204. Keeping the Appointment
The opening day box office of "The Crying" was finally set at 40 million yuan. With only about 3% of the screenings, this is already an extremely good result. Although some industry insiders analyzed that this may be due to the positive word-of-mouth from the previous film festival screening and the advantage of midnight screenings, which led to a very high attendance rate on the first day, the development trend in the following days proved many people wrong.
On its second day of release, "The Crying" accounted for 5% of all screenings in theaters nationwide and grossed nearly 60 million yuan.
On the third day, the cinemas under Jiangcheng Industries first increased the screenings of "The Crying" and canceled some of the previously Locking the theater screenings, replacing them with "The Crying". They also gave away free tickets to the "The Crying" screenings to the audiences of the canceled screenings. On this day, the screenings of "The Crying" exceeded 7%, and the box office exceeded 80 million. It was only a matter of time before it broke 100 million.
On the fourth day, with the cancellation of the large-scale Locking the theater by the theaters, the number of screenings of "The Crying" quickly increased to 18%, and the box office exceeded 170 million yuan that day, quickly becoming the number one film at the end of the year.
In various communities, "Crying" is also spreading like wildfire.
"The movie 'The Crying' really made me feel the fear of hospitals firsthand. My goodness, I never thought hospitals were anything scary before, but now I'm afraid to go to the hospital."
"We are sorely lacking in a real horror movie. Horror thrillers, as a specialized genre, have always been a part of the film industry. Many big-budget directors started out making B-movie and horror films. However, our industry has been developing low-budget romance films and urban light comedies with low special effects requirements, while neglecting these fantasy contents. I believe that 'The Cry' is not just about the crying of a newborn in the movie, but also the beginning of a change in the film market."
"No wonder it's the first horror movie for young people. When I was in the theater, I saw that the young people looked like they had never seen anything like this before. They had no idea how scary the zombie and horror movies we watched when we were kids were."
"I'm dying of laughter. Let me tell you, there was this brat in our theater. He was yelling about wanting to buy things when he first came in, and he even hit his parents. He was still making a fuss right from the start, it was so annoying. Then, halfway through the movie, I heard that there was no sound at all. When the movie ended, I took a special look, and lo and behold, that brat had wet his pants and was calling for someone to come and clean him up. It's true what they say, what goes around comes around, and the wicked get their comeuppance."
At the same time, more and more people are paying attention to Lu Ban and the Silence Project he mentioned.
Although no specific data was shown, Lu Ban later uploaded "The Nameless City" to major video websites under the account of the Silence Project. The total number of views across the internet exceeded 10 million in one day, and a week later, with the arrival of New Year's Day, the number of followers of Lu Ban's the Silence Project had reached seven million.
Breaking the 10 million mark within three months is almost a certainty.
On the well-known RPG website [Did You Get It?], discussions about "Nameless City" and the Silence Project are in full swing.
"The horror of ' The Nameless City ' mainly lies in its questioning of human self-identity. The mercenaries and hunters in the film believe they are human, but in reality, they are insects. This incongruity is the source of the terrifying experience, because when cognition is questioned, everything is an illusion, even the self is denied, which is a deeper level of fear."
"I don't think this the Silence Project is a good idea. Let me put it this way, I find these movies scary, not because they're actually scary, but because when I'm watching them, I don't know what's going to happen, so I'm worried. But now they're going to integrate all these films into one world, then I'll definitely know that the main character won't get into trouble, so the fear is reduced, and it becomes like a mass-produced movie."
"Actually, these films show that Lu Ban's greatest strength lies in his control over the visuals and the uniqueness of his plot arrangements. His performances and the pairings with other actors are very casual. The advantage of this is that the shooting cycle is quite short. From ' Hyakunin Isshu ' to 'Crying', and then to the latest ' Nameless City,' the three films were all shot in just half a year. But if he wanted to shoot continuously, the personnel scheduling and project management would not be something that a small workshop model could handle. I wonder if he can manage it."
"I think the actors' performances have improved a lot, except for Lu Ban. Especially the hunters this time, their struggle and Affliction at the end, their blank expressions, and their numb and dazed appearance at the end, I think it can be rated as the best performance of the year. Without rich experience and talent, it is impossible to present such an effect. In comparison, the acting skills of many actors now can only be described as rubbish. They can't even do the most basic dialogue delivery. It is really a tragedy for the industry."
There were countless discussions, some optimistic about Lu Ban and the Silence Project, and others pessimistic. However, due to Lu Ban's previous performances, most people did not make any definitive statements, lest they be proven wrong later, since the internet remembers everything.
Most people's conclusions ultimately point to one thing: how long will it take for Lu Ban to release a new work within this worldview? The quality of this work will directly affect people's confidence in Lu Ban.
Lu Ban himself was completely unaware of this.
On New Year's Day, people came and went on the streets. Many citizens of Jiangcheng chose to go to the city square in the old street of Jiangcheng City to welcome the New Year.
Wearing a mask, Lu Ban walked among the crowd, appearing exceptionally lonely.
Instead of joining the crowd, he walked to the other side and arrived at the entrance of a movie theater.
This is one of the cinemas where "The Crying" premiered nationwide, and it's also the place Feng Yu had told Lu Ban to come to today.
Lu Ban didn't send a message to the other party beforehand. He was somewhat skeptical about what Feng Yu had mentioned, so Lu Ban decided to take his chances. If he could run into Feng Yu, he would follow her and see what would happen. If he didn't happen to run into her, then it would be fine.
As soon as Lu Ban entered the movie theater, whether it was lucky or unlucky, he saw Feng Yu standing at the ticket counter, looking up at the movie trailer playing on the electronic screen.
As the year drew to a close, the weather in Jiangcheng was already quite cold, as if it could snow lightly at any moment. She wore a hooded duffle coat, paired with cargo pants and sneakers, looking like any other young person you'd see anywhere.
Noticing Lu Ban's gaze, Feng Yu waved the movie ticket in his hand and smiled.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time."
Thank you to "Chai Chi Fei Yang" for the 1500 coin reward, thank you to "Deng Geladin" for the 500 coin reward, thank you to "Bu Ai Jiu Pang De Shan Qiu" for the 400 coin reward, and thank you to "Shi Shui Tong", "Tian Tian Tian Shi", "Li Yuan_Li Huan Xuan", "Yang Er", "Ye Lin Shang", and "Shu You 20191020193623018" for the 100 coin rewards!