Chapter 406 Go, little broken ball!
The annual box office champion!
Before the release of "The Wandering Earth", neither Meng Bai, Guo Fan, nor other main creators of the crew dared to think of this possibility.
Maoyan and Tao Piao Piao Lighthouse predicted a total box office of 2 billion for "The Wandering Earth" based on the pre-sale box office, audience expectations, network popularity and other data of the film .
This number seems to be not very impressive compared to the blockbusters that have easily made 3 billion or 4 billion in recent years, but for producers and distributors such as China Film, Arc Light and Beijing North Culture, it is already a very satisfactory result.
If there is really 2 billion, not only can it recover the cost, but it can also make a small profit, which is simply a great success!
The same is true for the audience. When most passers-by heard that this was a science fiction movie, they first deducted a point in their hearts. And for the few science fiction fans, they also have doubts about the team of this movie.
So, expectation management is still very important. When most of the audience went to the cinema with the idea of "it's probably just average, but I'll just support Chinese science fiction", what they got was a luxurious masterpiece that far exceeded their imagination.
This made the audience excited!
[Fuck! Is this really a science fiction masterpiece that we can make ourselves? ]
[I thought it was another money-making movie under the guise of a cover, but I didn't expect the director to be serious! ]
[This special effect, this texture, this plot... Awesome! I'm blowing "Little Broken Ball" up! ]
[I'm Sun Chen, male, 21 years old, ID number 3710...96. I lost the bet with my friend because I insisted that "The Wandering Earth" was definitely a bad movie. Now I apologize in real name according to the bet. (By the way, I sincerely recommend "The Wandering Earth" to everyone)]
[Five-star praise! 4 stars for the quality of the movie + 1 star for encouragement. There is indeed a gap with Hollywood, but there is not much left. As a viewer, I am willing to support such a movie. I hope this will be the beginning of Chinese science fiction movies. ]
[Little Broken Ball, go! 】
【……】
Faced with the high quality of "The Wandering Earth" that far exceeded expectations, the audience was first surprised, and then turned into "tap water" and began to recommend it on online and offline social platforms and friend circles.
The ticket purchasing platform also quickly adjusted the box office forecast of the movie in a timely manner based on the actual data and audience feedback after the release. From the previous 2 billion, it rose to 4 billion in one breath, doubling directly.
When this forecast data came out, not to mention the audience, even the industry was shocked.
Four billion! Not to mention the annual box office champion, even in the entire domestic film industry, there is only one "Wolf Warrior 2" ahead.
Oh, by the way, "Wolf Warrior 2" is also starring Wu Jing.
Who would have thought two days ago that such a movie with no advantage in subject matter, no highlights in the lineup, and a natural "debuff" could show such huge potential.
The extremely high attendance rate made theaters report to the higher authorities, hoping to increase the number of screenings of "The Wandering Earth". For this opportunity to make money, the theater chain naturally would not refuse it, and directly increased the film's schedule to 24%, more than doubling.
With the support of word of mouth and film scheduling, on the third day of the Spring Festival, the single-day box office of "The Wandering Earth" continued to rise, with a single-day box office of 380 million, surpassing "Crazy Alien" and successfully winning the first "single-day box office champion".
The latter's box office on the same day dropped to 240 million, ranking second, while "Speeding Life" continued to maintain its third position.
But what is more surprising is "The New King of Comedy", the attendance rate dropped from 55% on the first day to 30%, and the film scheduling was also cut in half. At the same time, dragged down by word of mouth, the single-day box office was only 66 million, and was surpassed by the cartoon "Boonie Bears: The Original Age".
Many viewers joked online that it was no wonder that there were always five of the "Four Heavenly Kings", because the last one was left behind.
But for the producer of "The New King of Comedy", it doesn't matter how much the results decline. With a production cost of 50 million, the box office has now exceeded 400 million, which can be said to be a big profit.
It doesn't matter if this IP is stale. Anyway, Stephen Chow still has "The Mermaid 2", "Kung Fu 2", "The God of Cookery 2", "Shaolin Soccer 2", etc., and the money collected from them is enough for Zhou Xingchi to complete the bet.
The only change is that no one will be embarrassed to say "We all owe Stephen Chow a movie ticket" in the future. And looking at the current situation, it is very likely that "Single Master owes fans a ticket."
The successful unlocking of the "single-day box office champion" achievement made the entire crew extremely excited. Guo Fan even wrote a "small essay" titled "Little Broken Ball, Learn to Raise Your Head!" and posted it on Weibo to express his gratitude to the audience.
"Okay, Lao Guo, your writing skills have improved recently."
