They surrounded me right after the breakup.

The word-of-mouth spread faster than anyone expected during the preview screenings.

The ticketing platform rating remained stable at four and a half stars, and the number of reviews exceeded two thousand overnight.

The first thing Fang Chongwen did when he woke up on Saturday morning was to check his phone for data. After checking, he sent a message to Jiang Han:

The ratings have stabilized, and the number of comments is still increasing.

Jiang Han replied with a "yes".

Fang Chongwen took screenshots of the trending topics lists from several major social media platforms and sent them to the company group chat.

The topic of Nezha's preview screening jumped from the top 20 last night to the top 5, with new posts appearing every minute in the real-time discussion area.

Several major film and television accounts published lengthy reviews overnight, each with an increasingly longer title.

"Dumplings" slapped all the bad domestic films in the face with an animated film.

After Nezha, Chinese animation no longer needs to feel inferior.

"My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens'; this line is worth a billion."

At noon, Jiaozi called Jianghan.

"President Jiang, I read all the comments last night, both the positive and negative ones."

"What should I say about a negative review?"

"The negative reviews mainly focus on the slow pace of the first half. Several viewers said that the jokes during the scene where Taiyi Zhenren rides the flying pig were too frequent and diluted the tension of the Demon Orb's reincarnation."

Dumpling paused, and the sound of turning pages came from the microphone.

"But after carefully looking at the timestamps of these negative reviews, I found that they were mostly posted within half an hour of the preview screening ending. The comments gradually reversed later, with some people changing their negative reviews to positive ones after watching the screening a second time."

What do you think?

"I don't understand animation, I only look at the people! Just believe in yourself!" Jiang Han leaned back in his office chair and switched his phone to his other hand.

"Never mind what others say, it's your film, you decide what to do."

Dumpling was silent for a while on the other end of the phone.

Every time I suggested changes—modifying shots, adjusting dubbing, adding special effects—StarMoon Media's response was always the same.

The money has already been transferred; you can spend it as you see fit.

He has seen too many investors, some who treat directors like service providers, some who treat creation like an assembly line, and some who want to sign off on every single frame.

Jiang Han's trust is something even harder to obtain than money.

That same afternoon, the distribution team held an emergency meeting in the conference room of Xingyue Media.

The original plan was to discuss the screening schedule for the official release next week.

However, after the preview screenings and their positive reviews, the distribution director felt they couldn't wait any longer.

He projected the original screening schedule onto the screen, with 12% of the screenings scheduled for the first day, concentrated in the animation hall and regular halls, and only a few screenings in the IMAX hall.

Then he switched to the next page, which contained the adjustment plan that had been rushed out overnight.

"We've received feedback from the theater chains. When we discussed screen time with major theater chains before the preview screenings, their maximum offer was 15%."

"After the preview screenings were released last night, the screening managers from three cinema chains called to ask if the percentage could be increased to 20%."

He turned to the next page, where the screen displayed the additional screening intentions of several major cinema chains:

Wanda Cinemas has agreed to allocate all prime-time slots in its IMAX theaters to Nezha.

Dadi Cinemas is willing to adjust the scheduling of other films released at the same time to make way for Nezha.

Several flagship cinemas under China Film Group even offered to add midnight screenings.

Fang Chongwen sat at the other end of the conference table, with a schedule comparison table that had just been printed that morning spread out in front of him.

The original number in the screening schedule column was crossed out in red, and a new number was written next to it: 22%.

"Twenty-two percent is the maximum we can get right now. Any higher and it will take away from the guaranteed screening share of other films. Several cinema chains have signed guaranteed agreements and can't change that."

Liu Jianzhou, head of the public relations department, used a laser pointer to circle several numbers marked in red on the screen.

"But the proportion of screenings in IMAX theaters can reach 35%, a percentage that no other domestic animated film has ever achieved!"

"The box office revenue from IMAX theaters alone accounted for more than 30% of the total box office revenue during the first three days of the season."

"That's right! No other domestic animation has ever received a 4.5 rating from a preview screening before Nezha."

After the meeting, Fang Chongwen compiled the film scheduling adjustment plan into a briefing and sent it to Jiang Han.

The email ended with the line: "According to the latest data from the box office prediction team, the opening week will be at least this number."

Jiang Han replied with two words: "That's enough."

On its opening day.

Long queues formed outside Jingzhou International Cinema.

I walked around the ticket gate to the elevator area, making two turns.

Among the queuing audience were college students wearing Nezha T-shirts, young parents with children, and several elderly people with gray hair.

They were dragged here by their grandchildren, who said this animated film was different from the others.

At the same time, Jiang Han sat in his office staring at his computer screen.

The ticketing platform's backend data is refreshed every half minute.

Nezha had a 22% share of screenings on its opening day, while competing film The Investiture of the Gods had a 25% share.

The number of screenings was slightly lower, but the attendance rate was the opposite.

The audience was almost entirely filled with Nezha, but less than 60% of the deities were actually enshrined.

Less than two hours into the game, the gap had already widened.

Jiang Han received a phone report from the distribution team.

"The attendance figures for the morning session of 'Investiture of the Gods' are out; it's less than 60%, while ours is almost full."

"Several cinemas have contacted the distribution team, wanting to change the afternoon screenings of 'Fengshen' to 'Nezha'."

Liu Jianzhou's voice came through the microphone, suppressing a laugh.

"Many cinemas have reported that the theaters for 'Fengshen' were less than half full, while the theaters for 'Nezha' next door were sold out, even the first row was sold out."

Jiang Han knew perfectly well that who got screen time in theaters depended not on the production company, but on the ticket sales.

Whoever's hall is full will have an extra show.

Whoever's hall is empty, they should give up their seat.

Nobody turns down money!

Before a film goes live, the scheduling of screenings is determined by the marketing budget and the background of the production company.

But on the day of the premiere, theaters are only concerned with how many tickets they can sell for each screening.

This data cannot be changed by simply throwing money at it.

The word-of-mouth for Nezha was already written on the night of the preview screening; the public release was just reading the answer aloud.

Soon after, the box office big data prediction model was updated with a new version of data, and Nezha's opening day box office should be around 1.4 million.

That evening, the first day's box office totaled 1.43 million yuan on ticketing platforms.

Jiang Han hung up the phone and sent a message to Xia Yutong.

There are no words, only two photos.

He took a picture of the bet agreement he had signed back then; the handwriting on the A4 paper was very new, but the creases were old.

The text above only contained a few lines: "Nezha's box office exceeds 4 billion, Xia Yutong is at your disposal."

Her signature at the end was still in the same handwriting as before, straight and meticulous.

Once the photo is taken, click send.

A moment later, Xia Yutong replied to the message.

"And this is only the first day?"