Chapter 98: Soaring Box Office and Public Alignment
November is usually a slow season for movies, but because of the tearing of Liu Zhou and Feng Kua's pants, it became the focus of everyone's attention.

Before this, there was no fixed schedule for the release of films in mainland China. Later, Feng Kuzi created a Lunar New Year schedule by releasing three consecutive films.

Later, Zhang Yimou created a summer blockbuster with the film "House of Flying Daggers".

So during this period in 2000, the movie schedules were actually pretty much the same every month, and few people went to the cinema to watch movies.

However, this November is very different. Liu Zhou and Feng Kuzi have joined forces to make it the hottest schedule.

Liu Zhou's new film "Only You" was the first to be released.

On Friday, November 3rd, the film grossed 2.34 million on its first day of release.

During the following two weekend holidays, the film grossed 3.4 million and 3.7 million respectively.

In the first three days of the weekend, the film grossed a total of 9.44 million yuan.

Of course, there is no such thing as first weekend box office figures in mainland China yet, otherwise this result of almost breaking 10 million would definitely have set a record.

But despite this, the fact that Liu Zhou's new film almost made tens of millions at the box office in just three days still caused an uproar in the industry!
Southern Weekend was the first to fire the first shot of praise:
"'Only You' is a hit across the country, and the talented director Liu Zhou may break another record!"

Subsequently, some southern media such as Southern Metropolis Daily and Yangcheng Daily quickly followed suit and praised Liu Zhou and his new movie.

The box office performance of "Only You" was indeed impressive, and it was absolutely big news in the industry. Some other media immediately followed up and spontaneously promoted the film.

As the popularity of Only You exploded, the next day, despite being a weekday, it still earned 3.1 million at the box office.

In the next few days, the box office of "Only You" never fell below two million. Over the weekend, the box office soared to three million.

After ten days of release, it grossed nearly 29 million at the box office!

People in the industry expected that the movie would do well at the box office, but they didn't expect it to be so explosive. According to this trend, its total box office is likely to exceed 50 million.

Nowadays, a movie with a box office of 50 million is not a common thing, but a rare one.

Including foreign language films and Hong Kong films, since the mainland has kept box office statistics, the number of films with box office revenue exceeding 50 million can be counted on two hands.

Feng Kuzi was hyped so much in the past few years, but the highest box office of his movies was only over 40 million.

But now, Liu Zhou alone will have two movies with box office revenue of over 50 million.

Now, people in the industry dare not call Liu Zhou a “lucky boy” or a “greenhorn” anymore. As it turned out, Feng Pants, who looked down on him, was severely slapped in the face by him.

Not only did he lose face, but Liu Zhou might also defeat him in the movie box office, which he was most proud of.

Liu Zhou is young, but he is capable and has outstanding achievements. Who dares to treat him as a junior?

Although some of his conservative colleagues criticized Liu Zhou's love films as commercial garbage, Liu Zhou ignored them completely.

These people are destined to be beaten to death on the beach by the upcoming wave of movies.

And Liu Zhou is not without followers. He graduated from the Central Academy of Drama and has always had a very good relationship with the school.

Therefore, although some seniors in the industry did not think highly of the movies directed by Liu Zhou, they remained silent for the sake of the Central Academy of Drama.

The criticism Liu Zhou received was far less than that of Feng Kuzi. He was scolded so much that he publicly stated that he would never make art films again, but in order to gain mainstream recognition, he still made "A Sigh" with a chuckle.

At this time, the power of tradition is still very strong. It is not the time when box office is the only thing that matters. Even the big mouth Feng Kuzi hopes to be recognized by the mainstream.

However, Liu Zhou's goal is very clear, and he will not consider making art films in the early stages.

Whether in mainland China or overseas, gaining mainstream recognition does not necessarily require currying favor, it can also be achieved through manipulation, which is what Feng Kuzi did after he came to his senses.

Or if you have the ability, you can become the mainstream yourself!

The outstanding box office performance of "Only You" was widely reported by the outside media, and of course there was a jubilant atmosphere among the main creative team.

"Brother Hua, thank you very much for coming to the mainland to promote for so long this time."

Andy Lau came to the mainland three days before the movie was released, and together with Liu Zhou, he took up the banner of movie promotion.

Now that the movie had been released for ten days, Andy Lau finally offered to resign.

