The clock struck midnight.
Zhang Tong smoked silently and watched the endless stream of vehicles passing by under the Tianyu Building.
Although he looked calm and kept silent, he was actually still a little nervous inside.
The most important thing for a movie is not its reputation, popularity, or the rate of positive reviews.
The most important thing about a movie is its box office.
Last year, Zhang Tong did earn hundreds of millions at the box office with "Subway Station", but this year's "Bloody Age" made Zhang Tong feel more or less nervous.
"Bloody Age" is a mainstream war film that tells the story of the war sixty years ago.
As long as the main theme film is not bad, the box office can generally be guaranteed. It can be guaranteed, but if you say that the box office will be a big hit, that is really unrealistic.
After all, the audience is still a problem.
Although he has always been confident in his "Bloody Age", the fact that so many Hollywood blockbusters have invaded the Chinese New Year this year has made him feel unsure.
Hollywood blockbusters are not strong in other aspects except their ability to attract fans. They can easily attract all the young generation of Chinese movie fans, causing other movies to begin to become sluggish.
Zhang Tong is not Li Mingrui, and he is not determined to destroy Hollywood movies. He has a deep understanding of his own movies and China's national conditions.
It is no exaggeration to say that if Chinese films want to defeat Hollywood films now, they still have a long way to go, and they also need the support of various resources.
This is almost an impossible task.
After more than ten minutes, the two cigarettes were finished.
Zhang Tong took out his cell phone and subconsciously wanted to call Lu Yuan. For some reason, he felt that Lu Yuan should be much more nervous than him at this moment.
After all, "The Wanderer" is Lu Yuan's second movie, and Lu Yuan is in an urgent need of a movie to prove his strength. Put yourself in Lu Yuan's shoes. If you were in Lu Yuan's position, you would definitely have sleepless nights.
Beep beep beep.
The phone rang for a long time before it was connected.
"Hello……"
"Xiao Lu, are you asleep?"
"Wu... Director Zhang, I just fell asleep."
"Just fell asleep?" Zhang Tong's question of whether he had fallen asleep was just a polite remark. After all, who would sleep at this critical moment?
However, when Zhang Tong heard the sleepiness in Lu Yuan's voice, he found it a little hard to believe?
Could it be that Lu Yuan really fell asleep?
Still sleeping at this time?
Are you kidding me…
"Yeah, I'm a little tired. Director Zhang, what's going on?"
"No, I just wanted to ask you what you think of the Spring Festival box office?"
"Um, what about the box office during the Spring Festival? Director Zhang, I can't say for sure, but it should be pretty good."
"Oh, so how much box office do you think you have?"
"Well, the response to the premiere seems to be pretty good. I think my box office shouldn't be too bad."
"How much do you have in mind?"
"Nine million, I think."
"Nine million, payback in two days, yeah, pretty good."
"Well, yes. Oh, by the way, Director Zhang, do you have anything else to say?"
“No more…”
"Oh, then I'll call you tomorrow. I think I have a cold again, and my head is dizzy." The voice on the other end of the phone was obviously a little weak.
"Oh, okay, take care of yourself..."
"Bye-Bye."
Zhang Tong hung up the phone and lit another cigarette.
Lu Yuan's reaction was completely different from what he had imagined.
What kind of person was Lu Yuan in his imagination?
Uneasy, nervous, even sleepless and anxious, he must have been worried and scared in many ways after hearing me calling him, and then I symbolically comforted him, while we both waited for the final box office results...
What is the reality?
He was extremely calm and even announced a first-day box office estimate of around 9 million.
Invest 7 million, 9 million on the first day...
How confident must one be to shout out such a result?
This kid can do it!
He felt that Lu Yuan had a youthful and frivolous feeling, very much like himself in the past.
After finishing a cigarette, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in!"
"Director Zhang, it's out, it's out!" Assistant Xiao Li rushed over excitedly with the report.
"How many?"
"Seventeen million!"
"call!"
After hearing the final result, Zhang Tong breathed a sigh of relief.
The result of 17 million has far exceeded his expectation of 2 million, which is a good sign.
If the premiere achieves this result, then there will be no problem for the overall box office to break 500 million, and it is even very likely to reach 600 million!
This is another new record in the box office history of China's mainstream films!
You have to know that the box office of Zhang Jin’s “Wolf Walk” in October last year was only 630 million!
Zhang Tong was in a good mood when he thought of this.
Looks like I can have a good sleep now.
"By the way, have the final box office statistics for Xiao Lu's "The Wanderer" been compiled? Has it exceeded several million..." Being in a good mood, Zhang Tong couldn't help but start to care about Lu Yuan's "The Wanderer".
"Lu Yuan's "The Wanderer" this..." Assistant Xiao Li looked up at Zhang Tong with a slightly hesitant look.
"How much? Is it very bad?"
"Eighteen million."
"Wait, what did you say? How much is his box office?"
"Eighteen million, ranking fourth in the total box office, second only to the twenty million of "Alien Killer"..."
"????"
Zhang Tong took the report, took a look at the densely packed data and the final box office of 18 million, and was instantly dumbfounded.
At this moment, what Lu Yuan had just said to him on the phone suddenly came to his mind.
