Translator: Yunyi Editor: Yunyi
The film fans stared blankly at the screen, unsure what they had just seen in the last twenty seconds. In fact, they had lost interest in the rest of the film because of the trailer they saw.
A large number of the film fans inside the theater tried to confirm what they saw amongst themselves. Some even began to talk to strangers.
“Just then, that was…”
“I’m trying to figure that out too. Was I seeing things?!”
“I recorded the last few seconds; the part where the name of the film appeared. You guys saw correctly, it was ‘The Ant Queen’.”
Hence, for the first time ever, the audience asked the theater staff to replay the trailer of ‘The Ant Queen’!
And, for the staff, it was the first time that they saw the audience get so excited over a trailer.
But, their request was too much…
Since they couldn’t get what they wanted, the film fans quickly ran out to buy tickets for the next film screening, just so they could watch the trailer again.
As Hai Rui made an agreement with the theater to only screen the trailer of ‘The Ant Queen’ there, the film fans had no other way of seeing it. Even if they had the ability to film it on their phones, as soon as they posted it online, it was immediately removed. This helped the film maintain a sense of mystery.
But, even though it was exclusive to the theaters, the number of viewers were already shocking.
Plenty of film fans got what they wanted and watched the trailer for a second time. This time, because they paid extra attention to it, they spent the twenty seconds watching in seriousness, afraid that they’d miss out on the finest detail. Finally, everyone confirmed that the male lead was Mo Ting, the director was Qiao Sen and An Zihao – and the producer was Tangning!
“This film is of a high quality with good effects. This looks nothing like the recently leaked videos.”
“Woah, that’s amazing! As soon as the ant appeared, I nearly jumped out of my seat in shock!”
“If this is the actual completed film, then the recently leaked videos must have been fake.”
“Obviously. A sci-fi film is different to other films, it can’t possibly improve this much in just a few days. Someone must have been trying to slander Tangning and this is her actual film.”
“It’s over, just watching twenty seconds and I’m all hyped up. I must say that Hai Rui is great at business. They are only showing the trailer in the theaters and limiting it to showing once per film.” This particular post from a netizen also included a photo of all the film stubs he had collected from the day and a caption that read, “All this, just to watch the trailer of ‘The Ant Queen’!”
“Objectively speaking, compared to the videos recently released, the trailer in the theaters definitely contains the essence of Tangning. This is more like the type of story that Tangning would make. As long as filming and acting is involved, she would always put in 100%.”
“So many people were ridiculing her before. Now that the real trailer has been released, let’s see what they have to say.”
Actually, a mere twenty seconds trailer wasn’t enough to completely clarify everything.
After all, it wasn’t hard to compile the best parts of a film into twenty seconds.
So, even after the film critics heard about the trailer, they still couldn’t provide a proper review. All they could do was express their disgust in the leaked videos.
Who was so shameless as to create them?
But, due to Tangning, Mo Ting and Hai Rui’s serious approach, film fans also treated the film seriously.
At least, they no longer treated it casually. Even though she was slandered prior to releasing her trailer, Tangning was not flustered by something so trivial. This proved that Tangning wasn’t easily influenced by the outside world; she was a calm and stable person.
The managers at the theaters were probably laughing like crazy. Although the trailer didn’t change anything dramatic, it did help them receive more profits over the weekend…
Soon, news that the trailer for ‘The Ant Queen’ had been released began to circulate. This time, Tangning could no longer conceal how cool she was…
“The statistics for the trailer release are in my hands. Whether it’s the level of hype, interest or others, this is currently the hottest topic. Tangning, ‘The Ant Queen’ is definitely going to be a big hit!”
As soon as Long Jie received first hand information regarding ‘The Ant Queen’, she immediately waved it in front of Tangning, but Tangning was not excited by it at all.
“Come have a look at something,” Tangning stood up from her laptop and placed Long Jie in her seat.
“What is it?”
“I’ve watched it many times and studied every single frame. And, finally, I discovered this,” Tangning pulled the video progress bar to a specific time and paused the video. She then zoomed in to the bottom of the video and pointed out a slightly visible logo to Long Jie.
“But, what does this mean?” Long Jie asked.
“What do you think I discovered when I researched into this?” Tangning opened another website; one where Han Xiuche’s manhuas could be viewed. She then opened the last frame of each of his manhuas and compared it to the paused frame of the video.
“Do you understand now?”
As soon as Long Jie saw it, she was both shocked and angered, “Tell that jerk to come out and kneel! He actually dared to do something like this?”
“I should have noticed this before. Have you forgotten? He has always had a thing for sci-fi, so it’s not surprising that he’d be able to create a video like this,” Tangning sighed before she closed her laptop.
“Why did you close it! Your should take a screenshot of it and slap him in the face with it…”
“Just this isn’t enough to give a face slap. After all, anyone can make a video like that, so he’s bound to deny it. Don’t forget how he denied the other embarrassing things he’s done,” Tangning replied.
“What should we do then?”
“Since we know he’s the one that’s been playing tricks behind-the-scenes, then it’s easy to handle. It’s better than not knowing anything. The important thing now, is to figure out how he knew we’d be releasing our promotional trailer and whether it had something to do with someone in my fan club. I think figuring this out would help us be more cautious in the future.”
“Right now, he’s in the open and we’re in the shadows, so we hold the advantage!”
“That’s true,” Long Jie nodded. “I can’t believe he’s still trying to hurt you. How much must he hate you to be so persistent.”
“Go investigate the fan club in private and take note of his next move.”
“Don’t worry, I’m the best at digging out rats!” Tangning made an OK gesture.
This Han Xiuche was honestly a piece of rubbish that didn’t know who he was up against!
