Chapter 79 Reputation [VIP]
Chapter Summary: The opponent isn't a romance film currently showing.
Fly to one city a day, and visit 46 locations within one city to promote the film.
On the first day, Ji Binghe was a little worried that Mu Zhi would not be able to adapt to this high-intensity publicity pace.
The film's promotional schedule was very tight.
As soon as this event ended, I immediately took a car to the next venue.
After a long day of non-stop work, you have to face questions from reporters at media conferences, questions from hosts, and questions from fans and audiences at multiple meet-and-greets.
What prompted you to star in "Back to 17"?
"Could you tell us about the character Zhou Can?"
"For your first film, how would you rate your performance?"
"Judging from the trailer, you have scenes with both Feng Zhongxian and Pu Jiamu in 'Back to 17'. Can you talk about your experience working with them?"
How much do you think this movie will gross?
There are many questions to answer, including some relatively tricky ones, such as: "It is said that there were popular actresses competing with you for the female lead in 'Back to 17'. What do you think your advantages are?"
Sometimes unexpected minor situations may occur on set, requiring the artists to handle them with quick thinking and adaptability...
The roadshow lasted for 3 days.
Mu Zhi performed with great professionalism, handling each day's promotional activities and every question with ease, whether it was a new question or a repeated question, she answered them all patiently.
As a new director, Xu Kuan rarely speaks in formal settings.
Song Yuanliang follows the image of a cool and aloof male god.
During the film's promotion, it was Mu Zhi who stepped up, proactively responding to the host's jokes when things got awkward, actively interacting with the fans, and supplementing the director's answers with key information.
He has become the backbone of the main creative team's publicity squad.
The agent doesn't need to be by her side; Mu Zhi can handle everything perfectly.
Ji Binghe flew back to Beicheng early on the fourth day to handle other matters.
Day 5 of the movie promotion.
The creative team behind "Back to 17" visited Greentown.
At noon, on the way to the next university.
Mu Zhi and her team were in the same car, and they had lunch in the car.
After the meal, the accompanying makeup artist touched up her makeup in the car.
Minmin yawned, feeling sleepy.
To perk myself up, I chatted with Mu Zhi about movies.
"The 10 films released during the Spring Festival spent a lot of money on marketing and distribution. Yesterday I saw a film influencer say that only 2 of the 10 films have made a profit, and the others haven't even broken even yet."
To sum it up in one sentence, is this what you call losing money to gain publicity? That's terrifying.
No wonder, it's been almost half a month since it was released.
When the creative team of "Back to 17" started their promotional tour on the 4th, some other films scheduled for the Spring Festival were also doing promotional tours.
A couple of days ago, a movie mobilized a group of celebrities and directors to promote it on Weibo; the lead actor of another movie retweeted a fan's post about watching it three times, implying that fans should support it more; and the director of yet another movie wrote a long post urging cinemas to give it more screenings...
The promotional efforts for each film are still in full swing, and they are still vying for screen time.
Minmin, a movie enthusiast, had nowhere to go during her trip back to her hometown for the Chinese New Year, and said that she and her friends watched about one movie a day.
"10 films. I watched the top 6 at the box office. Apart from the war film that ranked first at the box office, the other films in this year's Spring Festival season had no original plots, were of average quality, and were not good."
"With the Spring Festival holiday over, box office revenue has dropped significantly. It feels like this year's Spring Festival films didn't have the same long-tail effect as last year's films released during the same period."
The makeup artist, who was touching up Mu Zhi's makeup, laughed and said, "The movies released during the Spring Festival don't have a long run, which is a good thing for our upcoming film, 'Back to 17.'"
Minmin nodded, half happy and half worried, and said, "It's a good thing that there are fewer films vying for screen time during the Spring Festival. So, originally, only 'Back to 17' and a low-budget animated film were scheduled for the Valentine's Day period before the Spring Festival holiday."
Two more romance films announced their release dates a few days ago.
Currently, four films have been scheduled for release during the Valentine's Day period.
A propaganda war is underway without the smoke of gunpowder.
The personal assistant also joined the discussion: "I've reviewed all 10 films released during the Spring Festival. I found one drama film by a well-known director that was really bad, but some film bloggers tried to praise it from every angle, which made me cringe. They were definitely paid to do so."
Aside from the top-grossing patriotic film, there was actually a decent crime thriller that flopped quietly and fell behind, but nobody mentioned it.
The scheduling and marketing of a film are crucial. It seems Guangying Media did a good job with the marketing of their previous youth films.
Minmin: "But Valentine's Day, 520, and Qixi Festival are all popular holidays for romance films. No matter how badly made they are, there will still be audiences buying tickets."
I saw promotional posts for "Back to 17," but this time the focus doesn't seem to be on romance...
Those few days during the Spring Festival holiday.
At home, Mu Zhi reviewed the box office and critical reception data for the holidays Minmin had just mentioned, as well as some films released in the past two years.
