The director starts by learning from the abilities of renowned directors.

Chapter 77 Box Office Appeal

9 p.m., at home.

Shen Qing was browsing the web when Yang Mi hugged him from behind and said in her unique voice, "What's so interesting about the computer? It's getting late, let's get some rest."

The silk pajamas clung to Shen Qing's body, their cool touch warming his heart.

"You go to sleep first, I'll check the comments later."

In the past few days, there has been increasing discussion on the internet about his new movie "Little Girl's Kung Fu Uncle," and he wants to get a head start on understanding the trend.

Yang Mi simply sat down in Shen Qing's lap and asked, "I've heard a lot of people talking about your new movie lately. Does this mean your marketing campaign is starting to pick up?"

"Hmm." Shen Qing's hands started to wander, but his hand movements didn't stop him from talking. "To be more specific, it's the trailer that's been put on the opening credits of 'The Forbidden Kingdom' that's starting to take effect. Most of the audience for 'The Forbidden Kingdom' are fans of Jackie Chan and Lee, and most of them like kung fu movies. It's a perfect match for our new movie, and the trailer's effect is very significant."

"GG ​​works so well, it must be quite expensive, right?"

Yang Mi looked like she was really enjoying herself.

"It doesn't cost any money," Shen Qing laughed. "Blockbusters usually exchange resources. My movie trailer will be posted at the beginning of Huayi Brothers' movie 'The Forbidden Kingdom,' and at the end of the year, Huayi Brothers' movie 'If You Are the One' will also be posted at the beginning of my movie 'Little Lolita.'"

"What if it's a smaller film versus a larger film?"

"There are two scenarios," Shen Qing explained. "My film, 'Little Lolita's Kung Fu Uncle,' is definitely a blockbuster. I can put a 15-second trailer for my blockbuster at the beginning of other smaller films for free. I have my own audience, so it's a pleasant surprise for smaller films to use my blockbuster trailer. Conversely, if a smaller film wants to use my 'Little Lolita' trailer at the beginning, it will have to pay. That's a no-go for me."

"So being big is really great!"

"Yes, being big is great, which is why everyone wants to grow bigger and stronger and create new glories."

The two of them continued browsing online discussions, including those on portal websites, relevant forums and sections, and various related online communities.

"I saw the trailer for Shen Qing's new movie in the theater, and it looked pretty good."

"It's unbelievable, Jackie Chan is everywhere. The destruction of the Chinese people by 'The Forbidden Kingdom' was not enough, and now there's another one in July, some kind of 'little loli' movie."

"The Forbidden Kingdom was extremely disappointing. It's only because the director was Shen Qing that I would have watched this so-called 'little loli' movie. The story takes place in India, which I'm not very interested in."

"Jackie Chan is all show and no substance, Shen Qing is the real deal. It's a pity that Shen Qing didn't star in it this time, otherwise it would definitely have been another masterpiece."

"The trailer looks alright. The action scenes are clean and crisp, and the main plot is also reasonable. It's a bit like a modern version of Jackie Chan's 'Thousands of Miles to Send Jingniang'."

"Jackie Chan should stop taking on so many movies. His reputation has been ruined. I'm quite optimistic about his collaboration with Shen Qing on this film. Shen Qing doesn't really make any bad movies. Even his 100 million yuan investment in 'Nightclub' is quite watchable."

"How long has it been since Jackie Chan made a watchable movie? This time it seems he's finally on the right track. Shen Qing is really something."

"I only dare to watch Jackie Chan's movies after a few days of reviews. But for Shen Qing's movies, I just buy tickets on the opening day without thinking. He is one of the directors with the lowest standards I have ever seen."

Yang Mi looked up at Shen Qing in surprise, blinking her big eyes. Just as she was about to ask Shen Qing something, Shen Qing interrupted her with a kiss.

She giggled non-stop, and when she finally stopped, she forgot what she was going to ask. After thinking for a while, she remembered: "Stop messing around. But I didn't realize you were so influential now. Many netizens say that you have to see the reviews of Jackie Chan's movies before deciding whether to watch them, but you can buy tickets for your movies without thinking."

