Chapter 198 is a hit! Amazing box office performance!

After watching for less than half an hour, Chen Sicheng came to a conclusion.

This movie is better than "Cell Phone", even much better.

And for some reason, he felt that his inner path seemed to have become clearer, and the direction he should take in the future was much clearer.

Although from the perspective of a professional filmmaker, Cell Phone is very good in all aspects, and even has a little bit of depth, but... it's actually a little bit off.

Of course only a little bit, a bit between good looking and not so good looking.

But Crazy Stone is simply brilliant.

Moreover, the script is not just a little bit more difficult than "Cell Phone", but much more difficult.

And no matter what else, just perform.

Perhaps, there are indeed no big-name actors in Shi Tou's movie, and their acting skills may not be as good as those of Mr. Ge You or Mr. Zhang Guoli.

However, I can’t resist the awesome script and dialogues.

So, the whole play and the chemistry between the actors were explosive.

In this way, the actor's performance becomes super expressive, giving people a feeling.

Even the acting skills of the actors in Crazy Stone are super good, no less than those big-name stars in the mobile phone. Especially Huang Bo, because this role is so brilliant, his acting skills are brought into play 120%, making people remember it at a glance.

Awesome, so awesome!

This kind of play is really flattering.

And it's not just Huang Bo, but also Wang Xun, Lian Jin, even the heroine Jiang Li'er, and Dao Ge, all of them are very outstanding.

The impression is too deep.

Even the character of Xie Xiaomeng is extremely impressive.

That's amazing! Most of the time, it's necessary for people to support the show, and it's really difficult for the show to support the person.

This script and this dialogue are really amazing.

I heard that it was Master Ergou and Director Ning Hao who spent several days and nights polishing it word by word.

Halfway through the film, Chen Sicheng also began to worry about the ending of the film from a very professional perspective.

This kind of network narrative requires too much chemical reaction and is too difficult to end.

Unlike the linear narrative of "Cell Phone", it can have a slightly deeper, tragic, and lingering ending.

In a network narrative like "Crazy Stone", every line needs to be explained, and even needs to converge together to form a climax.

so……

When Blackie crawled out of the sewer and looked at the international thief Mike in surprise.

He clapped his hands in admiration.

Awesome! At the end of Dao Ge's story, he was hit and killed by a gangster who was looking for girls and opened his car door.

Uh! The ending of this line is not bad, it should be at the level of 75 points, which is not particularly good.

This is followed by the end of International Thief Mike!

He and his employer, the real estate boss, had a fight, and then he made a phone call and answered the phone himself.

Damn... this ending is awesome.

Awesome! The ending of the male protagonist Bao Ge.

In other words, it’s okay and pretty standard.

However, all professional filmmakers can understand that this is the best they can do.

So, when Hei Pi robbed the bread in the end and was chased by the bakery owner on a motorcycle.

As a professional filmmaker, Chen Sicheng understands this ending very well, but... it's not very surprising.

But... the audience didn't think so.

Everyone just felt it was amazing and beautiful.

Totally unsatisfying.

What a surprise!

When I watched it, I didn't have high hopes, but it turned out to be so exciting? After the movie was over, several friends from the Central Academy of Drama couldn't wait to start discussing it.

"This movie is great, awesome!"

"It's rare for a movie to have two or three scenes and two or three lines that are still fresh in people's minds, but in this movie, there are too many to count."

"The actor Heipi should be very popular, he is so recognizable."

"Who is this actress Jingjing? She's so amazing. She made my dick hard right away. She's a natural beauty..."

"This movie is better than Cell Phone..."

These people are considered semi-professional filmmakers, and they are the happiest. They have professional vision but they also have the identity of an audience.

"What a pity. It will definitely not be able to beat Cell Phone at the box office."

"I saw it when I bought the ticket just now. The screening schedule is less than half of Cell Phone, and the attendance rate is also average."

"Master Ergou is really awesome. His first move is so awesome."