You have to know that when we first signed the contract with him, five million yuan was enough to buy him one month's schedule, and now it has taken nearly half a month to promote it.

Although it is his duty to promote the movie, it is not mandatory to do so. Even if he can promote it for a week, it would be a great honor.

But he insisted on continuing the promotion for thirteen days, so Liu Zhou was indeed very grateful to him.

"No need, I am the male lead after all, and this is what I should do." Liu Dehua said with a smile.

After all, this is his first movie in mainland China, and he also wants the movie to have better box office performance, and this will also help him gain the favor of China Film Group and Liu Zhou.

China Film Corporation is undoubtedly a giant in the mainland film industry. After coming to the mainland, he also witnessed the fighting power and influence of the young man Liu Zhou. Establishing good relations with these two parties will also facilitate his future development in the mainland.

Although Andy Lau is very famous, he still has a firm grasp of social etiquette.

"Brother Hua, let's work together again if there is a chance!"

Andy Lau is indeed a very dedicated person and it is very comfortable to work with him.

"No problem. When Director Liu has a good script, remember to send me a copy."

"must!"

After sending Liu Dehua on the plane, Liu Zhou came to Han Shanping's office at China Film Group Corporation. Director Xie was also there, and the two were smoking comfortably.

Seeing Liu Zhou coming back, Director Xie said with a smile:

"Liu Zhou, sent Liu Dehua away?"

"Send him off. Our movie has done so well this time, and Brother Hua has also made a big contribution."

"Indeed, it can be seen that Liu Dehua also intends to develop in the mainland. If there are suitable projects in the future, we can continue to look for him to cooperate." Han Shanping continued.

"Now that Liu Dehua is gone, do we need to increase our publicity efforts?"

Liu Zhou shook his head and said:

"There's no need for that. By now, everyone who should know about this movie probably knows about it. There's not much point in promoting it any further."

"Well, if it weren't for piracy, I think our movie would have grossed 80 million."

Piracy was an almost unsolvable problem during this period.

Although Liu Zhou and China Film Corporation took strict precautions, even without the intervention of the Wang brothers, pirated copies appeared in less than three days, and in less than a week, they were rampant.

Liu Zhou felt both heartbroken and helpless.

"Piracy is so rampant nowadays. The outside media have given predictions that the movie can reach a box office of 50 million. I feel that is a bit unpredictable." Although the movie "Only You" is also quite tear-jerking, it is still less talked about than "My Sassy Girl".

The reason why the movie has such a high box office now is that the leading actors are fans of Liu Zhou and Andy Lau, and were attracted by the lively publicity and hype in the early stage.

Its staying power certainly can't compare to that of "My Sassy Girl".

In addition, Feng Kuzi's "A Sigh" will be released at the end of November, which will attract more attention.

You can say that Feng Kuzi is not a very good person, but his ability in making movies in the early stage must be recognized.

Although "A Sigh" is an art film, it has also achieved a box office of 30 million in history.

Now because of the hype, this movie is much more popular than before, and the box office will definitely be more than before, not less.

To be honest, this public quarrel between Liu Zhou and Feng Kuzi will bring great benefits to both parties' films.

According to Liu Zhou's estimation, the box office of "Only You" may be only more than 30 million, and if he is lucky, it may reach 40 million.

But with all this hype now, there's a high possibility that its box office will reach 50 million.

There is no comparison between the difficulty of increasing the box office from 30 million to 40 million and from 40 million to 50 million. The latter is much more difficult.

The same is true for "A Sigh". This time its box office will definitely be more than 30 million, but I don't know how much it will be in the end.

"Don't worry, Liu Zhou. I support you this time. Even if the screening is delayed, I will push the box office to 50 million." Han Shanping said firmly.

In this dispute between Feng Kuazi and Liu Zhou, although Han Shanping appeared to be unhelpful towards either side, he was still on Liu Zhou's side in his heart.

Not only because Liu Zhou could create greater profits, but also because Feng Kuzi's sudden withdrawal annoyed him.

Although the results seem to be good now and both films are more popular, he hates this kind of behavior that disrupts order.

Moreover, Feng Kuzi has now become involved with the two brothers of Huayi and no longer has much interest in China Film.

Therefore, he did not feel any pressure at all to give Liu Zhou some help to the best of his ability behind the scenes.

