 billion in the end.

It broke the record for the highest box office gross for a film released in China. The current record is held by a foreign sci-fi blockbuster that grossed over 1.3 billion yuan. It's just one or two days away from that record.

After the promotional period ended, Chen Shouzhe returned to Kyoto with his team.

"Finally, I can take a break." Back at the horse farm, Chen Shouzhe breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the farm gate.

Fortunately, the horse farm is located in Daxing, which is very close to the airport. He was the first person to arrive home after getting off the plane.

"Master, Mistress, Godfather?!"

There were several people standing at the door. Chen Shou recognized them at a glance and hurriedly ran over.

"Our great director is back!" the teacher's wife said happily, opening her arms wide.

"Hehehe." Chen Shou went over and hugged her tightly, laughing in a very simple and honest way.

Having grown up at home since childhood, the teacher's wife was just like a mother to him. She was overjoyed to see her "son" succeed.

“It’s perfect timing, your godfather is here too, let’s have dinner together,” Yu Qian said.

"Okay, Godfather, what brings you here?"

"I heard from Xiao Meng that you came back today, so I came to see you. You've been working hard these past few days."

"There's money to be made, and it's not hard work."

A group of people entered the house with smiles on their faces. A large table of dishes had already been prepared and they were waiting for Chen Shou to return.

After a hearty meal and some conversation, Lord Hou drove Guo Degang home, while Chen Shouzhe, exhausted, went straight back to sleep.

I got up early the next day and went to the horse farm to help out, as was my habit.

"No need, no need, we can handle it." When the master's wife saw Chen Shou coming over to help, she quickly told him to leave.

"It's okay, I haven't done it in a long time." Chen Shou habitually squatted down to milk the cow.

This isn't a bull, it's a real dairy cow, the one that curses.

The teacher's wife took a picture of him and posted it on her social media account with the caption: "The great director is busy at his own horse farm early in the morning."

Few people would notice this account, and even fewer would notice that the person milking the cows was Chen Shouzhe.

If it weren't for a few fellow disciples from the Deyun Society discovering it and liking and sharing it, no one would have noticed.

It wasn't until the afternoon that fans finally noticed, and suddenly many media outlets focused on the post. The director of the first film in China to gross 1 billion yuan went home yesterday and started helping with milking early this morning.

[Billion-dollar director Chen Shou was milking his mother as soon as he got home!]

[Shocking! A billion-dollar director enjoys milking.]

[A renowned director drinks milk on set!]

Titles like these have deceived countless netizens into clicking on them. Chen Shou's fame has soared during this period, especially among people in the film and television industry, who are very interested in his every move.

When I clicked on it, I found out that this was how it was, and I couldn't help but curse the clickbait title.

"I thought it was some kind of 'milking'."

"Director, milking... I misunderstood."

"This title is perfect for UC graduates."

"Shocking, shocking my ass."

"I thought I was seeing pictures of Chen Shouzhe and Liu Yan. What a nasty clickbait title."

Chen Shouzhe was unaware of the morning's commotion. He changed his clothes and went to China Film Group, where Director Wang said the big boss wanted to see him.

The big boss of China Film Group is none other than Third Master, the top figure in the domestic film and television industry.

He had long heard of Third Master's domineering nature, after all, his nickname was "Mountain Eagle".

There may be names that are mispronounced, but there are no nicknames that are wrong. Everyone knows the name Third Master.

With a heavy heart, Chen Shou followed Director Wang to Third Master's office and met the legendary Third Master.

(End of this chapter)