Chapter 125: Lu Xu’s Doing!

Chapter 125: Lu Xu's Doing!

The creators of "Feather of Youth" did not anticipate that the growth of the movie's box office in yuan would actually boost the sales of badminton equipment—during the period following the film's release, badminton courts across the country were fully booked.

"Should we organize a celebrity match?"

In their WeChat group, Guo Yingyu sent a hesitant and surprised voice message: "Including me?"

"It's mainly you three actors," the director said. "You should start preparing."

The box office of "Feather of Youth" has already reached 1.5 billion yuan, and as the year-end approaches, the box office growth is slowing down. However, within the genre of youth films, it is undoubtedly a standout in the genre.

Since the movie's box office surpassed 1 billion yuan, Lu Xu and the others have been attending various industry events and discussions. Although these are official activities, after attending a few, they realized that the audience's understanding of "Feather of Youth" is deeper than they had thought.

Being loved for their work, the team was inevitably moved.

At one exchange meeting, a veteran industry professional even suggested that "Feather of Youth" is also a work of realism, and realism is not narrowly defined by suffering alone.

The audience naturally understood the professional's hint.

"...Laughing to death, isn't this a slap in the face to 'Song of Tears'?"

"'Song of Tears' broke 150 million yuan on its opening day, with a total box office of 190 million yuan. Its current rating is 6.9, but the crew has already submitted it for next year's overseas awards. Pretty impressive, right? The king of domestic cinema is coming!"

"Is 'Song of Tears' suffering? It's more like it makes you want to give someone a good slap."

The creators of "Feather of Youth" had long noticed that those who usually mock the film often praise "Song of Tears" highly. However, as the box office of "Feather of Youth" continued to rise day by day, "Song of Tears" couldn't even match a fraction of its earnings, and the mockery slowly faded away.

Of course, even the main actors themselves did not expect that "Feather of Youth" would reach a ten-figure box office!

Even the third-billed role is considered a significant achievement!

Although Hu Yan and Guo Yingyu wouldn't brag about the box office of "Feather of Youth," mainly out of modesty, "Feather of Youth" is undoubtedly the most significant work in their acting careers!

Hu Yan's resources immediately improved.

Ningshi Entertainment is rife with internal factions. Although the company landed him "Feather of Youth," before the movie's release, this opportunity wasn't considered particularly great—after all, Ningshi Entertainment had once gone after Lu Xu, and the company would never allow a genuinely favored young actor to collaborate with Lu Xu.

But now... Hu Yan suddenly became Ningshi Entertainment's highest-grossing actor.

It sounds absurd, but it's a fact.

Actors under Ningshi Entertainment mainly focus on the TV drama market, and the top actors' TV series are quite popular, but their movie market performance is mediocre.

This is because the film industry is relatively closed, with only a few works by major directors, and Ningshi Entertainment's resources can't reach that level.

In short, Hu Yan is now being set up by the company for leading roles. If possible, Ningshi Entertainment hopes he can collaborate with Lu Xu a few more times—Lu Xu's career trajectory is eerily successful, and no agency would overlook it.

Guo Yingyu, already signed with a major director's studio, has plenty of resources but lacked popularity, which "Feather of Youth" perfectly filled.

As for Lu Xu—

Feiyang Entertainment recently updated its official website, moving Lu Xu's photo to the first position, making him the clear top actor at Feiyang Entertainment.

In fact, since Lu Xu signed with Feiyang Entertainment, the company has been able to provide fewer and fewer resources for him. He has taken on mostly external projects, while Feiyang's traditional resources are divided among other signed artists.

Feiyang Entertainment now completely does not interfere with Lu Xu, leaving everything to him. After all... movies like "Deception" and "Feather of Youth" have both broken 1 billion yuan at the box office, and Feiyang Entertainment couldn't create such scale even if they tried their hardest.

Feiyang Entertainment is still a notable agency in the entertainment industry, but the company's annual financial reports are indeed closely related to Lu Xu—unlike other stars who take on numerous commercial deals after becoming popular, Lu Xu doesn't take on many commercial deals.

The issue is that Lu Xu's contracts typically span at least three years, with endorsement fees that are astonishingly high, plus his film salaries and earnings from variety shows—in short, he's rolling in it.

...

Recently, a media outlet ranked the box office achievements of young actors under 30, with Lu Xu securing the top spot. Since there are few young actors in the industry who lead films, only a few were eligible for the ranking, and the media simply listed all of them—

Lu Xu came in first, while Qi Di, who starred in "Song of Tears," was thirteenth.

"Is Qi Di's lead role box office really that low???"

"He's been pushing 'How Much Do You Know' all along, making people think he was the star of it!"

"...Truth be told, he was only the third lead in 'How Much Do You Know,' and there was a second lead, right? He always acts like the standard-bearer of the new generation, but his actual lead role performance is really poor. The reason he clashes with Lu Xu is just because he insists on hogging the spotlight."

"Lol, Lu Xu doesn't put up with him."

"Two films with over 3 billion in domestic box office, plus overseas earnings, Lu Xu's achievements are off the charts. I've always wanted to say, doesn't anyone think Qi Di is just trying to piggyback on Lu Xu's success? Always comparing himself to Lu Xu, but when you look at his actual achievements, he's just a rookie."

"!!! If it weren't for this ranking, I wouldn't have known Qi Di's lead role performance was so bad, really! But everyone above him is way more low-key!"

"Actually... if you look at third-lead roles, there are actors better than him, but they're low-key, don't self-promote, and are happy to play supporting roles."

