In March, the weather began to turn warm but still with  lingering winter chill. Even though the temperature had risen to more than 10 degrees, the difference between it and body temperature was still very large because of the icy cold wind.

Tao Mu wore a well-tailored and conventional black suit, and walked on the red carpet side by side with Li Xiaoheng. This was also Tao Mu’s first public appearance after his engagement to Li Xiaoheng.

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

When the media reporters and fans on both sides saw this scene, they screamed excitedly. Amidst the successive shutter sounds and bursts of dazzling white flashes, Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng walked to the photo interview area on the red carpet.

A large wave of reporters flocked over, taking photos and asking questions excitedly.

“Mr. Tao, this time “Soldier Elite” has received eleven nominations at the Lingxiao Awards, how many are you confident of getting?”

“”Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” has raked in 2 billion dollars worldwide, and jumped to second place in the global box office rankings. Do you have anything to say?”

“Many movie fans are looking forward to the sequel of “Soldier Elite”. May I ask when the sequel will start filming? Will it still be the original cast?”

“After you got engaged to CEO Li, you took a three-month leave to travel around the world. In addition to being busy with the promotion of the big production movie “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife”, you haven’t accepted any new scripts or other entertainment related jobs. It is rumored that you are retiring from acting, is this true?”

Various questions came one after another, and Tao Mu picked out a few interesting questions to answer.

“Being nominated is already an affirmation of us, so I don’t insist on awards.”

“I am very satisfied with the movie “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife”. I have no plans to make a sequel in a short time.”

“I’m not retiring. It’s just that I haven’t received any interesting scripts recently. I love acting, and I will spend more time and energy on polishing my works in the future. I will probably shoot a movie or TV series each year. I will try to use wonderful performances to return everyone’s love.”

Estimating that the time was almost up, Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng waved at the camera and fans, regardless of the reporters’ reluctance, and turned to enter the awards hall.

The other members of the crew of “Soldier Elite” have almost all arrived. Celebrities who have a good relationship with Tao Mu, directors and behind-the-scenes producers also greeted him one after another. The young newcomers who were not qualified to approach stood in twos and threes on the periphery, looking at Tao Mu who was surrounded by people in the center like stars surrounding the moon, and felt envious.

“This is the real winner in life. Not only is he handsome and has good acting skills, he also has the capital to support people, and the movies and TV shows he produces are also very profitable. It would be great if I could sign with Tao Mu’s film and television company.”

There was not a lack of people who thought this way. So much so that before the awards ceremony even started, the people around Tao Mu never stopped appearing. It wasn’t until the staff of the TV station came over to remind that the awards ceremony was about to begin that Tao Mu had the opportunity to take Li Xiaoheng back to his seat and sit down.

After sitting down, Tao Mu immediately turned his head and whispered to Li Xiaoheng: “Sorry about ignoring you.”

“It’s okay.” Li Xiaoheng smiled and shook his head. He was happy to admire Tao Mu’s shining appearance in the crowd.

“The two of you are too much. During the honeymoon, you show off your affection on live broadcast every day, and now you have to attend the awards ceremony as a couple. Can’t you give us single dogs a way out?”

Next to Tao Mu was Guo Yaning. Seeing that the two have been inseparable from the moment they came in, and now they were even secretly whispering together after sitting down, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

Tao Mu chuckled, and explained very seriously: “We aren’t showing off, this is our daily interaction.”

After hearing this, Guo Yaning rolled her eyes even more strongly.

Fortunately, the awards ceremony soon officially began. Guo Yaning didn’t have to tremble at the cold and lonely feeling of having dog food slapped on her face.

This year’s Lingxiao Awards Ceremony was still broadcast live by the national station. At 7:30 in the evening, the news broadcast had just ended, and the audience directly locked on the national channel, preparing fruit and snacks, and waiting patiently for the start of the awards ceremony.

Similar to the process in previous years, the Lingxiao Awards began with some insignificant small awards. For example, the Best Newcomer Award, which was launched a few years ago to encourage young actors to study their acting skills steadily, as well as other awards for the best soundtrack, costumes and props.

