Golden Agent of the Adonis (140)
The Quest for Immortality invested 200 million and broke 900 million yuan in the first week, achieving impressive results. This was especially remarkable considering that in recent years, the popularity of fantasy martial arts TV shows and movies has been relatively low. There haven’t been as many interested viewers. However, a week later, positive reviews poured in from all sides, and scores of viewers who had previously ignored this film started going to the theaters.
Instead of experiencing a decline, the box office of The Quest for Immortality showed a steady upward trend.
This success was largely due to the devoted efforts of the “Chu Family Fans.” This was the first film by Fang Zhenxuan, and even when he was still filming, a group of law students organized a publicity plan called the Legal Corps to promote the movie. They were not just blowing their own horn when they claimed to be adept at analyzing and devising solutions. For several months, they diligently analyzed successful movie promotion cases, studied film reviews, audience psychology, and publicity materials, among other things.
As soon as the film was released, they presented a meticulously refined publicity plan. They immediately provided numerous high-quality reviews and invited well-known cinephiles and movie enthusiasts to watch the film, writing fair and objective reviews. At the same time, they prepared hundreds of high-quality comments to promote the movie in all discussions related to it. They didn’t just promote Fang Zhenxuan but rather concisely highlighted the strengths of the film in each argument.
They also created multiple dynamic movie GIFs, featuring captivating scenes and close-ups of enchanting smiles or tearful moments from the film. This not only aroused people’s curiosity about the plot but also showcased the actors’ superb acting skills. As a result, even those who were initially undecided about watching the movie felt compelled to go to the theater.
The fans went above and beyond, showing the unity and discipline of the Chu Family fans. Their organized and harmonious actions astonished the entire entertainment industry. Such a powerful, rational, and harmonious fan base was truly unprecedented and worthy of admiration. If all fan groups in the entertainment industry could be like the Chu Family, there wouldn’t be so much negativity and discord online.
The impact of these fan activities was enormous. As a result, The Quest for Immortality received rave reviews, and viewers spontaneously recommended it to people around them. Many promotional materials were also compiled by the Legal Corps. In the end, the film achieved a box office of 3.6 billion yuan, becoming a box office legend in the fantasy martial arts genre and receiving immense popularity.
While people were marveling at the fact that a good film could be made even with a cold theme, they also brought up the discussion about the power of popularity. The massive fan promotion event for Fang Zhenxuan exemplified the power of fame. If Fang Zhenxuan didn’t have such a high level of popularity, it wouldn’t have been possible for The Quest for Immortality to break 900 million yuan in the first week, before word of mouth had spread. It was a domino effect— If the first week didn’t have such outstanding results, there might not have been such positive reviews and high box office performance in the later weeks. Even the director himself didn’t expect the box office to reach 3.6 billion yuan.
However, when discussing the power of popularity, one of the top stars, Xia Ze, only had a box office of 200 million yuan for his film last year. It could be said that the box office failure of that film led people to conclude that the era of popularity had become a thing of the past. It was because of that film’s failure to recoup its costs that Xia Ze received unfavorable resources this year. He even had to play supporting roles in good dramas to create representative work.
When discussing popularity, it was inevitable for people to compare Xia Ze and Fang Zhenxuan. The comparison video of their auditions for Plot Twist that was posted earlier was once again widely shared, and netizens have reached a new conclusion: Popularity is good, but there is one condition, which is effective popularity. In other words, artists must have strong abilities that make fans willing to take practical actions to support them and attract audiences who recognize the artist, converting them into actual box office results.
In simple terms, artists must have a solid foundation in their skills for their popularity to have a positive effect. Otherwise, like Xia Ze, even if fans passionately promoted him, the general public was not interested in supporting him. His popularity served only to fuel online conflicts. Just look at how people’s impression of his fans had deteriorated.
If an artist didn’t give fans confidence, they couldn’t present substantial evidence when arguing with others.
Because Xia Ze was brought up in comparison to Fang Zhenxuan, his fans were outraged. They believed that their idol was being unfairly criticized and that it must be a conspiracy against Fang Zhenxuan, so they focused their attacks on him.
Before, Chu Xiang had sued hundreds of fans of theirs. This kind of lawsuit usually dragged on for several rounds before it was resolved, and she only recently obtained the results. Seeing Xia Ze’s fans constantly hurling insults, she didn’t want her own fans to get entangled with them. That was why she chose this moment to announce the result of the lawsuit.
The court ruled that the fans must publicly apologize on Weibo, clearly stating the cause and effect, and their attitude must be sincere.
Consequently, within three days, hundreds of Xia Ze’s fans posted on Weibo. They explained how they spread rumors and insulted Fang Zhenxuan, and clearly expressed that they were in the wrong, offering a sincere apology to Fang Zhenxuan.
Numerous marketing accounts immediately reposted the screenshots of the apologies arranged in a grid format, with each image containing multiple apology posts, covering almost all the apologizing fans. The fans of the Chu Family also wholeheartedly reposted to clarify the situation and generously expressed forgiveness, hoping that they would be more cautious and law-abiding in the future.
What a phrase, “be cautious and law-abiding,” perfectly in line with the characteristics of the Legal Corps. This successfully pushed the matter to the hot search.
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