"Otherwise, let's go and seek refuge with the leader. On his side, grassroots people can come forward directly without any seniority."

……………………

But in Cheng Qingsong's opinion, this movie is good, but... he thinks it is not as good as "Cell Phone".

Because he has watched a lot of Hollywood movies and feels that he has seen countless films, he is quite demanding when it comes to pure comedies.

I am not particularly fond of comedies starring Adam Sandler and Ben Steller. I call them servile department heads, and the movies are filled with lots of shit, piss and fart.

Of course, Crazy Stone is not shit, but he thinks it is an imitation of Guy Ritchie. In his opinion, although the structure of the script is very good, the style is not very high-end. Quentin's style is more high-end.

So when writing a film review, he would not give a very high evaluation of the movie "Crazy Stone".

But...if he really had to choose a movie to watch, and he could only choose between "Cell Phone" and "Crazy Stone", he would choose "Crazy Stone".

He secretly gave it a score in his heart.

"Cell Phone" scored 7.5 points, and "Crazy Stone" scored 7 points.

As a film critic, the requirements are naturally higher.

He is a person who pays great attention to the completion of a movie.

In this regard, he thinks both movies are very good, but he wants to see a movie that reflects human nature or is more profound in terms of emotions.

………………

But for ordinary people, just ignore these.

I think it’s very pretty.

Very interesting.

At least Zhang Xiaonan, who is in charge of the company's team building, was completely relieved.

Because the effect was so good, everyone in the company couldn't stop laughing during the whole process.

Even the vice president who had complained before was laughing so hard that he forgot himself.

“This movie is great…”

"I never thought it could be so good without any famous actors in it."

"Who is that sexy woman? She's so sexy..."

After a group of people came out, they found that it was not too late, so a few of them made an appointment to watch another show.

Especially the company's vice president, who was eager to watch "Cell Phone".

But if you want to watch it again, you will have to pay for it yourself.

So, a handful of about a dozen people didn’t leave the cinema, but bought tickets for their phones instead.

At this time, Zhang Xiaonan was very good at dealing with people. He directly bought two tickets and then gave them to Vice President Xu.

Vice President Xu: "No, no, I'll do it myself. What are you doing?"

Then, a dozen people went into another theater to watch "Cell Phone".

There were quite a lot of people, and there were occasional laughs, but the reaction was far less than that of "Crazy Stone".

More than a hundred minutes later.

The movie is over! If you only watch "Cell Phone", then some people will think it's pretty good.

However, after watching "Crazy Stone" and then "Cell Phone", I always felt that something was missing.

It's a bit bland and boring.

……………………

December 19! Reviews of the two films appeared on the entertainment channels of various portal websites and in various entertainment newspapers.

After all, there is traffic! "Crazy Stone is very good, and Lightning Entertainment has delivered a very good answer."

"Master Ergou's power remains the same, but he is still one level behind Cell Phone."

"Crazy Stone, more good than great!"

“Although it has just begun, the winner has been decided. Crazy Stone is not enough to shake Cell Phone.”

This is almost the general tone of several portal websites.

First of all, I am quite positive about the quality of the movie "Crazy Stone", but it is still not as good as "Cell Phone".

"When I watched Crazy Stone, I thought it was really good, but after leaving the theater, when I recalled it, I felt it was a bit noisy. On the contrary, Cell Phone left me wanting more and made me think."

"And in the theater where I am, the screening rate of Cell Phone is twice that of Crazy Stone, but the attendance rate is still higher than Crazy Stone. At the screening I was in, there were only about a dozen people watching Crazy Stone."

"So I made a judgment first, the box office of Cell Phone is about 70 million, and Crazy Stone is about 20 million."

"This work by Master Ergou is very good, but it is far from being a legend. The possibility of it defeating Cell Phone is almost non-existent!"

Cheng Qingsong's film review and the film review by the editor-in-chief of Sina Entertainment both hold similar views and make rough judgments on the box office performance of both films.

