I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director (Patreon)

Chapter 87: Pillar of The House

After summoning Medea Lily, Shinji directly handed her over to Touko to let them discuss magecraft matter with each other.

Medea was moved by Shinji's trust in her. Originally, she thought that someone like Shinji, who looked like a playboy, would be very devious and would toy around with her, but she didn't expect him to be someone who is so to the point.

What the Witch doesn’t know is that rather than being straightforward, Shinji is just someone who has no filet in his mouth, it’s a one way road from his brain to his mouth, what he says is what he thinks.

Furthermore, thanks to the info he got from the FGO game, he knew that Medea Lily is someone that can be trusted, as long as her Master doesn’t knowingly betray her, she would rather die than to hurt her Master.

After summoning her, Shinji didn't continue summoning other Heroic Spirits, and it’s not because he doesn’t want to, it’s just that he had used his last Relic.

The Relic for summoning Medea Lily's was something that had been prepared 2 years ago, while the Relic needed to summon the specific Heroic Spirit he wanted to have yet to be found.

Moving on, It was already late July, after more than two months of dominance in the global movie market, and the hype around Fate/Zero had finally started to fade.

But this is something that Shinji doesn’t feel panic about. It's normal for any movie to eventually lose its popularity; audiences will always get tired of one movie and seek out others.

In the Japanese film industry, Toho's main movie this year, the romance film adaptation of the popular novel "Calling for Love at the Center of the World," finally broke Fate/Zero's dominance and ended its ten-week streak at the top of the Japanese box office.

However, the reception for this movie wasn't particularly good; many viewers felt that its pacing was too slow and found themselves almost falling asleep.

Although "Calling for Love at the Center of the World" indeed had a slow pace, it wasn't as exaggerated as some people claimed. It's just that these viewers had just finished watching the fast-paced Fate/Zero, so naturally, this movie felt as slow as a snail to them.

Of course, while ordinary viewers might just complain a bit, the real dissatisfaction came from fans of the original novel. They felt that the movie didn't capture the essence of the book at all, and the only redeeming factor was Masami Nagasawa's face.

But regardless of the criticisms, "Calling for Love at the Center of the World" undeniably achieved success at the box office.

This relieved the anxious executives at Toho, as even if the movie's final box office couldn't surpass Fate/Zero, at least the company's reputation was preserved.

On the other hand, film critics gave this movie very high praise, showering it with compliments.

They unanimously believed that this movie was the essence of Japanese cinema, unlike another meaningless garbage film.

Several newspapers hosting prestigious awards even stated in their articles that "Calling for Love at the Center of the World" would be a strong contender for this year's awards.

In the North American market, however, there wasn't a strong box office champion to replace Fate/Zero like in the Japanese market.

After Fate/Zero finished its run in North America, the film industry once again entered a chaotic period with various films vying for dominance.

However, despite Fate/Zero no longer screening in North America, its popularity hadn't completely faded away.

Since its release in May until the end of July, Fate/Zero had been a highly anticipated film in the North American market.

Its steady and robust box office performance surprised many people and left them envious.

Of course, what film industry professionals were more interested in was Fate/Zero's promotional strategy.

The massive investment in marketing strategies by the Time Group was so high that it deterred other film companies.

However, this seemingly reckless promotional strategy also brought in significant profits.

Especially in terms of word-of-mouth marketing, whether it was sponsored articles on major media platforms or using bots on IMDB to boost popularity and ratings, Fate/Zero received endless praise beyond just professional reviews.

From whichever angle you looked at it, the Time Group had fought a brilliant marketing battle, directly resulting in Fate/Zero's super-stable box office performance.

From the first weekend of its release, Fate/Zero's weekend box office declines were far lower than the typical decline in box office revenue.

Such performance was quite frightening and ensured that the film's North American box office eventually crossed the $400 million mark.

$400.230.000! (400 Million and 230 Thousand USD)

This was Fate/Zero's final North American box office gross, surpassing "The Lion King" by over $100 million in North American box office revenue.

Although the gap in global box office revenue between the two films wasn't as large as in North America, "The Lion King" still had a wider audience globally, being a family-friendly film.

But Disney definitely wouldn't be happy about this, because Fate/Zero's global box office had already exceeded the re-release of "The Lion King," which had grossed $988 million, and was steadily approaching the $1 billion mark.

