Shinji: It's All Fake News (Shrugs)

Just as Chloe had predicted, once the stock market opened on Monday, fueled by the huge success of the premiere of "Super Eight," IMAX Company's stock immediately began to rise steadily.

Unlike the Chinese stock market where red indicates an increase and green indicates a decrease, the North American stock market, where IMAX is located, sees green indicating an increase and red indicating a decrease.

Of course, green doesn't have any negative connotations for North Americans.

Conversely, the appearance of this color, the same as US dollars, in the stock market is a signal that people have more greenbacks in their hands.

Anyway, the board members of IMAX Company felt that their future was bright when they saw that glowing green upward line.

At this point, everyone felt that it was incredibly lucky that Shinji Matou, a Director who liked to use new technologies, could become a shareholder in the IMAX Company board and help them make money.

Although Shinji himself has no apparent financial ties with IMAX Company, the truth is, as everyone knows.

In any case, what this young Director says at IMAX Company carries more weight than the current chairman and CEO.

Moviegoers got to see their favorite films, investors made a fortune, and everyone had a bright future.

The only exception is Shinji Matou.

After all, the pain of earning too much money but never being able to save it is Shinji himself truly understands.

Fortunately, the Matou Family made a lot of money, so although Shinji was depressed, he didn't complain much. In fact, he was able to greet others with a smile when they congratulated him.

"Congratulations, Director Matou! The global box office for <Super Eight> has exceeded 200 million US dollars!"

At the promotional event for "Super Eight" in Tokyo, Johnny Kitagawa, the head of Johnny & Associates & Associates, congratulated Shinji.

"To achieve such results in less than five days after its release, your talent in the commercial film industry is unimaginable!"

Although it was deliberate flattery, it can be said to reflect Johnny Kitagawa's true feelings to some extent.

He now understands the mentality of those who were swept away by the next generation.

After all, breaking 100 million in two days and 200 million in a week was previously just a legend in the film industry.

If we only consider the Japan market and only count the yen, then quite a few people can do it.

But the results of "Super Eight" were in the global market, and they earned US dollars, which really impressed the old man.

Even idols under Johnny & Associates & Associates can't make as much money as Shinji Matou's movies.

Moreover, due to the current scarcity of 3D glasses-free screens, the box office performance of "Super Eight" has been very stable. This means that "Super Eight" can maintain its high box office revenue for a long time to come.

If that were the case, the total box office revenue of "Super Eight" would be nothing short of terrifying.

In this situation, even Johnny Kitagawa, who previously scoffed at Naked-eye 3D technology, had to show a degree of admiration for Shinji, the creator of Super Eight.

Of course, this was largely because Johnny Kitagawa genuinely wanted to build up the [Johnny & Associates x Type-Moon] boy band, so he specifically wanted to cultivate a good relationship with Shinji.

In the Japan entertainment industry, the admiration of Johnny Kitagawa is extremely valuable, so much so that even agency owners can boast about it.

Unfortunately, Shinji and the Japanese entertainment industry operate on different systems, so he remained completely unmoved, even feeling a little amused.

"Sir, you flatter me."

Fearing that the other side would see it as deliberate provocation, Shinji held back his laughter.

"Speaking of which, the premiere of Godzilla is the day after tomorrow, right? It'll be in Tokyo, won't it?"

After exchanging a few words with the old man, Shinji asked...

"Yes."

Johnny Kitagawa nodded.

Johnny & Associates & Associates and Toho are key clients, and both sides are quite familiar with each other's situation.

One is Japan's largest male talent agency, and the other is Japan's largest Film Company; it's hard for them not to have some connection.

In fact, the old man himself also received an invitation to attend the premiere of "Godzilla" the day after tomorrow.

However, now that Shinji asked this question...

What's this kid up to?

"Don't overthink it, old man."

Shinji immediately saw that the old man, a serious conspiracy theorist, was overthinking things again, so he quickly explained:

"I simply received an invitation from Toho through Tsuburaya Productions to attend the premiere of Godzilla."

"I see!"

The old man nodded and didn't say anything more.

Regardless of what Shinji really thought, since he gave that explanation, the old man would just take it as if that were true.

"It seems that old man is quite clever!"

After the old man left, Chloe took the initiative to come over, put her arm around Shinji's shoulder, and gave her her comments.

"I'd only ever heard that he built his agency from scratch into the number one in Japan. But the way he flattered you today is completely different from before. That ability to bend and stretch—it's truly legendary."

"How many people who can make it big in the entertainment industry and maintain control for so many years are simple-minded?"

Shinji shook his head dismissively, then glanced at Chloris.

"What do you think, Lizzie?"

Are you implying that I'm scheming, or are you implying that I'm greedy for money?

Chloris gave Shinji glare.

"And you're talking about me? Aren't you a wicked liar yourself, a big fraud whose punctuation can't be trusted?"

Shinji laughed heartily upon hearing this, "You're right, I'm the old fox, Lizzie, you're the little fox."

[Are you trying to imply that I'm completely under your control?]

Chloris thought to herself, feeling frustrated.

[But I've roughly figured out your tricks now, so I've made some progress, Er'er.]

"Shinji, you're definitely not going to the premiere of Godzilla, right?"

Why do you say that?

"You're not interested in this movie at all, and you don't even have the intention of slapping Toho in the face."

Chloe nuzzled against Shinji's arm, guessing in a coquettish tone.

"Plus your bet with those old men on the board, you're probably pulling strings behind the scenes to make Godzilla's box office flop, right?"

At this point, Chloris looked at Shinji with curiosity. "So, how do you plan to crush this movie that's going to be your rival?"

Chloe knows Shinji too well. This man is usually all smiles, but when he gets serious, he's extremely competitive.

