As the promotional tour expanded to cities outside Beijing, the cast and crew of Wedding Wedding became even busier, rushing nonstop from one location to another.
Their first stop after leaving the capital was Jiangsu Province, as had been planned in advance.
During the promotional events there, Song Lin was by far the biggest crowd favorite. The audience already loved her, and when they discovered that the film’s leading actress was one of their own, the atmosphere instantly became even more enthusiastic.
Song Lin also knew exactly how to work the crowd. She greeted everyone in the local dialect as soon as she stepped on stage, then chatted with the audience in dialect throughout the event. The venue was absolutely buzzing with excitement. Before long, there was barely anything left for Chi Ying or Tan Yi to do. Song Lin practically carried the entire event by herself.
The local media joined in the excitement as well. During a break in the promotional schedule, they even arranged an exclusive interview with Song Lin, heavily promoting her as a movie star who had come out of Jiangsu Province, along with the usual stream of glowing publicity.
As a result, enthusiasm for the film in Jiangsu surged once again, wave after wave. The box office continued climbing, leaving the female executive absolutely delighted.
The group traveled through several cities across Jiangsu before they were finally allowed to move on, much to the locals’ reluctance.
On the sixth day after the film’s release, even more exhilarating news arrived.
Wedding Wedding had officially surpassed 10 million yuan at the national box office.
The announcement stunned everyone, including industry veterans like Lei Dongming.
General Manager Lei had indeed expected the film to pass the ten-million mark, but in his estimation, that would only happen toward the end of its theatrical run.
Although he had joked with Director Han over the phone about reaching twenty million or even thirty million, he honestly had no idea how far the film would actually go.
Judging by its current momentum, it just might leap all the way to the thirty-million mark.
It wasn’t that Lei Dongmin lacked confidence in Chi Ying.
It was simply because he had never witnessed anything like this before.
During the entire previous year, only seven films in the mainland had managed to break the ten-million-yuan barrier. Quite a few of those were Hollywood blockbusters. Of the seven, only two were domestically produced films. One was Ma Yuanchao’s Lunar New Year release, while the other was a patriotic film that government agencies and state-owned enterprises across the country had organized group viewings for.
Now that Wedding Wedding had crossed ten million, everyone involved seemed to have been injected with adrenaline, throwing themselves into expanding its theatrical release. As more film prints were produced and distributed, the movie began opening in city after city across the country. The total number of theatrical prints reached 120.
Not only was the overall box office continuing to climb, but its daily earnings were increasing as well.
On the ninth day after release, Wedding Wedding earned over 2 million yuan in a single day.
Yet that still wasn’t the end.
Before everyone had even recovered from the previous surprise, another piece of great news arrived on the fourteenth day after release.
Wedding Wedding had officially surpassed 20 million yuan at the box office.
Even someone as experienced as Lei Dongming couldn’t contain his excitement. During a group meeting, he loudly demanded that more prints be distributed, only to be firmly held back by the other executives.
After all, November was already more than halfway over. The film’s daily earnings had begun to decline, and the Lunar New Year release season would begin the following month. Ma Yuanchao’s new holiday blockbuster, along with a number of Hong Kong and Taiwanese productions, would soon be entering theaters on a large scale. Other films would have to make room for them.
By now, Wedding Wedding had already exceeded everyone’s expectations.
However, another major problem characteristic of the era had also emerged.
Pirated DVDs of Wedding Wedding had begun appearing on the market.
In fact, the fact that decent-quality pirated copies had only started appearing at this point was largely because the film’s cast and crew were complete newcomers, fresh out of school and virtually unknown.
For blockbuster films starring famous actors or major Hong Kong and Taiwanese holiday releases, pirated versions often appeared on the very first day of release.
Unscrupulous pirates would simply send someone into a theater with a camera to secretly record the movie, then return and mass-produce DVDs. The quality was terrible, but when a disc cost only a few yuan and let people watch the latest blockbuster, plenty of customers were happy to buy them.
Even worse, some people committed theft from within the production process itself, secretly copying films while theatrical prints were being developed and producing pirated discs before release. The production companies had nowhere to seek justice. All they could do was bitterly denounce the piracy through the media and appeal to the public to support legitimate releases.
There was nothing anyone could do.
It was simply part of the unique ecosystem of that era.
Chi Ying’s film only encountered this problem after it had already been in wide release for a full week. Fortunately, those pirated copies were of poor quality. Watching the movie in theaters was still a much better experience, and since ticket prices were relatively inexpensive, most ordinary people were still willing to go to the cinema.
As the promotional tour continued, Chi Ying gradually stepped into the background.
After all, opportunities like these should go to the leading actor and actress. Attractive young stars naturally drew more attention than an unknown director like her and offered greater promotional value.
She was perfectly aware of that, so she stopped joining the later promotional stops, freeing up her time and energy for other work.
After traveling around the country, aside from Jiangsu, where Song Lin had been the biggest attraction, it turned out that Tan Yi, who played the male lead Zheng Wen, became the most popular cast member.
The trend first became apparent during the second stop in Shanghai and reached its peak in Zhejiang Province, the third stop on the tour.
It wasn’t surprising.
