Chapter 600: Fortune at its peak

Mango TV is undoubtedly the biggest winner of this year's New Year's Eve Gala.

That night, the national network ratings were 3.14, with an audience share of 12.25%, ranking first in the country in the same time period.

Live broadcast across the entire network: Mango TV, iQiyi, Tencent Video, and Youku Video, with over 100 million views across the entire network in 12 hours.

#MangoTV New Year's Eve Concert# ranked first on both Weibo topic lists.

Whether in terms of TV ratings or online popularity, Mango Channel far surpasses the second-ranked CCTV-1 and the third-ranked Blueberry Channel.

Gu Wei’s performance on stage played an indispensable role in achieving such results.

According to statistics, after he made his final appearance, both the ratings and online broadcast volume soared. It is conceivable how many viewers chose Mango TV just to wait for Gu Wei to appear.

The New Year’s Eve concert ended, and on the next day, New Year’s Day, [The Wind Rises] and [Flowers All the Way] quietly landed on major music platforms.

It soon topped the new song chart and hot song chart, and even took the top two spots.

With the popularity of these two new songs, the listening volume of some of Gu Wei's old songs has also increased.

The happiest people on New Year's Day this year are Gu Wei's fans. They have been waiting for a long time for their idol to release two new songs at once, which is more than in previous Spring Festival Galas.

This situation also dispelled their resentment about Gu Wei not appearing on the Spring Festival Gala this year.

".I hope that the wishes I made will blossom and bring happiness to those who are trapped in the rain under the eaves."

After a roadshow in Shenzhen ended, Nini hummed the song "Flowers All the Way" and got on the car back.

“I really want to know how you can always write such beautiful songs.

I like both of them very much.”

After finishing his New Year's Eve concert, Gu Wei flew to join the crew of "Ex-Files 3". The movie had just been released for less than a week, which was the best time to go on a roadshow to promote it.

At the meeting just now, which was originally to promote the movie, after Yu Wenwen sang "Dignity", the fans at the scene insisted that Gu Wei sing a new song.

There was no other choice, so Gu Wei met everyone's request on the spot and sang "Flowers Along the Way".

“I am not the composer of the song “The Wind Rises”. I bought the copyright of a Japanese song.

[Flowers Along the Way] is my adaptation of the theme song [Not Letting Down the World] from the puppet show [Jianghu Rescue Team]. Of course, I also bought the adaptation rights from the original author.

It’s okay if you praise my singing, but I really didn’t put much effort into writing these two songs.”

Gu Wei sat opposite Nini and explained to her.

"[Not disappointing the world]?

I haven't heard it, let me look for it." After listening to Gu Wei's words, Ni Ni took out her mobile phone, opened the music software, and searched for the song "Not Letting Down the World".

"The melody is somewhat similar, but it's far less pleasant than [Flowers on the Road]. It lacks that positive, sunny energy and aura. It's a completely different style compared to [Flowers on the Road].

It has something to do with the melody arrangement, but more importantly it’s the lyrics and your singing.”

After listening to Alan's "Not Letting the World Down", Nini analyzed it as a fan.

Gu Wei smiled and said nothing. Of course, [Flowers Along the Way] sounded better, but the popularity of the two songs was quite different.

"Our film [Ex-Files 3] is so popular right now, what do you think the final box office revenue will be?"

After talking about music, Nini became concerned about the movie box office.

"I said that at the previous premiere."

"Do you really think the final box office will exceed 1.5 billion?"

“Why not, that’s still a conservative estimate.

Although "Ex-Files 3" is not as well-received as my previous films, as things stand, this film has already resonated emotionally with a large number of young audiences.

Selling out is not difficult.”

The final box office of a movie is not determined by expert film critics, but by the millions of ordinary moviegoers.

The current domestic film market has a very large audience, as evidenced by the fact that "Wolf Warrior 2" has earned 6 billion yuan at the box office.

So there is no need to please all audiences when making a movie, and ordinary movies cannot do that.

As long as a certain group of moviegoers likes your movie, it is enough to make it a box office hit.

"Ex-Files 3" is obviously this kind of movie.

Many viewers who are particular about the plot and story look down on this romantic film, and older viewers cannot understand some of the emotions in it.

But many young people can be moved.

Promotion is one thing, but it is also very important that the story truly touches the hearts of this wave of young audiences in their 20s.

Although the crew hired a lot of internet trolls to post positive reviews online, more so-called young people from small towns and urban white-collar workers were truly touched by the story of "Ex-Files 3".

Everyone has a few exes, so the tears are not shed in vain.

All I can say is that there are too many people in China. As long as a work can arouse empathy among some people, it will not be difficult to sell well.

