The on-screen adventures of Shi Ji and Lu Xiaokong were hilariously entertaining, while the off-screen drama provided no shortage of amusement. Despite The Phantom Thief Alliance's strong box office performance, it still attracted a wave of negative reviews.
[Honestly pretty boring - just a story about two thieves stealing stuff. Feels unoriginal and worthless. Director Zhuang truly lives up to his reputation as the king of trash films.]
[I don't understand what everyone's laughing at. Dull, garbage, completely lacking in educational value.]
[Major warning, don't watch this! It's full of stale jokes and lowbrow humor, not sophisticated at all. Absolutely terrible waste of two precious hours of my life.]
...
Of course, these comments barely fazed Zhuang Hongyi. After all these years making commercial films, he was used to being criticized by these types who claimed his plots were shallow, his content vulgar, and his movies terrible.
But the movie market had naturally shifted toward mass appeal. Most people simply didn't have the patience for films packed with moral lessons - they went to cinemas for entertainment and fun, not to attend someone's lecture.
Want to watch educational films? Go check out that comedy playing next door.
That comedy from the same release period started out quite funny, but then the tone abruptly shifted halfway through, constantly trying to elevate itself with profound messages. It even ended with a "dumpling wrapping" plot device.
Every audience member who got tricked into watching it felt choked by this forcibly inserted high-minded values. Even Tiger Brother, Bilibili's notoriously sharp-tongued film critic, joked that it was his first time seeing a Spring Festival Gala sketch in a cinema, complete with a giant dumpling shoved down his throat. This was truly "progress" for the film industry - successfully solving the problem of not being able to watch sketches in movie theaters!
This incident became quite the talking point, with almost everyone following the Spring Festival slot learning about the "dumpling wrapping movie" meme.
In the following days, that comedy's box office rankings plummeted, failing to make the top three.
Meanwhile, The Phantom Thief Alliance held firmly to first place, completely unshakable.
During this leisurely holiday period, Xiao He spent his time counting The Phantom Thief Alliance's box office earnings while accompanying his parents sightseeing around Beijing.
The family stayed in Beijing for over a week, enjoying a wonderfully pleasant Festival holiday.
But enjoyable times always pass too quickly.
After the Spring Festival, Father Xiao and Mother Xiao returned home, while Xiao He went back to Shanghai to wrap up some pending work before officially joining the No Bait production team.
Meanwhile, The Phantom Thief Alliance's box office officially broke 3.5 billion, with projections estimating it would ultimately reach over 4 billion.
Compared to previous years, these numbers represented quite impressive performance. After all, this year's Spring Festival slot competition wasn't particularly fierce - there were no dark horse candidates that skyrocketed to success, nor any prominent traffic stars entering the arena. The overall film quality during the Spring Festival period was relatively average - at least when compared to films from the same period in previous years.
Overall, The Phantom Thief Alliance received quite positive reviews. As a commercial film, it had completely proven its value and future potential.
Seeing these numbers, Xiao He knew that The Phantom Thief Alliance 2 was basically confirmed.
Although based on the current point fluctuations, The Phantom Thief Alliance had contributed minimal criminal influence to him, Xiao He felt quite satisfied. After all, through this one film, he had already acquired two "potential stocks" - Corner Also and No Bait. He wasn't being too greedy.
Still, he could look forward to how much screen time he might get in The Phantom Thief Alliance 2...
Given his current relationship with Director Zhuang, the director probably wouldn't shortchange him... right?
-
A few days later, Liu Rulan obtained the production team's cast list in advance from Fan Congwen.
No Bait was undoubtedly a high-budget production. Besides Xiao He, all the main cast members were established big names, with many more making guest appearances.
For example, the actress playing Shu Yuxiu's wife in No Bait - Ding Wanyu.
Ding Wanyu was now thirty-five years old, right in the prime of her career as a skilled actress. She belonged to the type with strong acting abilities but rather unlucky timing - several films where she played the female lead encountered various problems that repeatedly caused her to miss out on the award-winning actress title, giving her the feeling of perpetually being a runner-up.
However, she worked extremely hard and was willing to take on many roles. Even if it meant being just a decorative presence in a renowned director's film or playing the lead in trashy movies, she never complained. This resulted in polarized public opinion about her - some thought her acting was excellent, others felt it was just average. But many directors enjoyed working with her, and she frequently made guest appearances as the decorative wife of male leads in films starring big-name actors and award-winning actors.
Thus Ding Wanyu earned the nickname "Professional Wife Specialist."
This time, Xiao He would be playing her husband - practically a dream scenario. Given Xiao He's current status and achievements, he ranked as the most poorly qualified among all of Ding Wanyu's "husbands."
Moreover, there was over a ten-year age difference between them. Although visually they still made a handsome couple without obvious age disparity, Xiao He still felt tremendous pressure.
"Ding Wanyu is already thirty-five years old?"
In the villa, Xiao He rubbed his ears while listening to Liu Rulan's introduction, momentarily doubting his hearing.
He knew of Ding Wanyu - he'd even gone to see her films in theaters during his school days. But perhaps time had flown by too quickly these past years, making it hard to grasp the reality. Xiao He always thought she was still in her twenties.
Liu Rulan clearly noticed Xiao He's discomfort. She calmly closed the file in her hands and told him: "Female actors' ages are always mysterious. With good maintenance, they're forever twenty; without it, they might look thirty at most. But male stars are different - as they age, their jaws can widen into uncle or aunt territory, which happens quite often."
Xiao He instinctively touched his own jawline.
"Don't worry, your facial structure is the type that holds flesh well, and currently you don't have jaw-widening concerns."
Liu Rulan promptly reassured him.
Xiao He: ...Thank heavens for that.
"To succeed in the film industry, you either rely on capital or on hard work and luck. Unfortunately, most people have neither capital nor that one-in-ten-thousand stroke of fortune, so by the time they climb up step by step, most of their youth has been left behind."
Liu Rulan sighed at this point.
"So rather than you worrying about not matching well with her, perhaps she should be more concerned about not matching well with you. After all, you're the male lead personally selected by Director Ning Jiaqi, while she's just a guest female lead."
Xiao He rubbed his forehead: "Okay, I understand."
He was just experiencing that disorienting feeling about industry ages again.
In every production team he joined, everyone was basically addressed as "brother" or "sister" - his youth stood out conspicuously. Of course, this was also because most productions Xiao He joined featured predominantly skilled actors, and among young people, those with good acting skills were relatively rare. Someone like him was practically nonexistent.
This resulted in even his "wife" co-star being ten years older than him.
Xiao He mentally chuckled.
Not bad though - at least he wouldn't have to worry about CP shipping rumors.
Liu Rulan lightly coughed, set down the documents in her hands, and brought up another matter: "Law of the Jungle has finalized its theater release schedule - it's set for the Next Festival slot."
Xiao He nodded, then looked somewhat surprised: "Why choose April?"
Actually, based on the production team's progress and timing, Xiao He thought Director Ren would schedule it for the May Day season, since traffic would be higher then with more moviegoers.