Chapter 390: I Definitely Won’t Lose Next Time
The movie Auntie is Here, directed by Ye Zhiyun for the first time, was finally released in cinemas. This was the first movie produced by Ye Zhiyun’s company, and she hoped it would be successful no matter what. Although that was what she thought, she had also put in a lot of effort. Before the movie was even released, she had flown all over the world to promote it and sell the overseas distribution rights. But to be honest, besides Japan, almost all other countries looked down on it, and didn’t even give it a second glance.
And this highly anticipated Auntie is Here was released in cinemas. The cast was not luxurious, basically all newcomers. The only thing that was somewhat worth seeing was that the lead actor was from Happy Fries. The other actors were even less famous. And as soon as the movie was released, the reputation was polarized. The Douzi website gave it a score of 5, and the Maomi website gave it a score of 7. Everyone was roasting it as a bad film, but some people said that as a comedy, it was still qualified.
The plot of this movie is about the male protagonist’s aunt being the richest person in the world, and she is coming to China. When people find out, they all come to curry favor with the male protagonist, which triggers a series of funny stories. As a comedy, it can indeed make people laugh, but the plot setting is not very good, and the logic is not sound. It is purely for the sake of being funny. Some people in the cinema watched the actors on the screen laugh like fools and were so embarrassed they could die.
The premiere day only grossed 40 million at the box office, the second day 30 million, and the third day 15 million. The subsequent box office is expected to continue to decline, and the reputation is also not ideal. In short, this movie is facing the crisis of losing money. This movie, with an investment of 40 million, if the box office does not reach three times the investment, it is sure to lose money. Ye Zhiyun’s company has just started, and she does not want to face this situation. She can only go everywhere to promote it on a roadshow and also create momentum on Weibo, hoping to attract more people to the cinema. But this is still not ideal.
If the movie lost money, the company might face the crisis of dissolution. Ye Zhiyun did not want to go home and inherit her father’s family property without having achieved any results. That would be too embarrassing.
If there was anything to be said for Auntie is Here, perhaps Yu Linna’s guest appearance in the movie was one. Some fans, for the one-minute scene of Yu Linna’s guest appearance, bought tickets to see it, and it was not uncommon for them to leave the cinema after Yu Linna’s scene was over. The current Yu Linna did indeed have a little bit of fame. Although it was not much, at least she had some attention.
As a new director, and a self-taught one at that, Ye Zhiyun’s filming techniques were really not very advanced. She had many of the flaws that new directors would have. If there was anything special, it was that Ye Zhiyun had loved to play with photography since she was a child. She had brought her habit of ensuring that every picture was beautiful to the movie, which made every frame she shot extremely beautiful, like a wallpaper. There were also some people who went to see the movie because of this.
The opening weekend box office of Auntie is Here barely exceeded one hundred million. According to the current trend, it should still be possible to break even, and as for profit, that was something she didn’t even dare to think about. Her first movie was facing such a crisis. Ye Zhiyun only felt an immense pressure. And the movies that were released at the same time included The Suit, starring Nangong Ying. As always, it was an action-comedy theme, and it had grossed 400 million at the box office in its opening weekend. The final box office was expected to break 1.5 billion. Nangong Ying had once again proven her box office appeal. At the same time, the Hollywood movie Speed Limit, which the pop queen Zhou Shilan had starred in and sung the ending theme for, was released, with an opening weekend box office of 300 million, and the final box office was expected to reach 700 to 800 million. This result was not bad. After all, it was a movie starring Queen Zhou Shilan.
At the same time, the pop queen Zhou Shilan announced that she would be releasing a new album, expected to be released in January of the following year. She hadn’t released an album in a long time, and as soon as this news was released, the fans were overjoyed, and the news also went on the Weibo hot search.
There was a lot of other news in the entertainment industry announced at this time. Soaring, starring Nangong Ying and Tang Yumeng, was scheduled for release on July 8th of the following year. And not long after the movie wrapped up, Tang Yumeng had high-profile announced that she had joined the crew of Director Wang Weifan’s movie Shadow, playing the role of the eldest princess, which also meant that she would be cooperating with Director Wang again. And what about Nangong Ying? She had also high-profile announced that she had signed a two-movie contract with Chenghe’s rival, Yaohua, with an average salary of 10 to 15 million per film. Nangong Ying’s net worth was also rising, and her status as a super A-list star in the entertainment industry was unshakable.
The work of Wenqing novelist Air-sensei, The Rich Man’s Game, announced that it would be producing a second season of animation, and at the same time, it was high-profile announced that it would be adapted into a live-action film and television, which attracted a lot of questioning voices. The work of the manga artist duo, Yan Yu-sensei and Baihua-sensei, Violent Witch District, was at the top of the manga sales chart, with an unstoppable momentum. A company was already in contact with them, trying to animate their work. The work of the Qidian author, Canwu-sensei, had also been announced for a movie production. Lan Shao had also launched a new work, and a week after the novel was launched, a magazine had already adapted his novel into a manga.
In China, where entertainment and culture were flourishing, waves of heat were currently sweeping across the country, and were telling the world that their entertainment culture was maturing step by step.
