Chapter 363: Flopped Blockbuster: Traffic Can’t Carry Box Office
On July 9th, early in the morning, many people entered the cinema early.
The popularity of "The Legend of the Demon King in the Divine Capital" has been skyrocketing these days. Most of the entertainment industry is promoting the film. Especially after the release date of "The Monkey King: Hero is Back," even those celebrities who were usually bullied by Su Yang have joined in, spontaneously promoting "The Legend of the Demon King in the Divine Capital."
In their view, this was the perfect time to suppress Su Yang's arrogance. They had to teach Su Yang a lesson, to let him know what it meant to have many supporters when you are righteous and few when you are unrighteous. In the entertainment industry, having friends was essential.
In this atmosphere, "The Legend of the Demon King in the Capital of Gods" was promoted by almost half of the industry. This popularity made Halo Films very excited. Wow, there is such a good thing.
However, "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" seems very monotonous. Apart from the spontaneous promotion by fans, Su Yang did not make any big moves and just posted something on Weibo.
After a few days of promotion, "Legend of the Demon King of the Capital of Gods" has become incredibly popular. Plus, with the summer holiday season approaching, pre-sales are plentiful. According to online data, pre-sales have already surpassed 1 billion yuan in just three days.
The cinema's screening schedule for this film was also shocking, with a screening rate of 68.4% on the first day. Moreover, this film is a 3D blockbuster, and the ticket price is also very high.
In the theater, after the first show, many people sat in the theater and started watching the movie.
At first, everyone was looking forward to it, especially the fans. With such a large production and so many big names, they thought it would be great.
But soon, some fans of the book frowned. This was too much of a change. Not only that, but the most ridiculous thing was that, for a good suspense fantasy, there was almost no romance in the original book. Yet, in the movie, the director forced a melodramatic romance into the story.
Speaking of special effects, this movie really put a lot of effort into it, and the money was well spent.
The plot is also remarkable, but the acting of some of the popular actors is really not that good. Their whole expression is just pretending to be cool with a cold face. Secondly, they add powerful filters, and no matter what the scene is, they have to look cool first.
Before I knew it, the movie was coming to an end.
When the first show ended, countless fans of the original novel began to speak out.
"I went to see this movie with great anticipation, but the more I watched, the more uncomfortable I felt. Why did they add a melodramatic love story to a good suspense and fantasy story? Damn it, can't we live without love?"
"How should I put it? The special effects are amazing. It's definitely a masterpiece among domestic films. If you ignore the original novel, there are some highlights, but that's all. Fans of the original novel shouldn't watch it. It's disgusting..."
"Damn it, I thought there would be a good change. I didn't expect it to ruin the classic again..."
"The acting of these popular actors is so embarrassing, it lowers the quality of the movie..."
"I don't see any substance in the whole movie. It's either a show of special effects, or a show of being cool, or a melodramatic romance. Damn..."
"I haven't read the novel, I just finished it. Overall, it's okay. But the acting of some of the popular actors is really terrible. I can't compare to Su Yang's acting in "Big Shot"..."
"7.5 points, just average, a popcorn movie, good for killing time..."
The word of mouth has come out and it can’t be considered a bad movie. After all, the plot is okay, the special effects are quite exciting, and the visual sense is quite strong.
But if you want to say it's a masterpiece, it doesn't seem to be it. Because the whole story is rather scattered, plus the appearance rate of several popular actors is relatively high, but the acting is really not that good.
It's a decent movie that can kill time. It's not a bad movie, but it's not a must-see classic either.
Soon, the ratings from the ratings website came out. Netizens gave this movie a mere 7.6 points. Many fans of the original novel gave it low scores after watching it. Damn, another work that ruins a classic.
Seeing this situation, Halo Film and Television panicked.
For other movies, a moderate success might be considered a success. But for this movie, it is definitely a failure. Because the investment in this movie is too huge, if the reputation is like this, let alone making money, it will eventually lose a lot of money.
So, Halo Films immediately hired some online media to praise the film. No matter what, they had to trick a lot of people into watching the film.
The film officially premiered. But after seeing the first show's positive reviews, Su Yang laughed. It was exactly as he had expected. How could this director's style change so easily?
At the same time, looking at the audience's complaints, it fully confirms a problem, that is, traffic cannot support the box office.
Film art is about telling stories. If you don't have the acting skills and can only act cool, you won't be able to tell a good story. It might be okay if it's just a teen romance, but with something as complex as a suspense or fantasy, it's really hard to pull it off.
Even though he hadn't seen it, Su Yang could already guess what mistake the director had made. That mistake was definitely wanting everything. He wanted the melodramatic romance, the suspense, the exciting story, and the coolness too.
