Chapter 104: Premiere

Chapter 104: Premiere

"Say it, hurry up and say who it is!"

"Hahahaha, I’m dying, that’s so bold!"

"What a burn!"

"How bold! Lu Xu, do you realize how many people you’ve ticked off? (Pointing fingers)"

"Please don’t take it personally, Lu Xu isn’t hinting, he’s outright saying it LOL~"

Lu Xu’s response was too direct, as if he were slapping Li Tianhou across the face with both hands.

Coincidentally, Yue Hui also added fuel to the fire at this moment: "Guess I’m lucky to have overcome so many obstacles."

The audience then realized that, despite being nominated in the same year as Lu Xu and even playing a villainous role, Yue Hui had defeated Lu Xu to win Best Actor.

"Did the Star Awards decide to use Lu Xu to break the norm this year? (LOL) (LOL)"

"Maybe the Star Awards just have it out for Li Tianhou. As soon as he was nominated, they immediately broke the norm, ha!"

"Hahaha, speaking of the eye-rolling part, I can also dig up a gif of Lu Xu rolling his eyes at Yue Hui from the year Yue Hui won."

"Rolling eyes solo beats rolling eyes in a group. If this can be used as evidence, it shows that Teacher Li is indeed straightforward, because most people wouldn’t use such a direct way to prove they’re a fool."

"Why bother? Isn’t this just free publicity for 'The Deception'?"

The influencer who wrote the lengthy post and Li Tianhou were clearly giving heat to "The Deception." Before this, Yue Hui couldn’t find a good angle to promote "The Deception." Just when he was nodding off, Li Tianhou handed him a lifeline.

Meanwhile, Xia Zhengrong, Yuan Lai, and others were swept up in the drama by the lengthy post. To make their stance clear, they also reposted the trailer for "The Deception."

Originally, Lu Xu’s fans thought the trailer for "The Deception" was released too late. With so many great films coming out during the Spring Festival season, audiences might lose interest in "The Deception" after watching one trailer after another.

But now, with the high discussion around Lu Xu and Yue Hui, the timing of 'The Deception' trailer drop was spot on.

Li Tianhou, having been ganged up on by Yue Hui and Lu Xu, was left red-faced. On the day the "The Deception" trailer was released, he made a point to repost the promos for "The Eternal Night" and "Homebound Train" to show his support for these two films.

Unfortunately, neither the 'The Eternal Night' nor the 'Homebound Train' teams bit.

"Is it because Lu Xu’s got a sharp tongue?"

"Hahahaha, it’s all the fallout from 'The Swordsman,' scared of some kind of jinx, right?"

"...They’re all veterans in the industry. They’ve already lost, why not bow out gracefully?"

"I still want to ask, who’s behind the marketing push for 'The Deception'? What a saint."

The "The Deception" crew couldn’t figure it out either. They just chalked it up to the cutthroat Spring Festival competition, with all sorts of strange things popping up. Even Li Tianhou’s like was just a blip, no big deal.

"Even if Lu Xu’s words sound harsh, he can’t promise he’ll stay on top forever, right?"

"Hmmm... Out of all the past Star Award winners, why’s the influencer only gunning for Lu Xu? Why did Li Tianhou dare to like it? Isn’t it because Lu Xu is too young? Don’t say Li Tianhou is straightforward. If he’s so upfront, why only go after the easy marks? This is his second time being nominated for the Star Awards, right? Why didn’t he pick on the winner from the first time?"

"The winner that year was Wu Zixing. Would he dare to pick on him? One touch and he’d cry."

"If you can’t win, you can’t win. What else can you talk about besides seniority? Talk about acting skills? Talk about the plot itself? He doesn’t even dare to pick a fight with the Star Awards committee."

While Lu Xu had an influencer writing long posts, Feiyang Entertainment also brought in an influencer to solely critique Li Tianhou and his film "The Two Sides of the River."

This marketing account went even harsher than the author of "The Reasons Why I Don’t Agree with Lu Xu Winning the Star Award," with the entire article centered on one theme—the Star Award must be out of its mind to nominate such a clichéd and overused series like "The Two Sides of the River."

