All-rounder Artist

Chapter 1420: Chapter 1172 Takeoff

A first-day box office surpassing one billion is not a common achievement. Even on Blue Star, where the market is far crazier than Earth, a movie breaking one billion on its opening day can undoubtedly be considered a blockbuster for the season!

Faced with such a situation, major cinema chains reacted swiftly!

Cinemas across various continents quickly increased the subsequent screenings for *Kung Fu Hustle*!

Liu Xing’s movie *Imperial City* was the first to be affected by the adjustment in scheduling.

There’s nothing that can be done.

After all, *Imperial City* received equal screening slots as *Kung Fu Hustle* but couldn’t deliver comparable results.

You can’t just sit holding up a prime slot without delivering results, right? Naturally, they needed to make space for *Kung Fu Hustle*.

It’s real.

It’s cruel.

That’s how cinema chains operate.

Cinemas need to make money too, especially with the costs involved in advanced tech like naked-eye 3D screenings.

Of course.

*Imperial City* wasn’t the only film impacted.

Other movies released during the same season were also affected to varying extents. However, since most of them already had smaller shares of the market compared to *Imperial City*, and many were films that had already been screened for a while and earned most of their potential profits, the drop in box office due to reduced screenings was within an acceptable range for those filmmakers.

There’s no point in complaining.

That’s just how cinema scheduling works.

During this season, if *Kung Fu Hustle* hadn’t exploded, other films would still have been squeezed out and impacted by *Imperial City* instead.

The highest-earning film of the season naturally gets the highest priority, taking the biggest share while others can only settle for leftovers.

Unless two films dominate the box office as equals, or there are multiple movies vying for close positions, then the scheduling might be more evenly distributed.

It’s common for popular seasons to experience such scenarios.

But clearly.

August this year is destined to be owned solely by *Kung Fu Hustle*.

Liu Xing’s *Imperial City* simply can’t compete on the same level.

And joining *Imperial City* in its misery are those films released within a few days before or after *Kung Fu Hustle*.

These newer movies not only lost a significant number of screenings to *Kung Fu Hustle* but also suffered severe reductions in their anticipated audience sizes!

Speaking of which.

During this period, anyone stepping into a cinema would undoubtedly see *Kung Fu Hustle*, a film that exploded both in reputation and at the box office, as their top choice.

Every other movie had to take a backseat in priority.

As for the unlucky ones affected by this?

That’s right!

The majority hail from Zhong Continent!

This is because many filmmakers in Zhong Continent had aimed to use the August slot to take down Xian Yu, only to find themselves completely obliterated instead.

At this moment.

It’s chaos in the Zhong Continent film industry among those with stakes involved in the August lineup!

“Where did this monster come from?!”

“How did such a heavyweight film suddenly appear in August?!”

“Wasn’t the plan supposed to be taking down Xian Yu? Who exactly is taking down whom here?!”

“This box office figure is ridiculous!”

“I checked Xian Yu’s past box office records, and they were never this insane!”

“Why did his strongest box office performance have to happen while we’re in the picture?!”

“Mom, I want to go home!”

“Too late; we’re all stuck in this pit!”

“I thought the strongest contender this season was *Imperial City*. Turns out Xian Yu’s movie is even stronger. With these two juggernauts showing up, we have no shot at all!”

“Forget us, even *Imperial City* is suffering!”

“Without *Kung Fu Hustle*, *Imperial City* would undoubtedly dominate the box office. But unfortunately, reality doesn’t have room for ‘what ifs.'”

“Don’t even mention anything about taking down Xian Yu to me in the future!”

“This guy is a total freak; dominating music wasn’t enough, now his movies are terrifying too!”

…

Truly terrifying.

In the days following the increase in its screenings, *Kung Fu Hustle* continued delivering astonishing daily box office numbers!

From Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, and Zhong Continent.

The analysis and breakdown of this film became increasingly fervent!

Zhong Continent’s top film magazine *Film Weekly* even dedicated a special feature to *Kung Fu Hustle*!

“This is a commercial film worth savoring over and over. The word ‘savor’ might seem at odds with the popcorn attributes of a commercial film, but this movie is an exception. Xian Yu’s directing leaves viewers with plenty to ponder. For instance, many of us reflected for a while after watching the movie before realizing a near-absurd fact: the protagonist, portrayed by He Sheng, doesn’t even have a name…”

Initially, many people didn’t notice.

It wasn’t until the wave of viewers exploded that people realized He Sheng’s character didn’t have a name!

Clearly.

This was a design that prompted contemplation, a subtle brilliance that was hard to fully grasp but sparked endless imagination and speculation.

