Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
In China.
The news spread.
There was praise all over Weibo.
“Commando 2 was rejected for approval seven times?”
“Because the movie’s duration was too long? And the ticket price was too high?”
“Hahahaha! Beautifully done!”
“The SARFT is awesome!”
“Pfft, hahaha! I’ve gotta give a Like to the SARFT this time no matter what!”
“Well done! This is in accordance with the public’s opinion! How satisfying!”
“The SARFT did really good this time!”
“It’s rare that the SARFT does something that makes everyone want to clap for them!”
“The long reach of capitalism has fallen short again in front of our Chinese regulations!”
“That Wilson basically asked for it by saying that he doesn’t care much for the Chinese market. During the press conference, he mentioned that the Chinese film market wasn’t good? That it was unregulated? That the box office earnings were low? Sure then, since you people don’t fucking care about it? Then don’t come! The Chinese market and our citizens don’t welcome you either! So what if you’re a famous Hollywood director? So what if Commando is a great movie franchise? So what if the entire world is giving you all face? Our Chinese people won’t!”
“Yeah, well said!”
“Even if the movie manages to get a showing here, we will ensure that they go back with zero earnings!”
“Supporting the SARFT! Go fuck them up!”
“This news has completely changed my impression of the SARFT!”
In the past, whenever the SARFT implemented its strict broadcast standards on imported foreign television dramas and movies, it would always make the people suffer. Many of the television series and movies that everyone wanted to watch did not get a chance to broadcast in China. When that happened, the netizens would always curse and swear at it. They felt that the SARFT was too harsh and making a fuss out of nothing, that they were being too intolerant. However, it was an unprecedented reaction this time as every netizen in the country was unanimously praising the SARFT for their action.
Well stopped!
Well rejected!
And just like that, Commando 2 lost its chance to be shown in China!
…
America.
Hollywood.
Quite a few directors from the Directors Guild were denouncing this.
“China is outrageous!”
“How can they shut out Commando 2 like that?”
“They’re destroying the market this way!”
“Wilson, you cannot just let it slide!”
“We have to fight back!”
“Opposing Hollywood? Where did they find the courage to do this!”
“Isn’t Zhang Ye’s new movie also showing soon? Alright! We won’t let him have it easy in the overseas markets either! Doesn’t he intend to challenge Wilson? Isn’t he thinking of competing with Hollywood? Heh, take a big step back. Even if his movie has a 0.01% chance of breaking out, as long as his overseas box office earnings are cut off, I want to see how he can fight this fight. Does he intend to depend on the Chinese film market that will at most bring him a few hundred million in earnings? What a joke! Commando 2 will surpass his movie with just two or three days of box office earnings! And that’s just based on the box office earnings in America! We don’t even need the global box office earnings to beat him! The Chinese market is only so big. Without the global box office to support it, he can’t turn the tables!”
“That’s right. I’ll contact my friend about this. I still have some influence in the industry to speak of!”
“Wilson, I’ll help you too!”
“Thanks, everyone!”
Very quickly, many of Hollywood’s people took action.
Many people in Hollywood had always had disdain for Zhang Ye and China.
…
China.
At the film distribution company of Qian Haitao, the richest man in China.
Zhang Ye and the company’s representative were seated together.
The representative said angrily, “Director Zhang, there definitely won’t be any problems with the movie’s domestic scheduling, don’t you worry about that. However, there are some problems with the overseas distribution!”
Zhang Ye said indifferently, “Why’s that?”
The representative said, “We have distribution channels in multiple countries as well as cooperative deals with their theaters. Although the relationships may not be that strong, we are still assured of getting some showtimes. However, a lot of people from Hollywood have suddenly shown up, including the investors of Commando 2 and people from their Directors Guild, and intervened with our overseas distribution of the movie. Many of the theater chains we had already negotiated with have all stated that they won’t be importing Wolf Warrior 2 anymore! The overseas distribution has been ground to a halt as a result! If it goes on like this, our overseas showings will be so low that they could be negligible! This—”
Boss Qian Jr. was also around today. He banged the table and stood up. “Fuck! So they want to play such a shady game, huh?!”
The representative said, “They’re obviously retaliating!”
But to their surprise, Zhang Ye laughed and said, “It’s fine.”
“It’s fine?” The representative sounded a little startled.
Boss Qian Jr. anxiously said, “Without the foreign box office sales, we will—”
“Are the other distribution plans going smoothly?” Zhang Ye asked.
The representative said in a stunned manner, “Everything else is proceeding smoothly.”
Zhang Ye nodded and said with a smile, “That will do then. Great job.”
The representative said, “But the foreign box office earnings will definitely take a—”
Overseas box office earnings?
What was hell was that?
Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. “No worries. If those people from Hollywood like to mess around, let them do it. There’s no need to worry about the overseas showtimes.”
The representative said nervously, “No need to worry?”
Boss Qian Jr. was speechless.
In the media.
Within the industry.
In the entertainment circle.
Everyone thought that Zhang Ye would flare up over this matter, but to everyone’s surprise, he wasn’t even bothered!