It was found that 80% of the films had very low ratings.
A film that scores no more than 6 points is considered a bad movie.
However, the box office performance was quite good, with several films grossing 500 million or 700 million, and most of them were profitable.
These romantic films are made specifically to be released during the Valentine's Day period, catering to the needs of holiday moviegoers. They emphasize emotional marketing, lavishly using artificial sweeteners, and featuring a series of melodramatic plot twists.
They typically rake in huge box office revenue on the day of release and for the next two or three days.
Then, due to its poor reputation and low ratings, it may be pulled from theaters after only one week.
The second and third installments of Guangying Media's youth film series, along with these romance films, follow the same marketing formula.
"Back to 17" is different.
The fact that they invited veteran artist Feng Zhongxian and Pu Jiamu, a first-generation male god of film, to join the cast, enhancing the film's appeal, quality, and story, shows that it's not trying to follow the old path of marketing emotions to trick audiences into going to the theater and profiting from holiday bonuses.
When Minmin asked, "Sister Zhizhi, with 'Back to 17' being released alongside other romance films during Valentine's Day, do you think it has a good chance of success?"
Mu Zhi: "The competition for 'Back to 17' is not a romance film that is being released, but whether the film's quality and word-of-mouth can withstand the test."
As a member of the creative team, Mu Zhi learned about some of the promotional methods adopted by the film company, one of the most daring decisions being to hold preview screenings of "Back to 17".
Very few films scheduled for release on Valentine's Day dare to have advance screenings.
Because these romance films are made to meet holiday demand, they focus on pre-release promotion and aim to rake in box office revenue, so the quality of the films is generally not very good.
After a brief screening, audience reviews revealed that the film's reputation had completely collapsed.
Viewers initially had a general idea that the movie might be bad, but they didn't know how bad it would be. Since it was a holiday and there was a festive atmosphere, they decided to watch one to pass the time.
Now that we know how bad it is, what fool would still throw money at such a terrible movie? Wouldn't it be better to use the money from two movie tickets to buy bubble tea and order a couple more dishes?
The fact that "Back to 17" dared to hold preview screenings shows that it not only has confidence in the quality of the film, but also has the ambition to go the distance.
The 8th day of the movie promotion, Saturday, February 11th.
The movie "Back to 17" will begin its prime-time preview screenings today and over the weekend.
Director Xu Kuan, along with lead actors Mu Zhi and Song Yuanliang, and special guests Feng Chongxian and Pu Jiamu, and other members of the creative team, came to Shanghai for promotional activities.
During the two-day weekend of the preview screenings, Feng Zhongxian and Pu Jiamu will participate in the film's promotion.
Considering Mr. Feng Chongxian's age, only two promotional events were scheduled for him each day: a press conference with local media and a promotional event at a local university.
The other main creative team members had six promotional events throughout the day, with their schedules running until 10:30 pm.
The preview screenings of "Back to 17" ran from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
At 10 p.m., director Xu Kuan, Mu Zhi, Song Yuanliang, and Pu Jiamu arrived at the largest cinema in Shanghai, which was also their last promotional location for the day.
The cinema screened "Back to 17" in three of its largest theaters. The creative team came to the cinema, rested backstage for a few minutes, chatted with the theater owner, gave him autographs, and took photos.
Then they went to the screening room to interact with the audience.
Despite being physically tired after a long day of running around from rushing to the airport to catch a flight and then to the roadshow, the creative team was in high spirits.
Because the movie was having a preview screening, they came to the cinema at 6 p.m. to interact with the fans, who had already seen the movie.
Audience members who were chosen by the host, director, or lead actors to stand up and interact with the audience gave their honest feedback after watching the film:
"Of all the youth films I've watched in the past two years, 'Back to 17' has touched me the most. It far exceeded my expectations. It's very good, and I will recommend it to my relatives and friends."
"I felt the sincerity in every aspect of this film, including the director, actors, and cinematographer. Everyone put their heart into creating a good film that will leave the audience with something to gain from it."
"Mu Zhi, you acted so well. While watching the movie, I was completely immersed in Zhou Can's emotions, experiencing her awakening, rebirth, and rebirth, as well as tempering her own flesh and bones. We welcomed her rebirth and looked forward together. A fire was burning in my heart. I really like this story and this character."
"I was especially pleasantly surprised to see Mr. Pu Jiamu in this movie. You were my idol during my youth, and you're still so handsome!! Also, there's veteran artist Feng Zhongxian, teacher Mu Zhi, director Xu Kuan, and cinematographer Hong Hou. It's a fantastic team and a really great movie. I'll definitely watch it again after it's released."
......
It received almost unanimous praise, and moviegoers were very good at complimenting it.
After the preview screening.
"Back to 17" has been rated 9.7 on ticketing platforms, which is a very good score.
The two-day prime-time preview screenings garnered over 90% positive reviews from audiences on ticketing platforms, moviegoers' impressions, and film critics.
