Chapter 249: Chapter 249

"Marilyn is great, our movie box office has already broken through a hundred million."

On the first day of the movie "Future Travel" being released, Sharon Langley was monitoring the box office situation in real-time. As soon as it surpassed a hundred million, she immediately went to report this good news to Marilyn Ford.

However, Marilyn Ford did not seem particularly surprised after hearing her words.

Given their investment in various aspects of movie publicity, surpassing a hundred million on the first day was expected, and could only be considered average.

"How about on her side?"

"You mean Anna Thornton’s movie? Actually, there’s no need to worry. A small production can’t compare to us, there’s really no need to compete with them. I took a peek at their box office, it hasn’t even surpassed fifty million yet."

Sharon Langley wanted Marilyn Ford to relax, but Marilyn Ford thought otherwise: "Do you think a small production movie can gather such prominent figures to support her?"

Marilyn Ford tossed a magazine in front of Sharon Langley, and on the cover was a group photo taken at the premiere with Conrad Sterling, Finn Grant, Henry Willow, and Florian Hollis.

This photo was going viral online, and even though Marilyn and her team had spent a lot on publicity, the day’s discussions about the movie couldn’t compare to a photo of handsome men.

After all, a group that is rich, talented, and charming, which girl could resist? Some netizens had already spontaneously organized a fan group called ’Aethelgard F4’.

"He got into a car accident and was so severely injured, yet he still attended Anna Thornton’s movie premiere?"

"Marilyn, don’t overthink. I heard President Sterling had been staying in the hospital all this time, and Anna didn’t even visit him. There was no interaction between them on the premiere day. I think their relationship is probably on the rocks, and President Stering was just giving face to Young Master Willow by attending."

"No way, he’s always been low-key and rarely agrees to take such photos easily."

If Conrad Sterling and Anna Thornton really had a falling-out but he still tacitly allowed the movie to use him for publicity, then his tolerance of Anna Thornton was what worried Marilyn Ford the most.

Because Marilyn Ford herself had once used Conrad Sterling’s influence to smoothly navigate the entertainment industry.

So she understood how advantageous this could be for Anna Thornton!

"Recently, spend a bit more effort on the media front. I want all the press releases to be suppressed."

"Marilyn, what do you mean?"

"No matter the cost, during this movie release period, I don’t want to see Anna Thornton’s name appearing in any media, newspapers, or magazines! As long as I’m here, I won’t allow her to have a day in the spotlight!"

Marilyn Ford wanted to prove to Conrad Sterling the significant gap between her and Anna Thornton.

Even if they had the same man backing them, Anna Thornton could never become the second Marilyn Ford.

On the first day of release—

"Future Travel" surpassed 150 million in box office due to the well-known director’s influence and Marilyn Ford’s own box office appeal.

Meanwhile, the box office of Anna Thornton’s movie, "Customized Girlfriend", barely reached 50 million by midnight.

The box office of "Future Travel" surpassed 300 million.

The box office of "Customized Girlfriend" barely surpassed 100 million.

Up until the fifth day—

The box office of both movies leveled out at 500 million.

But it’s worth noting that "Customized Girlfriend" had less than a tenth of the screenings compared to "Future Travel", yet its occupancy rate was five times higher than the latter.

What does this indicate?

It indicates that word-of-mouth is starting to spread!

["Customized Girlfriend" is super entertaining! Everyone must go watch it! The crew is poor with no money for promotion or big stars, but the acting is exceptionally good! Highly recommended!]

[Really, "Customized Girlfriend" exceeded my expectations!!! I thought a low-budget sci-fi movie would be trash and lousy, but the plot was so compelling, it almost made me laugh my face off in the cinema!]

[Having watched "Future Travel", I was initially excited about the collaboration between the movie queen Marilyn Ford and Hank Warner. However, after watching it, I have to say, it was so disappointing!]

[What on earth was "Future Travel" about? I heard they spent a fortune on this movie, where did the money go? Using sci-fi as a gimmick, the special effects don’t even look much better. Compared to the low-budget sci-fi movie next door, at least their special effects are worth twice, and the plot is worth two hundred times, far exceeding the ticket price!]

[I also laughed from start to finish with "Girlfriend", but during the second half of "Travel", I fell asleep in the cinema. Seems like the gossip was true, after Marilyn Ford broke up with President Sterling, her state deteriorated. Where did her acting skills go? The script is dull, and the chemistry with the male lead is nonexistent. The only noteworthy part of the movie is the second female lead’s chest!]

