The director starts by learning from the abilities of renowned directors.

Chapter 136 was released, and its box office performance was phenomenal.

In early November, China Film Group and Enlight Media, the distributors of the film "Our Times," invited theater managers from across the country to an internal screening. That afternoon, director Zhou Shen (Yang Mixiang) and Chen Zhixi (Chen Zhixi, vice president of Shenqi Films) inquired about the internal screening and both received the response that it was "not bad."

Yang Mi wasn't sure how good it was, and she was still a little uneasy.

At the same time, word-of-mouth for "Our Times" began to circulate in a small circle.

On November 25, the film "The Laughing Swordsman" held its premiere in Beijing. On November 26, the film "Sacrifice" held its premiere at the National Convention Center in Beijing. On November 27, "Our Times" held its premiere in Beijing.

Two of the three films, "The Laughing Swordsman" and "Our Times," will be released on December 3, while Chen Kaige's "Sacrifice" will be released on December 4.

此外姜闻导演的《让子弹飞》公映日期是12月16日，冯小钢导演的《非诚勿扰2》是12月22日—今年的贺岁档看起来将格外的惨烈。

All three films had screenings on the day of their premieres, and preview screenings were also arranged in several major box office cities on the same day. After the premieres, word-of-mouth for the three films began to spread slowly online.

Overall, the three films received "pretty good" reviews.

Media reports: "The Laughing Swordsman" was hilarious throughout the screening, "Sacrifice" was exceptionally shocking, and "Our Times" was touching.

No one dares to draw a conclusion about which of the three films will perform best before the films are officially released.

In a media interview, director Chen Kaige stated that the target revenue for "Sacrifice" is 6 million yuan.

Although Chen Kaige did not explicitly state it, the media generally believed that his real goal was to break the box office record of director Feng Xiaogang's "Aftershock".

Zhao Benshan also gave an interview to the media and publicly stated that he hoped the box office of "The Laughing Swordsman" would be higher than that of "A Simple Noodle Story" and "House of Flying Daggers" combined—that is, a target of over 5 million yuan.

When asked by the media about the film "Our Times," director Zhou Shen stated that his original target was over 2 million yuan at the box office, but director Shen Qing felt that he was being a bit stingy. Since "Sacrifice" aimed for 6 million yuan and "The Great Laughing Swordsman" aimed for 5 million yuan, then the target for "Our Times" should be set at 4 million yuan, since our investment was the smallest among them.

The three films released at the same time had their box office targets set at 6 million, 5 million, and 4 million respectively, which netizens found hilarious.

Some netizens posted that Zhou Shen was the worst of the three – “The Orphan of Zhao” had a budget of 1.2 million yuan and a target of 6 million yuan, while “Our Times” had a budget of only 2000 million yuan, which was just a fraction of the budget of “The Orphan of Zhao”, yet the target box office was set at 4 million yuan.

On December 3, "The Laughing Swordsman" and "Our Times" premiered nationwide. On the day of the premiere, Yang Mi, while busy with promotional tours, couldn't help but call Shen Qing, who was filming in the Indochina Peninsula.

"I'm exhausted today. I've already visited five cinemas, and I have to visit one more before I can rest. I'm really going through so much so that your company can make more money."

"You've worked hard. I'll treat you to a meal when we get back."

"You think you can just fob me off with one meal?"

"We're giving out red envelopes! The higher the movie's box office, the thicker the red envelope!"

"You offered this yourself, I didn't want it."

"Should we give them all?"

Yang Mi then hung up the phone, satisfied.

With the official start of this year's Lunar New Year film season, many moviegoers are beginning to make their choices. With so many new films being released this year, which one should they pick?

Which should I choose, "The Laughing Swordsman" or "Our Times"?

The cast of "The Laughing Swordsman" is quite good, including Zhao Benshan, Xiao Shenyang, Lin Xilei, and Zeng Zhiwei. While its box office appeal may not be the strongest, it definitely has it! Moreover, its genre is distinct and its target audience is clearly defined. This movie is designed to make you laugh out loud, so comedians should hurry up and check it out!

Yang Mi is already a top-tier actress with considerable influence in television dramas. However, the logic of movies and TV series is different. Supporting an idol through TV dramas involves watching television, which is free, so fans don't incur much cost in supporting their idols. But movies are different. Watching a movie requires real money and two or three hours of dedicated time. And watching a movie isn't just about watching the movie, right? You need to buy popcorn and drinks, and then find a restaurant to eat at afterward. That adds up to a lot of costs, making it difficult for TV drama fans to spend real money to buy movie tickets for their idols.

Therefore, Yang Mi doesn't actually have much appeal in the film industry.

But Magical Film Company has that appeal, and Shen Qing himself has that box office appeal.

