HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 261 [261] On the third day of its release, the box office exploded!

Time flies, it's May 19th.

Infernal Affairs has officially premiered in Hong Kong.

Two days before the film's release, Media Asia held a premiere ceremony, which was not very large.

Mr. Lin was greatly influenced by film critics and lowered his expectations for the film, believing that he could celebrate by opening champagne once the costs were recovered.

Neither Li Bingbing nor Huang Xiaoming attended the Hong Kong premiere. They were minor characters and had to pay for their own plane tickets to attend.

Qi Yuan did come; he's the main character, so he had to be there.

Perhaps due to the sluggish Hong Kong film market, or perhaps because Hong Kong citizens are tired of police and gangster films, the premiere of "Infernal Affairs" did not make much of a splash.

On its release day, the 19th, the film suffered a slight setback in box office revenue as it premiered at 6 PM, earning only about HK$113 million on its opening day.

This number isn't particularly impressive, considering it's not a full day.

On Saturday the 20th, the first full-day box office, the box office reached 309 million yuan, and Qi Yuan's fans started to exert their efforts.

This result isn't bad, but it doesn't live up to the boast Liu Weiqiang made at the internal screening event at Media Asia, where he said that "Infernal Affairs" would start at least at 400 million on its opening day.

Liu Weiqiang was proven wrong; he only made a little over four million in the entire first and second day combined.

Liu Weiqiang's words were leaked by someone with ulterior motives, and voices in the public sphere began to criticize "Infernal Affairs".

[The box office performance of "Infernal Affairs" fell far short of expectations, shattering the myth of Qi Yuan carrying the box office!]

The success of last year's "The Mission" was due to director Du Qifeng, and had little to do with the lead actors.

[Pioneering the intellectual crime thriller genre is imaginative, but it took too big a step and overdid it.]

This film, which reportedly cost 40 million to produce, will likely struggle to recoup its costs!

……

Many people didn't expect "Infernal Affairs" to be so successful, and in Hong Kong's public opinion sphere, "Infernal Affairs" received very poor reviews.

After these voices emerged, Liu Weiqiang really broke down. He locked himself in his house and turned off his phone during the day.

He felt incredibly embarrassed. He had told so many people that the first day would definitely break four million, but it didn't. He could imagine how those people would laugh at him behind his back.

According to the law, if a film's reputation doesn't improve, even if the lead actor can carry the box office, it can only last for two or three days before plummeting.

Huang Qiusheng and Du Gou, the two people who were kicked out by Qi Yuan, wished they could buy a string of firecrackers and burn them to celebrate.

Serves you right for losing money, you arrogant brat! You wouldn't even let us act in this flop. We don't even want to act in this kind of terrible movie.

Xie Tingfeng of Yinghuang was also happy. He had been watching Qi Yuan's career rise, and now it seemed that Qi Yuan was finally starting to decline. In the small world of the film industry, he saw hope of taking his place.

However, word-of-mouth for "Infernal Affairs" is rapidly spreading throughout Hong Kong.

"Sha Qiang, I recommend you watch the recently released 'Infernal Affairs,' a police thriller where the battle of wits and courage is truly exciting!"

"Damn! What's so interesting about cop movies? It's just a bunch of guys shooting guns at each other. They fire hundreds of rounds without ever needing to reload. I'm not interested!"

"Infernal Affairs is really different. There is only one real gunfight in the whole movie, and the gunfight scene is very short... The rooftop scene between the two undercover agents and the elevator twist are really amazing. You'll see when you go to see it... There is a supporting character in the movie who is also called Silly Qiang, which is exactly the same as your nickname."

Silly Qiang was persuaded; a police and gangster movie without gunfights sounded quite novel.

His friend's descriptions of an insider, a rooftop, and an elevator piqued his curiosity, and since he had some free time that evening, he decided to go check it out.

Sha Qiang had some impression of Qi Yuan; he liked the character A Lai from last year's "Gunfire."

