Chapter 276: Internal Entertainment Circle First, 《influenza》 Second Break
“Sold so few?!”
“156 countries? 20 regions?”
“……My goodness, how many countries are there in the world in total…”
“Quick, pinch me, am I dreaming.”
“…”
Room.
《Influenza》 Main Creators weren’t unaware that after yesterday’s global premiere, 《Influenza》 post-screening performance and feedback were extremely good, but… even with expectations in their hearts, they hadn’t thought or dared to think that they could sell so many copyrights overnight.
156 countries, what kind of concept is that?
There are a total of 197 countries universally recognized globally, and 《Influenza》 sold copyrights in 156 countries overnight…
What does this mean?
——Do you understand what “global premiere” means!
Yes, other Internal Entertainment Circle movies boast every day, and as long as they participate in an international film festival, they blindly market it as a “global premiere.”
As for how many copyrights were sold… don’t ask, asking means they don’t know, no disclosure, and they stay silent when asked.
Some even don’t need to participate; they just label the promotional trailer with “global premiere,” the audience and fans are satisfied when they see it, the main creators get a thrill from it, and the satisfaction overflows.
But 《Influenza》 is a genuine true global premiere.
The glaring achievement of 156 countries, sky-high distribution fees in the France region…
This proves that Western media and cinema chains do not reject 《Influenza》; at least after seeing the specific quality and content of 《Influenza》, they are even very proactive and fond of it.
“President Chi… we won’t have to fly this time, right?”
The director of 《Influenza》 blinked his eyes, while the rest of the main creator team exchanged glances.
Although the 《Influenza》 team has a mature core structure, beneath the mature exterior, it is a large group single-handedly orchestrated and formed by Chi Ye.
And as the boss of Chi Ye Studio, he certainly wouldn’t miss this great opportunity.
So, the 《Influenza》 team can only be described as half old, half new.
Many key behind-the-scenes positions in it were previously Small Cards in the Internal Entertainment Circle; who would have dared to think that after one night in Cannes, they transformed into an “international team.”
Who could withstand this?
“Whether we fly or not is unknown, but we definitely won’t lose money.”
Chi Ye unreservedly showed off, then looked at Keke: “Give the details.”
The copyrights of 《Influenza》 have become one of the hottest copyrights at this year’s Cannes. Apart from the well-known various “oligarchs,” for the 156 countries, specifically who they are, who bought them, or whether some company directly took more than half, he needs to know.
Keke had now calmed her emotions, paused, and then continued to briefly introduce.
Overall, the 156 countries indeed cover more than half of the world’s countries and regions, including North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and even the Middle East region.
But the ones truly having an absolute impact on 《Influenza》 are only three regions.
North America, France, and the Southeast Asia region.
North America goes without saying; as the world’s largest box office market and one of Hollywood’s bases, 《Influenza》 must tap into it to achieve explosive results globally.
France is more special… because this year’s France is particularly enthusiastic about 《Influenza》. After one night yesterday, within small circles, it’s already circulating that 《Influenza》 is an existence that breaks the ceiling for Asian movies in France with a high price.
As for the final Southeast Asia region…
It can only be said that the guys there, apart from Mainland China, all have a bit of mania—compared to Europe, America, and the Middle East who are still unfamiliar with Chi Ye and 《Influenza》, the Southeast Asia region says, I know all too well Professor Chi’s influence on our side.
Without this momentum, it might be uncertain, but with the pursuit from many oligarchs, North America, and other regions, 《Influenza》 here can only do better, not worse!
This is the effect Chi Ye wants. In the international film industry, Cannes Film Festival, it’s all about momentum; as long as it starts heating up, then it’s like autumn winds sweeping fallen leaves, a virtuous cycle, growing bigger and bigger.
This world has no 《Train to Busan》, and even zombie genre movies have few representative works.
On Earth, the 《Train to Busan》 premiere and appearance at Cannes was defined by the global film industry as the “global watershed for zombie genre films,” pushing Korean movies into the mainstream commercial market.
In Korea, it is considered a historic benchmark for Korean industrialized films, one of the representatives that broke the cold reception of Asian movies in the West （as reported by Hollywood Reporter）.
So, placing a more refined version of 《Influenza》 in this environment, its explosion is traceable; perhaps from the moment it wrapped up, it was already silently counting down.
