"The Legend of Zhaohua" announced its broadcast date for the same day as our drama?"
Xiao He frowned. "Are they doing this on purpose?"
Although both their "Imperial Decree" and "The Legend of Zhaohua" in the entire summer season belonged to the palace intrigue genre and were competing products on different platforms, the investment scale of "Imperial Decree" was too small, far inferior to the large-scale, heavily invested "The Legend of Zhaohua." Normally, "The Legend of Zhaohua" wouldn't pay them any mind, specifically targeting them to snipe the same broadcast slot.
But such a long summer season, and they just happened to collide on the exact same day?
What a coincidence?
"The female lead of 'The Legend of Zhaohua' is an artist under Xingchen Entertainment," Liu Rulan said. "Perhaps it's still related to Xingchen Entertainment."
Xiao He tugged at the corner of his mouth. "They really are annoying."
They'd already caused trouble for them once before, and now they're still secretly exerting force, insisting on using their cannon to blast our little fish.
It's really not necessary!
Xiao He truly didn't understand, can people hold a grudge to this extent?
"Speaking of which, it's really absurd. That Director Tannis has never contacted us at all! How has Qin Yuezhang held a grudge against us until now?"
Xiao He was quite indignant and reconfirmed with Liu Rulan, "Sister Liu, has the studio really not received any work invitations from abroad?"
If he had actually gotten a bite of that pie, he wouldn't say anything more. But the problem was, he had never seen this so-called filming invitation from Director Tannis from start to finish!
He hadn't even seen a shadow of it!
Xiao He found it almost impossible to understand and difficult to accept.
"Really haven't," Liu Rulan also sounded somewhat helpless. "After that incident, I made inquiries. Director Tannis was indeed casting everywhere, but recently, for some reason, he suddenly returned to the United States. He hasn't appeared again and hasn't mentioned casting anymore."
"Moreover, I've repeatedly reminded the studio. But after your Xu Ning role exploded in popularity abroad, we've also received some work invitations from overseas, even invitations from Hollywood, but none from that side specifically."
Liu Rulan also didn't understand.
If Xiao He were truly unknown abroad, then Director Tannis might need to spend some time screening and confirming if he wanted to find Xiao He. But Xiao He now has a small amount of fame abroad. If Director Tannis wanted to find Xiao He, it would be incredibly easy.
But here's the problem: since Director Tannis's side hasn't contacted Xiao He and hasn't explicitly said he wanted Xiao He to participate in his film, what is Qin Yuezhang so anxious about?
Is the role his? Why is he having a meltdown over there?
If Qin Yuezhang hadn't targeted them in a fit of rage, they might not even have known about Director Tannis being on-site for casting... So this whole thing is baffling, an unforeseen disaster.
Xiao He and Liu Rulan were confused from beginning to end, not really able to understand Qin Yuezhang's train of thought.
If possible, Xiao He would like to bring Qin Yuezhang and Director Tannis together, sit them down, and have a good chat to figure out exactly what's going on.
But of course, that's definitely impossible.
"It's fine. Having them compete with us in the same broadcast slot might just add to our heat," Liu Rulan comforted Xiao He. "Originally, 'Imperial Decree' didn't have any standout promotional highlights. This time, we're just lucky to catch the summer season with many works of the same genre. When various platforms have their big showdowns, they'll mention our work in passing, which also counts as us catching some heat."
Otherwise, as per the past, "Imperial Decree" wouldn't have such a grand spectacle, making it seem like it can compete with "The Legend of Zhaohua."
"That's true," Xiao He also thought it through and accepted it well. "Then later, Sister Liu, buy more water army, get more exposure. Anyway, this time they delivered themselves to our doorstep."
Even if our aspects are inferior to "The Legend of Zhaohua," so what?
Even from a lower position, we can still provoke. We'll use the heat from the various video platforms' confrontation to forcibly drag "Imperial Decree" and "The Legend of Zhaohua" into the same tier for comparison.
The ones who will definitely lose out won't be us.
"Alright."
Liu Rulan also nodded in agreement very readily.
"By the way, since we just mentioned Law of the Jungle, Director Ren also notified us of a piece of good news."
Liu Rulan looked down at the data on her phone.
"The overseas distribution data for 'Law of the Jungle' is quite impressive. When it officially ended its run, it officially broke 200 million in global box office, and the overseas box office is basically on par with the domestic box office. The Xu Ning character you portrayed exploded in popularity abroad, its fame even far surpassing that of the movie itself."
Xiao He expressed deep emotion. "That's amazing."
Although he was blocked by foreign fans at the airport before, he didn't have such a clear feeling. But now Sister Liu is telling him the domestic and foreign box office are actually on par, which is somewhat unbelievable.
After all, in previous years, exported films basically had much higher domestic earnings than foreign ones. Domestically, there are fans and home-field advantage, but abroad it's starting completely from zero.
"Indeed, the domestic discussion around this matter is very high right now."
Liu Rulan nodded.
In previous years, domestic films were also continuously exported abroad. However, due to differences in themes and culture, these films would face cultural barriers after being exported, and the actors' fame couldn't compare to overseas stars.
Especially in the North American and European markets, the core of overseas distribution there is local box office revenue sharing. Different regions have different rules. Wanting to fully expand into their theatrical markets is an extremely difficult task. So, apart from some classic old films from earlier years, the current overseas box office is basically in a "self-congratulatory" mode—meaning overseas Chinese supporting their own people.
And actual white people wouldn't actively step into local cinemas for a particular Chinese star.
But interestingly, Xiao He's appearance somehow struck a chord with these white girls. After he became popular on the largest foreign video platform, box office earnings in North America and Europe began to skyrocket. Online, clips of Xiao He's other domestic role scenes were constantly being reposted, and offline, there was a group of white girls willing to pay for the "Xu Ning" character.
On a certain largest domestic secondhand goods market, a group of foreign accounts suddenly flooded in, begging on their knees for Xiao He's previous magazine merchandise.
Among them, the first fashion magazine Xiao He shot for, "CKOOL," and the "KULA" magazine specifically shot to promote "Law of the Jungle," were once hyped to sky-high prices on the platform.
These overseas fans vividly demonstrated the terror of "appearance-based economy."
The level of obsession, not to mention a bunch of domestic industry competitors, even Xiao He and his own team didn't quite understand.
"So why is this?"
Xiao He was also puzzled.
If it's about appearance, actually, Xiao He's looks aren't as favored abroad as Shu Han's, because Shu Han has a more representative typical Chinese face—the type of appearance that leaves a deeper impression on foreigners, carrying Eastern characteristics of regularity and restraint, with a dignified demeanor that doesn't lose the grandeur of the ancient Eastern nation.
As for Xiao He, he's handsome, sure, but there are also handsome guys in China more handsome than him. Why would these foreign girls be particularly obsessed with his type?
Xiao He was puzzled and utterly astonished.