Gu Yuzhang, who gave a wonderful performance in “Soldier Elite” despite it being his first TV drama, was lucky enough to win the Best Newcomer Award. It once again confirmed Tao Mu’s ability to train newcomers, and at the same time, it also gave this TV series, which received eleven nominations in the Lingxiao Awards, a good start.

Gu Yuzhang was particularly excited when he delivered his acceptance speech. Because the film version of “Soldier Elite” was a project initiated by Beijing Film. Even if his role in the movie was also very popular with the audience, and he was signed to Tao Mu’s company, he still didn’t have a part in the filming of the movie.

It was just a supporting role in a movie, and being signed to Tao Mu’s film and television company and valued by Tao Mu, Gu Yuzhang didn’t worry about filming resources at all, so he didn’t value it too much. However, the movie “Soldier Elite” was really too impressive. As a mainstream movie, it not only had a good reputation, but the global box office had broken the record of 2 billion dollars. No matter how carefree Gu Yuzhang was now, it was inevitable that he would be a little bit conflicted.

After all, not everyone had the opportunity to participate in a big movie with a global box office of more than 2 billion dollars. Even Tao Mu himself couldn’t guarantee that he could achieve such a good result when he made movies in the future. However, things were already like this, and the company couldn’t do anything about it. So helping Gu Yuzhang to win the Best Newcomer Award this time was also a consolation. Of course, in addition to this, the company also promised to tailor-make a movie for Gu Yuzhang.

Such a career line with ups and downs left Gu Yuzhang full of emotions. Although he missed the 2 billion dollar box office movie, fortunately, the company still valued him. When Gu Yuzhang delivered his acceptance speech, he thanked Tao Mu, his benefactor and boss, repeatedly. Promising he would work hard and live up to the expectations of his boss.

During the speech, the camera turned to Tao Mu frequently. Tao Mu also calmly waved and smiled at the camera. Guo Yaning, who was sitting next to Tao Mu, was once again envious and jealous. She didn’t expect that the newcomer Tao Mu signed to be so considerate, unlike the few starlets signed by her studio, who were not very talented, but were so full of drama.

“This won’t do! When I present the award to you later, I have to make things difficult for you. Otherwise, it will be difficult to vent my frustration.” Guo Yaning expressed fiercely.

——That’s right, Guo Yaning, who had moved to the big screen, had long since stopped making TV dramas. Participating in the award ceremony of the Lingxiao Award this time was also due to being invited by the organizer to be the award presenter. And it was to award one of the most valuable awards, the Best Actor Award.

As an award presenter, Guo Yaning naturally got wind of who won in advance. This was also one of the unspoken rules of domestic award ceremonies. The management team of the finalists would be notified of the results in advance to make sure nothing goes wrong. So in many cases, the audience only needed to see which nominee did not come to the awards ceremony, and they could probably predict who would win the award. But this kind of thing, only the top-tier big names dared to do it. If a young actor who had just entered the industry dared to pull this stunt, they would definitely offend the organizer.

However, this year’s Best Actor was a bit of an exception. Because “Soldier Elite” was a mainstream military promotion drama in which Tao Mu co-produced with the military, and was very in line with the preferences and tastes of the jury of the Lingxiao Awards. In addition, the ratings of this TV series have broken historical records, and had caused a phenomenon-level performance in the whole society to join the army. Of course, the most important factor was that the movie version of “Soldier Elite” had shockingly raked in 2 billion dollars worldwide. Almost everyone had confirmed with certainty that the best actor for this year’s Lingxiao Award must be Tao Mu. But the other four nominees who were shortlisted together with Tao Mu did not find excuses to not attend, but instead all came over.

The main reason for this was that in addition to being an actor with good acting skills, Tao Mu was also a capable producer and a big capital investor. Many people want to take this opportunity to get to know Tao Mu, so that when Tao Mu prepared to film other works in the future, he could think of them at the first opportunity.

