Chapter 1 Meng Chang's Hurry

Meng Chang was so frightened by Boss Pei's phone call that he decided on the spot to spend the money immediately!

Right now, all he cared about was getting the money out of his hands.

Although the two million yuan had already been allocated to the advertising and marketing department as promotional funds, the actual control of the money was still in Boss Pei's hands as long as it wasn't spent.

What if Boss Pei went back on his word?

For example, under the guise of needing funds for turnover, he might temporarily take the money back.

Although Meng Chang didn't think Boss Pei would stoop to such a shameless act, he had to be careful for the sake of his commission.

Therefore, before the end of the workday on Friday, Meng Chang immediately held a small meeting, gathered all his subordinates, and finalized the promotional plan for the following week.

All in, all the promotional funds would be spent, leaving not a single cent!

Anyway, success or failure depended on this one move. After spending the money, all they could do was wait for the game's release and the movie's premiere during the May 1st holiday. The following two weeks were completely at the mercy of fate.

The employees of the advertising and marketing department still followed Meng Chang's instructions as usual, and soon they were all busy with their respective tasks.

This time, all the promotional funds were still poured into promoting the "Collection of Classic Domestic Games," with no promotion for either the *Mission and Choice* game or the movie.

Logically speaking, the movie's publicity was also a major undertaking. The promotional expenses for many blockbusters were often equal to the production costs, easily reaching hundreds of millions.

These promotional expenses included various online and offline resources, such as display boards, banners, and posters in major cinemas, all of which cost money.

But Meng Chang obviously didn't intend to spend a single cent on that.

Promoting the movie would be the same as promoting the game, wouldn't it?

Players weren't stupid; upon seeing the movie's name, they would naturally associate it with the old game and would definitely become suspicious.

Therefore, the best way was not to promote the movie at all.

Anyway, all the promotional funds had already been spent, and the less effective it was, the happier Meng Chang would be.

Of course, it was impossible to keep the movie completely secret. After the release date was set, the movie's name and specific content could be seen in the cinema's scheduling and on various ticket-purchasing apps under "Coming Soon." This was unavoidable.

But as long as the promotional funds weren't in place, the film's popularity and attention would remain at a relatively low level.

After all, the publicity costs had to be borne by the company responsible for distribution. The cinemas couldn't very well pay for the promotion out of their own pockets, could they?

Moreover, it wasn't just a matter of publicity. If there weren't enough promotional resources, the cinemas would definitely lower the number of screenings accordingly.

Plus, the movie and the game were being released on the same day. Meng Chang felt that he should be able to hold out until May 1st without too much trouble.

Even if there was support from some netizens, it wouldn't be enough to affect the overall situation, because *Mission and Choice* wasn't a small production; it had a huge investment, and the box office would have to earn at least three times the cost to break even.

Even if the popularity really picked up later, Meng Chang would have already received his full commission for April!

After everything was arranged, Meng Chang closed his computer with satisfaction, ready to get off work and enjoy the weekend.

Editor Xia from the official platform was coming for an exclusive interview next Tuesday. Meng Chang planned to check on the promotional situation on Monday and then disappear on Tuesday.

He'd let Editor Xia interview other people in the advertising and marketing department; Meng Chang himself wouldn't show his face.

Meng Chang felt that as long as he didn't appear on camera or speak, the interview would at most involve interviewing a few ordinary employees and asking some harmless questions, and it wouldn't cause too much of a sensation. There shouldn't be any major problems.

Yes, it seemed very stable; there were no major problems!

Meng Chang stood up and stretched. He had been busy with the promotional plan for some time and was a little tired. He could finally rest and relax this weekend!

Unfortunately, he didn't have any money, and there weren't many relaxing activities to choose from. He could only sleep at home, watch movies, and eat something good.

Meng Chang planned his weekend while happily leaving work and taking the bus home.

...

...

April 9th, Monday.

Beijing, Fanqi Media.

Fanqi Media is a media and entertainment group with considerable influence in China. Its main businesses include film investment, production, and distribution; television series investment and distribution; and artist management.

In addition to investing in and distributing domestic films, Fanqi Media also undertakes the distribution of some overseas blockbusters in mainland China.

Because Fanqi Media is a large company with many successful distribution cases, it has a good say when discussing domestic distribution issues with overseas film and television companies.

Monday had just begun when Deputy General Manager Lu Xiaoping heard some good news.

The head of the department responsible for distributing the overseas film *Naval Warfare* came to Lu Xiaoping's office early in the morning, excitedly saying, "Vice President Lu, there's good news! It seems that the advancement of *Mission and Choice*'s release date has been finalized. It's being moved from the May 1st holiday to April 14th, which is this Saturday!"

