Huayu: This producer has no bottom line.

Chapter 49 An Opportunity

On December 10th, "A Simple Noodle Story" was released.

Ren Pingsheng led everyone to the movie theater to learn from the experience on the second day.

This is Zhang Yimou's first work after his personal reputation reached its peak.

With Zhang Yimou's collaboration with today's hottest comedians, Xiao Shenyang and Zhao Bensan, along with veteran actors Sun Honglei and Yan Ni, and a script already proven successful, there was no sign of failure.

However, reality is always so unexpected.

More expectation, more disappointment.

As the movie ended and the lights came on, Da Peng looked completely bewildered: "Ping Sheng, what's wrong with the Imperial Advisor...?"

Before he could finish speaking, the surrounding curses had already finished his sentence for him.

"Give me my money back! Zhang Yimou, you son of a bitch, come out here and give me my money back!"

"What the hell is this? Are they putting on a two-person comedy show?"

"He even uses a sissy voice in movies, it's really irritating."

Storytelling has never been Zhang Yimou's forte, and this time he showed no improvement whatsoever.

They spent a fortune to acquire the adaptation rights to "Blood Simple," but only borrowed the basic framework of the story. The entire film spends half an hour arguing before finally getting into the main plot.

The boss hires a killer, Sun Honglei commits murder, and Yan Ni tries to save herself—a very simple storyline told in a straightforward manner, without any twists or hidden plots. It completely abandons the coincidences and suspense of "Blood Simple" and lacks any dramatic tension.

Xiao Shenyang's performance was almost unremarkable, while Zhao Bensan's cross-eyed general was quite good, but unfortunately, he only had three minutes of screen time.

Although the vast majority of people were criticizing it, Ren Pingsheng found it quite interesting.

Whether a movie is bad or not depends on what you compare it to. Compared to "To Live", it's definitely terrible.

But for Ren Pingsheng, who has experienced the baptism of later generations of low-quality, low-quality films and poorly made green-screen dramas, this film is actually watchable. At least the visuals are decent, and a few scenes can be enjoyed as lighthearted comedy sketches.

But why did Zhang Yimou insist on choosing a dark suspense film with no entertainment value to adapt into a Lunar New Year comedy?

This created the opportunity that Ren Pingsheng had been waiting for.

……

Friday, December 11

At 10:00 AM, the second episode of "Report to the Boss," titled "The Sound of the Wind," was released on Youku.

At the same time, the second episode of "Men's Diary 2" was released ahead of schedule, chasing and killing.

The data shows subtle changes in the growth rates on both sides.

Within four hours of its release, "The Loser 2" garnered 1.1 million views, still dominating the charts.

However, compared to the same period of the first episode, it dropped by nearly 30%.

"Report to the Boss" garnered 520,000 views, nearly 60% higher than the 330,000 views of the first episode during the same period.

Online opinions are also beginning to shift.

"I checked Bai Baihe's shoes on Taobao; they cost 4,800 yuan. Shoes costing 4,800 yuan paired with a car worth tens of millions—it really makes sense."

"The more I look at it, the more something feels off. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something's missing."

"What's missing? The flavor of poverty."

The art style of "Report to the Boss" is completely different.

"I was watching this at my workstation and almost got caught by my boss, but luckily I had set up a 'boss's button' (meaning I could hide the camera from everyone)."

"The second episode was even more intense than the first. The parody of 'The Sound of the Wind' really broke my nerves with its internal monologue of a working-class person."

"Who is that woman in the cheongsam in the trailer? The full movie only shows her profile and lips, but you know what, her figure is absolutely stunning, especially in that shot where she's crossing her legs and hooking her high heels..."

That's right, Ren Pingsheng didn't show Ni Ni's face in the final cut.

That's exactly the effect he wanted—a mysterious, half-concealed allure that only makes things more captivating.

The trailer shows her back, the full movie shows her profile, when will her whole face be shown?

This is the most basic traffic secret in the short video era: create suspense and let the audience spread the word for you.

In the following days, Ren Pingsheng kept a close eye on public opinion on the Internet, especially on Weibo.

This platform, which is not yet bustling, is about to be engulfed in a massive fire.

Han Han started the fire.

He posted a movie review on Weibo.

"I give 'A Simple Noodle Story' a score of 1 point. This 1 point is an encouragement for Zhang Yimou's decision to abandon the large-scale casting strategy and for the decent performances of some actors in the film. This is a movie that is more suitable for screening in county towns of third-tier cities. My only feeling after watching the movie is that the actors trained by Zhao Benshan are not very good at walking."

Hong Huang, a Beijing socialite born into a prestigious family, followed closely behind and was even more ruthless.

"This film is so vulgar, it's an insult to intelligence. I suggest lowering the ticket price and showing it in rural areas."

The two bombs were dropped, and public opinion exploded.

On Tianya, Mop, Tieba, and every other place where arguments could take place, war broke out simultaneously, with the pro-Zhang and anti-Zhang factions fighting each other to the death.

"Who does Han Han think he is? A writer who understands film?"

"Just because you don't understand movies doesn't mean you can't say they're bad? I paid for them, don't I even have the right to criticize them?"

"The Imperial Advisor is the Imperial Advisor. Do you people even have the right to comment on him?"

"Whether it's a good match or not, I don't know, but my forty dollars is enough."

Ren Pingsheng scrolled through these blog posts and threads from beginning to end, his lips curling into a wider smile.

"Since you all like taking sides so much, then I'll help you stir things up even more."

He opened his account and uploaded a new video.

I didn't analyze "A Simple Noodle Story" nor did I criticize Zhang Yimou.

He cunningly took screenshots of Han Han and Hong Huang's comments and edited them together with funny scenes of Xiao Shenyang in "A Simple Noodle Story" and shots of passersby laughing heartily in the theater.

The accompanying text was extremely ironic:

"When 'A Simple Noodle Story' was released, the whole internet was criticizing Zhang Yimou for ruining his reputation in his later years."

"Prominent media figures said it was only suitable for screening in county towns, that it was an insult to intelligence. The cultural elites were furious; they felt betrayed by the national strategist."

"But are they really angry about how bad the movie is?"

"No, what angered them was that Zhang Yimou had stopped trying to please them."

"When the national director humbled himself and made a movie that made ordinary people laugh out loud in the cinema, the elites suddenly realized that in the eyes of capital, their refined aesthetics were no match for the real money brought by the sinking market."

"The box office exceeded 100 million yuan in four days, which shows the power of the lower-tier market."

"What is vulgarity? Does anything that doesn't conform to elite aesthetics count as vulgar?"

"Or is it that the happiness of most people isn't true happiness?"

After posting the video, Ren Pingsheng switched to Weibo and posted his second blog post since opening the account.

IP + Celebrity = Box Office?

After sending it, he moved the mouse to the address bar and typed in a website address.

That's eName's transaction backend.

On the screen, three domain names are listed, with the latest inquiry record dating back three days.

Two million.

Ren Pingsheng glanced at it and closed the page.

Let's wait and see, until they realize just how much this thing called Weibo is really worth.