For a big production movie with 2 billion dollar box office sales on the global scale, even a supporting role was enough to add a touch of brilliance to their qualifications. What’s more, Tao Mu was only 21 years old this year, and his future was long and bright.

It was also for this reason that when the Lingxiao Award for Best Actor was announced, the atmosphere at the awards ceremony was for once very cheerful, the kind that was full of joyful celebration. Whether it was Tao Mu who won the award, the other four nominees who were also shortlisted, or other guests at the award ceremony, they were all sincerely happy for Tao Mu. The entire award presentation scene instantly became a sea of joy, and the continuous applause continued until Tao Mu stepped onto the stage.

The guests in charge of awarding the Best Actor Award were Guo Yaning and the chairman of the jury for the Lingxiao Award. As we all know, the Lingxiao Award had always been called a “government award”, and Tao Mu was the “son” of SARFT. Therefore, when the chairman of the judging committee of the Lingxiao Award presented the trophy to Tao Mu, he did not forget to pat Tao Mu on the shoulder, and praised with pride: “Not bad, kid, you are worth looking forward to.”

A TV series “Soldier Elite” broke the domestic ratings record of the same subject at the same time and set off an upsurge of joining the army across the country. A movie version of “Soldier Elite” raked in another 2 billion dollars worldwide, and spread the positive image of Chinese special forces to the world. These two works of Tao Mu not only brought glory to the Chinese film industry, but also meant that the Chinese film industry, which had always been accumulating strength and looking for its own path, had finally sent its own voice to the world. This was a kind of cultural export, and it also allowed the domestic entertainment industry to see the hope of revitalizing commercial films in mainland China. They believe that in the next few years, the mainstream of film and television dramas full of Chinese elements and positive energy would no longer be a dry pool of water, and more filmmakers would follow in the footsteps of Tao Mu and slowly explore the wider possibilities in Chinese movies..

And all these changes were brought about by Tao Mu.

As the chairman of the jury said, although Tao Mu was still young and his acting career had just started, Tao Mu’s future had unlimited possibilities. He deserved everyone’s expectations.

“Thank you Chairman and Sister Ya Ning. Thank you to the organizer for awarding me this award. Thank you for your recognition, encouragement and expectations.” Tao Mu raised the trophy and kissed it: “This is the award I got in my four years in the industry. But I firmly believe that this is just the beginning. The future is still long, I will work hard with the people who love me and the people I love, and dedicate more and more exciting works to everyone.”

When Tao Mu said this, he looked at Li Xiaoheng who was sitting under the stage, and his eyes became more gentle and tender: “This trophy has an extraordinary meaning to me. This is not only everyone’s recognition of my acting skills, but also a new beginning of my career and life. I want to give this trophy to my most important person. Without him, I would not be where I am today. Without him, I don’t think I would have the future I could look forward to. So, what I want to say is, Li Xiaoheng, you deserve this trophy.”

As Tao Mu sooke, he raised the trophy and toasted Li Xiaoheng: “We used to cooperate tacitly and cooperated seamlessly. I hope that every day in the future, we can also be of one mind and cross the river in the same boat.”

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

As soon as these words fell, the guests at the awards ceremony had already stood up excitedly. There were screams, whistles and applause one after another. Even Guo Yaning and the chairman of the jury on the stage looked over with smiles on their faces. Under the scorching gazes of everyone, including all the audience in front of the TV, Tao Mu walked up to Li Xiaoheng holding the trophy, and said with a warm smile, “Thank you, Mr. Li. The other half on the military medal must be your name.”

“I’m very honored.” Li Xiaoheng accepted the trophy with a smile, leaned forward to hug Tao Mu, and made a serious promise: “I will continue to be by your side every day in the future. Together we will live life together through thick and thin.”

If you would like to show some ♡  then please consider supporting this translator! ლ(⌒εー)ლ

After the premiere, Tao Mu, the leading actor and producer, was surrounded by overseas distributors with a keen sense of smell and a good ability at spotting business opportunities. And this scene was also photographed by the reporters, and then posted with the title “The premiere of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was a big success, overseas distributors scrambled to get the copyrights”.

