Chapter 1690: The first showdown!

Translator: Legge  Editor: Legge

On this day.

Hollywood.

Star Moon Animation Studios.

“Director.”

“This won’t do. Build the scene even larger.”

“You still want it larger?”

“Yes. Tom, how’s the progress on your side?”

“I’ve done it according to your requirements.”

“Let me have a look. Good, this is not bad at all. This is exactly the feeling I wanted to portray.”

“Director, I’ve finished one version of the soundtrack. Please listen to it.”

“This works, we’ll go ahead with it.”

“Teacher Chen and Teacher Shanshan have recorded the insert songs.”

“OK, let the production team animate the scene according to the insert song’s lyrics and rhythm.”

“Understood.”

The animated film’s production was in full swing.

And right at this time, one of the Hollywood directors who was involved in the bet with Zhang Ye premiered their movie. This director was called Hanson. He was also one of the more well-known directors in Hollywood and had many previous works under him. Some of these productions only performed average, while others did quite well. For his latest project, Hanson had painstakingly spent a year working on it. The public also had high hopes and was looking forward to watching the movie.

Ha Qiqi came looking for Zhang Ye with some statistics in hand.

Tong Fu said anxiously, “They’re premiering so early?”

Ha Qiqi said, “They started filming a long time ago. The production has been going on for a year already.”

Wu Yi said, “The first challenger has arrived!”

Zhang Ye casually smiled and said, “OK, got it.”

Zhang Zuo said in worry, “They’re really stepping up on their promotions and coming on very strong.”

Little Wang wickedly clasped her hands together and looked up to the sky. “Amitābha, Grand Supreme Elderly Lord 1 , abracadabra, may the Heaven’s bless this fellow to fuck up real badly.” She even made the sign of the cross as she closed off her “prayer.”

Zhang Ye said in a speechless manner, “Just which religion do you follow?”

Little Wang said bluntly, “I’ll follow whichever one that will make him fuck up. This is what is called ‘casting a wide net.’ There’s no harm in believing a few more gods. Surely one will respond to your prayers.”

…

Meanwhile.

The premiere ceremony began.

The guest lineup for the premiere of Hanson’s new movie was a grand one. Many of Hollywood’s directors had come in a show of support, while many Hollywood movie stars and key creative teams also attended. The ceremony also attracted countless media reporters from all around the world. As this was the first battle between the Hollywood directors and Zhang Ye, everyone would be very concerned about it.

Very soon, it was time for the Q&A session.

A reporter said, “How do you view the bet you’ve with Zhang Ye?”

Hanson laughed and said, “I think with just my movie alone, it’ll be enough to make it his loss.”

A female American reporter asked, “Are you that confident?”

Hanson let out a chuckle. “Our opponent is just an animated film. Surely everyone knows that Zhang Ye can’t win, right? So of course I’m confident of winning. I’ll also be waiting for Zhang Ye to carry out his promise. As a newcomer to Hollywood, he started feuding with all of our Hollywood directors on the first day he arrived. We’ll let him know what an unwise move that was and also show him that this isn’t China but Hollywood!”

A few of the Hollywood directors led the applause.

Some of the actors also broke into uproarious laughter.

…

The UK.

“It’s premiering!”

“I managed to buy tickets.”

“I’m waiting to see how this sci-fi movie will turn out.”

“Hanson hasn’t made any new films in two years. He’ll be staking everything on this movie.”

“I love sci-fi movies.”

…

France.

“Me, the Extraterrestrial?”

“The title sounds attractive.”

“I watched the trailer and thought that it was quite good.”

“Cool, I’m gonna watch it.”

“You’d have to buy the tickets quick. The premiere is today.”

…

Japan.

“Supporting Hanson!”

“I like the style of his movies.”

“I’m supporting Hanson as well. Even though I’ve never watched his movies before, I really dislike Zhang Ye.”

“High five, me too!”

“Unless Zhang Ye makes a One Piece, Naruto, or Dragon Ball movie, I’ll be resolutely boycotting him!”

…

India.

“I must watch the movie!”

“Zhang Ye is destined to have to quit Hollywood.”

“Let’s contribute some box office earnings to Hanson.”

“Haha, I might not know who he is, but I’ll definitely support whoever challenges Zhang Ye.”

…

China.

“How are we dealing with this, bros?”

“Are we going to watch it or not?”

“Why would you watch it! I’m definitely not watching it!”

“I’ve decided that I won’t be watching any Hollywood movies for the rest of the year!”

“Yeah, I’ll wait until Frozen screens!”

“Motherfucker, have you guys seen the video taken at Hanson’s movie premiere? Listen to what he said. What does he mean by ‘this isn’t China’? Isn’t he clearly looking down on us?”

“All the foreigners have such an attitude!”

“We should really show them the glorious tradition of China!”

“Ah? What tradition does China have?”

