As Tao Mu’s first lead actor film, and the National Day tribute movie prepared by Beijing Film and the military, “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” took advantage of the popularity of the TV drama prequel and the most popular variety show of the same name, as well as its large-scale publicity in major provinces and cities, coupled with the great momentum of the film promotion in theaters, to bite off a 55% film scheduling rate in the country’s theaters. This resulted in a pre-sale box office before the release directly breaking the 200 million mark. While shocking the entire industry, “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” also became the most competitive box office dark horse in the eyes of all in the industry. Many media and film critics, including online marketing accounts, have expressed their expectations for the film in various ways. So much so that “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” had not yet been released, but it had almost been claimed by many industry insiders to be the box office champion of this year.

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With this momentum, one could imagine how popular the premiere of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” would be. With Beijing Film personally standing up to guarantee the film, coupled with Tao Mu’s good relations and popularity in the industry, on the day of the premiere, almost half of the entertainment industry came to show their support. This half of the entertainment industry did not only refer to famous celebrities in the circle, there were more producers who were unknown to the outside world but have a very high reputation and authority in the industry. In fact, even the military and related department leaders were present.

In addition, there were many partners and business allies who have a good relationship with FlyNews.com and the Li family. Although they did not attend the premiere in person, they also supported Tao Mu’s movie by booking a theater and treating employees to watch the movie. More than 60% of the pre-sale box office of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” which exceeded 200 million yuan was contributed by these people.

“CEO Tao, can you predict the box office of this movie?” Before the movie officially opened, a reporter asked curiously.

“As the leading actor, producer and investor of the movie, I certainly hope that the box office will be as high as possible. Let’s put it this way, one billion is not too little, and two billion is not too much.” Tao Mu joked.

“Then do you think “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” can break the box office record of the Hollywood 3D blockbuster “XXX” last year?” The reporter asked.

As we all know, Hollywood had always been regarded as a sacred place in the hearts of the global film industry. Hollywood blockbusters were also popular around the world, and were often lucrative money grabbers. “XXX” released last year was a typical example. As the world’s first 3D movie, the release of “XXX” not only raked in a box office of nearly 3 billion dollars worldwide, but also set off a wave of 3D movies worldwide.

In the post-production stage of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife”, 3D technology was also used in order to stimulate the audience’s adrenaline to the maximum. The domestic film industry was actually very optimistic about this film out of trust in Tao Mu’s own production ability. But even so, no one really put the heavy responsibility of breaking the trend of Hollywood blockbusters dominating China’s movie box office rankings on Tao Mu and “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife”. When the reporter asked such a question, it was actually just a routine inquiry, and he didn’t really intend Tao Mu to give an answer that would shock the world.

But the result was, Tao Mu did not take the usual path, and did not choose to answer the reporter’s questions within a safe range, but said very straightforwardly: “Of course I hope that the box office of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” can break the record of “XXX” last year. A soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier. I believe that all those who shoot commercial films hope to use the box office to prove their works. I am no exception. In addition, if our Chinese movies can regain the top spot in the Chinese box office rankings, I think it would be a great and exciting thing. At least it can show that our local films still have more potential and room for development. We Chinese filmmakers are also making continuous progress.”

“Of course, how far the box office and word-of-mouth of this movie could reach, the audience is the judge in the end. As filmmakers, we just try our best to present the best works we can to the audience.”

These words were vigorous and ambitious. The media reporters who were at the premiere immediately became energized. There was no doubt that Tao Mu’s words would make another headline news that could cause controversy. The reporter who interviewed Tao Mu had already even thought of a title——

“The Unsheathed Blade, Points Straight to Hollywood.” Tao Mu makes a bold statement at the premiere, aiming for the box office champion”

“China’s Elite Soldier vs. America’s Superhero, Who Wins and Who Loses”

“Tao Mu makes a bold claim at the premiere: China should have its own box office champion”

Needless to say the enthusiasm of the media reporters. However, Tao Mu did not continue to answer the questions of other reporters, but found his seat and sat down, ready to view the movie. Also quieting were many film critics and columnists. They also heard what Tao Mu said just now, so before watching the movie, they unanimously raised their expectations for the movie in their hearts. After all, since Tao Mu was able to swear by the Hollywood blockbuster, it proved that the quality of this movie should be really good.

Of course, it didn’t matter if the movie was disappointing after it came out. With Tao Mu’s words just now, they would attract readers and traffic no matter what they wrote.

Outside of the premiere, as the media reporters who participated in the premiere sent their reports back to their agency or directly on the Internet, many movie fans and fans who were waiting for food and looking forward to the movie became more and more excited. Of course, antis had something to say as well. They firmly believed that the quality of the big production movie “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” could not be compared with Hollywood blockbusters at all. Tao Mu was just letting his mouth run to the max, using this sensational way to create momentum for the movie and trick more audiences into the cinema.

