Chapter 236: Box Office Trends
[Was Zheng Xiao getting taken out real or just acting?]
[These two… they really know how to stir things up. I almost died laughing.]
[Clearly, it was Hu Qing getting taken out! (serious face)]
[As expected, as long as Zheng Xiao and Lu Xu were around, there was never a shortage of fun. Why wasn’t Shao Yao included? Because all he did was eat on the sidelines.]
Even though The Sovereign Descends the World had nothing to do with Shao Yao, he still somehow felt like he had been shot.
All he could do was quietly eat on the side while reposting Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao’s Weibo updates.
[Suspected reenactment of Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry.]
[A movie meant for three, yet only two had names—classic.]
Hu Qing’s elimination scene had clearly taken place on set, but Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao had forcibly recreated it near their own residential area. Seeing their live updates, not only were the fans speechless, but even the director, Chang Aiwei, was at a loss for words.
Of course, he had long since gotten used to it. The way Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao operated… was completely at odds with their A-list celebrity status.
What Chang Aiwei hadn’t expected was that netizens had now become so bored that they started cosplaying Hu Qing’s elimination scene, even replicating the characters’ exact movements.
Fans: [Is there really a need to check in at the scene? It looks so dumb.]
[I went.]
[Me too… I’m dying of laughter.]
[When you fully immerse yourself in the scene, you don’t feel like an idiot anymore. Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao must have been possessed by the god of brawls to pull off that kind of play.]
[God of brawls, my ass. Can someone please give these two a normal character setting?]
However, no matter what, #Mountain Bike Team Imitation Show# still made it to the trending list. Some people mimicked Zheng Xiao being taken down by Lu Xu, while others imitated Shao Yao eating.
The netizen who imitated Shao Yao eating was ranked as the top performer because he did it so well—it was almost too realistic.
Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao simultaneously took a screenshot and sent it to Shao Yao.
Shao Yao: “…”
At first, he didn’t care at all, but seeing Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao acting in sync annoyed him a little. As a result, he ended up eating more than usual.
His manager: “…”
This was the price of making friends who enjoyed messing with him.
—
On the second day of the Spring Festival movie season, The Sovereign Descends the World saw a slight drop in screenings due to the previous day’s box office decline. However, the overall decrease wasn’t significant—it was only the second day, and every film crew needed a fair chance.
Unexpectedly, The Sovereign Descends the World turned out to be the most stable box office performer of the season.
Its daily earnings still exceeded 200 million, bringing the total box office revenue to 600 million.
The top-grossing film remained Dragon Palace, with over 300 million in daily earnings. Considering that the first-day numbers included presale figures, Dragon Palace also showed a relatively mild decline.
Most importantly, both The Sovereign Descends the World and Dragon Palace had solid word-of-mouth reviews.
Currently ranked third in the box office was Robot Creation Manual, which managed to carve out a place for itself despite the fierce competition of the Spring Festival season. Its screening ratio wasn’t particularly high, and from the third-ranked film onward, the screening shares were nearly equal. However, Robot Creation Manual still took the lead among them, thanks to its originality, with its reputation steadily rising.
At this point, the Spring Festival box office battle was finally starting to take shape.
Dragon Palace remained at the top of the box office rankings, while The Sovereign Descends the World and Robot Creation Manual both performed well. For audiences, the Spring Festival movie season had become richer with more worthwhile films to watch.
Meanwhile, Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao kept reenacting the classic “Zheng Xiao getting taken out” scene at every roadshow event.
Zheng Xiao finally couldn’t hold it in anymore: “Can we try a different play?”
Was getting eliminated once in the movie not enough?
In fact, besides Lu Xu’s portrayal of Qi Yi, the most talked-about actors in The Sovereign Descends the World were Wang Yu, who played Ding Fu, and Zheng Xiao, who played Hu Qing.
Wang Yu needed no introduction—he carried prestige and was widely recognized as a legendary supporting actor in the industry. Zheng Xiao, on the other hand, took on one of the rare villain roles of his acting career.
