I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 417: If It Didn't Have Musical Numbers, It Would've Been a Perfect Kill
In Ryougi Shiki's view, a director deliberately boosting the midnight premiere box office of a rival film was questionable no matter how you looked at it.
It wasn't that Shinji's two tickets mattered that much, but such blatant "aiding the enemy" could easily become leverage for others.
After all, aside from die-hard fans, who would stay up for a midnight screening?
Shinji, however, scoffed at her concern. Crunching on popcorn, he whispered, "Relax. I've already used a magecraft that interferes with others' perception. As long as no one takes a photo, nobody will know I came to watch Pirates of the Caribbean."
"I'm not…"
Shiki shook her head helplessly and gave up trying to lecture him.
They'd already passed the ticket check and taken their seats. They couldn't just leave without watching now, could they? That would be too wasteful.
And besides…
"Shinji, let me ask you something."
"What is it?"
"This midnight screening… you arranged it, didn't you?"
To Shiki, it was incredibly strange that a Type-Moon theater would schedule a midnight screening for Pirates of the Caribbean. This was Type-Moon's home turf. For the scheduling manager to openly boost a competitor's box office—were they trying to get fired?
After all, Japanese theaters didn't exactly shy away from monopolistic behavior.
The cinema chains under Toho, for instance, had plenty of shameless tactics just to make their own company's box office numbers look better.
Thus, Shiki concluded she had found the key point: this screening must have been Shinji's decision.
Or rather—without his approval, there was no way Type-Moon's theaters would arrange it.
"Shinji… are you secretly a huge Disney fan?"
Hearing her guess, Shinji laughed. "I believe no film director would deny that Disney's animated movies are classics. As for me, I wouldn't say I'm a die-hard fan. I'm just… a bit interested in this film."
Yes, Shinji was simply curious about how this version of Pirates of the Caribbean would turn out. Curious enough that if he didn't watch it immediately, he'd lose sleep.
"Just a bit?"
Even Shiki found his explanation suspicious. It wasn't unusual for directors to watch movies from other companies, but to watch a competitor's film at the very first midnight screening…
"Is this movie really that good?"
With that question in mind, Shiki found herself genuinely interested.
When the film finally began, she discovered it was unexpectedly decent.
The pacing of the storytelling felt somewhat sluggish, but the story itself was surprisingly fun—especially that crazy pirate captain, who left a deep impression on her.
Compared to Shiki's fresh curiosity, Shinji—who had already seen another version—had only one evaluation:
If this version of Pirates of the Caribbean didn't have those singing-and-dancing segments, it would've been a flawless movie. Unfortunately… it did.
Yes, this version had added many musical numbers.
The version Shinji remembered before his transmigration had relatively little Disney musical flavor, because Disney hadn't paid much attention to the project at first, leaving the crew considerable creative freedom. Aside from the scene where the cursed pirates of the Black Pearl danced in skeletal form, the musical elements were minimal.
But perhaps because this world's Pirates of the Caribbean was meant to compete directly with Garden of Sinners, Disney clearly paid far more attention to it.
As a result, Disney's habit of adding songs and dance—so common in their animated films—was carried over into this movie.
This version of Pirates of the Caribbean actually has quite a few issues too—like its sluggish pacing.
In Shinji's previous life, the opening and ending of Pirates of the Caribbean already felt somewhat dragged out. But this version? Somehow, it managed to go even further.
There were other problems as well. Captain Jack's performance felt a bit over-the-top, and the fight scenes were excessively flashy.
Still, these were all relatively minor flaws. For audiences in this world who had never seen the other version, a film like Pirates of the Caribbean reaching this level was already more than satisfactory.
At the end of the day, North America's commercial film production pipeline simply wasn't as refined as Shinji's. Even though they had tried their best to imitate his filmmaking style, there were still many shortcomings in the finer details.
But for most moviegoers, the fact that North American films could reach this level was already acceptable.
Shinji's films were undeniably incredible, but he only released one or two a year. What people watched most often were still these "watered-down" North American productions.