"The theme of 'The Two Sides of the River' is nothing but suffering. The entire series focuses solely on how hard the farmers' lives are, but it never offers any solutions to solve these problems."

"The series claims to be shot on location, telling stories that exist in reality, but is the character portrayed by Li Tianhou really authentic?"

"Has Li Tianhou ever understood the character he played? Has he ever toiled in the fields? He only knows how to be sorrowful and artistic, but he fails to portray the hardworking and down-to-earth image of farmers. At least after 'The Two Sides of the River' aired, many locals expressed dissatisfaction that the series did not reflect their real lives."

"I can even say that in 'The Two Sides of the River,' Li Tianhou's performance is detached from reality. Using a detached performance to portray a down-to-earth character, isn’t that contradictory? This is the real reason why Li Tianhou didn’t win the Star Award."

The marketing account that criticized Lu Xu at least only said that Lu Xu didn’t deserve the Star Award, but the one brought in by Feiyang Performing Arts directly stated that Li Tianhou didn’t even deserve the nomination!

If it weren’t for his age, do you think you deserve a Star Award nomination?

By the end, netizens deeply suspected that this marketing account had found a true industry insider, mainly because compared to "The Reasons Why I Don’t Agree with Lu Xu Winning the Star Award," which could only use screenshots of other nominees rolling their eyes to criticize Lu Xu, this industry insider thoroughly dissected Li Tianhou's acting style in all his works since his debut, focusing on "The Two Sides of the River" and another Star Award-nominated series of Li Tianhou, with full professionalism, ultimately concluding—being nominated is already good enough, what else could you ask for?

Besides, this isn’t Lu Xu’s first Star Award nomination. Both "The Son of Heaven" and "The Path of Bones" were nominated. If you say he shouldn’t win with "The Year I Was 18," does that mean it’s okay for him to be nominated with "The Son of Heaven" and "The Path of Bones"?

Netizens even couldn’t help but guess that this industry insider could very well be an insider from the Star Award itself.

If not an insider, how could they speak so convincingly?

Whose face is Li Tianhou slapping by liking that post? Of course, it’s the Star Award's own face.

...

Of course, the "Deception" team is quite grateful to Li Tianhou. If it weren’t for his unexpected action, Xia Zhengrong and others wouldn’t have reposted to promote "Deception," and "Deception" wouldn’t have made it to the hot search so many times.

On the day the team released the trailer, Lu Xu even gratefully acknowledged Li Tianhou on Weibo: "Thank you, Teacher Li, for helping with the promotion. It’s an honor."

As a result, Xia Zhengrong reposted this Weibo: "I also have to thank Teacher Li."

Yue Hui: "...Then me too?"

"Laugh out loud, how unpopular is Li Tianhou really?"

"Think about it carefully, at the Star Award ceremony, he looked like someone owed him eight million. If you say he’s usually kind and amiable, would anyone believe it?"

"Enough said, I’ll also thank Teacher Li."

Lu Xu’s Weibo was reposted tens of thousands of times, meaning Li Tianhou was thanked tens of thousands of times.

However, his stubbornness is well-known in the industry. Despite being both subtly and overtly ridiculed by Yue Hui and others several times, he still didn’t cancel his like.

Lu Xu then quietly endorsed the post "The Reasons Why I Don’t Agree with Li Tianhou’s Star Award Nomination."

Come on, let’s hurt each other!

A little bit of heat, converging into an ocean of hot searches for "Deception."

In the "Break Even" group, Gao Xingchuan told Lu Xu it was enough: "Let me handle the likes. You don’t need to be at the forefront of everything."

—Thanks to Lu Xu’s moves, the trailer of "Deception" actually surged to the top two among the ten new films of the Spring Festival season, second only to "The Eternal Night."

Netizens who are first-line spectators all know that Lu Xu, the best fighter in the entertainment industry, has made a movie.

From a director’s perspective, Gao Xingchuan was genuinely touched.

It’s so worry-free.

Lu Xu's harsh comments were indeed beneficial for the promotion of "Deception," but not so much for himself. When Gao Xingchuan pointed this out to him, Lu Xu simply said he was just being straightforward: "They started it first."