Of course, although there is an element of public relations, they almost think so in their hearts.

………………

Around noon on the 19th.

Lin Xiao received a call from Mr. Yu from Bona.

"Boss Lin, the exact box office data hasn't come out yet, but our box office yesterday should be about 70% of that of Cell Phone."

“Although this is the third day of the box office for Cell Phone and ours is the first day, I think it’s already very good.”

"After all, nationwide, our screening schedule is only about 60% of that of Cell Phone."

"In Shanghai, Zhijiang, and Jiangsu, our box office even surpassed Cell Phone. In Sichuan, our box office even tied with Cell Phone."

"I am very optimistic that our final box office will be around 35 million."

This number is probably the same as that judged by several theater managers.

And in the eyes of Bona and theater managers, this number is already very good. It is already in the top five of the domestic box office this year, and it is sure to be in the top four and strive for the top three.

This is a huge victory for a small production without any stars.

But for Lin Xiao, this number is far from enough.

This should be the result in the eyes of the entire entertainment industry's elite.

This kind of judgment is also found in newspapers and portal websites, and even film critics make the same judgment on the quality of films.

However, Huayi’s top management was not satisfied with this result.

The crew of "Cell Phone" was also dissatisfied.

"The first day's box office was 70% of ours?"

“That’s why it’s not suppressed.”

“What will its final box office be?”

Xiying Huayi's distribution manager said: "It should be around 35 million."

Mr. Wang: "This number cannot be suppressed. With this box office, plus other copyright income, the profit is very good. He has tasted the sweetness and will continue to work hard in this market."

"Let's contact the people at each theater chain and try to put some pressure on the film scheduling. We can make some concessions on some resources!"

A small production with an investment of 7 million actually earned 35 million at the box office.

The investment in "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" was nearly 100 million yuan, but the total box office was less than 50 million yuan.

How does this make people feel? ……………………

Director Zhou and Zhang Yan of Jiangnan TV were a little hesitant.

Do you want to call Lin Xiao?

First of all, the box office is very good and it can be considered a success. As a close partner, we should call to celebrate.

However, Director Zhou and Zhang Yan had vaguely heard about Lin Xiao’s goal before, which was 70 million.

After hesitating for a long time, Director Zhou finally made the call.

"Boss Lin, congratulations!"

"The movie Crazy Stone was a big hit at the box office. I took my whole family to see it. We laughed our heads off. It was really good."

"I think it's better than Cell Phone!"

"This film market is a little different. Today's audiences are still immature and still focus on big actors and big stars. I think the current results are already very good."

………………

Liao Feng and Wu Lingxi also went to see the movie as soon as possible, and they watched it in Beijing.

"What do you think?"

Liao Feng: “I think it’s not as deep as Cell Phone.”

Wu Lingxi: "What about the box office?"

Liao Feng: "It shouldn't be bad, but it won't be as good as Cell Phone. Professional film critics from several portal websites and people from the cinema chain have estimated that the final box office of Crazy Stone should be about half of Cell Phone. Just this number is enough to make Lightning Entertainment a lot of money."

Wu Lingxi: "But Lin Xiao's target is 70 million."

Liao Feng: "It's impossible. Professional film critics and people in the theaters all think it's impossible."

Wu Lingxi: "I'm telling you my personal opinion. I think Crazy Stone is better. And the opinions of mainstream film critics are one thing, and the opinions of ordinary audiences are another."

“This is just like the business model of WEB1.0 and web2.0.”

"Mainstream film critics and theater managers are typical WEB1.0 people who have the perspective of mainstream elites. But ordinary audiences have another perspective."

Wu Lingxi turned on the computer and directly opened Yahoo Entertainment, Sina Entertainment, and Sohu Entertainment.

The views in it are almost the same.

Crazy Stone is good, but not as good as a mobile phone.

Whether it is the quality of the movie or the box office, the results should be similar.

