It was obvious that the real box office potential for 'Spirited Away' lay in the first week of the Lunar New Year. Once the holiday period ended, it was only natural for daily revenue to drop to around 100 million, and then slowly down to tens of millions over the next few days.
After all, box office trends are unpredictable. In Jing Yu's previous life, 'Spirited Away' grossed nearly 2 billion yuan in the Japanese market. That record was created by a population of just 100 million—already an astonishing achievement.
But 'Spirited Away' contained layers of social metaphor and satire aimed specifically at the national conditions of Japan. While audiences in other regions might understand the symbolism, they couldn't fully relate to or be emotionally moved by it.
It was just like how 'Wolf Warrior 2' stirred deep patriotic feelings among Jing Yu's people in his previous life. You let a foreigner—say, an American—watch it? They wouldn't understand why Chinese characters in the film felt such pride and belonging.
Because in many immigrant countries, "patriotism" is often just something people say when they take an oath for citizenship. Sometimes it's even just part of a business transaction. That's why 'Wolf Warrior'-type films never took off overseas.
The same logic applied to 'Spirited Away'. While Great Zhou audiences did appreciate the story and production quality, Jing Yu never expected it to create the kind of nationwide frenzy it did in Japan.
So when the box office growth inevitably slowed, Jing Yu had already planned to use capital to support it. After all, the film had both quality and popularity. With some extra promotions and subsidies, the cost was manageable.
If the film had bombed critically, trying to force success this way would be a death sentence.
Over the next few days, 'Spirited Away''s daily box office hovered between 100 million and 200 million yuan.
Its total slowly crept up—
4 million… 4.5 million… 4.7… 4.8…
Finally, half a month after release, the film crossed 5.1 billion.
That meant it had broken into the top five films in Great Zhou's box office history.
Even more impressively, Jing Yu now had two films in the top five.
And in the top 100, Jing Yu had five entries:
'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal'
'Love Letter'
'Your Name'
'Castle in the Sky'
'Spirited Away'
On the night of the Lantern Festival, Jing Yu's entire company celebrated. He remained cautious, watching for unexpected variables, but his staff was already treating this as a done deal.
"At this rate, give it twenty more days, and we'll grind out the final one billion. Then, the boss will hold both the highest-rated TV drama and the highest-grossing movie."
"It's surreal, boss!"
"I don't respect any other capitalist in Great Zhou. Most of them got lucky. But boss? He built everything on sheer talent."
"He could've coasted on looks—but no, he chose skill. Respect."
"People used to hate the boss, but now? Industry folks sigh and say: 'Being born in the same era as a freak like him is just unfair.'"
"Think about it. In just ten years, the boss went from a no-name employee at a TV station to an industry giant. You can't replicate that."
"Honestly, no need to dig into the boss's rise. You might as well study how Vice Boss Cheng Lie rose."
"Forget it. At least Cheng had the guts to leave his job at Yunteng TV and follow his boss to start a new company. You think that's easy? Try picking the right person to back from a crowd of nobodies."
"I don't care about any of that. I just want to know how big our bonuses will be in the film department."
"Half a year's salary, minimum. The boss is generous. He knows if he wants the best people, he has to pay for them. That's how we grew into a first-tier company in film and game development in just a few years."
"This next month, we're going to witness history."
Almost everyone in the company was holding their breath, waiting for 'Spirited Away' to claim the top spot.
Jing Yu was no exception. He checked the box office stats at least ten times a day.
But after passing 5 billion, the growth slowed significantly.
Most people who wanted to watch it had already seen it.
At this point, further promotions had low ROI.
Even though Jing Yu was working like crazy, doing interviews and pushing media—
Once 'Spirited Away' reached 5.7 billion, daily revenue dropped to under 50 million.
There were now only five days until the one-month mark since release.
"Yeah… it was never going to be easy." Jing Yu let out a long breath.
Even subsidies wouldn't help much now.
Those final few billion were like pushing a cart uphill—it looked close, but would still take two more weeks to grind through.
"Still… I think we've got this." Jing Yu closed the research report in front of him.
The film had less than twenty days left before going offline.
He wasn't planning on doing an extension release either.
Of course, only if it broke the record.
While the buzz was still strong, Jing Yu intended to launch it on streaming platforms soon—hopefully pulling in one last wave of profit.
He then opened another document—
a proposal for March's launch campaigns for 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' and 'Pokémon'.
Both games had been in tight production for over a year, and were now nearly finished—just bug fixing and polish left.
The final products?