“Contents Panda found with NEON’s help?”
After Keke briefly explained the details of the overnight cooperation negotiations, Chi Ye guessed the cooperation model for 《Influenza》 this time.
Actually, according to his expectations, XYZ Films would be a more suitable cooperation partner than NEON, because NEON excels in art films and the Oscar field, but the problem is… 《Influenza》 fundamentally cannot compete for Oscars, and it is also a commercial movie.
In comparison, a type powerhouse like XYZ Films also has great influence in the Americas, suitable as 《Influenza》’s Western distribution cooperation partner.
But evidently, NEON in this parallel world is different from on Earth; they are the first major studio to approach 《Influenza》 and are very proactive in pushing this cooperation. It can be felt that this tycoon is very bullish on 《Influenza》 and has “ambition” to venture into commercial films.
For this, the so-called 156 countries is their greatest sincerity to 《Influenza》.
The specific cooperation model is copyright sales → regional distribution + joint distribution.
Meaning Chi Ye Studio, Guang Ying Shi Meng, and other major 《Influenza》 investors as copyright holders sell the Western copyrights to NEON, and through NEON’s relationships, 《Influenza》 gains huge background connections, backers, distribution, and even cinema chain channels across the entire Western market.
In addition, while purchasing the Western copyrights of 《Influenza》, NEON also connected 《Influenza》 with Contents Panda… this Contents Panda is the company on Earth that single-handedly handled 《Train to Busan》 《Parasite》 and other global blockbuster movies.
Among them, 《Parasite》 even won an Oscar, sufficient to show how “advanced” the company’s operation model is.
——As one of the true Oscar players, NEON’s relationship with it is naturally extraordinary.
And by the same logic, for distributors in other countries/regions, NEON can help make connections, of course… with Chi Ye’s own influence, he doesn’t “rely” much on NEON in the entire Asia region, let alone Southeast Asia.
The resources they provide aren’t free; they all come with a price.
So in the following days, the 《Influenza》 investors mainly negotiated with several cooperative parties over the initiative for various distributions in the Asia region, and on the evening of the third day after the premiere, they finally reached an agreement, formally establishing the 156 countries + 23 regions for distribution sales copyrights and profit sharing.
That night.
This nuclear bomb-level message, worthy of “breaking history,” finally reached back home.
On the Weibo Hot Search list, various deeds of 《Influenza》 at Cannes had actually never dropped off these days, but because 《Influenza》 entered intense cooperation negotiations right after post-screening, the follow-up messages were true or false, and the popularity was gradually declining.
But tonight, a message reposted by official media 【China Film Times】 truly pushed 《Influenza》’s topic heat in the Internal Entertainment Circle to a peak.
@China Film Times: 【#Chinese Movie Cannes Icebreaker Moment# Eastern disaster theme sweeps global market.】
【Reportedly, the domestically produced disaster blockbuster 《Influenza》, key supported by @National Film Administration and led by China Film Group, has stirred up a “Chinese storm” at #Cannes Film Festival#! After the premiere, it received a 5-minute standing ovation from the entire audience. Copyright deals were swiftly reached with 156 countries and regions worldwide, among which French distributor Pathé Cinema set the highest single-region transaction record for Asian movies at **$8.5 million（approximately RMB 61 million）**.】
【Here are the regional details: Europe 45 countries + North America 31 regions simultaneous release.】
【Africa achieves first-time joint purchase by 24 countries.】
【Overseas pre-sale total currently expected to exceed $230 million…】
【Cahiers du Cinéma in France raves about 《Influenza》: “Eastern humanistic care breaking free from Western narrative frameworks, train survival scenes showcasing the unique collectivism of the Chinese people!”】
【……】
And a special feature from a Western film media reposted by a well-known blue V.
@《Variety》: 【2027 Cannes market’s biggest dark horse emerges.】
@《Screen Daily》: 【New benchmark for Chinese film industry.】
@《The Guardian》: 【《Influenza》——an excellent “popcorn” movie perfectly combining zombie thrills and human redemption, a shock from Eastern apocalyptic culture.】
“…”
Various media, various official accounts… at first only China Film Times and blue Vs reposted, but as soon as it was posted on Weibo, it exploded in popularity, and then domestic marketing accounts and self-media who love to ride traffic and heat jumped in.
