Huayu: From the Era of Ringtones to Becoming a Legend

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, at the very moment the clock struck midnight, "Us and Them" was officially released.

In the film and television industry, critics and others have been attacking the film with labels such as "three months of shooting," "cross-disciplinary screenwriter," and "extended version of a bad movie."

"Us and Them" had a theatrical release rate of less than 7%.

Industry insiders jokingly say:

"Giving them this many screenings is just a formality; they'll be taken off the air after the New Year."

"Lu Jiuge is good at variety shows, but she's bound to fail in movies."

In the conference room of Brothers Pictures, Wang Lei openly sneered:

"If the box office exceeds 100 million, I'll consider him the winner."

If it really breaks 300 million, I'll personally bow and apologize to Lu Jiuge!

……

Everyone is waiting for Lu Jiuge to make a fool of herself.

But none of them expected that just forty minutes into the movie, the first wave of positive reviews would be overwhelming.

The first group of audience members walked out of the theater with red eyes, their emotions still running high.

Social media platforms such as WeChat Moments, blogs, and video websites were instantly flooded with posts about it.

"Who told me this was a gay porn film? I cried from beginning to end!"

"Lu Jiuge's script is too ruthless; it portrays regret, growth, and reality so realistically!"

"Liu Yifei, Tang Yan, and Ren Suxi truly deserve their reputation as talented actresses; their acting skills far surpass those of a bunch of popular but talentless stars!"

"Director Wu Ziming is so steady; the emotions are so delicate, it's truly cinematic!"

"As soon as the three theme songs started playing, the entire audience fell silent and wept. This is what a true film soundtrack should be!"

……

In just three hours.

#TheLaterUsWereSoTearful#

#Lu Jiuge's screenwriting is amazing#

#The biggest dark horse of the Spring Festival film season#

The three terms surged into the top three trending topics with overwhelming force, leaving the fourth-place trending topic far behind in popularity.

Once a film receives rave reviews, the first to react are the theaters.

With such rave reviews and sold-out shows, no one would turn down money!

At 10 a.m. on the first day of the Lunar New Year, major cinemas across the country made emergency adjustments to their screening schedules, with the screenings of "Us and Them" increasing from 7% to 23%.

At noon, it was raised again to 30%.

At 8 p.m., prime-time screenings were entirely allocated to "Us and Them", with screenings exceeding 40%.

The entire industry was completely stunned when the box office figures were released that day.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, it grossed 1.26 million yuan, becoming the box office champion.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, word-of-mouth continued to spread, and casual viewers flocked to cinemas, with screenings surging to 43% and daily box office revenue exceeding 1.48 million yuan again.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, the film's popularity completely spiraled out of control, with every screening sold out and tickets in high demand. Its screening share exceeded 45%, and its box office reached 1.63 million yuan in a single day.

Throughout the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, "Us and Them" swept aside all its competitors.

Once-dominant blockbusters were crushed, and movies starring superstars were utterly defeated.

The Spring Festival film season has completely become a one-man show for the movie "Us and Them".

The total box office for the seven-day holiday reached 8.67 million yuan, directly breaking the historical record for domestic romance films.

But this is not the end.

Thanks to its strong word-of-mouth and long run, "Us and Them" grossed a total of 13.17 billion yuan by the end of the Lantern Festival!

13 billion!

This number, like a nuclear bomb, exploded in the entertainment industry of China.

Filmed over three months, starring newcomers, with a screenwriter from another field, and ridiculed by the entire industry, this movie raked in 13 billion yuan at the box office during the most brutal Spring Festival season, achieving legendary status in one fell swoop!

A well-known film critic who once declared he would retire from the industry if the film grossed over 100 million yuan deleted his Weibo account and fled overnight.

Directors and producers who once mocked Lu Jiuge as an "outsider in the film industry" have fallen silent and no longer dare to make any public comments.

Wang Lei of Brothers Pictures looked at the box office report with a grim expression.

He couldn't believe that the young man he had underestimated had actually stirred up such a huge storm in the film industry.

While "Us and Them" was enjoying a meteoric rise at the box office, "The Voice of China" was also having its highly anticipated finale.

This phenomenal variety show, which dominated the ratings and trending topics from the very beginning, unleashed its terrifying dominance on the night of the finale.

The show achieved a peak real-time viewership rating of 10 nationwide and an average rating of 7.29, setting a new record for the highest viewership of a mainland variety show in nearly ten years, without exception.

