After the New Year, Ye Zhou received a call from the head of the relevant department. They wanted to expedite the review process and suggested that Ye Zhou make appropriate cuts to the original plot.
Ye Zhou, of course, disagreed and rejected the proposal without much hesitation.
Sometimes, no matter how good the quality of a film is, after a messy and chaotic editing process, it becomes incoherent, full of bugs, and nonsensical.
Ye Zhou understood the intentions of the head, and could even guess which scenes they wanted to cut, but Ye Zhou would not and could not agree.
Because the scenes they wanted to remove were the true essence of the film, and rather than cutting them out and making the film mediocre, Ye Zhou would prefer it to never be released.
Ye Zhou’s persistence caused the film review process, which had just begun to ease up, to once again reach a stalemate.
It had been nearly half a year since “Thriller Circus” was officially completed, and just when Ye Zhou had almost given up hope, good news arrived.
After a gap of half a year, the film was finally approved for release.
During those few months of waiting for the review, Ye Zhou didn’t idle around either. Except for the New Year period when he slacked off a bit, he spent the rest of the time preparing for a new script.
A habit formed in his previous life, Ye Zhou was never one to sit idle. Ever since the filming of “Thriller Circus” ended, he had been free for half a year.
When he was busy, he longed for a vacation to rest well, but after a long period of rest, he wanted to work again. This was the true portrait of Ye Zhou.
Just when Ye Zhou was growing restless, a quality script appeared before him.
To be precise, this script was handed over by the protagonist gong, Jiang Yu, himself.
When Ye Zhou had just transmigrated, he attended an auction with Mr. Jiang. He had set his eyes on a work titled “Rewind,” but due to the malicious bidding by the protagonists, the final price was driven up to two million, causing Ye Zhou to back out of the bidding and forfeit the work.
Originally thinking he had no connection
with this work, he didn’t expect that a few months ago, Jiang Yu, due to budget overruns for “Battle City 2,” had become so poor that he had to resell the works he had previously bought to raise funds.
At that time, the industry was busy laughing at the situation, but Ye Zhou didn’t join in the laughter. Instead, he not only refrained from mocking but also recommended to Mr. Jiang to have someone visit Jiang Yu’s company and pick through the available works, selecting a few that seemed promising.
Of course, this couldn’t be done under Mr. Jiang’s or Jiang Group’s name, so Jiang Tingyuan had a small subsidiary company handle the matter.
“Rewind” was among those works, and when Ye Zhou saw the detailed purchase report brought by Mr. Jiang, he didn’t expect such a coincidence.
When Ye Zhou inquired about how much Mr. Jiang had paid, he smiled without saying a word. Later, Ye Zhou learned that this work, which Jiang Yu had bought for a high price, was ultimately acquired for only 200,000.
Yes, just 200,000 yuan, only 50,000 yuan higher than the original auction base price for the script.
Why? What else could it be? It’s simply because, with the development of society, there are fewer and fewer fools like Jiang Yu who would impulsively bid ten times higher than the actual value of a work.
Jiang Yu did want to sell it at the original price, but the question was, would anyone take it?
He had impulsively bid 2 million for “Rewind,” but no one would take it at that price. No one would pay for Jiang Yu’s impulsiveness.
With 2 million yuan in the industry, one could acquire even better works. Compared to new authors, the industry generally trusts established and renowned writers more.
It was said that Jiang Yu originally priced “Rewind” at 1 million yuan, but after other work IPs had mostly sold, there was not even an inquiry for “Rewind.”
Left with no choice, he could only repeatedly lower the price until he brought it down to 500,000 yuan. At that point, the person sent by Jiang Tingyuan to acquire works smiled and said, “I’ve already bought so much from you, let’s just add ‘Rewind’ as a little extra, for the sake of our long friendship!”
Of course, Jiang Yu was unwilling, it felt like his heart was bleeding. However, the person flatly stated that if Jiang Yu maintained this attitude, they might have to reconsider the other scripts they had picked out.
Jiang Yu was overwhelmed upon hearing this. Over a year into the production of “Battle City 2,” the funds he had previously raised were nearly depleted. If there was no further capital injection, the project might have to temporarily halt due to a lack of funds.
