Chapter 602: The summer blockbuster "Happiness Street Chronicles" is scheduled for release this summer.
The summer movie season is always packed with top-tier productions.
HOLO Video, Tuiqi Video, and Dingbao Video have each released large-scale productions ranging from S-level to SSS-level, covering ancient costume dramas, fantasy dramas, and modern dramas, showing a strong potential to sweep the summer season. Popular young actors and actresses such as Shen Yunfan, Wei Yize, Kong Lingyu, Lu Yuxuan, Qi Yan, and Bao Ning have gathered together, making for a star-studded lineup.
After the summer blockbuster hit, Metafilm quickly gambled on another fantasy idol drama, "Jade Tree and Jade Branches." However, given that seven out of the previous thirteen flopped dramas were fantasy idol dramas, Metafilm finally learned its lesson and dared not put all its eggs in one basket with "Jade Tree and Jade Branches."
Thus, "The Legend of Happiness Street" was able to be featured, basking in some of the glory of "Jade Tree and Jade Branches." It lay dormant among a group of big-budget productions, poised for release.
In addition, the historical drama "The Famous Capital of Huaizuo," which will be launched simultaneously on television and online by CTS TV, has also garnered some attention. However, this small group is mostly history enthusiasts, and thrown into the midst of the summer's intense competition, they seem unlikely to make a significant impact.
Every year has its own landscape. As usual, Green Petal has once again placed its bets on this year's summer blockbuster season. They predict which drama will dominate the summer and which will flop quietly.
Metafilm's *Jade Tree and Jade Branches* unsurprisingly topped the list of box office flops, with *The Famous Capital of Huaizuo* coming in second. Metafilm's consistent delivery of subpar films over the past year has exhausted the trust of viewers. *The Famous Capital of Huaizuo*, on the other hand, suffers from its outdated subject matter, making it difficult to be optimistic about.
"Happiness Street Side Story" firmly holds third place on the list of biggest flop shows. Firstly, aside from Zhuang Sheng and Wu Jianing, the entire main cast is relatively unknown. Secondly, the term "film spin-off series" sounds suspiciously like a low-budget production. Thirdly, the curse of flop shows on the Meta Film platform inevitably affects other works. Furthermore, any work associated with Ye Chu on Green Leaf Films is at least a complete flop, with no bottom in sight.
Two of the top three flop shows will be broadcast on MetaTV.
Even Shang Yechu couldn't help but sigh and smile wryly when she saw the poll. She had seen some clips of "The Legend of Happiness Street," and she thought Jian Xiaojun's script was excellent. But Metafilm had been having a really bad run of luck lately. According to Ji Juntao, Metafilm's paid memberships had decreased by 3 million compared to last year! Even someone as unsuperstitious as Shang Yechu couldn't help but worry that "The Legend of Happiness Street" might be tainted by bad luck.
Although neither netizens nor business owners thought "Jade Tree and Jade Branch" would be any outstanding, Metafilm was clearly confident and ready to redeem itself.
In the lead-up to its broadcast, promotional advertisements were extremely ostentatious and extravagant. Even the icon for MetaTV's video app was adorned with the name "Jade Tree and Jade Branches." Homepage ads, trailers, announcements, and clips were countless.
The two lead actors also actively interacted on platforms like Weibo and Douyin, displaying their affection in a sweet and adorable way. Shang Yechu was busy on set and didn't have time to watch the show, but she had glimpsed it a couple of times on her assistant's phone. To be honest, she felt the actress was causing some work-related injury, because the male lead was really... well, you know. He could be a capable actor in a serious drama, but in an idol drama, he was a bit of a stunner.
Cooperating with the production team to promote a romantic pairing shows dedication. When the person being promoted is unattractive, that dedication takes an extra layer of resilience.
These all happened in early August.
The prediction made by Green Petal users this time was 100% accurate.
Meta Pictures' heavily invested "Jade Tree and Jade Branches" clashed head-on with Dingbao Video's epic fantasy drama "The Golden Pot." "The Golden Pot," with its overwhelming momentum, crushed "Jade Tree and Jade Branches," leaving nothing but devastation in its wake. Meta Pictures' blockbuster, in the end, generated a level of buzz comparable to an August snowfall, with discussions resembling a silent film. The most popular post related to the entire series was surprisingly the Green Petal poll for the champion!
Even after surviving a full thirteen consecutive falls, this defeat was far too brutal.
However, the true king of dramas this summer was someone no one expected—
"A Famous City in Huaizuo!"
"With its excellent production and mind-bending plot, 'The Famous Capital of Huaizuo' broke through the ranks of young faces during the summer season. Veteran actors shared the stage, delivering witty lines one after another; popular memes such as 'A true scholar is naturally mad,' 'Thousands upon thousands of people are not as good as thousands upon thousands of silver,' and 'The emperor who practices calligraphy, the vice minister who gets a seal, the cotton prefect, and the mud city wall' went viral online, making it another phenomenal hit drama after 'Half a Day'..."
"The show consistently ranked first in television ratings, surpassing the peak ratings of CTS Channel 8 in the past three years; its online viewership also topped the audiovisual data charts..."
Although we live in an era where traffic is king, there are still people who pursue well-made works that treat the audience with care.
Overshadowed by the phenomenal success of "The Famous Capital of Huaizuo," the impressive performances of dramas like "The Golden Pot" were overshadowed. Meta Pictures' blockbuster was completely ignored; after only seven days of airing, it was made available for early access and instantly sold out.
Logically, "The Legend of Happiness Street" should have followed "Jade Tree and Jade Branches" in its time slot. However, this means that the entire airing period of "The Legend of Happiness Street" overlaps with that of "The Famous Capital of Huaizuo." Given the current momentum of "The Famous Capital of Huaizuo," clashing with it would be a fatal mistake!
Seeing that things were not going well, Meta Films came up with another idea.
Will "The Legend of Happiness Street" become a hit?
have no idea.
Myta Films still has several unreleased dramas in its portfolio. Will they become hits?
It doesn't seem that safe either.
At this critical juncture, promoting any drama would only result in it becoming cannon fodder. Rather than letting the artists from Meta Pictures become cannon fodder, it's better to have the people from Qingping Entertainment fill the gaps... Anyway, even if Qingping Entertainment has objections later, they can only blame their bad luck for running into "Huai Zuo Ming Du"!
This idea circulated within the decision-making team several times. In the end, Metafilm gritted its teeth and put forward its own small-budget film, "White Osmanthus Fragrance," to replace "Happy Street Chronicles" as cannon fodder.
This is not because Metafilm and Qingping Entertainment have a deep relationship, but simply because Metafilm really can't afford to fail again and achieve a 15-kill streak.
And so it went, from one to two, then two to three, that "Happiness Street Side Story" finally went live in late August.
Coincidentally, the day it premiered was the same day the Xinghan Awards were discredited.
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