IPCFS: Chapter 148 Part 1 – Extra Five White Peach and Berry

The Spring Festival period had always been the box office period with the most competitive movies. In addition to Demon Monk, this year had several blockbuster movies by famous directors. It was a large battle.

Before each movie was released, it was inevitable that some people would criticize it. It was just like ‘Demon Monk.’

After announcing the movie’s release date, there were many people who weren’t optimistic about it for a simple reason.

Before ‘Demon Monk’, three movies had been made in the Godslayer series. Each had a shorter and shorter production cycle.

If the first movie could be regarded as a classic blockbuster hit, then the second was only at a normal level. As for the third ‘Flower Demon’, it was the most controversial one.

Some people accused Director Xu Cheng of being exhausted and only knowing how to make this type of special effects mythological movie with low gold content. Apart from the special effects, the plot was simply a terrible mess!

Some people also gave him affirmation, thinking that Director Xu had created a new era of Chinese mythological stories. His advantages outweighed his disadvantages.

‘Flower Demon’ might have won the box office championship of the New Year’s period the year before, but the box office was much lower than the previous two movies.

In the beginning, there were many sunspots who joked that Director Xu Cheng was ‘slapping himself in the face’, and this time was no exception.

The combination of Xu Cheng + Ji Li was very fresh. The marketing in the promotion period was also hot. How could there be more than three movies in the same series that could be made well?

Come on!

Now that the pre-sales box office was this high, weren’t they afraid that the word of mouth would collapse after the movie was released? Wouldn’t it become a complete joke if it started high and ended low?

There were sunspots and opponents who were secretly speculating about the outcome. They didn’t expect that after the premiere of ‘Demon Monk’, the related hot search topics would directly soar into the top 10 of the hot search with the speed of a launched  rocket.

In the topic of #Demon Monk Movie#, many movie critics and netizens posted their ticket stubs. Praise and screams flooded the top of the topic.

[I will put my words here. This year’s box office champion is definitely ‘Demon Monk.’ There are good special effects + good plot + strong acting skills + a stable rhythm. I was immersed from the beginning to the end! Everyone must choose an IMAX big screen to watch it. The scenes with special effects are incredibly cool to watch! The scenes might be performed by a real person, but the visual effects don’t have the slightest sense of abruptness to them! I was quite shocked when I watched the movie.]

[It is rare for a person to play two roles, but Ji Li seems to have been born for these two characters! That was awesome! I screamed when I saw the demon monk appear, and I almost drooled when I saw the young holy monk in his memories! A really good actor has no boundaries when shaping characters!]

[Reporting to all Ji family fans! Ji Li’s performance in the movie is as good as ever! This time, there is finally a good ending, but I still advise all sisters to bring tissues. It is because water will flow out of your mouths!]

[I am willing to serve God Ji Li! From my perspective as an audience member, there is no actor in the same age group who can surpass Ji Li for the time being. This time, his demon monk made me feel something as a man. He is worthy of being recognized as the Yana Best Actor! I hope that he can win awards at the three major domestic awards ceremonies with this movie.]

[Is there anyone shipping Yan Su X Chen Yi? Or the demon and holy monk CP can also work! The Easter egg is too exciting!]

***

Clear praise filled the hot search topic, but all the statements that mentioned Ji Li’s name praised him as the leading actor.

There were many viewers who watched the premiere who said they had already bought tickets to watch it a second time. They couldn’t wait to rush into the cinema to watch it again!

Most of the people who came to watch the premiere were fans, so their credibility wasn’t high. This meant that the national release the next day was the true beginning of the word of mouth explosion of ‘Demon Monk.’

It reached the top of the Weibo hot search.

At noon, the movie had successfully exceeded 200 million at the box office if the pre-sales amount was added as well!

The movies in a series would only get worse and worse?

No! The crew of ‘Demon Monk’ used strength to hit the sunspots who weren’t optimistic about them! Everyone entered the theater to watch the movie excitedly. Then after it ended, they discussed it and bought another ticket excitedly!

Attendance was full. Even in the early hours of the morning when traffic was sluggish, the attendance rate could reach over 65%.

The box office of the movie exceeded 200 million on the first day and 600 million in three days. The comprehensive score was rated as high as 8.8 points, which was already the highest value in the history of special effects movies in China. It locked in the box office championship of the Spring Festival period early with an absolute advantage!

As the leading actor, Ji Li had undoubtedly become the biggest winner of this movie’s popularity.

Netizens who were concerned about the movie industry calculated Ji Li’s movie and television achievements since his debut, and their jaws were about to dislocate.

All his movie and television works after his debut had a comprehensive score of over 8 points!

He had attracted a lot of attention with his small supporting role in ‘Country and the World.’ Then he relied on the villain role in ‘Schemes of the Great Zong Dynasty Youth’ to stabilize his popularity and steadily walk forward.