Hearing Han Shanping's words, Liu Zhou couldn't help but smile and said:

"Thank you so much, President Han. With your support, I am not afraid of anything."

"Don't thank me, you deserve it. But don't forget China Film Group when you have new projects in the future."

"No, China Film Group is a very good partner. Of course I won't forget it."

A new day arrived, and the box office of "Only You" began to decline significantly, to less than two million.

This is the first time since the movie was released that the single-day box office has been less than two million.

At this time, Feng Kuzi's "A Sigh" also began to be promoted on a large scale.

This time, perhaps because he had been talked to by his superiors, he did not dare to criticize Liu Zhou publicly, but he still spoke in a sarcastic tone from time to time.

However, although Feng Kuazi can no longer use Liu Zhou to hype himself, there are other ways to promote Huayi.

It was they who decided to delay the release. Now that the two sides are in such a quarrel, Huayi will stick to Feng Kuzi no matter what.

It's not only a matter of face, but also to win Feng Kuzi's heart.

Now that Liu Zhou’s movie box office performance has put so much pressure on them, the Wang brothers have put in their best efforts this time.

The film's creators not only frequently appear on TV shows, but also contact all the media they can and spend a lot of money on advertising.

For a moment, it completely suppressed the popularity of "Only You" and made "A Sigh" feel like a blockbuster.

Liu Zhou originally thought that Huayi and the others were limited in their tactics, but in the first three days after the film was released, Beijing circle bigwigs such as Wang Shuo, Ma Weidu, Zheng Xiaolong, Ye Jing, and Fu Biao all publicly recommended Feng Kuzi's film.

Not only that, following these big guys, a large number of well-known actors and directors such as Xu Jinglei, director Zhang Yuan and Zhao Baogang also immediately followed suit.

Even Liu Zhou's senior at the Central Academy of Drama, Jiang Wen, also recommended this movie.

Liu Zhou knew that this was actually an open stance.

These people undoubtedly stand on Feng Kuazi's side.

However, what makes Liu Zhou feel relieved is that currently only the group from the major academies in the Beijing circle is taking sides, while people from the Beijing Film Studio, the People's Art Theatre, and the academy have remained silent.

In fact, if you really count carefully, Liu Zhou can be considered as a figure in the Beijing circle.

He graduated from the Central Academy of Drama and worked closely with the China Film Group. If this incident had not happened, everyone would have tacitly assumed that he was a member of the Beijing circle.

Now it seems that Liu Zhou will no longer be classified into the Beijing circle, and Liu Zhou does not want to be trapped by the so-called circle.

There are all kinds of circles now, but after more than ten years, after large-scale capital invasion, there will only be two circles in the industry, one is the Alibaba circle, and the other is the Penguin circle!
Therefore, there is not much meaning in doing all this now, and the real thing is to seize the opportunity to become capital.

However, at this time, the public support from the Beijing circle is still very obvious, adding fuel to the already hot atmosphere.

Finally, as reflected in the box office, "A Sigh" also earned 2.2 million on the first day, and nearly 8 million in the first three days of the weekend.

Although it is not as high as the more than 9 million of "Only You", it is also the second highest box office in the first three days.

At this time, "Only You" has been released for 21 days and the total box office has reached 41 million.

Just as Liu Zhou expected, "Only You" does not have as much staying power as "My Sassy Girl", and now its daily box office is less than one million.

The box office of "Only You" was sluggish, while the box office of "A Sigh" began to soar.

After ten days of release, the box office reached 24 million, as if he was dreaming back to the time when "Party A and Party B" was released.

But by now, it can be announced that "A Sigh" has lost the box office competition with "Only You".

Now the box office of "Only You" has reached more than 46 million, just one step away from 50 million.

The subsequent development was just as everyone expected, and the box office of "A Sigh" began to decline sharply.

The pirates would not treat Feng Pants specially, he enjoyed the same treatment as Liu Zhou.

By December 5th, the box office of Only You barely broke through 50 million, and then China Film announced that it would be taken off the screen.

At that time, the box office of "A Sigh" had just exceeded 30 million, and its subsequent box office decline was even worse than that of "Only You". Now it is a question whether it can reach a box office of 40 million.

However, Liu Zhou no longer cared about this, as the outcome of his battle with Feng Kuzi had already been decided.

He is now going to enjoy the joy of success, and China Film will hold a large celebration banquet at the Beijing Hotel.

(End of this chapter)