As the plan was gradually implemented, not only did the movie ‘A Farce’ top the Weibo hot search rankings, but it also started gaining traction on other video platforms.
Initially, everyone thought this level of hype would only be temporary and the movie would drop off the rankings within a couple of days at most. However, who would have thought that three days had passed since the controversy began, and not only did the hype not subside, but it escalated even further as various video creators, bloggers, and critics joined the fray, keeping the movie firmly entrenched in the top spots.
Apart from the first batch of critics contacted proactively by the staff, as the hype continued to rise, the warring factions grew larger. In the later stages, the staff didn’t even need to reach out anymore.
Many self-media industry practitioners saw an opportunity here. To rapidly increase their following and gain subscribers, they started spontaneously creating related videos without needing any prompting or payment.
Whether praising or criticizing the movie, the two sides remained evenly matched, precisely following Ye Zhou’s initial expectations. No matter how intense the clash, a delicate balance was maintained between the two sides before the movie’s official release.
On the fourth day, the group of critics who had been invited to attend the preview screening in City A some time ago finally began publishing their reviews of the movie one after another.
Although Ye Zhou had promised not to interfere with the critics’ objective assessments, it didn’t mean there was no screening process in selecting the invited critics.
Here, Ye Zhou played a little trick.
Before sending out the invitations, Ye Zhou had personally curated the list of invited critics after several rounds of screening.
At first glance, these critics seemed to have nothing in common, but in reality, each critic had been carefully considered and analyzed based on their previous reviewing styles.
Only by doing so could Ye Zhou ensure that the reviews wouldn’t be overwhelmingly negative after the screening.
Despite Ye Zhou’s efforts in generating hype for the movie during this period and maintaining a balance in the public’s perception, this balance was largely an illusion created by non-professionals and was quite fragile and would not withstand scrutiny.
To truly stabilize the balance, the opinions of these professional critics would be crucial, as their words carried significant weight in determining whether the scales would continue to maintain balance.
Early that morning, the renowned film critic Jun Yi suddenly posted a Weibo update.
Jun Yi V: “I attended the preview screening of ‘A Farce’ in City A a couple of days ago. Here are my thoughts on the movie…
As usual, let me start with the positives. Undoubtedly, this is a comedy film with densely packed jokes. Whether it’s the jokes, plot setup, or character portrayals, it passes for a comedy movie. What surprised me was the director’s adept character development. Although the movie features an ensemble cast, each character has distinct traits.
The most vivid portrayal is that of Killer No. 3. As for how brilliant it is, revealing more might spoil the movie, and the film producers have repeatedly emphasized avoiding spoilers. So, you’ll have to go to the theater yourselves to find out.
However, the movie’s flaws are also glaringly obvious. Its most fatal flaw, which has drawn criticism from the industry, is that despite being a comedy, it lacks depth upon closer examination. The director tells the story well, but the scope is ultimately too small, leading many peers to dismiss it as a soulless showpiece.
Apart from the lack of depth, the acting… is a mixed bag of surprises and letdowns. Although the performances are inconsistent, they barely manage to scrape a passing grade.
Lastly, I strongly suspect the director is an Easter egg maniac. Due to the preview screening restrictions, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how many Easter eggs are hidden. You’ll likely have to wait until the official release to start finding them. If you’re interested, keep an eye out during your viewing. There are definitely some surprises in store.”
This lengthy Weibo post immediately saw an explosive growth in likes and comments upon its release. Within just a few hours, it had already garnered over 30,000 comments and reposts.
If Jun Yi represented the positive reviews, then the appearance of a critic representing the negative opinions followed shortly after.
Liu Xiaochuan was also a well-regarded critic in the industry. Although he did not have as many followers as Jun Yi, his unique personal style attracted a significant number of very devoted fans.
In the afternoon, around 2 PM, Liu Xiaochuan posted on Weibo:
Liu Xiaochuan: “@FlyingMelon, Melon-ge, after watching the preview screening, I finally understand your feelings. Categorizing this movie as a terrible one is not an overstatement at all.
I won’t even mention whether it has any depth, as that’s already a well-established fact. Let me simply explain why it deserves to be called a terrible movie.