And with a cleverly structured script like Pirates of the Caribbean, even a half-developed production system in North America was enough to keep audiences thoroughly entertained.
That is… as long as there weren't any musical numbers.
Of course, this was just Shinji's personal bias, shaped by his original world movie-watching habits.
When people mention musicals, they often think of India—but in reality, films with song-and-dance elements are popular in many markets, including North America and Japan.
In North America, musicals may not be as globally famous as blockbuster spectacles, but they've always maintained a steady audience base. Much like horror films, as long as they aren't terrible, they can usually turn a modest profit.
As for Japan, their fondness for musicals goes even further. Perhaps due to the popularity of stage plays, Japanese audiences are highly receptive to song-and-dance elements—sometimes even obsessed with them. Even theatrical releases of Crayon Shin-chan often insert musical segments to liven up the atmosphere.
Shinji himself didn't dislike musicals. He simply felt that unless it was an animated film or a musical by design, abruptly inserting song-and-dance sequences into a serious film would break immersion.
But what could he do? The Walt Disney Company had always loved that kind of style.
And some audiences genuinely enjoyed it.
After the midnight screening ended, Shinji overheard more than a few viewers praising the musical segments in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Still, he wasn't surprised.
After all… these were the very same crowd that could even enjoy the ultimate cult musical—the live-action adaptation of Cats.
"I still can't fully grasp their cultural tastes…"
That was the first thing Shinji said after returning to his office from the screening.
Of course, bringing Ryougi Shiki back to the office wasn't for anything inappropriate like "office play"—it was purely for work.
Shiki had an important promotional event tomorrow. No matter how impulsive Shinji might be, he wasn't about to get distracted tonight.
"Don't worry, Shinji."
Udagawa Nao, who was still at the company, reassured him.
"No matter how good Pirates of the Caribbean is, it won't affect our box office performance in Japan. What it lacks most is someone like you—a true focal point of hype."
"I'm not concerned about Japan's numbers," Shinji replied bluntly. "What I care about… is North America."
Some things simply couldn't be changed by one person alone. No matter how capable Shinji was, he couldn't alter the fact that North America remained the world's largest consumer market.
So even if he didn't particularly like the United States, he had to admit that the North American box office would always be the biggest cornerstone of his films' success.
"It's insanely popular. Even if it can't surpass the Fate series, it'll definitely outperform most commercial film franchises," Udagawa Nao said with a smile. "If everything goes smoothly, it might even break a series of North American June box office records."
Shinji nodded. "Good. Now we just wait for the data coming in."
He had never been the most dedicated workaholic, yet here he was—back at the office past midnight—just to wait for the first round of screening statistics from North America.
If it were the Fate series, Shinji wouldn't be this anxious about tracking the numbers in real time.
But The Garden of Sinners was a brand-new franchise. And on top of that, it was a Japanese urban thriller—a genre with completely untested commercial appeal in North America.
He had to monitor the box office trend closely. The moment anything went wrong, he would immediately adjust the marketing strategy.
"Ahh…"
Also waiting for the data, Ryougi Shiki took a sip of her coffee. "Shinji-kun, you really are popular. I wish that someday, audiences would walk into the theater because of me."
She knew very well that the biggest selling point of The Garden of Sinners' first screening wasn't her as the female lead—it was Shinji's name attached to a brand-new series.
Even though she was always front and center on the film's posters, Shinji himself had never shown his face on any of them.
Hearing her words, Shinji—sitting on a single sofa with his coffee—set his cup down.
"Shiki-nee, it doesn't matter who brings the audience into the theater. As long as they acknowledge your performance, that's what counts."
As he spoke, Shinji pulled out his phone and opened some online forum comments about The Garden of Sinners.
"Ryougi Shiki's performance is amazing! A true ice-cold noble lady!"
"She's so beautiful—she's exactly my ideal wife!"
"Cool big sister, I want to have your babies!"
Hearing Shinji deliberately read those comments aloud in a high-pitched voice, Shiki's face flushed bright red.