Wu Lingxi said: "Liao Feng, your conclusion that Crazy Stone is not as good as Cell Phone also comes from the views of the mainstream media, right?"

Liao Feng thought for a while and nodded: "Yes."

Wu Lingxi: "Most people don't have firm opinions about a work. They are easily influenced by mainstream opinions."

"But I'll show you another place!"

What Wu Lingxi opened was not even Facebook, but the community of Lingxi Island.

"Look, this is the view of ordinary audiences!"

Liao Feng took a look.

In this community forum, it is completely one-sided.

"Crazy Stone, so beautiful and funny!"

"Cell Phone is not bad, but a little boring. If there was only one movie called Cell Phone in this year's Lunar New Year, I would think you are pretty good. But with Crazy Stone, I'm sorry, you can only pass."

"The cell phone is nice, but it's too far from the crazy stone."

“Cell Phone: 6.5 points, Crazy Stone: 9 points!”

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

"Crazy Stone is the best movie this year and the biggest surprise."

"Honestly, I think Ergou's works this year, whether it's Daolang's album or Phoenix Legend's album, are pretty good, but I can't appreciate some of them. And this "Crazy Stone" is really awesome!"

"'Crazy Stone' is way better than 'Cell Phone'. Go watch it if you haven't seen it yet!"

After opening several pages, I saw that almost all of the comments were one-sided.

Occasionally, some people post that Crazy Stone is too noisy and that Mobile Phone is more profound. But the replies below are almost all insults.

Why are you pretending?

Depth, what a bullshit depth. You feel superior just by watching a movie.

If you say that Sunny Days has some depth, I'll admit it. Farewell My Concubine and Devils on the Doorstep have some depth, but if you tell me that Cell Phone has some depth, are you trying to make me laugh to death? Seeing these posts, Liao Feng was really a little stunned.

If you don’t know, you might think you have entered a Facebook community. It’s as if the comments are completely controlled and swiped.

After a long while, Liao Feng asked, "Are the fans of Master Ergou creating public opinion?"

"Yes and no!" Wu Lingxi said, "There must be fans of Ergou who are making efforts here, but no one is resisting. This is our website, a platform for public opinion that we control, but still no one is resisting. So we can judge that this is the true reflection of the inner thoughts of most people."

"The typical feature of web2.0 is that users generate content independently. It is revolutionary and will definitely replace web1.0."

“So in a way, this is the real public opinion.”

Liao Feng frowned slightly and said, "Do you think Lin Xiao will win this box office battle?"

Wu Lingxi: “Yes!”

“Web2.0 is the process of ordinary people competing with mainstream elites for the right to speak.”

"Lin Xiao is our enemy, but we must look at this issue objectively."

……………………

Wu Lingxi seemed unwilling to miss any opportunity, and she knocked on Zhang Chaoyang's office door again.

"Ms. Wu, I'm still considering it..." Zhang Chaoyang said helplessly.

Wu Lingxi said: "I don't mean anything else, I just show it to you."

Next, he placed a thick stack of newspapers on the table.

And opened all the mainstream media websites, and opened the pages of "Crazy Stone" and "Cell Phone".

Zhang Chaoyang took a quick look.

Almost all mainstream media outlets have the same voice.

In this New Year's battle, "Cell Phone" will win without a doubt, and in the end, the box office of "Crazy Stone" is less than half of "Cell Phone".

Various mainstream elites have given various reasons.

Very authoritative and very convincing.

This voice, this opinion is overwhelming.

Then, Wu Lingxi showed Zhang Chaoyang the community of Lingxi Island and the Facebook community.

There, the sound was completely different, and equally overwhelming.

Everyone is saying that "Crazy Stone" is better.

“This is a collision between the views of ordinary people and the views of the elites!”

“This is typical of web2.0 and web1.0.”

"Mr. Zhang, which side do you think will win?"

Zhang Chaoyang understood what Wu Lingxi meant.

“I think ‘Cell Phone’ will win and ‘Crazy Stone’ will lose!” Mr. Zhang gave a firm answer.