As many netizens have said, "Ex-Files 3" can only be regarded as a mediocre work in terms of story and shooting techniques, but it is by no means a bad movie because the movie can allow many young audiences to immerse themselves in it.

On January 1st, the box office of "Ex-Files 3" continued to soar, earning 146 million yuan, breaking 500 million yuan in 4 days, becoming the biggest winner of the New Year's Day period.

On the 2nd working day, the box office declined, but still maintained a good result of over 100 million yuan in a single day, in sharp contrast to "The Legend of the Phoenix", "The Little Match Girl", and "The Legend of the Phoenix".

After the New Year's Day holiday, the box office of other movies except "Ex-Files 3" has fallen to the bottom. The worst one is "The Ring", with a single-day box office of less than 10 million, less than one-tenth of "Ex-Files 3".

I have to say that the reputation of this movie is the worst in the New Year's Day period. Its Douban score almost fell below 4. Neither Happy Twist nor Shen Teng can save it.

At least Junru Wu has a husband who is a big director, and Chen Kexin is also the producer of the film. Even during the promotion, it was the couple of Junru Wu and Chen Kexin + Happy Twist's Chen Teng + Yue Yunpeng and other comedians.

The resulting effect is like the shitty, piss-filled, and fart-filled Hong Kong movies of the 1980s and 1990s.

It's not funny at all, full of nonsense, all kinds of low-level madness and stupidity, and the whole film is full of outdated Internet memes, which makes people feel quite embarrassed to watch it.

#Estimated box office revenue is over 1.8 billion. Why did it become one of the first dark horses in 2018? #

#How many people cried when "Ex-Files 3" broke 1 billion in 8 days? Post-95s contributed a lot to the box office! #

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Before "Ex-Files 3" was released, everyone knew that the box office of this movie would not be too low.

With the foundation laid by the first two films, and with the addition of Gu Wei, known as the "box office king", everyone knows that as long as the plot is not too bad, "Ex-Files 3" will definitely be a big hit.

However, as a romance film with a budget of over 100 million yuan, 500 million yuan is considered a big hit, 800 million yuan is also a big hit, not to mention more than 1 billion yuan.

No one expected that "Ex-Files 3" would become so popular when other movies did not perform well during the New Year's Day period.

Of course, it cannot be compared with "Wolf Warrior 2", "Detective Chinatown 2" and "The Mermaid", but as an urban love movie, "Ex-Files 3"'s daily box office results are breaking various records of domestic love movies.

At this time, Director Tian Yusheng was also a little confused.

Born in 1983, he is just 35 years old this year. As a director, he has very little experience, having only made three films since he started working, namely "Ex-Files" 1, 2, and 3.

He never thought that his third movie would break 1 billion at the box office and enter the 1 billion box office club so easily.

"Director, I can't go on the roadshow with the crew anymore. The next movie is about to start filming."

A week after the release of "Ex-Files 3", Gu Wei came to ask for leave, actually just to say hello to Tian Yusheng.

"No problem, leave the rest of the promotion to me, along with Zheng Kai, Ni Ni, Wen Wen and the others. Gu Wei, you can go without worry.

Actually, our movie is a big hit thanks to you!"

Tian Yusheng is very enthusiastic about Gu Wei, and he knows very well who is responsible for the current box office success of "Ex-Files 3".

Although he had said when this movie was released that "Ex-Files 3" would be the last film in the series, but with such a high box office, he just regarded what he said before as bullshit.

Cheng Long always says that his movie is his last kung fu movie, but he has been filming it all the time.

If the fourth part is to be filmed in the future, the best candidate will definitely be Gu Wei.

"No, it's all thanks to the director for shooting it well and everyone for acting well." Gu Wei said politely, chatted with the director for a few more words, and then prepared to leave the roadshow team.

"Is your movie about to start shooting?" The one who was most reluctant to see Gu Wei leave was definitely Ni Ni.

“It’s just these past few days.”

"When you have free time and come back to Beijing, remember to come see me. I have learned two dishes recently and will cook them for you then." When Ni Ni is not filming, she cooks at home. This is also one of her hobbies.

She would post pictures of the delicious food she made on her Moments from time to time.

"No problem, wait and taste Mr. Meow's delicious food!"

Beijing, Huayi Brothers.

Wang Zhongjun was in a very good mood as he looked at the box office data in his hand.

Looking back now, asking Gu Wei to join "Ex-Files 3" was the most correct move he made.

The movie has only been released for 8 days and the box office has exceeded 1 billion. The final box office results are likely to reach 2 billion+.

Huayi made a lot of money.

Taking the previous film as an example, the box office of "Ex-Files 2" was 250 million yuan. After deducting the cost, the final box office share was about 60 million yuan.