In the office, Meng Bai looked at the small essay on the screen and said to Guo Fan on the other side of the phone.
"It's completely inspired, no skills, all emotions." Guo Fan said with emotion.
Meng Bai smiled: "Okay, brother with lots of emotions, you should have done a lot of interviews these two days."
"More than a lot, my various program invitations and publicity schedules are all scheduled after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month." Guo Fan seemed to be complaining, but anyone could hear the smile in his tone.
But it is true that five years of hard work have paid off beyond expectations, and anyone would be excited for a month.
"Then you keep running, I support you spiritually, come on!"
"Damn! Suddenly I find that you investors are the most comfortable!"
Guo Fan cursed with a smile, but he knew in his heart that compared to them, the success of the movie was more important to investors like Meng Bai. After all,
if he failed, it would only be a loss of some opportunities, and he could slowly start making youth films from a young age in the future. But Meng Bai and his team have invested hundreds of millions of dollars, and if they really fail, it would be a huge loss.
What's more, now is the winter of film and television, and all companies are very cautious about the projects they want to shoot. If "The Wandering Earth" really fails, it is very likely that no capital will dare to invest in science fiction themes in the next few years.
Fortunately, they succeeded.
Like Guo Fan, Meng Bai also feels the same way. He was moved by Guo Fan's serious and persistent spirit at the beginning, so he joined the project. As he becomes more and more involved, he is also full of affection for "The Wandering Earth".
For Arclight Films today, the failure of a movie is painful, but it is not enough to break the bones. After all, after so many years of hard work, no one wants to end in failure.
Fortunately, they succeeded. But this is just the beginning, and there is still a month to go. If nothing unexpected happens, they may create a new miracle.
Meng Bai was planning to find Song Ge and others from Jingbei Culture to talk about the subsequent publicity work, when the door of the office was suddenly knocked. Then, Li Mu, who had been recruited, walked in from outside.
"Xiao Li." Meng Bai looked at him and frowned, "What happened?"
Since the rumor-mongering incident, Li Mu has stayed in Arclight Films. At first, Meng Bai simply thought that he had some talent in writing essays and stirring up public opinion. Later, he found that he was very sensitive to various trends on the Internet, so he transferred him out separately and established a "Public Opinion Supervision Department".
To put it bluntly, it is to use the public opinion system to search various topics related to Arclight Films on various mainstream platforms and discussion forums on the Internet every day, so as to timely understand whether the company has any new public opinion.
In fact, many film and television companies have similar departments, but most of them don't pay much attention to it. They always wait until things ferment before they come out to explain.
In contrast, the younger generation of entrepreneurs such as Meng Bai are more sensitive to online public opinion, so they will also care a little.
However, except for the situation similar to the release of the "Wealth List" some time ago, Meng Bai is very low-key most of the time, and the company's works have maintained quality, so Li Mu is rarely used.
Now he suddenly came to find me, is there something new?
Although he has been "recruited", his previous experience caused Li Mu to still feel uneasy when he saw his boss. However, when he heard Meng Bai's inquiry, he still said quickly: "There is no problem on the company's side, but we have found that there are many bad reviews of the movie we recently released since yesterday."
"Oh, what did I think." Meng Bai heard this and instantly felt relieved, "There are still people who don't like the RMB. Which movie dares to say that it is perfect? It is normal to have bad reviews."
The reputation of "The Wandering Earth" is indeed very good, but it is just very good. There will always be people who don't like it. No matter how awesome Meng Bai is, he can't control the personal preferences of every audience.
"Well, it seems that these bad reviews are not just directed at the movie."
Li Mu handed over the pad in his hand, and Meng Bai took it and looked at some of the negative comments sorted out on it.
[I gave it zero points when I saw the Wolf Warrior 50 cents! ]
[I felt sick when I saw Wu Wolf Warrior. ]
[The "scenery" content is too high, it's just Space Wolf Warrior! The plot is nonsense, the acting is awkward, and it's really too much to give it one point. ]
[It looks so awkward. The protagonist team is all Chinese. How dare you say it's a global disaster? In the end, it's all up to the Chinese to save the earth. It's so embarrassing to brag. ]
[...]
Meng Bai just glanced at it and immediately understood that these bad reviews are mainly from two types of people, one is the legacy of the previous "Wolf Warrior ptsd", and the other is those "American believers" who worship Hollywood extremely.
As early as when "Wolf Warrior 2" was released, these two types of people had already appeared. The specific manifestation is that they can't bear to see the Chinese protagonist saving the world, beat up the American mercenaries, accuse the movie of forcibly hijacking patriotic slogans, and claim that all the audience who support this movie are "patriotic thieves"...
