Chapter 215: Box Office, Boom Boom Boom
“8.2, holy crap, that high?!”
“No way… they bought it?”
“…Is it that good?”
At the roadshow event for Magic City Fortress in Shanghai, Director Yang saw the Douban opening score for Blockbuster. He was both astonished by the confidence of Blockbuster’s film producers in releasing the score so early and dumbfounded by Blockbuster’s score.
8.2… and Chi Ye starring…
They really seemed to have underestimated Blockbuster.
“No rush, let’s see. Today’s box office feels okay, only 160 million. Excluding pre-sales, their opening day was only 60 million. Let’s see the increase in the next few days.”
Finally, Director Lu recovered and waved his hand, but in his heart, he was a bit jealous of Blockbuster’s opening score.
8.2!
When has a film directed by him, Director Lu, ever had such a reputation?
So, let’s wait and see. In the era of commercial box office, if the box office isn’t good, even great word-of-mouth is useless.
However, others weren’t as “optimistic” as him. Blockbuster was a commercial film to begin with, and it had Chi Ye’s “traffic endorsement”… More importantly, the current online public opinion and atmosphere… Blockbuster’s popularity seemed to be gaining momentum.
Wouldn’t Blockbuster’s box office also see a massive surge, just like its reputation?
Everyone’s mood inexplicably became tense.
And the facts were indeed as they had “expected.”
That evening, #Blockbuster Douban opening score 8.2# rushed to the top of the hot search list, immediately becoming “Explosive” with over 20 million views.
The lead actors all posted celebratory messages.
At the same time, along with the explosive rise in reputation, came the “underwhelming” opening day box office for Blockbuster.
– Movies are different from TV series. In the era of commercial films, good word-of-mouth, especially a reputation of 8 points or more for a commercial film, generates tremendous publicity and distribution effects.
This was true for Si Zi’s films in the past, and it is true for Chi Ye’s film now.
Blockbuster’s opening day had not yet ended. As word-of-mouth fermented online and audiences and movie fans discussed it, the pre-sales for the second and even third days began to visibly increase.
In fact, Blockbuster’s opening day box office performance was very good, reaching 160 million including pre-sales, which was already among the top three for this genre.
However, precisely because the pre-sales were so strong, the opening day only grossed 60 million, not even breaking 100 million. In today’s film industry, that’s indeed a bit underwhelming.
…
Capital City, Wanda Cinema.
The manager of the premiere ceremony hadn’t slept all night. He had monitored the opening day data for Blockbuster almost continuously, and as word-of-mouth fermented online, it gradually changed.
“How much is it? How much is it today?”
After midnight, the accumulated box office for Blockbuster’s second day began.
The manager got up from the lounge, didn’t even brush his teeth or wash his face, and groggily found the data staff, asking nervously.
“It’s already… 80 million.”
The assistant was scrolling through Maoyan data with his head down: “It just passed twelve. This is all for this afternoon and evening, bought in advance by the audience.”
Yesterday, the entire first day of release accumulated only 60 million at the box office, and now, just after midnight, it’s already 80 million!
“Holy crap! What kind of speed is this?”
The manager was dumbfounded.
Even if it’s due to word-of-mouth fermentation and many fans buying tickets in advance at night… this speed is still too fast!
Based on commercial factors such as investment, genre, and cast lineup, Blockbuster’s internal rating prediction at their cinema was a guaranteed 500 million, with a maximum box office of only 700-800 million. Even that was calculated by including the “heartfelt efforts” of Chi Ye’s fans buying tickets, plus the good quality of this Hong Kong Circle film.
Blockbuster’s film producers would also make a killing.
But looking at it now… 500 million? 700-800 million?
1 billion felt very achievable!
1.5 billion wasn’t out of the question either.
The manager’s face split into a wide grin, and he couldn’t help but say, “The decision to release the score was so decisive! Blockbuster’s film producers are truly amazing!”
“You said it…”
The data staff nodded and added, “But high box office during holidays and after film producer promotions is normal. This is the summer slot. Magic City Fortress starts its sneak preview in three days, Magic Shanghai is releasing tomorrow, and there are other blockbusters… Blockbuster’s scheduling will be heavily contested, so 1.5 billion feels a bit difficult.”
“…You make a good point.”
The manager came to his senses.
The summer slot is different from other slots. With Blockbuster’s current momentum, in a slot with weaker competitors, it felt like it could even reach 2 billion, as they would have sufficient scheduling and dominate the market.
It would be as if the entire nation was only watching this one movie.
But the summer slot is different.
The Spring Festival slot, summer slot, and National Day slot have always been the hottest and most popular periods in the film industry.