There was Xiang Suian in ‘Time Lobbyist’ and Chen Xi in ‘Special Operations.’ They might not have been typical male protagonist roles, but the highlights that they contributed were memorable.

He starred as one of the double male protagonists of ‘Long Island Iced Tea’ and won the number one box office in North America for literary movies. Then he won Best Actor at the Yana International Film Festival in one fell swoop.

In addition, ‘Reverse Hunting’ and ‘Demon Monk’ had steadily exceeded two billion at the box office.

Counting the box office of the movies he participated in before, plus ‘Special Operations II’ that would be released later, it was only a matter of time before Ji Li became an actor with a box office of over ten million.

A fan sourly said that Ji Li was just lucky that he could encounter excellent co-actors and director crews every time. Most importantly, the help of his relationship with Qin Yue must have been indispensable for his career.

For such a sour denial, no matter whether they were passersby netizens or Ji Li’s fans, everyone chose to laugh it off. 

Just by pure luck? In addition, relying on Qin Yue?

The directors who worked with Ji Li all appreciated him. The actors who acted with Ji Li all praised him, and the staff members who got along with Ji Li all worshiped him.

In the eyes of all his collaborators, he had acting skills but still worked hard to improve. He had beauty, but he relied on his works to speak for him. He didn’t act terribly or arrogantly. He positively guided his fans.

In the three and a half years since he debuted, he starred in eight movie and television works, two popular commercials, and shot countless magazine shoots. Behind this number was a huge workload that ordinary people could hardly imagine.

If he wasn’t doing business, then he focused on filming.

He could rely on his works to generate attention and popularity. This was the markings of a really good actor!

Such evaluations occupied the posts of the entertainment marketing accounts and official media accounts. This pushed Ji Li’s popularity during this period to the top. As his fan circle continued to expand, he also established a solid and good popularity among passersby!

***

Director Xu Cheng was determined to make the box office of ‘Demon Monk’ bigger. Thus, he spent a lot on publicity.

During the one month release period, at least 20 days were arranged for roadshows in various cities.

Ever since the premiere in the capital, Ji Li and the other leading actors followed the schedule of nationwide theater publicity.

Sometimes, they needed to run to two or three theaters a day to interact with moviegoers.

Qin Yue and Ji Li’s movie promotion periods precisely staggered with each other.

During the time when Qin Yue ran overseas to promote the movie, Ji Li was resting at home and raising the cat and dog.

Now it was the other way around. Ji Li was busy while Qin Yue had fallen into a state of idleness.

Right now, it was the Spring Festival holiday, and Yuexing’s large team had gone home for the new year. Only a small portion of the artist teams were still busy. As long as there was no major public opinion, there was no need for Qin Yue, the boss, to come forward to manage them.

His lover wasn’t at home, and Qin Yue was too lazy to make a hearty lunch. He looked at the refrigerator full of light food and made some quick fat reduction meals.

It was boiled chicken breast and broccoli. It wasn’t appetizing at all.

Qin Yue had been exercising for many years and was used to such a bland taste. Even so, he took a photo of the food and sent it to Ji Li before eating.

[If you don’t come back, then I will be hungry and thin.]

Obviously, it was just a string of words, but some pitiful scheming could be seen from it.

Ji Li’s reply came quickly. It was also a photo, but the difference was that his lunch was extraordinarily sumptuous.

-Should I airdrop some for you?

Qin Yue’s appetite was aroused by the other person’s lunch. He picked up half a piece of tasteless chicken breast and replied.

-Then I’ll wait until you come back to feed me.

The two of them chatted with one another, but within five or six minutes, Ji Li was busy with the next movie promotion.

Qin Yue simply stopped the topic neatly. He didn’t want to disturb the other person’s work, so he had to put down his phone and stock up on a tasteless lunch.

Snow Cake was always sticky. This time, he was lazily basking in the sun in the nest at the bottom of the cat shelf.

Only Major General craved the taste of chicken breast. He sat beside Qin Yue and stared, his saliva almost falling to the ground.

Qin Yue took out a piece of meat snack common to cats and dogs and handed it to his gluttonous dog.

After Major General grabbed the food in his mouth, he wagged his tail and brought the jerky snack to the side of Snow Cake.

Snow Cake narrowed his eyes and leaned closer, licking the dog’s nose as a reward. The tail of Major General immediately wagged in a spiral and he was very happy.

Then within three seconds, he circled back and stared blankly.

His first reaction to getting delicious food was to hand it over to his cat husband. He wasn’t lacking to anybody in terms of this ideological consciousness.

Qin Yue laughed when he saw it. He had to take out another piece of chicken breast as a reward. Major General got the snack and immediately rushed to the edge of the cat’s nest without looking back. He didn’t have his father Qin Yue in his eyes at all.

“……”

Qin Yue was speechless and inexplicably felt a bit envious of the cat and dog.

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Proofreader: Azure