Chapter 236: 236 Box Office Trend

Chapter 236: 236 Box Office Trends

"Is Zheng Xiao’s Elimination Spot real or staged?"

"These two are such clowns—I nearly choked laughing."

"It’s obviously the 'Hu Qing Elimination Spot' (serious face)."

"Honestly, with Zheng Xiao and Lu Xu around, the fun never stops. Why not include Shao Yao? Because Shao Yao’s too busy stuffing his face."

Even though *Reign Supreme* had nothing to do with Shao Yao, he still felt like collateral damage.

Shao Yao could only silently eat his meal while reposting Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao’s Weibo posts.

"Looks like a *Chivalrous Fragrance* scene remake."

"Three actors, but only two get billing."

The scene where Hu Qing got eliminated originally happened on set, but Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao reenacted it near their neighborhood. Seeing their live posts, not only were the fans speechless, even director Chang Aiwei had no words.

Of course, he was used to it by now—Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao’s antics were... not exactly A-list behavior.

Chang Aiwei never expected fans would actually cosplay Hu Qing’s elimination scene, even replicating the exact movements.

Fans: "Who even does this? It looks so dumb."

"I went."

"Me too... LMAO."

"Immerse yourself in the scene, and you won’t feel like an idiot anymore. Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao must’ve been possessed by Fight Gods to pull off that kind of play."

"Fight Gods? Can they act normal for once?"

Regardless, the hashtag #MountainCrewChallenge# still trended, with some imitating Zheng Xiao getting eliminated by Lu Xu and others mimicking Shao Yao eating.

The netizen who imitated Shao Yao eating was voted top because they nailed it—maybe too well.

Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao both screenshotted it and sent it to Shao Yao.

Shao Yao: "..."

He hadn’t cared at all before, but seeing Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao act in unison, he was low-key pissed and ended up eating more than usual.

Agent: "..."

This is what you get with chaotic friends.

...

On the second day of the Spring Festival box office, affected by the first-day drop, *Reign Supreme* saw a dip in showtimes—though not significant, since it was only the second day, and films need time to find their footing.

Yet *Reign Supreme* turned out to be the steadiest earner this season.

It still pulled in 200M daily, bringing its total to 600M.

*Dragon Palace* remained in first place, with 300M in one day. Considering day-one numbers had presales baked in, *Dragon Palace* didn’t drop too hard.

Most importantly, both *Reign Supreme* and *Dragon Palace* had great buzz.

Here’s the refined translation incorporating the expert suggestions:

The film currently ranked third at the box office is *The Robot Creation Guide*, which broke through amid the fierce competition of the Spring Festival season. Despite not having particularly high screenings, *Robot* still emerged victorious among films from third place onward, where screenings were nearly even, thanks to its creativity, and its word-of-mouth has been growing.

By this point, the competition had taken shape.

*Dragon Palace* remained at the top, while *Reign Supreme* and *Robot* also performed well. For audiences, there were now more worthwhile films to watch during the holiday.

Meanwhile, during promotions, Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao repeatedly acted out the classic scene of "Zheng Xiao meeting his end."

Zheng Xiao finally couldn’t take it anymore: "Can we switch it up?"

Didn’t dying once in the film suffice?

In fact, aside from Lu Xu’s portrayal of Qi Yi, the most notable actors in *Reign Supreme* were Wang Yu, who played Ding Fu, and Zheng Xiao, who played Hu Qing.

Wang Yu, a decorated veteran, was widely recognized in the industry as a gold-standard supporting actor. Zheng Xiao, on the other hand, stepped into a rare villain role in his career. Hu Qing initially appeared as an upright and honorable man, a breath of fresh air among a group of scheming conspirators. But as the plot unfolded, Hu Qing’s multifaceted nature gradually emerged, and Zheng Xiao nailed the character’s complexity.

To be honest, critics (like those at *Viewing Diaries*) weren’t surprised by Lu Xu’s outstanding performance—if he hadn’t shown any breakthrough, they would’ve been shocked instead. But Zheng Xiao’s performance truly stunned them.

In *Reign Supreme*, Zheng Xiao’s improvement was remarkably evident.

Playing villains is tough, especially one like Hu Qing, who wasn’t the type to broadcast his villainy. Zheng Xiao not only revealed his hidden side but also perfectly presented his false front to the audience.

Thanks to the performances of Lu Xu, Wang Yu, and Zheng Xiao, this year’s Spring Festival films each stood out distinctly. While all plots were solid, *Dragon Palace* excelled in special effects, *Reign Supreme* in acting, and *Robot* in creativity.

Whichever film viewers picked, they could find something awe-inspiring in it.

Shortly after *Reign Supreme*’s release, netizens created a character collage of the film’s ensemble—the ever-shifting faces behind the conspiracies, the icy, omnipotent emperor, the sinister and cruel eunuch, the scheming officials, and the hidden antagonist. The behind-the-scenes clips released by the crew were cut into teaser clips, with each character’s appearance enhancing the film’s appeal.

*Reign Supreme* was clearly a film that emphasized human relationships. For instance, the confrontations between Hu Qing and Qi Yi—their gazes, movements, even micro-expressions—were all worth careful analysis.

Hu Qing was a character hard to decipher, but compared to him, Qi Yi was even more inscrutable.

As one critic put it, "You could spend days dissecting the various characters in *Reign Supreme*."

The film avoided being needlessly cryptic—the audience could understand it. The director didn’t sacrifice clarity for artistic ambition, maintaining a well-paced rhythm that knew when to speed up and when to slow down.

Thus, even without a sudden surge in box office earnings, *Reign Supreme* still achieved respectable numbers during the Spring Festival season.

