Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“This is impossible! Impossible!” James stared at the data on his laptop screen and furiously pounded the table. “How are their box office earnings so high! How is this possible! Heavenly State is definitely falsifying it! It’s falsified! I object! I object!”
The atmosphere at the round table conference now was completely different from that gleeful and elated atmosphere previously. Everyone present lowered their heads and kept quiet.
This time, they only felt that their faces were literally smacked until they were swollen.
For the sake of screening the movies at the same time, they took the initiative to spend 10 million USD to carry out public relations. Back then, they thought that it was a great idea. After all, it was too easy to invest this 10 million USD. Alas, they did not expect that the other party had totally set a huge trap for them to fall into, and they even jumped into it without hesitation while criticizing the other party for being a fool.
In the end, they realized that they were the fools…
“So what if we object?” Just then, someone seated at the north seat helplessly said, “James, did you see the scene in their ticket sales hall? The audiences queued from the ticket sales booth all the way to the entrance, making a turn, and back to the ticket sales booth, and another turn towards the entrance again… This definitely cannot be falsified. Moreover, quite a number of our citizens went in to watch. The results were…”
“What were the results?! What were they?!” James roared. “Are our movies worse than theirs? They’ve removed the screenings of our movies, removed them!”
“It can’t be helped.” That person slowly said, “After the citizens of our nation had watched it, the results obtained was that, compared to ‘Pugilistic World,’ the only thing worth commending about our movies is just that moment of explosion…” Upon finishing what he had said, he helplessly added, “And this was because of the different themes of the movies…”
“How is this possible! How is this possible!” James exclaimed loudly as if he’d gone insane. “How can Heavenly State’s movie industry improve to such a standard overnight? They had previously been learning technology from us! Learning how to film movies! And now you’re telling me that the only thing that’s worth commending from our movies is the explosion?! Comparing an explosion with a Wuxia film?! What difference is that from comparing hairstyles with a beggar?!”
“Dear James.” Just then, another person shook his head and said, “We’re not plutocrats, and the Heavenly State film industry is not a beggar too. I think you need to calm down. You’re too angry, to the point you can’t really think straight now.”
“Calm down? How can I calm down?!” James turned the computer screen to face the other seven people. “Look, what things look outside now?! What has it become?! Our Hollywood has already been surrounded by the citizens! They’re protesting! They’re having a demonstration! Demonstration, you understand?!”
“Have those people gone crazy?!”
A few leaders came forward, and the scene within the laptop made them all stunned.
In the scene, countless Merikan citizens raised their placards high in the air as they carried out protests and demonstrations on the streets! On those placards wrote “DOWN WITH MOVIE MONOPOLY””WE WANT TO WATCH ‘PUGILISTIC WORLD’””OBJECT AGAINST HOLLYWOOD BECOMING AN AREA WHERE ONE PERSON’S WORDS GOES” and other similar slogans. What they meant was very obvious—you people are not magnanimous, you’re scared of the movie fighting for the box office earnings with you, so you intentionally stopped us from watching good movies! You’re cowards!
“How did things become like this!” A person was stunned. “What’s the problem with these people?!”
“What else could be the reason?” James huffed and puffed as he almost became crazy like a male cow seeing blood. “People from our nation watched ‘Pugilistic World’ in the Heavenly State cinemas and posted their comments and reviews on our nation’s forum. Afterward, someone went to watch the trailer as well, and then it spread from one person to another, that’s the case!”
“But that isn’t enough for them to start a protest and demonstration, right?” Another person curiously asked. “We’ve all along had our local movies protection regulations, they shouldn’t be so agitated!”
“It’s all because of that 10 million! That 10 million!” James started roaring again. “I don’t know who spread the news that we’d taken out 10 million to attack the box office of ‘Pugilistic World’! Originally that was nothing much, but now that this group of people has found out, they think we’re a bunch of fools! A bunch of conceited fools! They think we’re cowards, thinking that we had the guts to attack the box office at Heavenly State but don’t have the guts to let ‘Pugilistic World’ screen at the same time with other movies over here. They think we only look good but are actually ineffectual. We brag about how good we are, but at the critical moment we don’t dare to accept the challenge squarely!”
Upon hearing James’ words, everyone had completely gone silent this time.
It wasn’t a big issue to attack the box office at Heavenly State. After all, there had all along been competition in the movie industry, and what they were competing for was the box office. More often than not, competitive people would choose to screen their movies on the same day as the others to compete for the box office results. That was very normal.
However, this time, they really should not have, should not have attacked the box office only in Heavenly State, but didn’t screen it locally.
This was like waging a challenge against others, and after it was done, you instead say that you have an 80-year-old mother and a 2-year-old baby at home and didn’t allow others to fight with you. To put it simply, that wasn’t the way to admit that you were cowardly.