Since its establishment, Magic Films has produced almost no bad films, and even none with poor box office performance, which is why audiences trust Magic Films.

Furthermore, the script outline for "Our Times" was written by Shen Qing herself!

A movie theater.

A reporter carefully observed the ticket hall.

"Give me two copies of 'Our Times'."

"A copy of 'The Laughing Swordsman'."

"Four copies of 'Our Times'."

"Two copies of 'Our Times'."

"A copy of 'The Laughing Swordsman'."

-

"Hello, four copies of 'Our Times'."

Similar scenarios are playing out across the country.

As time went by, more and more viewers who had seen the two new films began posting online.

"I knew Director Shen Qing's script wouldn't disappoint me! I'd call it the most unforgettable coming-of-age film ever!"

"I watched it because of 'About Time,' okay, it's more realistic and more authentic than 'About Time.' Here are some spoilers, so if you don't want to know, stop reading now. At the end of the film, Hsu Tai-yu confesses his feelings to Lin Chen-hsin through a cassette tape. The emotions are sincere and restrained, and it's one of the most tear-jerking scenes I've ever seen in a youth film."

"I deeply resonated with Lin Zhenxin. Lin Zhenxin is introverted and has average grades, but she has secretly loved the school heartthrob for many years. She is humble and pure, just like I used to be. I cried while watching it."

"I would call this the pinnacle of domestic youth films!"

"It's super beautiful."

"Everyone should go see it! Shen Qing's reputation is invaluable; it's worth the ticket price."

"Yang Mi's acting skills have improved a lot."

"The role is perfect for Yang Mi, Yang Mi is awesome!"

"Our Times" received rave reviews, almost unanimously positive, with only a few negative ones.

The reviews for "The Laughing Swordsman" are much more mixed. Some viewers said they laughed so hard they couldn't stand up straight the whole time, while others said the movie was just a collection of skits with no substance and, most importantly, it wasn't entertaining!

The following day, the opening day box office figures for the two films were released: *The Laughing Swordsman* earned 1850 million yuan, and *Our Times*...

Box office of 2960 million.

The box office performance of "The Big Laughing Hero" is actually quite good. Zhang Yimou's "A Simple Noodle Story" only grossed 1200 million yuan on its opening day, but its final box office reached 2.5 million yuan. Based on the opening day box office of "The Big Laughing Hero", the final box office of the film could very well break the 3 million yuan mark. It should be noted that the production cost of this film was only about 5000 million yuan.

However, the production cost of "Our Times" was only 20 million, but its opening day box office was more than 10 million higher than that of "Just Another Pandora's Box".

Shen Qing had already moved from Thailand to Myanmar. Although he was far away abroad, the opening day box office performance of "Our Times" was sent to his phone immediately.

The box office performance on the first day was already very impressive. Shen Qing was in a good mood after seeing the data, and even hummed Station Chief Wu's song "First to Xianyang, then to be king".

Yang Mi was also very excited. As soon as she learned about the movie's opening day box office, she called Shen Qing's cell phone.

"The total cost was only 2000 million, and the box office on the first day alone has reached 2960 million. So, tell me, how should I be rewarded?"

"What reward do you want? How about I repay you with my body?"

"Pah, dream on! If you offer yourself to me, you'll get both money and a woman. How is that a reward for me? But since you've brought it up, I can't refuse you. I'll reluctantly agree to let you offer yourself to me for a month."

"That's ruthless! They're trying to drain me dry!"

"I'm going to drain you dry!"

Chen Kaige is also studying the opening day box office of "Our Times".

In his previous estimates, "The Laughing Swordsman" would gross around 1500 million on its opening day and "Our Times" around 1200 million, but both films exceeded his expectations.

"The Laughing Swordsman" was alright, it didn't deviate too much from his predictions, but "Our Times" is a bit strange.

A youth film with an investment of only 2000 million yuan has grossed more than 2900 million yuan on its opening day. It looks like the total box office will exceed 3 million yuan, which is likely to be half the box office of "Sacrifice".

"Sacrifice" had an investment of 1.2 million yuan, but a film with an investment of 2000 million yuan got about half of the box office. Even though "Sacrifice" won in terms of total box office, it didn't win very well!

Chen Kaige was a little curious as to why a movie like "Our Times" could achieve such a high opening day box office. So he went online to check and actually found some clues.

The reputation of "The Laughing Swordsman" has collapsed!

"Today is Saturday, the opening day box office for 'Sacrifice' should be around 6000 million!"

Chen Kaige used the box office figures of "The Big Laughing Hero" and "Our Times" to infer the box office performance of his own film.

Time quickly came to noon on September 5th, and the box office statistics for the previous day were released.

