Chapter 177 177 New Film Begins
Chapter 177
[New movie trailers for September are out, is anyone interested?]
[It feels rather unoriginal. Domestic films are just a mix of action movies, family dramas, and comedies about ordinary people. Hollywood blockbusters are more interesting; at least you can see the special effects.]
[The movie "Bloody Memories" is coming out this week! Anyone interested?]
I'm not a fan of award-winning films at all; I feel like they're the kind that won't make any money. It all depends on whether Lin Yuan's fans can put in the effort.
+1.
Among the new films released in September, "Bloody Past" should have been an inconspicuous film, but thanks to the prestige of the Wolverine Awards and Lin Yuan's reputation, the anticipation for "Bloody Past" is no less than that of several high-budget blockbusters.
The film's promotional schedule has been announced, and Lin Yuan cannot miss a single one.
In any case, "Bloody Past" is a story centered around Wei Liang, and 80% of it is a one-man show by Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan asked Director Huang Yawen for leave, and the director readily agreed.
Not only Lin Yuan, but Zhou Zhongheng also took leave to attend an event this week. It just so happened that He Xun's scenes were finished, so he took the same flight as Lin Yuan.
The two were spotted together on the plane and again after getting off the plane.
Lin Yuan kept the hat locked on his head.
Since the hairstyle couldn't be revealed, let's change the hats—the agent bought Lin Yuan a bunch of hats wholesale. Lin Yuan counted them; there were at least dozens. Besides the brands he endorsed, there were also other brands, all of them casual styles.
The agent said that if Lin Yuan gets tired of wearing it, he can let someone else wear it.
"They are truly thrifty and frugal," Lin Yuan said to his agent, expressing his admiration.
Lin Yuan's idea was simply to cover up his green hair, because that would make him look too much like a delinquent. If he were to appear on official media, they might even Photoshop out his hair color.
However—his fans have already started a statistical chart featuring the same style as Lin Yuan's.
Dedicated to not missing a single hat Lin Yuan owns.
Lin Yuan's style is therefore selling like hotcakes.
This further increased the publisher's expectations for Lin Yuan.
"If we give it our all, who knows, we might break 100 million?" — This was the outrageous statement of a person from the publishing company.
Ren Maoxing scoffed at this: "They still don't understand me at all."
Ren Maoxing's films in China have so far rarely grossed more than 10 million yuan.
Now the pressure is on Lin Yuan, while the director is all smiles: "It's really good, the feeling of not being expected."
"Could you please stop gloating?" Lin Yuan said speechlessly. "Have some class as a director, okay?"
"Don't talk to me about style with your green hair."
Lin Yuan: "...Personal attacks are prohibited, thank you."
Because of his new hairstyle, he was ridiculed by Ren Maoxing.
The director stared at him as if he were meeting him for the first time, looking him up and down: "..."
He seemed to want to say something, but ultimately said nothing.
"Go ahead and say it, I don't mind." Lin Yuan sighed and silently sat down opposite the director. "Director Ren, how much do you think our movie will do at the box office?"
Ren Maoxing silently held up one finger: "Ten million."
Lin Yuan: "..."
Since the director's requirements are so low, he will also aim for a box office of ten million, without putting too much pressure on himself.
Although... he had only recently won the Wall Award when the movie flopped, which wasn't a good look for him.
Even though Lin Yuan was full of confidence in himself, he did not think that "Bloody Past" would make a lot of money at the box office.
...
The promotional tour for "Bloody Past" started in City A. Lin Yuan lived in City A and had participated in many events there. He thought that even his fans might not be interested in a movie like "Bloody Past," which was so obscure from the trailer.
However, when Lin Yuan walked from backstage to the front and saw the audience, he was stunned.
The theater already provides the largest screening room.
At this moment, Lin Yuan looked around and saw that there wasn't a single empty seat; all the seats were completely full.
"They're all here because of you, aren't they?" the director chuckled.
Lin Yuan felt that the director had underestimated himself. In the field of art films, Ren Maoxing was undoubtedly the greatest director among directors.
But the surprises are yet to come—
Lin Yuan knew that many of his fans were in the theater because of him, but not necessarily because of the movie.
But during the Q&A session, Lin Yuan discovered that the fans' understanding of the movie "Bloody Past" was much deeper than he had thought, clearly showing that they had done their homework carefully.
They asked about the filming background of "Bloody Past", the content that Ren Maoxing expressed through this film, and Lin Yuan's interpretation of the character Wei Liang.
The entire roadshow was lively and engaging.
"Who doesn't know how hard Xiaolin works?"
"Although 'Bloody Past' is not my cup of tea, Lin Yuan's eyes in the trailer shocked me. I want to see what the movie Lin Yuan put so much effort into is like."
"+1, I like Lin Yuan, so naturally I like his works too."
After the roadshow, Lin Yuan saw his fans' discussions about "Bloody Past".
"Bloody Past" may not be a subject they like, and they may not be interested in it, but because the lead actor is Lin Yuan, they are willing to spend time exploring everything related to this movie.
Because they knew that Lin Yuan loved it and had sacrificed a lot for it.
Suddenly, Lin Yuan felt as if he was being cherished.
But he didn't realize that this feeling was mutual.
Fans understand his hardworking personality and have seen many of Lin Yuan's hard-earned works.
To date, Lin Yuan has never been perfunctory with anyone, nor has he ever produced any subpar work. He will not bring shame to his fans, nor will he recklessly make bad films just because he is famous enough, thus disappointing his fans time and time again.
"Bloody Past" is a film that is unlikely to achieve high box office returns. Even when Lin Yuan won the Wall Award, some industry insiders had already made that conclusion.
