How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 89 You don't need to care, because you won't become my husband or friend.
That's just how people are; they become suspicious whenever they see something that's reasonable but illogical.

Especially after the recent reversals in the topics surrounding Ma Ruo and Qu Shou, netizens have realized that information on the internet should not be taken at face value, nor should one listen to only one side of the story, otherwise it is easy to harm oneself.

Everyone knows that Wang Jing's movies might be a mess, but if even the main creators say they're a mess, then I'll have to taste them myself to see how they're good, otherwise I won't have the confidence to criticize them.

Just how bad is a movie that even its creators have to criticize?
During the peak movie-going time of 8 PM, many cinemas were unable to fill all the screenings for Wang Jing, and the audience overflowed to other smaller cinemas. At this time, viewers who couldn't buy tickets offline saw the offline window of the movie-watching website next door.

I discovered that buying tickets online allows you to reserve seats in advance and find out which movies are showing in advance, so you don't have to worry about not being able to buy tickets for a suitable showtime and making a wasted trip!

Some are happy and some are sad.

Wang Jing stared at the virtual box office screen on the movie website, which updated every half hour, and her mouth was practically splitting with joy.

I boasted about making a measly 1,000 at noon, but I never imagined it might actually happen tonight.

Wang Yao is a genius! He even came up with the idea of ​​reverse advertising.

The audience is really curious; they can't resist any kind of provocation.

Many others in the industry are green with envy.

Are these viewers brain-dead? The creators said it's a bad movie, and you still went to see it? Was the box office inflated?!

Immediately, many people jumped out and began to question the authenticity of the box office figures on Kanpianer.com.

Especially the producers of "14 Blades," which has been in theaters for three days. This film, which also claimed an investment of over 100 million yuan, quietly promoted itself on its first day but still grossed 9 million yuan at the box office, and garnered 40 million yuan in three days.

Moreover, it has received rave reviews and is hailed as the best martial arts film in the last decade, and is likely to become a dark horse at the start of the year with a box office of 6000 million yuan in its opening week.

I thought the main competitor would be "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf," which also grossed 3 million yuan in three days. But I never expected that Wang Jing would suddenly appear. Could this fat guy really break 4000 yuan on the first day?

There's no need for Kanpianer.com to explain these doubts; major entertainment newspapers will naturally report authoritative data after midnight.

Just after midnight, the box office data prediction from the Film Data Management Office was published on its official website and quickly spread across major online portals and forums.

The box office of "Undetected" reached over 1400 million yuan on its opening day, breaking the opening day record of "Confucius" half a month ago.

"The Secret" grossed over 800 million yuan on its opening day, and the two films together actually broke 2000 million yuan!

Moreover, one-fifth of the box office revenue came from Hong Kong, amounting to nearly HK$400 million, which is equivalent to 5 viewers watching the two films that day. Even if calculated separately, it broke the local box office record of the 71 co-production film "Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman"!

Hong Kong's film market is sluggish; even Avatar might not break 200 million on its opening day, but Wang Jing did it.

Hong Kong was in an uproar. Could it be that this fatso Wang Jing is really the savior of Hong Kong films?
Hong Kong colleagues were naturally even more confused. What did this mean? Did Hong Kong audiences really think they owed Wong Jing a movie ticket?
Are the audiences so easily fooled?
But after the confusion came fury, especially since Master Zhen Zitan, who has been hailed as the last hope for Hong Kong martial arts films in recent years, is making a strong comeback this year with "14 Blades," hoping to quietly amaze everyone before the Spring Festival season.

I never thought that before "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" could be defeated, another one, Wang Jing, would emerge!?

I can't beat that dead sheep, fine, after all, it's an inland sheep, but what right do you, you fat dead man who makes bad movies and makes easy money, have?
After Zhen Zitan became famous in 08 with "Ip Man", she finally realized her wish of achieving success later in life. However, she became a bit arrogant. It is possible that her early development was too bumpy, which made her look down on others after she achieved fame.

He didn't have much interaction with Wang Jing because Wang Jing worked with top stars in the early days, and he wasn't considered one of them. He felt a deep-seated contempt not only for Wang Jing, but for most Hong Kong directors.

He believes that they looked down on others in their early years and failed to see their own talents. Especially now, having achieved a dramatic turnaround in their middle age, he looks down on Wang Jing's marketing and hype tactics even more.

