I just want to sell products, but you're forcing me to perform talents.

Chapter 524 Instant Fame

Li Xin and Duan Fei's short videos directly stirred up a huge wave, quickly wiping out those shady movie theaters.

At the same time, many anti-fraud and marketing accounts immediately followed suit, and everyone quickly identified which cinemas were involved in the fraud.

For internet celebrities, this is practically a free lunch, and they'd be happy to jump on the bandwagon.

Even ordinary netizens have joined the fight against the fraud, with many holding their phones directly to the faces of cinema staff, repeatedly questioning them: How could the machine be broken? Why were they given tickets for "The Legend of Tang Dynasty" instead of other movies? How should they be compensated for not being able to see what they wanted to see?

The rebellious young people and internet celebrities who were just trying to ride the wave of popularity left the cinema staff completely bewildered.

What happened?

We've never seen such a big reaction to box office fraud before.

Where's the boss?

Hurry up and save the day!

A monthly salary of 3000 yuan isn't worth working so hard for!

……

The hashtag #TheTangDynastyStormStealsBoxOfficeRevenue# quickly became a trending topic, and many uninformed passersby only realized what had happened after clicking on it.

Li Fenghua was stunned.

Huada was also dumbfounded.

That's not right. He's done this kind of thing more than once before. At most, a few netizens would complain about it online, but it wasn't worth paying attention to.

Why was it exposed so quickly this time?

The hashtag #BoycottTangDynastyStorm# quickly rose to the top of the trending searches by online trolls from several other films released around the same time, prompting Huada to spend money to remove it from the trending list.

"How could this happen? Didn't you say there would be no problem?"

Li Fenghua stared at Huada, feeling that he was doomed. His good reputation over the years might be ruined in an instant.

Hua Da wasn't panicked; instead, he became somewhat excited: "It's alright. Isn't this the kind of tactic they use to spread rumors about us? Now we'll use our online army to muddy the waters and turn the tables on them, saying they hired online trolls and marketing accounts to slander us in order to grab screen time!"

Li Fenghua was stunned. Could this really be done?

"Will it work? Won't it be reversed like the box office fraud case?"

Hua Da hesitated, but he was already backed into a corner. If they really faced a collective boycott, forget about breaking even; he might even face lawsuits: "What's there to be afraid of? The more they're criticized, the more famous they become! Isn't that how the entertainment industry and new media are these days? If we don't fight back, we'll be waiting to lose money!"

Li Fenghua fell silent.

……

Topics such as "Is the box office theft of 'The Great Tang Dynasty' real or fake?" and "Hello Mr. Billionaire falsely accused 'The Great Tang Dynasty' of box office theft in order to grab screenings" were quickly hyped up by online trolls hired by Huada. For a time, all kinds of information flew around the internet, and many people were confused about whether the box office theft actually existed.

However, no matter how powerful the online army is, it can't compare to the power of genuine, unbiased communication.

Because while paid trolls might only make a brief appearance in the comments section and Weibo supertopic, organic short videos are the most direct form of communication.

[Guys, I just shared my personal experience to show you what box office fraud really looks like—it's blatant crime! They said there was a problem with the equipment, and then gave me a ticket to "The Legend of Tang Dynasty." I said I didn't want to see it and demanded a refund, but the cinema made all sorts of excuses not to give me a refund, saying it was a discounted ticket or something. So what if it was a discounted ticket? Didn't I pay for it myself?]

I'm making this clear: even if you beg me, I won't watch "The Legend of Tang Dynasty"! At first, I thought someone was slandering actor Li Fenghua, but now I've proven from my own experience that even an actor's character isn't necessarily reliable!

[Haha, none of my family members understand. We were so excited to come see Brother Xian's popcorn movie, but he insisted on making me watch something like "The Great Tang Dynasty". One minute he said the machine was broken, the next he said there were no more screenings and I would have to wait until after the Spring Festival to see it. Then he said there wouldn't be any bad movies during the Spring Festival!]