For a small crew, a work stoppage might only mean a few thousand yuan in wasted labor costs per day. But for a large-scale production like “Battle City 2,” a single day of halted work meant hundreds of thousands of yuan down the drain.
The person sent by Jiang Tingyuan picked out six works, worth over 20 million. If the deal fell through because of “Rewind,” he could find new buyers, but it would take time.
And right now, Jiang Yu couldn’t afford to waste a single minute. The additional 50 million investment promised by Summit Entertainment was delayed due to issues in their own company, so if he wanted the crew to maintain normal operations, Jiang Yu had to grit his teeth and find a solution himself.
After much deliberation, Jiang Yu finally relented and agreed to sell the work he had bid 2 million yuan for at a bargain price of 200,000 yuan.
2 million yuan for loneliness – Jiang Yu couldn’t dwell on this matter, or even think about it, or else his heart would ache.
Speaking of “Thriller Circus,” as soon as the news of its approval spread, many in the industry automatically turned their attention to Ye Zhou and his film, eager to see whether the first one to take on the challenge of an R-rated thriller movie after so many years would rake in profits or suffer massive losses.
As the focus of attention, Ye Zhou had been quite calm during this period, showing none of the anxiety and tension imagined by outsiders. Nowadays, he no longer needed to negotiate with theaters himself, as the theater representatives proactively contacted his team.
For this release of “Thriller Circus,” Ye Zhou did not opt for advance screenings, leaving all promotions to his team and Jingzhe’s public relations department. He had completely taken on the role of an uninvolved owner.
It’s not that he did not care about the box office for this film; rather, his entire focus is currently on the new film “Rewind”.
When the “Rewind” team was basically assembled, and all the actors were cast, the highly anticipated “Thriller Circus” finally hit theaters during the Labor Day holiday.
——
Feng Tianming was a fan of thriller movies. He had high standards for films, and before the indiscriminate banning of thriller movies, he would nitpick and criticize current thrillers – one moment complaining that a movie wasn’t scary enough, the next that it lacked sufficient gore, and then that the atmosphere wasn’t tense enough, lacking immersion…
In short, few thriller movies met his discerning eye. The handful that did were long-established classics.
Although he always found fault with movies, Feng Tianming was nonetheless a true lover of thriller films.
However, a few years ago, a young boy imitated a horror movie scene, brutally murdering his 3-year-old sister. This case caused an uproar online at the time, raising a storm of controversy that even those outside the film circle knew about.
Countless parents spontaneously formed groups to protest on the streets, demanding exorbitant compensation from the filmmakers while strongly calling for the removal of mainstream thriller movies containing violence, ghosts, and the like.
Within three months of this incident, thriller films were massively taken down.
The thriller movies Feng Tianming adored so much suddenly had 90% removed from theaters and streaming platforms. Even a few classic older thrillers were taken down for being too gory or going against socialist values.
Thriller movies then entered an unprecedented winter. Any that managed to get approval was bound to be terrible, while those that captured the thriller essence often failed the review process.
Feng Tianming was distraught, as were fellow thriller fans.
While they could watch foreign films if truly desperate, foreign and domestic films were ultimately different. An occasional foreign film was fine, but after too long, one would still long for homegrown movies.
After wishing upon stars and moons, the movie rating system was finally implemented. But in the long time since, perhaps due to the severe losses from years ago, industry giants have been extremely cautious, unwilling to take risks and potentially fail reviews again.
This led to the current situation where, despite the rating system, no significant horror films were produced – at best, there were only minor attempts.
When “Thriller Circus” was announced, horror enthusiasts’ forums buzzed with excitement. Screenwriter Ren Zi’an’s previous works were loved by hardcore fans, and now seeing him return to his roots with Ye Zhou, a director known for his two high-grossing films, fans had reason to celebrate. For half a month, the forums felt like a festival, with everyone eagerly spreading the news.
However, despite the anticipation, most were not optimistic about the film’s prospects. All sorts of analysis posts proliferated, with three main viewpoints:
The first was that the film would never pass review, and the initial investment would be a sunk cost, leaving investors empty-handed.
The second, more optimistic view was that the film would be released, but heavily edited, perhaps to the point where cuts made the plot incoherent.
The third, even more optimistic stance was that the uncut film would be released, but on a limited scale, with only a few scattered screenings.