In short, at that time, as long as anyone talked about "Wolf Warrior 2" and domestic movies online, someone would immediately start a series of doubts and abuses as if in a stress response, and netizens called it "Wolf Warrior PTSD".
At that time, there was an overwhelming debate on the Internet surrounding the movie, and fans and anti-fans were fighting in a group. Until the official came to the rescue, supporting "Wolf Warrior 2" in the name of "Zhongsheng", and banning a group of water army studios, the matter came to an end.
It's just that the surface was cleaned up, and there are still many remnants in the corners. In the past two years, with the rise of domestic films, various similar disputes have continued to break out on the Internet, and these people have also appeared.
Until this year's Spring Festival, with the success of "The Wandering Earth", a standard "Chinese science fiction", plus Wu Jing, an important protagonist, naturally became a new target.
As expected, looking at these comments, we can see that the group of people are chasing after them again.
"Do you think there are water armies here?" Meng Bai asked.
Li Mu thought about it and shook his head: "There shouldn't be. Even if there are, there must not be many. As far as I know, the rhetoric of water armies is generally simple and highly repetitive. In addition, water armies are generally large quantities of new accounts, or special accounts that give bad reviews. There are not many here."
At this point, he paused and smiled again: "Moreover, the 'Seven New Regulations' were just issued not long ago, requiring the crackdown on online water armies. The situation is tense now, and generally no water army studio dares to go against the wind. At most, there are some black fans who may use scripts to give bad reviews themselves."
Hearing this, Meng Bai shook his head and sighed: "If it is a water army, I really don't care, just get to the core. But this kind of black fan who spontaneously makes trouble is really hard to deal with."
Just like many public intellectuals, you know he is deliberately making trouble, but you can't find any handle. Even if they were slapped in the face, they didn't care. They kept silent and pretended nothing happened, waiting for the next opportunity to jump out.
"Mr. Meng, it's really inappropriate for us to come forward, but we can let the audience who support us help us to line up." Li Mu said: "In addition to those targeting the movie, there are also many bad reviews that are directed at the audience. As long as everyone's emotions are aroused, we can naturally form our own forces."
Meng Bai pondered for a while. Although Li Mu's plan was a bit of a use of the audience, it was indeed a good way. And after sparking a debate, it was also a boost to the popularity of the movie.
"Okay, then do it according to your idea, and pay attention to controlling the intensity."
"I understand, boss."
-
Li Mu acted quickly. As soon as he reported the situation to Meng Bai, he immediately "boosted" those bad reviews on various platforms, allowing them to appear directly in the sight of many fans and audiences of "The Wandering Earth".
The effect was very significant, and the "battle" between the two sides started immediately.
[I really don't understand. It's just a very ordinary science fiction film. Hollywood has made it so bad. What's there to brag about? 】
【It's so funny, take a good look at the quality of the garbage movies your American dad has made in recent years. Especially Marvel, except for "Avengers 3", the rest of the "Black Panther", "Captain Marvel" and "Thor 3" are all a mess. 】
【Can something like "The Wandering Earth" be considered science fiction? Wolf Warrior fans, open your eyes and see what level "Avatar" and "Interstellar" are. 】
【Ah, yes, yes, burning stones to push the earth is nonsense, love can pass through black holes is real science fiction, humor and beauty really win. 】
【Trash audiences naturally praise trash movies. 】
【I used to think that Wu Jing's words were a bit too much, but now I find that what he said is really reasonable, some people are just cheap! 】
【……】
From Weibo to Douban, from Zhihu to Bilibili, for a time, almost every platform on the entire network could see the dispute about "The Wandering Earth".
Major video bloggers, up masters and self-media marketing accounts are even busier. Whether it is praise or criticism, anyway, with the name of "The Wandering Earth", there will be no shortage of playbacks.
This situation is just like what happened in "Wolf Warrior 2" back then.
In terms of the number of people, the supporters of the movie naturally have more viewers, and there are no water armies flooding the screen, so they are almost suppressing the black fans.
However, the black fans are also very tenacious, and they insist on one point that "The Wandering Earth" is a very ordinary science fiction movie, which cannot be compared with the works of those big Hollywood directors. The current results are purely due to the "patriotic" traffic.
However, just when the two sides were arguing fiercely, an English Weibo directly ended the game.
"Good luck with your space journey of the Wandering Earth. Good luck with the voyage of Chinese sci-fi films. (I wish you good luck in your space journey of wandering the earth. I also wish the development of Chinese science fiction films smoothly.)"
Just looking at the content, it seems very simple, just an ordinary blessing for "The Wandering Earth". What really attracts attention is the sender of this Weibo-from "James Cameron".
(End of this chapter)
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