Otherwise, the other party wouldn't have kept rejecting her advances because they were worried that she would be controlled by the Jidai Group after marriage.

During this period, Toho tried every means to discredit Super Eight and used various film reviews and promotions to promote its own Godzilla.

If Shinji Matou hadn't gotten angry, Chloe would have dared to perform a belly dance in front of him, wearing only a sheer fabric.

"Hey, saying he crushed him is a bit of an exaggeration."

Shinji chuckled wryly, rubbing his nose, and complained, "I've been a member of the Matou Family 500 years, how could I be so rude in my actions?"

"So you're not going to crush them, but rather suppress them?"

"I asked with a radiant smile," Chloris asked.

Shinji to give and take.

Whether it's suppression or crushing, Chloe believes Shinji will definitely take action.

In fact, Type-Moon Company has already begun to counter Toho's media offensive.

Besides continuing to hype up the topic and promote "Super Eight", those trolls who were previously considered by Shinji to be slacking off have begun to suppress "Godzilla" from all sides without hesitation.

After all, once Godzilla's box office explodes, regardless of audience choices, its screen time in theaters alone will impact Super Eight, and consequently affect Super Eight's box office.

This is a very simple principle: the screening rate affects the upper limit of a film's box office.

Without screenings and screens, even the best films cannot experience explosive box office growth.

"Most cinemas in North America probably won't reduce the number of our screens."

Chloe, pulling Shinji along, said, "But with the new movie's release, 'Super Eight' will definitely be affected in terms of screenings. Not to mention, Japan is Toho's home turf."

This is inevitable. Although the number of screens worldwide is constantly increasing under Shinji's influence, it is impossible for the number of screens to increase too much in the short term.

After all, childbirth takes 10 months, and a movie screen takes at least several months from installation to use.

"So, Shinji, have you thought of a suitable way to retaliate?" Chloe asked.

Regardless of what those old men on the board think, Miss Lizzie is firmly on the side of the young and handsome Director in this bet.

Shinji held up one finger and said confidently, "The feedback from the test screenings of Godzilla has already made it very clear; we just need to focus on one point."

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The best way to wage a media war against a particular film is to seize upon one of its flaws and relentlessly attack it.

Although this might result in a concentrated focus of criticism, if the film is of good quality overall, it might not generate a significant impact.

However, it's worth noting that great films often share similarities, while bad films tend to excel in every aspect.

Toho was very good at keeping secrets, but Shinji still easily got hold of the results of several test screenings of Godzilla.

This kind of thing isn't really a secret; almost every big shot in the film industry has a copy.

The report Shinji received shows that Godzilla had few problems during the test screenings and the overall impression of the film was acceptable. However, when it came to specific aspects such as the actors' performances, the logic of the plot, and the details of the special effects, it was met with various criticisms from the audience and the media.

In such an overall environment, Shinji only needs to seize on one point that everyone is dissatisfied with, and then use that point as a breakthrough to relentlessly attack it -- Godzilla's design.

Even though the Godzilla in the script has absolutely no connection to the previous movies, this giant monster, which can only be described as a lizard, is still criticized by countless Godzilla fans.

The core audience of "Super Eight" consists of fans of Ultraman, while the core audience of "Godzilla" consists of Godzilla fans.

If even these people can't be won over, and given that Godzilla's test screenings didn't receive great reviews, it would be incredibly easy for them to be swayed by public opinion in the future.

In the days leading up to the release of Godzilla, a large number of complaints appeared online, which could be summarized in one sentence: Godzilla in this movie is a lizard!

Also appearing were Godzilla movie concept art pieces, of unknown origin.

It wasn't the portion that the Director "accidentally" lost, but rather the portion that was ultimately used in the film and that the Director liked.

Shinji had no idea where the people in the publicity department got their hands on that design drawing.

But now that we have it, we might as well just release it publicly.

Of course, this involves having a certain online troll pose as an "ordinary Godzilla fan."

Guided by online trolls, this Godzilla design sketch has attracted countless criticisms and comments.

"Why did they design Godzilla like that?! Has Toho lost their mind?"

"I feel like throwing up after seeing this look!"

"Finding a lizard to play Boss is an insult to Boss Sigg, and an insult to our intelligence as well!"

"This lizard is so stupid! I really want to know, is it the pet of some high-ranking executive at Toho? Why would they want to feature it in a video?"

Almost everyone is criticizing Godzilla's lizard design. Even when someone gives a positive review, it's only because they think the lizard effects are good, not because they approve of Godzilla's new look.

If even the most basic character design of a film is completely rejected by the audience, the consequences will undoubtedly be disastrous.

After the promotion of Pizi's "New Ultraman" began, the publicity team kept emphasizing that the design of the new Ultraman was a return to the original, in order to reduce the audience's resistance to this new look.

Right now, Toho's feelings are just like those Moon fans who saw the Evangelion Unit-01 design—

Damn it! Everything's completely collapsed!

Chapter 253 Shinji: It's all fake news (shrugs)

Faced with the backlash from Type-Moon, Toho is naturally trying to reverse the negative impact of Godzilla's design, while also diverting fans' attention through other promotional activities.

Their film distributor in North America is Paramount Pictures, the Film Company whose logo is a snowy mountain. They hope that Paramount can effectively retaliate through its media channels.

They were eyeing Shinji's personal scandals; he had been the focus of attention for movie fans ever since the release of "Super Eight".

Next is Hiroshi Nagano, but Hiroshi Nagano is an artist under Johnny & Associates.

Although Johnny & Associates is not as domineering and arrogant as it was in the 80s and 90s, it is no longer possible to directly ban its artists for scandals.

But the prerequisite is that you have real dirt to reveal. If you just make trouble out of nothing, are you prepared to get a good beating from Johnny Kitagawa himself?