Entertainment: A whirlwind marriage with a fairy-like mother at the start!

Japan's fascination with the Three Kingdoms period far surpasses that of Europe and America.

Koei Tecmo's Romance of the Three Kingdoms series of games has been selling for over twenty years.

Mitsuteru Yokoyama's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" manga has sold over 70 million copies.

In Japanese bookstores, books related to the Three Kingdoms period can fill an entire bookshelf.

Red Cliff premiered in Japan on its first day of release.

In Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, all screenings at major cinemas were sold out.

Japanese viewers are just as familiar with the Three Kingdoms story as some Chinese viewers.

They could accurately call out the name of every general and knew the cause and effect of every battle.

When Tony Leung, playing Zhou Yu, stands atop Chibi Rock in the movie, dressed in flowing white robes, holding a feather fan, directing the fire attack.

In a movie theater in Shinjuku, Tokyo, a middle-aged Japanese man in his forties clenched his fists, his eyes red-rimmed.

He grew up reading Mitsuteru Yokoyama's manga.

The image of Zhou Yu in my mind has finally come to life on the big screen.

After leaving the theater, he posted a tweet in Japanese.

"I've been waiting for this movie for thirty years."

This tweet was retweeted more than 20,000 times in Japan.

.......

Japan's opening weekend box office: 2.3 billion yen.

It is approximately US$15 million.

This number propelled it into the top three of the week's Japanese box office charts.

In North America, Red Cliff didn't perform as spectacularly as it did in Japan, but it still exceeded expectations.

North American box office in its opening weekend – $11 million.

For a purely Chinese historical war film, this achievement would have been completely unimaginable in the past.

It's worth noting that in its previous life, "Red Cliff" only grossed around six million US dollars at the North American box office.

Several mainstream film review websites gave it a slightly above-average rating.

Rotten tomatoes have a freshness rating of 71%.

IMDb score: 7.2.

Film critics' evaluations focused on two aspects.

Positive aspect: "The magnificent and spectacular war scenes bring Wu Yusen's signature violent aesthetics to the ancient battlefield."

Controversy: "The relationships between the characters are somewhat complicated for Western audiences who are not familiar with the history of the Three Kingdoms."

But what Yu Le really cared about wasn't the box office numbers.

It's those discussions in the comments section.

On Facebook, under the "Tracing the Origins of Chinese Cinema" section posted by the official account of Xianyu Entertainment.

The number of comments has exceeded 50,000.

One highly-rated comment reads—

"I always thought the Three Kingdoms period was Japanese history. Because all the Three Kingdoms-related content I came into contact with—games, comics, anime—came from Japan."

"It wasn't until I watched this movie and read this feature today that I realized the Three Kingdoms period was actually a part of Chinese history that took place two thousand years ago."

"I am ashamed of my ignorance."

This comment has received over 80,000 likes.

The reply section below exploded.

"Me too! I thought Romance of the Three Kingdoms was Japanese!"

"Koei's games are so good that everyone has forgotten the true origins of these stories."

Some Japanese netizens also offered a weak explanation.

"We have never said that the Three Kingdoms period is Japanese history. We just like the story and reinterpreted it in our own way."

Western netizens immediately responded: "But you have indeed caused a misunderstanding around the world. This Chinese film came at just the right time."

This discussion lasted for a full week.

It spread from Facebook to Twitter, and then to Reddit.

The question of "who belongs to the Three Kingdoms" has become a minor cultural hot topic.

Ultimately, the Wikipedia entry for "Three Kingdoms" was edited once.

In the summary paragraph at the very top of the entry, the originally brief introduction has been expanded by two lines.

The new content is—

"The Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD) is a period in Chinese history. In modern times, the Three Kingdoms story has been widely spread around the world through Japanese video games and comics, but its historical prototype belongs to China."

The news reached back to China.

The topic immediately went viral on social media.

"The movie 'Red Cliff' has let foreigners know that the Three Kingdoms period is part of China!"

"This wave of cultural export is truly on the rise for Xianyu Entertainment!"

"Koei Tecmo made money off the Three Kingdoms series for decades, and now someone has finally stood up to set things right."

Various self-media outlets began producing related content at an alarming rate.

A blogger made a video titled "The moment when foreigners finally realized that the Three Kingdoms period was not Japanese history."

The video included a large number of shocked reactions from European and American netizens.

The number of views exceeded 30 million in two days.

……

Beijing.

A magnificent and splendid residence.

Yu Le sat in his study, his laptop displaying data transmitted from the American branch of Salted Fish Entertainment.

Red Cliff's overseas opening weekend box office: $28 million.

CJ7's overseas opening weekend box office: $19.5 million.

Painted Skin's overseas opening weekend box office: $16 million.

The three films are projected to gross significantly overseas, far exceeding their domestic box office performance.

While it hasn't become a massive hit, at least we don't have to worry about not making back our marketing and promotion costs.

Most importantly, this is only the first batch.

More and more Chinese films will go global in the future, and overseas audiences will become accustomed to the presence of Chinese films.

..........

Yu Le walked out of the study.

Outside the window, the city lights illuminated the winter night.

He saw Dongdong lying on the carpet, fiddling with the Ultraman models in his hands, muttering "Land of Light" and "Fighting monsters".

"Knock knock, come here," Yu Le called out.

Three-and-a-half-year-old Dongdong came running over with his short legs, holding the Ultraman toy in his hand. "Dad, what's wrong?"

Yu Le patted his son's head, his eyes deep: "From now on, don't just watch Ultraman. Watch more of our Chinese heroes too."

Dongdong nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite: "Is it Sun Wukong?"

"Yes!" Yu Le laughed, a confident laugh. "There are many, many more amazing heroes, they're way cooler than Ultraman."