“I suppose it’s not appropriate to talk about Africo when we’re on stage, right?”
Under the host’s close questioning, Fang Qiu felt a little embarrassed as he looked at the production staff on the side, as well as Director Chen Xiaogang, who was sitting next to him.
“It doesn’t matter. Just say it.”
Director Chen graciously accepted this question with a smile.
Actually, before the premiere, Director Chen Xiaogang was well aware of the various procedures and forthcoming questions, so he was not surprised when he heard this question from the host. On the contrary, he was quite pleased to hear it.
After all, the current trending topic on the Internet now was that of Fang Qiu going to Africo to treat malaria. This piece of news, which had nothing to do with the movie, would probably spark an interest that could attract more people. All the movie critics and reporters could work on this and create something out of it. At that time, they could use such a simple question to draw everyone’s attention so that more people would pay attention to the film itself.
To put it bluntly, this was a deliberately created publicity stunt.
Standing on the other side, after receiving the director’s consent, Fang Qiu did not hold back. Thus, he simply picked up the microphone and told everyone present about the whole story of Africo.
Everyone listened quietly to his narration.
Of course, because it was purely for publicity, the others merely listened politely to the whole story without paying too much attention to the details. They nodded, exchanged a few words, and returned to their businesses.
“We all know this is the first movie where you’re starring in a leading role. Director Chen Xiaogang directed the movie, plus your popularity is soaring now. Could you please predict how much you think the box office will rake in for the blockbuster movie ‘Yang Yizhi’?”
The host continued to push Fang Qiu, showing no intention of letting him go.
When he heard the question, Fang Qiu was stunned.
……
He had never thought about this matter.
If he gave a big number, people would say he was too arrogant. But if he gave a modest figure, others would criticize him for looking down on Director Chen Xiaogang. Well, how should he respond now?
He hesitated.
Fang Qiu turned to look at everyone, hoping to get some hints.
But in the end, everyone just smiled as they looked back at him.
This time, Fang Qiu was utterly speechless.
“Why are you looking at me? I don’t know the answer at all.”
Fang Qiu felt completely helpless.
But on the other side, the host, all the media reporters, and these specially invited fans were waiting for his answer.
He couldn’t let the premiere turn into an embarrassing situation.
“Hiss…”
Fang Qiu took a deep breath and thought quietly in his mind.
Their movie had won the top spot in the 24-hour pre-sales screening. It grossed over 200 million yuan at the box office. He had never witnessed such a satisfactory presales performance before. Since its pre-sales was such a huge success, then the box office of the movie would rake in at least several times more the amount of money in total.
“Four times more? Then it should be one billion yuan?”
Thinking of this, Fang Qiu immediately rejected the number in his heart.
Since he had to come up with an answer, he should make a big deal of it to show others his confidence and keep up the morale. Even if they failed to achieve this goal and were humiliated, it was nothing serious.
Anyway, he had hurt so many people’s pride. It was time for him to get slapped in the face.
“Well.”
With this in mind, Fang Qiu spoke up, “Allow me to cheer everyone up and encourage myself. Therefore, I’d like to give a large number.”
Everyone nodded and smiled, waiting expectantly for the huge number.
“Two billion yuan.”
Fang Qiu quoted this figure which he felt was in line with everyone’s expectation.
All the people present suddenly gasped in surprise!
“Two billion yuan?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“To achieve this goal, how many more people will watch the movie?”
What’s more…
Director Chen Xiaogang, a world-famous director, the highest box office earnings for his film had hit 500 million yuan. With the development of the film industry in recent years, the box office sales enjoyed a sharp rise. Even under such great conditions, it would already be a big success for a film to take 1 billion yuan at the box office.
How dare he say two billion yuan?! He must be highly ambitious!
Even Director Chen Xiaogang, who was sitting next to Fang Qiu, was completely taken aback and at a loss for words, when he heard this number, not to mention all the main production staff.
“You really have so much faith in me.”
Director Chen Xiaogang gave a wry smile.
Hearing this while looking at the expressions of the main production staff, Fang Qiu felt confused again.
“What’s going on?”
“Why are they reacting in this way?”
He turned around.
Sitting around the stage, these movie critics and media reporters quickly began to jot down something in their notebooks. They were obviously recording what he had just said.
On the stage.
“Two billion?”
When the host on the stage heard that, he was also surprised. Then he immediately said with a smile, “It seems that the quality of our movie is very high. Since Fang Qiu is so confident, then Director Chen, do you share the same confidence?”
Fang Qiu quickly handed the microphone to Director Chen Xiaogang, having decided not to answer any more questions.
Seeing this, Chen Xiaogang shook his head with a smile and took the microphone. He could only repeat what Fang Qiu said and continued, “I unconditionally believe in all the members of our main production team and the audience.”
“Okay, thank you, Director Chen.”
The host stood up and applauded.
Then, the host continued to ask some questions about the movie production and the question and answer section finally ended.
Fang Qiu got off the stage.
He sat back in the middle of the first row.
“Hey, I admire your courage in saying that.”
Director Chen Xiaogang said to Fang Qiu with a wry smile.
“Should it be a larger number?”
Fang Qiu asked with a puzzled look.
“My highest prediction was for 1.5 billion yuan.”
