Chapter 277: Storm, Red-hot, Aunt, Why Harm Us?!
In the meeting room.
Hearing President Chi, the “leader,” slamming the table, everyone present fell silent.
Several middle-aged men sitting at the head table frowned.
“Don’t get agitated first. Aren’t we discussing this right now? Little Hai, we know you’re upset, but rules are rules. We can’t lead the way in breaking them just because someone has gained some influence, right?”
“Our cultural propaganda system needs long-term promotion strategies, not chasing whatever’s hot today and dropping it tomorrow if it’s not… Your performance this time wasn’t very mature.”
“Little Hai” was choked, his tone faltering as he looked toward the head table and gave a bitter smile: “Leader, then you tell us, you speak.”
Everyone: “…”
The few at the head table exchanged glances, feeling deep down that they had been screwed over too.
They hadn’t anticipated at all that a domestically produced movie could stir up such a storm and response internationally… Though they had said those words earlier, when it came to the “156 countries” label, who dared to act unilaterally?
To put it bluntly, this time was different from the previous purple big shot purple and purple girl purple, because with Chi Ye’s move, purple Influenza purple had now become the hottest topic in the international film industry recently.
Just as Chi Ye’s “old leader” said, influence, influence, influence is very important.
They had just held up purple Influenza purple here over content issues, and then it exploded into a 156-country global premiere. This… wouldn’t it just be asking for trouble from higher-ups?
Truth be told, many people were feeling a bit regretful now, they shouldn’t have casually agreed to help him with this “little favor” just to please Ke Ying.
Now looking at it, what little favor? It was pure trouble.
“Next, let’s continue discussing the content review issues for this purple Influenza purple… Um, everyone speak freely, don’t let external public opinion affect your judgment.”
The big brother at the head made the final call, but he was thinking about that phone call from Shanghai not long ago.
Sigh…
Without the purple Influenza purple exploding at Cannes, it would have been easier to handle, but with that phone call, getting purple Influenza purple released was no longer an issue. But… now with purple Influenza purple’s current momentum, it made things difficult for many people.
If they easily “changed course,” wouldn’t that admit they were wrong before and get a hard slap in the face?
One was approving through “personal connections,” the other was being forced to change and getting slapped…
The outcomes seemed the same between the two, but for many people, they were completely different.
……
“Global 156 countries… NEON handling North American distribution, Contents Panda securing international agency boost, and other countries’ distributors already confirmed, Taiwan, Hong Kong side all top-tier distribution…”
“purple Influenza purple has thoroughly become a massive hit this time.”
Day six at Cannes.
In the hotel, the Northwest Circle group’s mood wasn’t high.
Today was the screening day for Teacher Zhang’s main competition entry.
As one of only two mainland entries this year, and in the higher-value main competition category, with an internationally renowned actress like Teacher Zhang as the female lead.
Originally, the work should have received a lot of media attention.
But the reality was the opposite.
Because of purple Influenza purple’s explosion, the midnight screening category had gone viral again, making the main competition, which already lagged in buzz behind commercial films, extremely “awkward.”
And Teacher Zhang and Northwest Circle’s literary film this year clearly couldn’t compete in quality with other top literary entries.
—They themselves hadn’t expected to win awards when entering the main competition at Cannes this time.
Just…
They hadn’t expected that the film’s reception would be so mediocre, and with the stark contrast from next door’s purple Influenza purple, as the saying goes, compare goods and throw out the bad ones, which left many feeling upset, even throwing tantrums.
Teacher Zhang’s team had already learned that since morning, many domestic media were itching to compare her entry with Chi Ye’s…
Isn’t this insane?!
One literary film, one commercial film, what the hell are you comparing!
“Sister Ziyi, don’t be angry. Media and marketing accounts are like this now, they wish we’d fight every day to give them material, eating steamed buns from human blood.”
Li Qian, who had hurried over from another venue, walked to Teacher Zhang’s side and held her hand.
“Sigh, I’m not angry, I just feel… this Cannes is a bit of a failure for us.”
