I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director (Type-Moon Fanfiction)

Chapter 30: Refusal

If the skyrocketing box office on Friday had finally shown Bandai the potential of FSN, the box office numbers that soared on Saturday, despite the limited number of theaters, further confirmed that their decision was correct.

Even though FSN was still only screening in 25 theaters due to scheduling constraints, the box office on this day reached an astonishing 19.46 million yen, with a per-theater box office of nearly 800,000 yen!

In terms of per-theater earnings, these were numbers that only a blockbuster movie could achieve.

After hastily making his way from Fuyuki City to Tokyo, Shinji Matou received the good news about the expanded screenings before heading to Bandai. However, his joy was short-lived as he learned about the rejection from Toho and Shochiku theaters. This news even caused him to lose his temper.

Shinji had a valid reason to be angry and anxious.

To explicitly reject a movie for distribution, Toho theaters were the larger of the two with more than 50 theaters under their banner. While this number might seem small compared to the later mega-theater chains, it was the second-largest in Japan, which had only around 400 theaters. Furthermore, Toho theaters were strategically located in bustling urban areas with high foot traffic.

So, as soon as he entered the meeting room at Bandai, Shinji exclaimed loudly.

"Why the hell is Toho not distributing my movie?! Is the price sent to the distribution company not meeting their standard?"

"No, it has nothing to do with the distribution company," Nao refuted Shinji's guess with a frown, indicating that she was not in a good mood either.

"According to the information I've received, it's related to the film critics?"

"Huh?"

Shinji was almost taken aback by this absurd answer and looked at Udagawa with disbelief.

Nao Udagawa explained, "It seems that a film critic named Ippei Kawachi mobilized a group of film critics to pressure Toho and Shochiku to reject your movie."

"That meddling busybody."

Thinking back to the critic who had given him such a disapproving look, Shinji grumbled in annoyance.

Although Shinji knew that film critics had more influence than he expected, he never imagined that they could persuade theaters to refuse to screen his movie.

"Do the theaters just follow the film critics' orders?" Shinji asked incredulously.

To Shinji's question, Nao also seemed somewhat helpless. "It's because Ippei has a close relationship with Toho and Shochiku. In the words of their employees, they can't give up the whole forest for a single tree."

Clearly, Toho and Shochiku believed that the value brought by Ippei and the group of film critics he led outweighed Shinji's movie. In their eyes, one director's film, even if successful, was less valuable than maintaining a good relationship with influential film critics.

"Ugh."

Shinji sighed in frustration and asked, "So, why did this critic, Appei Kawachi, want to stop my movie? It can't be for artistic reasons, trying to prevent my non-artistic film from spreading, can it?"

"It's Ippei," Nao corrected with a shrug. "I think it's more about fear. Your movie was singled out for criticism by him. If it were to achieve high box office numbers, the value of his film critics' opinions would plummet."

Film critics' most significant power lay in their ability to influence audiences with their opinions. They believed that their critiques had the power to determine whether a movie succeeded or failed. If a movie they criticized did well at the box office, it would challenge their influence and authority.