A few days after the New Year, Ji Yan returned to City A with bags and packages. Ji Qing, after hearing about how he always mooched local specialties from Fang Yu and his friends, prepared a bunch of food and drinks for him to take back and share with them.
The members of "Wing" have a good relationship and know each other's families well. Fang Yu's mother prepared a lot of the dried meat that Ji Yan likes to eat, and Xie Mingxuan and Lu Wei also brought him a lot of snacks.
On this point, Ji Qing was unwilling to admit defeat.
"It's fine to be cold at home, but why is it still so cold here?" Ji Yan sniffed. "I'm almost catching a cold."
"You still have to get the work done before you actually catch a cold."
Ji Yan sighed softly.
Xie Mingxuan and the others could have returned to City A a little later, but considering that there was still a lot of content to discuss for the new album, everyone's return time was around the same as Ji Yan's.
Ji Yan had no choice but to return, because "The Vanished Murder" had been officially scheduled for release on the 20th of the first lunar month.
The competition for this year's Spring Festival film season remains fierce, with various types of blockbusters being released one after another. Coupled with the ever-increasing ticket prices during the Spring Festival season, the Spring Festival film season is not yet over, but it is already widely recognized as the Spring Festival with the highest box office figures this year.
Since its release, the top-grossing film has reached 3.8 billion yuan, and it's only a matter of time before it surpasses 4 billion yuan.
Despite the presence of this behemoth, the box office performance of other films was still astonishing. During this Spring Festival period, two other films surpassed 2 billion yuan in total box office revenue, and several films even exceeded 100 million yuan. Of course, in such a valuable period, exceeding 100 million yuan in box office revenue is considered a failure, and the cost may not even be recovered. After all, the Spring Festival period has always been a fiercely contested battleground, and there are quite a few films with marketing and distribution expenses exceeding 100 million yuan during this period.
The release date of "The Vanishing Murder" coincides with the lingering popularity of the Spring Festival film season.
Even though "Precision Machine," this year's Spring Festival box office champion, has been released for several weeks, its scale makes it easy for it to crush "The Vanishing Murderer," a low-budget film.
However, considering that this period was neither too early nor too late in terms of timing, and could at least ride on the popularity of the Spring Festival season, the production team discussed it several times before finally making the decision.
Lu Ming was actually very nervous, after all, this was his first feature film and his stepping stone to enter the film market.
Having chosen this industry, who wouldn't want to be a successful director? Outsiders only see the ease with which directors dominate the crew and freely direct famous actors, but in reality, the directors that audiences can see and hear about are only a small part of the director community.
Lu Ming studied directing. He was a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy's directing program, which is considered the most orthodox background in the industry. Even ordinary viewers know that the Beijing Film Academy produces directors. Lu Ming did know several prestigious senior classmates. However, despite this, his path to becoming a director was still full of ups and downs. Many of his classmates changed careers, some went into the currently popular short video industry, and some returned to their hometowns to take the civil service exam. Very few of them were able to persevere.
Take Su Pan, the cinematographer of "Young Love Poems," for example. He also directed a film, but eventually returned to the position of cinematographer.
As for directors of the caliber of Li Xiang, Zhu Shuguang, and Luo Yi, they are extremely rare.
Lu Ming prayed that "The Vanishing Murder" would be a box office success, and that he could at least make a profit instead of losing money. His film had been selected through the "Wing" program before it received funding. If his first film was a complete flop, probably no one in the industry would dare to invest in him. From an investment perspective, no one wants to lose money just to gain publicity.
In Lu Ming's view, a producer like Lu Yu who remained loyal to Zhu Shuguang until death is no different from a myth. It's no exaggeration to say that it's not surprising for the industry to produce a few talented directors like Li Xiang and Zhu Shuguang, but to have another producer like Lu Yu would be a cause for celebration for many low-budget directors.
...
It wasn't easy for "The Vanishing Murderer" to be successfully released.
In terms of release dates, there aren't many new films released during the 20th day of the first lunar month. Even if there are new films released, their production costs won't be too high. After all, the power of the Spring Festival film season is still there, and audiences tend to prefer big-budget films that have already gained recognition and positive word-of-mouth.
"The Vanishing Murderer" is one of the four new films released this week.
On the 19th day of the Lunar New Year, "Precision Machinery" still grossed over 10 million yuan, while "Battle Zone," which ranked second in the box office, also grossed 24.88 million yuan. Both of these films performed well during the Spring Festival period and continued to achieve excellent results 20 days after their release.
Among the new releases this week, the most eye-catching is undoubtedly "Around the Moon." With a total investment of 230 million yuan, this film would likely be a flop during the Spring Festival season. However, among the films released on the 20th day of the first lunar month, "Around the Moon" is one that still has some appeal. The film stars well-known actor Xiao Yang and rising star Lu Zhizhi. It combines the romance of a space movie with the appeal of fans of both Xiao Yang and Lu Zhizhi. In addition, the release date is not far from Valentine's Day, so audiences are quite looking forward to seeing the two handsome men and beautiful women, Xiao Yang and Lu Zhizhi, fall in love in the cinema.
