Chapter 476 Finding an Audience
"If the North American awards season schedule is used as the main promotional strategy for 'Road to Glory,' will the film be criticized for being too eager to curry favor with foreign countries?"
"Come on, if 'Road to Glory' can maintain its presence and impact during North American awards season, that's a shining achievement for Chinese-language films. What are you licking up for!"
“We’ve been holding back screenings to extend the theatrical window for ‘Road to Glory.’ We’ve calculated that if we were to release it on a large scale, given the current domestic reaction to this type of art film, even if it won a major award and had two top stars, Shang Yongzhou and Lu Yanhe, it would only gross 100 to 200 million yuan at most.”
"Aren't you satisfied with this movie's box office of one to two hundred million?"
"If it has the potential to create even greater miracles, would you be satisfied?"
"This is too difficult."
"It's very difficult, so our release must be aligned with the North American awards season schedule for 'Road to Glory.' Only the North American awards season lasts for several months and offers such extensive exposure. If 'Road to Glory' can be successfully secured by Green Valley Films to enter the awards season, it will enjoy continuous exposure for several months. For the domestic market, seeing a film that can continuously win awards or receive nominations abroad once or twice might not be a big deal, but seeing the name 'Road to Glory' frequently might pique interest in the film."
...
After a month-long preview screening, "Road to Glory" has finally begun to reveal its claws and intentions.
In fact, the Russell Film Critics Association Awards are among the least influential awards during the North American awards season.
But it's the first major award ceremony of the season, which makes it all the more significant.
The domestic production and distribution company for "Road to Glory," Mountain Pictures, doesn't intend to use award nominations as a promotional tactic.
Their strategy was to "make a splash during the North American awards season".
Therefore, the Russell Film Critics Association Award's tagline in China is: "Road to Glory" kicks off the North American film awards season! The North American awards season journey of this year's strongest Chinese-language art film has begun!
Many people who know about movies, especially American movies, know that the core of the North American awards season is the final Oscar nominations.
However, most viewers are unaware of this concept. Upon seeing this promotional material, they will only realize, "Oh, 'Road to Glory' is representing Chinese-language films in the US awards season? And it even received a nomination?"
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On the first day of the National Day holiday, "Road to Glory" only saw 6,000 additional screenings in a crowded National Day film market, with a screening rate of only 2%.
However, with a 27% occupancy rate, it far surpassed all other films in theaters and successfully grossed 12.37 million yuan in daily box office revenue.
Compared to the two blockbusters that grossed over 100 million yuan a day, this number is insignificant, but for every film company, it left them speechless for a long time.
What's going on?!
An art film that had already grossed 60 million yuan during the Mid-Autumn Festival period, after a month of previews, was able to gross over 10 million yuan during the National Day holiday with only 2% of the screenings.
This doesn't align with their understanding of the film market.
What happened next was even more unexpected. In the following six days, "Road to Glory" showed almost no decline. In the 6,000 screenings per day, the daily box office remained above 8 million.
Seven days later, "Road to Glory" grossed over 70 million yuan at the box office during the National Day holiday.
The film has grossed a total of 130 million at the box office.
After concluding its run during the National Day holiday, "The Road to Glory" returned to limited screenings once again.
At that moment, all the major film distribution companies suddenly realized what was happening.
"Road to Glory" completely changed the previous film distribution model. It pioneered a new way of showing films, maintaining market attention through preview screenings and attracting box office revenue by increasing the number of screenings during important periods.
Most importantly, "Road to Glory" managed to gross over ten million yuan with just six thousand screenings. This attendance rate and average box office per screening are enough to make any film company green with envy.
Every publishing company began researching the distribution strategy for "Path of Glory." Industry insiders described this strategy as "highly skillful and daring," and "an extremely bold and divine move."
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On October 9th, Shang Yongzhou attended an event for the brand he endorses and was surrounded by the media.
This top actor, who has made fewer and fewer public appearances in recent years, is both loved and hated by the media.
You weren't such a reclusive person before.
Weren't you very active before?
Why did he gradually stop showing up as soon as he rose in status?
This makes every public appearance of Shang Yongzhou precious, attracting the most frenzied swarms of media.
Shang Yongzhou's performance in "Road to Glory" has received unanimous praise, with almost every media outlet believing he is the strongest contender for Best Actor at this year's Chinese Film Awards.
"Yongzhou, this time you're bringing 'Road to Glory' back to art films after nearly five years. How many awards are you aiming for?" a familiar media jokingly asked.
Shang Yongzhou smiled and said, "Of course, the more the better."
"Why does this sentence sound so familiar?"
"Isn't that what Lu Yanhe always says?"