It's a pity there wasn't a scene where the older sister-in-law seduces Ah Lai. He thought she was quite pretty, and if there were a detailed plot about her seducing Ah Lai, it would have been very exciting. He went to the cinema that night.

Sha Qiang was immediately drawn to the film "Infernal Affairs." The brief opening clearly explained the relationships between the characters, which was clean and efficient.

In addition, he discovered that Qi Yuan was really handsome, and he could pull off both long and short hair.

In the video store scene, Sha Qiang felt that Qi Yuan's acting skills had improved again, and he was holding his own against Liang Jia Hui in their scenes together.

The two undercover agents were sitting together listening to music, creating a somewhat awkward scene.

As the police operation reached its climax, Sha Qiang was filled with excitement!

Holy crap! You can make a cop movie like this?
Liu Jianming actually sent a message to every mobile phone in the entire area: "There's a mole! Transaction terminated!" That's fucking thrilling!

Wait a minute... After this round of fighting, both sides know that there is a mole in their own camp.

Is Chen Yongren in danger?
Just as Sha Qiang realized this, Han Chen on the big screen noticed the cast on Chen Yongren's hand, and Sha Qiang broke out in a cold sweat for Chen Yongren.

Chen Yongren stepped forward, and Han Chen grabbed Chen Yongren's hand and slammed it down hard, shattering the plaster cast.

There was no listening device inside the plaster. The camera then cut to the window and gave a close-up shot of a speaker wire.

Silly Qiang was dumbfounded! Wow! So that's where Chen Yongren's stolen speaker wire came from at the beginning – what a great script! The screenwriter is so detail-oriented.

This unexpected turn of events greatly pleased Sha Qiang, who hoped that the subsequent plot would remain stable and not have a bad ending.

As long as this quality is maintained, he can give it a masterpiece rating, and he will recommend it to all his friends.

The subsequent plot did not disappoint Sha Qiang.

Simon Yam's character, Commander Yam, is thrown off a building by Han Chen's men and dies right in front of Chen Yongren. This is the first time that Silly Qiang's eyes have welled up with tears.

The two undercover agents joined forces to drive Han Chen to the brink of despair.

Han Chen fled in a sorry state through the underground parking garage, his short legs shuffling along. He dialed for help on his cell phone, but the phone rang right there in the garage.

Sha Qiang paused for a moment, then the camera followed the footsteps of a person and moved up, revealing Liu Jianming, played by Qi Yuan.

Triumph, relief, ruthlessness, and determination—multiple emotions converged on Qi Yuan's face, and Qi Yuan handled them perfectly.

Liu Jianming's shot and his words, "You chose me," really gave Sha Qiang a thrill.

It turns out that the very first line of dialogue in the movie foreshadowed Han Chen's fate. Han Chen said that his destiny was to achieve success at the cost of countless lives, but he never expected that he himself would become one of those countless lives.

The rooftop showdown and elevator scene that followed brought tears to Sha Qiang's eyes again.

Ten years of undercover work, only to end up like this; Chen Yongren's life is truly tragic.

After watching the entire movie, Sha Qiang was still somewhat unsatisfied. He bought another ticket and watched it again. In the end, he came to a conclusion: a masterpiece!

He heard that the film's box office performance was below expectations, which he found outrageous!
This film is of exceptionally high quality; it's the most exciting crime thriller he's ever seen. How could it not do well at the box office?

No, we can't let such a great film go unnoticed. When he got back, he was going to recommend it to his family, neighbors, and friends.

Sha Qiang and his friends are just the tip of the iceberg.

Hong Kong audiences are truly sick of those old-fashioned police and gangster movies with constant gunfights. The reason why "Infernal Affairs" didn't meet box office expectations a couple of days ago is because people have lost interest in this genre.

After the first batch of viewers went to the cinema to experience it, the power of word-of-mouth gradually became apparent.

On the third day, Infernal Affairs experienced a box office explosion!

(End of this chapter)