Chapter 515: Another Miracle
It is not entirely without reason that Lost in Thailand dares to use the slogan of "the only true Lunar New Year film of 2012".
Even after the media and critics' previews, the audience's response to the film was quite positive.
In terms of artistic height, I'm afraid it's not much, but it is definitely a very sincere and hilarious comedy.
pTo use the words of a film critic with over a million fans on the Internet, the audience burst into laughter almost every five minutes.
It was precisely because of the enthusiastic response of the media and film critics to the preview, coupled with the poor reputation and box office of 1942 and The King's Feast, that Life of Pi has begun to decline and a vacuum has appeared in the market.
Therefore, after the distribution department negotiated with the theaters, the film was released ahead of schedule on December 12, and a preview event was added on Saturday, which was arranged at Yang's Cinemas and several other theaters.
At the same time, the distribution department also launched an activity on the WeChat gift card application Wrapp: "No gifts will be accepted on the end of the world, only tickets for Lost in Thailand"; many lucky users even got free tickets to the preview.
In addition, with the film's release date approaching, a large-scale publicity campaign is beginning to gather momentum, and the entire online movie-watching craze has also been set off.
From Saturday afternoon to evening, the 300 cinemas participating in the preview took in more than 31 million yuan in box office revenue.
When the data came out, everyone was shocked!
You know, the total investment of this movie is only 30 million, and it hasn’t been released yet, but it has already earned more than 30 million at the box office?
What makes domestic cinema chains even more excited is that, according to feedback from more than 300 cinemas, moviegoers have been full of praise for the film after watching it, and the attendance rate of each preview screening is also quite high, with every show being packed.
By the next day, fans could be seen speaking highly of the film's quality on forums such as Time, Douban, and other fan-gathering forums and mobile apps. They believed that although it was not a film with artistic depth, it was at least a hilarious comedy that made people laugh from beginning to end.
Many of the plots and settings in the film have also become topics of conversation among movie fans.
"My heart was pounding when goddess Yoona appeared. She is so beautiful!"
"What the above person said is correct, but Fairy Lin's only line in the whole film made me burst out laughing!"
“Haha, me too!”
"I was laughing the whole time and waiting for Psy, but…"
"Didn't Psy show up?"
“No, Psy did appear, but…”
"In short, it's hilarious. You'll see once you read on. It's definitely going to destroy your worldview!"
"You're right. Even someone like me who laughs so hard almost died of laughter. How funny do you think this movie is?"
"Uncle Psy is becoming more and more subversive now. He is full of drama. When he appears on stage, he doesn't need to say a word, and his every move makes people laugh!"
"It destroys your worldview? Great, these days, it's the kind of movie that destroys your worldview. I must go watch it!"
…
The day after the preview, with the launch of a series of promotional activities and as word of mouth from movie fans spread, there were more and more topics and discussions about Lost in Thailand on the Internet.
In just less than three days, the number of tickets booked via the Internet and third parties exceeded one million!
This piece of data once again shocked the entire industry, making people believe that this movie had already made money even before it was released!
Domestic cinema chains have also noticed this and have increased their screening schedules for Lost in Thailand on the first day of its release.
Since 1942 and The King’s Feast are not selling well anyway, it’s better to put Lost in Thailand on the schedule!
Even Feng Xiaogang, the director of 1942, said on WeChat that the box office of Lost in Thailand was at least over 500 million.
"It has been several months since Chinese movie fans have had a good time watching a hilarious comedy. Lost in Thailand came at the perfect time!"
Because December 12th is a Wednesday, only 2,400 midnight shows of Lost in Thailand are scheduled.
But even so, Lost in Thailand still grossed 15 million in the midnight show, successfully surpassing Love Is Not Blind from a year ago and became the highest-grossing movie in the domestic midnight show.
The popularity of the midnight show and its astonishing attendance rate have prompted theaters to once again increase the screening schedule for Lost in Thailand.
On the first day of its release, theater chains across the country scheduled a total of 22,300 screenings, accounting for 52 percent of the total domestic screenings.
This also shocked all filmmakers in the industry.
Because this means that on this day, out of the two movies released in China, one is Lost in Thailand!
And Lost in Thailand did not disappoint. After a long period of preparation and extensive publicity, it immediately triggered a viewing craze on the first day of its release and earned a staggering box office of 125 million.
