Chapter 789 Getting Hotter
Time has come to August.
In response to the sluggish film market after it reopened at the end of July, the General Administration has taken many measures.
For example, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other important ticket-rich cities across the country have issued a large number of "movie tickets" to encourage audiences to consume.
Online ticketing platforms such as Meituan and Maoyan have launched special-priced movie tickets.
"Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils" and "Eight Hundred", which were advertised as "market-saving works", quickly gained popularity with the tacit promotion of various companies, and the publicity and promotion work was very smooth.
In addition to the official, all parties in the film and television industry hope that these two films can achieve good results.
Even companies and individuals who usually dislike Weiming Tianxia and Huayi now hope that their movies will be a big hit.
Now is not the time for competition and infighting. The overall environment is not good and the entire film and television industry is declining and shrinking.
When the industry was doing well, the film and television industry was very popular. The injection of capital allowed everyone in this circle to make money. The only difference was that some people ate the meat while others drank the soup.
The film and television industry is currently in a cold winter, with capital withdrawal coinciding with the epidemic. Not to mention making money, many people have not even had a job in the past six months.
The cold market after the opening of cinemas has dealt a heavy blow to many people, and everyone is eager for good works to break the current deadlock.
Not to mention bringing the market back to the state it was six months ago, at least having a good box office result will make the film market a little hotter, and also give more confidence to other films that have been withdrawn or delayed.
".[Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils] is definitely the most challenging film I have shot in recent years!
It’s not that this film was difficult to shoot, but the story itself and the role I played were a brand new attempt since I entered the industry.”
In the crew's hotel room, Gu Wei was live streaming to promote his new movie that was about to be released.
Thanks to Gu Wei's own popularity and the support provided by Douyin, the number of online users exceeded one million at the beginning of the broadcast.
As Gu Wei interacts and chats with netizens, this number continues to soar.
"The film revolves around a wanted criminal named Chen Guilin. As for the story, you should be able to guess something from the title.
Everyone should be familiar with the story of "Zhou Chu Eliminating Three Evils" in "A New Account of Tales of the World". Zhou Chu, who was rampant in the village, eliminated the tiger in the mountain and the dragon in the water, but finally found out that he was the third evil in the eyes of the villagers, and he repented.
Of course, movies and stories are different, so you’ll need to go to the cinema to see the details.”
“I’ve made a lot of movies in recent years, but [Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils] is the most special one.
It is different from previous works. The protagonist is not even decent in the traditional sense, and feels a bit like an anti-hero in a Hollywood movie.
After all, everyone knew that Zhou Chu was one of the three evils and a bully in the village.
However, it is precisely because of this that the subsequent scenes of fighting tigers and killing dragons are more dramatic.
This movie is very explicit. In fact, I am very grateful to the General Administration for their tolerance. Almost no part of the original film was deleted, which is very rare.
This also shows that the domestic film review process is becoming more inclusive and humane."
Gu Wei promoted "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" as much as possible without revealing the plot, and answered some questions from netizens from time to time.
“Heroine?
The heroine is Zhou Ye, but to be honest, she doesn't have too many scenes.
This is the second time Zhou Ye and I have filmed together. We had a very pleasant collaboration in "Better Days".
But that time she played the perpetrator, and this time she plays a completely new role that is very different from "Wei Lai."
“The evil girl track?
Haha, Zhou Ye is indeed very suitable for this track, but if he keeps acting, he will inevitably be labeled.
Xiaoye is very talented and hardworking. You will see her wonderful performance in [Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils], and her fans will be pleasantly surprised."
".My current job?
I'm currently filming a comedy in Shanghai. It's very interesting, but you definitely won't be able to see it in the near future. I estimate it won't be released until next year at the earliest.
I can reveal to you that this drama has two male protagonists. The other male protagonist is Zhang Songwen, who is also the villain in "Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils".
Teacher Zhang Songwen’s acting skills are particularly good.
Do you still remember the popular drama "The Bad Kids" a few months ago? He also had a wonderful performance in it."
Gu Wei saw that many netizens asked him about the Magnolia Awards, so he thought for a moment and replied:
“Although I was nominated, I felt that my chances of winning were not high.
I am very calm, after all, I have won the Magnolia Best Actor Award once.
I will definitely attend the award ceremony in two days.
I'm filming in Shanghai, so it's very convenient to get there.
Furthermore, this year’s Magnolia Awards, Joy of Life received 6 nominations, second only to Little Joy, which received 8 nominations. Besides being the lead actor, I’m also the producer of this drama, so I definitely have to attend.”
