Huayu: Are you even sitting up straight? You're going to be the director?

Chapter 64 is receiving rave reviews! Now available in theaters nationwide!
"Damn, this movie."

After watching the movie, Wang Zhonglei remained very quiet, and couldn't help but touch his nose. He turned to look at Yu Dong.

"Mr. Yu, aren't you going to distribute this movie?"

Yu Dongdao said, "I have 'Flash Point' and 'The Sun Also Rises'."

Wang Zhonglei gave Yu Dong a thumbs up.

"President Yu is still the most determined."

"But after watching this movie, I understand my brother."

Yu Dong smiled and said, "The movie is very good, but Cao Zhong is too controversial after all... Anyway, I wish President Wang great success in its release."

Wang Zhonglei understood the meaning behind Yu Dong's words: "Businessmen, even those who are controversial, will take a gamble when the time is right."

Yu Dong remained noncommittal, saying, "But Bona can't compete with Huayi's large and powerful family, so they have no choice but to choose a side."

……

On the day of the preview screening, the weather outside the theater was incredibly hot and humid.

Inside the building, the actors and crew were surrounded by reporters outside the red carpet as they left.

Ning Hao and Xing Nana walked out the door.

"It feels like an earthquake is coming," Xing Nana said.

"Since last year, when have we not been in the midst of an earthquake?"

“There are many people criticizing Jia Zhangke online, but there is one more Cao Zhong, and he is the Cao Zhong who directed ‘Nanjing Photo Studio’, which is quite different.”

The two were talking, unsure how to respond.

At that moment, many audience members who had left after the show walked by.

Each of them is also constantly communicating and exchanging ideas.

Ning Hao and Xing Nana sat on a roadside bench, listening to the sounds passing by.

"I originally thought it was a cruel and sad documentary film, and I also thought it was an extreme film that would sensationalize and incite patriotism, but I really didn't expect that the film would not only calm people down, but also be so good. I hardly missed a single second."

"To be honest, after being tricked into going to the cinema by 'The Promise' and 'Curse of the Golden Flower,' I haven't watched a movie in a long time. I didn't even go to 'Transformers.' If domestic films get any worse, I thought I would only be able to watch 'Animal World' from now on."

"Transformers is cool and great."

"Isn't 'Nanjing Photo Studio' good? The movie has a great pace. We are just like the main characters, people in the movie who are praying to survive."

"I've watched movies for so many years, and this is the quietest movie I've ever seen."

"It's also a vivid 'historical enlightenment' for everyone. It was the first time I realized that this kind of movie could be made with such suspense. The plot kept twisting and turning, and my senses were constantly being stabbed by a knife as the director filmed."

"It doesn't rely on playing the victim, but it has real staying power."

"The lights in the theater came on, but I still haven't recovered."

"For more than two hours during the movie, I was gritting my teeth the whole time. If it weren't for Cao Zhong's talk about the right to interpret and the right to morality at the premiere, I would have thought that our suffering back then was known to the whole world."

"Although it's a mainstream film and it's told through loudspeakers, the movie's dialogue doesn't try to elevate it. Instead, it's like old soup, slowly seeping into your heart!"

"Before watching the movie, I thought he was going to cry for me. But he didn't. Cao Zhong is really something else. He made us all feel sad in silence."

"Outside the photo studio was war, inside was survival. No one cried out in pain, but their hearts began to go numb. When those photos were developed, and I heard the actor's Nanjing accent, his name was Zu Feng, right? I just broke down. Like the main characters in the photo studio, I felt like my emotions were being pulled out by my hair. All I could hear was the rustling of tissues."

"A perfectly good city of Nanjing has been turned into such a mess. This sentence is not grand at all, but it makes people shudder. The actors' performances, their struggle for survival, but with morality, is this what Cao Zhong called the moral right? In the instinctive fear of death, there is still an attitude."

"Many movies are forgotten after watching them, but I'll probably remember this one for the rest of my life, the kind I'll never forget. Every year when the air raid sirens sound, I feel like I'll watch it all over again."

"Why is Cao Zhong being cursed? A bunch of beasts!"

"I don't understand either. But how can we, as people from Nanjing, let this movie be criticized? I will buy tickets for my family."

……

The first preview screening received rave reviews.

Countless Nanjing viewers voiced their opinions online, joining Cao Zhong's camp. This was due to Cao Zhong's clothing and his attacks on Jia Zhangke.

The preview screening has just ended.

Public opinion was in an uproar!

A sudden hurricane!

After three months of silence, Cao Zhong, around the time of the premiere, released a piece titled "The End of the War," a new outfit, and a bombardment.

He dragged everyone and everything that had previously targeted Cao Zhong into the battle.

The gun is loaded.

My forty-meter-long sword has been itching for a fight for a long time. Letting you run thirty-nine meters is already the limit of my patience.

Why should I leave?

Whether I win or lose, you all have to stand in the spotlight and stand with me through it!
Sina News quickly made it its front page headline: "Cao Zhong discusses 'Nanjing Photo Studio,' emphasizing the moral right and right of interpretation of the Chinese people's sacrifice, and criticizes Jia Zhangke for 'eating bones'!"

Major portal websites also placed his news in the most prominent position.

"Cao Zhong and Arthur's dog training concept art! It's absolutely stunning!"

Meanwhile, Jia Zhangke's supporters quickly found loopholes in Cao Zhong's words and amplified and publicized Cao Zhong's statements.

"Art films? Are they really just a manipulated name for art and literature? Is Cao Zhong's question to Jia Zhangke a tirade against all directors?"

Cao Zhong was targeted specifically, but they insisted on putting him on the opposing side of everyone.

It must be said, these people are very clever.

But it was no use, because the news of the explosive screenings also swept through public opinion.

“Wang Zhonglei of Huayi: Cao Zhong has made the best mainstream commercial film in China.”

Yu Dong: "Nanjing Photo Studio" is worth watching for audiences across China.

"Film critic Ma Yufei: Cao Zhong has incorporated narrative tricks into a mainstream film, which is a brand new type. This film is reminding us that the evils that are unimaginable, unthinkable, and incapable of being imagined actually happened in history."

Many Nanjing residents have also begun to identify themselves online and speak out in support of Cao Zhong's film.

A preview screening will be held in Tengchong on August 8th.

Tengchong is a county-level city, but it was the prelude to the great counter-offensive. Cao Zhong's choice of this location was also significant.

Many people don't know that although Tengchong has never officially issued a document, local residents spontaneously do not allow Japanese tourists to be received.

When Cao Zhong found out in his previous life, he was also somewhat surprised.

A preview screening will be held in Jinan on August 11.

A preview screening will be held in Beijing on August 13.

After the four preview screenings, everyone who saw the movie online gave it rave reviews!

The preview screenings received rave reviews!

Audiences eager to see this movie are already buzzing with excitement.

Although some people online are still fiercely criticizing Cao Zhong's extreme and emotional views, others have already prepared to grab tickets, at least to see what kind of movie it is.

In this situation, cinemas also voted with their feet, rationally siding with their own interests.

On August 3, the domestic action blockbuster "Flash Point" was released during the summer season. It grossed over 15 million yuan in its opening weekend. With "Transformers" already past its prime and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" yet to be released, it even has the potential to challenge for the top spot at the domestic box office during the summer season.

The renewed collaboration between Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen is also one of the highlights of the action film.

But compared to "Nanjing Photo Studio," their popularity is nothing more than a roadside street.

Theaters naturally know how to choose which films to screen!

On August 15th, amidst much anticipation, "Nanjing Photo Studio" opened nationwide and officially premiered!

(End of this chapter)