Jiangnan had been quiet for a while after his last work, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes."
Then, he dropped an explosive piece of news.
"Journey to the West" was being dissected by literary critics and had reached peak popularity due to the TV series.
Downstream industries had even emerged, such as Sun Wukong masks and Ruyi Jingu Bang toys.
Countless online authors were also writing fanfiction for "Journey to the West."
Now, with Jiangnan's "A Chinese Odyssey" finally set to be released, fans were naturally ecstatic.
"Jiangnan, you old scoundrel, well done!"
"I remember 'The Chronicle of Gods and Demons' was also on August 6th, right?"
"That's right. When I got up in the middle of the night, I saw 'The Chronicle of Gods and Demons' topping the trending searches."
"Heh, anyone with a brain knows that trending topic was bought. The fans of Ting Yu received a notification last night and pushed that topic down to around twenty-something in just two minutes."
"Tsk, tsk, they even dared to snatch the number one trending spot from Mo Yan, which Ting Yu deliberately gave up."
"Is old scoundrel Jiangnan helping Ting Yu slap them in the face? He spoils them too much!"
Many people realized.
"The Chronicle of Gods and Demons" had just snatched the top spot from Ting Yu, and Jiangnan immediately announced the premiere of his film.
Why would you provoke them for no reason?
Isn't this like lifting a rock only to drop it on your own feet?
Bai Ye's "The Chronicle of Gods and Demons" was just a little brother in front of Jiangnan's "Journey to the West."
From the very beginning of filming "A Chinese Odyssey," Jiangnan had announced the news.
Coupled with the global popularity of "Journey to the West," this film, a derivative work, had fans eagerly awaiting it. However, Jiangnan's crew maintained their usual zero-publicity approach, with only a few fan-taken stills occasionally whetting their appetite.
Early this morning, Jiangnan updated his Weibo with the latest news. As soon as the premiere of "A Chinese Odyssey" was announced, everyone was thrilled!
Finally, you're here!
And, not too early, not too late, the announcement came at this specific time, with the premiere date coinciding with "The Chronicle of Gods and Demons."
Any fool could see this was a direct targeting of "The Chronicle of Gods and Demons."
As for the reason behind it,
It was obvious that Jiangnan was displeased with Chen Zhe's snatching of the trending topic.
"Your trending search for number one has expired. Please recharge."
"Hahaha, with such high popularity, it must cost a lot to grab the number one spot."
"Chen Zhe's fans suddenly went quiet. As expected of traffic fans."
"Originally, there weren't many strong contenders in August. 'The Chronicle of Gods and Demons' chose to release this month because Lightyear and Dingsheng, the two major companies, were planning to make a comeback with this film. Now they've directly provoked the formidable Jiangnan. Why would you provoke them..."
...
Lightyear Entertainment.
Conference room.
The executives had been in the meeting since morning and hadn't come out by noon.
Now, a few more people had joined them.
Li Hongyi, the Chairman of Lightyear Entertainment, sat in the main seat with an extremely grim expression. Beside him was Qi Shenghua, the Chairman of Dingsheng Entertainment.
Chen Zhe and his father lowered their heads, trembling.
"Who told you to snatch the trending topic?" Li Hongyi took a deep breath and asked calmly.
After speaking, he looked at Chen Zhe and his father.
"Mr. Li... Mr. Li, we were also thinking for the good of the film," Chen Hua explained with a wry smile.
"For the good of the film?" Li Hongyi sneered. "Do you think I'm an idiot, or is everyone else an idiot?"
Chen Hua and his son buried their heads even lower.
The matter was simple. Chen Hua, as the operations director, could use the budget at his discretion. Moreover, this trending topic was both movie promotion and promotion for his son Chen Zhe, so the two were not in conflict. However, the problem was that after spending money, they didn't maintain the trending spot for long, and were even pushed out of the top ten. Not only that, but Jiangnan's sudden targeting was likely also due to their purchase of the trending topic.
"Alright, it's happened. Let's not dwell on it," Qi Shenghua of Dingsheng Entertainment finally spoke.
He knew that Li Hongyi was putting on a show for him. Chen Hua was, after all, from Lightyear, and Lightyear had grievances with Mo Yan. Even if Chen Hua reported this matter to Li Hongyi, Li Hongyi would still agree to it.
Qi Shenghua, on the other hand, had no grievances with Mo Yan. In fact, because his main business was in the music industry, he needed to appease Mo Yan.
Li Hongyi's scolding of Chen Zhe and his father was just to make Qi Shenghua feel better.
"Jiangnan's film will at most snatch the premiere market. It's fine if the premiere performance isn't good; as long as the subsequent box office follows, we can still make money," Li Hongyi analyzed after some thought.
"Indeed, fortunately, there are no other competitors this month."
"Although it has affected the premiere reputation, it won't lead to a loss. We can still profit."
"According to the announced information, 'A Chinese Odyssey' has a total investment of only three hundred million, which is nothing compared to ours. With some hype later, we should be able to recover some of the reputation."
August originally had few opponents. Even with Jiangnan added, if they gave up on the premiere performance, there wouldn't be much impact on subsequent revenue. It was just a loss of reputation. As long as they could make money and not lose, everyone would accept it.
Moreover, the production costs of the two films were vastly different. "The Chronicle of Gods and Demons" was a major production with an investment of two billion, while "A Chinese Odyssey" had a total investment of only three hundred million. Therefore, they could recover their reputation through quality later.
This was the only way to think about it now.
After all, their opponent this time was Jiangnan.
And the film was a derivative work of "Journey to the West."
Losing was not shameful.
"Holy crap!!"
Just then, someone blurted out an expletive.
Everyone looked towards the source, which was Chen Zhe, who had been sitting silently.
He was holding his phone, his eyes wide, his face filled with shock.
"What are you doing?!" Li Hongyi frowned and shouted at him.
Chen Hua also shouted, "Can't you see everyone is in a meeting!"
Damn it, you brat, after finally settling things down, you're causing trouble again!
Chen Hua was cursing him in his heart.
"You... you guys look at the trending searches." Chen Zhe reacted and quickly said.
Everyone then took out their phones.
A new message suddenly appeared on the third trending search.
#Explosive news, there is more than one "A Chinese Odyssey." The one released in early August is called "A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box," and another one, "A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella," will be released in mid-August!#
"Holy crap!!"
"Holy crap!!"
"Hiss... Jiangnan wants us dead!"
"Damn it, this dog thief!!"
The conference room was filled with gasps of shock.
Another stab in the back!!
No one expected that this film would be split into two parts, and they were both filmed together!
Originally, with the upcoming National Day holiday, the August film market seemed a bit bleak. This was why "The Chronicle of Gods and Demons" chose to release in August.
But now, it seemed August would definitely be a battlefield!
Two films by Jiangnan, released with just enough time to cover the entire August schedule.
If it were just one film, "The Chronicle of Gods and Demons" could still have a market afterward, but now with two films released without any interval,
What chance did "The Chronicle of Gods and Demons" have?