Many people had long anticipated the success of "let the bullets fly."
However, the achievements of Deng Yue's "the breakup guru" were truly surprising.
One must know, its screening rate was only half that of Ma Da's film "high customization"!
Yet, the box office of the two films was so close, everyone knew what this meant, as clear as a mirror.
It's likely that in the coming days, Ma Da's film will be surpassed by Deng Yue's film, which is not good news for Ma Da.
The first-day rating of "high customization" was only 7.1 points, and there were widespread complaints online, with everyone saying that Ma Da, this great director, was just rehashing old ideas and that the film was merely a money-grab.
So many negative voices, if it were during a period when bad films were abundant, it wouldn't matter much, as everyone was bad anyway, and audiences had no other choice.
But now, with a high-quality good film for comparison, the effect is truly terrifying.
Ma Da felt that after three days, his screening rate would be greatly reduced, and then he might truly be defeated by "the breakup guru," which he looked down upon.
As it turned out, the results came out the very next day, without even waiting for three days of screening!
The box office for "let the bullets fly" on the second day was like it had been injected with a stimulant, soaring all the way, directly ending its second day's "crazy journey" with the astounding figure of 189 million.
Good heavens, in just two days, the box office was over 300 million, the film's cost had long been recouped, it was as easy as clearing a game!
Looking at the 1.5 billion box office target set by Su Yu and Zhang Guoshi earlier, given this situation, isn't it a sure thing?
Based on this box office trend, the Spring Festival holiday hasn't even ended, and the goal might already be achieved, it's as fast as riding a rocket!
The cinema chain people are not fools; they can tell at a glance which movie is a big seller, and they will definitely ramp up screenings for "let the bullets fly" like mad, just like hitting the accelerator on a beloved car.
Deng Yue's "the breakup guru" was also impressive, with its box office rising against the trend, raking in a super high box office of 72 million, firmly securing the second place on the second day's box office chart.
This isn't because its box office isn't strong, but because the screening rate held it back; to achieve this box office with such a screening rate is simply amazing!
In the next round of screening adjustments, this film's single-day box office might directly break 100 million chinese yuan, which would be truly astonishing.
In contrast, Ma Da's "high customization" seemed to be truly "cursed" by the negative reviews from film critics and netizens, with its rating sliding down to 6.7 points, and its single-day box office also dropping to 65 million.
This made Ma Da feel as if the sky had fallen, his heart was utterly cold.
On the third day of the Lunar New Year, the major cinema chains decisively adjusted the screening rates for the Spring Festival films, without waiting for three days at all.
The screening rates for "let the bullets fly" and "the breakup guru" surged, with "let the bullets fly" directly taking about 45% of the screening slots, like an overbearing CEO grabbing territory;
"the breakup guru" also increased from its original 8% to 16%, a truly impressive rate of progress.
The box office performance on this day was also very strong, with "let the bullets fly" continuing its strong run on the third day, breaking the 200 million mark before midnight, and finally settling at a single-day box office of 207 million chinese yuan, simply invincible.
"the breakup guru" also ushered in its highlight moment, directly achieving an unexpected box office of 118 million on the third day, which finally allowed Deng Yue to breathe a sigh of relief.
Watching his first self-directed and self-acted film firmly secure the second spot in the Spring Festival, Deng Yue was filled with emotion.
His film was actually quite decent, with humor, emotional moments, and even a slight touch of depth.
However, for him as a new director, this was already an excellent start.
Deng Yue shuddered at the thought, realizing that the positive reviews from film critics and netizens were mostly due to the few places Su Yu helped him modify.
If he had shot it according to the original script, who knew if he could have beaten Ma Da's "high customization" and reached its current height.
Therefore, Deng Yue quickly curbed his impulse to immediately shoot a second film; he needed his studio to meticulously refine the script, preferably with Su Yu's help in overseeing it again, before considering starting production.
At first, he thought being a director was easy, but once he actually started, he realized it was not the case at all; the pressure was like carrying a huge mountain.
Unless he didn't want a share of the box office and only earned director's fees and acting fees, he would truly have to be on pins and needles.
He wasn't like Huang Da'an, who had a large family business and could make up for investment losses from other sources.
While Deng Yue was feeling great, Ma Da was utterly miserable, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
The major cinema chains showed no mercy to this great director this time; his film's screening rate was directly cut to about 6%, which led to a huge drop in box office on the third day, only 32 million, making Ma Da almost spit blood in anger.
However, a box office of over 30 million was still acceptable; at least before the film finished its run, the total box office was expected to exceed 400 million, allowing for a small profit, unlike his previous film "1942" which lost everything, for which he was already thankful.
...
Time flew by quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the evening of the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.
This day marked both the one-week anniversary of several Spring Festival films and the finale of "the heaven sword and dragon saber."
This 40-episode ancient martial arts drama had been a hit since its premiere, with viewership ratings on Beijing and Shanghai Satellite TV never dropping below 3.
During the episodes where the six major sects besieged Bright Peak, the viewership ratings even directly surpassed 5.
Tonight, for the last two episodes of the finale, the average viewership ratings on both satellite TVs exceeded 6; with this first major drama of 2014 being so popular, how could subsequent dramas possibly catch up?
Could it be that Tianxing Entertainment's own production, "demi-gods and semi-devils," would break this viewership myth? That would be truly interesting.
Ever since Tianxing Entertainment started producing martial arts TV dramas, it felt like they were performing alone on their own stage, with other companies finding it incredibly difficult to keep up; this gap was simply insurmountable.
As soon as the seventh day ended, the Spring Festival holiday was over, which would certainly affect the box office of several films.
However, this week, "let the bullets fly" and "the breakup guru" both performed exceptionally well, achieving unexpected box office results.
After 7 days of screening, "let the bullets fly" raked in 1.378 billion in box office, very close to its 1.5 billion target.
"the breakup guru" also completed its mission, earning 503 million in box office.
Ma Da's "high customization" only had a total box office of 300 million after 7 days.
It's worth mentioning that during the Spring Festival, an animated film, "Boonie Bears: The Big Top Secret" (the second part), earned 350 million in domestic box office in 7 days, surpassing Ma Da's film on the sixth day and becoming the third-highest-grossing film of the Spring Festival.
This animated film was for children; although its visual effects were not as exciting and shocking as "monkey king: hero is back," it was still a carefully crafted production, at least it didn't force-feed "excrement" to the audience and then ask why they wouldn't eat it, unlike some other films.
While the box office for "let the bullets fly" continued to soar, it was strange that its online discussion popularity wasn't high, not even surpassing the number of people criticizing Ma Da for making bad money.
Su Yu and Zhang Guoshi both understood what was going on; the film had been dug into too deeply by film critics and netizens, and many contents could not be written out, so traffic restriction became the most gentle way of handling it.
At least the cinema chains didn't reduce screenings, and the film didn't go offline early, which Zhang Guoshi was quite satisfied with, as he had enjoyed making this film immensely.
Thus, on the tenth day, at the celebration party for the film's box office breaking 1.5 billion, Zhang Guoshi, with a beaming smile, approached Su Yu.