Counting the promotion and popularity of the TV series, the promotion period of the movie version of “Soldier Elite” spanned almost an entire year, not to mention the national popularity. Especially the upsurge of joining the army some time ago had stirred up a patriotic feeling and desire to join the army in all viewers and netizens. Now “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was released under the banner of the movie version of “Soldier Elite”, many viewers subconsciously began to pay attention to the outcome of the premiere. Knowing that the film was a great success and was fought over by overseas distributors, these audiences couldn’t help feeling gratified and honored.

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

In this state, when some film critics criticized the film for “too much emphasis on commercialization and explosive special effects, and did not dig deep into the hearts of the characters”, the audience did not take it seriously. They just couldn’t wait to watch the movie.

The official release time of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was scheduled for September 30th, and the second day after its release was the consecutive seven-day National Day holiday. Coupled with the overwhelming online and offline publicity before the film’s release, everyone could see the ambition of the producer. And that what Tao Mu said in the interview, “The goal is to break the box office record of “XXX”, and the point of the knife aims straight at the top of the box office rankings of Chinese movies”, was definitely not just talk.

Out of trust in Tao Mu himself and affirmation of the IP of “Soldier Elite”, on the day of the film’s release to the public, there were long queues at the ticket outlets of major movie theaters. A reporter squatted at the entrance of the cinema and found that not only young people in their twenties and thirties entered the cinema, but also middle-aged people in their forties and fifties and elderly people in their seventies and eighties. Probably because it was very close to the National Day holiday, many movie fans came out to watch movies with their families. Watching movies seemed to have turned into a holiday pastime.

“Why did you choose to watch this movie?” In the long queue at the ticket gate, the reporter randomly interviewed a gray-haired old man who looked about eighty or ninety years old.

“I am a veteran of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Back then, when FlyNews.com and XX established the charity fund for the veterans of the Second Sino-Japanese War, I was also a beneficiary.” The old man approached the microphone unsteadily, speaking full of emotioms: “I have watched Tao Mu’s “The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood”, I have also watched his “Soldier Elite”. I like this young man very much. I think he can capture the essence of a soldier. So when he made a movie this time, I also wanted to watch it.”

The eyes of the reporter who interviewed the old man lit up. He was keenly aware that this was definitely a news point that could make a big splash. The cameraman kept wandering through the long crowd with the camera on his shoulders, and the reporters kept interviewing fans with their families, especially the elderly fans in their fifties and sixties. It soon became apparent that this was not an isolated case. In fact, on the day when “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was officially released, many viewers came with the whole family. The movie’s attendance rate reached 100% on this day.

This situation had also attracted the attention of theaters.

“It seems that the national popularity of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” is not bad!”

“Generally, the audiences who watch movies are between their teens and thirties, and most of them are friends or couples watching movies together. This kind of family group watching movies mostly occurs when animated cartoon movies are released. And the attendance rate is very low. It is really rare for the whole family to watch an explosive action movie with full attendance.”

“There are a lot of viewers in their 60s and 70s. Almost half of the 80-year-old online audience.”

“Have they ever seen a 3D movie? They are already so advanced in years, are you sure nothing will happen?”

Out of certain considerations, many theaters contacted the hospital to prepare ambulances on stand-by in case of emergencies.

Fortunately, this worrying situation did not happen. Two hours later, all the excited audience walked out of the cinema, and some gray-haired elderly people couldn’t help tearing up on the spot.

“I really didn’t expect that our motherland had become so powerful.”

“In my lifetime, I finally saw the day when our motherland can be strong enough to protect us.”

Many veterans of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the elderly who have experienced that era were filled with emotion. When they were young, the country was weak and precarious, the invaders eyed them covetuously, ignoring China’s sovereignty and wantonly carving up China’s interests. The young and passionate people were not willing to be oppressed, even if they were unarmed or equipped with the most lacking weapons, they still chose to fight and resist. In the end, through sacrificing flesh and blood they worked hard to create a bright future for the motherland.