Teacher Zhang shook her head, saying words even she didn’t believe—everyone in and out of the circle knew she had a competitive personality, unchanged since the Four Little Flowers era, and it had only intensified now.
She wanted to win an award… If not, at least get a “prestige” label.
But because of purple Influenza purple, no one noticed her, and those who did only made comparisons, giving her a painful feeling of being ridden and wildly whipped by a junior.
“Sis, keep a level head. We didn’t expect awards this time anyway; for a literary film, decent box office is fine.”
Li Qian comforted Teacher Zhang again, a complex expression on her slightly chubby cheeks.
Chi Ye, it was Chi Ye again.
She remembered their first meeting on that acting variety show, when Chi Ye had just gained a name in the internal entertainment circle thanks to purple Circulation purple, already showing some momentum as a rising new traffic star.
But… just a traffic star, new traffic, second-tier at best, not first-tier.
Back then, she and Chi Ye were both guests on the program, but her star power was much higher than Chi Ye’s. Chi Ye had a public spat with Sheng Ning on that show… Ji Hemming collapsed around then too.
She hadn’t imagined Chi Ye could reach this point, and so quickly.
Had she liked him before?
She was an optimist who loved to laugh but had a low laugh threshold, so yes, she had a slight, very minor fondness for Chi Ye, fleeting, but it had crossed her mind occasionally during her breakup with Ji Hemming.
Um… no follow-up.
It was like a disparity in between, a leap, the image of Chi Ye and the purple Influenza purple main creators on the Cannes red carpet overlapping with the shadow from purple Actors Please Take Place purple.
Even Sister Ziyi had been completely silenced…
He had endured the film circle’s targeting for so long… was he really unaffected?
“…What surprises me most is that NEON actually cooperated with them. That’s a bit too exaggerated; honestly, it feels unreal.”
Uncle Li Qian was also sitting nearby, focused on the Western copyright buyer for purple Influenza purple’s main creators—NEON.
—Many insiders were focused on this too.
NEON.
Historically never favored Asian films, yet now cooperating with purple Influenza purple.
Proactively leading 156 countries; if the current trend continues, will purple Influenza purple’s box office performance really be as poor as they predicted?
“Mainland side is probably already discussing whether purple Influenza purple can catch the Spring Festival slot; there might still be a turnaround.”
Director Zhang, who hadn’t spoken, smiled and commented: “The young are formidable.”
……
“Holy crap, China Film is really shameless. What ‘leading production’ domestic disaster blockbuster… They were the loudest before, and now they’ve become the leading producer?”
On the other side.
The Beijing Circle group had their mindsets shattered by the continuous news these past few days.
Director Lu “took the brunt”… He was indeed numb. On the day of purple Influenza purple’s premiere, from Ling Bingbing and Ling Han’s descriptions, he had a familiar, bad premonition.
But he still hadn’t expected purple Influenza purple to pull off a 156-country “lineup,” and for China Film to be so shameless… Seeing the momentum shift, they jumped in with “leading production.”
Yes, China Film got involved because of Chi Ye’s “old leader,” nominally for reviewing and approving purple Influenza purple’s script, but their actual investment was nearly zero… How did they become leading?!
Answer me, how?!
Leading by holding up purple Influenza purple’s review at the last minute, huh?
“Normal move; everyone sees purple Influenza purple is going to explode, who can resist?”
Someone advised.
“No, I suspect Chi Ye is deliberately targeting me. Why does he always stir up this kind of noise every time I release a movie?”
Director Lu wiped his eyes, sounding a bit aggrieved.
Buddy, I’m just a “great director” who likes to brag… How did your global premiere actually become a real global premiere?
Global premiere aside, you’re marketing domestically too… We spent so much on marketing for purple 749 Bureau purple, all down the drain. You still say you’re not targeting me?!
“What we should consider now isn’t that; it’s whether purple Influenza purple will revive in the Spring Festival slot because of this incident?”
Director Feng smacked his lips: “Damn it, if he revives from this, won’t our faces be swollen from slaps?”
