132: Filming in progress

The crew of "Wolf Warrior" worked hard every day, and after four months, filming finally wrapped up.

During these four months, Lu Qingyu took on no other work besides filming with the crew.

Since the movie was filmed abroad, the confidentiality measures were excellent, and no leaks or behind-the-scenes photos were seen at all.

After the filming was completed, Wang Ning began preparing for the movie's release. After a period of busy work, the date was set for the May Day holiday.

When the official website of Qingcheng Entertainment announced that Wolf Warrior would be released on May Day, there was still one week left before the holiday.

Lu Qingyu's fans hadn't seen him for four months and missed him dearly.

This was Lu Qingyu's first movie, and his fans were highly anticipating it. They had already decided to support the film during the May Day slot, even though they weren't particularly interested in the genre.

[It's been four months; our little brother has finally surfaced.]

[The confidentiality work for our little brother is too good; there isn't a single leak from the set.]

[I will definitely support my little brother's movie. Although I don't really like war films, I'm happy as long as I can see him.]

[Our little brother is so handsome, why didn't he act in an idol movie or a romance? War movies don't have an advantage during the May Day slot.]

A total of 21 films were released during this May Day period: 17 domestic and 4 foreign.

Among them, three films had investments exceeding 200 million, including a youth campus romance film invited by Xiangwan Entertainment and directed by a well-known director.

The competition for the May Day slot was fierce. Generally, to earn box office revenue, everyone would film commercial movies that catered to the audience, so most chose modern romance as their theme. Wolf Warrior was the only war-themed movie among these 21 films.

When netizens were pre-ordering movie tickets and saw that Lu Qingyu's film was a war theme, many just swiped past it without looking.

This led to dismal pre-order numbers for Wolf Warrior, ranking it at the very bottom of the 21 films.

[What a waste of Lu Qingyu's handsome face. If he acted in a romance film, it would definitely be popular.]

[Going to the cinema is for relaxation, so I'd definitely choose romance or comedy. What's so good about bullets and gunfire?]

[And they spent two hundred million on this? Could it be money laundering?]

With the countdown to Wolf Warrior's release at three days, the online pre-order numbers were only 700,000, which was 40,000 less than the second-to-last film.

Looking at this data, Wang Ning predictably got stressed out again.

Based on the pre-order numbers, the cinemas gave Wolf Warrior a 2% screening share.

This screening rate was quite dismal, with only 1-2 shows a day, and not during prime time.

Wang Ning was communicating about the cinema arrangements: "Can't this screening rate be increased a bit? Go and talk to the cinema people."

Wang Ning's employee said: "Manager Wang, this is already the result of our negotiations. The main issue is that the preliminary estimates for this movie show it really has no competitiveness."

"Other movies either have attractive themes or promote a bunch of handsome men and beautiful women. Currently, this 2% screening rate was only given because the cinema owners took Lu Qingyu into account."

Wang Ning: "But it shouldn't be only 2%."

The employee continued:

"Our Boss Lu has a lot of traffic, but that's in TV dramas and singing. He has never been involved in the movie market. Is he box office poison or box office medicine? The cinema owners don't dare to bet blindly; after all, they still need to rely on the screenings to make money."

"Manager Wang, the competition for the May Day slot is just too great. How about we withdraw from the May Day slot and release the movie after it's over?"

Wang Ning had also thought about this problem and had suggested it to Lu Qingyu, but Lu Qingyu had refused.

Wang Ning: "Go and communicate with the cinema owners again. Even if they only give a 2% screening share now, we must ensure that this 2% is actually provided."

Wang Ning was very afraid that because some other movie became a hit, Wolf Warrior's screening share would be squeezed out entirely.

Looking at the current assessments made by the theaters, the film with the highest screening share was the youth romance film "burning," co-produced by Xiangwan Entertainment and Director Zhao Lin, with a 27% share. The remaining three films with investments over 100 million shared a 10% screening rate each.

These four films occupied 57% of the screening share, while the remaining 43% had to be divided among the other 17 movies.

On average, each movie had a 3.3% screening share, but unfortunately, Wolf Warrior didn't even reach the average.

The other movies had anticipated this result long ago. They didn't care because their investment costs weren't high, and they could break even just by riding the holiday's popularity.

But Wolf Warrior was different; it had an investment of over 200 million.

Wang Ning showed the promotional data from the first few days of the release period to Lu Qingyu. Before Lu Qingyu could even open the file, he was instead attracted by the ring of large blisters on the corners of Wang Ning's mouth.

"Brother Wang, how much stress are you under? Why don't you drink some bitter melon juice?"

Wang Ning: ... "Boss, just look at the data. I think you'll be even more stressed than me after you finish reading it."

Lu Qingyu smiled and opened the file, quickly browsing through the contents.

To Wang Ning's surprise, Lu Qingyu was very calm after reading it, showing no signs of anxiety at all.

Lu Qingyu: "Isn't this data quite normal?"

Wang Ning: ... It's indeed quite normally cold.

"Boss, we invested 200 million. Forget about helping you earn the profit for the gambling agreement; even breaking even is unlikely."

Wang Ning became more and more agitated as he spoke.

Lu Qingyu: "Don't worry."

"It's going to be released in three days, how can I not be anxious?"

Wang Ning's throat was parched.

Lu Qingyu said: "Our film can be considered a patriotic-themed movie. Why don't you send it to CCTV and ask if there's any current support for this type of film? Even if there's no support, based on our theme alone, the official website should at least promote it for us."

Hearing this, Wang Ning slapped his thigh. Right, he could take this path. At least with CCTV's endorsement, people would be more reassured about the quality.

"I'll go contact them right now."

Wang Ning set off immediately to contact the person in charge at CCTV.

Everyone knew about CCTV-6, referred to as the Sixth Princess; it was a relaxed and proud department.

What movies this channel aired and at what time was entirely up to personal preference.

For example, when a celebrity got married, it would air "Happy Breakup"; during the Japanese Olympics, it would air "Hands Up!"; and on Children's Day, it aired zombies.

Lin Feng: "Director, on the 15th of this month, there's going to be an anniversary grand ceremony over in Japan."

Director: "On the 15th, broadcast the 'Documentary of the Surrender of Defeated Nations'."

Lin Feng: "Yes, Director."