I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 476: Shirou: I'll Take Both!
Time flew by as Shinji busied himself with movie post-production while constantly praying that Armageddon would be a success—but not more successful than his own film. Before long, it was late December 2008.
These past few months have been fulfilling and enjoyable for Shinji. For theater owners around the world, however, 2008 had been an absolute nightmare.
The disastrous summer box office had slashed their annual revenue. For many cinemas, this year's monthly financial reports could be summed up in just three categories: "losing money," "not losing too much," or "losing a fortune."
With their backs against the wall, theater owners pinned all their hopes on the two major Christmas releases: Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons and Armageddon.
They were like gamblers who had thrown even their retirement savings onto the table, betting everything on one last chance to turn things around.
As a result, fierce internal conflicts erupted within several major North American theater chains.
Senior executives wanted to maintain good relationships with all the major film studios, so they pushed for balanced screening schedules during the Christmas season, ensuring that every studio received a fair share of showtimes.
The frontline managers responsible for coordinating with individual theaters, however, saw things very differently.
This year's business had been so abysmal that employees at many theaters had seen their incomes plummet.
Under those circumstances, if they didn't find a way to improve theater revenues—and, by extension, employee earnings—the staff were genuinely prepared to go on strike.
The executives, however, weren't convinced.
From their perspective, maintaining their standing within the industry meant avoiding the mistake of offending multiple studios at once.
As for the employees?
The executives believed the workers would surely understand their predicament.
"Let's ask the employees to bear with it for now. Once the movie market recovers, we'll pay them more."
"To hell with you, you b■■■■——!!!"
The managers overseeing theater operations thought the executives had completely lost their minds.
A decline in theater revenue wasn't much of a problem for those executives—but it was a matter of survival for ordinary workers.
The same was true for these managers, whose own compensation was directly tied to theater performance.
The executives, meanwhile, were equally furious at their subordinates' resistance.
"You're just employees, and you're trying to push your bosses around? Are you staging a rebellion?!"
Neither side was willing to compromise.
The conflict between upper management and middle-to-lower management within the theater chains finally erupted, triggering large-scale strikes across major North American cinema chains.
Some of the more radical theater employees even refused to screen films from Paramount, Fox, and several other studios unless those studios agreed to remove their restrictions on theater scheduling.
Naturally, the studios flatly refused.
How could they possibly agree to something so outrageous?
Besides, suppressing Type-Moon and the Times Group had already become the political consensus among North America's major film studios. If they allowed theaters complete freedom in scheduling, how were they supposed to compete?
At the same time, they couldn't openly target the striking theater employees. If that became public, it would almost certainly be interpreted as an attempt to establish a monopoly.
So the studios resorted to a rather underhanded tactic.
They dragged the Times Group into the dispute, claiming that it was actually the one trying to monopolize theater scheduling and had instigated the strikes.
That, of course, infuriated Cloris.
The Lady of Flowers wasn't the type to take a hit without striking back. She immediately filed defamation lawsuits against the studios making those accusations.
As a result, throughout the second half of 2008, the North American film industry descended into complete chaos. Every faction fought every other faction, and for a while it looked as though everyone was ready to flip the table and burn the whole system down.
But only looked that way.
Every participant depended on the North American film market for their livelihood.
None of them could actually afford to destroy the table they all ate from.
After countless rounds of negotiations, arguments, and compromise, all sides finally reached an agreement shortly before the release of Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons.
The theater chains would have the authority to determine their own screening schedules—but they still had to honor the minimum screening commitments specified in their contracts with the studios.
As for those minimum requirements, they varied somewhat from studio to studio, but the general standard was roughly this:
Out of every fifty theaters, at least three had to screen a given film, with two showings per day.
If a movie ever fell to that level of exhibition, it would probably make more money by pulling it from theaters altogether and going straight to DVD.
Still, despite satisfying no one completely, the agreement represented the absolute minimum that every party was willing to accept.
And with that settled, Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons was finally ready for its theatrical release.
In 2008, Christmas happened to fall on a Friday, meaning the Christmas release window perfectly overlapped with the weekend. For Shinji and his film, this was excellent news, as it virtually guaranteed strong ticket sales.
Disney's Armageddon, meanwhile, was scheduled for the following week's New Year's release window. Although audiences in Europe and North America generally weren't as eager to spend money during New Year's as they were at Christmas, it was still considered a solid release period for movies.
As a result, Disney wasn't unhappy with the schedule at all. In fact, the studio printed the following tagline beneath Armageddon's posters:
"Welcome the New Year together with the one you love—in the midst of disaster!"
Unfortunately, Michael Bay's box office appeal was nowhere near that of Shinji Matou, and an original film like Armageddon couldn't benefit from the same IP recognition that Fate enjoyed.
As such, the overwhelming majority of moviegoers were looking forward to Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons. Armageddon was generally viewed as the kind of movie people would watch if they happened to have time.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
"Finally! I get to watch another Fate movie in theaters!"
Standing outside the cinema and staring at the enormous promotional poster depicting Jeanne d'Arc raising her banner with her back to the viewer, Fujita could barely contain his excitement.
Ignoring the stares of everyone around him, he shouted,
"Double the Jeanne waifus—I'M COMING!!"
"Would you at least try to have some dignity?"