For a moment, it seemed like the whole world was instantly screened by 《Influenza》—before even releasing in the mainland, it already seemed to have “exploded.”
The main creators of 《Influenza》 are dumbfounded, the movie fans following 《Influenza》 are dumbfounded, people in the Internal Entertainment Circle, Beijing Circle, Northwest Circle, friends and relatives, enemies and old grudges are all dumbfounded—buddy, how did it suddenly explode like this?
No signs at all, but the various feedbacks after the Cannes premiere seem to foreshadow that this was meant to happen.
The comment section under China Film Times’ official Weibo was flooded and screened.
「Holy shit holy shit holy shit!! Three holy shits can’t describe my current mood!」
「Don’t understand this much, but it looks impressive, is it very awesome?」
「《Influenza》 breaks through successfully…… teary-eyed, to hear this from an official account.」
「Weren’t you the ones clamoring for review of 《Influenza》?」
「To be fair, China Film Times is bold; I heard about this abroad yesterday, but not a single report, I was puzzled then, thought 《Influenza》 was marketed by Chi Ye again, now it turns out… it’s him who’s right.」
「Some people shouldn’t be too ridiculous, can’t stand Chinese industrialized movies doing well?」
「Here we go, the familiar hat-tipping segment… familiar “fire at Chi Ye” taste, too right bro!」
「……」
Because the film hasn’t been released yet, the comment section after the hype is a “dragon-tiger fight,” of course, both sides of the fight have traceable origins: one side is Chi Ye fans and team paid commenters, the other is various rival teams’ paid commenters…
But true bystanders and ordinary people don’t care about these.
They only saw the shocking 156-country copyrights of 《Influenza》 + the outrageous global premiere news, and through people abroad who really saw that 《Influenza》 premiere and the real feedback from audience movie fans afterward.
「Super super super super good! After watching, I can’t believe this is a film made domestically!」
「A Wolf Warrior who used to look down on Taiwan cried like an idiot after watching.」
「+1, but I’m from Taiwan, they all say 《Influenza》 is a commercial film, but the connotation and significance it represents truly transcend commercial films, no wonder it’s so hot at Cannes.」
「I can only say, Chi Ye never disappoints, Professor Chi who exploded across Asia, Zhao Tai whom people love and hate, national white moonlight Zhou Ye… this time it’s a new character—a ordinary yet great father, Zhang Lin.」
「Fortunate to see 《Influenza》’s premiere live at Cannes, truly shocking, feels like Chinese industrialized film finally made a qualitative progress.」
「Bro, did you really watch it? Is what’s said above true or fake? I’m going crazy, I want to watch it!」
「Yeah, I’ve been brainwashed by 《Influenza》 all day today… I feel like I’m going crazy too, I want to watch 《Influenza》 right now, is there a gun version, big shot please record one.」
「If they still don’t release it domestically, it’s really not our fault that the film industry can’t progress.」
「@GD, daily roast!!」
……
Time reaches midnight, the hot word #《Influenza》 156 Countries Global Premiere# has broken 20 million+ popularity, directly dominating the entire domestic internet, overshadowing the second place 《759 Bureau》 completely.
Audience and movie fans are going crazy over this news, various rivals of Chi Ye are continuously dumbfounded by this news, and as the “instigators” of this incident—Ke Ying, and the many “Big Brothers” who casually agreed to help Ke Ying out—are also dumbfounded.
——No, marketing accounts post what they post, why is official media like China Film Times joining the fun?!
Isn’t this purely slapping our faces??
We just “banned” 《Influenza》 on our end, and you explode how great 《Influenza》 is on yours… stirring internal strife, are you stirring internal strife?
Of course…
By this point, they also know this matter can’t be concealed, because the root cause of this incident is still 《Influenza》’s own “strength” holding up, tough enough.
So, it leads to the series of subsequent events.
Now, what they need to consider is how to face this incident of 《Influenza》.
“The cinema chain media outside are all reporting it, global 156 countries and regions simultaneous release, yet we as the ‘filming country’ actually ban 《Influenza》, don’t you think this is ridiculous?”
The next day, Zhang Hai slammed the table, resoundingly asking a crowd of Big Brothers: “Always shouting about impact impact, but this time’s impact, what are you going to do?!”
