Chapter 212 A Film That Flopped in Reviews
Chapter 212
Generally speaking, it takes time for a movie's reputation to collapse or spread, unless it's a movie that's so bad that there are too many things to complain about, in which case the audience won't be so eager to express their dissatisfaction.
In Lin Yuan's memory, the last movie that was so bad that audiences couldn't stand it was "The Immortal", but that was a long time ago.
"The Immortal" was Xie Yu's first big-budget film production. Perhaps his expectations were too high, as the female lead's scenes were heavily altered, which dissatisfied book fans and led to the collapse of "The Immortal".
Objectively speaking, Xie Yu's appeal is still not comparable to that of true A-list celebrities.
In other words, "The Immortal" can only cast a male lead like Xie Yu.
Looking at the lineup of "Tianya Haizhan", no one would have thought it could be this bad.
Even though Lin Yuan and his group knew that Liu Yande had lost a lot of money in the stock market, the cost and cast of "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" were what they were. What Lin Yuan thought was bad was just that the quality was slightly worse and it was not as good as a real high-quality special effects movie.
But unexpectedly, the bolder the man, the greater the harvest—the special effects of "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" were simply unbearable to watch.
According to some netizens, those online movies that couldn't be shown in theaters and ended up on streaming platforms might have spent more money on special effects than "The Battle of Tianya".
The movie claims to have been filmed on location, but given the terrible special effects, netizens naturally wonder where the hundreds of millions of yuan invested in "The Battle of Tianya" went.
Perhaps in real life.
Then—netizens discovered that some scenes in "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" are more similar to a tourism promotional video for a certain place.
Local governments want to increase their visibility and develop tourism through "Tianya Naval Battle," so they are unlikely to charge money for it.
"...Are you crazy? After 'The Storm,' I thought the golden age of special effects blockbusters had arrived, and this is what they show me?"
"This is outrageous... Could the special effects be any more outrageous?"
"It's the 21st century, how can I still see special effects from the first Star Wars movie? Wasn't it supposed to be a Hollywood team?"
"Upstairs, who said the first Star Wars movie wasn't a good Hollywood production? It was definitely a good Hollywood team."
"grass."
Since Lin Yuan had plenty of free time, he went to the cinema to watch "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth". Lin Yuan stayed for a full fifty minutes before finally unable to resist leaving the cinema.
Viewers felt that "The Battle of the Sea" had special effects similar to those in "Star Wars X," but Lin Yuan thought that was not objective. Undoubtedly, the special effects in this movie were products of the 21st century, only they were from an earlier era. The movie is about a naval battle and has fantasy elements, which reminded Lin Yuan of the first time he watched "Journey to the West."
The special effects were mediocre, but the main problem was that the plot of this movie was very fragmented, giving him a feeling that it didn't connect well.
The camera kept switching between shots, trying to both focus on the main character Liu Yande and give the popular young actors a sense of presence, which made the sense of disconnect even stronger in the eyes of the audience.
Perhaps the director really wanted to film a good ensemble piece, but had too many concerns, and ultimately no one was satisfied. But Lin Yuan felt that it was possible to cater to fewer people.
The more important the elements, the more cluttered it appears.
In Lin Yuan's view, special effects are a technical matter; if the quality is not good enough, it can be improved gradually. But a terrible plot cannot be salvaged.
"Double Blade" and "Sea Battle at the End of the World" are competitors. From Lin Yuan's perspective, he should be happy that his rival is in trouble.
But Lin Yuan was not happy at all.
After "The Storm", audiences have great confidence in domestic special effects blockbusters. The environment faced by the production team is much better than before the release of "The Storm". At least there are new films being released, and audiences are not pessimistic. On the contrary, they are full of expectations.
Even if they can't produce masterpieces like "Storm", they can still create works that are above average by inviting excellent teams and integrating resources.
With Liu Yande's endorsement, "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" has high expectations from the audience.
"The Storm" is a science fiction film, while the fantasy genre has a strong Eastern flavor and could have been filmed much better.
However, "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" disappointed many viewers.
In terms of cast and crew, "Tianya Haizhan" was several times stronger than "Shangxian" at that time, so "Tianya Haizhan" was a much worse work than "Shangxian".
Audiences may not have high expectations for Xie Yu, but they have high expectations for Liu Yande, believing that an actor like him will definitely deliver a film that lives up to the public's expectations.
"How could it be so bad? I only went there because of Liu Yande."
"The whole thing is incomprehensible. Even a simple, linear story would be better than this rambling nonsense."
"They're constantly fighting this and that, interspersed with flashbacks, rewinds, and the protagonist's love story, but the fighting itself isn't very engaging. What are they even doing?"
"The director also interspersed his own artistic touches; why is the protagonist staring at a dog on the roadside and laughing?"
"Maybe it's to leave himself an out - don't netizens love to reminisce about the past? With memories added, even the worst movie can have a filter."
"Probably in another ten years, someone will analyze that 'The Battle of the Ends of the Earth' is an underrated masterpiece, and the protagonist, when looking at the dog, thinks of his own life, which is worse than that of a pig or a dog."
"...You know what, they're actually capable of doing it."
The most criticized aspect of "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" is its special effects.
While some of the criticisms from netizens are certainly exaggerated, the most unsatisfactory aspect of the special effects in "Tianya Haizhan" is that they look outdated.
Audiences want to see fresher special effects works, preferably real-life scenes, but modeling is also acceptable, and a little less is not entirely unacceptable. However, "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" gave people a strong sense of being outdated from the very first minute of its release.
Then there's the plot. The film's plot is disjointed, with a large cast of characters and multiple storylines running in parallel. Unfortunately, the director didn't manage it well, and besides being chaotic, it doesn't leave any other impression on the audience.