Some even ridiculed Tao Mu for “if the quality is not enough, use feelings to make up for it” and deliberately exaggerate the sentiment that “Chinese people should support Chinese movies” with the ultimate goal to lead gullible audiences to watch the rotten movie that was “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife”.

Tao Mu didn’t bother to pay attention to the divergent opinions outside. The lights of the cinema suddenly went dark, and the big screen lit up slightly. After a series of company logos, the credits of various producers and production units began to appear on the big screen, and then the screen flashed, and what appeared in front of the big screen was a very African-style of buildings and streets. Accompanied by a burst of extremely intense and realistic gun battles and blasting scenes, the classic soundtrack from the TV series “Soldier Elite” was heard, which immediately pulled the people in the cinema into the familiar atmosphere of watching the TV series a few months ago. And vaguely gave birth to the excitement of seeing the protagonists again.

The feeling was quite like meeting old friends again.

At the beginning of the film, the background of the whole story was explained. That was, a riot broke out in a certain African country. Zhan Feng, played by Tao Mu, and several other special forces soldiers received orders from their superiors to carry out the mission of evacuating overseas Chinese.

“The scenes are quite big!” Seeing the big scene of house bombing, car bombing and street racing on the big screen, a military enthusiast and columnist who loved action scenes of explosive movies sat up straight, and subconsciously estimated the cost of filming such scenes, and whether the models and usage methods of all the weapons and props that appear in the movie were appropriate.

“I actually see the actors performing the impact of the recoil!” After seeing a certain scene, the military enthusiast’s eyes lit up again. Feeling that no matter what the plot of this movie was, just the opening explosion and action scenes were already full of sincerity.

Another professional film critic looked down at the time and then wrote: “In the first three minutes of the film, none of the main protagonists appeared. But the adrenaline-stimulating plot instantly attracted the audience to continue watching.”

And after a five-minute blasting scene that feasted the eyes and satisfied all fans of action movies, the camera turned again, and a pair of military boots appeared. Following the legs all the way up, the camera finally fixed on Tao Mu’s overly handsome face. The ultra-high-definition and super-large close-up made many audiences and film critics in the cinema involuntarily let out a gasp, and once again felt the visual impact of Tao Mu’s face on everyone.

Some female stars expressed on the spot that this was definitely not any less adrenaline inducing than the fierce gun battle just now.

As a commercial film, the pace of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was very fast. Director Cheng Baodong had almost abandoned all the inner character scenes that would make people feel bored. There were no long-winded discussions on human nature, and there was no pretending to be deep and profound. The gist of the whole film was “Don’t be cowardly, just do it”.

However, in contrast with such fierce battles filled with gunpowder and gunshots, when the protagonists either looked up at the night sky calmly under the stars, or chatted in front of the bonfire, or entrusted each other’s back with a few words in a crisis situation, it more so ignited the tears of many viewers. And even sincerely sigh that real war was so cruel, there was no chance to give you the time to make a long confession of true feelings, often people might not be able to say a word even up to the moment of their death.

This kind of commercial blockbuster mainly examined whether the plot and explosion scenes stimulate adrenaline, and the requirements for actors’ acting skills and the theme of the film were relatively not that deep. So the film critics here were relatively relaxed and didn’t think too much as they would with art films.

Because of this, many film critics could concentrate on enjoying the movie from the perspective of ordinary audiences. After becoming immersed in the film, they found that “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was definitely an excellent commercial film. The pace was fast, the scenes were grand, and the most important thing was that the special effects were not cheap. After watching this movie, it felt like taking a cold shower and eating a big bowl of ice cream on a hot day. There was only one word to describe the feeling, and that was hearty.

So much so that after two hours, the audience who watched the film with full attention were quite disbelieving. It was rare for them to watch a domestic film, and not feel the need to go to the toilet or slip away midway.

“The pace is so fast!”

“The plot is so interesting!”

“Although it didn’t intentionally stir up emotions just for the sake of it, when I saw Zhan Feng and several other special forces holding the national flag and leading the expats across the battlefield unscathed, I actually cried.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

“When many people cried in despair because they lost their passports, and sang the national anthem to prove that they were Chinese, I also cried.”

Hearing the whispered conversations of a small number of audience members in the movie theater, experienced film critics and industry insiders immediately realized that this movie was definitely going to be a hit!

So immediately after the premiere, overseas distributors who were invited came directly to Tao Mu to discuss matters related to overseas distribution copyrights.

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