Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

At 2 PM on December 24th, across the street from the Capital Cinema in Xidan, two men in their late twenties, wearing military overcoats, kept telling passersby, "We have two tickets left for the premiere of 'My Sassy Girl,' discounted to 150 yuan. Want some?"

A man in his thirties, wearing a black down jacket and black-rimmed glasses, riding a bicycle, squeezed the brakes and said, "Brother, give me a discount."

"Hey, bro, this is already the cheapest price. It was selling for 100 a piece yesterday. It's about to go on sale, and I'm in a hurry to get rid of it."

The middle-aged man adjusted his glasses: "A normal ticket is only 15 yuan. Can you give me a discount? I might not even bother watching it."

"Hey, you think it's too expensive? I think it's too expensive too. Look, where are there any tickets left? There were only a thousand tickets in total, and they were all sold out by the morning of the 21st."

"How about two 100s?"

The scalper chuckled and waved his hand, "Then you can wait until tomorrow to see episode 15. Alright, you go ahead and do your thing, see you later."

The middle-aged man gritted his teeth: "Fine, 150 it is."

No sooner had the middle-aged man left with his ticket than a scalper shouted, "Two tickets left for the premiere of 'My Sassy Girl,' discounted to 150 each, want them?"

The middle-aged man turned around helplessly: "Dude, at least wait until I'm a little further away."

Another scalper smiled and raised his hand: "It's not easy in this freezing weather, you understand. I wish you the best of luck in winning the prize."

The middle-aged man shook his head, got on his bicycle, and left.

His name is Liu Feng, a 29-year-old employee in the archives of a marriage registration office in Beijing. He is an ordinary person.

Holding two handwritten movie tickets, I felt a pang of regret—five days' wages. But what could I do? My new girlfriend insisted on seeing it, and I don't know where she got the idea that watching "My Sassy Girl" in the new millennium would bring her happiness for a thousand years.

Where did this idea come from? It naturally spread from online forums to the university student community, and then from there it spread further.

Is this a result of Ding Xiao's initiative as a part-time male college student, or is it a concept marketing campaign that started on the Tsinghua University forum?

Of course, Liu Feng also knew about "My Sassy Girl," and there was news about the movie everywhere lately. He also knew that the movie was being released across Asia today.

Thinking about it that way, it didn't hurt so much anymore.

At 3 p.m., Liu Feng reappeared outside the Capital Cinema, this time with a heavily made-up woman by his side. Judging from her eyebrows and eyes, she was actually quite pretty without makeup.

"There are so many people, it's like a shopping mall opening."

"yes."

Liu Feng agreed, noting that an hour had passed. At that moment, giant inflatable banners stood on either side of the entrance, reading: "My Sassy Girl" World Premiere.

It's very simple and straightforward.

There were already three lines of about 20 meters ahead, and seeing people constantly lining up at the end of the line, Liu Feng and his girlfriend quickly quickened their pace.

"Hey, Yanzi, they're even giving out Coke and popcorn up ahead."

"Let me see, why is this 'Very Cola'? The domestically produced ones don't taste good."

"......"

Meanwhile, the cinema's lobby was brightly lit.

On the stage, a long table covered with a red cloth was set up. The nameplates on the table, from left to right, read Yang Che, Fan Bingbing, Huang Haibo, Cheng Er, and Yu Dong. The five people sitting there were a banner behind them that read: "My Sassy Girl Premiere Media Seminar".

In front of them was a barrage of cameras and microphones, displaying the logos of several television stations, including CCTV1, CCTV6, Beijing TV, Beijing Arts and Literature, Entertainment Online, Hebei TV, and Tianjin TV. The audience was filled with even more print media, including industry authorities such as *China Film News*, *Global Variety*, *Popular Cinema*, *Beijing Film Academy Journal*, *Beijing Evening News*, *Beijing Youth Weekly*, and *Life Times*, among others. In total, thirty-two media outlets were present, signing in to receive their travel expenses and press releases.

Behind the media, there were quite a few people sitting, the most conspicuous of whom were seven or eight men in their forties and fifties. They had a very distinctive demeanor and looked like coal mine owners. These were Fan Zeping and some of his friends.

Of course, there were also people from the industry present. Among them, Zhang Guoli and Deng Jie were the most conspicuous, as well as Han Sanping, who was whispering to Zhang Guoli. To Han Sanping's right was Wang Zhongjun, who was bowing slightly and smiling at Han Sanping.

Another group included Hou Keming, who was surrounded by many teachers from the Beijing Film Academy and some employees from China Film Group.

The most eye-catching group was a group of handsome young men and beautiful young women, such as Huang Xiaoming, Yan Danchen, Zu Feng and other classmates from the class of '96 who participated in "Not One Less". Of course, Zhao Zhetian was still not there, but Chen Kun, who had just become famous, was there.

The other group consisted of Li Jie, Hai Qing, and Huang Haibo's classmates, along with their homeroom teacher, Chef Huang. Of course, Chef Huang was not far from Hou Keming.

Xu Shaohua, Li Ding, and Zhu Ling were also there, as were Wang Jinhua and Fan Bingbing's parents.

At this moment, these people were listening to the chubby guy on the stage, Yu Dong, speak.

Yu Dong, holding an A4 sheet of paper, spoke into the microphone: "...'My Sassy Girl' will be released today in eight countries and regions: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. To date, overseas rights sales have totaled US$325 million, approximately RMB 3050 million."

The usually quiet press conference venue became a little noisy, but mostly filled with the sounds of flashing lights, frantic writing, and coughing.

Yu Dong continued, "The production run of 'My Sassy Girl' was 415 copies, the most of any Chinese film in 1999. We hope that 'My Sassy Girl' will also be the highest-grossing Chinese film of 1999. Thank you. Now, please let the film's screenwriter and producer, Yang Che, share his thoughts and feelings about the film."

A sparse round of applause followed, and the camera panned to Yang Che. He was wearing a gray turtleneck sweater, and his medium-length, slightly wavy hair parted in the middle gave him a refined and scholarly air, especially since he had shaved his beard.

"Good afternoon, esteemed media friends and distinguished guests. I don't know what to say, so I'll wait for your questions."

After Yang Che finished speaking, he moved the microphone to Fan Bingbing, who was wearing a black wool coat with a brown sweater underneath, and had completely shed her childishness.

Fan Bingbing glanced at him, suppressing a laugh, while some reporters and guests in the audience wore helpless smiles.

Fan Bingbing smiled, then said in a crisp voice the words she had repeated countless times.

"Hello everyone, I'm Fan Bing. Being able to act in this film is a very lucky and important thing in my life. From the moment I received the audition script, I secretly made up my mind that I must play this role, no matter what difficulties I might encounter. ...When I heard the comments from many industry veterans during the film's preview screening, I knew I was halfway to success. The other half depends on the audience's feedback, haha. Thank you Producer Yang, Director Cheng... There are many people I want to thank, including myself."

Many people on and off the stage smiled knowingly, and a few scattered claps rang out.

Yang Che glanced at the audience and sighed inwardly: Little Fatty doesn't even have a friend, and Yuan Yuan didn't even come to support him.