“Watching the world burn, of course! Aren’t they looking to fight Zhang Ye? Aren’t they competing on box office earnings? Fuck, so what if he’s making an animated film? Even if Face-smacking Zhang shoots a shitty movie, we’ll still make him into a god! All I want to see is how much trouble Face-smacking Zhang can stir up in international showbiz!”

“Haha, good one!”

“Right, let’s make Face-smacking Zhang a god!”

“Fight it out with them!”

“It’s time we sent the shit stirrer up onto the altar!”

…

At the movie premiere.

The reviews were excellent.

The media published their reviews of the movie.

There were also detailed analysis from the professional film critics.

“One of the rare sci-fi movies to screen in the year!”

“A deep plot with great visuals.”

“One of this year’s most outstanding sci-fi films! A worthy watch!”

“Hanson could be deified once again with this movie!”

The box office earnings for the day were released.

North America: 13 million USD

The UK: 2 million USD

France: 1.2 million USD

Japan: 3.7 million USD

The Netherlands: 600,000 USD

Korea: 1.8 million USD

India: 2.9 million USD

The box office earnings were astonishing!

It was even performing very well in a country like India where the foreign film market was suffering from a downturn!

When the box office data was revealed, many people got excited by what they saw!

…

The Hollywood directors.

“Hahaha!”

“We’ve already won!”

“Zhang Ye can’t surpass Hanson’s first-day box office earnings even with his total box office earnings!”

“Yeah, victory has been secured!”

“It’s been secured before it even started. Did you people really think that an animated film could make a splash? That won’t happen even if it were made by the same Zhang Ye who directed Wolf Warrior 2 and Man vs. Wild!”

“There are still a few countries that haven’t calculated their earnings yet.”

“How I wish I could see Zhang Ye’s expression right now.”

…

Hanson’s crew.

“This is so awesome!”

“It’s on fire! On fire!”

“We’ve finally proved ourselves!”

“Director Hanson, congratulations!”

“There’s a chance that the first-day box office earnings can break 30 million dollars!”

“Which other countries have not released their box office earnings yet?”

“There are still Russia and China.”

“We don’t have to consider Russia since their film market isn’t good. But the film market in China is really strong. They’re recognized as the second largest box office market in the world.”

“Director Hanson, the box office earnings for China is out!”

“How much did we get?”

“5 million!”

“It’s a little low, but I guess it’s still not bad.”

“It’s not that, director!”

“Not what?”

“It’s…it’s 5 million yuan!”

“What? Why is it so low?”

“How can that be possible? Haven’t the Chinese always been big admirers of Hollywood movies?”

What was 5 million RMB?

It was only about 800,000 USD!

Not comparing it to America, or even Japan, it wasn’t even close to the figure that they had earned in Korea? It was only around the same as the Netherlands that had a much lower population?

Everyone was speechless. But upon further thought, they understood the reason. It must have had something to do with Zhang Ye. Their ongoing challenge against Zhang Ye, as well as their attitude towards China and the Chinese businessman’s attempted acquisition of the Hollywood studio, had all seriously broken many of the Chinese people’s hearts.

The Chinese box office earnings?

Perhaps they had expected too much of it right from the beginning.

Hanson’s crew was outraged.

“The Chinese are too vengeful!”

“The mindset and thinking of Easterners are indeed too different from us Westerners.”

“We’re still doing well at the box office anyway!”

“Yeah, we’ve gotten 28 million dollars for our first-day box office earnings!”

“Estimate whether we can bring in 200 to 300 million dollars for the global box office earnings.”

“It should be doable. It might even be higher; we can aim for 400 million!”

“It’s only a matter of time before Zhang Ye leaves Hollywood!”

“The mess that’s going on in Hollywood and China’s unstable box office is all because of Zhang Ye. If it weren’t for him, Hollywood would be so peaceful. Right now, Zhang Ye is the only Chinese celebrity with international influence. He’s China’s treasure, so every move that he makes will have a very large effect on the Chinese box office.”

“Although we might have lost the Chinese box office, we still managed to rid the world of evil!”

“That’s right. As long as we can chase Zhang Ye out of Hollywood, any price that we pay will be worth it!”

“Actually, if we think of it in another way, we might’ve gained something out of Zhang Ye this time.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you say that?”

“Just look for yourselves. Although the Chinese box office earnings are not high, our box office earnings in India, Japan, Korea, and many other countries are surprisingly good. Some of those regions’ box office performances even exceeded their previous records for a Hollywood movie. We’ve never had a Hollywood release with such high earnings before. Clearly, this shows that Zhang Ye has many enemies around the world. It was because of him that those people who never used to spend a single cent watching Hollywood movies went to the theaters to watch our movie!”

“Hey, that’s true!”

“Yeah, it is like that!”

“The box office earnings in India are ridiculous!”

“Fuck, just how many people has that Zhang Ye guy offended!”

Everyone was overwhelmed with emotion.

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