Although Gu Wei gave the other party a 40% investment share after joining, Huayi's profit is several times that of the second part based on the current box office of 1 billion.

This does not include the stock surge caused by the feedback from the hot-selling movies he produced on the stock market, which is the bulk of his wealth growth.

"I never expected that [Ex-Files 3] would become so popular.

I originally thought that no matter how strong Gu Wei's box office appeal was, the ceiling for romance films was relatively low, and a box office of 800 million or 1 billion was already very good.

Who would have thought that in just 8 days, the box office has already exceeded 1 billion, and the momentum is still unabated.

This luck is unmatched."

Wang Zhonglei, who was sitting opposite, couldn't help sighing. He was completely convinced.

Feng Xiaogang's "Youth" has already grossed over 1.3 billion yuan at the box office, but after just over 20 days of release, its potential has been exhausted and it is estimated that it will reach 1.4 billion yuan before it is taken off the screen.

Judging from the current popularity and box office trends of "Ex-Files 3", there will be no problem in catching up with "Youth".

At the beginning of 2018, Huayi Brothers released two movies that sold over 1 billion yuan in a row, which was a great start!

"I've said it before, whether it's due to skill or luck, some people will succeed at something at a certain time.

Huayi also had such a time in the past.

Obviously, Gu Wei is at this stage now."

"I see. It seems we will have to cooperate more with Gu Wei and the [Wei Ming Tian Xia] behind him in the future.

Can we make money together?"

Wang Zhongjun listened to his brother's words and nodded with satisfaction.

Feng Xiaogang, who was also at home in Beijing, was feeling very complicated at this time.

The release of "Youth" has entered the final stage. He has nothing to do now and has been resting at home.

Ever since attending the premiere of "Ex-Files 3", he has been following the box office performance of the film.

He was not surprised that the box office sold well in the first three days of the film's release, because with Gu Wei's fame, his fans alone were enough to support the film.

But the momentum remained unabated in the second week, and it showed signs of becoming even more popular. It has now quickly broken through 1 billion, setting off a wave of movie-watching craze.

To be honest, Director Feng really doesn't understand it.

"Am I really old? Is there a generation gap between me and today's young audiences?"

“Times have changed, it’s normal.

[Youth] is your youth, and [Ex-Files 3] is the youth of today’s young people.”

Xu Fan brought a plate of washed fruit and placed it on the coffee table, then said another word of comfort.

"However, many young people still like your films. A truly good film knows no age limit."

"Unfortunately, I don't have any suitable projects at the moment, otherwise I would really like to work with Gu Wei.

It would be a lie to say I'm not jealous.

None of the movies he has made in the past two years has had a box office of less than 10 billion.

I found that as long as the quality of the film is similar, after he joins, there will be a high return at the box office."

"I heard everyone called him the box office king.

According to the box office performance of the movies Gu Wei has starred in, this title is not an exaggeration."

Xu Fan had only met Gu Wei once, at the premiere of "Ex-Files 3", and the handsome young man left a very good impression on her.

"Gu Wei's personal reputation has been established. Even without his huge fan base, ordinary audiences have a certain degree of trust in him. When they see his new movies released, they can't help but go and see them."

As one of the most famous commercial film directors in mainland China, Feng Xiaogang knows all too well the importance of word of mouth.

"Feng's Comedy" is the trademark he has built up through half his life's efforts.

Feng Xiaogang once said that the audiences did not buy into the good movies he made with his heart on other subjects, but his casually made comedies could sell well. Isn't it because he has the trademark of "Feng-style comedy"?

"[Cell Phone 2] is already in the preparation stage. Once this movie is finished, I'll see if I can come up with a script suitable for Gu Wei."

Feng Xiaogang frowned and thought for a while before saying.

"You don't have to force yourself. You've been making movies all your life and now you have both fame and fortune. There's no need to compete with yourself for the box office. Just make what you like."

Xu Fan advised gently from the side.

Looking back on Feng Xiaogang's life, filmmaking can actually be divided into three stages.

The first stage is to shoot for the market; the second stage is to shoot for society; the third stage is to shoot for yourself.

He made If You Are the One to make money; he made 1942 and Aftershock to prove his identity as a great director; and he made Youth to commemorate his youth.

"Haha, don't worry, I can still take pictures now.

I have always been called a great director of commercial films, but now the films I make are probably not even among the top ten in the domestic box office rankings.

I have to prove that I am not old yet!"

Feng Xiaogang patted Xu Fan's arm with a smile, and his mood was very optimistic.

"It's up to you, but no matter what, just don't tire yourself out."

(End of this chapter)