Chapter 171: Results
Lu Xu and the other two walked out of the cinema together, listening to the audience around them discussing the movie’s plot. Zheng Xiao noticed that several viewers, especially the older ones who had come with their families, had reddened eyes.
The entire theater had been packed, and throughout the screening, not a single person had left. Even those going to the restroom had been rare.
As a viewer, he had been more than willing to support Fearless Life, and he figured the other audience members felt the same way.
“It was really good,” Shao Yao, who had lagged a step behind them, said in a low voice.
Perhaps because of the cold weather, Shao Yao still wasn’t much of a talker. Zheng Xiao was absolutely sure that from the start of Fearless Life until now, these three words were all Shao Yao had said.
Zheng Xiao: “…”
At times, he felt that Shao Yao was like a robot, but he could tell that the guy was genuinely trying to engage with them.
Just like him, Shao Yao must have gained a lot of insight from Fearless Life—whether it was the touching storyline or Lu Xu’s masterful portrayal of Bai Qianshan.
Among the three of them, Lu Xu had always been the most skilled actor. Zheng Xiao had once believed that if he worked hard enough, he might reach Lu Xu’s level. But reality had proven otherwise—when it came to acting, Lu Xu had no limits.
He had thought Lu Xu was already incredibly strong, yet Lu Xu had shown him through his actions that he could become even stronger.
…
The weather was freezing, and none of them felt like strolling around. They had initially planned to wander the streets for a bit, but the biting wind quickly snapped them back to reality. In the end, they simply headed home separately.
As soon as Zheng Xiao logged onto Weibo, he couldn’t wait to promote Fearless Life:
[Super good! Definitely not a scam!]
[Brother, I knew you guys went. The stealth factor was really strong. But honestly, in a bustling area like this during the New Year, people definitely wouldn’t be asking for photos or autographs, so there was no need to go that far out.]
[LMAO, my friend saw them too and even had the same milk tea as the Mountain Bike Team.]
[Milk tea… wasn’t it not that good? It looked like both Puppy and Zheng Xiao didn’t drink much.]
[No, no, it was definitely because the movie was too good! My friend also brought a cup of milk tea into the theater. At the start, she was still chatting with me, but once the movie began, she ignored all my messages and didn’t drink her milk tea either.]
[+1, I was in the same cinema. I can testify! My only regret is that I chose the screening right before theirs—why didn’t I pick the next one?!!]
[My rich friend already placed an order for the same down jacket as Lu Xu. To be honest, a lot of people had criticized this year’s new men’s collection from G-brand, but after seeing Lu Xu wear it, I suddenly found it good-looking in a weird way. The hood is a no-go, though—bad review!]
The topic briefly drifted towards Lu Xu’s outfit, but eventually, it circled back to the movie.
During the Spring Festival season, most platforms delayed opening their rating sections to avoid negative reviews from discouraging potential ticket buyers.
To put it bluntly, they just wanted to trick as many viewers as possible. If the initial score was too low, people wouldn’t want to watch, and the production team wouldn’t be able to draw in the audience.
[Fearless Life was truly amazing! I cried like a fool in the theater, and it turned out I wasn’t the only one—so many people were just like me.]
[So good! I was deeply moved. If I had to describe this movie in one word, I’d say vitality. They worked so hard in the Northwest, on the Gobi Desert, planting trees one by one—it was truly incredible!]
[I haven’t watched the other movies yet, but Fearless Life is definitely one I’m willing to spend money on. Ticket prices during the Spring Festival season are higher than usual, but I think Fearless Life is worth it!]
Despite the aggressive marketing campaigns for Soaring Ambition and Uncertain Return—with promotional accounts pushing them heavily and even Weibo’s splash screens and ad placements featuring these two films—under the hashtag #Which Spring Festival Movie Is Worth Watching#, Fearless Life was mentioned just as frequently as those two films.
In terms of theater screenings, Fearless Life lagged behind Uncertain Return and Soaring Ambition. The former had 29.6% of the screenings, while the latter had 23.2%, meaning these two films together took up more than half of the available slots.
This year’s Spring Festival lineup wasn’t as crowded as the year Deception was released. There were seven new films, including a children’s movie that gets an annual release. Even though the Spring Festival period brings in massive box office revenue, only a few films manage to make big profits—most end up as cannon fodder in the overcrowded market.
Over the past few years, many films have either chosen to withdraw their releases or flopped outright.
A movie like Deception was an extreme outlier. Even though it had been out for a while, the industry still couldn’t stop talking about its success.
Its overseas box office performance had been outstanding, and interestingly, Reverse City had recently been making waves at international film festivals as well. Several distributors from different countries had already shown interest in acquiring it.
In a way, the idea that “Lu Xu’s films always make money” had become deeply ingrained in people’s minds.
That being said, the Fearless Life production team hadn’t completely neglected marketing. After all, Miao Zhi had connections, and while Liu Rennong had deep roots in the film industry, he wasn’t powerful enough to control everything.
From the start of its promotional campaign, Fearless Life had focused heavily on the character Bai Qianshan.
Although Lu Xu had only recently won the Contention Award and was enjoying significant popularity and attention, Fearless Life was ultimately a story about Bai Qianshan. The film’s focus would always remain on Bai Qianshan.
The Bai Qianshan from the documentary, the Bai Qianshan remembered by his teachers and classmates, the Bai Qianshan revered by his comrades—every aspect of his life and the fields he influenced were part of the narrative.
The Bai Qianshan portrayed in the film was extraordinary, but since the script was based on real life, the real Bai Qianshan was even greater and more remarkable than what was shown on screen.
The few promotional materials related to Lu Xu himself primarily featured him visiting Bai Qianshan’s former colleagues, taking notes, and gradually immersing himself in the role.