This achievement not only surpassed all the Hollywood movies released this year, but also surpassed the miracle "Love Is Not Blind" a year ago, becoming the movie with the highest first-day box office in Chinese film history!
In an instant, the entire Chinese-speaking market went crazy!
It was also on that day that there were countless discussions and topics about Lost in Thailand on Weibo and WeChat.
On Weibo, there are over 15 million posts about Lost in Thailand, and on WeChat Moments and celebrity accounts, there are over 20 million posts about Lost in Thailand, which is simply an incredible number.
Even the number of users of Wrapp, which was cooperating with the Lost in Thailand event, surged by more than three million in just one day.
But what shocked the entire industry even more was the news reports from the next day.
On the first day of its release, Lost in Thailand had an average attendance rate of 75 percent among the more than 20,000 screenings scheduled nationwide. And the attendance rate of Yang's Cinemas, which contributed the most to the box office, reached a staggering 90 percent.
This is a piece of data that will make everyone drop their jaw!
It is precisely because of the amazing attendance rate, excellent reputation, and the lack of support from other competitors that cinemas continue to support Lost in Thailand and have given it a fairly high screening schedule for several consecutive days.
Lost in Thailand also performed well at the box office.
Although the box office declined on the second day after its release, it still earned 118 million.
On the third day, the box office revenue once again reached 108 million.
In just these three days, the box office of Lost in Thailand has accumulated to more than 360 million.
For a time, there was a craze for watching Lost in Thailand in every city across the country.
The distribution department of Miracle Pictures also continued to increase its publicity efforts during the three days of the film's release.
Because from the very beginning, Saturday and Sunday of the first week of release were the top priorities of the distribution plan!
So, just when many people were worried that Lost in Thailand's box office would fall below 100 million after three consecutive days of decline, on the Saturday of the first week, which was the fourth day of its release, various theaters once again increased their screenings of Lost in Thailand, leading to Lost in Thailand earning an astonishing box office of 143 million in one go.
The box office on Sunday fluctuated only slightly, taking in $141 million.
In just these two days, the box office of Lost in Thailand reached 284 million, and the cumulative total box office reached 650 million.
With a box office of 650 million in its first week, Lost in Thailand surpassed Titanic, Love Is Not Blind, and Transformers 3 to become the movie with the highest first-week box office in Chinese film history.
Of course, an important point in getting this report card is that Lost in Thailand was released on a Wednesday and lasted for five days in its first week.
But no matter what, Lost in Thailand is a hit, absolutely, totally a hit!
As a result, the Chinese-language film industry, major domestic forums, and social networks are all discussing Lost in Thailand, and why such a movie could create such an astonishing box office.
Everyone can find some opinions of their own, but without exception, everyone thinks that this is a well-made work, which is very targeted and has no other ambitions but to amuse the audience.
This one alone is enough!
In the second week, the box office of Lost in Thailand dropped sharply. From Monday to Wednesday, it only earned 170 million in three days, but the total box office has accumulated to 820 million.
Major movie websites and film critics have also said that Lost in Thailand will have a hard time breaking the 1 billion box office mark and will be hard to recreate the dark horse miracle of Love Is Not Blind.
The reason is simple, with the release of blockbuster films like Chinese Zodiac and The Guillotines on Thursday and The Shanghai Inside on Friday, the screening schedule of Lost in Thailand will definitely be greatly affected, especially Jackie Chan's Chinese Zodiac, which is definitely Lost in Thailand's number one rival.
As it turns out, the screening schedule for Lost in Thailand was indeed significantly reduced, but the box office of the film was still quite satisfactory.
From December 20th to 31st, Lost in Thailand continued to rely on its good reputation and excellent attendance. With the help of the coordination of the distribution department of Miracle Pictures, various theaters continued to schedule about 30% of the films every day, which led to a steady increase in the box office of Lost in Thailand.
In the past ten days, Lost in Thailand has earned 530 million yuan at the box office, which is not inferior to Jackie Chan's Chinese Zodiac.
As for The Guillotines and Shanghai, their box office results were not satisfactory and could not threaten Lost in Thailand.
Before New Year's Day, the box office statistics of Lost in Thailand were released, with the total cumulative box office reaching 1.35 billion.
There was an immediate exclamation of surprise in the country. No one could believe that such a popcorn movie could create such an amazing box office miracle. This also forced everyone to look back and admire Yang Huan's judgment and prediction at the time.
At the same time, a voice appeared on the Internet.