"2100 million for 'The Laughing Swordsman' is not bad. The increase compared to the opening day is not significant, but considering the pressure from 'Our Times' and 'Sacrifice,' the fact that the box office can still increase on the second day is already quite impressive."

Some netizens checked the latest movie data for the day while posting their thoughts online.

Then there's the opening day box office of "Sacrifice," which was 2670 million.

"I heard the production cost was 1.2 million. This opening day box office is already a bit risky, isn't it?"

Netizens continued scrolling down and finally saw "Our Times".

"Holy crap, 4720 million! Is that even possible?"

"A 2000 million budget suppressing a 1.2 million blockbuster?"

"The female lead, Yang Mi, has some fame, but that's about it. And the male lead, Zhu Yilong, is just a minor character? How can he possibly overshadow 'The Orphan of Zhao'?"

The latest box office figures immediately caused a huge uproar upon release.

The director of *Sacrifice* is Chen Kaige, who has won the Palme d'Or, and the main cast is full of big names—Ge You, Wang Xueqi, Fan Bingbing, and others.

With Zhao Wenzhuo and Zhang Fengyi, this was a blockbuster, but it still couldn't beat "Our Times," which was only supported by Yang Mi.

Netizens are going crazy discussing it.

"I've seen both movies, so let me share my thoughts. 'Our Times' is very touching; its emotions are very genuine, and I couldn't calm down for a long time after watching it. 'Sacrifice' has serious logical problems and distorts history, which is disappointing. But it is a big-budget film after all, and I initially estimated that 'Sacrifice' would do well at the box office, probably ranking first among the three films. I didn't expect that a low-budget youth film could actually create a miracle."

"I absolutely love 'Our Times,' but I never imagined it could beat 'Sacrifice'!"

"Oh no, 'Sacrifice' is aiming for 6 million yuan at the box office. I'll be lucky if it makes 3 million! 'Our Times' is aiming for 4 million yuan. Suddenly I feel like it's the only one that was given the figure after a serious evaluation."

"Director Zhou Shen is really amazing!"

"He has the skill, but the key is Shen Qing. There are plenty of directors in the industry with Zhou Shen's skill level, so why did Zhou Shen rise to prominence? Because Zhou Shen and Shen Qing have a good relationship!"

Chen Kaige's mood turned very bad after seeing the box office data for the first day.

He couldn't understand why audiences would prefer watching a film like "Our Times." What was there to see?

Next.

Sunday.

"The Laughing Swordsman" grossed 1900 million.

The Orphan of Zhao: 2360 million.

Our Times: 4940 million views.

Both "The Laughing Swordsman" and "Sacrifice" saw their box office drop on Sunday, while only "Our Times" saw an increase, albeit a small one, from 4720 million to 4940 million. However, it was the only one that continued to rise.

The opening weekend results for the three films are now in.

"The Laughing Swordsman" grossed 5850 in its opening weekend.

The Orphan of Zhao opened with 5030 yuan in box office revenue over its opening weekend.

Our Times grossed 1.262 million yuan in its opening weekend.

The gap has widened considerably, and instead of narrowing, it is widening.

The box office performance of "Our Times" has become increasingly impressive.

Monday: 2540 million.

Tuesday's figure was 3100 million.

It actually achieved a strong reversal and decline.

Wednesday: 2400 million.

Thursday: 2130 million.

Friday's figure was 2520 million.

Box office revenue once again defied expectations and declined sharply.

Then on Saturday, the figure was 4580 million, and not only did it continue to decline, but the decline was extremely large.

Sunday: 3740 million.

As of Sunday, "Our Times" had grossed 3.36 million yuan, marking exactly 10 days since its official release and officially surpassing the 3 million yuan mark.

At this time, "The Laughing Swordsman" had just surpassed 100 million yuan in cumulative box office revenue, while "Sacrifice" had only 130 million yuan in cumulative box office revenue.

Yang Mi's fans were ecstatic. At this point in time, the total box office has already surpassed 3 million yuan, which is already remarkable. Moreover, the box office potential of "Our Times" is far from exhausted.

"Yumi is awesome! She almost single-handedly took down all the big names in the neighboring film 'The Orphan of Zhao'."

"Does everyone know what's the most amazing thing about this? The current box office of 3 million is likely to surpass 5 million in total."

"This box office achievement of 100 million was entirely carried by Honey Sister alone. That's the most impressive thing. Some movies may have higher box office returns, but is the female lead the one truly responsible for the box office success?"

7

If Shen Qing were also the male lead in "Our Times", the box office would have exceeded 8 million!

"About Time" has grossed over 8 million yuan, and the female lead in that film is Liu Shishi. Yang Mi's fans are a little unwilling. "About Time" has a high box office, but try replacing Shen Qing.