Chapter 1128 - Crazy Fans
Chapter 1128 Crazy Fans
“‘Yang Yizhi’ had been screened for four days, and its ticket sales were still on the upward trend with a box office of 89 million yuan in a single day!”
“Even on a hectic Monday, ‘Yang Yizhi’ had raked in 89 million yuan at the box office again.”
Soon, the box office on the fourth day was revealed.
Compared with the 350 million yuan on the first day, the 400 million yuan on the second day, and the 450 million yuan on the third day, the box office of 89 million yuan seemed to show a plunge. This pattern of decrease was a sore point in the movie industry. After all, there were only a few festivals in August, and everyone was busy with work after the weekend, so not many people had time to watch a movie at the cinema.
Everyone in the industry knew about this sore point.
On Monday, a workday, it was amazing enough to get a box office of 50 million yuan, even for a blockbuster. No one had expected ‘Yang Yizhi’ to get such a high box office.
Its outstanding performance came as a motivation for the industry, which refreshed the insiders’ understanding of this sore-point trend.
For a time, all the cinemas around the country decided to add more screenings and increased the number of showings of “Yang Yizhi” by 50% on Tuesday.
It was a rare move in the movie industry.
In a situation where the movie had gone viral, Director Chen Xiaogang continued promoting the movie with the key creative team. As a rule, after Monday and Tuesday, the box office of the movie would experience another period of explosive growth.
Everyone was looking forward to the total box office sales.
In a meet-and-greet event, Chen Xiaogang took the opportunity and made a public announcement.
“The super web series of ‘Yang Yizhi’ has been officially set up. It is already at the preparatory stage!”
The news was released.
It immediately drew the attention of all the major media in the country.
“Web series?”
“Damn, webisodes nowadays are a bunch of crap.”
“Don’t ruin the superb movie! How about making some decent movies? Why would they want to produce web series?”
“Director Chen Xiaogang personally announced it? Does this mean that he would be the one to direct the series? If so, it sounds good.”
“It would be great if the original crew of the movie could participate in it. Unfortunately, Fang Qiu has already said he won’t enter the entertainment circle. I don’t think he will be part of it.”
“For some reason, I’m looking forward to it. I know I will likely be disappointed, but after all, it will be Director Chen Xiaogang’s work. Maybe it will set a new high standard for online plays.”
The news gave rise to a heated discussion among netizens.
More than that, it triggered an uproar in the capital market of the whole movie industry shortly after Chen Xiaogang broadcasted this message.
“Yang Yizhi” was a rising super IP.
It was almost impossible to get a share of the spoils from this IP in the movie industry, but the web series would be different.
Besides…
Compared with movies, the web series would be more widespread with a wider audience range. Not only the related investment, but even the advertisements would be very lucrative.
Therefore, all the big shots in the movie industry were eager to have a share of the pie.
In addition to the capital tycoons who wanted to invest in these super online dramas, the ones who were most thrilled would undoubtedly be those stars who were of the right age.
Just a day ago, they were furious, for Fang Qiu, who claimed he didn’t want to join the entertainment circle, unexpectedly robbed them of their chance. But just after one day, they no longer hated Fang Qiu in their hearts and even felt grateful to him.
Why?
The answer was obvious. If it hadn’t been for Fang Qiu, the IP of “Yang Yixin” wouldn’t have existed. If not for him, the IP would not have been so popular. After all, most of the people who watched the movie were Fang Qiu’s fans. The rest were attracted by the promotion carried out in Fang Qiu’s name.
If any of them had been given the role of Yang Yizhi, the movie might not have been a runaway hit.
But after Fang Qiu played the role, it made the IP immensely popular. And because he would not be entering the entertainment circle, he gave up the chance to be the leading protagonist of this hot IP. This was unquestionably something that dropped into the laps of all the stars of the right age.
Anyone who managed to get this opportunity would have a promising future!
Therefore, when those stars who were of the right age and their agencies learned that Chen Xiaogang was about to produce the super online series of “Yang Yizhi,” they began to get busy, looking for connections and competing with each other. Anyway, Fang Qiu would not be playing the role, so the others had to battle it out to get picked for this hot role!
Sure enough, whoever got this role would be compared with Fang Qiu. But what these stars cared about the most was the opportunity to increase their media exposure. Whether they would gain abuse or praise, as long as they stayed hot, it was no big deal. That would be enough!
Soon, one after another, the major movie and television companies vied to contact Director Chen Xiaogang to discuss the investment, actors, etc.
However, all of this had nothing to do with Fang Qiu.
After the publicity on Monday, Fang Qiu had a night’s rest. Early the following day, he flew back alone to Jiangjing with his luggage.
He realized he had not been back to school for a long time. Anyway, he had to show up. Along the way, he would have a talk with Chen Yinsheng because he wanted to know more about the obligatory medical service the college students in the countryside had to perform during the summer vacation.
The city where they did the promotion was not far from Jiangjing. After a short two-hour flight, Fang Qiu landed at Jiangjing international airport.