Everyone smiled knowingly.
"This time, Lu Yanhe co-stars with you in 'The Road to Glory.' Do you think he will pose a threat to your Best Actor award?" a reporter asked.
“Of course.” Shang Yongzhou nodded. “Everyone has seen how outstanding his performance in the movie was.”
"Will the competition between you two for the Best Actor award be fierce this time? Will you both feel uncomfortable because of this intense competition?"
Shang Yongzhou said, "Difficult? There will be no difficulty between Yan He and me. He is happy to make fun of me, and I am happy to make fun of him. Don't underestimate us. Instead of worrying about us being in a difficult position, you should worry about the judges being in a difficult position."
When the media reporters heard Shang Yongzhou say this, their faces showed shock and surprise.
What the heck?
Instead of worrying about putting us in a difficult position, you should worry about putting the judges in a difficult position.
Is this something you, Shang Yongzhou, would say?
What's wrong with you?
How come you, who used to be such a gentle and humble gentleman, have suddenly become so... arrogant?
The words he spoke sounded exactly like they came from Lu Yanhe's mouth.
"The special distribution method of 'Road to Glory' has also achieved miraculous box office results. Before its release, many people were not optimistic about the box office performance of a film with this kind of subject matter. Some of your fans were even worried that the film would flop and affect you. When you took on this film, did you consider the box office factor?"
"Yes, but it's not a large part. I took on this film because of director Fu Kai. Making this film is his dream, and I had to support him," Shang Yongzhou said. "The reason this film did so well at the box office, as many of you have said, is because it used an unprecedented distribution model. Actually, we also have to thank Yan He for this idea."
After Shang Yongzhou said these words, the media reporters all stared wide-eyed.
What the heck?
The idea proposed by Lu Yanhe?
What kind of international joke is this?
Since when did the distribution model of a movie become something that an actor could suggest?
When Shang Yongzhou said it, everyone's first reaction was disbelief.
However, Shang Yongzhou was not joking at all; he was very serious, his eyes shining brightly.
The reporters looked at each other, and an unusual silence fell over them.
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The new distribution method of "Road to Glory" is a clarion call for change in the film industry.
The film's box office miracle sparked heated discussions within the industry and also generated considerable media coverage.
The most pressing question is whether the box office miracle of "Road to Glory" can be replicated.
Professionals and laymen, experts and novices alike, have all spoken.
Under these circumstances, the China Film Association immediately decided to hold an industry seminar.
“Yan He, you absolutely have to come to this seminar. If you don’t come, the seminar will be meaningless,” Fu Kai said to Lu Yan He on the phone.
Lu Yanhe asked with a smile, "What should I say?"
Fu Kai said, "Say whatever you want to say. No matter what you want to say, everyone will want to listen."
Lu Yanhe scratched his head and said, "Now that you mention it, I feel a lot of pressure."
"You can do it." Because of the box office success of "The Road to Glory", Fu Kai has been in high spirits lately. He told Lu Yanhe, "If you're still under a lot of pressure with your level, then no one else in the entertainment industry should say anything."
Lu Yanhe: "Director, don't flatter me to death."
Fu Kai: "Haha, I'm not trying to flatter you to death. Anyone who hears these words will agree with me."
The box office success of a film may arouse envy and jealousy, prompting other film companies to study and learn from its subject matter, attempting to replicate its success. However, the success of "Road to Glory" is clearly not that simple.
Why is the China Film Association in such a hurry to hold this seminar?
This is because it showed them that art films, which have always been considered unable to generate box office revenue, seem to have found a path to box office success.
This is beneficial to the entire industry.
Of course, everyone wants to eat some meat and drink some soup.
Although Lu Yanhe had been very modest and said he had nothing to say, when the time came, he still carefully combined his experience and understanding of the industry to organize his thoughts.
Before the seminar began, Lu Yanhe was led to greet and get to know many people after entering the venue.
Some people have already begun to wonder what Lu Yanhe will say.
The success of "The Road to Glory" has led many to hope that they can hear some truly innovative content from Lu Yanhe.
"Art films should also have box office revenue."
Lu Yanhe ultimately decided on this topic for his speech.
"Actually, from the beginning of my career, I've noticed a consensus within the industry: art films don't have box office potential. For a long time, I accepted this view. Even before acting in films like 'Three Mountains,' 'Late Spring,' and 'Road to Glory,' I didn't consider box office performance at all—to be honest, as an actor, expected box office results are one of the most important factors I consider. Each of those films was a box office success, grossing over 100 million yuan. However, each success was hailed as an unrepeatable miracle. Even though many art films have performed well at the box office in recent years, the general impression that art films don't have box office potential hasn't changed."