Jing Yu had been playing them himself with great joy.
'Yu-Gi-Oh!' followed the usual formula: turn the manga plot into an RPG where players could control Yugi and battle familiar bosses like Kaiba, Pegasus, and Bakura.
And it wasn't just card games—
In some stages, you could control summoned monsters like Dark Magician Girl or Dark Magician in full-blown fights. Jing Yu wasn't worried about gameplay or story—this formula had worked for decades.
He just upgraded it into a modern, visually stunning version.
As for 'Pokémon', he modeled it after Zelda-style open-world games—where players could explore freely, collect monsters, interact with Pokémon, and battle in real-time.
Both games were designed to immerse players in familiar worlds.
And they weren't one-and-done projects either.
Once fans got hooked, Jing Yu would expand into sequels, movies, and shows, turning both IPs into multimedia franchises.
But that would take time—he knew he couldn't recreate their past-life success in just a few months.
After reviewing the proposals, Jing Yu stood from his chair.
His "lazy fish" time was coming to an end.
March was approaching, and the entire company would soon be busy.
As February came to a close, a few new movies launched—
But their box office numbers were awful.
Even though 'Spirited Away' had dropped to just 30 million daily, these new releases couldn't even match that.
Fans who had been worried breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, Jing Yu's diehard fans were more obsessed with the box office than even his staff.
If the record were out of reach, they could let it go.
But now?
'Spirited Away' had hit 5.946 billion.
Only 100 million away from breaking the record—
But daily earnings were down to just 10 million, and less than half a month remained.
Fans were panicking.
"Report: Today's box office is 15.26 million! 'Spirited Away' breaks 5.96 billion. The top spot is within reach—maybe within a week!"
"Old Thief is too chill! At a time like this, no promos, no subsidies—he's driving us crazy!"
"Maybe he thinks it's already a lock, so he's resting now."
"Can't believe it. If those trashy late-February movies had been even decent, we'd be done for. Their bad reviews actually saved us."
"Relax. Only 70 million left. We'll reach it this week."
"I've dragged every friend I can to watch it. Even went with three ex-girlfriends to contribute six tickets! Old Thief, don't let me down—go get that #1 spot!"
"Wait what???"
"You're still on good terms with three exes?!"
"Legend."
"Guys… focus! Not the point here."
"By the way, what's Old Thief even doing? No updates, no promos, and all we got this season is 'Ultraman Gaia', floating around 9–10% viewership. He's gone full slacker."
"Maybe he's cooking up something big. He never goes more than half a year without releasing something. I bet we'll see his new work in the summer season."
"I'd rather he just made more films like 'Spirited Away'."
"Cut him some slack. You think 6 billion box office movies grow on trees?"
"Personally, I miss long-running series like 'Gundam SEED' or 'Attack on Titan'. I got used to his year-long shows. Now short 12-episode seasons just feel too thin."
Jing Yu's fans were anxiously waiting.
No updates from the company only made them more nervous.
But the numbers didn't lie:
March 7 — 6 billion box office
March 10 — 6.05 billion
March 12 — just 3 million away from breaking the record.
March 12, 11:57 AM.
Across all of Great Zhou, countless Jing Yu fans and Bluestar staff watched the screen—
'Spirited Away' passed the mark.
The Bluestar offices erupted in cheers.
On every major film forum, in every Jing Yu fan group, it was like New Year's had come again.
Everyone rushed to post the news:
"It's done."
"We're number one."
"Ten years following Old Thief, and we finally made it."
"I'm crying. He did it."
"It's not even my achievement, but I feel so proud."
"After following him for so long, it's emotional."
"He's now a legend in film and television—#1 in both industries. No one's beating that."
"Okay, maybe someday, when more cities and theaters exist, the record could fall. But no one's touching his TV ratings—not unless someone makes a show as influential as 'Attack on Titan', and gets the top-grossing movie too."
"Think that's possible? Who else but Old Thief could dominate both TV and film?"
"Actually, I do want someone to challenge him—it'll push him to create more!"
"Doesn't matter. Right now, Old Thief is the most accomplished creator in Great Zhou history. No one can deny that."
"Yeah—volume, quality, impact, reviews, box office, ratings—he crushes everyone."
"Honestly, I don't think anyone will ever top him."
While fans flooded forums with celebration—
Bluestar Films released a new announcement.
The top half celebrated 'Spirited Away', claiming the #1 spot.
The bottom half?
Included two gameplay trailers—
for 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' and 'Pokémon'—
and their official release dates.