Chapter 958: A wave of ridicule ensues, yet another money-grabbing masterpiece is released!
The night the trailer was released, bloggers and marketing accounts began to stir.
At first, Linghui Entertainment bought the positive articles themselves, but gradually, some negative articles also emerged.
In particular, some bloggers who made their fortunes through criticism have found their comfort zone and are taking every part of "Time Confrontation" out for judgment and criticism.
—To be honest, there are just too many things to complain about in "Time Warp".
This wasn't just something Xiao He knew; everyone in "Time-Traveling Confrontation" knew it, so they were already mentally prepared.
First of all, "Time-Traveling Showdown" is a self-produced series by Linghui Entertainment.
what does that mean?
The production team, director, actors, props team, post-production team, and so on—almost all of these personnel are from Linghui Entertainment.
Even the other investors involved mostly have strong connections and collaborations with Linghui Entertainment, essentially forming a chain of interests.
In this situation, the best-case scenario is that one is self-reliant and strives for self-improvement.
To put it bluntly, it's an internal workshop, a celebration for its own people.
Who can guarantee the quality of this kind of movie?
Isn't that just pure recklessness?
Secondly, "Time and Space Standoff" is a science fiction film that received substantial funding from Linghui Entertainment.
This is just like the big productions that are talked about outside. They say it costs 1 billion, but who knows how much was actually invested in the end?
That's still up to them.
Don't wait until it's all cheap special effects and garbage AI, and then fans end up paying money to eat shit and enjoy themselves, only to be fleeced like suckers.
And when you look at the cast, it's even more amazing. Apart from Pu Rong and a few supporting actors, most of the rest are people from Linghui Entertainment.
To put it bluntly, this can be considered Xiao He and Shu Han's one-on-one targeted poverty alleviation efforts for the actors within their company.
That's absolutely outrageous!
Two actors with popularity, fame, and acting skills have been ruined by their own company.
Oh, no, they're also shareholders of the company, which means they're enjoying themselves.
That's even funnier. The fans of both sides are being used as mere tools, all fresh韭菜 (a metaphor for easily exploited people), watching movies to help cultivate the next generation of their own idols.
Finally, and most importantly, the director of "Time Standoff" is none other than Ho Kam-nin, who recently transitioned from acting!
To be fair, when He Jinnian was an actor, he was absolutely flawless. He had excellent acting skills, good character, and had won many awards. He was quite well-known both domestically and internationally, and was one of the most successful and outstanding actors of his generation.
But he wants to transition from actor to director?
They might even start with a bombshell, jumping straight into a sci-fi movie?
To be honest, I've never seen anything like this before.
The bloggers and marketing accounts on various video platforms speak very directly. It seems that overnight, He Jinnian's image has collapsed, and everything in the past has turned to dust. He Jinnian is just a delusional director who, not content with being an actor, continues to run in the film industry as a director to make money and fleece the public.
Other actors who transition to acting usually use comedy films as a stepping stone. Whether the jokes are funny or not is another matter, but at least they can make their own films with ease and there are not many barriers to entry.
But you, as a director, are starting out with science fiction films—the kind that burn through the most money.
Are you sure this isn't a scheme to scam money and run away with it?
Who would believe that? Do you?
"A middle-aged actor who recently retired from the entertainment industry suddenly says he has a dream, and then spends a year filming a sci-fi blockbuster with the highest budget ever. When it comes to promotion, he holds the microphone and talks about his dream, his hard work, the amount of money invested, and the team's big spending. He even sheds tears when he gets emotional, reminiscing about the past, and finally reveals his true purpose: 'Please take a look—'"
One blogger made such a harsh comment in a video.
"I can almost imagine their promotional tactics. I suggest that the promotion and operation team of 'Time Confrontation' take a look and learn from them. They can give your actor He Yingdi some advice then."
He even deliberately bolded and highlighted "Actor He" in the subtitles, as if it were an intentional emphasis and mockery.
A director promoted himself as having acting skills comparable to an award-winning actor—oh, an award-winning actor, I mean.
Haha, then it's alright.
...
What no one at Linghui Entertainment expected was that the promotion of "Time and Space Standoff" would first stumble because of director He Jinnian's role.
They had assumed that their competitors would focus their attacks on Xiao He and Shu Han, and had already prepared countermeasures and anti-black tactics.
But upon closer reflection, it makes sense.
He Jinnian has been out of the entertainment industry for more than a year, but in reality, apart from mandatory events and unfinished press releases, he basically doesn't take on any work. He was already on the verge of fading out of the industry two years ago, and most of his fans have become very indifferent to it.
After he retired from the entertainment industry to become a director, his fans became even more indifferent, and many left and stopped paying attention to him.
So he does have a high level of national recognition and fame, but he has gradually lost his influence in terms of online traffic and discourse.
Traffic itself is a very cruel thing.
As long as they appear frequently, whether for good or bad, for fame or infamy, they still stand at the pinnacle of popularity and hold the power of discourse.
Once they leave behind all this commotion and lose the support of negative and positive online traffic, this person can "disappear" quite quickly.
Xiao He and Shu Han are like that; because they consistently produce good new works, they have a large and active fan base.
Xiao He gained over 100,000 new followers yesterday after hosting a New Year's Eve live stream, making many people secretly envious.
In reality, few people dare to mock Xiao He under these circumstances. Almost everyone speaks of Xiao He with great politeness, and some even lie and claim to be fans of Brother Xiao in order to gain more traffic.
—It's not that everyone suddenly lost their minds and fell in love with Xiao He; they were just afraid of Xiao He's fans and Linghui Entertainment's powerful legal team.
They would never risk attacking Xiao He before they have concrete dirt on him or before Xiao He's public image collapses.
And so, director Ho Kam-nin became the easy target.
"I really never thought this day would come."
He Jinnian looked at the chorus of criticism against him and felt both amused and exasperated.
"Fortunately, with you holding the line, things are much easier for us."
He Wenming, who has a good relationship with He Jinnian, joked with his arms crossed.
Looking at his former agent, He Jinnian shrugged helplessly: "I thought that because of our past relationship, you would help me deal with the public opinion issues."
“That won’t do. You stay in front and hold them off. Otherwise, once you’ve dealt with things here, their fighting will shift to Shu Han and Xiao He.”
He Wenming patted his old friend on the shoulder with great magnanimity: "If you want to be a good director, the first step is to know how to take the blame."
He Jinnian's lips twitched: "But I see everyone else is learning how to shift the blame, so why is it different when it comes to me?"
"Hey, would we possibly harm you?"
He Wenming blinked and looked at Liu Rulan, trying to find an ally.
Liu Rulan was still looking at her phone when she noticed the two of them looking at her. She immediately looked away from her phone and said, "Yes, Director He, then I'll have to trouble you."
Seeing that Liu Rulan was still looking at her phone, He Wenming asked out of curiosity, "By the way, how's the publicity for Xiao He on the foreign website going?"