First, the movie is long-winded and dull. The director dragged it out endlessly, rambling on and on about trivial matters without ever getting to the point. Frankly speaking, even a random film student would have done a better job than him.
Some people say this movie has densely packed jokes, but perhaps my sense of humor is too high. I didn’t find it funny at all. I sat expressionless in the theater for two painfully dull hours, to the point where my butt hurt.
As for the actors, so-called celebrities like Zhu Ning should just stick to being pretty faces, doing endorsements and variety shows to make money. Why on earth would they want to act in movies?
If I really had to find something laughable in this movie, it would be Zhu Ning’s acting. It was downright hilarious how stiff and awkward he was, maintaining the same deadpan expression throughout the entire movie. What a talent!
I sincerely beg my colleagues, please stop taking money to shill for bad movies, okay? It’s not easy for fans to earn money. Let alone the ticket price, I don’t think it’s even worth the travel expenses to the cinema. Two points for the investors, thank you for your selfless sacrifice in presenting us with this shining example of flushing money down the drain.”
These two drastically opposing reviews were posted one after the other under the ‘A Farce’ hot search topic.
Netizens who had been intrigued by the sustained hype over the past few days became even more curious after reading these contrasting reviews!
Such massive hype not only promoted the movie but also caught the attention of various theater chains toward this low-budget film with only over 20 million in production costs.
With the Golden Week national holiday approaching, according to the initial plan, ‘A Farce’ would have had difficulty even getting a screening, let alone a favorable screening schedule during this prime period.
Initially, Ye Zhou had no intention of competing for the Golden Week screenings. However, as the hype continued to escalate and the movie’s popularity grew, theater chains started approaching him instead of the other way around.
At first, a few theaters in City A that held the preview screening extended an olive branch to Ye Zhou, offering relatively conservative and limited screenings. After all, the lineup for Golden Week was filled with big-budget, high-profile productions featuring famous stars.
For a movie that had polarizing reviews despite its hype, securing a favorable screening schedule among those films would be an uphill battle.
However, as the hype continued to rise due to Ye Zhou’s efforts, theater chains became more open to increasing the screening allocations, saying they could grant a slight increase based on the initial offer if Ye Zhou was willing.
Ye Zhou discussed with the managers of several theater chains, but ultimately, no agreement could be reached.
There was undoubtedly a sense of urgency. Although Ye Zhou and his team had been working tirelessly to sustain the hype, dragging on for too long would only work against them.
Curiosity has an expiration date. Once that threshold is crossed, the appeal would dissipate, and it would become boring.
However, the screening allocations offered by those theater chains were far too low. They wanted to use his movie as a gimmick to ride the hype without taking any actual risk by granting reasonable screening slots. How could there be such a good thing in the world?
Jiang Tingyuan saw that Ye Zhou had been so busy these past two days that he had lost weight visibly. Although he didn’t say anything, he still felt distressed.
Jiangshui Cinemas, a subsidiary of the Jiang Corporation, owned over 2,000 theaters nationwide and accounted for 16% of the country’s total box office revenue in 2028.
After a marathon three-day meeting involving Mr. Jiang and the senior executives of the theater chain, they finalized a 15% screening allocation for ‘A Farce’ on the first day of the National Day Golden Week.
That evening, when Jiang Tingyuan relayed this information to Ye Zhou, expecting him to be delighted, to his surprise…
Ye Zhou reviewed the contract in front of him and ultimately declined, “Jiang-ge, I can’t sign this contract.”
“What’s wrong?” Jiang Tingyuan frowned, not understanding why Ye Zhou would refuse.
“Don’t be fooled by the current hype surrounding this movie…” Ye Zhou paused for a moment, hesitating briefly before gritting his teeth and confessing, “Truthfully, I’m not confident about whether it will ultimately be a success or failure.”
“Once the movie is released, if the word-of-mouth doesn’t hold up, not only will all our previous efforts be wasted, but it could also backfire on us.”
“The risk is too high. If it really crashes and burns, it wouldn’t be a big deal for a small-time director like me – at worst, my reputation would suffer. But if it ends up implicating Jingzhe and the Jiang Corporation, the losses would be enormous.”
