"I want to get to know you—
Let's start with your name."
"Some say this movie feels too contrived — why these two, of all people, were the ones to swap bodies? Why not two people who hate each other? Isn't that unreasonable?
But destiny doesn't make a love story any less real."
"The strongest film of the New Year season, 'Your Name', opens with 200 million on Day 1, 180 million on Day 2, 190 million on Day 3 — word-of-mouth continues to surge.
Its screening share now exceeds 35%, becoming the sole winner of the New Year box office."
"Four-day box office surpasses 700 million — 'Your Name' shows no signs of slowing down.
Forecasts have now raised its projected total to over 2 billion."
"From '5 Centimeters per Second' to 'Voices of a Distant Star', and from there to 'Your Name', Jing Yu has continuously explored time and space as obstacles between lovers.
Does real love fade across vast distances and time?
Maybe there's no answer.
But through these three films, he shows us that the memories left behind… will always move us."
"The master of emotional devastation, Jing Yu, has finally seen the light.
'Your Name' breaks the curse of the train-crossing fakeout.
Takaki and Akari never turned back in '5 Centimeters per Second',
But this time, Mitsuha and Taki did."
"Easter eggs in 'Your Name' — Yukino from 'The Garden of Words' appears as a literature teacher in Mitsuha's town.
Her co-lead, Akizuki, also makes a brief cameo in the background during Mitsuha's trip to Tokyo."
"Buzz continues to build after 'Your Name''s release.
A phenomenon known as "Your Name viewing daze" is sweeping fan circles —
People are on their third, fourth viewings and still not getting enough."
"Music from 'Your Name' dominates the Zhou National New Music Chart —
Four of the top ten tracks are insert songs from the film.
And Jing Yu, the creative core behind it all, now ranks #1 in four separate fan-voted categories:
Top Screenwriter, Actor, Lyricist, and Composer of the New Year."
"Genius? Polymath? Miracle-worker?
Jing Yu, the legendary TV writer, returns to film —
Sweeping the Qixi Festival with 'A Girl Who Leapt Through Time'…
Now claiming New Year's with 'Your Name'.
Next target? Lunar New Year.
His upcoming film 'Castle in the Sky' will go head-to-head with industry titans.
Investors are already losing sleep."
Five days after 'Your Name' premiered, its momentum still hadn't slowed.
Old fans of Jing Yu were refreshing the real-time box office trackers hourly — not just hoping, but actively promoting the film.
Whether handing out free recs or online evangelizing, they praised the movie relentlessly.
But for those who weren't fans — especially competitors in the film and television industry — it was starting to look grim.
"What the hell is this?!"
Sure, a 200-million opening on New Year's Day was understandable.
Big holiday, strong demand.
But five days in… and it's still pulling in 170 million a day?
Ridiculous.
Fans seemed possessed, flooding social media with praise, urging others to watch the film — not once, but twice, thrice.
Some had even seen it six or seven times, still buying tickets.
"What the hell is it about this film that hooks people like that?"
"Honestly, I've been in this industry for over a decade.
I've never seen this kind of fan cohesion before."
"It's not just the film — it's their trust in Jing Yu.
They treat his movies like gospel.
A 90/100 film? They'll hype it to 95.
And the thing is — the quality's actually there."
"Mark my words. Lunar New Year's gonna be a bloodbath."
"No kidding.
Jing Yu's fans are already talking about saving up to triple-watch 'Castle in the Sky' next month."
"I mean, what the hell?"
"He really needs a flop.
I heard none of his TV shows, films, or even game projects have ever bombed.
His stuff always meets expectations — even exceeds them — so his fans just keep reinforcing this blind faith."
"Check out the 'Your Name' forums.
Even the people who didn't like it as much as 'Rurouni Kenshin' or his older stuff end up saying things like,
'Maybe the problem is I didn't understand it.'
Bro, what? When did Zhou audiences get this polite? They weren't this forgiving when my stuff flopped."
"This guy is next level.
Anyone who thought he'd only dominate TV dramas better face the facts —
He's got just as much pull in film.
Not just a great writer, but a box office draw as an actor, and one of the country's top music producers."
"Breaking news — all major production studios with Lunar New Year releases are now treating 'Castle in the Sky' as a direct threat.
Betting sites have even opened odds on whether it'll win the holiday box office.
Most people think it will."
"It's insane.
Less than six months ago, this kid had only made three or four films —
Now he's the hottest name in the industry.
I can't deal."
"You'll have to.
Unless you've released four theatrical films, and all four made it into Zhou's top 100 grossing films of all time…
You don't get to complain."
"We're on Day 6 now.
Still doing 160 million daily.
What do you think its final box office will be?"
"Probably between 2 and 2.5 billion.
Momentum like this isn't unheard of, but most big hits start dropping off after a week.
Once the daily take drops to 30-50 million, it'll slow down.
My guess is it won't go past 2.5 billion."
"Still… 2.5 billion.
And the production budget was only 100 million, right?
That's at least 7x profit —
And that's before post-release streaming, merch, and licensing.
Bluestar Media is rolling in it."
To be honest, a lot of people in the industry were extremely jealous of Jing Yu right now.