After chatting for a while, the number of people online in the live broadcast room exceeded 5 million, and Gu Wei glanced at the time.
"Okay, I have something to tell you. In addition to promoting the movie during this live broadcast, I also brought some discounted movie tickets. The link is right below the screen. If you are interested, you can buy two tickets and bring your family and friends to the theater to watch the movie in a few days. The quality of the movie is guaranteed to be worth the price of admission."
That’s right, Gu Wei also sold movie tickets during this live broadcast.
As early as November 2019, the movie "The Beneficiary" took the lead in trying "live ticket sales".
Lead actors Dapeng and Liu Yan visited Wei Ya's live broadcast room to promote the film and sell movie tickets. A total of 116,666 movie ticket coupons were sold out in 6 seconds.
This attempt not only achieved great success, but also provided a new idea for film promotion.
Since then, more and more movies have adopted live broadcasts to promote and sell tickets.
Gu Wei’s live broadcast this time was mainly for promotion, and putting movie tickets on the shelves was just a side job.
It is said to be a movie ticket, but it is actually a movie coupon designed in cooperation with mainstream ticketing platforms such as Meituan, Maoyan, and Taopiaopiao. It is priced the same as a movie ticket. After purchase, you can redeem it for any show of the movie "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" on the corresponding platform.
As he finished speaking, a corresponding link appeared in the live broadcast room. Gu Wei didn't pay attention and was about to say something else.
Suddenly, the comment section below the live broadcast room began to be flooded with comments like "Sold out!", "Didn't get it!", "Any more?"
Others posted, "Haha, I got two tickets," "I'm going to watch three with my family," "I'm going to watch two with my girlfriend," and "I got 100 tickets!"
Gu Wei didn't expect that the tickets would be sold out so quickly. You know, they prepared 1 million movie tickets, and even with a discount, they would earn more than 20 million.
"Thank you for your support, but buying two or three tickets is normal, but if you buy 100 tickets, are you planning to give a movie ticket to every friend around you?"
Gu Wei knew that 1 million movie tickets were sold out in seconds, and some fans must have bought dozens or hundreds of tickets at once to support him, but he still had to persuade him.
"I'm really grateful for everyone's support for the film and me, but please don't buy so many tickets at once. Just watch it with friends and family in twos or threes. No one's money comes from the wind.
Those who have just purchased more can cancel their tickets and get a refund on the platform."
After saying that, he glanced at the comment section, and the most popular comments were: "I didn't get it!", "Give me some more!", "It's too little!"
It seems that although 1 million movie tickets were put on the shelves, only a few people were able to actually grab them in the live broadcast room.
It's normal to think about it. Among the millions of people in Gu Wei's live broadcast room today, a considerable number are his fans, and most of the others are passers-by who like his film and television works. It is very easy for the die-hard fans alone to digest 1 million movie tickets, not to mention those who buy dozens or hundreds of tickets at once.
Gu Wei turned his head and looked at Yang Dan outside the camera. There were some staff members accompanying him during this live broadcast.
"Let's talk and put more movie tickets on the shelves."
Not long after, another 1 million movie tickets were put on the shelves in the live broadcast room. Although they were quickly sold out, Gu Wei did not add more this time.
That night, terms such as #Gu Wei’s live broadcast promotes [Zhou Chu eliminates three evils]# and #Gu Wei’s live broadcast sells out two million movie tickets in seconds# became hot searches.
In addition to making "Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils" more famous, Gu Wei's live broadcast also increased the film's pre-sale box office by more than 40 million.
Everyone once again witnessed his immense popularity and unparalleled appeal.
Many of Gu Wei's fans posted screenshots of their ticket purchases online, showing off that they had grabbed the tickets in the live broadcast room to show their support for their idol.
[No matter what, I have to go see any of Gu Wei's movies once they're released. I've already bought two tickets for the premiere!]
[Supporting my brother's new film, I grabbed 50 copies during the live broadcast and plan to give one to each of my friends! ]
[The above person, it’s because of people like you that I failed to buy it twice during the live broadcast, and had to buy it on the platform]
I haven't been to the cinema for over half a year. I'm planning to go see a movie, and Gu Wei's new film should be worth seeing.
After watching the trailer, I feel like Gu Wei has made another breakthrough in this film. The characterization is very different from his previous roles. I'll wait and see how it turns out.
"Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils" is a very interesting movie title. Judging from the posters and trailers, Gu Wei's character seems a bit eccentric. After watching his livestream, I have a feeling this movie will give audiences a big surprise!
Gu Wei's popularity is incredible. Not only is his livestream incredibly popular, but he's also sold out twice with millions of movie tickets available. I wanted to grab two, but they sold out instantly.
[The 2 million movie tickets were sold out in seconds. It's not that my brother could only sell 2 million tickets, but that he only put 2 million tickets on the shelves. Otherwise, they would have been sold out even if the price was doubled.
I will always support my brother’s movies!!】
"Netizens are so enthusiastic, why don't you prepare more tickets?"
Resting in the room at night, Reba asked puzzledly.
She was wearing a light yellow nightgown, which was cool and comfortable. She leaned in Gu Wei's arms like a boneless mermaid, holding a plate of grapes, eating them herself and feeding Gu Wei one from time to time.
Gu Wei put one arm around her slender waist, and placed his warm big hand on her cool and delicate thigh, caressing it casually.
"That's enough. Too much is as bad as too little. My main purpose of live streaming is to promote the movie. Selling tickets is just a side job. We can't confuse the main and the secondary.
And I know in my heart that most of the people who bought tickets in the live broadcast room are my fans.
After the live broadcast, I looked at the background data and found that many people bought dozens or hundreds of tickets at once, and some even bought hundreds or thousands of tickets.
A normal cinema hall only has about 100 to 200 seats, so this is equivalent to booking several theaters."
Gu Wei ate a grape and continued.
“I have confidence in my film and don’t need to scout fans, even though it’s their own free will, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.
After looking at the data, I asked the staff to contact those who had purchased hundreds or even thousands of tickets under their personal accounts and ask them to refund the tickets."
"So they retreated?"
Gu Wei shrugged, "No, those who bought one or two tickets later on can get refunds, but those who bought more tickets haven't had any refunds."
The small number of people are most likely passers-by, who may refund their tickets later for various reasons, but the large number of people must be Gu Wei’s fans, many of whom are very fanatical and will never refund their tickets.
…
As the release date of "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" is getting closer, the pre-sale box office of the movie is also rising steadily.
Although all offline promotional activities including the premiere were cancelled, the online popularity has reached new highs.
Netizens can often see trailers of "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" and some edited behind-the-scenes footage on short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou.
On Weibo, Wu Jing, Deng Chao, Wang Baoqiang, Yang Mi, Liu Yifei, Yang Zi and other friends who have a good relationship with Gu Wei have been reposting the Weibo to help promote him.
Of course, there are also stars from [Wei Ming Tian Xia], [Jaywalk Media], and [Wajijiwa].
There were dozens of celebrities and artists, big and small, and the event was extremely lively and spectacular.
Although the movie has not been released yet, it seems that we have returned to the hottest period of the film market last year. There is no such thing as a bad environment or a cold market.
Huayi Headquarters.
"Based on the current momentum, before the movie is released, [Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils] will probably get more than 200 million in pre-sale box office.
As expected, Gu Wei's influence and box office appeal are too strong. As soon as he came out to promote the film, the popularity of the film immediately soared."
Wang Zhonglei sighed as he looked at the pre-sale box office which was still slowly rising.
“That’s why I didn’t release The Eight Hundred and Zhou Chu at the same time.
In fact, the market has not changed. What you see is just what Gu Wei created using his own influence.
The most important thing now is how to capitalize on the popularity generated by [Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils]."
Compared with his younger brother Wang Zhonglei, Wang Zhongjun, as the real helmsman of Huayi, is the best in the circle in terms of vision and courage.
He often looks at problems accurately, sharply and to the point.
Wang Zhonglei lowered his head and thought for a moment: "I understand. I will ask the publicity and promotion department to formulate specific measures later.
It's just to ride on the popularity. It's also a "rescue work". The "Eight Hundred" that was screened for 10 days at night has the same reason to receive everyone's support and attention.
Wang Zhongjun smiled and nodded.
“Another point is that [Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils] has completely abandoned offline promotional activities.
We can pick this up.”
"Isn't it inconvenient now?"
“The roadshow is unlikely to work, but the premiere can go ahead as planned, right here in Beijing. We can invite more film critics and celebrities to come and praise our film.
It will be held one week after the release of "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils".
I estimate that by then the market will be heated up by Gu Wei's film, and we can take advantage of this favorable trend to spread the reputation of the film thoroughly."
"clear."
(End of this chapter)
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