Halloween Eve

Not to mention pseudo-documentaries like The Blair Witch Project, which relied entirely on marketing to bring in box office revenue.

As for why he had not chosen to make The Blair Witch Project, the reason was simple: to insiders, that kind of movie was worthless.

Its box office had been completely hyped up by marketing, and such a film offered no benefits whatsoever to the director.

People would only feel that the director had deceived them, which would be extremely detrimental to the director's future works. The only ones who benefited were the film companies.

What it ruined, however, was a director's entire future.

Kevin naturally would never choose that kind of film.

Of course, after saying all that, what he really wanted to emphasize was the importance of publicity.

At the same time, when promoting a film, it was very important to tie it to other movies. Put simply, it meant riding their popularity.

Riding the hype also required skill. The classic status of The Silence of the Lambs went without saying, and Saw was no less impressive.

Now that The Silence of the Lambs had already proven its reputation, they could ride its momentum.

It would attract viewers who had watched The Silence of the Lambs, and since both were horror films, their audiences overlapped to a large extent.

As long as Saw was good enough, those people would continuously spread Saw's reputation to the outside world.

Of course, if Saw's quality fell short, the consequences would be just as severe. They would become Saw's fiercest haters.

But Kevin had confidence in Saw's quality.

A film with no outside factors mixed in and solid quality of its own had already proven itself in Kevin's memories. As long as the promotion kept up, there was no reason for it to flop.

Salma Hayek cast Kevin a seductive glance, picked up a bottle of pure milk from beside the bed, and gulped it down in one go.

Only then did she lean against Kevin and read the newspaper with him.

Seeing that the papers were full of praise for Saw, Salma Hayek could not help but beam with joy.

As the nominal female lead, even though Jigsaw was the most compelling character in the film, she would still benefit from its success.

As long as the film succeeded, she would no longer be an unknown in Hollywood.

"Kevin, there isn't even a single bad review of Saw in the papers. Are we going to succeed?"

Kevin chuckled.

"Of course. How could a genius director fail once he made a move? Right, my leading lady?"

"How are you going to thank me?"

Kevin said deliberately.

Salma Hayek rolled her eyes. Over the past few days, Kevin had thoroughly won her over. The moment he spoke, she knew exactly what he wanted.

Everything went without saying...

Time flew by.

Soon, it was the day before Halloween—Halloween Eve.

The streets were filled with Americans dressed up as demons and monsters, while pumpkin lanterns hung throughout the malls.

Kevin stood on the stage in the mall plaza. It was a modest-sized square that could hold around a hundred people.

At midnight tonight, Saw would begin screening in theaters.

He had come here to build hype and let the students know in advance that Saw was about to be released.

There were roughly 2,500 universities across the United States, and the theater chains New Line Cinema knew best were those near these campuses. For that reason, they had secured 800 big screens for Saw.

That accounted for a full fifth of the university market.

Of course, the contract only lasted three days. After those three days, theaters had the right to increase or reduce the number of screens according to Saw's performance.

North American box office splits generally used a tiered model.

In the first week, the production side could take 60%, or even 70%, of the box office revenue. After that, the share would rise or gradually decline depending on the film's performance.

Of course, it generally declined over time.

Therefore, the opening week's numbers were crucial. They would determine the theater chains' attitude toward the film.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Kevin. Have you heard of me?"

From the stage, Kevin shouted at the students below, who could very well have been his juniors.

As a prominent figure on campus, Kevin's words immediately turned the younger students below into screaming fans.

Kevin skillfully began promoting the film to them according to the usual requirements of a movie premiere.

For a low-budget film, holding an advance screening already amounted to a premiere.

A true star-studded premiere was not something Kevin could hold at this point.

Thanks to promotion in print media, some horror fans had already become potential viewers of Saw, and these students were Saw's core audience to begin with.

Incidentally, Saw had unsurprisingly received an R rating, meaning viewers under seventeen had to watch it with their parents.

The higher NC rating was generally unattainable except for certain banned films.

Moreover, the deaths in Saw carried a message urging people to cherish life, and New Line Cinema had put in considerable effort.

That was how it received an R rating.

This was also why Kevin had always intended to seek cooperation with a major company. In truth, there was even more money outside the industry than there was in film investment, but if that funding was not raised through film companies within the industry—

There would be many problems when it came time for release.

From ratings to publicity to theater chains, every step was a problem.

Hollywood could be as exploitative as it wanted toward outside capital. People in Hong Kong's entertainment industry understood that better than anyone.

Midnight arrived.

Countless demons and monsters flocked to theaters in search of excitement.

"Kyra, let's go see Saw. Those critics gave this horror movie extremely high praise."

Beside him, Kyra, a blonde white girl dressed very sexily, made her tall white boyfriend restless with desire.

He was trying to use a horror movie to take their relationship a step further.

"I'm a little scared. Maybe... we should forget it..."

Kyra spoke in a coy, half-refusing tone.

The tall white boy immediately became even more excited.

He patted his chest and said:

"With me here, don't be afraid. I'll protect you."

Only then did Kyra put on a reluctantly persuaded expression and enter the theater with him.

Clearly, they had not come to watch a movie.

Among college students nowadays, doing adult things in a movie theater was one of their favorite ways to seek excitement.

And among such films, those rated R or above were undoubtedly perfect for setting the mood.