After returning from the studio, Xiao He continued to work on his final thesis defense, while the box office of the film "Killing Life" continued to grow slowly after the May Day holiday, eventually settling at 1.8 billion yuan.
This completely exceeded everyone's expectations. After all, this type of film has a limited audience. It is not an action film or comedy film that is currently popular in the market, nor is it a suspenseful and mind-bending film. Being able to exceed 1 billion yuan in box office is already a huge success. For everyone who initially estimated that the box office would only be around 700 million yuan, it was like a windfall.
The crew's group chat was filled with joy for two or three days. On the day Xiao He successfully completed his defense, he went to attend the crew's celebration banquet.
As a key contributor to this publicity effort, Xiao He was given a celebratory banquet specially arranged by Hou Rongxuan after his defense.
It's no exaggeration to say that the film crew really benefited from Xiao He's influence on the box office. However, of course, gold shines wherever it is, and Xiao He's influence only added fuel to the fire. What truly draws more viewers to the cinema is the quality of the work itself.
At the banquet, Xiao He sincerely raised his glass to express his heartfelt gratitude to Hou Rongxuan.
Hou Rongxuan's face was flushed from drinking, and even his usually balding dandelion hair seemed much thicker than before. He looked at Xiao He with a very gentle gaze and couldn't stop praising him: "Xiao Xiao, you don't need to be modest. In all my years as a director, I've never misjudged anyone. You'll definitely go far in the future!"
Xiao He smiled and said, "Thank you, Director Hou. I also wish you great success at the box office in the future!"
The entire crew arrived today. Even Bao Wei, who had already joined the crew, and Zhuo Jianhua, who ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) had returned to Beijing, came over. Xiao He even saw Li Hanyue, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.
Li Hanyue was wearing a beige shirt dress, and her face still held the same bright smile that Xiao He had when they first met.
It seems that the shadow of that incident has faded from the girl's heart.
Upon seeing Xiao He, Li Hanyue also took the initiative to walk over with a wine glass: "Brother Xiao, I said last time that I would definitely treat you to a drink, but I didn't expect it to be delayed until now. I'll punish myself with a drink."
Before Xiao He could say anything, Li Hanyue drank the wine in her cup in one gulp.
Seeing this, Xiao He also raised his wine glass and drank a cup, saying, "I am very happy to see that you are doing well."
Li Hanyue smiled and pursed her lips: "I went on a trip a while ago and saw a lot of different scenery along the way. Suddenly I felt that there was no need for those things that hadn't happened yet to become my inner demons, so I came back and made everyone worry."
"It's great that you think that way." Xiao He looked around. "It's just a pity that Brother Zehang isn't here, otherwise he would be happy for you too."
Li Hanyue nodded, then sighed, "I just don't know when I'll be able to see Brother Zehang again..."
Almost everyone in the crew attended the celebration banquet, except for Liu Zehang, who had been actively involved in all the previous events.
This story begins with Liu Zehang's idiot agent.
As mentioned before, Liu Zehang's agency is eager for him to transition to the traffic-driven track and develop him into a new generation representative who possesses both popularity and acting skills.
When "Killing Life" became a hit and sold well at the box office, Liu Zehang's agent did something very foolish in order to take advantage of the opportunity to help Liu Zehang attract a wave of popularity and traffic - he marketed Liu Zehang's character "Zhu Lao Er" on the entire Internet.
Of course, they were very restrained in their marketing at first, only marketing the three Zhu brothers as the "Rongtou Butcher Iron Triangle".
The eldest brother, Zhu, is irritable and easily angered; the second brother, Zhu, is hypocritical and cunning; and the third brother, Zhu, is sinister and cruel... Marketing related to the three brothers began to spread widely across the internet.
Bao Wei and Liu Zehang are both good-looking, and Xiao He... is definitely handsome, so their "iron triangle" is one of the most good-looking villains in recent years.
This really helped Liu Zehang and the production team attract a large number of fans and generate buzz.
However, such marketing, when used appropriately, is just playing with memes, but when taken too far, it goes awry, as if the villain is the protagonist, the villain's good looks equate to justice, the suffering of the victims is not suffering, and the crimes committed by the criminals deserve to be forgiven...
And most importantly, the three Zhu brothers are based on real people! What they did was truly cruel and unforgivable. For Liu Zehang's agent to market them like this is simply courting death.
Fortunately, Liu Rulan had been keeping an eye on things online and, after discovering that Liu Zehang had done something so foolish, she quickly contacted the production team to stop him and negotiate with them.
Director Hou was happily watching the box office increase when he heard what Liu Rulan said. He broke out in a cold sweat and immediately contacted Taidong Entertainment. He gave Liu Zehang and his agent a thorough dressing down and spent a lot of money to remove all marketing related to similar situations from the internet. He then heavily promoted the news that "Zhu Laosan has been confirmed dead," thus quietly covering up a media storm.
Fortunately, the matter was handled quickly; otherwise, Director Hou couldn't even imagine how much criticism and insults "Killing Life" would have faced if such marketing had backfired.
After all, their film "Killing Life" has always adhered to the principle of respecting the real-life figures and victims, striving to portray the fugitives and make the audience understand the evil of the three Zhu brothers, rather than making the three Zhu brothers become celebrities.
After this incident, Liu Zehang's position became rather awkward.
Although it was his agent's doing, Director Hou didn't give him a friendly look either, so Liu Zehang was too embarrassed to come to the celebration banquet. He only sent a few big red envelopes in the group chat, hoping everyone would have a good time.
Thinking of Liu Zehang and his troublesome management team, Xiao He couldn't comment, and could only say, "I hope he can resolve his issues as soon as possible."
In reality, it wouldn't be easy for Liu Zehang to leave Taidong Entertainment. After all, among his peers, those with acting skills don't have Liu Zehang's fame, and those with popularity don't have his acting skills. Unless Taidong Entertainment makes a foolish mistake, they definitely won't let Liu Zehang leave.
Now it remains to be seen how Liu Zehang will use this incident to gain more benefits for himself...
After chatting with Li Hanyue about their future plans, Xiao He toasted several veteran actors from the crew.
Bao Wei signed a few more postcards for Xiao He's mother, while Zhuo Jianhua handed Xiao He a business card and said gently, "If you are interested in the future, you can audit a few classes in the acting department of Peking Opera. I believe you will have unexpected gains."
Although it was far away in Beijing, it was still Peking Opera, a genre that every actor had longed for. Xiao He accepted the business card with both hands and thanked Zhuo Jianhua, saying, "Thank you, Teacher Zhuo."
After a while, the banquet came to an end. Everyone who had been excited all night was now somewhat disheartened. Director Hou waved his hand, indicating that the banquet was over.
However, as everyone gradually left, he called Xiao He and Liu Rulan aside to another empty private room.
After sitting down, Hou Rongxuan's smile faded a bit. He took out a folder, placed it on the table, and pushed it in front of Xiao He: "This is Director Feng's new movie that he is about to start filming. Xiao He, you can take it back and take a good look at it, and prepare in advance."
Despite already having a guess in her heart, Liu Rulan still excitedly clenched her fist and frantically gestured to Xiao He.
It's Director Feng's new film! It's a script they've been searching for for a long time!