"First, we have to consider that *Reign Supreme* is actually a historical film. Compared to other movies released in the same season, it’s inherently weightier."

"Having watched *Reign Supreme* three times, I can say Qi Yi’s character only grows more enigmatic with each viewing. Lu Xu on the big screen is just too captivating—it’s hard not to fall for him."

"Go watch *Reign Supreme* now!!! The explosive acting on the big screen is absolutely breathtaking. Lu Xu’s portrayal of the emperor is so awe-inspiring—only a Qi Yi like this could convince me that such a ruler could expand territories and quell internal strife, shaping history itself."

...

By the third day of the Spring Festival season, reviews for the films gradually emerged. *Reign Supreme* scored a 9.3, with the slightly lower rating attributed to historical films’ pursuit of gravitas, which naturally sacrifices some entertainment value.

*Dragon Palace* scored slightly lower at 9.1. Fantasy blockbusters like this are hard to please everyone, especially with *Night Sky Observations* setting a high bar. In terms of special effects and acting, *Dragon Palace* still fell slightly short of its predecessor.

*The Robot Creation Guide*, however, had the highest rating among this year’s Spring Festival films at 9.5.

On this day, *Robot* saw an increase in screenings, while *Reign Supreme* and *Dragon Palace* experienced only minor reductions. The day’s box office results presented staggering numbers—

*Dragon Palace*: 240 million.

*Reign Supreme*: 220 million. *Robot*: 200 million.

Here’s the edited translation incorporating the expert suggestions:

The box office figures of the three blockbusters formed an arithmetic sequence.

Currently, in terms of total box office, *Dragon Palace* naturally leads by a wide margin. However, comparing the three-day box office trends during the Spring Festival season, *Reign Supreme* and *Robot Creation Manual* aren’t far behind either.

“What a wild Spring Festival box office season.”

“LMAO, could *Robot Creation Manual* end up taking the box office crown?”

“Honestly… that possibility does exist.”

The audience couldn’t help but marvel as well—*Reign Supreme* was nothing short of a box office miracle, managing to hold its own in the fierce competition of the Spring Festival season. Even if viewers went to see it purely for Lu Xu, its current performance was genuinely astonishing.

And then—the films of this Spring Festival season actually started cross-promo.

*Reign Supreme* featured a human emperor, while *Dragon Palace* showcased the ruler of the ocean depths. In funny Weibo skits between the two films, Qi Yi and the Dragon King became pen pals.

The Dragon King deadass wrote: “Your Majesty, if you ever take action in the future, could you avoid doing so by the river? My subordinates don’t eat just anything.”

The Dragon King even hung up a sign that read, “Protect Our Waters - Do Your Part.”

Qi Yi, as a result, got roasted by netizens.

In return, Qi Yi wrote to the Dragon King: “On [date], I prayed for rain—you didn’t come.”

“On [date], I prayed for rain—you didn’t come again.”

“…Still didn’t come.”

“It’s freezing our asses off. I’ll order the river workers to fill it up. If you don’t come this time, don’t bother showing up.”

The audience was both stunned by the harmonious rapport between the two rival films and couldn’t help but acknowledge that only with top-tier production quality could film crews interact with such confidence.

Besides, viewers were tired of the usual Spring Festival season drama of films throwing shade—seeing the crews get along so well was a breath of fresh air.

Lu Xu posted a ticket stub for *Dragon Palace*, while the lead actor of *Dragon Palace* posted one for *Reign Supreme*, gassing Lu Xu up.

The *Robot Creation Manual* crew didn’t openly interact with *Dragon Palace* or *Reign Supreme*, but when its creators mentioned the other Spring Festival films, they had nothing but compliments.

This year’s films were all solid, earning strong word-of-mouth without resorting to infighting. Naturally, there were no incidents of fans of Film A boycotting Film B—as long as a movie was worth watching, audiences were willing to buy tickets and support it.

As a result, the box office for the Spring Festival films saw another nice bump.

Although—*Dragon Palace* couldn’t maintain its top spot on the box office charts, being overtaken by *Reign Supreme* on the fourth day of release, the gap between the top three films remained narrow.

*Reign Supreme*’s box office for that day was $196 million.

Of course, *Reign Supreme*’s reign as box office champion didn’t last long—by the fifth day, *Robot Creation Manual* took the lead and held onto the No. 1 spot from then on.

By this point, *Reign Supreme*’s total box office had already surpassed 1B yuan.

“A rare Spring Festival season where a Lu Xu-led film wasn’t crushing it… but this might also be one of the few recent years where almost every film came out winning.”

When the eight-day Spring Festival season concluded, *Dragon Palace* still held a slight lead, though the gap with *Reign Supreme* and *Robot Creation Manual* wasn’t large. *Dragon Palace*’s box office exceeded 200M yuan, while *Reign Supreme* and *Robot Creation Manual* both surpassed 150M yuan, not far from 200M.

It could be said that while this season lacked a record-smashing hit like *Night Sky Observations*, its overall performance was still strong—especially for the film crews, as it was a case where everybody won.

Moreover, though the Spring Festival season had ended, the films had only been in theaters for eight days. There was still plenty of time to rack up more sales.

Even *Dragon Palace*, the highest-budget film, was no bomb—its costs had long been recouped.

Trackers were predicting *Reign Supreme*’s total box office at 2.5B yuan. With promotional activities wrapped up, Chang Aiwei had nothing to do but constantly refresh the box office data.

By now, the director was no longer worried about the box office—*Reign Supreme* had already killed it. Still, whether the 2.5B target could be achieved was something he was equal parts skeptical and hype about.