The more he thought about it, the more ambitious Chen Yan felt.

After all, being able to directly change an entire industry and eradicate its chronic problems was a grand feat.

As for whether it would lead to a monopoly and cause the government to intervene,

Chen Yan thought... he wasn't even close to having a monopoly yet, worrying about it was too premature.

Moreover... he wasn't preventing other film companies from developing or deliberately setting industry barriers, but creating his own industry system.

Generally speaking, this wasn't enough to reach the level of anti-monopoly.

Thinking this, Chen Yan looked at Yang Rou.

Then he realized that ever since he got this plan, Yang Rou seemed to have been watching him.

Her gaze was intense, as if she had found new passion and goals to strive for.

Even her usually calm face couldn't help but show a bit of excitement.

Chen Yan nodded seriously and then said, "Let's give it a try!"

Yang Rou reached out her hand, "Let's try!"

Their hands joined together.

Yang Rou's hand was soft and boneless, yet burning hot…

Yang Rou's plan was actually very simple.

In fact, it was no different from what Chen Yan was currently doing.

It was basically divided into two steps.

The first step was to build their own brand and industry system.

The second step, defeat film companies like Xu Brothers and overthrow the old corrupt system.

So it was less about Yang Rou creating a plan for Chen Yan to dominate the entertainment industry, and more about helping Chen Yan sort out the order of the plan and giving him a target.

Previously, Chen Yan targeted Xu Brothers simply as a "counter-offensive."

Initially, Xu Brothers were oppressing both Chen Yan and Lu Man. Later, Xu Brothers took the initiative to target Chen Yan's company.

After that, Xu Brothers took refuge with Zhao Group and then challenged Chen Yan with financial backing.

Chen Yan didn't plan to let them off. But he was also a bit confused: what was the point of defeating them?

Apart from revenge, making himself feel better, he wouldn't gain anything.

In this profit-driven society, acting out of temper seemed rather childish.

So, at that time, Chen Yan's reason was just one: happiness.

Being suppressed by Xu Brothers all the time, Chen Yan was unhappy.

But if he could crush them, Chen Yan could gain happiness,

Now, however, Yang Rou had found this reason for Chen Yan.

This made Chen Yan suddenly see the way forward, knowing what to do and how to do it….

With a goal set, Chen Yan's initiative had indeed strengthened considerably.

He once again invested himself enthusiastically in the company's operations.

The money earned from Hong Kong was continuously poured into several companies.

Especially Chenlu Film Company and the brokerage firm, two key businesses where Chen Yan was investing almost without limits, leading to their thriving development.

As time passed,

After Chenlu Film Company had unleashed its potential, Xu Brothers seemed to gamble everything to keep up.

Thus, even before the release of "Medicine God" and "Magic City Fortress," the presales had already broken through two hundred million and three hundred million respectively.

Two hundred million for "Medicine God," three hundred million for "Magic City Fortress."

With top-tier celebrity participation and the first large-scale domestic science fiction film, it was brought by the well-established Xu Brothers Film Company. So when audiences chose their first film, they were naturally more inclined towards them.

However, what clearly should have stirred Chenlu's fans, didn't cause much of a stir in the industry.

The industry had been intimidated by Chen Yan's consistent success. Counting the events since Chen Yan entered the industry, they found he had succeeded in every venture.

Moreover, since it was just presales and not yet released, who knew if there would be another twist?

So, they preferred to let the bullets fly for a while and wait for Chenlu Film's movie to flop upon release before they mocked.

Thus, time moved on.

Finally, summer vacation arrived.

Every summer vacation was a feast for the film industry, especially in theaters, where battles were fiercely fought every year.

However, this year was obviously special.

What used to be a flourishing variety of films was now a duel between two titans.

"Medicine God" and "Magic City Fortress" dominated most of the promotional resources preceding their releases, which resulted in almost no promotional opportunities for other films.

Thus, it also led to these two films having a crazy share of 43% and 46% in screenings.

Together, they accounted for 89% of the screenings.

The other seven or eight new and old films shared only the remaining 11%.

So, on the first day of the summer vacation slot, most of the audience in cinemas nationwide came to watch "Medicine God" and "Magic City Fortress"…

In Tiandu,

"Magic City Fortress" screening hall.

The domestic audience is endearing, always doing their part in supporting domestic films.

Thus, due to the overwhelming previous promotions, many had believed "Magic City Fortress" was truly a pioneering domestic sci-fi film and chose to support it.

The cinema hall was nearly full before the film even started.

Inside the hall, it was a bit noisy, everyone discussing their expectations for the film.

Soon, the screen lit up, the lights around dimmed slowly, and the movie began.

The audience gradually stopped speaking and gazed intently at the screen, waiting for the film to play.

The screen began to display the dragon logo, opening credits, and a minute later, a huge title of "Magic City Fortress" appeared on the screen!

As time ticked by, every viewer was watching intently.

Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes passed.

Many in the audience began to frown.

Twenty minutes, thirty minutes passed.

The cinema hall started to buzz softly.

Continuing like this, the expressions on the viewers' faces became increasingly strange and troubled.

The movie ended.

Everyone was a bit stunned.

That's it?

What did we just watch?

What kind of film was this?

Is this a sci-fi movie?

Although it had explosions, mechs, and alien invasions, it all felt oddly off.'

These were the more benign thoughts from kinder viewers.

But some, who were just out of the movie and had quick tempers, were almost furious.

Bringing their kids during the vacation to support a domestic sci-fi movie, and this is what they got?

Some hot-tempered guys stood up and cursed, "What the hell is this? Is this a sci-fi movie?"

The screen was still displaying the ending credits and crew list.

At that moment, the irony was palpable.

Amid the cursing and gloomy mood, "Magic City Fortress" viewers left the theater.

Then… they met audiences coming out from "Medicine God" screening.

That theater's viewers also looked low-spirited, heads down, faces somber.

For a moment, "Magic City Fortress" viewers felt somewhat balanced mentally.

Looks like… the other film wasn't good either.

Choosing between the two, it seems not the wrong choice.

However, when they reached the cinema exit and encountered staff conducting a survey, they realized they might have misunderstood something.

"Hello. May I ask you a few quick questions? Here's a gift for you."

"Sure."

"Sure."

"What movie did you watch?"

"Magic City Fortress."

"Medicine God."

"How did you feel about the movie?"

A hot-tempered viewer from "Magic City Fortress," "Feel? I have only one thing to say: screw this! Refund! Refund!"

After the hot-tempered man shouted, he looked towards a "Medicine God" viewer.

Wanting to see if he was as agitated as himself.

However... he heard the viewer sigh deeply and say, "I think 'Medicine God' is genuinely the best movie I've seen in the past three to four years. It's a masterpiece."

"It had humor, tears, thought, and depth."

"The only problem is, it was a bit depressing."

"For domestic cinema to produce such a masterpiece is a significant advancement."

"I hope more such outstanding domestic films emerge in the future."

The survey staff accurately recorded this viewer's comments, then continued, "If you were to score this film, what would you give it?"

The "Medicine God" viewer, "10 out of 10. Full marks."

At this moment, the hot-tempered "Magic City Fortress" viewer was baffled.

What?

A masterpiece?

A rare gem not seen for years?

10 points?

Aren't we all watching terrible movies?

Why the same expression, but completely different reviews?!

Is this movie really that good?

The cinema in Tiandu was like a microcosm of major cinemas nationwide.

"Magic City Fortress" and "Medicine God" audiences were like two extremes.

One was excruciating.

One was profoundly reflective.

And after coming out, the attitudes of the two groups were completely different.

One group could have cursed Xu Brothers to death.

While the other group could have elevated Chenlu Film Company to the heavens.

Thus, less than half a day after the movies were released, the word of mouth became polarized.

"Magic City Fortress" had professional scores of 3.7 and audience scores of 5.6.

"Medicine God" had professional scores of 8.7, audience scores of 9.8.

These were the initial scores, and they would continue to change over time, but they already illustrated the gap between the two films.

So, when the first day's box office results were released, "Medicine God," despite being outstripped in presales by a hundred million, miraculously turned the tables.

On the first day, "Medicine God" had a box office of 3.3 billion yuan. "Magic City Fortress" only had 2.7 billion.

And subsequently, due to the influence of reviews, the box office trends of the two movies were very different.

Firstly, "Magic City Fortress," boosted by promotional contrasts, reached 2.7 billion on the first day. It looked alright.

But it dropped to 1.4 billion on the second day. This was still due to the support from presales.

On the third day, "Magic City Fortress" continued to slide, only making 0.8 billion.

On the fourth day, 0.5 billion.

On the fifth day, it slightly increased but only to 0.6 billion.

A week later, "Magic City Fortress" took in a total of 6.4 billion yuan, far exceeding what its quality should have achieved.

This was due to the massive promotional efforts previously invested by the Xu Brothers, which indeed reaped considerable results.

After all, a movie bringing in over six billion was already a decent performance.

However, that was probably the peak for this film.

Due to the plummeting reviews and the initial batch of misled viewers dwindling, fewer and fewer were tricked into watching this movie.

Ultimately, this film's box office might just settle around seven billion.

And perhaps it's the irony of life, Xu Brothers calculated everything, focusing on increasing promotions and harvesting newcomers.

But unknowingly they ended up making the wedding dress for Chen Yan.

During the early summer vacation promotions, "Medicine God" and "Magic City Fortress" dominated.

Now, with "Magic City Fortress" bombing, viewers' choices shifted from picking between two to choosing the only one.

Moreover, as "Magic City Fortress" reviews slid and its share of screenings was cut,

"Medicine God" began its spectacular killing spree during the summer slot.

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