Chapter 207 Fight

Chapter 207: A Fight

On the second day of the Spring Festival season, "Family and Country" had already accumulated a significant number of negative reviews.

Another issue was that with the massive success of "Fearless Life," several similar films had already been released in the industry by the time "Family and Country" hit the screens.

To some extent, audiences were already suffering from aesthetic fatigue, and "Family and Country" wasn't even the best among them.

The plot was not sufficiently rich to begin with, and with Bei Hong dragging it down, the film received more negative reviews than the production team had anticipated.

As a result, starting from the second day, the box office performance of "Family and Country" began to lag behind "Life on the Line."

Director Miao Zhi did not choose a film with the same theme as "Fearless Life." The character Shao Yao suited him exceptionally well, and the movie's pace was not particularly fast, making it not the type to secure high box office returns right away. However, after watching it, viewers would certainly not feel they had wasted their money and would be willing to recommend it.

But at this moment, the veteran actor who claimed Shao Yao had bullied him resurfaced.

Director Miao Zhi finally lost his patience: "Once, twice, is there no end to this? I urge certain production teams to stop resorting to underhanded tactics and focus on making good movies!"

Though Miao Zhi did not name names, everyone could tell which production team he was referring to.

With the director speaking out, Shao Yao could no longer stay in the background. He challenged the other party to specify exactly when and during which scene he had bullied him. Since it happened on set, there must be witnesses and evidence. If the incident "coincidentally" occurred where no one knew about it, then the other party had no evidence, and Shao Yao could reasonably assume it was a fabrication.

"According to him, the entire crew ganged up on him. What crew has so much free time?"

"It's just like 'Ambition Soaring' back then. Why didn't he come forward earlier or later, but chose now, especially with no evidence? Isn't it because Shao Yao is an easy target? Why doesn't he say Lu Xu bullied him when they worked together, since Lu Xu really does scold people?"

Lu Xu, unexpectedly mentioned, remained silent: "..."

Fine, thinking that way isn't wrong.

In recent years, Shao Yao's image as an honest man has deeply taken root in people's hearts. Everyone knows that although he is tall and imposing, he doesn't have the airs of a big star, yet he often finds himself embroiled in such rumors.

"Looks intimidating," Lu Xu summarized.

"Looks intimidating," Zheng Xiao added, "Seems like he could punch me out with one blow."

Shao Yao sent a pitiful emoji. His emo phase had ended; the box office for "On the Edge" had been decent these past two days, and a weight had been lifted from his heart.

Miao Zhi thoroughly criticized "For Country and Family," but Liu Renong did not respond much.

If possible, Shao Yao's so-called "dirt" would have caused more of a stir, but Liu Renong soon realized that during this release period, even if Shao Yao was involved in a scandal, the audience still found "For Country and Family" the most repulsive.

More accurately, it was Liu Renong himself.

The bigger the so-called scandal involving Shao Yao, the more comments appeared in the review sections praising his achievements.

Liu Renong's marketing tactics were limited to a few tried-and-true methods. A few years ago, when "How Much Do You Know" was released, the opposing film also faced some negative publicity. Combined with the advantages in screening schedules and his own "good reputation," "How Much Do You Know" raked in a lot of box office revenue.

But now, none of his usual tricks worked.

In his acting career, Shao Yao was truly flawless.

Additionally, there was the long-standing conflict with Lu Xu.

When Lu Xu first faced off against Qi Di, Liu Renong didn't take him seriously. After all, the other party was just a newcomer who had recently transitioned from TV dramas, with some popularity but nothing significant.

The entertainment industry never lacks top stars. Endorsements and commercial deals soar, and fans' enthusiasm can be overwhelming, but their love will eventually fade. Without fans, so-called top stars must find ways to maintain their footing in the entertainment world.

Who knew that Lu Xu's steps were steadier than anyone else’s? His keen eye for film selection was unparalleled, and he had achieved success both at the box office and in awards.

What infuriated Liu Renong the most was Shen Wenjie exposing his involvement in securing favorable screenings.

To some extent, this was the foundation of Liu Renong's current status in the film industry. Had it not been exposed, he would still be regarded as a top-tier director with high-grossing films like "How Much Do You Know."

This might not have been unknown within the industry, but no one wanted to offend the theaters.

However, once the audience found out, both the theaters and other directors in the industry would inevitably distance themselves from him, as no one dared to be seen as the one who disrupted the ecosystem of the film industry—already cold enough, further actions would only make the audience completely abandon movies.

The subsequent Jin Yan Award further shattered his reputation.

But Liu Renong did not regret it. He did not want to see Miao Zhi win all three major awards, and neither did Lu Xu—given Lu Xu's current relationship with the Jin Yan Award, it would take many more years for him to win the Best Actor award.

The Jin Yan Award also had its own pride, and the organizing committee would never easily bow to Lu Xu.

Liu Renong even failed to understand why the audience reacted so strongly to "Fearless Life" not winning an award?

Awards are decided by the judges. Does a movie with good word-of-mouth and mediocre acting performances guarantee an award? There are plenty of overlooked gems in film history, not just in domestic awards, but also many classic films overseas that didn't win major awards.

