Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 334: Box Office Poison
"Achoo!"
On the way out of Feihuang Studio, Pei Qian sneezed.
"Why do I suddenly have this vague sense of foreboding…"
"Did some department run into trouble again? Should I check?"
"…Nah, forget it."
For a split second, Pei Qian thought about doing a quick check to see whether any of his businesses had run into problems. But the thought lasted only a second before he suppressed it.
He couldn't possibly check them all!
By now, he had far too many ventures under his name. Going through them one by one would be way too much trouble.
After some thought, Pei Qian leaned toward believing this was just his imagination and decided to keep focusing on the task at hand.
With that in mind, he dialed Zhang Zuting's number.
The call connected quickly. The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and the atmosphere was pleasant.
Although the advertisement for Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition had caused Zhang Zuting some trouble, it had also brought him a lot of exposure.
Especially with the success of the mobile version of Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition, many people's preconceived notions of the game as "pay-to-win," "cash-grabbing," and "made for rich fools" were washed away. As a result, many people who had previously criticized Zhang Zuting had actually turned into fans.
Zhang Zuting, who had already been considered past his prime, had instead seen his popularity rise again recently!
So he was genuinely quite grateful to President Pei.
"Mr. Zhang, do you have any availability in the coming months? I have a movie here and would like to invite you to join the cast."
"We've worked together before, so you don't need to worry about the pay. I definitely won't shortchange you."
On the other end of the line, Zhang Zuting was clearly taken aback.
A movie?
Wasn't President Pei running a game company? Why was he suddenly making a movie?
Was this some kind of expansion into a new field?
Zhang Zuting didn't ask too many questions. After all, plenty of wealthy companies wanted to make movies these days, even coal bosses and rich second-generation heirs were into it. There was nothing surprising about that.
Since President Pei even ran high-end restaurants, wasn't it perfectly normal for him to invest in a movie?
Zhang Zuting said, "No problem, President Pei. I happen to be free. We've worked together before, so we know each other well, pay is no issue. A friendship rate will do. But could you let me take a look at the script first?"
Pei Qian fell silent for a moment. "I'll make up the difference for the 'friendship rate.' Just don't ask me for the script yet, alright?"
Zhang Zuting paused, then burst out laughing. "President Pei really knows how to joke. Is the script not finished yet? Fine, then let's not talk about the script for now. Since it's President Pei, of course I'll give you face. I'll make some arrangements here and then head to Jingzhou."
"Great. I'll send you the director's contact information, and he can coordinate directly with you. Oh, right, I'm also looking for a young male actor for the lead role. Do you have any good recommendations?" Pei Qian asked.
Zhang Zuting thought for a moment. "There are tons of young male actors. Do you have any requirements?"
Pei Qian answered without hesitation, "Preferably someone expensive."
Zhang Zuting snorted with laughter. "Expensive? Then I don't know anyone like that. I'm just a washed-up actor, how would I know all those hot young stars? If you're just looking for someone expensive, honestly, there aren't that many outrageously expensive male actors in the country. Why not just ask around one by one?"
Pei Qian nodded. "That makes sense. I'll keep looking."
After hanging up, he had also just arrived back at Tengda.
Pei Qian got out of the car, went to his office, and did a quick search on Qiandu for currently popular male actors.
Many fields in this world have changed. For example, the development of smartphones and mobile games was three to four years ahead of what Pei Qian remembered.
The film and television industry was also somewhat different from his memories.
According to Pei Qian's recollection, "traffic movies" began around 2011, started to flourish around 2013, reached their peak in 2014–2015, and then gradually declined afterward.
In this world, the situation was slightly different: traffic movies had appeared even earlier than he remembered.
Pei Qian guessed this was likely one of the effects of the early advancement of mobile phones and communication technologies.
In short, traffic-driven films in this world seemed to be entering the stage of rapid growth. The pay of many "traffic idols" was skyrocketing, becoming more and more outrageous.
Of course, aside from these young traffic idols, there were also some big-name male actors whose asking prices were far from low.
Pei Qian found himself torn.
Who should he cast as the male lead?
If he picked an unknown minor actor, the cost would be too low.
If he picked a big-name actor, they would indeed be expensive, but their acting was generally solid, and they had real box-office pull.
What about a traffic idol?
In many ways, that would work too. But Pei Qian had a certain aversion to traffic idols. Spending the money elsewhere would still be spending money, why give it away to traffic idols for nothing, and further fuel the hype of the "traffic era" in the process?
The thought left him somewhat displeased.
While struggling with his indecision, Pei Qian continued searching for information, half in the hope of striking lucky and finding a suitable candidate.
Suddenly, he saw a keyword.
Box-office poison!
"Hm?"
Pei Qian's interest was instantly piqued. This was a hot post on a forum, titled: "Is Lu Zhiyao really the ultimate box-office poison?"
The thread was quite popular, with many netizens chiming in.
"Seriously—that lineup was insane! Yet it's still bombed. That's just absurd!"
"Even a powerhouse director like Director Liu couldn't carry it. Just couldn't!"
"With two female leads who are basically guaranteed to boost male co-stars, and it still bombed this hard…"
"I just want to ask, after flopping so many times, why are this guy's resources still so good?"