"Shinji-kun, stop reading! That's way too… too embarrassing!"
"Alright, alright, I'll stop."
Shinji obediently put away his phone, though the teasing in his eyes only grew stronger.
Since it was just the first film, Shinji's portrayal of Shiki was still somewhat rough. For now, audiences only saw her as a cool, beautiful, slightly self-destructive young woman with a sharp edge.
But as the story progressed and her "Yamato Nadeshiko" side was gradually fleshed out, he was certain that the number of people calling her their "waifu" would only increase, not decrease.
And he was absolutely sure that among those fans… there would be both men and women.
"I think you might become everyone's dream lover someday."
"Shinji-kun! If you keep teasing me—"
Before Shiki could finish her sentence, the fax machine in the corner of the office suddenly rang. Udagawa Nao immediately stood up.
"That should be the preliminary North American data you were waiting for."
She walked over quickly, picked up the freshly printed A4 sheet, and after a glance—her eyes instantly lit up.
"Nao-san, how much is it?" Shiki hurriedly asked, forgetting all about Shinji. "Is the North American box office really high?"
Even Shinji paid close attention to North America's numbers—how could a newcomer actress like her not care?
Looking at the starry-eyed Shiki beside him, Shinji shook his head slightly. "Shiki-nee, what they've sent over is just the midnight screening data."
The Garden of Sinners had only been shown in a little over 2,800 theaters for the midnight premiere across North America. Even though every IMAX screen was showing it, it was still just a single round.
How high could the box office really go?
Udagawa Nao walked over, holding the fax report. "The midnight screening grossed 15.87 million dollars. That's a June midnight box office record in North America."
Hearing that number, Shinji finally let out a breath of relief.
At the very least, their marketing efforts in North America hadn't been wasted. The audience enthusiasm for The Garden of Sinners was clearly strong.
Now, all that remained… was to maintain that momentum.
Shiki leaned closer to Shinji, peering at the data sheet together with him.
"Oh! It also says here that the film currently has an IMDb rating of 9.9! That's so high!"
"…Yeah."
Shinji nodded, though he didn't pay it much mind.
After all, the IMDb in this world belonged to his own company. It was practically routine to "guide the narrative" with hired reviewers whenever a new film was released.
That said… even with a bit of artificial boost, a score of 9.9 was still undeniably impressive.
It was clear that the unique atmosphere of The Garden of Sinners really resonated with seasoned film enthusiasts—the kind of audience that made up the core user base of IMDb.
It was similar to the polarizing reception of The Batman.
Casual viewers often found it dull—too little action, and a pacing that felt painfully slow.
But for those who could sit down and truly immerse themselves in the film, most found it captivating—an exceptional piece of cinema.
"Alright, it's getting late. Everyone should get some rest."
Now that the first round of box office numbers had proven strong, Shinji had no intention of staying up any longer.
He gave Shiki a light smack on the hip and reminded her, "Shiki-nee, go get some sleep. You've got promotional work tomorrow."
Then, ignoring the slightly flustered "Hey!" she let out, Shinji turned to Udagawa Nao.
"Nao-san, keep a close eye on The Garden of Sinners' North American box office. And also—monitor Pirates of the Caribbean. Its reviews aren't bad. It could very well become our biggest competitor."
"Got it."
Udagawa Nao jotted down his instructions in her notebook before quickly leaving the office.
Shinji yawned as he headed to the company's lounge and lay down to sleep. But for many others, the long night was far from over.
For countless theaters, the simultaneous screenings of The Garden of Sinners and Pirates of the Caribbean turned this night into a sleepless one.
What Shinji didn't expect, however, was that the clash between the two films would begin much earlier than he had imagined.
And the battlefield of this war… wasn't the box office.
Nor was it the critics' reviews.
It began instead, with a fierce battle over their IMDb ratings.
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Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 455: Shinji — My Awesomeness Has Exceeded Even My Own Expectations[1]
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[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/im-not-master-im-160861502?collection=31097
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/im-not-master-im-160861502?collection=31097