Flying Melon’s stance was still quite firm. He was determined to oppose Ye Zhou, partly due to his one-sided hostility towards Ye Zhou, and partly because… he was now in too deep to back out.
Although his reputation in the industry wasn’t good, many anti-fans of Ye Zhou had gathered around him. Given the current attention on this incident online, if he suddenly changed his stance, the only consequence would be that neither side would accept him.
Despite his previous impulsive behavior towards Ye Zhou, he was still quite sober. After failing to successfully smear Ye Zhou for Cheng Ran and his own reputation plummeting, he soberly realized that he had no room for retreat.
As a small blogger, his fans couldn’t withstand turmoil. Instead of bowing to Ye Zhou, he might as well stick to his stance. Whether a star or a director, some people like them and some dislike them. No matter what he did, he could not regain his image among those who liked Ye Zhou. So, he might as well focus on attracting the fans who disliked Ye Zhou.
There have been such examples in the circle before, where extreme anti-fans can also gain a considerable number of fans and attention. This was the path Flying Melon had planned for himself.
Under these circumstances, he would never help Ye Zhou by speaking well of him. He had already offended those he needed to offend, and he had no choice. However, after the screening last night, from the perspective of a film critic, he had to admit that this was a very successful commercial film, even ranking among the top in terms of quality for commercial cinema.
But so what? Conscience had been shattered long ago when he first took the dirty money. The longer he stayed in this circle, the more thoroughly his conscience had shattered.
He had forgotten when he last sincerely wrote a film review with a passion for cinema.
Who knows? In any case… it doesn’t matter.
Although Ye Zhou was a little disappointed to learn that Flying Melon couldn’t be persuaded, he wasn’t too surprised. After all, Flying Melon had been at the forefront of smearing him since “A Farce,” and he had persisted for over two years, which couldn’t be easily changed by just one film.
Ye Zhou’s invitation for Flying Melon to watch the film wasn’t solely to persuade him. From the beginning, Ye Zhou had two options. If persuasion succeeded and Flying Melon was willing to sincerely write a review, Ye Zhou’s team would respond in a way that benefited both parties – a win-win path.
If Flying Melon insisted on his stance and refused to cooperate, it wouldn’t matter to the film either. On the contrary, it would undoubtedly bring tremendous traffic and attention to the film again, depending on the film’s quality, of course.
Ye Zhou and his team were confident in this film, so they weren’t afraid of doubts brought by Flying Melon’s review. For them, this was a good opportunity to turn traffic and attention into box office success.
So, regardless of Flying Melon’s choice, it wasn’t a bad thing for “Thriller Circus.” The deadlock had already been broken when Flying Melon’s long Weibo post dissing Ye Zhou became a hot topic. All they needed to do now was to maintain this wave of attention as much as possible, or even expand its influence, and provide appropriate guidance at the right time to ensure that no one would take advantage of the chaos. The rest was just waiting for the money to roll in.
A few days passed, and Ye Zhou looked at the box office growth report in front of him and sighed deeply. Turning to Jiang Tingyuan beside him, he remarked, “This Flying Melon is really a good melon.”
“Look, whenever he posts Weibo dissing the movie or dissing me, the originally stabilized box office would instantly explode with a huge surge.”
“Whenever the hype is about to die down, he comes out and posts on Weibo to consolidate the hype. He’s really…”
At this point, Ye Zhou didn’t know how to describe it. After pondering for a while, he concluded, “Too dedicated!”
“I should really pay him a salary. Nowadays, it’s rare to find someone as dedicated and opportunistic as him. He’s almost on par with our publicity department staff.”
Hearing this, Jiang Tingyuan patted his head and put down the report in his hand, saying, “It’s mainly because the movie is well-made.”
Ye Zhou felt a little embarrassed by his praise and coughed lightly, modestly saying, “No, no, it’s mainly due to good luck. The movie is just average.”
“Good luck won’t favor the unprepared,” Jiang Tingyuan sipped his tea and looked at Ye Zhou earnestly. “If the movie quality isn’t high, you won’t gain word-of-mouth and box office success, but instead, an avalanche of harsh reviews. It’s not just the box office that will suffer, but also your reputation and credibility as a director.”
This was the truth. With Flying Melon’s relentless smear campaign, if the movie quality was truly poor or not that high, it would have brought nothing but a negative impact, let alone boost the box office. Avoiding an early pull from theaters due to dismal box office and low scores would be considered good.
Ye Zhou chuckled for a while, leaning against Jiang Tingyuan, and resting his head on his lap. Closing his eyes, he murmured softly, “I’m a bit tired. I want to sleep for a while. Wake me up in half an hour.”
Jiang Tingyuan put down his pen, adjusted his posture to ensure Ye Zhou could sleep more comfortably, and softly replied, “Okay, sleep well.”
During this period, Ye Zhou’s new drama was still in preparation, and his new movie had yet to start filming, so he didn’t need to rush to the set. “Thriller Circus” had also stabilized in terms of word-of-mouth and box office, so he didn’t need to go out.
Although Jiang Tingyuan was still busy with work, he had recently started bringing work home to handle official matters, allowing him to spend more time with Ye Zhou.
Their relationship had been warming up as they spent more time together at home.
Initially, Ye Zhou thought that the more intense the emotion, the more passionate and heart-wrenching it would be. But recently, he realized that the deeper the emotion, the more natural and casual the interaction between them became. There wasn’t much passion in life. It was more about the unintentional smiles during their daily interactions, an occasional hug or kiss for each other. No excessive conversation was needed – a single glance was enough for them to understand each other. Wasn’t this what true happiness was all about?