On the one hand, he believes in the power of authority.

Secondly, he now also represents authority. Sohu is the largest portal and the largest web1.0.

Although his company had already explored web2.0 and even set up a department, and even one or two years later, the head of this department became the vice president.

However, deep down in his heart, he still firmly believed that Sohu was in its heyday.

I still firmly believe that the elite group still firmly holds the right to speak.

As for the Lingxi Island community and Facebook group, it is still an absolute non-mainstream corner.

Today's Internet is still dominated by portal websites.

Wu Lingxi said: "I think web2.0 is the future, just like the rolling tide, those who follow it will prosper while those who go against it will perish!"

"Everything that happens next may soon prove my point."

……………………

In the early film market, the decisive power of audience word of mouth was very weak.

This is because the audience’s word of mouth cannot form a voice or public opinion.

But as time goes on, things become completely different. The audience's word of mouth directly determines life or death.

Even more, the audience's word of mouth will create an unprecedented miracle. What will be the final box office of "Nezha 2"? Even if it was put on a dozen days ago, who dared to think of this number? In 2006, "Crazy Stone" was a typical movie that relied on word of mouth to turn the tide. It relied on tap water to recommend each other and got more than 20 million box office from a small production.

Moreover, we relied on the power of the Internet. But at that time, the power of word of mouth was really weak, so we relied on QQ groups.

Moreover, no one took the initiative to stir up word-of-mouth opinion. They just said a few words spontaneously in the QQ group.

But now it's different.

Lin Xiao controls a web-based social group that is apparently the second largest, but actually the largest, and covers almost all university groups across the country.

Three days after the movie was released.

Within Facebook, a public opinion storm was secretly created.

This is a test of Facebook's public opinion capabilities.

In fact, Weibo has also had similar public opinion tests. And they are even more nonsensical. At that time, many celebrities did not say anything, but just posted a Weibo saying that a big event would happen at a certain time on a certain day.

Just this gimmick attracted the attention of countless people. But in the end, when the time came, nothing happened.

But rumors were flying everywhere. The most outrageous and widely spread rumor was that Mr. Zhang Guorong did not die, but became a monk in Mount Wutai.

The public opinion created by Facebook is not even sophisticated at all, but rather very simple.

Just give a picture or a line of dialogue to prove that you have seen "Crazy Stone".

It's probably the equivalent of the scene in Nezha 2, "Still eating, I'm here to take you away!" Or maybe it's a mini version of the scene where Shiji Niangniang gets angry and runs away.

Of course, there's more to it than just this.

There are many other points of public opinion.

In short, it is to create a fashion trend among college students.

And in "Crazy Stone", there are a lot of such dialogues and passages.

"You're really spending a lot of money to pick up girls."

"If you want to be romantic, waste it first."

"We are not married, but we have true feelings for each other."

"Not only did you insult my personality, you also insulted my intelligence."

"Hey, hey, Brother Dao, I haven't eaten for a few days, fuck your mother..."

This is a work that is naturally contagious, especially among college students and young white-collar workers.

However, in 2006, the film producers did not have the ability to turn it into a public opinion trend, and could only rely on the audience's self-fermentation. Eventually, it became a work that cannot be avoided in the history of domestic films.

Even 20 years later, the film's funny dialogues and classic scenes are still well-known, with hundreds of millions of people knowing them by heart, and they have been reproduced countless times in short videos on self-media.

But now Lin Xiao has the ability to transform it into a public opinion trend in advance.

Although it is much weaker than the short videos of later generations, it is completely sufficient to achieve the results he wants.

Under intentional or unintentional guidance.

The word-of-mouth of "Crazy Stone" and its classic dialogues are fermenting in various communities.

It fermented in various class groups and student groups.

Word of mouth began to explode.

Many college students who originally did not watch movies were also influenced and walked into the cinema.

As for those who originally wanted to date and pick up girls, it has become the first choice.