"Honestly, his acting is decent, and he's hardworking. People who've worked with him all speak well of him, and I've never heard of any scandals. He's handsome too, but for some reason, I just don't want to see him on screen…"
"Exactly. The moment I see his name in a movie's cast list, my first reaction is: not watching it."
"I think there are two reasons. First, he doesn't have audience appeal. Second, his face is too handsome, it completely breaks immersion. He really shouldn't be taking serious films; he should stick to fan-service, traffic-driven movies."
"There's no choice. He debuted too early and has already passed the age to be a proper traffic idol. And he actually has ambitions, he doesn't want to grab easy money from trashy projects, just wants to focus on good scripts and hone his acting."
"Please, I'm begging you, stop ruining good scripts!"
"If this one flops again, no director will probably dare hire him anymore, right? Expensive and can't bring in box office, his cost-performance ratio is just catastrophically bad."
Reading the discussion, Pei Qian's eyes lit up.
This guy named Lu Zhiyao seemed to fit his needs perfectly!
He quickly looked up Lu Zhiyao's representative works.
Pei Qian discovered that Lu Zhiyao was currently among the top five most popular young male stars in the country. His fame was solid, and he had a number of respectable works. Especially early in his career, he had acted in several films that were critically praised but commercially unsuccessful. While their box office numbers were low, his performances had been quite striking, earning him high expectations from audiences.
But as he made more and more films, something suddenly went wrong.
Lu Zhiyao's acting hadn't declined, in fact, it had steadily improved. He was hardworking and had a good reputation as a person. Yet the problem was that the movies he starred in kept flopping… and flopping… and flopping even harder!
At first, fans all believed it was the movies dragging him down and spoke up for him one after another, so his market value kept rising. But gradually, people began to realize that this guy didn't actually seem to be the one getting dragged down by the films.
The mark of a truly good actor is the ability to carry the box office on their own. Yet Lu Zhiyao not only couldn't carry the box office, he seemed to have the opposite effect!
In his most recent film, there was a veteran Best Actor and two actresses with very strong audience appeal. And yet the movie still flopped miserably.
As a result, the claim that Lu Zhiyao was "box-office poison" grew more and more widespread.
Pei Qian checked further and found that Lu Zhiyao had studied abroad when he was younger, so his spoken English should be quite good.
President Pei made the decision on the spot: it would be him!
This was simply the perfect candidate in his mind!
He then sent Lu Zhiyao's name to Zhu Xiaoce:
"Go contact him. This is the perfect male lead I have in mind!"
…
…
The next day.
Not long after getting up, Pei Qian received a call from Zhu Xiaoce.
"President Pei, I have two updates."
"I've already contacted Mr. Zhang Zuting. He should come to Jingzhou in a few days, and preparations on the crew's side are underway as well. You don't need to worry about those."
"As for Lu Zhiyao, whom you mentioned yesterday… I managed to reach his agent and also spoke with Lu Zhiyao directly. But he seems rather depressed lately and declined the invitation, saying he doesn't want to take on any films in the near future."
Pei Qian was taken aback. "You didn't tell him we'd pay more?"
Zhu Xiaoce was momentarily at a loss for words. "Uh… at the time, he seemed to be in a very low mood. I didn't quite have the heart to be so blunt. I only hinted that we could increase the pay, but he didn't pick up on it, and I didn't feel comfortable pressing further."
Pei Qian silently shook his head.
Sigh…. It seemed that even spending money required talent.
A director like Zhu Xiaoce—after studying for so long—still hadn't grasped the true essence of Tengda's philosophy of spending money.
"Raise the pay" was the ultimate trump card to solve all problems, and its use was very simple: be direct.
No matter what excuse the other party came up with, just raise the pay. It had to be clear, with concrete numbers—no vagueness, no ambiguity.
That said, sincerity over the phone was indeed limited. A face-to-face meeting would be much better.
Pei Qian thought for a moment. "How about this: on behalf of Tengda, send Lu Zhiyao an invitation. Tell him to come to Jingzhou to relax, we'll cover everything during his stay. Once he's here, I'll talk to him personally and raise the pay face to face!"
Zhu Xiaoce replied, "Understood, President Pei."
Pei Qian was determined to get Lu Zhiyao. Since he was box-office poison, he absolutely had to bring him into his own film crew!
Moreover, considering that this guy had been having a rough time lately—his new movie had just flopped, and he was in a very low mood—this perfectly matched the state of the male lead in the script.
Given how "toxic" the script was, giving him a bit more pay as compensation for emotional distress was entirely reasonable.
About half an hour later, the Moyu Delivery that Pei Qian had ordered had already arrived, when Zhu Xiaoce called again.
"President Pei, it's settled. Lu Zhiyao has agreed to come to Jingzhou!"
Pei Qian nodded. "Good. I'll have people arrange the reception. You continue handling the crew matters, leave Lu Zhiyao to me."
Pei Qian guessed that with his latest film having just flopped, Lu Zhiyao must be extremely dejected, with no interest in anything.
At a time like this, if a studio he'd never even heard of came knocking to invite him to make a movie, of course he wouldn't want to take it.
By inviting him to Jingzhou to unwind and have a chat, once they met face to face, it would be much easier to persuade him.
At that point, he'd treat him to a lavish meal at Mingyun Private Kitchen, and then wildly increase the pay at the dinner table. There was no way he wouldn't be able to secure this "box-office poison"!
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