Director Chen Xiaogang whispered in Fang Qiu’s ear.
Hearing this number, Fang Qiu was stunned.
He finally figured out that he had bragged too much.
But…
He had no choice.
Before this, he had never paid any attention to the movie box office or anything similar, so he had no idea about the numbers at all. Who knew that the prediction would end up like this?
“But it doesn’t matter. After all, you’ve said some modest words, so you’re not being overly confident.”
Director Chen comforted him.
Fang Qiu smiled wryly.
If he had known earlier, he should have come earlier. If he had known beforehand that these kinds of questions would be fielded to him, he would have been better prepared to deal with them.
Since he couldn’t take back his words, he had no choice but to face the reality.
“Next, it’s the movie premiere.”
After the main production team stepped down, the host said, “Before the premiere officially starts, there will be a three-minute break.”
After that, he stepped off the stage.
Down below, all the media reporters, movie critics, fans, and celebrities who had been sitting for a long time, got up and made a beeline for the bathroom.
It was the premiere. It would be very impolite to leave for the bathroom before the movie ended. Whether it was good or not, the audience had to wait for the movie to end.
Therefore, everyone rushed to the toilet.
Of course, the toilets for celebrities and the main production staff differed from those for ordinary people.
Three minutes later, everything was ready. When the lights in the movie hall dimmed, the movie began showing on the huge screen.
At this moment, everyone in the movie hall were all equal: they were all part of an ordinary audience who stared intensely at the screen, looking forward to the plot of this movie.
The beginning was different from other martial arts movies.
In fact, it was more like a military movie. At the very beginning, thousands of troops and horses stood tall and upright in their formations before the imposing city gate. Then, amid the sounds of metal weapons colliding, some words appeared on the huge screen.
“After Zhu Zhangyuan killed Chen Youliang in October, in the 25th year of the Zhizheng period (1365), he attacked Zhang Shicheng, and his large forces bore down upon the border. He captured Zhoutong, Huaxing, Chengyan, Zhoutai, Yougao, Anhuai, Zhousu, Fengan, and other states in one fell swoop. He drove all the forces in the Eastern Wuo out of the north of the Yangtze River!”
The scenery changed.
Soldiers and horses could be seen everywhere, and ordinary citizens were hiding and running helter-skelter in the midst of the chaos.
“In May, in the 26th year of the Zhizheng period, Zhu Zhangyuan declared war on Zhang Shicheng. In November of the same year, Zhouhang and Zhouhu surrendered to Zhu Zhangyuan, and Jiangping became an isolated city.”
At this time, the rolling script came to an end.
The scene on the big screen changed from the chaos of the battlefield to one showing green hills and rivers as if the previous iron spears and horses were nothing but a joke.
The scene changed to that of faraway mountains and lakes.
After careful scrutiny, the audience saw a middle-aged man dressed in ordinary attire standing in front of a crystal clear lake, admiring the beautiful scenery of the mountains and lakes.
Many people dressed in ordinary clothes stood around him, standing guard.
One of them stepped forward.
Only then did the middle-aged man turn around. It was Zhu Zhangyuan, played by Li Baoguo!
Whether in terms of temperament, age, or appearance, Li Baoguo was the ideal person to play the role of Zhu Zhangyuan.
This sort of majestic aura could only be seen on the emperor.
“Mr. Li Baoguo is very suitable for this role.”
“The key is in his acting skills. Mr. Li Baoguo is a perfect match for the role. In addition, his solid acting skills make Zhu Yuanzhang’s role come alive as soon as he showed up.”
People were discussing in low voices.
Of course, the ones who spoke most of the time were the movie critics.
They did not miss any single detail of the whole movie.
The celebrities who came to help out were not under much pressure. They just focused on watching the movie. After all, they didn’t need to bother about the comments. However, the members of the main production team were very nervous.
They feared that they would be criticized by the movie critics and media professionals. A few of them even turned their heads constantly to observe these people’s expressions, trying to figure out their opinions about the movie.
Sitting in the middle of the first row, Director Chen Xiaogang was also very nervous.
However, compared to the others, there was still a touch of pride in his heart. It was because he had already seen the full version of the movie. His evaluation of the movie ranked quite highly in his heart; he considered it better than the other movies he had directed.
Therefore, he felt that this movie would definitely be well received. However, no matter how confident he was, it was inevitable that he would feel nervous. After all, everyone had different tastes. The media reporters and movie critics might not necessarily like the movie he liked.
Fang Qiu and Li Baoguo, who were sitting next to Director Chen on both sides, were the most relaxed among the whole main production team.
Although the two of them were there to assess the movie, the quality of the movie was not directly linked to their interests. Anyway, they were both famous. Even if the movie was a letdown, there would still be a lot of opportunities for them. So they focused only on the movie.
Only when one immersed himself in the movie could he feel its shortcomings as an ordinary member of the audience.
The movie was still playing on the big screen.
After a profound conversation, Zhu Zhangyuan, who was standing by the lake and enjoying the beautiful scenery, couldn’t help being moved and started to recite a poem.
“Clang.”
But at this moment, the sound of swords rang out. The scene of the green hills and lakes changed into one of a bleak autumn scene, complete with a hidden killing intent!