"The director, the script, the actors, and the cinematography are all excellent; it's a work of sincerity."
"It can surpass the first film in the Light and Shadow Media Youth Series. It's a very beautiful finale."
"I'm optimistic that this movie will be a dark horse at the Valentine's Day box office, achieving both box office and critical success."
Many viewers also mentioned that the male and female leads of the first youth film in Light and Shadow Media's four-part series made cameo appearances, which was a pleasant surprise.
The word-of-mouth generated by the preview screenings has successfully convinced many netizens to switch their choices to "Back to 17": "I didn't know which movie to watch for Valentine's Day, but the reviews for 'Back to 17' seem pretty good, so I'll go with this one."
Many people chose to buy tickets to see "Back to 17".
Pre-sales and screenings both increased significantly on the first day.
The day before the film's release.
The total box office revenue of "Back to 17" from preview screenings and pre-sales was 80 million yuan.
The pre-sale box office for Valentine's Day was 50 million yuan, ranking second.
The top-ranked film is a romance starring a leading actress and a middle-aged actor, with a pre-sale box office of 60 million yuan.
After finishing her roadshow for the day, Mu Zhi returned to her hotel room.
The movie will start in one hour.
Mu Zhi was still somewhat excited and thrilled.
The two received a call from the agent, and discussed the film's pre-sale performance.
Ji Binghe: "For 'Back to 17,' 50 million yuan in pre-sale box office is quite good."
Valentine's Day, February 14th, falls on a Tuesday.
Being on a weekday, it somewhat affects box office revenue.
Mu Zhi's fans organized a private screening on the day of the movie's release to support their idol.
However, for the vast majority of moviegoers, the most appealing and familiar actors are Feng Chongxian and Pu Jiamu.
The film's promotion did not focus on the #romance# element. For example, the main promotion on the short video platform was a 30-second trailer, which was edited from the perspective of the female lead, Zhou Can, showing her past and present lives and her desire to change her life. It was very exciting.
It has over 2 million likes and tens of millions of views.
The two most competitive romance films released on the same day both used romance as their selling point to evoke emotional resonance among netizens and attract audiences to buy tickets.
Mu Zhi: "Yes, I know. Romance films have an advantage over youth campus films in terms of subject matter."
The pre-sale performance of movies released tomorrow is mainly due to the holiday bonus.
If released in other time slots, youth films and romance films would hardly achieve this level of pre-sales.
Her initial reaction to the film's choice of February 14th as the release date was that it was likely to be a flop.
Later, we discovered that Guangying Media was very professional in selecting release dates.
The production company may have assessed the quality of films released during the Spring Festival season and felt that it would not have a significant impact on the Valentine's Day release date, in addition to having confidence in the quality of "Back to 17".
Valentine's Day falls on a Tuesday, so box office results on that day aren't particularly important.
The key is that its word-of-mouth has held up well, making it stand out among films released at the same time, and there will be a significant influx of moviegoers over the weekend.
On Valentine's Day, February 14th, "Back to 17" was officially released.
The creative team held a promotional roadshow in Guangzhou that day.
At 11 p.m., the box office results for the first day of release were released.
"Back to 17" and a romance film starring big names have both grossed over 100 million yuan at the box office.
However, the two films received drastically different reviews.
As a fantasy youth film, "Back to 17" is not unrealistic at all. The film has both tearful and funny moments, which are very touching. The most touching part is that the female lead wants to change her fate after being reborn. She is forced to follow the trajectory of her past life many times, but she manages to reverse it one by one, which is very inspiring.
After watching it, I didn't just call it a bad movie and then forget about it.
A good movie leaves a lasting impression, evokes empathy in the audience, prompts reflection, and can even provide strength.
After its release, the number of viewers increased, and word-of-mouth continued to grow.
The holiday bonus disappeared on the second day of its release.
Other films received poor reviews, resulting in a precipitous drop in box office revenue.
Only "Back to 17" saw a box office decline...
On February 19, the production team of "Back to 17" concluded their promotional roadshow.
On the morning of February 20, Mu Zhi and her team flew back to Beicheng.
After seven days in theaters, the movie "Back to 17" grossed a total of 530 million yuan.
Ticketing apps predict that "Back to 17" will gross around 1 billion yuan.
Minmin watched as Muzhi, who had been running around doing promotional tours for half a month, was even more tired than when filming. Her chin had become noticeably sharper, and she had lost several pounds.
The movie's box office success is truly a testament to the power of hard work; all the effort has paid off.
He said happily, "Youth films have limited subject matter, unlike comedies, war films, and science fiction films, which have a wide audience and can achieve high box office returns."
But! It ultimately grossed 1 billion yuan, breaking the box office record for youth films!
Looking at Mu Zhi with a face full of excitement: "Sister Zhizhi, if your first movie really breaks 1 billion at the box office, does that mean you've got the key to entering the film industry?"
[Author's Note]
Congratulations, Zhibao! ~TieTie
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