The film was destined to fail at the box office.
But Lin Yuan needs high box office returns.
Now is the moment he needs fans the most.
So even if "Bloody Memories" is boring and not mainstream, fans are still willing to go to the cinema to support it.
...
The month leading up to the National Day holiday, the film market can be described as stagnant. The enthusiasm for watching movies accumulated during the summer has completely dissipated, and for film companies, this period is just a waste of time.
"Bloody Memories" is finally scheduled to be released on a weekend in mid-September.
This week, the competition in the box office market for "Bloody Memories" was not too weak.
The Hong Kong action film "Sniper" and the Hollywood blockbuster "Thunder Hurricane" were released on the same day. It is said that the two films were originally intended to be released during the summer vacation, but ultimately withdrew.
This summer's competition is far more intense than in previous years—at first glance, it wasn't apparent that several films looked lackluster and weren't the kind of box office hits you'd expect in the traditional sense.
As a result, several films were of such high quality that people exclaimed, "Has the spring of Chinese-language cinema returned?"
Whether it's an animated film, a comedy, or a suspense film, all of these movies have achieved both box office success and critical acclaim. All three films have grossed over 3 billion yuan, achieving the best results for the summer season in recent years and keeping audiences glued to their screens.
Caught between these three films, those of inferior quality naturally became cannon fodder.
Even if "Sniper" and "Thunder Hurricane" were released during the summer, they might not necessarily achieve a satisfactory result.
Besides these two films, there is another film in the same period as "Bloody Past" - the family drama "Grandpa's Little Courtyard".
Generally speaking, these kinds of movies don't perform too badly.
Just like "Just Right," which made its way through the TV drama market, its gentle and warm style is what audiences really like.
It's worth mentioning that Chen Cong is listed first in the cast of "Grandpa's Courtyard".
"Grandpa's Little Courtyard" is a warm title that easily evokes childhood memories, such as courtyards, watermelons, and the little dog that cuddles around you. It is indeed a story about a protagonist finding himself in a confusing city.
As the pace of life accelerates, this type of film and television work has gradually gained a market.
Since the protagonist is Chen Cong, it shows that the industry is quite optimistic about the development of this subject matter.
It's worth mentioning that Chen Cong chose "Grandpa's Courtyard" because of the hugely popular TV series "Grandma's Persimmon Tree" last year.
"Grandpa" and "Grandma" share the same director and screenwriter, and have almost the same cast and crew.
"Grandma's Persimmon Tree" grossed 1.6 billion yuan at the box office with an investment of only tens of millions of yuan, and its online streaming performance was also outstanding, making investors a fortune.
The movie became a hit, and Chen Cong quickly took on the role in "Grandpa's Little Courtyard" with the same cast.
In any case, with successful precedents, the risk of failure is smaller.
One of the things that Chen Cong is criticized for is his reluctance to take risks.
He has never starred in a high-grossing film, which usually means high risk. He also rarely leads during peak seasons like summer vacation or Chinese New Year – one actor failed twice during the Chinese New Year and was subsequently rejected by the entire film industry.
Chen Cong's favorite choices are films by famous directors, with a proven track record of success, box office revenue between 1 billion and 2 billion yuan, and relatively low budgets.
Even if the film flops, it won't have a significant impact on him as the lead actor.
Because Chen Cong himself has considerable influence in the industry, the movies he stars in are guaranteed screenings, and their box office performance after release is generally quite good.
Although there are two big films this week, "Sniper" and "Thunder Hurricane", industry insiders expect "Grandpa's Courtyard" to be quite promising.
In contrast, "Bloody Past" is categorized as having good reviews but poor box office performance.
It's worth mentioning that among the four new films released this week, "Thunder Hurricane" had the most screenings, reaching 29.6%, followed by "Grandpa's Courtyard" with 26%, while "Sniper" had even fewer screenings, at 23%.
As for "Bloody Past", it received 9.7% of the screenings.
In fact, the number of screenings exceeded the production team's expectations, but it seemed particularly pitiful compared to other new films.
In addition, the release time of "Bloody Memories" was also rather awkward, either too early or too late, with few cinemas scheduling it during prime time.
The crew was already mentally prepared for this.
No one protested.
However, the crew of "Sniper Wars" was full of complaints. The film had just been released when the producer hinted at unfair scheduling—he was dissatisfied that "Sniper Wars" had fewer screenings than "Grandpa's Courtyard".
The two projects were not originally of the same size, so to break even, "Sniper Wars" would have to put in much more effort than "Grandpa's Courtyard".
As it turned out, what made the producers of "Sniper Wars" even more dissatisfied was yet to come—"Sniper Wars" not only had fewer screenings than "Grandpa's Courtyard," but its share of screenings during prime time was also far less.
In terms of prime-time screenings, "Grandpa's Courtyard" even beat "Thunder Hurricane".
"Absolutely amazing."
"Absolutely amazing."
"Doesn't 'Sniper Wars' deserve better screenings? It's absolutely shocking! It's incredible!"
"Ladies and gentlemen, 'Bloody Past' hasn't said anything yet. Apart from praising 'Grandpa' for being awesome, I have nothing to say."
The producer of "Sniper Wars" publicly complained, so reporters naturally didn't miss the opportunity and interviewed all the new films released at the same time, including the crew of "Bloody Past".
When asked for his opinion on this, Ren Maoxing was asked by a reporter.
Ren Maoxing said, "What's it to me? You guys who are in the 20s can argue with each other. 'Bloody Past' doesn't deserve my attention, and I won't participate."
reporter:"……"
That makes some sense.
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