When Hu Qing first appeared, he seemed like a righteous and straightforward man. Among a group of cunning schemers, he stood out like a clear spring—pure and untainted. But as the plot unfolded, his layered personality gradually came to light. Zheng Xiao fully brought out the depth of the character.
To be honest, film critics from outlets like Movie Diary were not surprised by Lu Xu’s outstanding performance. If he had failed to break new ground, that would have been more unexpected. But Zheng Xiao’s performance truly took critics by surprise.
His growth in The Sovereign Descends the World was evident.
Playing a villain was never easy—especially one like Hu Qing, who didn’t wear his evil on his face. Zheng Xiao managed to portray both his hidden side and his carefully crafted facade, presenting the full complexity of the character to the audience.
Thanks to the performances of Lu Xu, Wang Yu, and Zheng Xiao, this year’s Spring Festival films each had distinct strengths. With all the movies surpassing the baseline for a solid story, Dragon Palace stood out for its visual effects, The Sovereign Descends the World for its performances, and Robot Creation Manual for its creativity.
No matter which film audiences chose, they would find something truly breathtaking.
Not long after The Sovereign Descends the World was released, netizens began creating montage videos featuring the film’s ensemble cast—faces shifting unpredictably behind layers of intrigue. The ruthless emperor who controlled everything, the sinister and merciless grand eunuch, the scheming officials of the imperial court, and the villain who concealed his true self. The production team’s officially released footage was carefully edited into sequences, and as each character appeared one by one, the film’s appeal grew even stronger.
It was clear that The Sovereign Descends the World was a film that emphasized human relationships. Take, for example, the multiple confrontations between Hu Qing and Qi Yi—their gazes, their movements, even the subtlest micro-expressions—all were details worth analyzing in depth.
Hu Qing was a character difficult to see through, but compared to him, Qi Yi was even more inscrutable.
As one critic put it, “Just analyzing the characters of The Sovereign Descends the World could take three whole days and nights.”
Despite its intricate character dynamics, the film never resorted to excessive mystification—the audience could understand it. The director did not sacrifice clarity in the pursuit of artistic expression. The pacing was well-balanced, with fast moments hitting their mark and slow moments allowing the story to breathe.
As a result, even though its box office didn’t skyrocket, The Sovereign Descends the World still achieved impressive earnings during the highly competitive Spring Festival season.
[You have to consider that The Sovereign Descends the World is essentially a historical film. Compared to other movies released in the same period, its atmosphere is significantly more solemn.]
[A three-time viewer of The Sovereign Descends the World here—Qi Yi is a character that only gets more complex with each watch. And Lu Xu on the big screen is simply mesmerizing—it’s impossible not to fall for him.]
[Go watch The Sovereign Descends the World right now! The explosive acting on the big screen is absolutely stunning. Lu Xu’s portrayal of the emperor shook me to my core. Only a Qi Yi like this could convince me—this is an emperor who could expand his empire and quell internal strife. This is a ruler who makes history.]
…
On the third day of the Spring Festival movie season, reviews for the major films had gradually emerged. The Sovereign Descends the World held a rating of 9.3, with the main criticism being that historical films, in their pursuit of depth and gravitas, naturally tend to lose some entertainment value.
Dragon Palace had a slightly lower rating at 9.1. Fantasy blockbusters are often divisive, and with Observing the Stars at Night as a predecessor, Dragon Palace fell slightly short in terms of both special effects investment and actor performances.
Surprisingly, Robot Creation Manual scored the highest among this year’s Spring Festival films, reaching 9.5.
On this day, Robot Creation Manual saw an increase in its screening share, while The Sovereign Descends the World and Dragon Palace had only minor adjustments. However, the box office results presented a strangely symmetrical trend:
Dragon Palace: 240 million
The Sovereign Descends the World: 220 million
Robot Creation Manual: 200 million
The three films’ box office earnings formed an arithmetic sequence.
In terms of total revenue, Dragon Palace still held a significant lead, but looking at the three-day trends, The Sovereign Descends the World and Robot Creation Manual were not far behind.
[A bizarre Spring Festival season.]
[Lmao, what if Robot Creation Manual ends up taking the box office crown?]
