Monkey King: Hero Is Back made only eighteen million on its opening day.
The number was that low because Forever Young, Tiny Times 4 and Jian Bing Man had all opened around the same time. Those films were packed with stars, brought their own traffic with them without even trying, and had rich production companies behind them, so they had done their homework on marketing and distribution too.
With all that going on, Monkey King: Hero Is Back got only nine percent of the screenings on its opening day, and even if every showing had sold out the box office still wouldn’t have come to much.
But Xu Ye wasn’t worried. He knew perfectly well what was coming. This homegrown Chinese animated film had a solid reputation behind it, and audiences would pass the word along. Over the weeks ahead the box office would climb instead of falling, and the final total would come within a hair of a billion.
After the movie Xu Ye drove Chen Qingqing and her parents back to Red Leaf Estate. He was about to turn the car around and head home when Jiang Meilin made him stay.
Xu Ye went into the living room, sat down, and called Zhang Xinzhou, telling him to keep a close eye on how Monkey King: Hero Is Back was doing at the box office.
Zhang Xinzhou didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Even if you hadn’t called me I’d have been watching it anyway. The company only has the one project right now. How could I not take it seriously?”
Xu Ye thought about it and had to agree. The people at the company were bound to be more anxious about it than he was — after all, they had no idea what the film’s final box office would be.
He hung up and put the phone back in his pocket. Chen Hansong was sitting beside him, making a show of looking at his own phone. Jiang Meilin had gone into the kitchen, busy with something or other. Chen Qingqing had taken Wang Yuxin upstairs — who knew what she was giving her this time.
Seeing all this, Xu Ye got up and went over to the kitchen door for a look.
Jiang Meilin was cutting fruit. He went in and asked, “Auntie, do you need a hand?”
Jiang Meilin jumped — the voice behind her had come out of nowhere. Once she realized who it was, she laughed. “No need, it’s nearly done… Xiao Xu, try this Hami melon and tell me whether it’s sweet.”
“Sure~”
Xu Ye took a toothpick, speared a piece of Hami melon and put it in his mouth. He chewed twice and delivered his verdict. “Not very sweet. A bit crunchy, too.”
“Right? The one I bought last time wasn’t very sweet either. Next time I’ll have to buy from a different fruit shop.”
“With Hami melon you have to look at the netting on the skin. The denser and rougher the netting, the riper the melon. Auntie, I’m a pro at picking fruit these days. Next time I’ll bring a Hami melon over and I guarantee it’ll be sweet.”
Jiang Meilin smiled. “Go see what those two are doing upstairs and call them down.”
“You got it.”
Xu Ye went straight upstairs.
Jiang Meilin carried the fruit plate into the living room and found Chen Hansong sitting on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, looking at his phone. Thinking back to what Xu Ye had just said, she could stand the sight of him even less than before.
“Get that leg down!”
“If you don’t have anything to do, stop hanging around here all day.”
“The sight of you is getting on my nerves!”
Chen Hansong put his leg down right away like a good boy, didn’t dare look at his phone anymore, and sat there on the sofa on his best behavior, not daring to let out so much as a fart.
Upstairs, Chen Qingqing was showing Wang Yuxin some of the makeup she used.
She had also given her a bottle of her own face wash.
Xu Ye came in to find Wang Yuxin sitting at the dressing table, her eyes lighting up at the pile of makeup. He went straight over, took her by the ear and told her off. “You’re barely out of diapers and you want to learn how to do makeup? Up. Now.”
“I was only curious.”
Chen Qingqing slapped his hand away and snapped, “If you’ve got something to say, say it properly. Stop grabbing at people all the time.”
Xu Ye was exasperated. “I wasn’t even holding it hard.”
“All he ever does is bully me!” Wang Yuxin bent over in a huff and butted her head into Xu Ye’s stomach like a monk in a temple striking the bell, then ran out of the room.
Xu Ye rubbed his stomach and reached out to take Chen Qingqing’s hand. “Your mom’s cut up some fruit. She told me to call you down for it.”
Chen Qingqing pulled her hand back and said with a pout, “We’re at home.”
“What’s there to be scared of about holding hands? Your mom caught us kissing last time.”
“And you’ve got the nerve to bring that up!”
“That reminds me. When exactly are you going to teach me to swim?”
“I’m not.”
“How can you go back on your word like that?”
“I don’t care.”
“Next weekend, then. I’ll bring my swim trunks over, and then I’ll show you my eight-pack abs.”
Chen Qingqing’s eyes went wide and she immediately shoved him away, her face red. “I am not looking!”
……
Over the next few days.
There was more and more talk online about the homegrown Chinese animated film Monkey King: Hero Is Back.
Lü Cheng had assumed the investment was going to lose money, but on the eleventh and the twelfth the film’s box office actually rose against the trend. The second day came close to thirty million and the third day passed forty million — and the most promising thing of all was that its Douban score had reached 8.8.
With a market response that good, the big cinema chains raised the film’s share of the screenings on their own initiative.
By the fifteenth of July, Monkey King: Hero Is Back had passed two hundred million at the box office.
It had taken five days, no more.
The box office climbed the whole way.
By Lü Cheng’s reckoning, as long as it brought in more than a hundred and fifty million, the project would make money.
So when the staff at Qingye Investment heard the box office had gone past two hundred million, every one of them was excited — Lü Cheng, who was running the project, most of all. As he saw it, if the film held to its current pattern and stayed in cinemas for a month, a conservative estimate put the box office at six hundred million.
If the total came to six hundred million, the project would be a 400 percent return on investment.
Five million, and in two months it would be twenty million!
Good lord above.
While the film’s box office was climbing, the internet celebrities on Bilibili finished shooting their videos, one after another.
Once the videos were done, each of them sent hers to Xu Ye privately before uploading it.
Xu Ye enjoyed every one of them, then called Pei Youwei over to watch them a second time. Wang Yuxin, beside him, wanted to lean in for a look too, but Xu Ye shot her a fierce glare and she took herself off to one side, pouting.
Pei Youwei sat down next to Xu Ye and started watching the videos the internet celebrities had shot.
The videos fell roughly into two kinds.
One kind was simply dancing in Youwei swimwear.
The other was the unboxing kind, the sort meant to make you want one.
Pei Youwei watched them through at double speed, then asked, “Does this actually work?”
“Of course it works.”
Xu Ye was brimming with confidence. “Never doubt how much product these internet celebrities can move.”
Pei Youwei smiled and changed the subject. “I’m curious about something. Do you boys really like watching videos like this?”
Xu Ye asked, “Have you ever heard something James Madison said?”
“What did he say?”
“Only hypocrites and gay men dislike a full pair of breasts.” [TL: The line circulates widely in Chinese internet usage under James Madison’s name. The attribution is unverified.]
(End of Chapter 262)