Huayu: Starting with mentoring female stars

For example, the number of short reviews on Douban for "The Unknown" has soared from just over 300 to over 4000, with a very high approval rating.

Numerous posts about the anonymous individual have appeared on Sina Blog, Tianya Entertainment, and various other forums.

One of the long articles, titled "After watching The Unknowns, I want to talk about the ordinary people around us," was also shared over 100,000 times.

This sparked widespread resonance and discussion among netizens.

On platforms like Tudou and Youku, the trailers Chen Zhou uploaded have seen their views increase several times over, reaching millions.

Chen Zhou's short videos, including behind-the-scenes footage, have also become very popular.

In this situation, the unknown performers had an excellent reputation and a particularly high attendance rate.

Major cinemas have gradually begun to make adjustments, increasing the number of screenings for unknown films.

This adjustment became the most crucial turning point!

The increased number of screenings was quickly sold out by audiences.

This led cinemas to see the potential of unknown films, and thus continue to allocate screenings to them.

Of course, the vast majority of screenings were allocated to "Assembly" and "The Warlords".

After all, the former is a work by Feng Xiaogang, while the latter is a work by Chen Kexin with super big names like Liu Dehua and Li Lianjie.

Even a blind person would know that allocating more screening resources to them is a sure thing.

Ultimately, "The Unknown" grossed 220 million yuan on its second day!

A single-day growth rate of 31%!

And this was just the beginning. On the 31st, which was New Year's Day...

The box office exceeded 420 million!

Although its daily box office is still far behind "Assembly" and "The Warlords", its daily growth rate has already surpassed all other low- and medium-budget films released during the same period.

This is a very good sign.

2008 1 Month 1 Day.

On New Year's Day.

As a result of a series of positive chain reactions, the screenings of "The Unknown" have increased from less than 10% on the first day to 18% in cinemas.

And on this day, the daily box office exceeded 750 million!

It has entered the top three of the daily box office charts for the first time!

Second only to Assembly Call and Warlords.

Meanwhile, because the total box office of "The Unknown" exceeded ten million RMB, the system task was successfully completed.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, on completing the mission]

[Award Awarded: Directing Skills - World-Class Use of Lighting and Color]

[Ding! New task successfully issued]

[Current Task: To once again serve as an acting coach, teaching classes for at least three actors daily for half a month to improve their acting skills and ensure their satisfaction]

Chen Zhou still liked the reward.

These abilities are like pieces of a puzzle; the more you accumulate, the more complete the puzzle of Chen Zhou becomes.

Take another step on the road to becoming a top director!

However, Chen Zhou doesn't have time to complete new tasks right now. He still has to continue with things like roadshows and movie promotions.

It's not too late to complete the new task after the publicity period is almost over.

Haste makes waste.

Take it easy.

After that, the box office began to explode:

Box office reached 8.8 million on January 2nd!

10.5 million on January 3th!

10.5 million on January 4th!

10.5 million on January 5th!

10.5 million on January 6th!

The daily box office exceeded 7 million for six consecutive days.

In just nine days, the cumulative box office has reached 61 million.

The news of this box office comeback immediately attracted widespread media attention, with all of them publishing special reports.

Some headlines read: "Dark horse makes a comeback in the Lunar New Year film season: How did an unknown film defeat a blockbuster with word of mouth?"

Some also say: The Beijing Film Academy's directing department has produced a new director with extraordinary talent.

Some say: A group of unknowns filmed a film about truly unknown people.

Meanwhile, major media outlets also compared the success of "The Unknown" with that of "Crazy Stone," which was released last year.

Crazy Stone had a total investment of 300 million yuan and a final box office of over 2300 million yuan, making it a new benchmark for low-budget realist films in the industry.

Now, Chen Zhou, with a total investment of 300 million yuan, has already grossed almost three times more than Crazy Stone, even before it has finished its run in theaters.

Therefore, "The Unknown" has now become a new low-cost benchmark in the media's eyes.

Following that, thanks to its continued positive word-of-mouth, The Unknown's total box office surpassed 1 million on January 20th!