Asking for too much is not good. If the director simply cuts out some things, it would be better. For example, if he uses traffic, he can follow the traffic rules and directly pile on special effects and action, turning the movie into a meaningless popcorn movie, which is also good.
Look at the bad Hollywood movies, many superhero movies have also been played to death by Hollywood giants. Many Hollywood blockbusters nowadays are just a pile of special effects. As for the plot, it doesn’t matter whether it is nonsense or not, and it doesn’t matter whether it conforms to common sense or not. As long as the special effects keep up and the exciting scenes keep up, it can still make money.
Although Su Yang entered the industry relatively late, he was very familiar with the routines. In addition, he continued to study during this period, and his theoretical knowledge was even richer.
At the same time, Su Yang has also adjusted the time allocation for the Artist Classroom. Directing courses account for the majority of the six to eight hours of Artist Classroom time each day.
Su Yang had now completed the introductory course and earned a Bronze Director Badge. Similar to the Singer Badge, the Bronze Director Badge also gave +1 Charisma and +1 On-Set Influence.
After studying it for a long time, Su Yang finally understood what the "on-set infectiousness +1" meant. This meant that when Su Yang was directing the actors, the higher the infectiousness, the easier it would be for the actors to understand what Su Yang wanted to express.
This attribute is still a god-like attribute for a director. Imagine this: after this attribute point is raised, in the future, when Su Yang is directing actors on set, Su Yang only needs to say it once, and the actors will understand and have an epiphany. This will not only increase the shooting speed, but also the quality of the shots.
This is the so-called director's ability to train actors. There's a saying in the director's circle: There are no actors who can't act, only directors who can't train actors. Some popular actors, after being trained by a powerful director, will also burst out with more powerful expressiveness.
"Legend of the Demon King in the Divine Capital" continues to be released. Although the online reputation is mixed, it has not prevented the increase in box office revenue.
After the first day's box office figures came out, Halo Pictures immediately launched a lively promotion campaign, with the first day's box office exceeding 500 million yuan, reaching 536 million yuan.
Such box office is definitely excellent.
However, just when Halo Films was expecting a higher box office, the box office plummeted on the second day. Although it still earned 403 million yuan, it was a direct drop of 133 million yuan compared to the first day, which is a significant drop.
And this is just the beginning. Over the past two days, although Halo Films' online trolls have tricked quite a few people into going to the theater, even more people have complained after watching the film. This has further lowered the film's rating.
On the third day, the box office of this movie fell again. The box office on the third day was only 212 million yuan, which was halved compared to the second day and plummeted compared to the first day.
On the fourth day, 104 million RMB...
Day 5, 87.32 million RMB...
Day 6, 6325 playing RMB...
Six days after its release, the box office has been a rollercoaster. Meanwhile, online scandals surrounding the film are piling up, including allegations of using "trolls" for publicity, high box office figures, and frequent sold-out midnight screenings.
In just a few days, the promotional strategy of Halo Pictures backfired on this movie. A decent movie was turned into a bad movie by rebellious netizens.
Although the box office has successfully exceeded 1.4 billion in six days, looking at the current daily box office and the continuously declining screening schedule, Halo Pictures is in a gloomy mood.
"The Monkey King: Hero is Back" will be released tomorrow. If this movie is good, then the box office of "The Legend of the Demon King in the Capital of Gods" will probably be around this level.
Even if it increases further later, it will only reach 1.5 billion at most, which is just enough to save face.
But this movie has a huge investment. Although not as much as the 1.2 billion mentioned in the publicity, the investment in the whole movie is as high as 800 million.
This movie's special effects cost a fortune, and the actors are also quite expensive. With an investment of 800 million yuan, the box office must have grossed at least 2 billion yuan to avoid losses, according to box office dividends.
With the current box office situation, even if we calculate it based on 1.5 billion, the dividend that goes to Halo Pictures is only 600 million yuan, and that is before tax. If some more taxes are paid, this movie will definitely lose 200 to 300 million yuan.
At this point, they can only hope that "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" is even worse. If "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" is even worse, then "The Legend of the Demon King in Mystical Capital" might even see a slight increase in box office revenue. If "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" is good, "The Legend of the Demon King in Mystical Capital" will be nailed to the pillar of shame. Not only the film itself, but also Halo Media and the artists who participated in and promoted the film will probably be embarrassed.
Amidst much anticipation, "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" is finally set to be released, and Su Yang's fans have long been prepared. Although the film hasn't received the same extensive publicity as "Legend of the Demon King," Su Yang has a massive fan base, a solid foundation. In today's Chinese entertainment industry, few artists can compare to Su Yang in terms of fan appeal.
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