Shibamatsu rolled his eyes and, without another word, dragged his idiotic best friend into the theater.
If they weren't childhood friends, Shibamatsu would have pretended not to know him.
But since they had grown up together, and none of their other friends would stop the fool from embarrassing himself, only Shibamatsu could keep Fujita from making an even bigger spectacle of himself.
Aoko was also being dragged into the theater.
"Alice, aren't you being a little too impatient? We already bought our tickets," Walking along as Alice pulled her by the arm, Aoko asked quietly.
"That's exactly why we have to hurry," Alice replied without looking back.
"We bought such a huge block of seats. If we don't get there before everyone else, we won't be able to pick the best ones."
The corner of Aoko's mouth twitched.
She honestly thought that, given Alice's status within their little group, nobody would dare fight her over seating anyway.
Of course, while some people came in groups, others attended alone.
Li Ri'ang was one such lonely bachelor.
His boss, Kariya Matou, had actually invited him to watch Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons together.
But watching a movie with your boss?
Could anyone possibly enjoy that?
Granted, Kariya Matou was gentle, approachable, and easy to get along with.
Still, no matter how friendly a boss was, a boss was still a boss.
Going to the movies together just felt wrong.
As for why Kariya wanted someone to accompany him, Li Ri'ang guessed it was probably because his wife was overseas, leaving him lonely while working in China.
"But even if you're lonely, don't ask me! What if people get the wrong idea?"
Li Ri'ang muttered the complaint so quietly that only he himself could hear it.
He knew Kariya had invited him because he was, in a sense, half a magus himself. Watching a film made by another magus would naturally give them more to talk about.
Even so...
Just imagining two grown men sitting side by side in a movie theater—especially with a superior-subordinate relationship between them...
It made Li Ri'ang deeply uncomfortable.
"Please spare me... I just want to enjoy the movie in peace."
Li Ri'ang let out a helpless sigh.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
No matter what complicated emotions the audience carried with them, the premiere and midnight screenings of Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons proceeded as scheduled across the world.
As with his previous films, Shinji once again chose the Type-Moon Cinema in Fuyuki City as the venue for the premiere.
Many fans had complained that Shinji favored this small city far too much, since attending the premiere there was extremely inconvenient for people living elsewhere.
Even so, Fuyuki City was Shinji Matou's hometown.
No one could really fault him for choosing it.
In fact, his preference had the opposite effect: it inspired many other film productions to hold their own premieres there as well.
After all, in the film industry, every movie's box office performance was like opening a mystery box.
As a result, superstition had become almost a way of life.
Even though everyone knew that Shinji Matou's films succeeded because of their quality, many still believed that the Type-Moon Cinema possessed some kind of box office luck buff.
As a result, more and more productions chose the Type-Moon Cinema as the starting point of their box office journey. Even if they couldn't hold their worldwide premiere there, they would at least make it the venue for their Japanese premiere.
After all, even if there wasn't any magical blessing, it couldn't hurt to share in Director Shinji Matou's good fortune.
With so many films holding their premieres in Fuyuki City, the Type-Moon Cinema had become one of the city's greatest landmarks.
The Fuyuki City government was naturally delighted.
To ensure every premiere ran smoothly, they even renovated the area surrounding the theater.
The most noticeable change was that the street in front of the cinema had been widened, allowing the red carpet area to accommodate far more fans.
Shinji was very pleased.
In his opinion, this was one of the few genuinely useful things the city government had ever done.
"So they're not completely brain-dead after all."
Hearing that, Shirou couldn't help but retort, "If you hadn't been dropping hints—both obvious and subtle—they probably wouldn't have done anything in the first place."
"Well, I poked them, and they actually moved. That's good enough."
Shirou's face darkened.
"Are you sure you're talking about our city government... and not a toad?"
Shinji ignored Shirou's jab and instead checked on how the major cast members—including Charlemagne, Sakura, Jeanne d'Arc, and the others—were interacting with fans.
Even Lancelot, who had only made a cameo appearance for fun, was happily posing for photos with his admirers.
Satisfied, Shinji headed straight into the theater.
"Shirou, let's go find our seats."
"We? Hold on—why me?" Shirou's eyes widened. "And why are we going in this early?"
"They've been way too noisy lately. I just want a little peace and quiet."
Smack
Shinji suddenly felt a hand land on his shoulder.
Shirou raised an eyebrow, a teasing grin spreading across his face.
"I'm suddenly very interested in your recent love life. If you're willing to tell me all about it, I don't mind being your shield."
Shinji: "..."
"If you choose to remain silent," Shinji replied at last, "I'll give you an incredibly cool and ridiculously powerful Heroic Spirit design—one that can punch Miyamoto Musashi straight into the ground."
Shirou had to admit, for a brief moment, he was genuinely tempted.
On one hand, there was the chance to pry into his friend's romantic scandals.
On the other, there was the opportunity to look unbelievably cool on the big screen.
After a moment of serious contemplation, Shirou clenched his fist and declared, "I'll take both!"
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 528: Shinji: How Lonely It Is to Be Invincible~[1]
Link: https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/im-not-master-im-174748910?collection=31097[2]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/im-not-master-im-174748910?collection=31097
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/im-not-master-im-174748910?collection=31097