[I didn’t expect Anna Thornton’s acting to be so impressive, and with seven different types of male actors, she had great chemistry with all of them. I never knew much about Anna Thornton before, thought she was just a pretty face, but clearly, I was blinded by her beauty. ]

[I’m going to watch "Customized Girlfriend" for the third time tomorrow, to show my support. Both the male and female leads are talented actors. Due to the crew’s lack of funds, they found actors whose pay wasn’t high. I now realize that our country actually has so many good-looking and talented actors. Was I blind before, liking those young actors who couldn’t act?]

[To the commenter above, don’t count Florian Hollis in with the young actors. Florian also acted in this movie and even reduced his pay. He is trying hard!]

"What kind of comments are these from netizens? Contact the platform and delete them! Delete everything!"

"Third Young Master, Miss Ford and her agent said they have something to discuss with you."

"Good, I wanted to see them too. Inform the public relations department, we need to have an emergency meeting about the recently released movies."

The conference room at Jubilant Entertainment was personally hosted by Ivan Willow.

Although he had just lost his temper in the office reading netizens’ comments, Ivan Willow always saw Conrad Sterling as his role model and tried his best to maintain a calm and composed demeanor in public.

However, Sharon Langley couldn’t hold her temper: "Third Young Master, do you remember the promises you made when you recruited our Marilyn over? You said you’d tilt all the company’s resources towards us, to further Marilyn’s career. But have you recently checked out Marilyn’s Weibo? Suddenly, there are so many haters. Also, some platforms suddenly have posts criticizing and slandering Marilyn’s acting skills. Do you know how hurtful these malicious words are to the well-being of our artists? What on earth is your public relations team doing?"

"Enough, there’s no need to say more. I’m aware of what you mentioned, which is why I’m holding this meeting and gathering the entire public relations team," Ivan Willow directed his frustration towards the head of the public relations department, "It’s all your fault for eating and not working, is your salary that easy to earn? Look at how much trouble your negligence has caused Miss Ford, now hurry up and contact the necessary parties to delete posts, block accounts as needed!"

"Also, recently the online opinion on our new movie has been unfavorable, and its reputation is declining. We must remedy it in time! Immediately contact the cyber army studios, get favorable reviews popping up!" Ivan Willow mentioned.

"Third Young Master, you just need to help me delete those malicious comments, there’s no need for cyber armies!" Marilyn Ford, after all, remained proud.

From her debut in prestigious directors’ movies, to winning Best Actress in three years, most of it had been based on her own strength, and she disdained hiring cyber armies to fake anything. Check latest chapters at novｅlfire.net

Moreover, up to this point, Marilyn Ford was still very confident in herself.

She didn’t believe that her high-investment movie, made in collaboration with a renowned director, could lose to Anna Thornton’s film, which was full of unknown directors and actors.

Sharon Langley gave Ivan Willow a look: "Marilyn, Young Master Willow’s point is that the sudden emergence of people blackening you recently seems odd, right? In the entertainment circle, if you don’t do shady things, that doesn’t mean others don’t. We can’t take these losses in vain."

Sharon Langley understood Marilyn Ford, and with her persuasion, Marilyn Ford didn’t object to hiring cyber armies to boost positive reviews.

She simply didn’t like discussing such topics, standing up and saying, "You handle it."

After she left, Sharon Langley discussed with Ivan Willow: "Third Young Master, this is Marilyn’s first film since joining Jubilant."

Ivan Willow understood her meaning, at the time they recruited Marilyn Ford from Starlight Entertainment, Jubilant boldly bought the overseas distribution rights for this film.

This was Marilyn Ford’s first test paper in cooperation with Jubilant, if the results weren’t ideal, it would be embarrassing for both sides.

"Don’t worry, I have a plan."

"But our box office has been suppressed by another movie for three days. Will the theaters stick to the promised screening amount be affected?"

Currently, the screening of "Customized Girlfriend" is far less than "Future Travel", yet its box office was surprisingly high.

What if the theaters increase their screenings?

Henry Willow is recognized as a useless person in Aethelgard, how could Ivan Willow allow that useless person to overshadow him?

He would never allow Henry Willow to go to Starlight Entertainment and have that company’s movie outperform his!

"I will talk to the major theaters, the Willow Family cooperates with them on dozens of movies each year, there’s still some rapport."

As for the box office, indeed they couldn’t let it continue to increase uncontrollably.