Even if Lu Xu thought about it for ten days and nights, he couldn't come up with such a bizarre way to criticize someone.

Gao Xingchuan saw the logic in it.

...

The trailer for "Deception" was released on Weibo and also appeared in major domestic theaters.

By this time, the competition for the Spring Festival box office was heating up. Family-friendly movies, crime thrillers, romantic love stories... all genres had been building momentum in theaters, and even movie merchandise had already arrived at cinemas.

"Deception" was a last-minute addition.

The pre-Spring Festival period was typically slow in theaters, arguably the most deserted season of the year. Most quality films wouldn't choose to release during this time.

It was during this period that Xi Yue accompanied a friend to watch a fan movie—a foreign one at that.

The international star had very few fans in the country, and Xi Yue was prepared for the sparse audience. Before going to the movie, she had read reviews and knew it was a run-of-the-mill fan movie, but her friend had already watched it twice.

Before the movie started, trailers for several Spring Festival movies played on the screen. Xi Yue had seen the first two, but the third one caught her attention—

The trailer began with a casino-style room, a large roulette table in the center, and a sly, fox-like man in the middle, every wrinkle on his face seeming to hint at his cunning.

"The game is officially starting now."

With a distinctive verbal tic, the people around the roulette table showed various expressions—some nervous, others pretending to be indifferent.

The game begins!

The somber music suddenly changed to a lively Bohemian tune, as if encouraging the participants to increase their stakes.

After a flurry of chaotic movements and intricate maneuvers, the music abruptly stopped. The next moment, the roulette wheel suddenly stopped on a name.

Before Xi Yue could fully react, a pair of hands were suddenly slashed open, blood splattering, staining the roulette table with a splatter of blood.

Yet, compared to the hellish scene in this moment, the winner's friends and family were reveling in their newfound wealth—fine wine, beautiful women, money, and jewels. As long as you win, the game gives you everything you desire.

"But remember, you must win."

The same voice, with its unique quirk, spoke again, but the words felt like they were spoken by the devil himself.

"There will be punishment."

The screen went black for a moment, and when it lit up again, amidst the music, laughter and screams filled the air—

"February 22nd, 'Deception' awaits you."

Xi Yue: "..."

Honestly, who releases something like this during the New Year?

But! The plot seems really intriguing, packed with suspense, and it's the Spring Festival movie she most wants to see after watching the trailer!

Though many films in this genre have strong starts but weak endings, usually hooking the audience's curiosity first and then letting them down with a lackluster finale.

Xi Yue had been fooled several times before, so even though she was very interested in "Deception," she hesitated to buy tickets right away.

At least she had to wait for online reviews first.

She had been scammed too many times and was wary of wasting her money.

There aren't many domestic films in this genre. She had binge-watched a lot of foreign films in the same genre, but only a handful managed to nail both the pacing and the suspense.

After returning home, Xi Yue looked up details about *Deception* and found out that it was a movie starring Lu Xu and Yue Hui. She racked her brain but couldn't recall seeing Lu Xu's face in the trailer.

She immediately opened Weibo, went to the *Deception* crew's official blog, and rewatched the trailer.

The trailer didn't give close-ups of every participant in the game, but Xi Yue could just about make out the actors involved. The only one she couldn't pin down was someone wearing thick glasses, whose outline seemed to be Lu Xu.

Wait, was it that sly old guy with the fox-like wrinkles?

The old man should be Yue Hui.

However, which character Lu Xu plays isn't important; what matters is the quality of *Deception* itself.

Xi Yue had seen this happen way too often: TV actors, no matter who, always seem to bomb when they try to break into movies, like it's some kind of initiation into the film biz.

Even though Lu Xu has a solid rep, was the *Deception* crew just trying to cash in on his fame?

Xi Yue skimmed through the comments and saw that Lu Xu's fans were all hyped up.

She wasn't one to follow celebrities, but over the past two years, Lu Xu's name had been everywhere. The shows he starred in were actually pretty good, and he had also won acting awards.