Everyone paused.
Peng Chen blinked, hesitant: “Probably not… How could the higher-ups change so easily…”
Ling Bingbing glanced at him but said nothing.
“Pfft, you say that, but it’s not some ‘iron rule.’ This was us asking big brother for help… But big brother hasn’t picked up my calls today.”
Director Feng made a pained expression: “This time, you can’t say I don’t care about our circle. I tried my best!”
Everyone: “…”
……
Director Feng had tried.
Ke Ying indeed didn’t answer today’s calls.
And from this info, the cinema chains and film distributors who had been watching or itching to act since the purple Influenza purple 156-country global release news reached domestically were getting restless.
Beijing Circle knew these domestic “businessmen” well; everyone was out for profit, and clearly, with purple Influenza purple’s circulating reputation and momentum, even if it was a thesis defense drag, as long as it could release in the mainland, it was a money-making machine.
More importantly… China Film Times led the repost of this news, personally igniting this “storm”…
Doesn’t this mean the top really wants to “change course,” at least purple Influenza purple will definitely release, even if censored, it must.
So from this day, China Film, Wanda, and many cinema chains that had previously responded to the call and “regrettably” pulled purple Influenza purple, all revived one by one.
“Hello? President Chi… Oh, not President Chi? No problem, is this Chi Ye Studio? Oh oh, Manager Ke, I’m the distributor for Capital City Wanda XX Cinema… Um, okay, I’ll create a group now; you get someone to connect with me…”
“Hello, is President Chi there? Old Zhang here; we just had dinner last month… Ah, no problem. Whether purple Influenza purple can release domestically or not, we can sign an agreement first; if it releases, we’ll schedule it… We’ll negotiate the specifics; I can’t guarantee other chains, but mine will definitely give you the highest scheduling.”
“…Chi Ye? I’m XX from China Film… Ah, not there? No problem, I’ll call back later.”
Chi Ye Studio’s landline, Chi Ye’s work number, personal number, Keke’s mobile phone… even Jin Xia, Shang Youshu, Shi Jinwei, and Sheng Ning’s phones, and many of purple Influenza purple’s main creators, all blown up.
Among them, chains like Wanda were easier to deal with, being purely commercial, but China Film people were a bit embarrassed to swallow their pride.
Later, they finally got a lower-level guy to call, only to learn Chi Ye wasn’t available.
The little guy had his own temper too; seeing this, he didn’t chat, just curtly said “I’ll personally call him back later” and hung up.
That day, a certain big shot’s evaluation of Chi Ye circulated internally at China Film—”cocky.”
Um…
Chi Ye actually didn’t deliberately “snub” groups like China Film that had targeted him before.
But he had been too busy lately to discuss details with these domestic cinema chains—because besides domestic, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, even Vietnam and other places needed his attention for cooperation.
For example, in Taiwan, the local filming location, the giants who signed Chi Ye’s Taiwan music agency contract were going crazy, and the big shots who greenlit purple Influenza purple’s filming were crazy too, clamoring to increase scheduling, heavily so.
—Though it wouldn’t help much, considering future “sensitive” films and further cooperation with Southeast Asia, Chi Ye did need to go all out.
“Did China Film call? Put it through… Hung up? Talk later… Wait, another call coming in, hold on.”
Chi Ye was talking to team members when his phone rang again.
—Hong Kong number.
Chi Ye saw the note and smiled: “Hello? Aunt, have you arrived?”
“…Calling so sweetly.”
On the other end, at the airport.
Jin Sui in a trench coat, assistant dragging the suitcase behind, said into the phone to Chi Ye: “Get ready to pick me up; arriving soon.”
“Okay.”
“By the way.”
Jin Sui paused, glanced at Jin Ming standing straight beside her but secretly eavesdropping, and laughed: “Brought an old acquaintance this time… Um… Alright, we’ll talk when we meet; the old acquaintance is getting impatient.”
As she spoke and hung up, she looked at her brother: “Your eye twitching? What’s with the constant twitching?”