It seemed like they had easily crossed the adjustment period between them. There was no so-called mutual exploration, let alone the typical arguments and anger during the adjustment period. They went straight into an old married couple mode.
So casual and comfortable, like a salted fish.
This way of interacting was so comfortable that Ye Zhou would occasionally regret why he didn’t like Jiang Tingyuan earlier, so he could have enjoyed this comfortable life sooner.
However, there was a downside. Life was too leisurely, and Jiang Tingyuan took such good care of him that during these idle weeks at home, Ye Zhou’s weight ‘soared’, and there was even a little soft flesh on his belly.
The greatest sorrow in life is that despite having the same routine, the same lifestyle, and even the same diet, you gain weight, but the other person doesn’t change at all.
Unfortunately, Mr. Jiang was one of those people who didn’t gain weight easily.
Ye Zhou said he would only sleep for half an hour, but when Jiang Tingyuan tried to wake him up twice, he failed. After finishing his work and seeing no signs of Ye Zhou waking up, Jiang Tingyuan closed his notebook and carried him back to the bedroom. Instead of leaving after settling Ye Zhou in, he lay down beside him and held him in his embrace, closing his eyes to rest as well.
Similar scenes often played out these days. Once the deep-sleeping Ye Zhou fell asleep, it was impossible to wake him up unless he had slept enough. Jiang Tingyuan had ample experience with this.
But what did it matter? After all, they had plenty of time ahead of them.
——
In the third week of its release, the box office broke through the 1 billion mark. The crazy box office growth curve finally began to stabilize gradually. Based on the 1 billion mark, it seemed that the final box office would be around 1.3 to 1.4 billion at most. Anything more would be difficult.
Of course, it wasn’t ruled out that the movie might have an extended run, in which case the box office might reach around 1.7 billion. This was not an astonishing number, but while making Ye Zhou’s team a hefty profit, it greatly boosted the long-depressed thriller movie genre.
Reportedly, after seeing the success of “Thriller Circus,” many thriller movies that had been shelved years ago due to the ban had been picked up for production again. Additionally, many thriller movie enthusiast directors were itching to return to their passion, rolling up their sleeves in anticipation.
Investors were also eyeing the success of “Thriller Circus” with envy. After all, with low investment but returns several times or even over ten times the input, who wouldn’t want such a small investment for a big return?
With investors and directors on board, would it be difficult to find actors?
The subsequent performance of “Thriller Circus” did not disappoint. By the time the movie was about to be pulled from theaters, it had successfully reached a box office of 1.35 billion. Just as the movie was about to be taken off screens, the previously submitted extension application was finally approved.
However, the golden period had passed, and with new movies constantly being released and facing fierce competition, even with a 10-day extension, the box office growth of “The Thriller Circus” began to decline.
Nevertheless, the results were impressive. The 10-day extension brought in 330 million for “Thriller Circus.” Combined with the offline electronic distribution rights sold to several platforms, it generated a staggering total income of 2.26 billion for Ye Zhou and his production team.
Unlike his other movies, this one was basically invested solely by Ye Zhou himself. Apart from the shares for theaters and taxes, the remaining box office profits essentially belonged to Ye Zhou.
After the box office settlement, Ye Zhou transformed from a debt-ridden poor director into a local tyrant worth over 1 billion yuan.
Of course, before the money even got warm, Ye Zhou used it to repay Mr. Jiang and his project managers. Despite their initial rejections, seeing Ye Zhou’s firm stance and knowing he was not short of money, they eventually accepted it after much persuasion.
After repaying all his debts, Ye Zhou was debt-free and light as a feather. He sauntered back home, swaggering over to Mr. Jiang, swaying left and right in front of him with an extremely smug expression.
Mr. Jiang was bothered by his swaying, and after Ye Zhou swayed over for the umpteenth time, he finally couldn’t resist reaching out, gently pulling him into his embrace with a bit of force using inertia. His arms tightened slightly as he looked into Ye Zhou’s eyes with a somewhat helpless tone, asking, “So happy?”
If he hadn’t asked, it would have been fine, but his question instantly caused Ye Zhou’s delighted expression to become unrestrained as he burst into laughter.
“Us common folk have flipped the script and sung our song1He actually said 翻身农奴把歌唱 (fānshēn nóngnú bǎ gēchàng) – The liberated serfs sing. It celebrates the positive change brought about by the abolition of the serf system in Tibet, allowing the formerly oppressed serfs to express their happiness and freedom through song.!”
Jiang Tingyuan was infected by his laughter and couldn’t help but smile, lightly tapping Ye Zhou’s head with his curled fingers. “Alright, don’t laugh yourself out of breath.”
“Do you need me to recommend some financial advisors?”
Ye Zhou stopped laughing, raised his hand in front of Jiang Tingyuan, and waved his long, fair fingers. Then, he took out a card from his pocket and slapped it onto Jiang Tingyuan’s desk with a crisp sound.
Jiang Tingyuan was puzzled. “Hmm?”
Ye Zhou boldly took advantage of Jiang Tingyuan’s momentary daze, grabbed his chin, and whispered in a deliberately lowered voice near his ear, “There are 700 million in the card, and the password is your birthday.”
“Sleep with me, and the money is yours.”
“Do you dare?”
Jiang Tingyuan: “……”
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