202. Is This Something I Can Watch for Free?
I wonder how many people, like Bai Qiquan, spent a sleepless night during this year-end holiday.
When Lu Ban woke up the next day and turned on his computer, his new account, "The Silence Project," had already surpassed one million followers.
For a small content creator like him with just over two million followers, this rate of follower growth is simply incredible.
After washing up, Lu Ban ignored the two wisps of steam on the bed and checked the comments under the Weibo post on his account.
[Thank you, the Silence Project; thank you, Lu Ban. I successfully spent a sleepless night.]
[Is this short film something I can watch for free? The insect effects are so realistic, they gave me goosebumps.]
It's hard not to be moved; Lu Ban actually went to so much trouble to create a free movie to scare people. I'm truly grateful.
I was originally planning to see "The Crying" because I thought it would be free, but now I'm afraid to go see it. Box office -1.
[Thanks, Lu Ban. My girlfriend and I watched it together, and she still won't let go of my hand.]
[I heard "The Crying" is even scarier than this? I'm thinking of canceling my movie tickets for tomorrow.]
[You should be thankful for Lu Ban's final act of mercy. If the Easter egg he included in the movie had been Halloween instead of Halloween, you would probably have had the most terrifying Christmas ever.]
[Don't even mention it. I get PTSD just hearing those three words now; it feels like they're turning into a PTSD trigger.]
I think this short film is a level above the previous ones. With older movies and videos, viewers just saw them as stories, but this short film makes people think of the people around them, and it's chilling.
Putting everything else aside, if someone next to me suddenly said Halloween to me with a blank expression, I'd probably faint from fright.
[Who knows, the person typing right now might be an insect, I just haven't realized it yet.]
[Wake up, you guys! You're working so hard every day, 996, you might not even be as good as an insect.]
The bugs in the short film are just so my type! I'm totally in love with them!
While everyone's XP (Extracurricular Activity) is different, bro, your XP is really weird!
On behalf of the Insect Lovers Association, I strongly condemn Lu Ban for cruelly harming such adorable insects! Don't you know how docile these insects are?!
Such miscellaneous comments flooded the Weibo comments section, with many people expressing gratitude to Lu Ban for making them feel that their life's value had been realized.
My Weibo private messages have been flooded with messages. Some people are just sharing their thoughts and feelings, some are criticizing without saying a word, some are advertising to gain followers, and some are asking for collaborations whose authenticity is unknown.
According to the price list that Lu Ban had seen before, he could get tens of millions of yuan in investment just with his current account. Of course, he was not short of money.
The first day's box office for "The Crying" has already exceeded five million in the first eight hours. Considering that there are only midnight premiere screenings so far, the box office for the first day is expected to reach more than forty million, while its screening share is less than three percent.
This data indicates that his films have extremely high attendance rates, with almost every screening being sold out.
Based on this trend, theaters should gradually increase the number of screenings for "The Crying Cry". After word of mouth spreads, the daily box office will soon surpass the opening day, and may even reach a cumulative box office of one billion.
It's worth noting that the previous box office record for horror and thriller films in China was set five or six years ago by a movie about supernatural events in an old family mansion. It featured many stars and ultimately grossed just 400 million yuan. Since then, horror films have been released every year, but their box office figures have not been high, with the best exceeding 100 million yuan and the worst only reaching tens of millions.
Actually, considering the development of the film market in recent years, the 1 billion yuan box office of "The Crying" is a conservative estimate.
It's worth noting that when that movie was released, the box office for the Spring Festival slot was less than 1 billion yuan, while now the Spring Festival slot is approaching 5 billion yuan.
If this money were distributed to Lu Ban, it would be a large sum, enough for him to live a comfortable life without having to work anymore.
However, Lu Ban soon received a message from the cinema chain.
The theater chain first congratulated "The Cry" on its success, and then informed Lu Ban that starting the next day, Lu Ban's screenings would increase to about six percent.
"How come it's only six percent?"
Lu Ban found it a bit strange. If he were a theater chain, and he encountered a movie with such good reviews and high attendance, wouldn't he rush to release it to make money?
Moreover, the film "The Cry" is only a little over ninety minutes long, which is within the normal range, and theaters will not reduce the number of screenings because it is too long.
That's very strange.
Lu Ban asked around before finally getting the answer.
Among the films released around the same time as him, one was a romantic comedy starring many stars, and the other was an idol romance drama starring young heartthrobs in period costume.
Caught among these films, Lu Ban's "Crying" seems out of place.
He glanced at the box office and saw that period idol films had the highest box office, still exceeding 20% after five days of release. Another star-studded film also had nearly 20% in box office revenue. These two films alone accounted for the majority of the theaters' capacity.
In the middle are some other films in similar predicament to "The Crying," with each receiving less than 10% of screenings.
"Is it that amazing?"
Lu Ban searched for this idol drama online and found that the actors in the movie were idols who came out of a talent show. The movie's rating had dropped below five points, its reputation was very bad, and its box office was getting lower and lower every day. It was hard to understand why it could still maintain such a high number of screenings.
He immediately called Song Yunyan's secretary Li Zijian, and chatted for a few minutes.
Jiangcheng Industries has also built commercial plazas and has its own cinemas in other cities. Although the proportion is not large, at least out of respect for Lu Ban, they should increase the screening of "Crying".
To be honest, Lu Ban doesn't care how much money "The Cry" makes. He has already achieved his small goal for the film. However, now Lu Ban needs to establish the worldview of the Silent Land. Therefore, the higher the box office of "The Cry" and the more people who have seen it, the greater the impact on his subsequent plans and the easier it will be to gain attention.
Therefore, we still need to try to secure more screenings.
"That movie, you don't know? Some die-hard fans might have Locking the theater entire theaters."
Li Zijian seems to be paying more attention to the film and entertainment industry lately, as he speaks about it quite eloquently.
Locking the theater is to prevent theaters from canceling screenings due to a lack of ticket purchases. By only buying one ticket, theaters cannot cancel the screening, thus ensuring the screening rate.
Since movie tickets can now be booked for screenings more than half a month in advance, fans can lock in Locking the theater for more than ten days at a time, resulting in a high number of screenings despite a sharp drop in box office revenue.
Of course, some cinemas chose to apologize and refund tickets directly, but it takes time to process the situation, so the film's screenings remain very high during this period.
We need to think of a solution.
Lu Ban didn't quite understand this kind of real-world business competition; he felt that dealing with monsters from other realms was much simpler.
"Or how about we start by opening midnight screenings, like we did at the film festival?"
"That's all we can do. I'll discuss it with Mr. Song at our own cinemas, and we should be able to increase the number of screenings."
Li Zijian replied, and then added one more thing.
"By the way, your plan sounds amazing. Can you manage it all by yourself?"
"Now that you mention it, it's true, I don't know how to set up web pages."
Lu Ban replied.
"Is it just a problem with the website?"
Li Zijian was ashamed. Could it be that he could really handle the other parts in one go?
Even the donkeys in the production team shouldn't do that, right?
"It's okay. If there's a problem, I'll definitely come after you. Don't worry."
Lu Ban added another sentence.
"Then I'll thank you very much."
Li Zijian twitched the corner of his mouth.
Around noon, Lu Ban saw a notification on his phone that "The Crying" was adding midnight screenings, specifically between midnight and 5 a. m.
"That's very efficient."
Lu Ban sighed.