When Qi Di saw this trending topic, he was attending a film week event. His expression immediately dropped, his face falling instantly. It was only after a quiet nudge from his assistant that Qi Di managed to smile and finish the fan photos.

During the promotional period for "Song of Tears," Qi Di had been very diligent, meeting all sorts of fan requests and trying to squash rumors of being "two-faced."

For him, keeping a low profile was quite a challenge.

"Get this PR taken care of," Qi Di said coldly as soon as he reached the backstage. "Are you sure Lu Xu didn't pay for this trending topic?"

Assistant: "..."

First, it's just a ranking; handling it PR-wise would only make it seem like there's something to hide.

Second, Lu Xu has no need to buy a trending topic.

The assistant froze, and Qi Di's expression darkened even more: "Didn't you hear me? Go handle it!"

"Feather of Youth" didn't even directly compete with "Song of Tears," but in the public's eyes, "Feather of Youth" easily won over "Song of Tears."

Lu Xu's decision to abandon "Song of Tears" for "Feather of Youth" was heavily promoted by marketers, making Lu Xu seem wise and Qi Di foolish in comparison.

Qi Di was furious.

These people don't understand the depth of "Song of Tears."

They have no taste!

Qi Di now only hopes that Liu Rennong's studio speeds up its efforts to secure an award for "Song of Tears." With an award, he wouldn't have to keep comparing himself to Lu Xu.

Qi Di's emotions finally got the better of him. After the film week event, a reporter pulled him aside to ask for his thoughts on "Feather of Youth."

Qi Di could hardly hide his impatience: "Some actors need box office success, while I need critical acclaim. Is that so hard to understand?"

Qi Di's tone was so harsh that the reporter was taken aback. Without waiting for a second question, Qi Di walked away, leaving the scene.

Qi Di's words were relayed verbatim to Lu Xu by the reporter.

Lu Xu responded: "I'm different; I want it all."

"I think my reputation is quite good too, isn't it?"

Fans: "It's all yours, all yours, all yours!"

"Good, good, good, good, good!"

"...Qi Di is being a hypocrite again. When 'How Much Do You Know' did so well at the box office, he couldn't stop bragging about it. Now that 'Song of Tears' bombed, he starts talking about needing a good reputation."

"How can a scam movie like 'Song of Tears' have a good reputation?"

"Reputation = a 6.9 rating, hahahaha."

Qi Di was once again pissed off by Lu Xu.

After both of them gave their respective interviews, some fans compared the reputations of their works—Lu Xu's works mostly score around 9.5, while Qi Di's works, except for 'How Much Do You Know,' which he didn't headline, mostly hover around 8.

"Lu Xu definitely needs box office hits; his average global box office per movie is only 3 billion, clearly, there's room for growth. [dog head][dog head][dog head]"

"Lu Xu will never, in his lifetime, star in a big-budget movie like 'How Much Do You Know', hahaha, I can't, I'm about to burst out laughing."

What Qi Di couldn't stomach even more was—a movie he had been dying to star in was actually considering Lu Xu for the lead role.

"Why? What does Lu Xu even have?"

The moment Qi Di exploded, even his assistant gave him a weird look.

Lu Xu has movies that bring in returns dozens of times their cost, popularity, and the highest honors in the TV world.

Isn't it normal for movie companies to go after whoever can bring in the cash?

The box office for 'Song of Tears' is less than 200 million, not 2 billion... Qi Di doesn't seem to get this.

Even with Liu Rennong's studio's resources, it can't make up for the over a billion box office gap between 'Feather of Youth' and 'Song of Tears'.

Qi Di is gunning for movie awards, but here's the thing—Zhang Zhizhen has won plenty of awards, but didn't he lose it when 'The Swordsman' bombed?

Making movies is expensive; even the worst films, after costs, can rake in hundreds of millions. Without the director lifting a finger, movie companies are begging them to make a sequel.

Now 'Deception 2' is already stirring up hype—Yue Hui and director Gao Xingchuan's schedules aren't even set yet, but that's not stopping the industry from pushing out a sequel and cashing in overseas.

Making money is the primary driving force!

The assistant even thinks that Qi Di is not suitable to compare with Lu Xu now. Yes, 'Feather of Youth' is indeed a simple film, but that doesn't mean Lu Xu's role was easy to play. Besides, even if Lu Xu's acting was terrible, it wouldn't stop 'Feather of Youth' from making a huge profit at the box office.

Qi Di is simply obsessed.

However, Liu Rennong's studio doesn't sign many actors. They signed Qi Di initially because they saw his potential for development. Unfortunately, over the years, Qi Di's achievements haven't been significant, but his temper has grown worse day by day.

In fact, being rejected by the crew isn't the worst for Qi Di; what makes him feel even more embarrassed is that Lu Xu actually turned down the movie he had his eye on.

He had been striving for so long, and the crew ignored him, but Lu Xu refused it!

It's all Lu Xu's fans who have ruined him!

Qi Di still believes that the photos showing him treating domestic and foreign fans differently were released by Lu Xu's fans—it was the biggest setback in his acting career.

Even... not finding toilet paper when he went to the bathroom was because Lu Xu caused his popularity to decline, and he is no longer as valued as before.

His recent insomnia and hair loss are also caused by Lu Xu.

Bottom line: it's all on Lu Xu!

Lu Xu has no clue what Qi Di is really thinking, but if he did, he'd send over paper the moment Qi Di ran out.

He can't shoulder such a heavy burden.

He would never use such a clumsy trick.

Lu Xu stated that he could sponsor all the paper products on the market, so Qi Di would never have any paper to use.

Even if he woke up in the middle of the night, he'd think Qi Di was nuts.