He said his conservative estimate was around nine million.
At first, I thought Lu Yuan was a little arrogant, and even accused him of being young and frivolous.
But now it seems that this is not arrogance, but rather his mother's humility...
Zhang Tong felt that he was slapped in the face.
"Director Zhang, what's wrong with you?"
"fine."
Facing the concerned look of his assistant Xiao Li, Zhang Tong shook his head and then closed his eyes.
He suddenly felt that he might suffer from insomnia again tonight.
…
“Has the box office come out yet?”
"Director Shen, come out."
"How much is our movie box office?"
"Nine million."
"Huh, nine million is not bad. Basically, I can make back my investment in a week. Oh, and what about the rest of the box office?"
"'Bloody Age' cost 17 million, 'War Blood' cost 13 million, 'Wanderer'... 'Wanderer'..."
"How much is 'The Wanderer'? Don't hesitate."
"Eighteen million, twice as much as we have..."
"What!"
Shen Lianjie looked at the data report from his assistant in disbelief, staring at the data of "Wanderer" as if he had seen it before.
He felt like he was dreaming.
However, after he looked at it several times and verified it several times and found that there was indeed no problem with the data, Shen Lianjie was stunned.
The data of 18 million is really amazing!
An art film with an investment of 7 million yuan, your box office revenue on its premiere directly reached 18 million yuan!
What are you doing?
Do you want to have sex?
Later, Shen Lianjie felt that his box office performance was too bad...
My own box office data of 9 million is exactly half of theirs...
have to!
You used to look down on him and didn't consider him as your rival, but now he just turns over and sits on your head, crushing you to the point of making you question your life...
Shen Lianjie felt his face burning instantly.
History always repeats itself surprisingly well.
In "Capital City", Lu Yuan slapped him in the face. After that, he was depressed for a long time and finally felt that he had chosen the wrong path.
After learning from his mistakes, he carefully selected and filmed the smaller-budget "Butterfly Lovers".
Then……
"Half Summer" was slapped in the face again.
I invested more than 10 million in this movie...
And The Wanderer...
hehe.
Seven million...
It’s another fucking slap in the face for a small investment.
Shen Lianjie took a deep breath and lowered his head.
There was silence for a long, long time.
Then...
“Am I not suitable for being a director?”
He looked up blankly at his assistant, his face full of doubts about life.
assistant:"???"
…
On the Internet.
"Surprise! Nomad's premiere received rave reviews, and its box office of 18 million is almost on par with The Killing Alien. According to expert analysis, the final box office of Nomad is very likely to be close to The Killing Alien!"
"The rise of Chinese films? Is the spring of low-budget art films coming?"
“What other meanings are behind the high box office of ‘Vagabond’? Is it the advent of a new era?”
"Amazing acting skills, and a deep understanding of the role. Lu Yuan, are you really a newbie in the entertainment industry?"
“…”
Early morning.
When the final data of "Wanderer" was exposed, the entire network exploded instantly.
Major information websites, headlines portals, news, Weibo, movie websites...
Countless news media rushed to report on "The Wanderer".
Wherever netizens go, they can see people discussing "The Wanderer".
The box office performance of "The Wanderer", the plot of "The Wanderer", the reputation of "The Wanderer" and Lu Yuan's acting skills...
People in the industry were all shocked by the film’s box office performance on its premiere.
They all thought that "Nomad" had a good reputation and the box office would not be too bad, but they never thought that this movie would become a shocking dark horse, almost crushing the Chinese box office and directly reaching the first place in the Hollywood movie "The Killing Alien"...
This is undoubtedly a miracle!
It is an incredible miracle, just like the original "Buried Alive".
"I have a feeling that this movie may, yes, may surpass 'Alien'. After all, the reputation of 'Alien' is really bad. After watching 'Alien' once, I don't want to watch it a second time. But 'Nomadland' is different. I watched it once and I actually want to watch it again."
"I agree. Wait, so, "The Wanderer" may become one of the few movies in Chinese history that surpasses Hollywood movies?"
"It's too early to say this now. After all, there is a gap of two million. The key is to see what happens next!"
"etc!"
"What's wrong?"
"I suddenly remembered that Lu Yuan went to watch the video of "Killing Alien" yesterday. This might be a foreshadowing!"
"Foreshadowing?"
"Yes! Let's keep watching. It's impossible that Lu Yuan doesn't have any tricks up his sleeve. After all, he keeps making cool moves. I think "Alien Slaughter" will be surpassed by "Wanderer"."
"Yeah, that's right, let's see the box office on the second day! Let's see if 'Vagabond' can suddenly become popular!"
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it!"
On the Internet, netizens began to repost the videos of Lu Yuan watching "The Wanderer" and "The Killing Alien" yesterday...
I don't know why, the more I watch, the more I feel...
Of course, there are also a group of netizens who think that Lu Yuan would never do this for no reason!
This definitely has a deep meaning!
They naturally didn't know that Lu Yuan had a bad cold and was having a runny nose and was on an IV drip.
I don't even know that Lu Yuan still doesn't know how much his box office is...
This is a sad story.
Yes.
Very sad!