Countless blockbusters are released during these periods, and the competition is fierce. Scheduling is a dog-eat-dog world; good word-of-mouth doesn’t guarantee you can compete with those special effects blockbusters and major productions.
“Whatever, we’ll make money for a few days. Anyway, whoever is showing, our cinema makes money.”
The manager had an open mind, but it was clear he underestimated the drawing power of Chi Ye’s “transformative acting,” and even more so, how explosive the character Zhao Tai was in Blockbuster, amplified by Chi Ye.
On Blockbuster’s second day of release, the final box office was 180 million, failing to break 200 million, which was quite a regret.
But by the third day, with the increase in viewers, Blockbuster topping the hot search charts, and the intervention of Douyin short videos – yes, Chi Ye’s promotions had begun.
The short video promotion method he employed was terrifying, learning from Earth’s “The Knockout.” Chen’s short video promotion techniques were extremely exaggerated, but they hadn’t appeared in this world yet.
If this kind of viral promotion is used too many times, it loses its effectiveness, but if it’s used for the first time… “The Knockout” only had an investment of 100-200 million, but it ended up grossing over 3.5 billion, becoming a phenomenal blockbuster, which is enough to explain everything.
And at this moment, the timing, location, and background were just right for Blockbuster’s release. It coincided with the Dragon Boat Festival slot, the domestic entertainment film industry had just emerged from a “cold period,” and Blockbuster’s genre and investment were remarkably similar to “The Knockout,” but its quality was even higher…
So, starting from this day, various soft promotion videos for Blockbuster appeared on Douyin, with numerous edits focusing on Zhao Tai’s madness.
For example, smashing the mirror in the elevator, playing golf, the refined scoundrel at the charity gala… and the ending scene before going to court, “This consumption is on Young Master Zhao, screams!”, and the explosive scene after leaving court, “This is called not guilty”…
Too many of Zhao Tai’s iconic scenes exploded in the past two days, virally “brainwashing” everyone.
The playback volume of topic videos on Douyin like #ZhaoTai#, #ChiYeZhaoTai#, #ChiYeActingSkills#, etc., exceeded 1 billion in a short period, with each edited video receiving millions of likes, or tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of likes.
Chi Ye’s “transformative” explosive acting completely ignited streaming platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou!
Similarly, Chi Ye’s personal incredible traffic was evident. If his acting was terrible, mediocre, and he only relied on his looks, passersby wouldn’t buy it.
But if his acting was good enough, even considered explosive when playing Zhao Tai, combined with his looks, the character’s madness, and the contrast with Professor Chi’s past…
It exploded, completely exploded.
It exploded in ways no one could have imagined beforehand.
June 23rd.
On the third day of Blockbuster’s release, at six in the morning, in less than six hours, Blockbuster’s third-day box office showed a significant negative decline for the first time, surpassing 100 million.
At noon, the box office exceeded 200 million.
By the early morning of the third day, when Sheng Ning and a certain Movie Emperor’s premiere ceremony for Magic Shanghai began, Blockbuster’s single-day box office on the third day reached an astonishing 230 million.
At the same time, this single-day box office directly broke the historical single-day box office record for Chinese crime films, exceeding it by nearly 100 million. After three days of release, Blockbuster’s cumulative total box office officially surpassed 500 million, reaching a terrifying 570 million.
It’s a reverse decline, a huge reverse decline!
The manager of Wanda Cinema was dumbfounded. He had almost watched in person as Blockbuster, which he had predicted would struggle to reach 1.5 billion, achieved nearly 600 million in three days…
Three days, nearly 600 million. Rounded up, doesn’t that mean Blockbuster averaged 200 million per day?
Its total investment was less than 150 million!!
What a classic case of a small-budget film becoming a huge hit!
The cinema manager was in a daze. He felt that his career resume might be adding a stroke of great significance.
Meanwhile.
The Beijing Circle, after witnessing Blockbuster’s “frenzied” performance on the third day, was also stunned.
– No, guys, an average of 200 million per day is the achievement of a combination like Shen Bin + Ma Li, or a top-tier blockbuster. How could you… how could a film whose total investment is less than a day’s box office achieve this?!
They were dumbfounded. They knew Blockbuster would have an explosion after the opening score, but they never expected this explosion to be so ferocious…
No, that’s not right. This isn’t an explosion at all, it’s an “ascension”!
“No way, it’s just a small-budget crime film, how can it have such high box office? Have Chinese audiences never had anything good?”
Director Lu was no longer jealous, but extremely shocked and confused.
