Chapter 206 New Film Fight

Chapter 206: New Films Clash

During the award season, Lu Xu had heard rumors that "Nation and Family" would be released during the National Day or Spring Festival holiday. Since the National Day holiday had passed without any sign of the film, it was naturally scheduled for the Spring Festival.

Lu Xu thought Liu Renong would wait and choose a less crowded release window.

"This subject is most suitable for the National Day or Spring Festival holidays," Mu Lang said. "In other periods, the atmosphere wouldn't be as vibrant."

One day after dinner, Mu Lang and Lu Xu discussed the films set to release during the Spring Festival. The director, who usually avoided such topics, had become more talkative with Lu Xu over time.

Lu Xu agreed; leveraging the festive mood, "Nation and Family" might achieve greater success. In other periods, it would be hard to stir up audience enthusiasm, even if they tried to boost box office numbers artificially.

The production of the new film was proceeding smoothly, and by the end of January, shooting was largely completed. After all, this was a low-budget film, so the shooting schedule wasn't overly extended.

This Spring Festival, Lu Xu found himself unusually free, so he joined Zheng Xiao and others in their group chat, chatting and observing the situation of the Spring Festival films.

This year, he didn't have a film in the Spring Festival lineup; "Code A77" was expected to be released during the summer, assuming the production team sped up their work.

To be honest, Lu Xu couldn't help but pay attention to "Nation and Family"—he had a feeling that Liu Renong was trying to revive his career with this film.

Coincidences often occur in life.

For instance, when Liu Renong and Miao Zhi competed for the same award in their youth, or when Liu Renong, as the chairman of the Golden Flame Awards jury, dashed Miao Zhi's hopes of sweeping the three major awards. And now... both Liu Renong and Miao Zhi had new films set to release during this year's Spring Festival.

Liu Renong's film was "Nation and Family," while Miao Zhi's was "On the Edge," starring Shao Yao.

The moment both films officially announced their release dates, marketing accounts sprang into action.

The rivalry between the two directors could fill volumes, and it wasn't an exaggeration to say that Miao Zhi had been consistently undermined by Liu Renong. Although public opinion favored Miao Zhi, this time "On the Edge" lacked a star like Lu Xu. Whether Shao Yao could match Lu Xu's box office draw remained uncertain before the film's release.

Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao @ed Shao Yao several times in the group.

A new film is about to be released, and it’s Shao Yao’s first time taking on the lead role, so he’s naturally quite nervous. He’s not much of a talker, so even when he’s anxious, it’s hard for outsiders to notice. Lu Xu and the others only realized he was nervous because he started using fewer emoji.

Shao Yao, a man easily predictable.

Before becoming the leading actor in director Miao Zhi's film, Shao Yao had not planned to star in a Spring Festival movie. Neither he nor his agency, Mingniao, had ever considered it.

In the entertainment industry, Mingniao is a second- or third-tier agency. Most of the signed artists choose to run away before climbing to the second tier. Mingniao is just a stepping stone in their development.

Shao Yao has been the company’s most successful artist since its inception, winning awards, producing notable works, and even making a successful foray into the film industry.

Even if Shao Yao was not as famous as Lu Xu, his personal development was unimaginable for Mingniao.

Due to his personality, Shao Yao has never changed his agency. Anyone else might have run off after the broadcast of *Whispers of the Dead* — in recent years, countless agencies have reached out to him with offers, including one behemoth with unparalleled resources.

Shao Yao and Mingniao behind him were already nervous about the release of "On the Wire". Naturally, they became even more nervous when they saw that their competitor was "Homeland".

As we all know, Liu Rennong is very good at doing things behind the scenes, but Mingniao is not very good at it.

After all, the latter is a small company. Although with Shao Yao's popularity, Mingniao has gradually acquired rich experience in artist management, it cannot compare with Liu Rennong, who has been in the director circle for decades and is quite capable.

Even this was Liu Renong, weakened by Lu Xu.

Shao Yao’s greatest strength is his clean record. The incident during the filming of "Nan Xiang Zi" made him wary, and now, apart from occasional outings with Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao, he has no other vices.

Many actors in the industry enjoy socializing, but Shao Yao is the type who only gains a bit of presence when he has a new work released.

Of course, not long after "On the Edge" was officially scheduled for release after the Spring Festival, certain marketing accounts "unearthed" some dirt on Shao Yao.

An old actor who had worked with Shao Yao revealed that Shao Yao acted like a diva on set, disrespected senior actors, and caused him indescribable harm.

Though the accuser couldn't provide substantial evidence, his words were particularly inflammatory. In his writing, Shao Yao appeared to be a bully who relied on his status to dominate the crew, and everyone from the director to the other actors seemed to cater to him.

Even when the director spoke up for Shao Yao and other actors testified on his behalf, it only became evidence that they had been "bought off" by Shao Yao.

Shao Yao: "..."

The nightmare of "Nanxiangzi" returned, and Shao Yao was so upset he didn't want to speak.

Without concrete evidence, the heat around the incident gradually dissipated after two days. However, for the "On the Edge" production team, the film's momentum for the Spring Festival release was mysteriously overshadowed.

Everyone knew this must be Liu Renong's doing. When "Return Date Unset" was released, the "Ambitious Heights" crew had also been targeted in a similar manner.

Of course, the dirt on the lead actor of "Ambitious Heights" was solid, but Shao Yao's "bullying" of co-actors was baseless, purely intended to sabotage the "On the Edge" production team.