As a result, major media outlets reported that Chen Zhou, an unknown director, had set several new records for domestic directors:

The youngest director in history to break 100 million yuan at the box office!

The director whose debut film grossed over 100 million yuan in the fastest time!

Director with a minimum budget exceeding 100 million!

He becomes the ninth director in the history of Chinese-language films to join the club of directors with films grossing over 100 million yuan (and he is a newcomer at that)!

These news reports caused an uproar online, especially among people in Chen Zhou's circle, who all saw the reports.

Chen Zhou quickly rose to fame in a short period of time!

It can be said that some people are happy while others are sad.

Lu Chuan, who was still filming "City of Life and Death," looked extremely grim when he saw the news about Chen Zhou online.

If anyone saw him now, they would be scared half to death.

Lu Chuan couldn't believe that the person she had kicked out back then had become a representative of the new era of directors in the eyes of major media outlets.

Even more surprising is that Chen Zhou was able to produce a film with a budget of 3 million yuan that grossed over 100 million yuan at the box office.

As a director himself, he knew this was a pipe dream, but Chen Zhou managed to do it anyway.

Furthermore, his previous online criticism of "The Nameless" has been dug up by netizens and ridiculed, who say he is short-sighted and arrogant.

He was so angry he was dizzy!

All he can do now is think about is when his "Nanjing Nanjing" will be released, so that he can truly turn the tide and prove himself to everyone!

8 o'clock in the evening.

Inside a restaurant, a celebration banquet for an unknown person is being held.

Chen Zhou stood alone on the balcony, talking on the phone with his family.

The news that the movie's box office had exceeded 100 million yuan made everyone back home very happy.

His parents, for example, were all sobbing in their conversations, feeling that their son had made something of himself and was capable.

They chose to believe in their son and used all their savings to send him to study directing, and they were right.

Tian Xiwei was always available whenever her family called Chen Zhou, and this time she spoke directly to Chen Zhou.

She boasted all over school that her good brother was the best director in the world.

Chen Zhou knew that Tian Xiwei was genuinely happy for him; otherwise, given her age, she would have virtually no understanding of the directing industry.

Anyway, I just think his older brother is awesome.

After finishing the phone call, Chen Zhou returned to the banquet hall.

Liu Yifei, Liu Xiaoli, Zhu Yilong, Chen Minghao, Wang Jingchun, Xing Jiadong, Deng Jiajia, and others, including some crew members, were also present.

In addition, investor Liu Dehua was also present.

At the previous premiere, Liu Dehua did not want to steal the spotlight.

However, this celebration banquet was a private matter. With such good box office results for "The Unknown," Liu Dehua naturally had to come and personally congratulate them.

To put it bluntly, he made a fortune as an investor.

After all, another film he starred in, "The Warlords," also did very well at the box office.

"Come on, let's ask Director Chen to say a few words," Liu Dehua chimed in to Chen Zhou.

"Clap clap clap!"

Applause erupted from the audience.

The way everyone looked at Chen Zhou at that moment was truly filled with admiration.

Half a year ago, Chen Zhou was still an unknown new director.

But now, he has become the most sought-after rising star, making everyone feel that times have changed.

Seeing everyone staring at him, Chen Zhou felt somewhat embarrassed.

But since the atmosphere had already reached this point, he spoke from the bottom of his heart:

"Actually, I just want to thank everyone here."

"Thank you to my actors, the crew, and Mr. Liu Dehua for investing in me."

"When filming on set, I always tormented everyone. A single scene might have to be filmed more than ten times. And what I pursued was just the small details that seemed insignificant to others."

"But you are all willing to understand me and cooperate with me."

"It was a really wonderful process because our shared experiences made the film even better."

"Otherwise, an unknown artist wouldn't have the reputation he has now, let alone achieve a box office of over 100 million in such a short time."

"In short, I will not keep this glory to myself; it is history that we have created together."

Thank you everyone!

"Okay! Clap clap clap!"

The applause grew even louder.