The screening allocation represented the screening ratio in a cinema. With only five percent of the screening allocation, a cinema would only be able to show it twice in a day, and the time slots would be the worst possible ones.
All that was taking into account the influence of Y and Muhammad Ali’s taking part in the production. From that, one could see just how much Huo Yuanjia was being ostracized.
“Under normal circumstances, other movies would only be given such low allocations if there are too many big-name movies being screened,” Li Tai said defiantly. With such allocations, even if the movie is good, the box office sales will definitely be bad.
“If the movie’s quality is good, the allocation will surely increase,” Ye Lingchen replied. At that moment, he could only comfort himself.
He felt that if the movie was good enough, the box office sales would be guaranteed, yet he did not consider this matter. Huo Yuanjia is obviously being ostracized.
“Therein lies the problem,” Li Tai said with a voice filled with exhaustion and helplessness, “after the movie is screened, the reviews we received are mostly horrible.”
“Horrible reviews?” A gleam flashed through Ye Lingchen’s eyes. “Someone’s hiring spammers to flood us with bad reviews?”
“That’s right!” Li Tai smiled bitterly. “Our screen allocation is already low to start with. With the flood of bad reviews, we might even get taken off the screen. Right now our rating at all major cinemas are down to 7.2.”
The allocation was already low to start with. Add to that the bad reviews, Huo Yuanjia would be taken off-screen soon.
“Try to hold the fort there with our funds. We can’t let the bad reviews continue piling up like that. As for the rest, I’ll figure out a way.” Ye Lingchen took a deep breath. Needless to say, this must be Wu Han’s handiwork.
Ending the call, Ye Lingchen frowned. His carelessness had caused the movie to fall into such a state after screening.
Opening Taobao’s TPP[1], Huo Yuanjia was indeed the one with the lowest rating.
When he checked Huo Yuanjia’s reviews, it was pretty much all one star.
[Sh*t movie. I left before 10 minutes was up!]
[I fell asleep watching it. What the heck was it filming?!]
[How dare you look down on our Hanhan. Trash! A bad review for you!]
[Please avoid this movie and go support Hanhan’s I am Hero!]
[Worst movie of all times!]
[This movie is quite good. Why are there so many bad reviews?]
[Those leaving bad reviews are probably spammers. This movie is lit. I strongly recommend it!]
Although there were some good reviews, they were quickly drowned out in the sea of bad reviews.
Meanwhile, I am Hero, which was screened at the same time, had a review score of 9.2.
[Ahhh, Hanhan is so handsome. Take my 10 points!]
[Just for our Hanhan alone, I’m giving you a full score!]
[It’s so good. I’m watching Hanhan throughout the entire movie.]
[Motherf*cker, what the h*ll is this? Zero special effects and the action scenes are just comical. Why is this scored high? Must be spammers!]
The occasional bad reviews were immediately met with explosive outrage.
Ye Lingchen shook his head, feeling helpless. The die-hard fans were really scary. They were beyond reason. No wonder they said it was the era of little fresh meats. Under such pressure, anyone would have to make way for them!
Keeping his phone, Ye Lingchen then walked out of Hill Spring Residences. There was already a Lincoln limousine waiting for him there. The Lu father and son duo were eagerly awaiting his arrival.
Once they saw Ye Lingchen, they immediately came over and greeted him, “Grandmaster Ye, welcome.”
Ye Lingchen nodded casually, then entered the car which already had its door opened for him by someone.
The car drove slowly towards the airport. Lu group had reserved a small commercial plane that was headed towards Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, I am Hero’s studio crew were all celebrating in high spirits.
“Hahaha, Mr. Wu Han is indeed the biggest guarantee of the box office sales. It’s only the first day and our box office sales have reached 50 million! Moreover, the reviews are great. A toast to Mr. Wu Han!” Shi Lei bellowed with a laugh.
“That’s right!” As the director of I am Hero, Wu Yong[2] similarly stood up. “Who was that person again, Y? How can he compare to Mr. Wu Han? We have to thank Mr. Wu Han for participating in this movie. Let’s drink to our hearts’ content!”
“Y? He’s just an attention seeker. Huo Yuanjia is just trash to start with. Plus, I’ve had a word with all the major cinemas. It’s already very gracious for us to allow them any screening allocation at all!”
Wu Han laughed out loud. “Those that offend me will never end well!”
“Mr. Wu Han is right!” Shi Lei immediately ingratiated himself. “You only need to make an announcement on Weibo and millions of your fans would rush over to give bad reviews on Huo Yuanjia. Now that Huo Yuanjia’s reputation is sinking like a rock, it should be taken off the screens very soon!”
“Hehe, this time Li Tai will be suffering great losses. It’s his fault to put his faith in Y to move into the filming industry.” Wu Yong snickered.
“Director Wu, Mr. Wu Han, Master Shi, a toast to all of you. Thank you for providing me the chance to invest in your movie.” The chubby Chen Feng held on to his drinking glass, smiling like a pig.
“I will offer a toast to you all as well,” beside him, Yang Yue interjected with a smile.
“Don’t say that, Director Chen. Your investment helped us greatly too,” Wu Yong replied.
Chen Feng’s face was turning red with excitement. “Remember when I last looked for Li Tai and was kicked out by him? Bloody h*ll! Just because he had directed a few TV series, he thinks he’s that great? Luckily I didn’t get myself involved in that failed project and chose you guys instead!”
That’s right, Director Chen. If we had invested in Huo Yuanjia, we’d probably be crying from all the losses.” Yang Yue’s eyes flashed with a look of mockery. “That foolish Li Jing probably thought he found a coattail to ride on. Hmph! Trash will be trash. How can he ever make a comeback?!”
“It’s still better to follow Mr. Wu Han. We’ll be profiting by the buttload. Hahahaha…” Chen Feng then snorted, “Once Li Tai had lost everything, I must go rub it in his face!”
…
That afternoon, Ye Lingchen had already boarded the plane and headed towards Las Vegas.
Since they reserved the entire plane, the cabin was very spacious. It was well stocked with all sorts of drinks, and the seats were lined with real leather. He could stretch his limbs as he liked on it, and even had an air stewardess ready to serve him at all times.
“Grandmaster Ye, this plane is also equipped with a swimming pool and cinema. Just let us know if you need any entertainment,” Lu Hao eagerly informed Ye Lingchen, trying to butter him up.
Ye Lingchen answered with a soft groan, then lay flat on the sofa to take a nap.
Along the way, the flight was steady. By the time they arrived in Las Vegas, it was already late in the evening. Looking down from the plane, he could see the boundless ocean. Atop it were lights from the fishing boats, dotting the ocean like the stars in the sky, twinkling in the distance.
As for land nearby, it was filled with colorful lights that gave off a drunken gold hue…
—
[1] 淘票票 (Tao Piao Piao / TPP) – a function in Taobao’s app for ticket purchase. The name of the app is a play on the doubled word of 票票, which literally means ticket ticket. The doubling of the character is used as a cute way to communicate the term.
[2] 吴用 (Wu Yong) has the same pronunciation as 无用 (Wu Yong) which means “useless”. With the author’s records, we believe this is part of his trend to give cheeky names to his characters.