Shao Yao was frustrated, but he understood that the more he explained, the messier it would get. So, he remained silent throughout, knowing the production team would handle it, and his agency would resolve some of the issues.

"Don't be upset, just win at the box office," Zheng Xiao consoled him. "No matter how much you guard against it, you can't stop people from stirring up trouble."

Lu Xu had gone through it once, and now Shao Yao had experienced it too. Zheng Xiao's idealized view of the industry had been completely shattered.

When he first started out, other big stars were particularly cold to him, a minor player, except for Liu Renong, whose warm smile left a deep impression on the young Zheng Xiao.

It's best not to hold onto such illusions...

...

Regardless, the Spring Festival box office race began as usual. Affected by the previous scandal over screening schedules, "Heaven and Earth" did not dominate the market as expected. Its screenings were roughly on par with "On the Edge," slightly higher.

Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao went to see *On the Edge*, and they also cheered for it on Weibo.

Many of his fans still remembered the old grudge between *Fearless Life* and Liu Renong. Given their habit of watching a movie during the Spring Festival, the fans naturally took the side of *On the Edge*.

Moreover, the director was Miao Zhi, and the lead actor Shao Yao also delivered a fine performance. Overall, *On the Edge* was a high-quality film.

At least Lu Xu thought the film was quite good. Miao Zhi's delicate touch as a director was fully displayed, and Shao Yao's acting was equally nuanced.

Since *Whispers of the Dead*, the other party had been making continuous progress.

On the first day of the Spring Festival box office, *On the Edge* slightly outperformed *Nation and Family*.

Lu Xu noticed that during the Spring Festival, all the negative information about Liu Renong seemed to have vanished overnight. Even if one persisted in scrolling down, they could only find positive comments related to *Nation and Family*. It would take months of scrolling to uncover any negative information about him.

Lu Xu: "...Is it really necessary to go this far?"

He couldn't help but suspect that Liu Renong might own a PR company or had reached some kind of agreement with marketing accounts. Otherwise, why would the marketing accounts only say good things about him and hesitate to say anything bad?

Lu Xu shared his thoughts with his agent, who agreed: "It's not impossible. He might be very concerned about public opinion and is keeping a tight grip on it."

Lu Xu: "...Isn't this the style of a top-tier celebrity?"

It seemed that Liu Renong's image management was no joke.

However, from the box office performance of *Nation and Family*, it was clear that the internet did have a memory. Despite Liu Renong's close attention to public opinion, the box office of *Nation and Family* was still affected.

This impact began to gradually expand after the second day of the Spring Festival.

At this point, the evaluation of Spring Festival films was no longer limited to certain movie bloggers and marketing accounts; ordinary audiences could also voice their opinions.

In the discussions related to "Home and Country," the comment with the most likes is — "Home and Country: A False Home, Nation, and World."

"The director is filming something he doesn't believe in himself."

Another comment is simply the two words, "Ugly."

Liu Renong's directing skills are undoubtedly solid, even though his character is average. "Home and Country" is also a film he made to chase trends.

However, from the audience's perspective, the story of "Home and Country" has a strong sense of patchwork, unlike "Fearless Life," which flows seamlessly. Naturally, the story lacks depth; it's fragmented and poorly connected, making it hard for viewers to genuinely love it—this is also due to the lack of a clear theme.

"Fearless Life" had Bai Qianshan, and "Home and Country" naturally has some touching characters as well, but under Liu Renong's lens, these characters' greatness is not highlighted. Instead, they seem like tools in the movie, serving only to highlight the protagonist or Bei Hong's role.

"Do they deserve it?"

The actor playing the male lead received a lot of criticism, but his acting was good, and the issues with the character's setup were the fault of the director and screenwriter. Blaming the actor alone would be unfair.

Bei Hong, who played the male supporting role, faced even harsher criticism.

Bei Hong suspected that this was a deliberate smear campaign against him by someone with ulterior motives.

When "San Tu River" flopped so badly, he, as the male lead, managed to escape unscathed. Now, "Home and Country" is performing better at the box office than "San Tu River," yet the male lead hasn't been criticized, while he, the male supporting role, has been constantly attacked. How could this be?

Bei Hong seemed to forget that "San Tu River" didn't require much acting skill, and he was just a newcomer then. Criticizing him wouldn't have been as satisfying as criticizing established actors.

In "Home and Country," however, Bei Hong's poor acting is glaringly obvious.

Some scenes in "Home and Country" are superficial, and Bei Hong's acting is even more so.

The male lead's acting is at least watchable and doesn't take the audience out of the film, whereas Bei Hong's acting... even in the movie, what stands out most to the audience is his bright, watery eyes.

After her plastic surgery, Bei Hong no longer seemed to fit the big screen well.

"Does Bei Hong have some sort of grudge against Liu Renong? A single shot in a movie can be polished dozens of times; even a fool could become an actor. Look at those young actors and actresses who reveal their true colors in TV dramas; they all seem to be great actors in movies. How come Bei Hong..."

"Was the production schedule compressed? Or was Liu Renong often absent from the set? I saw that rumor online. It's said that Liu Renong was 'busy with affairs,' and when he wasn't around, someone else directed."

"Bei Hong’s acting is just too terrible. Do they really have to promote her? If they must, why not find a teacher to teach her first?"

The complaints kept piling up, leading netizens to draw a conclusion—watching "Heaven and Earth" meant that whenever Bei Hong appeared on screen, it was time for the audience to take a bathroom break.

One could use this moment to go to the restroom and return without missing much.