There will be a tipping point.

Before this critical point, Facebook officials and Lightning Entertainment officials need to work secretly to add fuel to the flames.

And wait until this trend starts.

Nothing more is needed.

Public opinion and word of mouth ferment themselves, roll themselves into a ball, and surge forward.

And the most direct manifestation of this is the box office!

The first people to discover this were the managers of the cinemas.

According to their judgment, the box office of "Crazy Stone" on the first day was only 70% of that of "Cell Phone" on the third day.

After that, it will only get weaker and weaker.

In the end, it would be good to get half of the box office of "Cell Phone".

However……

On the second day of its release, "Crazy Stone" rose slightly.

Of course, “Cell Phone” also rose slightly because it was Friday.

Saturday, Sunday! The box office of both movies is still rising because it’s the weekend.

The box office on the first weekend is the most important.

Afterwards, Huayi announced the good news.

The first week box office of "Cell Phone" reached 26.8 million! This is a much higher number than in history, because the popularity is much higher than in history, and this time the first week was released for six days, while in history it was only four days.

This first week box office is undoubtedly the number one this year!

Immediately afterwards, Lightning Entertainment also issued an announcement.

"Crazy Stone" grossed 11.6 million in its first week.

Because its first week is less than four days long.

As soon as this number came out, almost everyone felt that the winner had been decided and the outcome had been determined.

The authoritative data speculation was correct. The final box office of Crazy Stone was about 30 million, half of that of the mobile phone.

However……

Many cinema managers are like ducks that know the water is warm in spring.

Because they were surprised to find that the box office of "Crazy Stone" and "Cell Phone" was almost tied on Sunday.

"Cell Phone" was the highest-grossing film on Saturday and dropped by about 20% on Sunday, with the box office on Sunday being around 5.35 million.

However, the box office of "Crazy Stone" increased by 20% on Sunday compared to Saturday, also reaching around 4.6 million.

This... this is very interesting.

Next, it’s all about the crucial next Monday.

Because the box office on the first working day after the first weekend determines the curve of the film.

Generally speaking, a 50% drop from next Monday to this Sunday is a very good level, and a 60% drop is also quite good.

Of course, these theater managers only know their own data and cannot know the national data.

But when the data was counted on Monday, many theater managers discovered.

The decline in "Cell Phone" is normal, with a drop of about 60% on Monday compared to last Sunday.

But the performance of "Crazy Stone" is quite impressive, as it only dropped by 30%.

By Tuesday, it had only fallen 5% compared to Monday.

But on Wednesday, it actually started to rise.

Next, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday...

The box office curve kept going up! All the theater managers were a little stunned. They had never seen such a curve in all their years of working in the industry.

What kind of monster movie is this.

In North American theaters, the movie "Titanic" that year had such a monster curve. It didn't explode at the beginning, but it kept declining, or declining slightly, and directly created a box office miracle.

Although the national box office data for the second week has not yet come out.

Ordinary people may not care much, even film critics and many professional filmmakers don’t care.

Because everyone feels that the outcome has been decided.

However, Huayi, Lightning Entertainment, and managers of various theater chains are eagerly awaiting the second week's data.

This is especially true for the managers of various cinema chains, because they vaguely feel that they might witness a small miracle.

At this time, there is no online data, and we can only rely on the summary of each theater chain. The Sichuan Pacific Theater Chain is often the first to release data.

This time was no exception. The female manager of Pacific could not contain her excitement and gave the estimated box office for the second week almost hours in advance.

The second week box office of "Crazy Stone" reached 29.8 million! As soon as the female manager released the data, it immediately caused an uproar.

This is crazy! The first week was only 11.6 million, and the second week was nearly 30 million?

What a joke! What kind of movie, the second week box office is three times the first week? This is crazy!

………………

Note: I finally finished writing, I'm going to eat! Dear handsome benefactors, if you have monthly tickets, please remember to give them cakes, okay?

(End of this chapter)