It was said that on the day Fate/Zero's global box office surpassed "The Lion King," there were sounds of intense smashing in Disney's boardroom.

"What a pity. I hope the money they make from DVD sales this year is enough to refurbish the office."

In the Type-Moon movie company's office, Shinji commented with a playful tone on the childish behavior of Disney's top executives.

Although Warner Bros. was nicknamed "Warner Broke," it was Disney that truly excelled in selling DVDs.

As for Shinji, he didn't have the qualifications to criticize others. The decision to end Fate/Zero's run in North America was his doing.

While Fate/Zero's popularity hadn't completely faded, Shinji withdrew it from North American theaters to take advantage of the momentum and release the DVD to reap some profits.

Although the box office numbers might decrease, DVD sales would increase significantly.

Shinji wasn't Disney; unless global box office revenue had the potential to surpass $2 billion, he wouldn't keep the movie in theaters just for the sake of box office numbers.

That would only affect DVD sales figures!

After this round of DVD harvesting ended, Shinji would let the fans grow a bit.

Then, at the end of the year, he would release an extended version DVD and harvest a new round of fans.

"Perfect."

With a snap, Shinji closed his notebook, expressing his satisfaction.

At that moment, a gentle knock on the door sounded, and Ophelia walked in.

"Boss, Mr. Emiya is here."

"Hurry, let him in."

Shinji quickly stood up from his seat.

"Hey, Shinji."

Shirou greeted him as he entered the office, "Long time no see."

Shinji quickly invited him to sit down. "Yeah, Shirou. You're finally back."

Shirou had been taken abroad by Kiritsugu as soon as school ended for the summer vacation, and he had only just returned.

"You've changed a lot since we last met. Where did Kiritsugu take you?"

Shinji handed Shirou a cup of green tea and teased him.

Shirou had visibly grown stronger over the summer break, his once slender body now more defined.

"Don't mention it," Shirou said with a bitter smile. "As soon as the break started, Dad dragged me to the many battlefields in the Middle East, and I barely made it back alive."

"The Middle East?"

Shirou nodded with lingering fear. "Yeah, Dad said that my worldview was too naive and needed to toughen up on the battlefield."

"He only takes you?"

"Yeah, I asked him why he didn't bring Illya," Shirou took a sip of tea. "And he said, 'Boys should be raised in poverty, and girls should be raised in luxury.' Can you believe that there would be a father who would say that?!"

Shinji didn't comment on this, considering his position and situation in the Matou family were similar to Shirou's, who need to mature fast due to being the pillar of the family, unlike their sister, who can enjoy their childhood as a child, instead of a small adult.

"Seriously, the past two months have been crazy. First, we helped evacuate a village, then we destroyed a terrorist hideout, and then we almost got into a fight with the US military over a random commander mishap..."

Shirou sighed deeply, looking at his tanned skin helplessly.

"After two months in the desert, I've gotten quite dark."

Shinji nodded. "You've gotten quite dark indeed, but unfortunately, your hair didn't turn white."

"How could hair turn white just from sun exposure..." Shirou's mouth twitched. "Besides, wouldn't I end up like that annoying Archer if my hair did turn white?"

"Perhaps."

Shinji raised an eyebrow and shifted the conversation to the main topic. "Do you have any free time in the second half of the year? You probably won't be going on any more long trips, right?"

Although Shirou had a slight suspicion when he received the notice from Shinji about the meeting, his eyes immediately lit up upon hearing Shinji's words.

"Are you going to ask me to film another movie?"

"It's not a movie, it's a TV drama," Shinji extended two fingers, "and there are two of them, and you're the male lead in both."

"Leave it to me, filming a movie is much better than fighting in the Middle East."

Shirou replied without hesitation.

"That's good to hear, Ophelia."

Shinji beckoned, and his assistant sitting on the other side handed a file bag to Shirou.

"What's this?"

Shirou looked at Shinji.

Shinji made a gesture of invitation and said as he watched Shirou open the file bag.

"These two TV dramas are extensions of FSN, and you'll be playing yourself again, Shirou."

"That's not a problem for me, but..."

Shirou looked at the outline of UBW's script, and thinking about their conversation just now, his features became conflicted.

"What exactly is Archer's true identity?"

"Well~" Shinji gave a knowing smile, "Shirou, there is no need for you to understand the lore of the Fate setting all that well, just go with the flow.”