That is, let Lost in Thailand surpass Avatar!
Let Chinese movies become the box office champion of Chinese-language movies!
This wave of calls quickly formed a wave, and Miracle Pictures took advantage of this wave to launch a promotion to add fuel to the fire, allowing Lost in Thailand, which had originally had weak box office, to actually make a comeback.
During the three-day New Year's Day holiday, Lost in Thailand grossed a staggering 180 million yuan, surpassing The Chinese Zodiac to become the box office champion for the three days of New Year's Day. The total box office also successfully accumulated to 1.53 billion yuan, surpassing Avatar to become the true Chinese box office champion!
This immediately made everyone in the entire Chinese-language film industry excited.
How amazing is it that a movie with a total investment of 30 million yuan set a box office record of 1.53 billion yuan?
Coupled with last year's film "Love Is Not Blind" which also grossed 1.1 billion yuan, Miracle Pictures is simply creating a miracle.
It is incredible that the company released three movies in just one year and grossed more than 3 billion yuan at the box office.
What is even more rare is that these three films are of very high standard and satisfactory in terms of both word of mouth and quality.
This immediately made Miracle Pictures a prominent figure in the industry, and its every move attracted much attention.
As a result, a piece of news soon appeared in the media.
Stephen Chow's new film, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, is scheduled to be released on the first day of the Chinese New Year, but there have been reports of copyright disputes.
Several investment companies had disputes over profit sharing and even parted ways unhappily.
In the end, Miracle Pictures, which had previously bought the film copyright from Huayi Pictures, made another move and directly took back all the copyrights of the film, paying a hefty price for it.
When the reporter asked Zhang Qiang, CEO of Miracle Pictures, why he bought the film and whether he was worried that Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons would become Stephen Chow's Waterloo, Zhang Qiang smiled and expressed strong confidence.
"I watched the movie with Master Huan. The quality was very high. He was still the familiar Master Xing."
"In Master Huan's words, this is also a movie that will have a box office of 1 billion yuan or more. We are full of confidence!"
But many filmmakers in the industry found Zhang Qiang's remarks funny.
Not to mention that Stephen Chow hasn't released a film in five years. The performance of his last film, CJ7, was far from ideal. Many people suspected that Stephen Chow had run out of ideas.
Five years later, the re-release of Journey to the West gives people the same feeling as the Hong Kong director Grape, which is just rehashing the same old stuff.
Let me ask you, can a movie like this have high box office?
Do you really think that domestic movie fans are stupid and rich?
Moreover, unlike Love Is Not Blind and Lost in Thailand, although Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 2 is scheduled during the Spring Festival, it will face Cloud Atlas, a new film by the Wachowski siblings, directors of The Matrix, Jack Reacher starring Tom Cruise, and The Hobbit, which is highly anticipated by movie fans.
Can Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons still have high box office amidst the competition from three Hollywood blockbusters?
Who else can have this much confidence?
But the truth once again surprised everyone.
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons was released on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Although the box office on the first day was not ideal, it still earned more than 80 million, becoming the box office champion of the day, which surprised everyone.
The next day, the box office went against the trend and earned 123 million.
On the third day, the box office rose again to 132 million.
On the fourth day, it reached 135 million, setting a new box office record during the Spring Festival period.
?This also surprised all movie fans in the country.
What was even more unexpected to them was that the box office performance of these three Hollywood blockbusters, whether it was Cloud Atlas, Jack Reacher, or The Hobbit, which was released earlier, was not ideal.
Either the word of mouth is not good or they are not satisfying enough, which makes the three Hollywood blockbusters lack appeal.
As a result, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons has become the most box office-appealing family movie during the Spring Festival period with excellent reputation.
After all, it is the Spring Festival, and everyone wants to have fun.
As a result, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" grossed over 100 million yuan every day during the entire Spring Festival, and the box office continued to rise.
Until March, the final box office of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons reached 1.4 billion, surpassing Avatar again and becoming the second highest-grossing movie in the history of Chinese-language films, second only to Lost in Thailand.
Among the top four box office hits in film history, three of them are from Miracle Pictures. This immediately makes Miracle Pictures' position in the domestic film industry extremely important. Not only has it established a firm foothold, but it is also showing signs of becoming a leading Chinese-language film company.
It even established a monument in the hearts of domestic movie fans.
That is a miracle product, it must be a masterpiece!