Tan Yi himself was from Zhejiang, while the character he portrayed, Zheng Wen, was a quintessential Shanghai young man. Tan Yi vividly captured the gentle, meticulous, family-oriented qualities often associated with southern men.
As a result, everyone adored him—from elderly grandmothers in their seventies and eighties to teenage girls.
Meanwhile, online discussions about the film continued heating up.
On some internet forums, discussions about Wedding Wedding practically dominated the entire site.
There was actually a small story behind this that Chi Ying never learned about.
When Chi Ying had first cast Tan Yi, she had specifically asked him to spend time in Computer Village and observe the IT professionals there up close so he could understand how they lived.
He had taken her advice seriously.
As it happened, one of Tan Yi’s high school classmates had also graduated from Qing University and had joined one of the most famous companies in Computer Village after graduation. The classmate had actually started working there while still in college under one of his professors. Tan Yi had modeled his performance almost entirely on him.
The slightly worn laptop bag Tan Yi had carried when he came to sign the contract at the Planning Center later became the very prop used in the film. He had borrowed it from that classmate. Since he was a considerate person, he bought his classmate a brand-new laptop bag and exchanged it for the old one to use during filming.
That classmate was incredibly supportive as well.
His colleagues throughout Computer Village were fascinated by a film that reflected their own lives. Many of them even asked fellow professionals to help promote it online. Otherwise, the movie’s online popularity would never have reached such heights.
After all, computers and the internet were only beginning to flourish during that era, and the community was still relatively small. People within the industry all knew one another. Some of them even served as moderators of online forums and voluntarily joined the promotional effort.
Entertainment options at the time were limited.
Discussing a great film that depicted their own lives while also bringing more traffic to their forums was a win-win situation.
As a result, even though neither Chi Ying nor Huaying Group had spent much money on online marketing, the film still enjoyed excellent online popularity and word of mouth.
In her previous life, online promotion like this would have required spending a great deal of money.
Unlike now, she had practically gotten it all for free.
After the box office surpassed twenty million yuan, Director Han and Huaying Group wanted to hold a celebration banquet for the creative team.
However, the film was still in a crucial stage of its theatrical run, and making money remained the top priority.
The celebration was therefore postponed until after the movie left theaters.
Chi Ying, meanwhile, returned to Beijing first.
The remaining promotional work was left to the two leads. All travel expenses were covered by the Planning Center, while Sun Yanyan accompanied them everywhere, helping coordinate the tour.
Some cities that hadn’t originally been included in the schedule also invited Tan Yi and Song Lin to appear. The local organizers were willing to cover lodging, meals, and appearance fees. Sun Yanyan carefully reviewed those invitations, approving suitable ones whenever possible.
As the end of the year approached, the two newcomers, Tan Yi and Song Lin, unexpectedly became the hottest rising stars in the country.
Meanwhile, Chi Ying, the true driving force behind everything behind the scenes, was becoming increasingly well known within professional circles.
When you’re successful, even distant relatives come calling.
Besides the friends and acquaintances she already kept in touch with, people she hadn’t heard from in ages suddenly started appearing out of nowhere.
Beyond that, Chi Ying had also become one of the hottest names among private investors.
There was no helping it.
Fame dazzled people’s eyes, and money stirred their hearts.
Those dazzling box office numbers left countless bosses astonished. A young woman had turned an investment of just 1.5 million yuan into over 20 million yuan, and the film still hadn’t finished its run.
Rumor even had it that the overseas distribution rights had already been sold for 700,000 US dollars.
Huaying Group had struck gold this time.
After returning to Beijing, Chi Ying went back to work the very next day.
By this point, she honestly no longer cared how much Wedding Wedding would ultimately earn. In any case, all of her friends had already gained both fame and fortune.
The recent promotional tour had been exhausting. They had rushed from place to place nonstop, and because she suffered from motion sickness, she looked noticeably thinner when she returned to the Planning Center.
The older women in the office were startled.
“Xiao Chi, what happened to you? You’ve lost so much weight you’re practically unrecognizable!”
“I get motion sickness…” Chi Ying explained awkwardly.
“You’ve worked so hard.”
Even Director Han couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.
“How about I approve a few days of leave? Get some proper rest. You’re the greatest contributor our Planning Center has. The group is even giving us a special performance bonus because of you.”
Remaining in Beijing, Director Han naturally had access to the latest news.
Lei Dongming had already given her advance warning.
Quite a few private investors were eyeing Chi Ying and eager to poach her.
Objectively speaking, the Planning Center was a government institution. At most, it paid only one or two thousand yuan a month. While it provided a Beijing household registration, a formal government position, dormitory housing, and a cafeteria, none of that could compare to the kind of money someone like Ma Yuanchao earned.
If someone really offered Chi Ying an enormous salary, Director Han honestly wasn’t sure whether she could resist the temptation.
Since they couldn’t compete financially, they had to make up for it in other ways.
They couldn’t let the young woman feel unappreciated.
Chi Ying, however, didn’t think much of it.
She simply continued her normal routine, going to work and coming home every day, fetching water, eating in the cafeteria, living exactly as she had when she first started working.
That only made Director Han admire her even more.
This young woman was destined for great things.
…
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