Chapter 95: Official Release, Beating Everyone
God Slayer was finally set for its official premiere.
And it was to be released on the same day as War of the Gods.
These two movies were like mortal enemies in destiny, even their release dates coinciding.
The online debates about these two movies had reached a fever pitch.
All sorts of demons and goblins leaped out, without exception, siding with War of the Gods.
Especially the majority of stars from the entertainment industry, who also chose to stand by War of the Gods and cheer it on. This caused the fame of War of the Gods to skyrocket.
In comparison, God Slayer fell far behind.
Besides that one trailer, there was barely any promotion at all.
It all relied on the spontaneous publicity by the fans.
Naturally, this left it at a disadvantage in the court of public opinion.
However, there were still some stars who stood on Fan Mengxue’s side.
Like Bi Yuntao, for instance.
He vigorously promoted God Slayer on Weibo and repeatedly promised that he had contributed some decent acting skills in this movie. But his words only drew widespread ridicule and sneers.
Many left comments below.
“You have acting skills?”
“Haha, if you had acting skills, I’d eat my keyboard!”
“Exactly, if he had any acting to speak of, I’d eat my computer.”
“I’ll eat the computer desk.”
“I’ll eat…”
These freeloaders’ Weibo comments left Bi Yuntao laughing and crying at the same time.
Feeling helpless, he could only post another message.
“See you at the cinema!”
This was but a small episode amid the tidal wave of public discourse.
As the focal point of news, Fan Mengxue had remained silent all along.
Regardless of what people said, she never came out to argue.
Because Fan Mengxue believed in Xue An’s words.
“Let the results speak for themselves.”
The more vocally defensive, the more it proved their insecurity.
Under such intense scrutiny, the day of the premiere finally arrived.
Wang Wenjian went to see it with his friend.
However, his friend liked Hua Ruyue, so they went to see War of the Gods instead.
When Wang Wenjian emerged from the cinema full of exclamation points, his friend also came out.
But his friend had the look of someone who’d just swallowed a fly.
“What happened?” Wang Wenjian asked.
“It was so damn terrible, it wasn’t worth the money at all! What bullshit Stephen, what bullshit Hua Ruyue, it was totally crap!” Wang Wenjian’s friend cursed up a storm.
And he wasn’t the only one; many viewers shared the same sentiment after watching War of the Gods.
Even if Stephen had phoned it in, it shouldn’t have been that awful.
But because Stephen had already gone back to Europe during the post-production phase, the editing power was handed over to Hua Ruyue.
To highlight her own role in the movie, Hua Ruyue ruthlessly extended her original thirty-plus minutes of screen time to fifty minutes.
Not enough content? Turn to slow motion.
So many people witnessed the following scene.
Hua Ruyue took a slow-motion swig of water in the movie.
And that wasn’t even the worst of it.
The key issue was Hua Ruyue’s mediocre acting skills, always staring with a pair of innocent big eyes, looking like an idiot.
How could people not criticize that?
After a lengthy rant, Wang Wenjian’s friend asked, “How was your movie?”
Wang Wenjian sighed softly, “All I can say is… a masterpiece that shocks the world!”
“Is it really that exaggerated?”
“Don’t believe me? Go watch it again now!”
Wang Wenjian accompanied his friend back into the cinema once more. After watching it this time, Wang Wenjian’s friend didn’t speak.
“What did you think?” Wang Wenjian asked.
“Awesome!”
Meanwhile, online public opinion gradually began to reverse.
Because “War of the Gods” was just too awful to watch.
So, in one night’s work, its rating plummeted to three points, becoming a total flop.
In stark contrast was “God Slayer”.
This movie, initially doubted by everyone, made a spectacular debut.
Once the rating came out, it stunned many people.
Eight point eight!
That rating was enough to thrash most domestic films.
And the comments below were uniformly cries of “Damn, that’s badass!”
With the reversal of public opinion, “God Slayer” saw its viewership numbers quickly climb.
Of course, the cinemas wouldn’t miss out on the money, so screenings of “God Slayer” rapidly increased.
Day one.
The box office for “God Slayer” reached 130 million Yuan.
While “War of the Gods” was at 140 million Yuan.
“War of the Gods” held a slim lead with this slight advantage.
But on the second day, “God Slayer’s” box office soared to 210 million Yuan.
“War of the Gods” quickly fell to 80 million Yuan.
This ironclad fact was like a loud slap, fiercely hitting the faces of those who had initially looked down on “God Slayer”.
Especially those star-chasing celebrities, who might as well have had their faces swollen from the smacking.
And this was just the beginning.
From that day on, the box office for “God Slayer” skyrocketed.
In just five short days, it broke through the two billion Yuan mark.
As for “War of the Gods”…
It hadn’t even breached eight hundred million Yuan yet, and it probably never would.
Once this fact was out,
All those internet trolls lost their voices.
Below Fan Mengxue’s Weibo, many apologies appeared in the comments.
But the liveliest place was Bi Yuntao’s Weibo.
All those who had previously vowed to eat their keyboards and computers came back.
This time, however, they came to offer sincere apologies to Bi Yuntao.
Because, just as Bi Yuntao had said, his performance in the movie wasn’t stunning but certainly noteworthy.
This also greatly improved his public image.
Reading those heartwarming comments, Bi Yuntao couldn’t help but tear up.
It seems actors really do need to act well.
Now Bi Yuntao even felt somewhat grateful for the beating he got from Xue An.
How else could he have had such an epiphany?
The astonishing turnaround of public opinion became a hot topic among many netizens; it was just like a plot straight out of a novel.
However, Hua Ruyue’s Weibo was in trouble.
Countless people started mocking her below her posts.
“So the so-called influencer’s thing is just bulging your eyes out? I can do that too!”
“Slowing down the frame just for drinking water, why the hell don’t you just
“I’ll never love again! Goodbye!”
“I just learned about your debut, Miss Fan indeed helped you a lot back then, but you kicked her when she was down, trash!”
By this time, those once cozy celebrities and internet stars all fell silent.
It was clear to everyone that Hua Ruyue was finished.
Once your reputation is ruined, that’s pretty much the end.
At this time, who wouldn’t want to quickly distance themselves to avoid getting burned, and who would still want to speak up for Hua Ruyue?
Some even started sneakily deleting their Weibo posts.
And there were those shameless ones who ran over to Fan Mengxue’s Weibo to start fervently courting favor.
Because it was clear to everyone.
With this movie, Fan Mengxue’s career was going to skyrocket.
And as for how far she might go in the future, no one could imagine.
But what really buried “War of the Gods” and people like Hua Ruyue was a film review by Chen Xiaoyi.
“Aren’t we all God Slayers? It’s just that life knocks us back down to being mere mortals!”
This review set the internet ablaze..