Ye Zhou was a cowardly person, but only when his principles weren’t at stake. Once it came to matters of principle, he became stubborn to the point where no amount of persuasion would work.
He could accept money from Boss Jiang and spend it freely, making all sorts of unscrupulous investments. He could even brag about spending Jiang’s money before he went bankrupt.
Although Ye Zhou was well aware that if he couldn’t change the plot, no matter how big Boss Jiang’s business became, it would ultimately only benefit the protagonists.
However, making bold claims was one thing, but when faced with such a high-risk project, he became hesitant and cautious.
In the quiet of the night, Ye Zhou would often ponder the rules governing this book world and whether his and Jiang Tingyuan’s fates could be changed.
From the moment he transmigrated into this world until now, Ye Zhou had been quite conflicted, and this conflict only deepened the longer he spent with Jiang Tingyuan.
When money wasn’t a significant concern and wouldn’t shake Jiang Tingyuan’s foundations, Ye Zhou could casually tell himself that since it would all eventually belong to the protagonists anyway, he might as well spend it freely.
But when faced with issues that could have severe consequences, he couldn’t help but wonder, what if the plot could be changed?
What if Jiang Tingyuan never went bankrupt in the future? Would Ye Zhou’s current actions cause him trouble?
The more time Ye Zhou spent with Boss Jiang, the more cautious he became, not daring to act recklessly.
He was extremely conflicted.
Jiang Tingyuan watched him silently for a long while before finally speaking, “From a businessman’s perspective, I believe this movie is worth taking a chance on.”
“No,” Ye Zhou remained adamant in his stance.
The two reached a stalemate for about twenty minutes until Ye Zhou’s phone suddenly rang.
It was the person in charge of the distribution department at Jingzhe. After a brief conversation, a look of delighted surprise appeared on Ye Zhou’s face.
Hanging up the call, Ye Zhou immediately rushed over to Jiang Tingyuan, dancing around like a silly deer and saying excitedly: “Mr. Meng said Shenhua and Tianhai finally agreed! Shenhua is willing to give us a 10% screening allocation on the first day, and Tianhai will give us 8%. For the following days, the allocation will depend on the first day’s box office performance. If the numbers hold steady, they’re even willing to increase it further!”
Although Shenhua Film’s national theater chain and box office share didn’t rival Jiangshui, the number of theaters was still considerable. Last year, it accounted for 8% of the country’s total box office revenue, making it a well-established industry veteran.
As for Tianhai Cinemas, it had risen rapidly in recent years. Due to its high-end facilities and excellent environment, it dominated the high-end domestic cinema market, charging almost double the ticket prices of other theaters. Its strength was not to be underestimated.
Under normal circumstances, a 10% and 8% screening allocation wouldn’t be considered high – in fact, it would be an extremely low percentage.
However, the current situation was different. This was the prime Golden Week national holiday, the best period apart from the year-end holiday season.
To secure an 8-10% screening allocation amidst so many big-budget productions was already quite difficult, and this allocation would even increase based on the seat occupancy and daily box office numbers.
This was simply unbelievable. After countless negotiations during this period, Shenhua and Tianhai stubbornly refused to go beyond 5% and were unwilling to take on more risk. Now, they had almost doubled their allocation.
Seeing how happy Ye Zhou was, Jiang Tingyuan reached out and ruffled his hair, saying softly, “Didn’t I just say that with the marketing you have done during this period and the popularity you have maintained, it’s worth taking a chance on you?”
Perhaps it was because those two theater chains provided a base, finally allowing the weight on Ye Zhou’s mind to lift. Faced with Boss Jiang’s affirmation, he began seriously considering the proposal.
After discussing further, they eventually lowered the first-day screening allocation by two percentage points, settling on the same 10% allocation as Shenhua.
What Ye Zhou didn’t know was that this 10% figure was the result of a series of discussions and big data calculations by the upper management of Jiangshui Cinemas– their expected screening ratio.
The additional 5% was, of course, given out of respect for Boss Jiang.
After finalizing the allocations with the three major theater chains, a few more chains approached them with offers ranging from 5% to 10%.
With the major players secured, the remaining smaller theaters didn’t matter much. Ye Zhou was quite satisfied with this outcome.