Shen Qing, somewhat smug, said, "This is where I need to explain the difference between general fame and box office appeal. Don't be fooled by the fact that Jackie Chan and Lee Lien are much more famous than me; my box office appeal might not be inferior to theirs. What is box office appeal? It's when a significant number of viewers decide whether to watch a movie just by seeing my name, Shen Qing, without even knowing the content. Waiting for word-of-mouth to emerge before deciding whether to watch doesn't count as true box office appeal."

Yang Mi looked at Shen Qing with adoring eyes, which made Shen Qing's heart burn even hotter, but he still held back and continued to read the netizens' comments.

Shen Qing, right?

Most of the netizens here are fans of Shen Qing, but there are also a considerable number of haters. The overall atmosphere here is quite optimistic, but there are inevitably some pessimistic views as well.

For example, some netizens said that the release date of "Little Lolita's Kung Fu Uncle" was not good.

"Red Cliff had a rare and good release window. Shen Qing's Little Lolita is a bit like being raised by a stepmother. July 1st seems like a summer release date, but Hancock, starring Will Smith, will be released on July 4th. It will be released globally and has received a lot of attention, according to my observation. Little Lolita is likely to have a bad time this time."

Shen Qing's fans are generally quite confident and have stepped forward to refute the opposing side:

"If it were Transformers, I might actually be a little worried. Hancock? Who knows that?"

"Just look at the box office records from previous years, even Spider-Man couldn't beat Shen Qing's Taken and Ip Man! What is this Hancock compared to that?"

"Actually, if domestic films are of even slightly better quality, Chinese people will still prefer them. I have high hopes for Shen Qing and for 'Little Lolita'."

Then the latest reply from the haters silenced the die-hard fans once again.

"Even if 'Little Girl' beats 'Hancock' in China, so what? Both movies were released at the same time in North America. Does anyone really think 'Little Girl' can beat 'Hancock' in North America? This movie had a budget of over 1.5 million US dollars, while 'Little Girl' only had that much? It might have a slight win in the domestic market, but it would be utterly crushed in the North American market!"

Even the most die-hard fans of Shen Qing wouldn't dare say that "Little Girl" can surpass "Hancock" in North America!

You can't expect every movie by Shen Qing to have the same impact in North America as the "Taken" series. Besides, the impact of "Taken 1" in North America was just so-so. "Taken 2" only really exploded in popularity because of the popularity built up by the first movie.

Even though "Taken 2" is definitely number one among Chinese-language films, it still doesn't compare to Hollywood blockbusters at all!

So, given that "Little Girl" doesn't have the popularity built up by its predecessor and is unlikely to have the luck of "Taken," isn't it normal that it can't beat a top-tier Hollywood blockbuster like "Hancock"?

"So what if we can't beat them in North America? You might not know this, but the Greater China rights to 'Little Lolita' belong to Shen Qing. The better the box office is in China, the more he earns."

"That's true, but I remember the news reports saying he also gets 10% of the initial box office revenue in North America!"

"That's just a few dollars. If it grosses 3 million in the domestic box office, Shen Qing can get 1 million directly."

"Have you lost your mind? 3 million yuan in China? Transformers only made 2.6 million!"

"He seems to have been traumatized; he's started talking nonsense."

"Tell me, how have I lost my mind? Shen Qing doesn't just have the mainland China rights; he has the Greater China rights. Is it wrong for the mainland box office to exceed 3 million combined with Hong Kong and Taiwan box office figures?"

"Let's just count Hong Kong, not Taiwan. Taiwan has a very tight control over the number of mainland films that can be shown, so whether they can even be shown is another matter."

"Including Hong Kong, it's indeed possible to break 3 million, but it's meaningless if you only include Hong Kong."

……

"This 'Hancock' is really annoying. It's not enough that it causes trouble abroad, it also wants to compete with us in China," Yang Mi snorted, expressing her dissatisfaction.

Shen Qing laughed and picked the person up, saying, "It is indeed annoying, but if we can really beat it domestically and then lose it in North America, it's not so bad. We can just consider it a tie between the two movies."

After saying that, he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.