Plus, Lu Xu was great at keeping his fans in check. He'd trended on Weibo plenty of times, but Xi Yue had never seen his fans get into fights that made headlines.

She decided to hold off on buying a ticket until she saw the reviews for *Deception*—if the movie's reputation was indeed good.

Xi Yue got hooked on *Deception* after catching the trailer at the cinema, and after the trailer was released, it definitely drew in fans of suspense flicks and script-kill games. Still, they thought *Deception* might be a tough sell during the Spring Festival season.

"Given the movie's low budget, releasing it during Spring Festival could help it break even quicker."

"During Spring Festival, any genre can make bank as long as the story's gripping."

"+1, the marketization of movies hasn't been around for many years. We haven't even truly matured the family-friendly genre, let alone the must-watch family-friendly movies for the Spring Festival."

Thus, the Spring Festival season of that year officially kicked off, and Lu Xu also officially began his roadshow journey.

The premiere day of *Deception* was the first day of the Lunar New Year. Due to limited funds, the crew didn't hold a premiere event. In the same Spring Festival season, competitors *The Eternal Night* crew and *Homebound Train* crew both held well-organized premiere events, inviting fellow celebrities to participate, along with a red carpet ceremony.

"Really rich," Lu Xu exclaimed in the "Breaking Even" group chat.

"Rich +1," Yue Hui followed up.

As the elder brother of the crew, Yue Hui generously sent ten red envelopes in the group chat, totaling 2000 yuan. Lu Xu grabbed several hundred yuan and sent several "Thank you, China's richest man" emojis.

After a while, Gao Xingchuan came online and also grabbed a few.

Lu Xu visibly saw the director's nickname changed to "Still 199XX million XXX yuan short," even including the decimal point.

Lu Xu: "...Really? Even the money from red envelopes counts?"

Gao Xingchuan argued: "It's enough to buy more than ten movie tickets, okay?"

Lu Xu: "...I have a X Ticket membership, do you want to borrow it?"

"Thank you, you're so kind."

Gao Xingchuan even complained that the WeChat nickname was too short, preventing him from showing the momentum of breaking even.

Lu Xu: "..."

Really, the string of numbers following his name was quite impressive.

Sometimes he couldn't bear it and wanted to send a few cash gifts to Gao Xingchuan.

But sending one meant the director had to update his handle, which was too much trouble.

They were really so humble and pitiable!

Movies released during the Lunar New Year season all have box office expectations, and platforms make initial estimates based on pre-sale numbers, which are adjusted after the movie officially premieres.

The predictions for "The Eternal Night" and "Homebound Train" are both 3 billion+, creating significant hype before their release.

The prediction for "Deception" is 500 million+.

Although... but... at least it's a prediction of recouping costs, and there's no prediction that the crew will ultimately fail to break even, which is good.

It's just that the comparison is too harsh.

However, to some extent, the platform's predictions also represent the theater chains' expectations for a movie.

Movies with high expectations like "The Eternal Night" and "Homebound Train" naturally have higher screen allocations.

"Deception" logically has a much lower screen share, with only 7.7% on its premiere day.

But "Deception" isn't the lowest, as there are more than ten new films during the Lunar New Year season, and a screen share over 10% means it's already above average. Even "The Eternal Night" and "Homebound Train" don't have screen shares exceeding 30%.

After the first roadshow ended, Lu Xu found that his Weibo homepage was almost entirely dominated by Lunar New Year releases, with scenes of celebrities attending roadshows, interacting with the audience, and initial audience reactions... Among these trending topics, "Deception" was almost invisible.

Although... when you click on the related hashtags for "Deception," the browsing, reposting, and liking data are comparable to those of the movies on the trending list.

The box office results for the first day came out soon after.

"The Eternal Night" ranked first with earnings of 477 million.

"Homebound Train" came in second with earnings of 413 million.

A total of five movies earned over $100 million on that day.

"Deception" grossed 78.96 million.

Gao Xingchuan's handle immediately changed from over 100 million to just under 100 million.

Recouping costs... seems easier than imagined.

Although the data isn't outstanding—"The Eternal Night" doesn't have five times the screen share of "Deception," but its earnings have already surpassed it by more than five times.