The filming tasks in Beijing were completed relatively smoothly. When Xiao He returned to Shanghai, Liu Zehang had already gone off to do roadshow promotions.
Therefore, Xiao He didn't linger for long either. After packing up, he similarly became an "airborne commuter," flying to several major cities scheduled by the production team for roadshows. He also arranged to meet up with Liu Zehang in one of the intermediate cities to jointly complete the remaining roadshow cities together.
Simultaneously, the preview screening time for "Law of the Jungle" was also finalized.
Due to the fierce promotional campaign from their competitor next door, the "Law of the Jungle" side ultimately decided to schedule their film's preview screenings for March 30th.
The promotional period right before the official release is the most crucial. By then, feedback from the preview screenings is available, the film as a whole can receive some evaluation, and most casual viewers will also notice the movie around this time. They can obtain fair comments from audiences who attended the preview screenings.
Combining strong promotion with the movie content at this stage yields twice the result with half the effort.
This is also the reason why many film production teams hold preview screenings. By allowing audiences to watch the film early, word-of-mouth can develop and ferment. This implants a "worth watching" heat label into more casual viewers who are still deciding, making them more biased towards choosing this film when deciding what to watch, even attracting them to specifically go to the cinema for this movie.
Although doing this might cause a certain degree of spoilers, which isn't particularly friendly towards mystery films and plot-driven dramas, it's also these partially revealed spoilers that further attract the audience's curiosity.
So this can be considered one of the important opportunities for the production team to strive for box office success.
However, looking back at the "Silent Search" side, they surprisingly haven't announced the time and arrangements for their preview screenings for a long time. Although the main cast are also doing roadshows, the lead actor Tong Junhui is unwell due to illness and rarely makes appearances. On the contrary, Chen Yulin is very active, constantly being an airborne commuter doing roadshows and pulling in pre-sale box office.
This makes the watching fans feel somewhat strange.
[Why has there been no movement from the "Silent Search" side? Are they not planning preview screenings?]
[It shouldn't be that, right? I feel they are quite confident in their work.]
[Let's wait for news first. I'm really looking forward to Teacher Tong's comeback work.]
[Chen Yulin is really so active. I've barely seen Tong Junhui's face a few times, while he's jumping up and down all over the place.]
[So the "Law of the Jungle" side has already started grabbing tickets for preview screenings, what about the "Silent Search" side here? They can't chicken out at this time, right?]
[What's the point asking here? Just tag them directly, @Silent Search Official, quickly release the preview screening tickets! I want to see my idol early!]
...
Looking at the information online, Dong Zeng's expression was very unpleasant.
"Shall we also do preview screenings?" He looked towards Feng Zhengyang sitting on the sofa.
"No." Feng Zhengyang refused outright. "We only have this remaining share left in our hands. We should sell what we can, don't worry about the rest. We're not really competing with them for box office anyway."
Dong Zeng frowned: "But this matter is essentially about one side prevailing over the other. If we don't hold preview screenings, what if their side's word-of-mouth ferments later? Wouldn't that make the investors panic?"
"Don't you have damaging information ready?"
Feng Zhengyang chuckled lightly, "Perfect timing, it's time to cause them some trouble."
Dong Zeng pondered for a moment, then stood up: "Alright, I'll have them prepare. We'll release it during the preview screenings."
The reason they didn't release it earlier was precisely to wait for a better moment.
When the time comes, coincidentally during the preview screening event, both lead actors will be entangled in damaging information. The meet-and-greet will be full of questions from fans and marketing account bloggers. No one will pay attention to the actual quality of the film itself... Just thinking about it makes him happy.
Having had their heat taken by the "Law of the Jungle" group for so long, Dong Zeng had also been suppressing his anger.
"That would be best."
Feng Zhengyang also pointed towards the room next door: "We should also prepare to pack up and leave this place. That troublesome person, remember to deal with her cleanly too."
Dong Zeng narrowed his eyes, a sinister malice emerging from within the slits: "Don't worry, I've tolerated her for a long time. I won't let her off..."
-
A few days later, at a shopping mall center event venue in Wuhan, the place was packed with a bustling crowd.
"Let's welcome the main stars of 'Law of the Jungle,' Liu Zehang and Xiao He!"
Accompanied by the enthusiastic cheers of fans on-site below, Liu Zehang and Xiao He stepped onto the stage together.
"Good afternoon everyone, welcome to the roadshow meet-and-greet for 'Law of the Jungle' held here! Thank you all for coming!"
Liu Zehang held the microphone and greeted the people below. Even though he had been flying consecutively to several cities, not a trace of fatigue showed on his face. He still spoke to everyone with full energy.
Xiao He was the same. While listening to the conversation between Liu Zehang and the host, he raised his hand and waved towards the audience below, successfully receiving cheers from the fans there.
This was the last city they were running together.
After this roadshow ended, Xiao He and Liu Zehang could return to Shanghai to prepare for the first preview screening meet-and-greet.
And precisely because this was the final session, the number of fans coming on-site today was exceptionally large. Everyone was also very enthusiastic, the venue was packed with people crowded in layers three deep inside and three deep outside. Xiao He even inadvertently looked up and could see fans crowding around the railings on several upper floors of the mall.
What was unexpected was that, based on the on-site fan situation, Xiao He's fans had actually roughly reached parity with Liu Zehang's.
Remember when Xiao He first entered the circle, acting as a supporting role alongside Liu Zehang in "Killing Life," his popularity and traffic were not just a little bit behind Liu Zehang's. But now, Xiao He already had multiple breakout roles in hand, and his popularity was incomparable to before.
When "Law of the Jungle" first came out, there were still people questioning Xiao He's ability and status. Nowadays, those who question Xiao He are very few—of course, excluding dedicated haters.
After watching the trailer for "Law of the Jungle" together, it was time for the segment where fans are selected to come on stage and participate in games together. Xiao He drew a female fan, while Liu Zehang surprisingly drew a male fan. The four of them stood together and started playing the jungle game.
This "jungle game" wasn't the same as the game rules in "Law of the Jungle." It was more like a "forest version" of rock-paper-scissors. Everyone drew cards that counter each other, then teammates discussed the order of playing cards amongst themselves, trying to find a way to "eat" all the cards from the opposing team.
This game wasn't very difficult, basically you could learn it immediately. Xiao He had a relatively good memory, and the logic of playing the cards was also very clear. So after seriously discussing the order of play with his female fan, he successfully ate all of Liu Zehang's team's cards and won.
However, Xiao He didn't forget their respective positions in "Law of the Jungle" either. So after playing several rounds, the wins and losses between both sides maintained a delicate balance. He didn't let Liu Zehang's side appear completely crushed.
Since the game was relatively simple and there was no punishment mechanism, everyone played very happily and didn't notice Xiao He's "manipulative" behavior. After the game ended, Xiao He specifically took a photo with the female fan beside him and gave her a signed poster.
The on-site event lasted for over an hour and finally concluded successfully.
Having finished all their roadshows, Xiao He and Liu Zehang smoothly took a flight from Wuhan back to Shanghai.