“I said long ago, trash audiences watch trash movies, it’s normal,”
Director Feng, on the other hand, was relatively calm, only shaking his head and sighing about the sorrow and dark future of Chinese cinema.
Director Yang of Magic City Fortress was the most composed, even subtly excited—
If a film like Blockbuster can achieve this result, it means the film market has truly warmed up… No, it’s exploded!
With such a hot market, wouldn’t his Magic City Fortress surpass Wolf Warrior 2 and become the number one in Chinese film history?!
Holy crap, thinking about it makes me so excited!
“Let’s think bigger. Let’s thank Blockbuster for warming up the market for us. Chi Ye is quite a likable person.”
Director Yang waved his hand, and everyone was speechless.
“By the way, Magic Shanghai had its premiere today. How was the result?”
Ling Bingbing saw that no one was speaking and suddenly remembered Sheng Ning’s movie.
“How was it? Not great, I assume.” Xu Yingying pouted, “It was drained dry by his ‘male lead’.”
…
Magic Shanghai was drained dry.
Although both were “Magic City” films, Magic Shanghai, being a spy war genre, didn’t attract as many viewers as Magic City Fortress.
Of course, it was still far superior to Blockbuster, both in terms of investment and production, it completely crushed Blockbuster.
But…
That day, Sheng Ning stood at the premiere ceremony. After the film ended, they were being interviewed by the media, but her expression was dazed, her mind already beyond the venue—Magic Shanghai’s box office performance was not ideal.
Excluding pre-sales, it hadn’t even broken 20 million yet…
And due to the wild surge of Blockbuster, their scheduling in cinemas across the country had been greatly compressed. Therefore, their opening day probably wouldn’t even break 100 million…
Sheng Ning’s mood was complex, very bad, and a bit weary—Magic Shanghai’s quality was also just so-so, not particularly good, nor particularly bad. If it didn’t encounter an opponent, it might have performed better, but encountering an opponent…
Were they considered Blockbuster’s opponent?
Alas, it seemed this only path that could challenge the Beijing Circle was temporarily blocked.
And it was blocked by her own “younger brother.”
Thinking of this, Sheng Ning felt like laughing, and her expression naturally wasn’t very pleasant.
“Sister Ning, as a main creator of Magic Shanghai, have you paid attention to any opponents in the same slot recently? For example, the very popular Blockbuster… How do you evaluate Chi Ye’s acting? And what about the upcoming sci-fi blockbuster Magic City Fortress? Will they be rivals you fear?”
In the audience, a media member who had previously feasted on #ChiYe leeching off Sheng Ning, causing work stoppages# began to stir trouble.
Sheng Ning glanced at him faintly before saying, “Chi Ye’s acting… is natural acting.”
“Wow!”
The scene instantly erupted in shock.
The director and male lead of Magic Shanghai looked at her in surprise—these kinds of questions are usually not answered; offline, one feigns ignorance.
You… not only answered but also praised Chi Ye so much?
Was it praise?
Sheng Ning emphasized: “Natural acting.”
Then, she paused, thinking about a private screening she had attended and watched Magic City Fortress, and said, “Magic City Fortress… I won’t comment. I personally like sci-fi films, but… I don’t particularly like this film.”
“???”
The scene exploded again. The director and male lead were dumbfounded—Sister, are you out of your mind?
You can say that? Isn’t that asking for trouble?!
Although I know you’ve been severely targeted by the Beijing Circle recently, aren’t you making things worse by doing this? You’re offending them to death!
Not only did she offend the Beijing Circle to death, but Sheng Ning’s remarks also offended movie fans who were hoping Magic City Fortress would open the door for Chinese sci-fi films. That evening, she was cursed and trended on hot search.
Even under the counterattack from the Beijing Circle, a wave of boycotting Magic Shanghai was stirred up.
On the day Magic Shanghai was released, its box office was indeed dismal. On that day, the total box office for mainland China was 300 million, and Blockbuster alone accounted for 240 million.
80% of the total market was dominated by Blockbuster.
Magic Shanghai’s situation was far beyond “dismal.”
By the fifth day, Blockbuster’s “200 million per day” miracle slightly waned, but it still garnered 190 million at the box office.
By this point, in just 5 days of release, Blockbuster’s cumulative box office officially surpassed 1 billion+. Institutions like Maoyan Movie, which initially predicted 500-700 million, then 1.5 billion, and then 2 billion, are now projecting it to reach 2.5 billion.
The domestic entertainment industry was shaken, and the film industry was completely awakened by this “frenzied” surge, watching Blockbuster, like an unbridled wild horse, with immense shock.
– Will the Hong Kong Circle rise after this battle?!
