Chapter 190: Smash-Hit Movie Wa-wah 2
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
On the movie screen, Robot Bang Bang, who had a lot of patches on its body, was repaired and slowly opened its eyes. After it successively called out the names of “Lan Lan,””Little Bao,” and robot “Wa-wah,” the whole cinema cheered.
“Great, great!”
“Daddy, mommy, Bang Bang is alright, it is repaired!”
“I like Wa-wah and Bang Bang so much.”
Every parent that came to the cinema with their kids smiled in glee.
Clap clap clap!
Peng Shan Shan wiped the corners of her eyes with a paper towel. Then, she applauded as she looked at her boyfriend beside her. “So warm and touching, this movie is great!”
Clap clap clap clap!
Many of the people in the theater applauded along with her. This time, her boyfriend Su Xiao Peng did not make any refutes. He only nodded his head and said, “I was misguided by those film reviewers on the internet that attended the movie’s premiere. It is given a 6.8 on Douban, but this rating is way too low, it is worthy of at least an eight just by the movie’s special effects alone! Besides, the storyline is not bad. The climax, the rhythm of the movie, are all superb. Personally, I give it a 9 and above.”
Peng Shan Shan gave him an annoyed look. She rolled her eyes, “Aren’t we just watching a movie, what’s the point of mentioning all these? I like it and that’s enough, guys always talk about ratings, about whether it is worth the tickets; do you know it’s really annoying and boring at the same time? Can we just enjoy the movie?”
Song Xiao Ping smiled awkwardly. “You’re right, our personal view is what matters the most, we can’t get misguided by others.”
After the movie premiere, the box office on “Wa-wah 2″‘s first day was 569 million, a lot less than the 788 million of “Wa-wah 1.” It did not break the record held by “Wa-wah 1.”
The movie’s review, however, underwent a tremendous reversal after just a day on the big screens. It would more suitably be described as “a tsunami of praise,” so to speak. Netizens shared their movie reflections:
“Honestly, my expectations on ‘Wa-wah 2’ wasn’t as high as the first movie. Just like what those movie critics said, for a movie that was merely an ad produced by directors just for the sake of money, aside from having refined pictures and puffed up special effects, it has no meaning whatsoever. But I was dragged to the cinema by my girlfriend and after I finished the movie, I would like to tell those movie critics: To h.e.l.l with you! This is such an awesome movie and you actually criticized it as being worthless!”
“If movies such as this is called trash, then of all the thousands of local productions that hit the big screens, 99.9% of them will be even worse than trash and totally unwatchable! I hope that all of our local productions look up to ‘Wa-wah 2.’ Make around 50 ‘trash movies’ like ‘Wa-wah 2’ every year and all the moviegoers in Z will become the happiest moviegoers in the world!”
“Commercial film? For those movie a.n.a.lysts that obviously have much higher IQ than a regular person, could it be that it was after watching the Wa-wah robot, Little Star learning machine, and Bang Bang robot, that you guys eagerly claimed the t.i.tle of a movie a.n.a.lyst so that you can bash the movie to your heart’s content? But I, who have watched the movie, would like to tell all of you, the movie a.n.a.lysts are right, this was indeed a commercial film, but it is the most exciting commercial film in the whole world! It was definitely not as gross as those Hollywood movies and local television series that forcefully squeeze ads into their films! On the contrary, the Wa-wah robot is known as the necessity of a well-off family that every family will need. There’s also not much to be said about how much the Little Star learning machine is sought after, many parents are going crazy over getting their hands on one. As for the Bang Bang robot, if Xing Hai Technologies really did come up with a similar product, as long as its price is tagged within 50 thousand dollars, I will definitely buy one! Every product that comes from Xing Hai Technologies are products that will surprise people. The company never advertises, not even a single penny is spent on advertising. Of course, even if they really did advertise, we are the ones that willingly paid to watch their ad in the cinema. For example, in the movie, Lan Lan and Ah Bao’s father worked at Xing Hai Technologies. They were both very well paid and had enough for their family of four to live a good life. This makes us extremely eager to join Xing Hai Technologies in reality. For example, the Little Star learning machine that Lan Lan uses made her the first in cla.s.s in every exam. The Bang Bang robot further allowed this family to live happily, healthily, and free from diseases and disasters… isn’t this the life that everyone is yearning for? Who doesn’t want to have such a wonderful life? Through the ‘Wa-wah robot’ movie series, Xing Hai Technologies is showing us a template, a template of a blissful, wonderful, and perfect family. I give this commercial movie a full score! But the director told us with her excellent