Film revenue is relatively transparent — at the current pace, once the streaming rights, merchandise, and licensing deals are finalized, Bluestar Media & Film would almost certainly rank in the top ten most profitable companies this year.
And with 'Castle in the Sky' just a few weeks away?
Forget the competitors — even Bluestar's own internal film staff were still reeling.
Back when 'A Girl Who Leapt Through Time' hit 700 million on a 50 million investment, they were already in shock.
Now 'Your Name' had pushed it further —
100 million invested, 2 billion+ expected return.
Unreal.
This… this was what "ascending to the peak of life without breaking a sweat" looked like.
Even though most internal staff didn't share directly in the profits, their resumes now carried two red-hot projects.
Two titles. Two calling cards.
For the next ten years, that alone would open doors at any major studio.
Seniority mattered in the Zhou industry — and credits were the key to rank.
So yeah… the entire film division had been floating in a daze.
Only Jing Yu remained calm.
Cheng Lie, who had worked with him for years, was already numb to his accomplishments.
"What's the big deal?
Ten billion in studio profit — same old, same old.
No need to panic."
But despite his calm demeanor, Cheng Lie was checking the live box office tracker every ten minutes.
He also believed 'Your Name' would start to slow after a week…
But reality said otherwise.
On Day 11, 'Your Name' surpassed 1.5 billion in total gross —
and still pulled in over 110 million that day.
Meanwhile, its closest competitors — which had peaked at just over 100 million on Day 1 —
were now barely making 10 million a day.
'Your Name' was still beating their Day 1 numbers —
on Day 11.
Infuriating.
This staying power shocked everyone in the industry.
Jing Yu read over a market analysis report from his team.
"Just as I thought…
Very similar pattern."
He fell into quiet thought.
In his past life, 'Your Name' had become a phenomenon in Japan —
lasting over six months in theaters.
Even three months in, it still ranked in the top ten daily gross —
eventually overtaking 'Spirited Away' for the #1 spot in Japanese box office history.
Now, in Great Zhou, the trend was similar — though not quite as extreme.
The legs were strong — but in a country this large, with a much higher baseline, 100–200 million a day didn't feel like phenomenal numbers.
Which made sense.
After all, 'Your Name' was written for Japanese audiences.
A lot of its cultural nuances, settings, and emotional beats catered to that specific demographic.
The Great Zhou wasn't Japan.
Different national psyche.
Similar tastes — but not identical.
And that subtle difference made a huge impact.
In Japan, 'Your Name' became a cultural event.
In Zhou, it was just a massive hit.
It was the same reason certain "woke" Hollywood movies flopped overseas 🤧—
What worked there didn't necessarily translate.
Jing Yu had always expected this.
"If we converted based on population, currency, cost of living, and GDP…
To match 'Your Name''s 30 billion yen in Japan,
The Zhou equivalent would be 120 billion yuan."
He laughed.
"Yeah, that's not happening."
Still, the media's conservative estimates of 2 billion were clearly too low.
Even when daily revenue finally dipped below 100 million, it still hovered around 80–90 million.
And on weekends?
It spiked back over 100 million again.
Day 16.
'Your Name' crosses 2 billion at the box office.
That night, Bluestar Media & Film held a celebratory livestream, hosted on Qingyun Video.
Jing Yu appeared with Yu Youqing and Cheng Lie.
Officially, it was to thank fans — and hand out some small giveaways.
But in reality?
It was also a stealth marketing push for three of Jing Yu's upcoming drama projects.
Even though they hadn't started filming yet —
and the CG was still in development —
Jing Yu had already commissioned prototype merchandise for:
'Attack on Titan': Scout Regiment cloaks
'Ultraman Tiga': SparkLence transformation devices
'Mobile Suit Gundam SEED': miniature mass-produced MS models
1,000 of each.
Tonight's fan giveaway?
These three exclusive items.
To be honest, the fans didn't even know what they were getting.
The shows hadn't aired yet.
They didn't know what these props even did.
But just listen to what Jing Yu said:
"When the shows come out, there will be commercial versions of these —
But they'll all differ from these early editions in design, size, and maybe materials.
These are first-gen prototypes.
Only 1,000 of each.
You might not realize now how valuable they are…
But trust me — if you leave this stream without entering the giveaway,
you'll regret it a year from now."
He hyped them so hard that the livestream instantly surged to hundreds of thousands of viewers, pushing toward a million concurrent users — all waiting for the giveaway to begin.
Everyone in the industry watching this could only gape.
"A two-billion box office 'fan appreciation' stream?
Yeah, right.
It's obviously just an excuse to plug your upcoming shows.
And you're using 'Your Name''s hype as leverage."
"Merch first, show later?
Shameless."
But the fans loved it.
Once the giveaway started, the platform lagged like hell.
Chat was flooded.
Streams dropped to PowerPoint speed.
Afterward, the livestream was chopped into dozens of viral clips, spreading across every major forum.
And that was exactly what Jing Yu wanted.
Why waste millions on marketing when 'Your Name''s clout could do it for free?
Over the next two days, all three drama projects — 'Attack on Titan', 'Ultraman', and 'Gundam' — officially announced that production had begun.
Just another side benefit of riding 'Your Name's wave.
Time continued to move forward —
And the calendar approached the end of January.