Next is the actors' acting skills.
Liu Yande's perfunctory attitude was obvious to the naked eye.
"So, it's better not to speculate in stocks," Lin Yuan sighed. "In the mystery novels I read before, the warden got into debt from stock speculation and then killed two people."
“In the anime ‘Naoki X,’ the bank president owes 500 million yen due to stock speculation,” He Mian added.
The two looked at each other and saw regret in each other's eyes.
With "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" being so bad, I'm afraid Liu Yande's future works will be affected.
But in order to pay off his debts, he will probably have to take on those terrible projects again, and from now on, the vicious cycle will continue.
Although this has nothing to do with Lin Yuan and He Mian, Liu Yande is actually an actor that the two respect quite a bit in the film industry.
If the other party continues to cherish their reputation, it could become a celebrated story in the entertainment industry.
Unfortunately, the other party did not choose to do so.
...
The decline in word-of-mouth means that the box office of "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" will definitely drop.
But no one expected that the drop in the price of "Tianya Haizhan" would be so severe.
On its opening day, "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" grossed 412.66 million yuan at the box office.
The next day, the number became 62.66 million.
It can't even be called a halving; it's more like a reduction of 85%.
Of these 62.66 million, the influence of fans of several popular young male celebrities is likely also included.
"Holy crap... that's a really sharp drop."
Is "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" really that bad?
"To be honest... I think 10 yuan a ticket is too expensive, 5 yuan is so-so, but when I think about the time I wasted, I feel that the production crew is very malicious."
"If you have enough money, you can buy a ticket, but I don't recommend going to the cinema."
Netizens: "..."
Originally, only viewers who followed the summer movie season knew that "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" was of mediocre quality, and there weren't many criticisms of the film on trending topics, as the production team had suppressed them.
However, while the production team could suppress trending topics, they couldn't suppress the box office figures for "The Battle of Tianya".
This is blatantly obvious.
If the movie hadn't been this bad, the box office wouldn't have plummeted so drastically.
In an instant, "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" dropped from first to third place on the box office charts.
"Double Edge" became the number one book on the list.
"This scene feels so familiar..."
"+1, it seems like this has happened somewhere before."
"My god, I'm now absolutely certain that Lin Yuan has that box office magic, making every film he makes a hit."
In fact, on its second day of release, "Double Edge" did not exactly explode at the box office; it was just steady.
Fans who went to see the movie early gave it positive reviews, as did non-fans.
Although fans make up the majority of his audience, Lin Yuan has also garnered a lot of positive reviews through the films "Storm" and "Detective Magic Eye".
He Mian is the lead actor in "Double Blade", but most viewers don't care who is the lead actor, especially since Lin Yuan and He Mian didn't even compete for the lead role.
"Double Edge" first gained positive word-of-mouth among a small group of viewers.
When asked which movie was worth watching this week, no one recommended "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth," and the first one recommended was naturally "Double Edge."
Shen Yuan's footage slowly appeared on the trending topics list.
Then there's the interaction between Shen Yuan and Ye Li.
The scenes captured by viewers of "The Battle of the Ends of the Earth" were all humorous, while the scenes captured of "Double Blade" were the indifference of Shen Yuan in the rain and his despair after Ye Li was killed.
There is also the bond between two characters, a life bound by constraints, and a bleak fate.
Audiences' impressions of the film "Double Edge" are primarily focused on He Mian's outstanding acting skills.
Next up are the characters Shen Yuan and Ye Li.
At the very least, these two characters are impressive, which is already half the battle won for a film.
In the cinema, "Double Edge" brought tears to the eyes of many viewers, and these viewers were bound to share their thoughts on social media.
"After feeling despair, Shen Yuan decided to stop being human, but the human side of him was still in Ye Li, and then he destroyed it with his own hands."
"I cried uncontrollably in the movie theater. This is the tragic fate of Shen Yuan and Ye Li. But I also felt that at the moment Shen Yuan killed Ye Li, he was certain that Ye Li loved him very much."
"+1. I even think that, given Ye Li's personality, he couldn't have done the same cruel revenge as Shen Yuan. If he had lived, he would have definitely stopped Shen Yuan, so he chose to die—how could Ye Li not feel hatred in his heart after having such a fate? So he pushed Shen Yuan and let him fulfill the wishes of both of them."
"Ahhh, I feel the same way! Many people think that Ye Li sacrificed himself to protect Shen Yuan and prevent him from being exposed, but I think Ye Li was forcing Shen Yuan in this way. He was helping Shen Yuan break free from his cocoon."
"Crazy +10086".
Viewers of "Double Edge" can't help but discuss the characters Ye Li and Shen Yuan, getting more and more excited as they talk about it—the movie "Double Edge" has both heart-wrenching and heartwarming moments.
The elements of heartbreak and the elements of romantic appeal are interdependent, making it even more appealing to the audience.
Most importantly, the richness of the plot creates these hooks, and several classic scenes tightly bind Shen Yuan and Ye Li's lives together.
The group photo that Sangzi posted online further boosted the popularity of "Double Edge"—
"??? Lin Yuan and He Mian???"
"Did you go see 'Double Edge' together? He's so handsome in person!!! What incredible luck, blogger! How come you always run into the actors at the movies!!!"
Rumors about He Mian using Lin Yuan to win awards are still spreading online, with some marketing accounts even claiming that Lin Yuan and He Mian have fallen out and that their respective agencies are trying to deal with each other.
Turning around, the two of them went to see a movie privately.
"Actually, they were elbowing each other when no one could see them."
"The smiles were all fake. As soon as the photo was over, the two of them started spitting at each other."
"Don't hate too much."
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Author's Note: It's here!!! [Sprinkling flowers]
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