Huayu: Starting with Hijacking from "The Story of a Noble Family"

Chapter 74: Profitable in three days, box office of 3590 million in five days!

Liu Yifei: Congratulations, Director Xu!

Xu Heng: Congratulations to you too!

Liu Yifei: You're really shameless!

Xu Heng: Same here!

Liu Yifei: My skin isn't as thick as yours. Xu Heng: Then you'd better practice more. How can you survive in the entertainment industry without a thick skin? Liu Yifei: Pfft, I don't need one. Xu Heng: Yes, yes, you're naturally beautiful. You can become famous just by your face. You don't need anything else. Liu Yifei: You still say that? I don't need to become famous by my face. I need to rely on my strength!

Xu Heng: Cut. Liu Yifei: Hmph. Liu Yifei: How much do you think the final box office will reach? Xu: Hard to say. Liu Yifei: Can it surpass Feng Xiaogang's "Cell Phone"?

Xu Heng: What are you thinking about? Liu Yifei: You can't even think about it, and the news says it's possible, right?

Xu: The news said it's unlikely. Liu Yifei: Then dare you say you don't have this idea?

Xu Heng: Why should I say it?

Liu Yifei: Okay, so you really had this idea!

Xu: Isn't this normal? You've known me for a while now. Liu Yifei: Yes, yes, I know you're very ambitious, alright!

Liu Yifei had always known that Xu Heng was very ambitious.

Or perhaps it can't be called ambition, but Xu has very high standards and high expectations for himself, which makes him seem very ambitious.

However, she increasingly felt that with Xu Heng's talent and ability, it was normal for him to have high standards and requirements, and it was entirely worthy of his ambition.

After finishing his chat with Liu Yifei, Xu Heng glanced at the text messages he had received from other people on his phone.

There were Wang Jinghua, Cai Yinong, Zhang Dahuzi, Hu Jun, Liu Tao, You Jianming, Li Dawei, Gao Yuanyuan, as well as teachers and classmates from Beijing Film Academy and Shu Chang, and classmates from high school and junior high school.

Gao Yuanyuan is currently filming "The Divine Doctor and His Companion" and is not in Beijing, so she did not attend the previous premiere.

His parents also called him. His father complained to him that the small restaurant at home was already full, and there was a long line of people waiting outside!

Yes, "Our Times" grossed over 600 million yuan on its opening day, a figure that surprised even him.

Some media outlets even directly compared his film to Feng Xiaogang's "Cellphone," given that the two films had similar opening day box office figures.

After grossing 3100 million yuan in its first four days, the box office growth of "Cellphone" has slowed down significantly.

Now, almost half a month after its release, the box office has still not exceeded 4500 million.

If "Our Times" continues to grow at a faster pace and has a better momentum, its final box office may surpass that of Feng Xiaogang's "The Story of Minglan".

"Cellphone" is indeed not entirely impossible!

If it can surpass the 5200 million box office of "Harry Potter", it may even become the highest-grossing film in mainland China last year!

Although this possibility is not very high, at least that's how most people see it!

As for "Jade Goddess of Mercy," which had been constantly compared to "Our Times," it was now completely forgotten!

In the evening, several media outlets officially reported the accurate box office figures for "Our Times": 620 million yuan on its opening day, 680 yuan less than the 60 million yuan opening day box office of "Cell Phone".

Another day passed, Friday, January 2nd, and the box office figures for the New Year's Day holiday were released.

On the second day of its release, coinciding with the New Year's Day holiday, "Our Times" grossed 940 million yuan in a single day!

It was only 600,000 short of breaking 10 million in box office revenue, and it was more than 2 million higher than the 725 million box office revenue of "Cell Phone" on its second day!

However, the day after "Cell Phone" was released was a Friday, which is a weekday.

However, the 940 million box office is still 910 higher than the 30 million box office of "Cellphone" on its first Saturday, which was also the highest single-day box office!

The total box office of "Our Times" reached 1560 million yuan in two days, and the Tianya film and television review section exploded again!

"940 million yuan in box office revenue on the first day, and 1560 million yuan in two days. I never expected Xu Heng's movie to be such a hit!"

"The production cost was 300 million, and the marketing cost was 200 million. Judging from the scale of this film's release and box office, the number of copies should not be much less than that of 'Cell Phone.' The reported number of copies of 'Cell Phone' was 230, which means that this film has at least 200 copies. Calculated, the total cost is about 700 million, and it needs at least 2000 million in box office revenue to break even!"

"A box office of 2000 million is a piece of cake for Xu Heng's movie, and it may even be achieved today!"

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"I have to say, Xu Heng's ambition is truly enormous, and his audacity is equally astounding. A film with a production cost of 300 million yuan actually cost at least 400 million yuan for prints and marketing, even more than 'Jade Goddess of Mercy,' which had a production cost of 2000 million yuan!"

"As it turns out, Xu Heng made the right gamble this time!"

"Is it really right to have marketing costs that exceed production costs?"