Now that the motherland was finally strong, even if there were wars raging abroad, so long as there was a place where the five-star red flag was raised, it could ensure that the Chinese people could pass through the line of fire safely and return to the embrace of the motherland.

Such a scene, even if it was only seen in a movie, was enough to make one feel gratified.

In fact, there was a very touching scene in the movie theater, that is, at the end of the movie, when the hero and several other special forces raised the five-star red flag and crossed the battlefield, when both sides of the exchange of fire in the movie stopped and watched the convoy leave, in the movie theater, all the veterans of the Second Sino-Japanese War also stood up and saluted the national flag on the big screen.

This scene was also photographed by some viewers with their mobile phones, and then posted on FlyNews.com. Many netizens and media shared it one after another. Even Tao Mu himself and the production team did not expect this phenomenon. But after realizing this, the film publicity department also immediately contacted the media and marketing accounts they had good relations with to actively promote this point——

After all, it was a big production movie made to celebrate the National Day. Of course, the more news that promotes positive energy, the better. Moreover, this kind of publicity entry point could better stimulate the patriotic psychology of the audience, and it was also good for the box office and movie reputation.

It must be said that FlyNews.com’s publicity and marketing department was absolutely top-notch in the industry under the leadership of Tao Mu, and its ability to discover news and hype news was quite impressive. Coupled with the high quality of the film, when the film was just released for four hours, and including the 200 million pre-sale box office, the total box office broke the record of 330 million on the first day. As soon as this data came out, it immediately caused an uproar in the media and the industry. Everyone clearly knew that “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was definitely a hit this time.

What’s even better was not just this point——because Tao Mu used the banner of celebrating the National Day before the filming crew even began filming, aiming at the National Day schedule, and invested a total of 100 million, as well as joined forces with the military and Beijing Film Academy, creating a great and vast momentum. Coupled with Tao Mu’s consistent good reputation of “Tao Mu’s productions must be high-quality”, many films did not dare to take on the film, and either moved up or postponed their release dates, avoiding the National Day schedule one after another.

So much so that during the National Day period, except for the big production movie “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Sword”, the rest were almost all low-cost movies that could not change their schedule, or relatively dull mainstream art films. This directly led to none of the other movies released at the same time during the seven-day holiday being able to put up a fight. Many viewers were not satisfied after watching “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” once, and had no interest in watching the other movies, so they could only watch it twice or a third time. It directly led to the box office of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” during the seven day holiday becoming an unstoppable force like a flood bursting a bank, and the attendance rate of each showing completely full. In eight days, the box office of the movie directly broke through 1.5 billion, and instantly topped the box office rankings.

Tao Mu said in an interview before that he would try his best to hit the box office record of the Hollywood blockbuster “XXX”. Many people joked that Tao Mu was talking big, that he had grown an inflated ego after just a little achievement, that he dared to challenge Hollywood blockbusters. But now that Tao Mu had proved his rhetoric with facts, the industry and the media instantly shot out colorful rainbow farts. Practically praising Tao Mu as the hope of the domestic film industry——of course this was actually close enough to reality!

On the second week of the film’s release in China, the film’s box office broke the popularity of the Hollywood blockbuster “XXX”. Overseas distributors who had finalized the overseas copyright with the producer at the premiere ceremony also started releasing “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” one after another. It was screened in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Northern Europe, Western Europe and North and South America.

It must be said that this was the charm of the explosive action scenes in commercial blockbusters. No matter what color you were or what country you were from, whether you could understand Chinese or understand Chinese culture, so long as you could understand explosive scenes and fighting scenes, there was only one word for it——cool.

What was more, the movie “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was not only an action movie with grand explosion scenes, but also had enough fight scenes that were crisp and neat, and the plot was also very interesting. Based on the script adapted from true stories, the evacuation of overseas Chinese that year also aroused various praises internationally. Now being moved to the big screen by Tao Mu and the main creative team, many international friends could intuitively feel the power of China and the power of China’s special forces.