Are our sisters' time just blown around by the wind? If "The Legend of Tang Dynasty" is so good, why wasn't it the box office champion yesterday? Why does it need to steal box office revenue today? Whether it's good or not is up to us to decide. The more you promote it, the less I'll watch it!

[I've encountered something really interesting today! The Golden Guard was summoned to the scene and confronted the cinema staff directly, asking them how a screening in one theater could be scheduled every half hour. The cinema owner said it was a system error, and when asked if the tickets for the error could be refunded, they said no. I've never seen such a shameless way of stealing box office revenue!]

No words needed, brothers, boycott "The Legend of Tang Dynasty"!

……

Many videos of box office fraud captured by netizens were quickly pushed to the public by big data analytics. As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words, but a video is even more telling!"

No matter how much the online trolls try to stir up trouble, there are still many short videos on the scene, and no matter how much "The Legend of Tang Dynasty" tries to defend it, it can't be erased.

Therefore, the box office figures for "The Legend of Tang Dynasty" dropped sharply that day, from 1.5 million yuan on the first day to 1.2 million yuan.

Meanwhile, "Hello Mr. Billionaire" made great strides, surpassing 7.45 million yuan.

"The Great Tang Dynasty" has become a dark horse, surpassing 5.1 million views.

"The Legend of the Sky" turned misfortune into a blessing, with box office revenue exceeding 1.8 million yuan.

The most impressive one was an animated film called "Blue Cat's Fantasy Chronicles," which grossed 5.6 million yuan on its first day and over 7 million yuan on its second day.

The box office performance of other films was dismal.

With box office revenue reaching 13.7 billion yuan in just two days, this achievement is truly dazzling, attracting the attention of many big names in the entertainment industry.

"This Ye Xian is really good at stirring things up! He made a TV series, and it was a success. Now he's making a commercial film, and that's also a success. This film only cost 1 million to make, and at this rate of box office, 60 billion is no problem at all!"

"Dogeye.com has raised its total box office forecast for 'Hello Mr. Billionaire,' reportedly predicting it could surpass 65 billion yuan. This will make Ye Xian an overnight sensation!"

"I heard he has a few more films in the pipeline. Do you think we might have a chance to get involved?"

"It's too late. The investment agreement and funds are already in place. This time, White Elephant Entertainment and Sky Screen Pictures are going to make a killing!"

……

Industry insiders greatly admire Ding Ding and Bai Jie's investment acumen. No one expected that an inconspicuous live-streaming host would become a box office leader overnight. One film gave him the potential to become a box office star with 10 billion yuan. If he makes two or three more films like this, Ye Xian will become a super star in the film and television industry.

Ding Ding and Bai Jie, especially Bai Jie, had already started placing heavy bets on Ye Xian when he only had a few hundred thousand fans. Such sharp insight is truly admirable.

At that moment, Bai Jie was also calling Ye Xian to congratulate him: "Little guy, you're absolutely amazing! I really regret not snatching you away from Ding Zhan back then!"

……

P.S.: Today's Recap

Haizhou aged liquor inventory: 3934 bottles

感谢梅森、星际黑伯爵、梦_湄、万界观测者、拾起记忆的碎片、曹岳稻、天豹隐鹰、红云肥狐、我是呜呜呜呜呜呜、到处d逛逛、上官逸豪、飞叶1973、September28、A豹子头零充A、我真不是小黑子444、传说昊天、左丘汗儒、北辰灬枫、゛末小舞_、小二幺子、喑毒、玄音、爱书者20170925、山水人幺、名称不好取、浪沧之水2022、逝水无痕00、醉倚天台、爱食物的莲蓬、曾经的龙骑士、uoos、黑色的甲虫、666666号线、书友20210611191812111、w小ai、书友20190106135554784、书友20170830153724738、ykaw1114、刘家行天霞、北马、湘书狂2、枫逝等等朋友的推荐票、月票、打赏，感谢各位~

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(End of this chapter)