Chapter 342 – Parenting Troubles (4)

April came quickly after March.

The first showing of Ye Zhen’s first movie was right around the corner. Chaoxun Entertainment paid a lot of attention to this. This was, after all, their first attempt at breaking into the entertainment circle. Whether they were successful or not would depend on the box office and word of mouth.

Naturally, the advertisements for Shen Weiyin’s The Ultimate Battle were also seen all over the place.

The amazing fight scenes, the incredible weapons and vehicles, and the mention of twists in the movie plot in the trailers perfectly piqued the audiences’ curiosity.

Many audiences were impressed the moment they saw the trailer and couldn’t wait till the day the movie was in theaters.

The media were invited to watch the movie a week before it was in theaters. All of the media that were invited wrote long reviews and raved about The Ultimate Battle. They praised it as the future of domestic films and that both its post-production effects and overall 3D effects were among the top in the industry.

According to the media, their special effects were almost as good as Hollywood’s.

With that from the media, the anticipation from the audiences went up even more.

On the other hand, the media were invited to Qinhuai’s Riverbank 4 days prior. The media who had attended the event remained silent afterward. There were neither praises nor criticisms, as though the entire event had never taken place.

That was a strange sight. Naturally, this attracted quite a bit of attention. Many mocked that Qinhuai’s Riverbank was so bad that the media refused to even talk about it. They told others to not waste their money.

Many agreed with that tune.

April 29, both Qinhuai’s Riverbank and The Ultimate Battle were in theaters on the same day.

Naturally, The Ultimate Battle, with its advertisement and anticipation from its fans, had its tickets sold out on the first midnight showing. Many netizens streamed the movie on Weibo and many waited online to see it.

Compared to The Ultimate Battle, Qinhuai’s Riverbank’s box office was pitiful, having almost no viewers at their midnight showing. The few who had bought tickets only did that for the sake of seeing exactly how awful the movie was.

The Ultimate Battle’s box office exceeded 100 million yuan on day one.

Qinhuai’s Riverbank brought in a measly 5 million yuan.

Even after an entire day, The Ultimate Battle’s box office crushed that of Qinhuai’s Riverbank’s.

When Director Ning Yang found out about their box office on day one, he gave Ye Zhen a call immediately and expressed how sorry he was to have disappointed the Lu Corporation after their investment and nurturing.

Ye Zhen, on the other hand, scrolled through Weibo and said with a smile, “Director Ning, you are jumping to conclusions too quickly. Why don’t you take a look at Weibo first?”

Ning Yang was taken aback a little and immediately opened up Weibo.

The box offices of the two movies were a stark contrast as was their reviews from their viewers.

Many of those who had seen The Ultimate Battle ranted that the movie was garbage. They said that all of its essence was included in the trailer, and the entire movie made no sense. The supporting characters had great acting, but the director’s reputation in the field had been ruined by this movie.

Many of the netizens angrily scolded the film critics who had raved about this movie. They said the critics only raved about the movie because they were paid to do so and wasted their time and money.

They were as disappointed as they were hopeful for the movie.

At the same time, some film critics on Qinhuai’s Riverbank began to surface.

Many of the fans, who went to watch the movie only to see how bad it was, said they cried so much that they had gone through two bags of tissues, and they apologized for bashing the movie in the past.

Many of the film critics that were invited to watch the movie ahead of time explained why they didn’t write about it sooner.

“I finished writing my review within 30 minutes after I had finished watching the movie. However, Ms. Ye, the producer, insisted that I remain silent until the release of the movie. As such, I had never said a word about it. It had been four days since I had finished the movie now, and I continued to feel emotional about it. I can’t believe that this was a movie made by a young director and a young producer. I am very grateful that they brought this movie to us. Thank you.”

More negative criticism on The Ultimate Battle and positive ones on Qinhuai’s Riverbank’s continued to mount.

Many felt that the positive reviews were nothing but water army hired by Ye Zhen, but there were also those who walked into a theater with doubts in their mind. As such, the box office began growing out of control.