Fang Qiu got off the plane, took his luggage, and walked out.
But in the end…
As soon as he walked out of the passageway, Fang Qiu was dumbfounded.
Out of the blue, a large group of people broke through the police cordon around the passageway and surrounded him from all directions.
The security guards of the airport had long since been on the alert at the entrance of the arrival hall.
These people had been waiting for a long time ago. The airport noticed the unusual number of people gathered there earlier on and sent a security team over to monitor the situation.
Seeing the bustling scene, Fang Qiu was immediately stunned. He quickly turned his head and looked around, searching for any big stars among the people who were on the same flight as him.
Before he could finish scanning the crowd…
“Fang Qiu!”
“Fang Qiu! Fang Qiu!”
In the airport, his name was loudly chanted by many.
As soon as Fang Qiu heard the outburst of shouts, his face changed dramatically. He immediately turned around and looked over. There he saw a dense crowd of his fans, most of whom were holding placards with his name. The moment they spotted him, they began to scream with great excitement as if they had seen their most beloved idol.
“Go, go ahead!”
The security captain, who had been here for a long time, immediately waved his hand and barked out this order.
Several security guards rushed forward to protect Fang Qiu.
Fang Qiu was utterly petrified.
A great many people swarmed in from all directions. He even saw some people running wildly toward him in the distance.
“What’s the fuck going on?”
Fang Qiu, who was in a daze, could hardly think straight. There was a sea of fans. The few security guards around him seemed very nervous, as if they were facing many formidable enemies. Fang Qiu muttered as his mind went blank, “Er, am I a popular star now? Merely by playing a role in a movie?”
Absolutely!
Fang Qiu guessed it right.
Ever since the movie was released, his loyal fans had been paying close attention to his movements. For example, whenever he planned to promote the movie in any city, they would spread the news on the Internet and in the groups organized by his fans.
In this case, through the staff of the movie and its publicity, the fans knew that Fang Qiu would only participate in the promotion for four days.
Therefore, they knew from the beginning that Fang Qiu would be taking a flight today. The only thing they were not aware of was the destination.
But in the end…
One of his fans found his flight details and rallied all the fans in the group to meet him at the airport.
That was the reason why they made such a big scene here!
“Hey, welcome back. But why did you not inform us in advance?”
The security guard next to Fang Qiu looked at him and said, “If you had told us earlier, we would have been prepared for it. We thought it was a C-list start coming. If we knew it was you, we’d never let you use this passageway!”
“Er…”
With a wry smile, Fang Qiu opened his mouth and wanted to say something.
“Forget it. Don’t talk anymore.”
The security captain hurriedly caught up with Fang Qiu and said, “The longer you stay here, the more people will be amassing to see you. We’d better get the crowd to disperse now. This gathering might have a great impact on the airport. If any flight is delayed because of it, we can’t bear the consequences!”
“Okay.”
Fang Qiu responded. Then, under the protection of the security guards, he moved fast to get out of the airport and directly got into a taxi parked outside.
Unexpectedly, those fans didn’t intend to spare him at all. When they saw Fang Qiu getting into the taxi, they also got in other cars to pursue him.
Nevertheless, the crowd had dispersed.
Looking at the much less crowded airport hall, the captain of the security squad finally felt relieved.
In the taxi, Fang Qiu was still in a state of shock.
Feeling doubtful, he immediately took out his mobile phone and called Chen Xiaogang.
“Hello?”
Chen Xiaogang picked up the phone.
“Director Chen, what’s going on? I just arrived at the Jiangjing Airport. Why were there so many people here?”
Fang Qiu asked, “Did you leak the news that I would be returning to Jiangjing?”
“No!”
Director Chen Xiaogang immediately denied it and said, “But you are now a renowned celebrity. Did you think you can go out as casually as before?”
“I used to be very famous, but I have never encountered such a situation.”
Fang Qiu gave a wry smile.
“That’s true. But you were not a star.”
Director Chen laughed and said, “Now you’ve starred in a very popular movie and gained a lot of fans. Compared with your previous fans, the music and movie fans of the stars in the entertainment circle are more fervent.”
“But I don’t want to be a star, and I am not joining the entertainment circle. What should I do now?”
Fang Qiu asked helplessly.
“In your case, you’d better go out through the special channels in the near future. It’ll be better when your popularity and that of this movie diminishes,” Chen Xiaogang said.
“If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have acted in this movie.”
Fang Qiu laughed a bitter laugh.
“Please don’t say that.”
Upon hearing his complaint, Chen Xiaogang was a little flustered and said hurriedly, “You promised me. Don’t forget you agreed to be a guest performer in the web series and the second movie. You can’t break your promise!”
Hearing that, Fang Qiu hung up the phone helplessly.
“Excuse me.”
After putting away his phone, Fang Qiu turned his head and looked at all the taxis chasing after him. He decided on the spur of the moment and told the driver, “There are many cars following us. Please try your best to get rid of them. Otherwise, I won’t be able to get out of the car.”