He had remained neutral in the discussions about Wang Jing for the past few days, but things are different now. The other party has increased its film screenings, which has seriously affected his interests. So at the promotional event the next day, Zhen Zi publicly revealed the Yin-Yang Dao.

Congratulations to Director Wang on the excellent box office performance of his new film. However, I personally don't really like this type of movie; it might really only be suitable for immature children.

The implication is that those who go to see these two movies are either children or mentally challenged.

As one of the most representative comeback stories in Hong Kong films in recent years, Zhen Zitan's 2000 million HKD salary surpassed that of veteran actors like Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau. Her reputation was quickly reprinted by the media and subsequently attracted more attention from industry insiders.

When Wang Yao saw this news, he specifically called Wang Jing and asked, "Do you have a grudge against Zhen Zitan?"

"No, why would this flop bother me for no reason? His martial arts film isn't competing with me at all." Wang Jing was also completely confused.

"So, are you going to give him face? Or take the opportunity to kick him while he's down?" Wang Yao countered.

"Why should I give him face? Does he really think he's some kind of martial arts king? I don't even care about Jackie Chan. What does Yao think?" Wang Jing asked excitedly, sensing the buzz.

“Alright, let’s see if we can borrow his head.” Wang Yao smiled.

A short while later, Wang Jing posted a message on a movie website, with a sentence and a picture.

"When everyone knows what is beautiful, then ugliness is also present": When you define beauty, you harm all those who do not conform to that definition, so this is also a kind of evil.

Movies and audiences are not things that you or I can define; let's maintain a sense of awe. Anyway, I really enjoy it. [Image]

The accompanying image is a poster congratulating "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 2" on surpassing 8000 million yuan at the box office in 10 days!
The box office relay poster was first created by Xu Zheng in 2015, and it was later adopted as an interaction between the box office champion and the one who surpasses him. It is a marketing etiquette that can greatly enhance goodwill.

Wang Yao plans to change this model to one where films released around the same time congratulate each other. This would not only convey a sense of unity and friendship among filmmakers to the audience, but also garner a lot of goodwill.

For example, fans of "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 2" will subconsciously feel a sense of pride when they see Wang Jing posting a congratulatory poster, feeling that their aesthetic sense has been recognized. At the same time, they will also develop a good impression of Wang Jing, and may even buy a movie ticket to support her, since "Unknown" is also advertised as a family movie.

This marketing strategy leverages the Chinese tradition of reciprocity.

However, since Zhen Zitan just happened to jump out as a weapon before this, the effect of this poster may also carry a mocking tone.

Anyone who reads Zhen Zitan's post will instinctively realize that Wang Jing's post was a reply to him.

What's even more interesting is that Wang Jing and Zhen Zitan are both from the Hong Kong entertainment circle. Instead of congratulating "14 Blades" on breaking 60 million in 4 days, he congratulated "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 2", which was a perfect example of mockery.

Wang Yao is prepared to take all three: the dark side of "The Embroidered Uniform Guard," the friendship side of "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 2," and the onlookers who are just watching the show!

Wang Jing's post was met with a lot of ridicule and attacks shortly after it was published. Some of these attacks stemmed from long-standing grievances, while others were genuinely dissatisfied after watching the film and wanted to vent their frustrations.

However, soon, a large number of platform-verified accounts appeared in the comments section of this post, and their replies were all very consistent.

Qu Shou: I am very pleased to have received such kindness for a thousand years.

Qu Shou, who had disappeared from the public eye for a week, reappeared on Kanpianer.com, almost instantly igniting the nerves of all netizens and media.

Then one after another, verified accounts with identical and neat replies began to flood the screen. At first, some viewers didn't recognize them, but after clicking in, they could see that the verified information indicated they were Hong Kong film industry professionals.

Some were extras, some were factory workers, and some were behind-the-scenes staff. Undoubtedly, their appearance was a response to the post from a few days ago about Wang Jing supporting half of the Hong Kong film industry.

At first, some netizens didn't pay attention to the formation, but as more and more people joined, many popular first and second-tier actors eventually appeared.

Andy Lau: I like it too.

Raku Furuta: I like it too.

Nicholas Tse: I like it too.

It was only then that some film and television enthusiasts realized, "Wow, Wong Jing really managed to get half of the Hong Kong entertainment circle involved? She's really got real talent."

This post was immediately reposted by major portal websites, attracting even more onlookers who were unaware of the facts.