"The Vanishing Murderer" is being screened in limited theaters, so audiences have fewer options. Overall, at least in the first few days of its release, the film's box office performance is not expected to be outstanding.
—Although the movie trailer attracted many movie fans.
The word "killing intent" sounds thrilling.
From the trailer, viewers can see that a group of well-dressed people are locked in a hotel. The changes in the characters' eyes, their interactions, and the scene where the quiet atmosphere is suddenly broken by a murder all pique the audience's curiosity.
Ji Yan's fans are very interested in the role he plays in the movie.
"Teacher Ji actually played the only mongrel among a group of glamorous characters. I guess the character he played was the murderer."
"Looking forward to the new movie!! It looks really exciting!"
"This movie's production cost was less than 20 million? Seriously, movie production costs have been skyrocketing in recent years. It feels like there are no movies with a budget of 20 million anymore; they all cost hundreds of millions."
After the release date was confirmed, fans naturally bought tickets in advance to support "The Vanishing Murderer." However, there were too few theaters showing the movie, and many fans were unable to buy tickets at all.
This is also related to the high expectations that cinemas have for "The Vanishing Murderer".
Currently, several films scheduled for the Spring Festival, such as "Precision Machine" and "Battle Zone," are still showing in theaters. These films have already recouped their costs, and every extra day they are shown in theaters is an extra day of profit. In contrast, apart from Ji Yan, who has some box office appeal, the other actors in "The Vanishing Murder" have almost no name recognition.
Despite this, Ji Yan's best achievement was only 180 million yuan at the box office for "Young Love Poems". "Precision Machinery" could have earned that much if it had been released for a few more days.
Theaters are not charities. Only when a film demonstrates its true value will its screenings and number of shows increase. Before that, theaters will not give up profitable films to unprofitable ones.
In a sense, this is the Matthew effect in the film market. Large-scale blockbusters often drain the market, and theaters are willing to provide them with enough screenings. Blockbusters can also invest more money in promotion. Low-budget films are inherently disadvantaged and cannot compete with blockbusters in terms of promotion, so it is naturally difficult for them to turn things around based on quality.
Such situations do occur, but films that manage to turn things around are definitely not like "The Vanishing Murderer," which has a budget of tens of millions. The conditions for a turnaround often require a confluence of favorable circumstances, and only one or two out of the hundreds of films released each year can achieve this.
...
Before the release of "The Vanishing Murder," Ji Yan attended a screening organized by the production team. However, he received few supporters. Among the professional media, only "Fancy Movies," which had always been very optimistic about him, sent a reporter. Most other media outlets focused on "Around the Moon."
The fervor surrounding the Spring Festival film season hasn't subsided yet, and reporters still have plenty to write about, such as behind-the-scenes stories of "Precision Machinery" and the efforts the actors made during filming. In contrast, the only thing worth noting about "The Vanishing Murder" is probably the controversy between Ji Yan and Song Jing. However, during the film's promotional period, the production team deliberately avoided this topic. Only Ji Yan participated in the promotion throughout the entire film, while the other protagonist, Song Jing, didn't even appear once.
However, Song Jing still sarcastically shared the promotional video for "The Vanishing Murderer".
The film's protracted production schedule caused him to lose contracts for several variety shows. Now that the film has long been completed, even if he still tries to piggyback on Ji Yan's fame, the two of them don't even interact normally, so no one will buy into his attempts to get close to Ji Yan.
As for String Sound Entertainment, even its top star Zhou Xingyuan suffered a loss from Ji Yan, so the company naturally didn't expect Song Jing to force his way in.
For Song Jing now, the very book he disliked, "The Vanishing Murder," has become his only chance to turn his career around.
String Sound Entertainment's origins were illegitimate, so it's impossible for such a company to have genuine feelings for Song Jing. Anyway, there are plenty of actors who want to enter the entertainment industry. If Song Jing doesn't have a chance to climb the ladder, the company can just find someone else to promote.
In today's entertainment industry, promoting a newcomer is an incredibly easy thing. Many companies specifically choose those who are good-looking and know how to get things done, send them to talent shows, and once they have enough popularity, they start to cash in, stuffing them into variety shows and arranging dozens of endorsements a year. Even if the newcomer is as stiff as a wooden post in front of the camera, as long as they can make money, that's all that matters. For entertainment companies, this is much more comfortable than painstakingly cultivating newcomers and slowly waiting for their acting skills to improve.
The newlyweds themselves were unwilling to endure hardship, so they naturally agreed to this arrangement.
Ji Yan has worked with many big directors, and big directors are generally quite strict in managing their crews. However, he has also heard He Qing say that in a film crew, actors use all sorts of stunt doubles.
Action scenes have stunt doubles, and dramatic scenes have dramatic doubles.
If someone's hands aren't attractive, there are hand doubles; if their feet aren't attractive, there are foot doubles; if someone is worried about exposing their privacy, there are breast doubles.
There's nothing the production team wouldn't dare to substitute for, only things the audience hasn't heard of before.
Ji Yan deeply regretted that he didn't have such good fortune.
He Qing glanced at him: "It's best not to have this kind of good fortune. It doesn't matter when you're 20 or 30, but what about when you get older?"
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