[Honestly… that possibility isn’t too far-fetched.]
Audiences couldn’t help but marvel at how The Sovereign Descends the World had defied expectations. Despite fierce competition, it hadn’t fallen behind. Even if some viewers initially watched it just for Lu Xu, the film’s current box office numbers were undeniably impressive.
And then—something unexpected happened. The Spring Festival films started interacting with each other.
The Sovereign Descends the World depicted the emperor of humanity, while Dragon Palace showcased the ruler of the seas. In a series of playful Weibo posts, Qi Yi and the Dragon King became pen pals.
The Dragon King sincerely stated, [Your Majesty, if you must take action in the future, could you at least avoid doing so near the rivers? My subjects don’t eat just anything.]
To emphasize his point, the Dragon King even put up a sign that read, [Protecting the environment is everyone’s responsibility.]
As a result, Qi Yi found himself under fire from spectators for his apparent disregard for environmental concerns.
In response, Qi Yi wrote back to the Dragon King:
[On such and such a date, I requested rain. You didn’t show up.]
[On such and such a date, I requested rain again. You still didn’t show up.]
[…Didn’t show up again.]
[The weather is getting colder. I’ll have the river filled in. If you don’t come next time, don’t bother coming at all.]
Audiences were both stunned by the unexpectedly friendly dynamic between the two rival productions and impressed by the confidence these films exuded through their playful interactions.
After all, quality films could afford to joke around like this.
Besides, viewers had long grown tired of the usual cutthroat rivalries between competing films during the Spring Festival season. Seeing film crews getting along for once was a refreshing change.
Lu Xu even posted a picture of his Dragon Palace ticket stub, while Dragon Palace’s lead actor did the same for The Sovereign Descends the World—and proceeded to shower Lu Xu with high praise.
Meanwhile, Robot Creation Manual’s team didn’t directly engage in the playful banter between Dragon Palace and The Sovereign Descends the World, but whenever they were asked about other films in interviews, they only had words of admiration.
With all three major films earning strong word-of-mouth and no fanbase wars breaking out, audiences were happy to support all the movies worth watching.
As a result, the Spring Festival box office saw another boost.
However—on the fourth day of release, Dragon Palace lost its top spot, overtaken by The Sovereign Descends the World.
Despite this shift, the gap between the top three films remained minimal.
On this day, The Sovereign Descends the World grossed 196 million yuan.
Of course, The Sovereign Descends the World couldn’t hold onto the box office crown for long either—by the fifth day, Robot Creation Manual had taken the top spot. From then on, Robot Creation Manual remained at number one on the charts.
At this point, The Sovereign Descends the World had already surpassed 1 billion yuan in total box office revenue.
[It’s rare to see a film starring Lu Xu that doesn’t completely dominate the competition, but… this is also one of the few Spring Festival seasons in recent years where multiple films are actually turning a profit.]
By the end of the eight-day Spring Festival period, Dragon Palace was still leading the total box office rankings, but its advantage over The Sovereign Descends the World and Robot Creation Manual wasn’t significant.
Dragon Palace had surpassed 2 billion yuan.
The Sovereign Descends the World and Robot Creation Manual had both exceeded 1.5 billion yuan and were steadily approaching the 2 billion mark.
While none of the films in this year’s lineup had achieved the overwhelming dominance of Observing the Stars at Night, the overall box office performance was still impressive. More importantly, every production had something to gain, making this a win-win situation for all involved.
Besides, even though the peak holiday period had ended, the films had only been in theaters for eight days—there was still plenty of time to continue racking up ticket sales.
Even the most expensive production, Dragon Palace, had already recouped its costs, so there were no financial flops this season.
Industry analysts across various platforms continued to project a final box office total of 2.5 billion yuan for The Sovereign Descends the World.
Meanwhile, with the film’s marketing campaign wrapped up, director Chang Aiwei had nothing to do except obsessively track the daily box office numbers.
At this point, he wasn’t worried anymore—the film had already delivered a result he was proud of.
Now, the only question was whether they could actually hit that 2.5 billion goal—something that left the director both doubtful and hopeful at the same time.