Seeing so many people standing up for Wang Jing, and combined with the news from the day before yesterday, Wang Jing's public image as a "savior of the film industry" is gradually becoming more solid.

Zhen Zidan thought that her remarks would not only be praised by industry insiders, but should at least be widely discussed on the Internet. After all, Master Ip still has a lot of influence in mainland China, and Wang Jing's two movies were bad enough.

He had already instructed his staff to prepare his speech.

He soon received interview invitations from major authoritative media outlets in both regions, but the interview content was somewhat different from what he had imagined.

"Mr. Zhen, as a fellow Hong Kong star who has also benefited from Director Wang's kindness, isn't it a bit unethical of you to mock a senior like this?" Zhen Zi immediately performed a set of Wing Chun on the spot.

What the hell did that fat bastard do me a favor for? I wanted him to hang out with me before, but he wouldn't!
With the help of his assistant, he opened a movie website, watched the movie, and then fell into deep thought, finally letting out a sigh.

"One hundred million movie fans will remember this painful day; it marks the beginning of a period when Chinese films are dominated by bad movies!"

Reciprocity and unity of purpose.

These are two hurdles that Chinese people cannot avoid. Wang Yao used the wisdom of his predecessors to improve Wang Jing's box office and reputation.

Wang Yao was pleased to see the box office increase, but not too pleased, because the quality of the films meant that it was unlikely that any miracles would happen later. The enthusiasm of the audience would eventually be exhausted. If the two films together could reach 200 million yuan in box office revenue, that would be a major success.

But taking advantage of this momentum, we can continue to push forward with the follow-up plans.

On the 8th, thanks to the hashtag "I really like it," the box office of both films stabilized at over 20 million yuan, almost retaining their title as the highest-grossing Chinese films of the day. "Avatar" is like a monster, still making 20 to 30 million yuan in box office revenue every day.

But Wang Jing can be considered a pioneer in the fight against Avatar. The combined box office of the two films can rival that of Avatar. Under the halo of "savior of movies" and "resistance to Western films".

Even those viewers who wanted to criticize the film didn't make things too difficult for Wang Jing, so the film's reputation actually improved somewhat.

Especially among the parents in the parent-child category, many gave positive reviews, feeling that "Unpolice" was very educational, while "Beauty Secret" was somewhat vulgar, but overall not bad.

On the 9th, the crew of "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 2" returned the favor by releasing a poster on Kanpianer.com congratulating "Unknown Police" on breaking 3000 million yuan in box office revenue on the 2nd. The poster was well drawn, blending the styles of Pleasant Goat and Andy Lau's character together.

The creators sent a text message to Wang Jing, thanking her for providing some sci-fi style expansion for Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.

Subsequently, the media released another batch of promotional materials for Wang Jing's film, this time featuring interviews with some celebrities and their film reviews. The day before yesterday, the main creators advised the audience not to watch it, and yesterday the Hong Kong entertainment circle collectively expressed their gratitude.

Today, Wang Jing's friends on social media started making fun of her, advising the audience to be rational, because it really wasn't that good.

However, one interview alone generated more buzz than the film's promotion within half a day.

It was Ah Jiao, the best friend/teammate of Charlene Choi, the lead actress of "The Secret". She had disappeared from the public eye for almost a year because of the previous incident. Her appearance this time, combined with the previous topic of Qu Shou, instantly shifted the focus.

When asked what she had been doing all year and whether she had left the entertainment industry because of the previous scandal, a reporter asked Ah Jiao what she had been doing.

Ah Jiao's reply was simple and firm.

"This year I suffered a lot of inhuman harassment and attacks, so I hid away to think about many things. I watched some documentaries and read some books. After seeing the case of Ms. Qu Shou a few days ago, I slowly began to understand some things. I was too foolish before, and I took love as everything."
You asked me if I would retire from the entertainment industry, and I can tell you very clearly, no.

Because this is my passion, love is unreliable, especially love that involves taking photos to document it. Many people think I'm shameless, and when things happened before, I hated my own weakness.

But I learned a lot from Ms. Qu Shou. Love is not wrong, and recording may not be wrong either. It is people's fault. In the past year, I have watched a lot of documentaries about violence and abuse against women and discovered an interesting phenomenon.

When this kind of news appears, there will be a certain voice in the outside world's commentary.

They say this will be a lifelong trauma for the girl, ruining her entire life. How can she possibly live like this?