Revenue from investment attraction, copyright income, artist commercial value, and platform influence are all at their maximum.

Chen Bin did not disappoint Lu Jiuge's trust. From the semi-final recording, judge coordination, GG sponsorship to contestant management, every step was handled flawlessly.

As the final night ended, Chen Bin stood backstage, looking at the cheering crowd on stage, his eyes welling up with tears.

He could finally tell Lu Jiuge openly and honestly:

I did not hold the company back.

A phenomenal film that grossed 13 billion yuan.

Lu Jiuge created a nationally popular variety show that broke historical records in just one year.

From a newcomer in the music scene to a godfather of variety shows, and then to a box office legend, the name Lu Jiuge has become the most terrifying, dazzling, and feared name in the entire entertainment industry of China.

No one dared to treat him as an outsider who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

No one dares to underestimate Qianxing Media, a company that is extremely young.

Three days after the Lantern Festival, on the advice of Wu Ziming and Chen Bin, Lu Jiuge decided to press her advantage and release her 2006 work plan through the Mirror World Entertainment portal website.

The announcement was short, but every word was like a knife, piercing the hearts of all competitors:

[Mirror World Entertainment - Annual Strategy Officially Announced]

1. This year, the company will launch five film projects, covering five major genres: romance, comedy, action, suspense, and inspiration. All of them will be written by Lu Jiuge and produced by top-notch teams.

2. Simultaneously develop four original variety shows, covering four major types: music competition, idol development, documentary reality show, and nationwide competition, to fully seize the market share of satellite TV and online platforms;

3. Deepen the artist incubation and copyright operation system, and create a full-industry chain cultural and entertainment ecosystem that integrates content production, artist management, and publicity channels.

There were no unnecessary formalities, no ambiguous wording.

Simple and direct, exuding domineering power.

The announcement caused an uproar across the internet and widespread panic within the industry.

The film and television industry was the first to collapse.

Lu Jiuge has already proven his box office dominance with 13 billion yuan in box office revenue. With five films released in one year, it means that Qianxing Media will swallow up most of the box office revenue next year.

These established film and television companies can only get the scraps, or even nothing at all.

The music industry is in no state to sit still.

The talent-making ability of "The Voice of China" is unmatched, coupled with the full support of film resources.

Artists from the Guizhou Star System will completely monopolize traffic, charts, endorsements, and trending topics, squeezing the survival space of traditional record companies to the extreme.

Major investors are on high alert.

Lu Jiuge does not rely on any capital, does not accept any side, and does not share the pie with any established forces. She fights her way out on her own.

His rise to prominence is itself a disruption of the industry rules that capital has held for over a decade.

Meanwhile, apart from Zhejiang TV being overjoyed, all the satellite TV stations were so frightened that they couldn't sleep all night.

"The Voice of China" has already completely monopolized the variety show market, and now Lu Jiuge is launching four more variety shows in one go, which is tantamount to directly announcing:

The future landscape of variety shows will be determined by me, Lu Jiuge.

They are about to lose even the right to compete.

Panic, fear, anger, despair.

A mix of emotions brought together film and television companies, record labels, television stations, and financial institutions that had previously been hostile and sabotaging each other. At this moment, they completely put aside their grudges and united like never before.

In a highly confidential private club in Beijing.

Led by Wang Lei of Brothers Pictures and Zhao Mingliang of Yawei Records, more than a dozen entertainment giants, heads of twelve record companies, capital tycoons, and TV station executives gathered together in a dimly lit room, creating an extremely oppressive atmosphere.

"We can't wait any longer! If we wait another year, Lu Jiuge will kick us all out!"

"With 13 billion yuan in box office revenue and a phenomenal variety show appearance, his influence has already crossed the line. If this continues, the industry will descend into chaos!"

"Unite all forces that can be united to put pressure on management, accusing Qianxing Media of disorderly expansion, content monopoly, market manipulation, and disruption of the industry ecosystem!"

"We have to keep him in check! Either break up the company, cancel the project, or force him out of the domestic market completely!"

"This time, we must completely crush Qianxing Media!"

The combined forces of the film and television industry, the music scene, the capital market, and television stations have created an effect comparable to a major earthquake in the entertainment industry.

Half an hour later, the publicity department called Lu Jiuge's mobile phone directly.