"Who cares if it's right or wrong? As long as it works, that's all that matters. Other movies can learn from it; nobody's stopping us!"

"It mainly depends on the quality of the movie. If the movie is good, then there's no problem. Just consider it a big investment and a bad investment. After all, even good wine needs advertising, and Xu is a new director. What if the movie gets buried if we don't do this? But if the quality is bad, then it's a scam!"

Based on the film's current box office performance, its final box office gross is unlikely to surpass that of Feng Xiaogang's "Cellphone".

Bar?"

"I don't know, but the subsequent box office performance of 'Cell Phone' was only so-so, and Xu's 'Our Times' also has a lot of comedy and funny elements, so it may further affect the box office of 'Cell Phone'!"

"The majority of moviegoers are young people, and Xu Heng's 'Our Times' is clearly more popular with young audiences, and it also attracts a lot of student viewers!"

"Ge You's acting is better, but he's older. Xu Heng and Liu Yifei are not only young, but also incredibly handsome and beautiful, with high popularity. The film's quality is also good, and with so much money spent on marketing, it's normal for the box office to be higher!"

Then, on Saturday, January 3rd, the box office reports came out.

Nowadays, movie box office figures are released weekly, but for major films, they are usually released daily.

Audiences also tend to believe that the higher the box office, the better the movie is, or at least the more worthwhile it is to watch.

Because there was only one day off for New Year's Day this year, Friday was a workday, and box office revenue dropped significantly compared to the previous New Year's Day.

Even so, the daily box office still reached 580 million, only 40 less than the opening day's box office.

The film grossed 2140 million yuan in its first three days, already making a profit, not to mention the copyright revenue to come!

At this time, Xu Heng received another call from Cai Yinong, who offered him 5 yuan per episode to star in "Chinese Paladin", but he refused again.

His salary of 5 yuan per episode is equivalent to that of a top-tier star in mainland China. However, he is now a true top-tier star, both in film and television, and he is also a film director who has just made a blockbuster movie!

So, calculating the salary based on the status of a regular A-list celebrity seems a bit too low.

However, he didn't go too far; he simply doubled his asking price to 10 yuan per episode, which is equivalent to the salary of a top-tier mainland star.

For example, Xiao Yanzi, at the peak of her career a few years ago, earned this much for filming TV dramas.

This is because he himself wanted to film this "Chinese Paladin" series; otherwise, it would be difficult to hire him for 10 yuan per episode, but he certainly wouldn't compromise himself.

While his popularity may not rival that of his peak as Little Swallow, his status in the entertainment industry is undoubtedly just as high, if not lower.

The per-episode fee is absolutely reasonable!

Two days later, on Monday, January 5th, the box office figures for the first five days of "Our Times" were released.

The box office was 620 million on Wednesday, the first day of the year; 940 million on Thursday, New Year's Day; 580 million on Friday; 780 million on Saturday; and 670 million on Sunday.

The box office reached 3590 million yuan in the first five days, which is 300 million yuan more than the box office of "Cell Phone" in the first five days!

Although the five days before the release of "Our Times" had one more New Year's Day holiday than the five days before the release of "Cell Phone", it is still enough to show that the box office potential of "Our Times" is greater than that of "Cell Phone"!

More and more media outlets are also saying that "Our Times" is likely to surpass "Cell Phone" at the box office!

Instead of just thinking that "Our Times" performed well at the box office and deserved to be compared with Feng Xiaogang's "Cell Phone" as before!

The Tianya Film and Television Review section exploded again, as did the Computer Technology section!

"Xu Heng and this film, 'Our Times,' are truly on their own—absolutely amazing!"

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"Before this movie was released, who could have predicted such a box office explosion!"

"Before the movie's release, many people mocked Xu Heng or thought it would definitely lose money. Now they know they were wrong!"

"It looks like this movie will easily surpass 'Cell Phone' at the box office, and it's highly likely to surpass 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' to become last year's highest-grossing film!"

"No matter what, as long as a domestic film can surpass 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' at the box office, that's fine. 'Our Times' was released on the last day of last year, so it can definitely be considered last year's film!"

"I support Xu Heng and Liu Yifei continuing to play Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er!"

"I've watched 'Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils,' and Liu Yifei's Wang Yuyan is so beautiful!"

"Liu Yifei is just as beautiful in 'Our Times,' even when she deliberately tries to look ugly, especially the scene where she sits in the stands lost in thought. I was completely stunned when I saw it in the movie theater!"

"Tangren Media held auditions for roles in 'Chinese Paladin' last month, and it's said that Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er were among those auditioned. It seems that Tangren hasn't finalized the casting of Xu Heng and Liu Yifei yet!"

"What are you waiting for, Tangren? Hurry up and finalize it! Xu Heng and Liu Yifei are simply the chosen ones, Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er!"

"I guess they couldn't agree on the pay. Xu Heng and Liu Yifei's pay is definitely not low now. Tangren isn't a big company, so they probably can't afford to pay them too much."

"And given Xu Heng's current status, whether he'll be willing to continue taking on this role is also a question."

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