Regardless of which of these three outcomes, everyone decided to buy tickets in support. Even if the film turned out terrible, they were willing to make up the audience, not for any other reason but for passion’s sake.
Feng Tianming was one of these people. Having gone so long without movies to watch, he had shed his initial mean criticism and prepared himself to watch a bad film.
Although the Labor Day holiday lasted five days, the movie market entered a slump after the New Year releases, with strong blockbusters more likely to aim for the Golden Week holiday or next New Year’s releases. So overall there weren’t many big IPs or productions recently, with relatively little competition.
Feng Tianming arrived at the movie theater early. Since it was an R-rated thriller premiering at midnight, he expected there wouldn’t be many people. But who would have thought…
“Whoa! Why are there so many people? Is there some big blockbuster showing tonight? I didn’t hear anything about that.” Feng Tianming muttered softly, adjusting his glasses.
He finally made his way through the crowd to the ticket machines, only to find a long line ahead.
Feng Tianming looked surprised, wondering what big production was premiering tonight that drew such crowds. Unable to contain his curiosity, he tapped the young man in front of him and politely asked, “Excuse me, is there a big movie premiere tonight?”
The young man looked around twenty and wore a baseball cap, a face mask, and oversized sunglasses that covered half his face. Next to him stood a taller man dressed similarly, who also turned around.
Having played the idle boss for too long, Ye Zhou had finally incurred everyone’s wrath and was kicked out by the team to assess the audience turnout, viewing experience, approval ratings, and feedback on premiere night.
With “Rewind” nearly ready, Ye Zhou thought to take this chance for a sweet movie date with Mr. Jiang to foster their relationship.
To better blend in with the audience, Ye Zhou treated himself like a regular moviegoer – buying tickets, lining up, and watching the film.
Hearing the young man’s question, Ye Zhou paused, thinking seriously before uncertainly replying, “There shouldn’t be, right?”
Not getting useful information from the young man, Feng Tianming probed further, “Then may I ask what movie you’re here to watch?”
“This…” Ye Zhou hesitated, not because he couldn’t say, but feeling somewhat embarrassed about coming to watch his own film and unsure how to put it.
After enjoying Ye Zhou’s awkwardness with an amused smile, Mr. Jiang finally stepped in to smooth things over and answered for the youth, “Thriller Circus.”
Upon hearing the title, Feng Tianming froze and then flushed with excitement. Wiping his hands on his pants, he eagerly extended a hand to Ye Zhou, “You’re thriller fans too? It’s so great to meet fellow enthusiasts!”
“Uh…I suppose?” Ye Zhou didn’t know if he counted as a fan. He had some interest at least, or he wouldn’t have taken such a big risk producing it.
Just as Ye Zhou was about to shake his hand, someone else grabbed Feng Tianming’s hand first.
“I don’t like thriller movies,” Jiang Tingyuan’s deep voice was calm and unhurried.
Feng Tianming froze, unconsciously asking, “Then why are you here for this premiere?”
Jiang Tingyuan turned to look at Ye Zhou beside him, his voice serious yet slightly teasing, “I like the director of this film.”
Feng Tianming: “Ah…I see.”
Ye Zhou: “…”
Mr. Jiang, saying you like me so seriously really makes me feel embarrassed!
Ye Zhou’s mask concealed his expression, but his exposed ear tips gradually flushed red, growing deeper with each passing moment.
To make matters worse, the usually quiet and reserved Jiang Tingyuan suddenly became talkative in front of this stranger.
“Do you know this director? Have you seen his works before?”
“His ‘A Farce’ and ‘Chasing the Light’ were good.”
“He’s a director with a unique style, you can check him out if interested.”
“This director is excellent, and the quality of his films is high.”
“Not only are his films outstanding, but the director himself is excellent too.”
“He’s very handsome and has a great personality.”
“But he already has a boyfriend, so just appreciate his works, don’t have any other thoughts.”
By now, Ye Zhou’s ears were so red they seemed ready to bleed. Seeing Jiang Tingyuan getting more and more outrageous, he finally couldn’t take it and tugged on Jiang Tingyuan’s sleeve, whispering, “S-Stop talking…”
Jiang Tingyuan obligingly grasped his hand, summarizing with one final addition:
“I really like him.”
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