Compared to the few big news above, there was a very small piece of news that occupied a corner of the entertainment news, and that was that the Wenqing author, Shion-sensei, would be releasing a new work next month. Besides that, there was no content, just that the name of the new work was Dawn Assassin. There was no more news.
Shion-sensei, this name that should have been forgotten, was brought up again, but that was all. Everyone didn’t discuss this author too much. In their eyes, this was just a has-been author, with no discussion value at all. Even the QQ group that Shion-sensei’s fans had created themselves, the “Send Razor Blades to Urge Updates” group, had been silent for a long time. But everyone in the group knew that the female administrator of this group, Yan Yu, had changed her career to become a manga artist, and now she was also famous, and was also one of the few fans who had walked her own path.
Xiao Yanhan was indeed famous. As a manga artist, and also a fan of Shion-sensei, she was teased by many readers as the strongest fan who had “turned a new leaf.” Now her popularity had even surpassed her own idol’s.
…
“Zhiyun, are you okay?”
Compared to the information on Weibo, Yu Linna was more concerned about Ye Zhiyun’s situation. As a new director, she must be under a lot of pressure to have filmed the movie like this. It was her first time directing, so there was nothing to be done about it. Originally, Ye Zhiyun had hoped to get the company on the right track with this movie, but now it seemed it was still not possible. Their company couldn’t take that step.
“I’m fine. It’s just a normal operation. I’ll just have to work harder next time. I’m preparing to shoot a second movie now. I’ll shoot it even better next time.”
“Are you really okay?”
“I’m Ye Zhiyun. What do you take me for? Compared to my matter, you should be more concerned about your own work. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Ye Zhiyun’s voice sounded fine. Looking at her, she didn’t seem to care. In fact, she seemed to be quite open about it. It was her first time directing a movie. Failure was inevitable. The key was to accumulate experience and do better next time.
Hopefully, Ye Zhiyun really thinks so.
Hanging up the phone, Yu Linna was still worried. But Ye Zhiyun was also right. She still had to be concerned about her own work. The manuscript for Dawn Assassin was already completed. Now all that was left was the illustrations. She had to speed up. But as for the character design, she was still troubled…
“Shion-sensei, what are you troubled about again?”
“I was thinking about the character design. Isn’t it going to be made public recently? Do you think the fans will follow the clues and dox me?”
“That’s really possible.”
Chen Xi drank her coffee and said so.
Originally, no one had expected things to develop in this direction. Shion-sensei’s character design had been leaked. Now it was impossible to change the original character design. She could only go against the current.
“Shion-sensei, anyway, you’re already planning to make a public appearance. It doesn’t seem like it will be a big deal if people find out.”
“If possible, I hope it won’t be in this form.”
She was about to appear in front of her fans soon, but she didn’t want to be dug up by her fans before she appeared. Now it seemed that this possibility was quite high, as long as Yu Linna didn’t revise the character design.
“Shion-sensei, let’s not talk about this first. I’ve read your finished manuscript. It’s very good. This kind of standard, it makes me feel like I’ve gone back to the time of Ballad of the Enchantress. A very wonderful story. I never thought you could write such a profound story from a simple story. It’s quite good.”
Chen Xi had a high evaluation of Yu Linna’s new novel, and even praised it as being at the level of Ballad of the Enchantress. It could be seen how high her evaluation was. And before this, Yu Linna had been rejected by Chen Xi many times. If she were to be rejected again this time, then all her previous efforts would have been in vain.
“There’s just one not-so-good point, and that is that the healing part is still there. You tell me, it’s such a cute little girl, how can you bear to let her die of a terminal illness? A novel still has to convey positive energy. Don’t do this in the next volume.”
In the end, Chen Xi still criticized Shion-sensei’s book for being too healing, although she herself also knew that it was a very difficult thing to ask her not to write so emotionally devastating in the next volume. But compared to the previous Demon Child, Chen Xi felt that the salt she had put in was still quite little, and it was within an acceptable range.
Yu Linna scratched her head, her eyes wandering, not daring to look at her directly.
…
At the same time, after Ye Zhiyun had hung up the phone.
“Sigh, I failed. I’ll just have to work harder next time.”
Ye Zhiyun was alone in her office, looking at a document, and then at the movie she had made, the work that was regarded as the company’s opening shot. Now it had become like this. It was really ugly.
Just as she had said, she would work harder next time and strive to do better.
But…
“Dammit, I’m so unwilling…”
She lay on the table, burying her face, trying her best not to cry, but there were still whimpers.
“I want to win so much…”
On the surface, Ye Zhiyun didn’t say anything, nor did she show a sad expression. But in her heart, she was more upset than anyone else. She was so unwilling, really unwilling. How she wished she could win once, how she wished her name could shine on the screen.
Ye Zhiyun refused to admit defeat, but if she lost, she had to admit it, even though she was very unwilling. She would not let others see her weakness. She would swallow it alone and turn her pain into motivation to continue to move forward. She would work even harder next time. Just as she had said, next time, she would definitely not lose.
