259: Chapter 259 A Film History Miracle of 1 Billion in Three Days

Once the line of defense collapsed...

What followed was a devastating breach of the dam.

Following the roar of Old Zhao from Shanghai's Xinghui Cinema: "Pull the trash movies, fill the schedule with drug god!"

Thousands of theater managers across the country, faced with the temptation of cold hard cash and the overwhelming will of the people, completely tore up that absurd capital alliance agreement.

3:00 PM.

The national screening rate for "i am not a medicine god" rose from an extremely humiliating 5% ghost screenings.

Like a prehistoric dragon breaking free from nine heavy dark-iron chains.

It soared unreasonably to 40%!

Moreover...

This 40% of screenings were all in the most premium platinum slots from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

The moment the screening rate went up...

This realist masterpiece, which had been suppressed to the extreme and frantically recommended by countless voluntary fans but suffered from a lack of available tickets...

Finally!

It bared its terrifying fangs, capable of devouring everything, to the entire Chinese film market.

...

October 1st.

11:59 PM.

The box office battle for the first day of the National Day holiday was about to come to a close.

In the lobby of Su Zhe Studio in the Jinyuan Building.

Everyone gathered around the computer connected to the real-time box office data from the National Film Special Fund Office, not even daring to breathe.

"Tick-tock."

The instant the clock's second hand officially crossed midnight.

The final box office data for the first day refreshed!

"How... how much?"

Yin Hua swallowed hard, his voice trembling; he didn't even dare open his eyes to look at the screen.

Sister Liu stared fixedly at the string of red numbers on the screen.

Her eyes...

In a tenth of a second, they instantly turned red.

"Broken..."

Sister Liu's voice was as hoarse as if it had been rubbed against sandpaper, yet it carried a roof-shattering ecstasy: "First-day box office... 120 million!"

The entire lobby instantly exploded like a pot of boiling oil.

"Ahhh..."

Zhao Xiaoxiao screamed and jumped onto Tie Niu's back.

Tie Niu was as excited as a two-hundred-pound black bear, spinning in place three times, his tears streaming: "Oh my goodness! Over a hundred million!

Our movie only cost twenty million to make, all in!"

One day!

It only took one day!

And that was under the desperate situation of having almost only 5% ghost screenings before 3:00 PM.

Relying purely on the evening half-shift, it raked in 120 million in box office sales.

What kind of concept was this?

It meant that every evening screening of "drug god" was not only packed, but even the front-row seats for the disabled and the aisles were filled with audiences who bought "standing tickets."

The occupancy rate approached a terrifying 100%!

"We won! Not only did we survive, but we also crushed Tianyu!"

Yin Hua was so excited he was incoherent, crying and laughing at the same time.

On the other hand...

That S+ Xianxia blockbuster, "the art of the firmament," which had been forced down people's throats by capital, costing hundreds of millions and claiming to have secured all the prime time slots...

Because it faced collective ticket refunds and "defection withdrawals" from theater managers across the internet in the afternoon...

Its first-day box office, after experiencing the false prosperity of the morning, directly encountered a cliff-like plunge.

It finally settled on an extremely humiliating figure—45 million.

It wasn't even as much as the fraction of "drug god"!

...

However...

Breaking 100 million on the first day was merely a precursor to this cinematic earthquake.

The real tsunami...

Erupted with an unstoppable momentum on October 2nd, the second day of the National Day holiday.

On this day...

The word-of-mouth for "i am not a medicine god" achieved its most fatal blow—cross-demographic fermentation!

In the past...

The main force of moviegoers had always been young people in their teens and twenties, fans who liked chasing stars and watching special effects.

That's why capital blindly believed in idol stars and big productions.

But!

"drug god" was different!

Its bloody realist core and that soul-piercing question, "I don't want to die, I want to live"...

Directly pierced through China's largest but most silent group—middle-aged people!

Even the elderly!

Those uncles and aunts who usually haggled over a few cents for vegetables at home and hadn't stepped into a cinema for years or even decades...

After hearing their children's tearful accounts and seeing those blood-and-tears reviews in their social circles...

Upon learning that this was a movie that "spoke for the common people" and "cried out in pain for those who couldn't afford medical treatment"...

They...

Stepped out of their homes.

...

Outside an old residential area in Beijing.

Uncle Zhang, in his fifties, was usually the most stingy with money.

But today, he broke his routine and put on his most decent Zhongshan suit, holding his wife's hand.

Following behind his son, he walked into that bright and glamorous cinema.

"Dad, slow down. This movie is a bit long; I bought some popcorn for you."

The son said filially.

"What popcorn!"

Uncle Zhang's eyes were slightly red, his voice a bit raspy: "I saw online that there's a young man with leukemia in this movie who went to slaughter pigs just so he wouldn't be a burden to his family... and he died in the end.

I want to go see him.

I want to see exactly how the suffering of us common people is portrayed."

Families like Uncle Zhang's numbered in the tens of millions across the country.

On this day...

An extremely surreal scene appeared in major cinemas.

It was no longer just young couples.

Instead, white-haired elderly people could be seen everywhere.

There were middle-aged couples dressed simply, pushing wheelchairs, or even bringing their whole families.

They lined up in long queues and quietly walked into the screening halls.

Then...

During the two-hour screening, the most suppressed and genuine sounds of sobbing rose and fell throughout the entire hall.

When Huang Mao died, countless uncles wiped away tears and cursed, "The heavens have no eyes!"

