novelraw Chapter 43 - "Three Guns" Lost to the Point of Explosion, Cai Yinong's Enlightenment
Chapter 43 - "Three Guns" Lost to the Point of Explosion, Cai Yinong's Enlightenment
Chapter 43 “Three Guns” Lost to the Point of Explosion, Cai Yinong’s Enlightenment
When Journey to the West earned 230 million at the box office, industry insiders still thought that Qu Yiming was a bit behind the top three commercial directors in China—Feng Xiaogang, Chen Kaige, and Zhang Yimou.
But with Lost in Love 33 Days smashing through to 570 million in its first three weeks, pushing the domestic film single-movie box office past the 500 million mark, Qu Yiming is now the one and only commercial film big director in China.
As the saying goes, when one person rises, even the dog and chicken rise with him.
With Lost in Love 33 Days, Zhang Tian’ai, who became the highest-paid actress in China, quickly landed endorsements for the Mercedes-Benz E300 series, as well as luxury brands like Bulgari, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel. She also became the cover girl for several top fashion magazines.
These resources, in the past, were only accessible to the top-tier actresses like the “Four Sisters” and “Double Bing,” but now, Zhang Tian’ai, born in 1990, only 19 years old, managed to achieve in less than a year what took the older actresses decades to accomplish, thanks to a small-budget film.
Is this fair?
The older actresses were distressed, their hearts heavy, needing a way to vent.
…
In the fourth week of Zhang Tian’ai’s busy endorsement signing period, Love 33 Days met its true nemesis—Avatar, released on January 4, 2010. This groundbreaking film easily shattered the myth created by Love 33 Days. For the first time, people experienced the charm of 3D films.
On its opening day, Avatar didn’t perform much better than Love 33 Days, earning just over 40 million, but its word-of-mouth grew rapidly. Within just a few days, people of all ages, from six-year-olds to seventy-year-olds, had heard about the film.
The hype surrounding Avatar was even more intense than the buzz for Qu Yiming in 2009. This caused Love 33 Days to see a massive drop in its fourth week, earning only 50 million.
Three Guns fared worse, getting crushed by Love 33 Days for three weeks, barely scraping by with a 50 million box office. Originally, they thought the extended screenings might push the film past 100 million, but Avatar came in like a thunderous punch, and after the fourth week, it earned less than 10 million and was pulled from theaters ahead of schedule.
Although Lost in Love 33 Days was still showing, at least 90% of the 2D screens nationwide were taken over by Avatar.
As a result, Love 33 Days saw another sharp decline in its fifth week, earning only 20 million. After earning just 10 million in its sixth week, it was pulled from theaters, with its final box office total capping at 650 million.
Meanwhile, Avatar, which had been in theaters for only three weeks, was steadily approaching the 1 billion box office mark. The top spot on the domestic box office charts changed hands once again.
[Lost in Love 33 Days Lost Fairly, Avatar Sweeps the Global Box Office].
[Avatar’s Early Promotion Was Inadequate, Failing to Break Lost in Love 33 Days’s Single-Week Box Office Record].
[On January 15, 2010, the Spring Festival Gala conducted the final review for language programs].
[On the evening of January 18, the head of De Yun Society, Cai Yining, forced his wife to kneel on her birthday].
[Cai Yining and his senior disciple He Yunwei announced their departure from De Yun Society].
[The De Yun Society incident is suspected to be related to Three Guns’ box office failure].
[Avatar’s Total Box Office in Three Weeks Exceeds 700 Million, Once Again Breaking the Record for the Highest Box Office in Mainland History].
[The $200 million-budgeted blockbuster Avatar is now being shown worldwide!].
[……].
“That’s terrifying,” Zhang Tian’ai said as she scrolled through online news, seeing Avatar continuing to break box office records. She was completely stunned.
“Ten billion at the box office, Qu Dao, do you think future movies can break this?” Zhang Tian’ai asked, incredulously.
Qu Yiming flipped through news and gossip related to Three Guns and casually replied, “It’s possible. In the future, a single film might even break one hundred billion.”
“One hundred billion!”
Zhang Tian’ai began counting the zeros of one hundred billion on her fingers, but lost track—there were just too many zeros.
“I don’t expect one hundred billion. If I could be the female lead in a film that grosses one billion, I’d consider myself blessed,” Zhang Tian’ai said, bowing to Qu Yiming.
In her eyes, Qu Yiming had become almost god-like. In just one year, he had become a director and lead actor with a box office of 880 million—who else in the entertainment industry could achieve this?
“Do you think I’m the turtle in a wishing pond?” Qu Yiming joked, seeing the negative news about Three Guns, in a surprisingly good mood.
“Well, it’s almost the same,” Zhang Tian’ai replied, and under the table, her foot mischievously kicked Qu Yiming.
…
While Avatar was beautifully made and had an explosive box office, it was still a foreign film. It didn’t help female stars in mainland China. Qu Yiming, on the other hand, was their real star.
Since last month, after the failure of the “seduction” attempt, Cai Yinong had a deep realization. He finally understood that Qu Yiming didn’t like married women but preferred younger girls…