Awards are awards, and "Heaven and Earth" is "Heaven and Earth." Fans bringing their dissatisfaction with the Jin Yan Award into "Heaven and Earth" was something Liu Renong could not accept.

But he was now at a loss, especially as the reputation of "Heaven and Earth" continued to decline.

In previous years, "On the Edge" wouldn't have been a box office hit, but this year, due to the unstable reputation of "Heaven and Earth" and the fans incited by Lu Xu to support "On the Edge," the film showed signs of becoming a hit, grossing 1 billion yuan in just three days.

If not for the box office success of "Fearless Life," "On the Edge" wouldn't have attracted such significant attention.

He couldn't manipulate the screening schedules either.

"On the first day of release, 'Heaven and Country' secured over 20% of the screens and even trended on social media. Subsequently, those chaotic movie bloggers and critics were like imperial historians, making a fuss about every slight change in the film's screen allocation as if they wanted the whole world to know.

This year during the Spring Festival season, the screen allocation for 'Heaven and Country' was adjusted normally. With the box office struggling to rise, the screen allocation naturally decreased. Therefore, Liu Renong predicted that the box office of 'Heaven and Country' would hardly see any further increase.

The investors looked grim, but his personal compensation remained unaffected.

Liu Renong couldn't help but feel relieved that he hadn't invested in 'Heaven and Country.' He had put a lot of money into 'How Much Do You Know,' and although most of the profits went to the theaters, he still reaped an unexpectedly substantial profit.

Of course, the actual box office of 'How Much Do You Know' wasn't as high as outsiders thought, but with its high screen allocation and the reputation of being a 'box office hit,' the film indeed attracted many uninformed viewers.

Given the current box office of 'Heaven and Country,' no matter how much he had invested, it was destined to result in a loss.

With both the screen allocation and box office of 'Heaven and Country' performing poorly, Liu Renong didn't sit idle. He seized this opportunity to buy a series of hot searches that he knew for sure were not fabricated—

"Any discerning person can see that if there were real manipulations, would the screen allocation of 'Heaven and Country' be so low?"

"While the screen allocation for 'How Much Do You Know' was high, it wasn't outrageously so, right? It was just because other films weren't performing well. If they had done better, would the theaters have needed to bet solely on 'How Much Do You Know'?"

"I saw Shen Wenjie's classmates leak online that although Liu Renong and Shen Wenjie were nominally master and apprentice, their relationship wasn't particularly close. Shen Wenjie has a strong sense of jealousy and always felt that Liu Renong didn't pay enough attention to him. In fact, Liu Renong guided him quite diligently, treating him better than others, yet he still wasn't satisfied."

After buying these hot searches, Shen Wenjie and his film 'Undetermined Return' also made it to the trending topics. Shen Wenjie's Weibo account hadn't been updated for a long time, but recently, an account named 'Shen Wenjie01' appeared, only to be banned after posting one tweet. Netizens were unsure what exactly happened.

In the end, the blame firmly landed on Shen Wenjie.

Of course, the hot searches related to 'Heaven and Country' didn't stop there. They included issues such as actors not cooperating during filming, Liu Renong's poor reputation leading to dissatisfaction among the crew, and even Bei Hong's lackluster performance causing Liu Renong to be hospitalized.

A marketing account even posted a photo from the scene, showing Liu Renong looking haggard but with a strikingly handsome face, a typical middle-aged good-looking man. Seeing his appearance only evoked endless sympathy.

As the comment section filled with sympathetic remarks about Liu Renong, the marketing account capitalized on the momentum by releasing images of Liu Renong sitting alone, looking weary and dejected, when 'Undetermined Return' faced doubts and Shen Wenjie came forward to expose him."

"... In any case, Liu Renong was Shen Wenjie’s teacher, right? He did help him out, and there’s nothing he can be blamed for."

"In ancient times, someone like Shen Wenjie should have been locked up."

"Ha, really despicable. It’s clearly his own ill intentions. If Shen Wenjie hadn’t been willing, could Liu Renong have forced him to do these things?"

Lu Xu couldn't help but vent in the group chat again: "The photos look pretty cool. I can never find such a good angle when I take selfies."

"You’re not kidding, they really are handsome. If I weren’t so unfamiliar with him, I’d ask who took these photos."

Shao Yao, who usually had a keen interest in photography, chimed in slowly after Zheng Xiao and Lu Xu had their discussion: "It must be the work of the same photographer."

The camera focused on Liu Renong's face, capturing his vulnerability and sense of loss vividly. Even if Liu Renong were just an ordinary person and not a famous director, this series of photos would still evoke sympathy for him.

With repeated brainwashing, sooner or later, the audience will surely believe Liu Renong’s words.

Although Liu Renong’s methods are crude, it’s enough that the audience believes them.

Even if Liu Renong hasn’t been rehabilitated yet, time will wash everything away.

After discussing for a while, Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao found Shao Yao had shifted the topic to photography techniques. Just as Lu Xu was about to join in, he saw Zheng Xiao frantically tapping him on WeChat.

"Damn! Shen Wenjie went to attack Liu Renong, and he brought a knife."

Lu Xu: "?????!"