After Boss Huang and Cameron’s figures hurried away, two film critics sitting in the front row exclaimed, "I didn't expect even Cameron to show up!"
"Yeah, I wonder what Cameron thinks of this movie. Do you think Cameron might be interested in filming a superhero movie too?" one critic asked curiously.
"That should be impossible... I don't remember Cameron ever showing any interest in superhero movies!"
"Alright, never mind Cameron. What do you think of this Iron Man movie?"
"It's pretty good, even better than Spider-Man, which was released two years ago. I must say, this Tony Stark is quite different from all previous superhero templates. There are indeed many innovations," one critic said.
"I think the quality is average. It still doesn't go beyond the scope of all superhero movies; it's still the old routine!" the other critic said with disdain.
"Enough, let's go back and write our reviews. The editor will be chasing us!" As the two critics were about to leave, two people suddenly walked up to them. These people, with smiles all over their faces, handed them a document and said, "Hello sirs, we are investigators from Fanqie Net. Could we trouble you to fill out a rating survey for this movie?"
"Fanqie Net?" The two critics were taken aback upon hearing the website's name, as they had never heard of it before and had no idea what kind of website it was.
However, the two investigators quickly introduced themselves, explaining that Fanqie is a newly established, professional cultural review website.
It specializes in rating all cultural products, including movies, TV shows, animations, books, and anything that outputs culture.
According to the investigators, Fanqie is a professional platform that only collects ratings from professionals. That's why they specifically came to the premiere to invite the attending film critics to rate the movie. Their ratings would then be posted on the website for all audiences to refer to.
"That's not bad!" The two critics couldn't help but feel a little excited upon hearing this, as such a professional rating website had never appeared before.
There were already rating websites online, but these were generally for the masses. There had never been a website specifically for collecting ratings from professionals, which had made many professionals feel quite disgruntled.
This was because products that professionals considered to be failing, often not even scoring 6 points, could get ratings of 9 points or higher on mass-oriented websites. It was seen as a desecration of art, and their own aesthetic sensibilities were definitely different from those of the common folk.
As this situation continued to develop, it reached a point where the evaluations from mass rating websites and professional critics were completely opposite. Anything that the public deemed good, professionals would criticize, thereby showcasing their superior taste.
However, this situation was confined to a small scope. Now that a professional rating website had emerged to differentiate itself from these mass media platforms, these professionals were very excited and happy.
Therefore, the two film critics readily provided their comprehensive ratings for the movie on the survey form, even writing a brief review of several hundred words.
However, since these were professional evaluations, it was natural to authenticate and bind the identity of each professional on the website. Thus, the two investigators also produced a registration form, inviting the two professionals to fill it out and register their real identities.
Upon seeing this requirement, the two professionals became a little worried. If their real identities were exposed online, wouldn't that attract cyberbullying?
The two investigators, noticing the professionals' concerns, immediately reassured them, stating that they could choose not to use their real names and identities on the website, but rather use a special alias for logging into the film review site.
This sounded no different from an ordinary website account. However, the investigators explained that while the names would be hidden, the website would specifically tag the accounts with labels indicating their profession, work, and some of their highest achievements, essentially highlighting how capable and professional the person behind the account was.
Furthermore, the website strictly prohibited public registration and did not offer online registration. The only way to become a registered user of the website was for the site's investigators to communicate with professionals in person, verify their identities, and then register them. This ensured the authenticity of these labels.
Hearing this, the two critics confidently began filling out the registration forms and became registered members of Fanqie Net.
A similar situation occurred elsewhere. Fanqie Net dispatched nearly a hundred investigators to survey and interview professionals throughout the Grand China Theatre, inviting them to fill out registration forms.
Although some people refused, about half of them readily completed the registration forms and became registered members of the newly established Fanqie Net.
Indeed, a website that only professionals were qualified to register for gave off a sense of high prestige, much like Bihu in its early days.
***
"Boss, the survey results from Fanqie Net at the scene have been compiled. The average rating from all professionals is 6.2 points!" That evening, upon returning to the hotel, Boss Huang received the latest statistical results from Fanqie Net from Hu Jing.
However, Fanqie Net was not a website under Boss Huang's management. It was a website established by the US Priority Group and was nominally unrelated to Boss Huang.
Of course, this was only in name.
"Why is it so low?" Hearing the final score of 6.2 points, Boss Huang was somewhat surprised. Douban, for example, had given Iron Man a high score of 8.4. How could it only be 6.2 points in the eyes of American professionals?
Could someone be sabotaging his movie?
Actually, Boss Huang was overthinking. When Iron Man was first released in 2008, the rating given by American professionals was 6.2 points, the same as the current score.
It was only later, with the increasing influence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that Iron Man, as the inaugural film, received a lot of sentimental points, and its score gradually rose to the current 7.9 points.
In contrast, China's Douban gave Iron Man a high score of 8 points right at its release, truly living up to its reputation.
"Forget it, it doesn't matter. These reviews are not important!" Boss Huang casually tossed aside the survey data and directly stated, "Tomorrow, when Fanqie officially releases its scores, let's set it at 8 points!"
The rest will proceed according to the normal promotional plan!
"Yes!" Hu Jing nodded and began making arrangements.
Meanwhile, after registering as members of Fanqie Net, many film critics' first action upon returning home was to log onto Fanqie Net with their computers and enter their registered accounts. They found that Fanqie Net was incredibly fast, and their accounts had already been successfully registered.
At the same time, their accounts displayed the scores they had given to all movies. However, only Iron Man currently showed a scored result.
"According to that investigator, I can also rate previously released movies!" The critics began browsing other works on Fanqie Net that they could rate.
At this point, it was evident that Fanqie Net was still in its nascent stages, so the number of items available for rating was limited. Movies that could be rated were around 1,000, but they basically covered the major works since the inception of cinema.
As for movies not yet covered, the official statement was that they would be added gradually.
However, it didn't matter. Many film critics felt their fingers itching and began rating these yet-to-be-rated films.
After all, as professional film critics, they felt restless if they didn't give a score to movies they liked or disliked.
Especially when they discovered that many movies, due to a low number of ratings, displayed strangely low or high scores, their dissatisfaction grew even greater.
Thus, overnight, Fanqie Net, which had only been established for about a week, finally saw a surge of large-scale rating activity. Approximately over a hundred film critics rated and reviewed an average of over 200 films, causing the scores on Fanqie Net to undergo a drastic change.
However, because Iron Man had just premiered, Fanqie Net had not yet publicly released its score, which remained an unknown symbol.
But soon, by the afternoon of the following day, Fanqie Net publicly released the professional rating for Iron Man. A total of 862 professionals had rated the film, and the final score was 8.0 points, ranking it first on the list of all superhero movies.
This was also one of the interesting aspects of Fanqie Net: it ranked movies based on various tags.
"No way, this movie Iron Man can get 8 points?" Many professional film critics were bewildered by this score.
Fortunately, the biggest difference between Fanqie Net and mass rating websites was that by clicking on a score, one could see the specific scores given by all accounts that rated the movie.
The film critics quickly found their own accounts; their rating of 6 was indeed correct. However, among the 800 accounts, most had given scores of around 8-9 points, which had raised the overall score to 8 points.
Upon clicking to view these 8-point ratings, some accounts used real names, while others used pseudonyms. However, the credential tags were very diverse, including film critic, filmmaker, and even several film directors and executives from film companies.
Most conspicuous was a real-name verified account belonging to James Cameron, who had given the movie a score of 8.1 points, one point higher than the average.
Seeing this, many critics who had initially felt something was amiss were instantly convinced. If even Cameron gave such a high score, then this Iron Man must truly be good!