When Zhang chose to make this movie, he had never even considered the foreign box office earnings. If there were any, so be it. Otherwise, no big deal! He didn’t care about it at all. Perhaps some people in the industry thought that if Zhang Ye wanted to challenge Hollywood, it would be impossible to depend on just the domestic box office. The movie would definitely have to be distributed overseas as even many of Hollywood’s blockbuster movies had a higher box office earnings globally compared to their own North American market. But unbeknownst to them, Zhang Ye never thought of it this way. Ever since the beginning, he had excluded all of the box office sales of the other regions around the world. This was because he knew exactly the market this movie was aimed at.
North America?
Japan?
India?
The UK?
If his goal was to take over these foreign markets and their box office earnings, he wouldn’t have made Wolf Warrior 2, a production that was a Chinese movie through and through.
All he cared about this time was the Chinese market!
He only wanted to use the domestic box office earnings to beat Hollywood!
Of course, Zhang Ye did not tell the distributor about this, nor did he reveal it to the media or the film’s actors. Even if he had told them, they would think that Zhang Ye was crazy—although no one in this group of people felt that Zhang Ye was normal to begin with. In many of their eyes, Zhang Ye had always been crazy like that.
If they thought he was crazy, then so be it.
In a person’s lifetime, one must do something crazy once!
He was going to get crazy with a billion Chinese citizens this time!
…
In the international scene.
The news was spreading all over the world!
“A Hollywood movie gets blocked in China?”
“Surprise! Commando 2 gets buried in China!”
“Hollywood’s Directors Guild protests!”
“Zhang Ye’s debut movie to play soon?”
“Zhang Ye’s new movie nearly fails to get distributed overseas!”
“An overly confident challenge from China!”
Based on Zhang Ye’s current international reputation, he still wasn’t that famous. Originally, the news of Zhang Ye’s new movie would not have gotten such a huge amount of international coverage. However, with Wilson’s reputation, and Commando 2 being such a popular franchise, as well as Hollywood’s backing, the competition helped to propel Wolf Warrior 2 into international attention as the media made comparisons between the two movies.
…
On the Web.
There was the sound of ridicule everywhere.
An American netizen: “Are they really trying to challenge us?”
An Indian netizen: “That Chinese man must be cracking an international joke, right?”
A French netizen: “A Chinese movie vs. a Hollywood movie? There’s no comparison at all! How can anyone compare these two movies? Isn’t that as good as an insult?”
A Japanese netizen: “It was Zhang Ye who tried to challenge them.”
A Pakistani netizen: “No, it was Wilson who initiated the challenge!”
A UK netizen: “No matter who provoked whom first, these two movies have gone to war. Commando 2 has lost its chance to screen in China, so there will be quite a big loss in the box office. Similarly, Wolf Warrior 2 has lost its chance to screen in the majority of the overseas markets and suffered even greater losses because of that.”
A Canadian netizen: “Zhang Ye is at most an average international C-lister. Although his popularity isn’t low, it isn’t that high either, so how much could he possibly earn at the box office with a movie that he self-directed and acted in? Look at Commando 2, the two main leads are international A-listers, and there are also a few international B-list celebrities from Japan and the UK joining in as well. The overseas box office sales won’t be too bad either. Together with Wilson’s brand, heh, I would consider Wolf Warrior 2 to have won if they can even get 10% of the box office earnings of Commando 2!”
An American netizen: “That’s right, but you haven’t considered the possibility of the two movies showing during the same period. If they are released at around the same time, Commando 2 will crush the Chinese movie based on its reputation and influence. That will make the difference between the two movies even more obvious.”
A Dutch netizen: “What is Wolf Warrior 2 about?”
An Australian netizen: “Who knows?”
A German netizen: “Does anyone have a link for Wolf Warrior 1? I’m quite interested in watching it.”
A Korean netizen: “There isn’t a part one. He shot the sequel right off the bat.”
The German netizen: “Huh? He made Wolf Warrior 2 first?”
A Pakistani netizen: “How impressive, my Chinese bro!
An American netizen: “Heh, I just want to see if the Chinese guy has the balls to release his movie at the same time as Commando 2. If he does so, I’ll have to give it to him.”
Another American citizen: “That’s impossible. He wouldn’t do that.”
A Canadian netizen: “Yeah, that Chinese guy can’t be that stupid.”
Then quite a few Chinese netizens appeared.
“Is that so?”
“Let’s wait and see then.”
“Hur hur, see if he has the balls.”
The netizens from the various countries were a little startled.
Only the Chinese netizens were smiling. This was because they knew Zhang Ye’s temper very well. After so many years, how could they not know what kind of person Zhang Ye was and what his character was like? What kind of temper did Zhang Ye have? The more other people didn’t think he would do something or have the courage to do so, the more this fellow would want and dare to do it!
Soon after.
The entire world blew up.
As it turned out, the Chinese netizens were right.
…
On this day.
Commando 2 announced its global premiere date.
It was going to premiere on the first of next month!
…
Concurrently.
Wolf Warrior 2 also announced its global premiere date.
It was also scheduled for the first of next month!
…
The media was exhilarated!
The industry was dumbfounded!
The public was stunned!
The entire world’s attention was now focused on these two movies!
Two movies that had been hyped up before their release beyond anything prior were about to premiere around the world on the same day!