Lu Yanhe summarized his observations and experiences in this industry.
"The same applies to the film 'Road to Glory.' Even though it won the Best Film award in the Horizons section at the Venice International Film Festival, no one, from the director to our actors, from the production company to the distributor, thought its box office would be very good. An art film's effective theatrical period in China is only about ten days, after which it's difficult to make money at the box office. This is partly because they have to compete with larger, more high-profile films and can't get enough screenings, but the fundamental reason is that during those ten days, there aren't many qualified viewers who are drawn to the cinema. However, if art films are really not popular with audiences, then there won't be any films that consistently perform well at the box office."
Lu Yanhe said, "At this point, I thought of the operating model of foreign film festivals. Even though the number of domestic viewers for the award-winning films at these festivals isn't actually that high each year, why do they still receive so much attention? Not just for a few years, but for decades, their influence has remained at a very high level. In my observation, it's because international film festivals place great emphasis on media coverage and publicity. The more prestigious the film festival, the more media from around the world participate, and they pay close attention to these media outlets, setting up special zones and holding special advance screenings. They demonstrate their respect for the media at every stage, connecting stars, media, and honors through the film festival to create this kind of model—perhaps I'm not entirely accurate, but this is the most genuine feeling I get from major film festivals. Film festivals are actually a distribution model, allowing films that might not be seen by many people normally, or that only true hardcore film enthusiasts would watch, to become widely circulated and 'god-like' in this atmosphere, attracting audiences."
“In China, our awards, stars, and box office are somewhat disconnected. Awards are awards, and box office is box office; they have little mutual promotion, and there’s even a sense that they’re drawing a clear line, each doing their own thing,” said Lu Yanhe. “This has actually caused Chinese-language films to lose a major battleground in the market—both critical acclaim and box office success. Those who make art films don’t care about box office returns, and those who care about box office returns don’t think they can win awards. The two lines are clearly separated. So, with this long-term preview screening model for ‘Road to Glory,’ we can only rely on the North American awards season and its months-long publicity and exposure window to boost box office sales for the preview screenings. If there were such a window of opportunity in China, allowing art films to leverage the influence and publicity of the awards themselves to gain public awareness, ‘Road to Glory’ would definitely choose the domestic window of opportunity, rather than the North American awards season.”
"You mean we don't have enough awards in our country?" someone asked.
“We do have relatively few film awards in our country.” Someone immediately nodded in agreement.
Lu Yanhe: "..."
He hesitated for a moment, probably because many people were looking at him with enthusiasm, but he continued to tell the truth.
"More than the issue of quantity, I think the bigger problem with our domestic awards lies in their unclear positioning. Awards that are expected to be authoritative fail to deliver on their authority and credibility, while other awards are too slavish, making even the winners' fans feel it's a joke. Many awards, if they had a clear positioning, wouldn't necessarily need to be awarded based on artistic merit. Take the Asian Television Awards, for example. Everyone knows that the awards at this festival are given to dramas and creators with significant influence in Asia. They look at influence, not artistic merit. Their attitude is very clear, and this doesn't affect the award's reputation or even its authority in Asia. People use whether a work wins this award to measure its influence in Asia."
Lu Yanhe said, "In our country, film and television awards are divided into three pillars, unlike the Oscars which dominate in the US, or the four major international film festivals which each occupy a specific time and reign supreme. I'm not saying we're inferior to them, I'm just pointing out the difference. The core issue is that they haven't formed a strong connection with our own film industry and market, making them purely honorary achievements. And these honors aren't widely accepted; often, they only gain recognition within our own industry. To be honest, most viewers haven't even seen the award-winning films. What I'm saying may seem mundane, but an industry is an industry, and insufficient influence is insufficient."
What Lu Yanhe said today completely exceeded many people's expectations.
Many people originally came to hear Lu Yanhe talk about how he operated the long-term preview screening of "The Road to Glory" and whether it was replicable. No one expected that Lu Yanhe would suddenly talk a lot about awards and box office.
Lu Yanhe smiled.
"You seniors and teachers may be wondering what this has to do with our topic today. The reason I'm going to talk so much is because these are the things I've been thinking about. When the movie 'Road to Glory' was scheduled for release in China, I thought it might be possible to combine it with the North American awards season. At that time, a film critic named Tom, whom I know very well, told me that this movie was quite suitable for the North American awards season."
"Commercial films are made to show audiences what they like, while art films are made to find audiences who like them in the market."
"Art films have their audience, and we must do our best to find it. Once we find it, they will still be successful at the box office."
"What I'm sharing with you all today is just my humble opinion on how art films can find an audience."
(End of this chapter)
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