Lu Xiaoping was stunned, even doubting the truth of the news. "How is that possible?"

The department head said, "I also thought it was impossible, so when I first heard the news, I thought it was fake! But the source is very reliable, and I've made inquiries from various sources, confirming that *Mission and Choice* has indeed been advanced and is really being released on April 14th. There's absolutely no mistake!"

Lu Xiaoping showed an exaggerated expression, both surprised and delighted!

*Naval Warfare* is a standard Hollywood blockbuster, with an investment of two hundred million dollars, touted as "Hollywood's biggest science fiction blockbuster this year."

Although that statement had a few qualifiers and might be somewhat exaggerated, the production team included a famous director and a cast of superstars. Even the special effects team was among the best in the industry.

The film was shot on location in the Hawaiian waters, with many destroyers, battleships, and aircraft carriers making real appearances. It even used real footage of the US President's speech to the Navy.

In short, in all aspects, the film was of excellent quality, and the producers naturally had high hopes for it.

Fanqi Media recognized this and had signed on to handle the film's distribution in China a long time ago, hoping to make a fortune with it!

Fanqi Media spared no expense in promoting *Naval Warfare*.

First, in order to cater to the mainland market, the film invited a well-known domestic celebrity to make a cameo appearance for about ten minutes, creating a special version for China. The celebrity would also accompany the film during previews and roadshows in mainland China.

Second, compared to other overseas films, this film was not only not released later than its overseas premiere, but it was actually released nearly a month earlier!

*Naval Warfare* was being released in China on May 1st, while it would not be released in other parts of the world until the end of May.

There were two main reasons for this situation. First, film companies were paying more and more attention to non-US domestic markets, especially mainland China, which had a strong consumer base and a vast market. Releasing the film in mainland China earlier could generate higher box office revenue. Second, the goal was to avoid some concurrent blockbusters worldwide.

Fanqi Media knew that the May 1st Golden Week was one of the best periods of the year in China, so it had been communicating with the producers of *Naval Warfare* and eventually secured the current release date.

Everyone was happy after the release date was set, feeling that things were definitely stable this time, because while there were many films being released during the May 1st holiday, none of them posed a direct threat to *Naval Warfare*.

*Naval Warfare* was a science fiction film with a huge budget and excellent special effects, while most of the films being released during the May 1st holiday in China were comedies and romance films, which were not in the same category at all and couldn't be compared.

But upon closer investigation, Lu Xiaoping realized that things were not quite right.

Where did this *Mission and Choice* come from?

Because he had never seen any publicity for the film, Lu Xiaoping initially dismissed it as a small production from a third-rate company. But upon closer investigation, he realized that this was no small production; it was produced by Tenda Group, which had previously made *A Beautiful Tomorrow*, and it even starred Lu Zhiyao!

As a result, all of Fanqi Media was on high alert, worried.

However, their worries were short-lived. Today, good news had arrived.

*Mission and Choice* was no longer in the May 1st holiday lineup; it had been advanced by half a month to April 14th!

This truly made Lu Xiaoping overjoyed. He could only say that the ups and downs of life were too exciting!

He stood up excitedly and walked around his office twice.

"So, Tenda is scared?"

"They felt that the competition was too intense during the May 1st holiday, so they didn't dare to confront us head-on and advanced the release to the 14th?"

"Judging by this, the quality of *Mission and Choice* can't be very good!"

Lu Xiaoping was so happy not only because there was one less competitor during the May 1st holiday, but also because this move exposed the weakness of *Mission and Choice*.

If Tenda was very confident in the film *Mission and Choice*, they would definitely choose to release it during the May 1st holiday and fight to the death with other films. After all, the traffic during the Golden Week was definitely overwhelming compared to ordinary holidays.

But Tenda would rather give up the traffic of the Golden Week and advance the release, which showed that the producers had no confidence in the film at all. They didn't plan to clash head-on with other films and just wanted to choose a less popular release date, hoping to fool a few viewers.

Although this idea was a bit far-fetched, Lu Xiaoping couldn't think of any other possibilities after thinking it over and over.

Lu Xiaoping boldly speculated that the film *Mission and Choice* must have encountered some major errors or setbacks during filming. The final film didn't satisfy Tenda at all, so the originally highly anticipated project was abandoned. They just wanted to choose a less popular release date to barely recover some of the costs.

The only film that might have posed a threat to *Naval Warfare* had also flopped. Wouldn't that be a soaring success?

It had to be said, this was truly good news!

Lu Xiaoping was very happy, even feeling that he could capitalize on this matter.