The Entire Times Square Was Blinking for You

"Exclusive broadcast?"

When Lu Ban heard Thomas Lee's suggestion, he subconsciously asked a question in return.

"Yes, we can reduce the theater's share, give you more revenue, increase the number of screenings, and provide more promotional support. In exchange, our company will exclusively broadcast your three films, ' The Demon Tide,' 'The Cry,' and ' The Mouth of the Madman,' in the North American market. Specifically, we can accept a 30% commission rate, which means you can get close to 70% of the film's box office revenue."

Thomas Lee looked at the young director in front of him, his words full of sincerity.

Two days ago, he received a call from his boss, who demanded that he negotiate the exclusive rights to "Demon Tide" as his top priority, which puzzled Thomas Lee.

Although he had seen "The Demon Tide" and thought it was an excellent film, he was extremely skeptical that his company had managed to secure the exclusive broadcasting rights.

First of all, although his company is the largest theater chain in North America, it doesn't have a 90/10 split with other theater chains. It only accounts for about 50% of the market share. Choosing to exclusively broadcast on his company means losing about 40% of the revenue from other theaters. If they are confident in their work, they won't risk losing more than they gain.

Secondly, judging from Thomas Lee's contact with Lu Ban, this person is not so conservative. He is more likely to choose an aggressive strategy. For Lu Ban, it may be more important to cover the entire market.

"Mr. Li, I'm sorry, I have no intention of choosing exclusive broadcasting."

Lu Ban answered immediately without much thought.

"My goal for this film is to achieve a revenue share of 5 billion, which is 800 million US dollars. If we choose to have it exclusively released in your theaters, I think it might make it more difficult to achieve this goal."

He was telling the truth.

"Eight hundred million US dollars???"

Thomas Lee thought he had misheard.

If Lu Ban had mentioned a box office of $800 million, he might have thought that Lu Ban, as a director, had high aspirations and ambitious goals.

But what does an $800 million box office revenue share mean?

According to the normal revenue sharing model, the production company would receive 40%, and $800 million would require $2 billion in box office revenue as a basic requirement.

To date, only five films in global film history have grossed over two billion US dollars.

Is Lu Ban trying to break into the top five global box office rankings with this film?

This is even more delusional than wishful thinking.

Thomas Lee thought Lu Ban might actually be a little mentally unstable.

"Director Lu, if you don't want to accept our exclusive broadcast invitation, you can just say so. There's no need to make such a joke."

Thomas Lee gave an awkward but polite smile.

"No, I'm very serious."

Lu Ban replied.

"Actually, during this period, I have reached agreements with several other theater chains to release the film on Christmas Day. I have also purchased a huge advertisement in Times Square. By next week at the latest, you will see the entire Times Square flashing for ' The Demon Tide '."

"???"

Thomas Lee's question marks kept overflowing.

Setting the release date together with other theaters is not a problem; in fact, any reputable production company would do that. But what about the giant Times Square advertisement?

Times Square has many advertising screens, the most famous being the Nasdaq screen and the Reuters screen. The most expensive Nasdaq screen costs around $60,000 a day for a 30-second video loop. The other screens vary in price, and lighting them up can cost hundreds of thousands, or even close to a million dollars.

Moreover, these ads aren't just for one day; they run for at least a week. To operate like Lu Ban, it would cost at least several million.

Moreover, it's only August now, and there are still four months until the Christmas release date. Lu Ban definitely needs to release it at least once a month during these four months.

All told, the publicity and promotion here alone would cost tens of millions, and that's just the most basic level.

Including on-the-ground promotions, advertising on screens in other shopping malls, newspapers, etc., in North America alone, these marketing expenses are enough for some small-budget teams to shoot an entire movie.

Previously, a film invested over $200 million in global marketing and distribution, which earned nearly $2.8 billion in global box office revenue, ranking second in global box office history. However, that was the final installment of a well-known superhero ensemble film, and its popularity was already high enough. Whether Lu Ban, a director making his debut in the European and American markets, can have such high box office appeal is really hard to guess.

After concluding his discussion with Lu Ban, Thomas Lee reported Lu Ban's response to his superiors, inevitably receiving a scolding.

After the formalities were finalized, Thomas Lee applied for a vacation, wanting to relax and unwind.

He returned to North America and strolled the streets of New York, which gave him a sense of unreality.

The North American version of "The Crying" will be released in September, and "The Mouth of the Madman" in October. These two films have already generated a lot of discussion on relevant forums in North America, and pirated resources have also been leaked. However, due to language issues, many foreigners cannot understand them and need some dedicated translators to translate the Chinese into English subtitles. Those who have seen these two films have praised Lu Ban highly, after all, this type of film is rare even in Europe and America recently.

Early in the morning, Thomas Lee arrived at Times Square.

People come and go here in an endless stream. As one of the busiest and most prosperous crossroads in the world, it frequently appears in various news reports and movies. It is arguably the most prominent landmark besides the Statue of Liberty.

He looked up and saw that the screen with the Nasdaq logo was still playing advertisements for cosmetics and clothing. Other advertising screens were also displaying their own advertisements, a dazzling array of products, with neon lights flashing.

Suddenly, all the screens went black.

If it were just one or two screens, passersby might only think it was a brief black screen during an advertisement switch. But in an instant, all the screens in Times Square went completely black, the noisy sounds disappeared, and the streets became silent.

Thomas Lee looked at the Nasdaq screen.

The logo of Silent Media emerged from the darkness, followed by the appearance of a vast forest.

This is a 30-second trailer that perfectly captures the film's chilling, somber, yet exhilarating atmosphere. Thomas Lee looks around and notices that most pedestrians are stopping to watch, seemingly captivated by the trailer's visuals.

Just as the screen went black again, it seemed that the matter had come to an end.

Suddenly, a roar rang out, just like the giant wolf in the movie. Thomas Lee saw a gray-white giant wolf leap out of the screen, its entire head sticking out of the frame!