Even many films and television dramas portray these kinds of victims as if they can only prove their innocence through death, as if women without chastity should not live.

I find it strange that the victims shouldn't live. Shouldn't the criminals be punished with a lifetime of stigma? Shouldn't they be nailed to the pillar of shame and infamous for eternity?
Later, I read a book that discussed a viewpoint called "victim blaming." For example, women who are harassed are accused of dressing provocatively or going out late at night, and victims of workplace bullying are questioned for being weak or incompetent.

Demanding victims meet the standards of a 'perfect victim,' ignoring the complexities of human nature such as fear and shock-induced stress responses, and criticizing victims from a God-like perspective.

Using causal reasoning to confuse right and wrong causes secondary harm to victims, who not only suffer physical or psychological trauma but also face public criticism, amplifying their sense of shame and self-blame, and even leading to extreme suicidal behavior.

The harm of such rhetoric is that it condones the perpetrators and undermines social justice. When everyone focuses on 'where the victim went wrong,' it diminishes the pursuit of legal responsibility for the perpetrators, leading to a jungle law where the strong survive.

I believe that such remarks are poisoning social values, conveying the distorted logic that "the weak are guilty" and "only perfection is right," and depriving ordinary people of the confidence to defend their own rights.

It will also make people afraid to help others or defend their rights, ultimately leading to a climate of fear among everyone.

Therefore, I hope that all victims who are currently suffering or have already suffered misfortune, regardless of gender, should actively stand up to protect their rights. It is the criminals who should be brought to trial.

Furthermore, I believe that chastity does not exist in the world. If it does, it can only be a matter of morality. In a crime, those who lose their chastity are the perpetrators, and their actions have already disqualified them from being considered morally chaste.

Ms. Qu's actions deeply shocked me. Facing the perpetrator, she bravely and calmly showed an attitude of "I don't care, I will live well in the future," which gave me great strength.

That's why I had the courage to appear in front of the camera today.

Don't try to judge me with the shackles of chastity anymore, unless you are also a perpetrator.

Any topic related to chastity will arouse human excitement.

Because of the moral constraints that discipline human nature, a collective sense of oppression is created for everyone.

Especially in China, when a woman says she doesn't care about chastity, she is undoubtedly provoking everyone.

Why should everyone else be enduring and suppressing their anger, while you shamelessly spout nonsense?

This is not fair.

As a result, Ah Jiao's interview remarks quickly became a media storm on various forums and social media. It has to be said that the "camera scandal" had a huge impact. When it comes to people with such solid evidence of a connection, everyone will subconsciously stand on the moral high ground to criticize them.

The popularity of this topic brought up the previously suppressed topic of Qu Shou, creating a much larger topic that almost instantly overshadowed niche topics in the film industry such as Wang Jing.

Social topics still completely overshadow entertainment topics.

However, this also indirectly brought more attention to the topic of Wang Jing's movie to the general public. The pre-sale box office, which was originally expected to be halved on the third day, actually showed signs of recovery starting in the afternoon.

In communication studies, the diminishing marginal utility effect can also be described using the analogy of existing stock and new growth.

The topics surrounding Wang Jing this week have affected almost all existing moviegoers, so no matter what happens next, this group of existing moviegoers will not increase.

Unless there is a bigger topic that brings new users to the existing user base, Ah Jiao's remarks have this effect: many netizens who don't pay attention to movies but only to gossip or even morality.

My initial thought was that Ah Jiao was involved in the movie, and then I indirectly learned about Wang Jing's "movie savior" story. This part will also bring conversion, which is the incremental spread.

This is also known as "breaking out of the circle," because only by breaking out of the circle can the market or the topic be expanded.

But the core of the public discussion remains unchanged.

That is the 'battle of chastity'.

Ah Jiao's words resonated with many, but naturally also drew opposition from many others, since it concerns chastity, and both men and women are stakeholders.

At this point, people will abandon rational and objective thinking and subjectively choose a position that is advantageous to them, and then refute the opposing position.

At 5 p.m., when most people are leaving get off work, the topic escalated again.

Because Ah Jiao posted a message on Weibo.

'You don't need to care about my chastity, because you will never be my husband or friend.'

If the previous interviews were objective expressions of arguments.

Therefore, this Weibo post undoubtedly expresses a subjective attitude.

The already turbulent sea was stirred up by another storm.

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(End of this chapter)