Now the goal of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was not to sit firmly at the top of the box office rankings in China, but to start a record at the international box office.

And this big production movie, which was highly anticipated by the domestic film industry, did indeed live up to everyone’s expectations. Four months later, when “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was released one after another around the world, the final box office sales exceeded 2 billion dollars. Although it still failed to break the Hollywood blockbuster “XXX”‘s box office record of nearly 3 billion dollars, it still ranked second in the global box office rankings.

For decades, the film industry in mainland China, which had been unable to even rank among the top 100 in the global box office rankings, and whose achievements in commercial films have been very bleak, finally amazed the world in a single brilliant feat.

Like a drop of ice water falling into a hot oil pan, the domestic entertainment industry boiled over instantly. Tao Mu and the main creative team of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” were regarded by the media as national heroes who promoted the prestige of the country and won glory for the country. All kinds of reports containing gorgeous rhetoric, true feelings, and rainbow fart emerged endlessly. Wang Boyuan and several other actors who participated in this movie could only grin from ear to ear. Director Cheng Baodong, who had always had a grudge against Tao Mu, and later developed admiration for the other during filming, was finally convinced. On the day he received the news, he made more than a dozen phone calls to Tao Mu, expressing his admiration and respect and asking Tao Mu not to change directors when he made “Soldier Elite 2” and “Soldier Elite 3”. It almost annoyed Tao Mu to death.

Originally, they just wanted to shoot a movie to encourage their students, but Beijing Film Academy, which accidentally released such a satellite, suddenly became the star of the industry. In the past, the industry always said that Beijing Film produced actors, but Beijing Film’s actors could not increase the box office ratings. But now there was no such evaluation anymore!

The global box office record of 2 billion dollars, the brilliant record of ranking second in the global box office rankings, a good grade that the Chinese film industry had never scored in decades. And the crew of such an impressive production was made up entirely of Beijing Film students and alums, no one else. And other colleges couldn’t take away such good grades even if they wanted to.

The day the principal of Beijing Film got the news, he asked people from the administration department to collect relevant news reports and put them in the school’s exhibition room. In the name of a celebration party, he even invited the principals of the neighboring Yan Film Academy and the Shanghai Theater Academy to attend. That proud and gleeful face nearly vexed Yan Film’s principal to death.

As the center of the whole vortex, Tao Mu, who single-handedly took on the leading role, producer and investor, was naturally busier than the others. All friends and colleagues in the industry called one after another, congratulating Tao Mu and reminding Tao Mu not to forget them when he made “Soldier Elite 2”. Regardless if it was the lack of investment or the lack of guest actors, they were all willing to participate in some way. Summer Star Entertainment and Longteng Entertainment, who invested in this movie with Tao Mu originally out of goodwill, were now crazily ecstatic. Long Tianao called again and kept urging Tao Mu to hold a celebration party where everyone could gather to celebrate.

Tao Mu readily agreed. It was not difficult to imagine the upsurge this celebration party would cause in the entertainment industry. Tao Mu’s popularity in the circle was originally very good, and when everyone heard that Tao Mu was going to hold a celebration party, almost all the big names in the circle expressed that they would come to join in the fun. Tao Mu couldn’t refuse everyone’s enthusiasm, so he could only agree one by one. And so the final celebration party was even more star-studded than the annual Golden Crow Awards. In an instant, it became another fashion festival.

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

And in this carnival atmosphere, the domestic entertainment circle also ushered in another year’s Lingxiao Awards Ceremony. Tao Mu, as the leading actor in the TV series “Soldier Elite”, was directly shortlisted for the Best Actor Award, and “Soldier Elite” was also successfully shortlisted, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay, and other important awards.

In an atmosphere with almost no suspense, Tao Mu took the whole crew of “Soldier Elite”, as well as their family members, to the award ceremony of the Lingxiao Award.

If you would like to show some ♡  then please consider supporting this translator! ლ(⌒εー)ლ

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.

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

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.

If you would like to show some ♡  then please consider supporting this translator! ლ(⌒εー)ლ