To fully embody the character, Lu Xu put in immense effort. By the later stages of filming, he had become so deeply absorbed in playing Bai Qianshan that it was almost an obsession.
[Just saw it… Lu Xu looks so plain and humble in those videos.]
[I was already moved multiple times by Lu Xu’s performance while watching the film. Now that I know how ‘Bai Qianshan’ in Fearless Life was created, I’m not surprised at all.]
[+1. I’ve been a fan of Lu Xu for years—he’s always taken his roles very seriously.]
[No wonder I felt like Lu Xu was completely different after filming Fearless Life—it’s like he ascended to another level. How should I put it? As an audience member, I was deeply shaken after watching the movie, as if something was resonating in my chest. So for Lu Xu, who lived and breathed Bai Qianshan’s life on set, his experience must have been even more profound.]
[Lu Xu once said he never wanted to let down any character written by a screenwriter, even if those characters were fictional and entirely constructed by the actor. So when it came to Bai Qianshan, a real person—such an admirable figure—how could Lu Xu allow himself to cast even the slightest shadow over the role?]
The promotional materials released by the Fearless Life production team, combined with the overwhelmingly positive feedback from audiences who had already seen the film, gradually boosted the movie’s reputation without people even realizing it.
On the first day of the Spring Festival season, amidst fierce competition, each film finally delivered its opening-day box office results.
Unsurprisingly, Uncertain Return ranked first with a day-one box office total of 469 million yuan.
Soaring Ambition followed, though its earnings were slightly lower at 377 million yuan.
This outcome was somewhat unexpected. Uncertain Return performed better than anticipated, while Soaring Ambition underperformed.
Given its genre, Soaring Ambition should have had a stronger appeal during the festive Spring Festival period compared to Uncertain Return.
But the biggest surprise of all was Fearless Life. On its debut day, it ranked third at the box office with 295 million yuan in earnings.
This was a stunning number.
Despite having only half the screening slots of Uncertain Return—or even slightly less than half—Fearless Life still managed to reach 63% of Uncertain Return’s total earnings.
The Spring Festival box office race was highly unpredictable. On the surface, Fearless Life seemed to be trailing behind Uncertain Return and Soaring Ambition, but based on its high occupancy rate and impressive first-day earnings, anything was possible.
After all, the difference between Soaring Ambition and Uncertain Return was less than 100 million yuan, and the gap between Fearless Life and Soaring Ambition was also under 100 million yuan. In a competitive Spring Festival season—where even the smallest factors could influence overall box office trends—such a margin was practically negligible.
[Wow, Fearless Life’s seat occupancy rate is insanely high!]
[Besides, there’s another crucial point—Fearless Life may seem to have over 10% of the screenings, but in terms of actual showtimes, it’s far behind Uncertain Return. Just look at what time slots Fearless Life has been given—they’re all at the most inconvenient hours.]
Because Fearless Life had nearly 300 million yuan in box office earnings on its first day, the industry suddenly realized that this was the highest opening-day box office for a film starring Lu Xu.
Before this, whether it was Deception, Feather of Youth, or Reverse City, their first-day box office earnings had only hovered around 100 million yuan, yet all of them eventually approached 2 billion yuan in total earnings.
[If we follow this trend… is it possible?]
[Damn… if this really happens, wouldn’t that mean Lu Xu has finally overcome his last shortcoming?]
[??? Does anyone actually think Lu Xu’s box office numbers were ever a shortcoming?]
[That doesn’t matter. Right now, I just want to bet that Fearless Life will surpass 3 billion at the box office. Who’s in?]
[…Before the Spring Festival season, all those marketing accounts made countless predictions, and even major platforms had their own forecasts for each film’s total box office. Since Fearless Life was only the fourth-ranked film in terms of scheduled screenings, the platforms also predicted it would rank fourth in box office revenue—lower than Reverse City, which is honestly ridiculous.]
[Well, screening schedules do make a difference.]
[So even a newly crowned Contention Best Actor is considered cannon fodder in the eyes of theater chains, needing to beg for better screening slots? What a joke. Now, all the platforms are scrambling to revise their predictions overnight—after a nearly 300-million-yuan opening day, a 1.5-billion-yuan total box office estimate just doesn’t make sense anymore.]
While audiences were busy speculating about Fearless Life’s box office trajectory, the industry had a different perspective.
The fact that Fearless Life achieved 295 million yuan in first-day earnings despite only securing 14.7% of the screenings gave many insiders a sudden realization—Lu Xu had officially risen to the top.
Even if his box office numbers didn’t skyrocket overnight, they were bound to remain at a level impossible to ignore.
Currently, a few male actors had strong box office appeal—Li Yan being a prime example. His name alone could carry a film; as long as he was in the cast, audiences were willing to pay for a ticket.
In terms of box office power, Li Yan still had a slight edge over Lu Xu, as his films had consistently grossed at least 2 billion yuan in recent years.
But Fearless Life’s opening-day performance made one thing clear: while the story of Bai Qianshan deeply moved audiences, Lu Xu, as the lead actor, was undeniably a key factor in its success.
Box office numbers were cold, hard cash—if a lead actor had no appeal, audiences simply wouldn’t pay.
After three films that steadily built up his reputation, after winning over audiences through a series of outstanding dramas, and after claiming the prestigious Contention Best Actor Award, Lu Xu had officially taken off.
[Now it’s just a question of how high Fearless Life will climb.]
In fact, the film’s momentum far exceeded expectations—because the two major blockbusters standing in its way, Uncertain Return and Soaring Ambition, were both suffering from a complete collapse in word-of-mouth reviews.