In contrast to Ye Zhou’s joy, Cheng Ran and Jiang Yu were not faring well, anxiously pacing about like ants on a hot pot.
“Mr. Zhang, Mr. Zhang, we had already agreed on a 10% screening allocation for the first day, didn’t we? The movie is about to be released, so how could you suddenly go back on your word?”
Jiang Yu spoke rapidly, his face etched with worry as he paced back and forth in the office, phone in hand.
It was unclear what was said on the other end of the call, but Jiang Yu’s complexion alternated between pale and flushed, nearly throwing his phone in anger.
This was the fifth call he had received from a theater chain manager informing him of the reduced first-day screening allocation.
Some of the more amiable ones would apologize and offer consoling words, but those with bad tempers would simply hang up on Jiang Yu after getting annoyed by his questions, no longer answering subsequent calls.
Noticing Jiang Yu’s sour expression, Cheng Ran rose from the sofa and approached him, brows furrowed with worry. “How did it go? They still won’t agree?”
He shouldn’t have asked, as his question only made Jiang Yu’s expression more unsightly. Jiang Yu slammed the phone onto the table, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “Of course not, did you expect them to increase our allocation instead? Are you still living in a dream world?”
Cheng Ran was rendered pale by Jiang Yu’s words, the once rosy hue of his lips now drained.
“Don’t get angry. Let’s think of another way…” Cheng Ran forced himself to remain calm, ignoring the mocking tone and attempting to persuade Jiang Yu to settle down as well.
However, with the movie’s release looming and the hard-won screening allocation they had spent money and effort to secure being reduced so easily, their previous investments had gone to waste. How could they possibly stay calm?
Before he could vent his anger at Cheng Ran, the phone on the table rang again.
Jiang Yu glanced at the caller ID and felt like smashing the phone then and there.
But even if he did, it wouldn’t undo the theater chains’ decision to reduce the screening allocation. After all, they weren’t calling to negotiate. They were just giving a notice.
Jiang Yu was well aware of this, and after much hesitation, he answered the call.
As expected, it was yet another theater manager calling, with the same purpose as the previous calls – to notify him of the reduced allocation.
Having been hung up on so many times, Jiang Yu finally managed to stay calm this time. Instead of asking why the reduction was happening, he made an effort to speak slowly and inquired which movie had been given their reallocated screening slots.
Sensing his cooperative attitude, the person on the other end of the call hesitated briefly before sharing what they knew.
“I heard it might be given to ‘A Farce’, but the specifics are still uncertain.”
Upon hearing the name of that movie, Jiang Yu’s hand tightened involuntarily, gripping the phone so hard that it became slightly disfigured.
Hanging up the call, Jiang Yu could no longer contain himself and flung the phone out the window with full force.
Cheng Ran was startled by his intense reaction and quickly asked, “Ah Yu, what’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? You still have the f*cking nerve to ask me what’s wrong? Don’t you know what you’ve done? Don’t you have any idea?” Jiang Yu raged after recalling what he heard on the call.
Cheng Ran trembled uncontrollably from Jiang Yu’s shouting, struggling to remain composed. “What did I do to make you so furious with me?”
Jiang Yu let out a mocking laugh, sweeping everything off the office desk onto the floor.
The crashing sounds terrified Cheng Ran, causing him to collapse onto the sofa. Tears began welling up in his eyes, silently trickling down his cheeks – a sight that would typically arouse one’s protective instincts.
In the past, whenever Cheng Ran reacted this way during Jiang Yu’s outbursts, it would temper Jiang Yu’s anger, no matter how enraged he was initially.
But this time was different. Jiang Yu sat in the boss chair, his gaze icy as he stared at Cheng Ran. After a long pause, he finally forced out a few words through gritted teeth.
“Do you know which movie took away our screening allocation?”
Cheng Ran was so intimidated by Jiang Yu’s glare that he didn’t dare cry anymore, his lips quivering without a word.
Jiang Yu stood up and walked over to Cheng Ran, grabbing his chin forcefully as he sneered, “It’s the movie made by that little lover of my dear older brother.”
“The very same one you contacted critics to sabotage a while back. Don’t you remember?”
Cheng Ran was struck dumb with shock.
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