Thus, it was understandable that those people had gotten so agitated. You’d gone to challenge the other party, but shortly later, you don’t even dare to respond to the challenge at your own nation. Wasn’t that being a coward?
Especially since Merika was a nation that had always made fairness and democracy its slogan. Such doings would naturally anger the citizens.
If the Holographic Projection Technology during the previous online gaming fest was only a little smack in the face, then, this time, Hong Dali who never contradicted himself had launched his second round of a little smack in the face. James and the others had already felt that they really couldn’t hold on much longer.
Currently, it was a problem as to whether to allow “Pugilistic World” to be screened locally.
If their box offices continued to be crushed after ‘Pugilistic World’ had been screened… Then they would completely lose face.
This time, they truly understood the feeling of having a tiger behind and a wolf in front. No matter what they choose, it would be difficult and dangerous.
“What… What the heck! What the heck!” James angrily threw the laptop. “What the heck, the damn freedom!”
Equality, freedom, James now only wanted to eat those few words into his stomach.
…
”The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World,” third day of screening in Heavenly State.
Merika, a nation that called for equality and freedom, finally could not resist the pressure from its citizens and opened their doors.
At 10:00 AM, “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World” screened in all cinemas in the nation.
Just then, Hong Dali, who never humiliated himself, who had always been hiding in the dark, finally revealed his fangs!
Debut screening at 10:00 AM, there was an average of 56% of the seats filled in all cinemas, and screening alone swept 6.8 million USD of box office sales.
And this was only the beginning!
12:00 PM, there was an average of 78% of seats filled in all cinemas in Merika, and it once again swept away 9.2 million USD of box office sales!
Word of the movie spread and all the topics that people discussed were regarding the storylines and martial arts movements in “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World.” There was an overwhelming number of reports regarding “Pugilistic World,” and with a momentum of a tornado, it swept and destroyed the entire Merika’s film industry.
At the 3:00 PM screening, the percentage of seats filled up had reached 85%, and it was now over 10 million box office sales.
After everyone had gone out of the cinema with satisfied looks, they were extremely excited towards the interviews by the reporters—
“Oh god, Heavenly State’s kungfu, kungfu, it’s just too awesome! Kungfu, do you understand? That’s all real kungfu!” A male film lover gestured the martial arts movements in the movie as he spoke. “Just with this one move, that tree that was as thick as an arm broke! Oh my god, that’s definitely true kungfu, there was even a close up on the broken tree, it’s definitely different from the usual special effects!”
“Zixiao Mu is just too handsome and too cool. I plan to fly to Heavenly State to find him tomorrow. I want to bear a baby for him!” A female film lover was so agitated that she couldn’t stop screaming. “He’s just too handsome!”
“The storyline of the entire film can be summarized as being full of twists and turns and really complicated! Compared to this film, the previous ‘Air-Raid of the Trump Cards’ and ‘Moment of Screaming’ are really stuff written by little kids.” Another more professional person said, “Oh, please forgive my rather inappropriate use of words, but once I thought of how those bunch of idiots at Hollywood had actually used these films to challenge ‘Pugilistic World’—alright, I’m more emotional now, please allow me to say a last word to those people. F*ck!” Afterward, he pointed his middle finger!
After three rounds of screening, it had already swept away over 25 million USD of box office sales. This matter had fully alerted the authorities of Merika.
In order to protect local films and avoid overly severe losses of movie companies, the authorities of Merika ignored the protests of the citizens and eventually made a last-minute decision to only open the midnight 10:00 PM slot for screening, and afterward, it would handle the removal of “Pugilistic World” from the cinema screenings.
The public’s exclamations of protest became higher and higher, but after all, one would not be able to fight against the entire nation. Thus, eventually, after the protest was ineffective, members of the public did their best—during the night slot at 10:00 PM, the occupancy of the movie throughout all the cinemas in the nation reached a historical 120%!
Countless people squeezed at the corridors to see that mystical sculpture, that mystical Big Turtle that was akin to a legend, that legendary kungfu that could really break a small tree with just one palm, as well as that eccentric and unexpected, yet logical storyline!
Actually, initially, this movie might not have achieved such results. However, the authorities in Merika just had to remove it after that night. Thus, even audiences that didn’t really fancy watching movies couldn’t sit still after they heard this news—if they didn’t watch it now, they wouldn’t have a chance to watch it anymore, so they’d rather spend some money to enjoy the visual satisfaction!
Thus, “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World” had only screened for one day in Merika and already created a legendary box office sales of close to 40 million USD. It ended that way, and became a legend in the movie history!
At least within tens of years, there would definitely not be any movie able to break this record.
Hong Dali, who never humiliated himself, had to make it earth-shattering once he slapped the faces and humiliated others!
And just then, unexpectedly, the miracle of “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World” was still continuing, and it was insanely spreading to an extent which completely exceeded everyone’s expectations!