The discussions and speculations triggered by this became one of the movie’s most talked-about topics.

Meanwhile, as the box office soared.

Across online platforms, reactions from audiences on various continents kept pouring in:

“Movies are just Xian Yu’s side hustle. Most of his energy goes into music. If he didn’t pursue music and instead devoted himself fully to filmmaking, I can’t even fathom what heights he could reach!”

“Could he make it into Blue Star’s top 10 filmmakers?”

“Top 10 might be a stretch, but he’d definitely land in the top 20 without a doubt.”

“With this level of buzz, what do you all think *Kung Fu Hustle*’s final box office numbers will be?”

“Depends on its staying power.”

“If it runs out of steam, five to six billion max.”

“If it has staying power, just extend the distribution period and it’ll be unstoppable!”

“Judging from the past few days, this movie shows absolutely no signs of losing momentum.”

“Indeed, it’ll be in theaters for quite a while. Instead of guessing that, how about predicting how much this boosts Xian Yu’s overall ranking?”

“I bet he’ll leap forward by a lot!”

“After all, this time he did so well—balancing action with comedy seamlessly, plus the soundtrack was completely flawless!”

“It’ll still depend on box office numbers though.”

“Let’s wait and see the box office figures at the end of the month for *Kung Fu Hustle*.”

By the end of the month, viewers from all continents intensely tracked how much the movie would pull in!

One week!

Two weeks!

Three weeks!

For three consecutive weeks, *Kung Fu Hustle* held the global box office crown, achieving the monumental feat of three straight weeks on top!

August 31st!

At midnight, the box office numbers for *Kung Fu Hustle* had reached 7.7 billion!

Audiences were stunned!

Media outlets were stunned!

The industry was stunned!

Confronted with the current real-time box office figures of *Kung Fu Hustle*, even Lin Yuan himself was shocked. These numbers were simply too overwhelming, a trajectory that could place it as the highest-grossing film across the entire Celestial Dynasty!

Of course.

Blue Star isn’t Earth.

We can’t look at these two planets with the same lens.

Earth’s most outrageous movie, *Avatar*, grossed nearly three billion dollars globally. Using the conversion rates of that time into Chinese yuan, that’s about 18 billion.

Lin Yuan specifically researched Blue Star’s box office rankings.

The best-performing movie on Blue Star had approximately 30 billion in box office revenue!

Even the movie ranked tenth on Blue Star’s box office list exceeded 20 billion!

But those films are from many years ago and most belong to Zhong Continent.

Before and after the merger, Zhong Continent has continued to dominate across various fields on Blue Star.

Blue Star previously lacked the cultural barriers between continents.

Back then, wildly successful movies could be released simultaneously worldwide without hindrance.

Later, Blue Star split into eight continents; each region imposed cultural barriers, making it far more challenging for foreign films to cross into new territories with restrictive import taxes, regulations, and complexities that drastically diminished box office potential. Governments across continents prioritized supporting their own industries, even at the expense of profits.

Now Blue Star has merged back together.

The market has returned to the era before Blue Star’s eight-continent split, enabling movies to be globally released without restrictions!

Under this backdrop, *Kung Fu Hustle* could achieve such explosiveness!

This is akin to taking the first sip from the market jug after Blue Star’s grand unification!

Lin Yuan used *Kung Fu Hustle* to announce the return of Blue Star’s era of terrifying box office heights!

Of course.

Setting aside the supplementary boosts from aspects like music, promotional campaigns, and animation.

The root reason *Kung Fu Hustle* could become a global sensation lies here:

Blue Star is a world where Eastern culture dominates and integrates multiple diverse influences.

The Western cinematic framework and values system also perform well in Blue Star’s film market.

Just like how we in the Celestial Dynasty appreciate excellent Hollywood movies and acknowledge their industrial brilliance.

However, films like *Kung Fu Hustle*, driven by Eastern cultural traditions and its philosophical depth as the guiding style, clearly possess the ability to conquer Blue Star’s film market entirely!

Skyrocketing!

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PS: Since some people previously said *Kung Fu Hustle* wasn’t compelling enough, I’ve explained at the end why this film could explode here. On Earth, it wouldn’t be possible, but Blue Star leans heavily on Eastern culture, which is part of Polluted White’s idealistic fantasy. It’s just like how Chinese songs in these novels often cause massive shock reactions. This background setting itself is designed to make readers feel exhilarated. Writing about Cameron’s *Avatar* exploding on Blue Star might be more realistic, but the immersion wouldn’t be quite as satisfying, right? Entertainment novels are for relaxation—just enjoy the thrill and have fun!

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