storytelling skills that this movie isn’t just an advertis.e.m.e.nt. It is a true, genuine movie! The cute and resourceful Wa-wah, the smart and intelligent Lan Lan, the cheerful and naughty Ah Bao and Bang Bang who had powerful functions, every character is portrayed very well. Especially Wa-wah, no matter how stunning the other characters are made, he will still be the main character that I care the most. Another thing is that there will be bad guys in every movie and a duel between good and evil. Many think that this is too old-school, but I personally think that the presence of evildoers is a must for a movie. In correlation, we can regard the ‘bad guys’ as the adversity, trouble and hindrance that we come across in reality. In real life, each and every one of us will encounter these ‘bad guys.’ Then we will need to conquer them, knock them down, and defeat them! It convicts us with the belief to ‘defeat bad guys and overcome predicaments.’ Only after defeating all hards.h.i.+ps, will we find that life is actually sweet. Therefore, I wouldn’t say anything like giving the movie one less point so that they won’t get c.o.c.ky. 10 marks, I give this movie full marks! At last, for those who still have doubts in their hearts and are still misguided by the movie critics that said this movie is an ad, I recommend you guys to think: tell yourself that in reality there is no Xing Hai Technologies, no Wa-wah robot, no Little Star learning machine and the others; when you forget about reality when you enter the cinema, you will realize that the movie is totally different from what the movie critics said. I truly recommend everyone to watch this movie.”
Innumerable positive reviews quickly raised the publics expectations towards ‘Wa-wah 2.’ The movie was flooded by praise on Weibo and became a hot topic of discussion. On the second day, the number of viewers entering the cinema had increased. On the second day of the screening, ‘Wa-wah 2”s box office closed at 570 million. On the third day after the movie’s reputation had taken effect, ‘Wa-wah 2’ harvested a box office of 601 million. Market research organizations generally believed that ‘Wa-wah 2”s total domestic box office would not be lower than six billion dollars.
However, on the fourth day, Xing Hai Technologies’s founder, Chen Jin, posted a message on his personal Weibo that caused a heated discussion among netizens. “To everyone who has watched ‘Wa-wah 2’, I would like to say that whatever function Bang Bang has in the movie will be available in the Bang Bang robot that Xing Hai is about to release. We will never make false advertis.e.m.e.nts.”
Netizens left their comments on his post:
“Is it for real? Exactly as in the movie?”
“Able to detect 1,153 common diseases, allowing people to discover and prevent diseases in advance, give out health reminders, guide everyone to embrace the healthy lifestyle… I would like to ask, when will Bang Bang robot be on sale? Can I preorder one? Can I buy it within 100 thousand dollars?”
“Holy, if such a robot is created, many hospitals are going to close down, aren’t they? Is Xing Hai Technologies beginning to destroy the medical industry?
There were replies to this comment, “What ‘destroy’? This is called ‘timely replacement.’ Many of the hospitals nowadays should’ve closed down since a long time ago!”
“I had a small cold last time. Doctors told me that I have this disease and that disease and scared me every single day. I spent over 10 thousand dollars across one month and I’m still sick. In the end, I bought a few cold medicine pills and I cured myself. Hospitals nowadays are all devil workshops!”
“Last year I went for circ.u.mcision, halfway through the procedure, the doctor asked me to pay more money and asked me to use my Alipay right on the spot. After the surgery, I called the police, but they didn’t care and asked me to opt for legal procedures. I went to court for half a year before I managed to get back my few grand.”
“Quickly release it, I will definitely buy one!”
One of the netizens expressed his doubts, “Bang Bang robot in the movie can spray out irritant ga.s.ses from its nose and boost its combat powers by 50% after activating the ‘Ultimate control mode,’ are these functions really suitable for the Bang Bang robot? Logically speaking, robots shouldn’t harm humans, am I right?”
Chen Jin replied to him, “What you said is right, robots should indeed not harm humans, therefore we have removed these two functions from the Bang Bang robot. Xing Hai Technologies will try our best to avoid ethical disputes.”
Some netizens became puzzled right away, “Why did you remove such great functions? What if we really encounter troubles like what happened in the movie?The Bang Bang robot couldn’t do anything but watch?”
“Yea, I think that the ‘Ultimate control mode’ was pretty awesome, it doesn’t need to be sc.r.a.pped!”
The netizens were having heated discussions revolving this topic. The depth of the discussion was getting deeper and deeper, and more and more people were joining in. As the release date of the Bang Bang robot approached, the discussion had already become a collective discussion of the whole society.