When the old grandmother pleaded with the police, countless aunts cried until they were breathless, clutching their children's hands tightly.

When hundreds of fellow patients took off their masks to see off Cheng Yong along the long street...

The entire audience, regardless of gender or age...

Was already in tears, sobbing uncontrollably!

What is resonance?

This is resonance!

Regardless of class, age, or education!

As long as you are human, as long as you have experienced the hardships of life, as long as you've had a sick person in your family...

Your soul would be pinned to the ground and flayed alive by this movie.

...

Late night, October 2nd.

The single-day box office report for "i am not a medicine god" was released.

With the frantic influx of people from all demographics and the absolute advantage of theater managers nationwide spontaneously increasing the screening rate to 50%...

The single-day box office showed a miraculous curve that left everyone in the industry jaw-dropped.

350 million!

Raking in 350 million in a single day!

This number was like a loud slap across the faces of those capitalists who claimed "film is an aristocratic art" and "netizens don't buy tickets."

Who says the common people don't watch movies?

Who says only idol stars can carry the box office?

As long as you film something real!

As long as you dare to speak for the common people!

China's 1.4 billion people can use those movie tickets worth dozens of yuan in their hands to lift you onto the altar.

On the other hand, looking at "the art of the firmament"...

Under the crushing weight of the peerless beast that was "drug god," its second-day box office dropped directly below ten million.

The screening rate was slashed by major cinemas to less than 1%, nearly a total wipeout.

The idol-driven blockbuster that capital spent 300 million to build...

Before the vast ocean of real people...

Didn't even let out a squeak before being completely annihilated.

...

October 3rd.

The third day of the National Day holiday reached its peak.

On this day...

The screening rate for "drug god" approached a terrifying 65%!

This was no longer just crushing.

This was a monopoly!

An absolute monopoly that the audience forced the cinemas to create by voting with their feet!

"No more tickets! The prime slots for the next three days are all booked up!"

"Add seats! Put stools in the aisles for me! Add them even if it's a violation!"

Theater managers across the country shouted until their voices were hoarse.

Counting cash until their hands cramped.

Looking at the data skyrocketing like a rocket on the backend, they all felt lucky they had "defected" quickly the day before; this was practically picking up money!

8:00 PM.

Su Zhe Studio, Jinyuan Building.

Sister Liu stood before the big screen, her eyes fixed on that string of red numbers.

Her breathing was as rapid as a bellows.

In the lobby, all the employees stood up.

Even the Heavenly Queen Lin Qingxue, who was used to big scenes, now clenched her hands nervously, her knuckles turning white.

"Almost... just a little bit more..."

On the screen...

The cumulative total box office of "i am not a medicine god" was jumping frantically at a rate of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands per second.

980 million.

990 million.

995 million!

"Tick-tock."

8:15:03 PM.

When the last digit jumped, and a striking "1" appeared before the amount on the screen...

[Cumulative Box Office: 1,000,050,000 Yuan!]

One billion!

A billion!

"Broken! It broke one billion!"

Sister Liu let out a near-tearing scream and slumped directly onto the floor, covering her face with her hands and wailing.

Tie Niu and Yin Hua hugged each other tightly, jumping up and down, crying like two fools.

Zhao Xiaoxiao even rushed over to hug Lin Qingxue, and the two girls cried together.

Crazy!

Everyone was going crazy!

Three days!

It only took three days and eight hours!

The total box office of "i am not a medicine god" forcefully broke the one-billion mark.

This speed directly shattered the record for the "fastest to break one billion" in Chinese film history.

It trampled those commercial blockbusters that used to take months to grind to a billion under its feet.

This was not just a miracle.

This was an unrepeatable legend!

A cinematic legend created jointly by a "corpse extra" from the lowest level, a blacklisted "voice actor," and a "variety show director" who was once heavily in debt.

...

In the midst of this deafening cheering and crying...

In front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the lobby.

Su Zhe stood with his back to everyone.

He was still wearing his casual clothes, standing in the darkness.

In his hand, he held that signature thermos with the paint already peeling off.

Looking at the brilliant night view of Beijing outside.

Looking at the bustling traffic below.

On Su Zhe's face, there was no nouveau riche-like ecstasy.

Nor was there any pride of roaring at the sky.

He just stood there quietly.

But if an observant person walked to his side, they would find...

That hand holding the thermos...

Right now...

Was uncontrollably and violently trembling.

The wolfberry tea in the cup created ripple after ripple of fine waves on the surface.

A few drops of warm tea even splashed onto the back of his hand.

The die was cast!

In this gamble that could be described as "a narrow escape from death"...

Under the strangulation of capital combined with pharmaceutical companies, and the blockade of the "zero screening" from the Cinema Chain Alliance...

He not only survived.

He not only won.

He even took this realist sword, forged from the blood and tears of countless common people, and forcefully split open the sky of this rotten Chinese Entertainment Industry.

Smashing the faces of those high-and-mighty capitalists to pieces.

Smashing them until not even a scrap remained.

Phew...

Su Zhe took a deep breath of the cool Beijing air.

Slowly exhaling the stale air from his lungs.

He slowly unscrewed the thermos.

Took a sip of that wolfberry tea that had been steeped until it was a bit bitter.

The bitterness ended, and the sweetness came.

"Wang Dafa.

Capital alliance.

Your era is over."

Su Zhe tightened the lid of the thermos with a "snap."

"Next... the rules of this entertainment industry will be set by me, Su Zhe."