old events in tokyo

On Christmas Day, there are almost long queues in front of theaters, large and small, in Tokyo.

Shochiku is not the only theater chain where this movie is released, but also theaters under retail groups such as Toho, Toei, and Lawson and AEON (Jusco).

Shochiku was entrusted with the release of the film at the beginning. As one of the giants of the film production company, Shochiku is naturally familiar with the intricate relationships in the industry.

If a movie is only released in its own theaters, then its potential has basically been determined from the very beginning.

Because the upper limit of the ceiling is there, there will hardly be too much splash in dozens of movie theaters.

Therefore, it is an inevitable choice for an ambitious movie to strive for more screens.

Of course, the premise is that this movie is generally valued by the industry, so that it has the opportunity to be released in multiple theaters.

"Crying Out for Love in the Center of the World" has novels, Kazuki Akiyama, and several major film production companies co-produced. With the addition of these layers of halos, the popularity is already adequate, so don't worry.

So, as competitors of Shochiku, will Toho, Toei, and Nikkatsu, these giants, release each other's films?
The answer is yes. It is the basic operation of these theaters to release films from other production companies when they have no major films to release during the schedule.

The share of the box office of Japanese movies is somewhat similar to that in China. Half of the total box office is directly allocated to theaters, and the ratio is listed at 30%-70%, and most of them remain at about half.

Therefore, when the box office of a film produced by itself is not as good as that of its competitors, the theater chain of its own will not hesitate to increase the film scheduling rate of its competitors.

Capital is the most realistic, and it is also the most profit-seeking. Whoever has the highest profit will support him. The reason is as simple as that.

At the same time, almost none of Toho and Toei's films were released, so almost all of their movie theaters were showing "Crying Out for Love in the Center of the World".

In the mid-90s, there were more than 1700 movie theaters in Japan. Today’s movie theaters are basically single-hall movie theaters, that is, there is only one big screen.

The multi-functional movie theater has just emerged and has not yet been fully popularized.Only a few giants have remodeled some, and some individual theaters are equipped with such facilities.

The total number of screens is about 2000 yuan, most of which were handled by Shochiku and jointly released this movie.

Hiroshi Watanabe, a self-employed cinema operator, has also joined the co-release contract for the movie "Crying Out Love in the Center of the World."

Today was the first day of the film's release, so he came here specially to see the attendance rate of the film.

This movie theater has been in operation since his grandfather's generation, and now he has passed it on to himself. He is determined to expand the size of the movie theater, and this year he specially transformed the movie theater into a multi-purpose theater, adding 3 large screens.

"Watanabe-san, there are too many spectators queuing outside, and all the pre-sale tickets have been sold. But the audience is still reluctant to leave."

As soon as he came over, a staff member reported to him what was going on outside the theater.

"Oh~" Hiroshi Watanabe raised his eyebrows, walked to the window and looked downstairs, the long line showed no signs of decreasing, and even increased.

"Remove all the films in other theaters and replace them with this Akiyama-san." Hiroshi Watanabe turned his head and ordered the staff without hesitation.

As a self-employed person, how to arrange the film is all a matter of his words.There have been no such scenes in Japanese movies for many years.

For Sang, the president of the cinema, this is also a rare sight.

At the same time, it is also a good opportunity to pick up money and make a fortune. There is only one or two months before the release of a movie, so it must not be wasted.

Based on the 4 big screens in his house, one broadcast is worth 30 million yen. He wished he could not stop 24 hours a day.

This is just what happened in a movie theater in Tokyo, and it is the same in many other movie theaters, large and small.

Such a grand release will undoubtedly become a hot topic of discussion during this period of time, and even become a social phenomenon.

The movie "Crying Out for Love in the Center of the World" is a pure love movie in the words of later generations, but it's something that everyone has never seen.

The story is also very old-fashioned from the perspective of later generations. The hero and heroine are in love, and the heroine is terminally ill.Proper Korean soap opera template.

However, there are not many such stories in this era. When people first meet such a plot, most of them are completely moved.

"Kissing is done while talking about ideals. So what is your ideal?"

"When I come here, I feel that Aki is still alive."

"Close your eyes, and you are still in front of me. I like you because of your mouth full of bread on the roof, and your smile that always makes me feel at ease. Touch, when you ride me on a motorcycle, your back is my whole world."

These lines in the movie have become a topic of mutual discussion.

Kimura Takuya's handsome and infatuated image, Matsu Takako's girlish innocence and unswerving love, all separated by terminal illness, poignant and touching.

After the movie was released, the two of them have become the hottest stars now, and they are the white moonlight and prince charming in the hearts of countless boys and girls.

Radio stations, variety shows, and even news programs discussed the movie, and comedians parodied their parts in the movie to win a good laugh from the masses.

Takako Matsu, who just debuted, jumped to the top of film and television, and Takuya Kimura's popularity has risen to a higher level. His aura even covered up other people in SMAP.

Now when people mention SMAP, the first thing that comes to mind is him, Takuya Kimura.

There are various indications that this movie is really out of the circle, and out of the circle means that it will attract more people into the cinema, and it also means more criticism.

"No matter how beautiful the camera is, it can't cover up the paleness and mediocrity of the story design.

The whole film does not have strong story suspense and complex character relationships. It just tries its best to work on the details and does not bring real reform to Japanese movies. It has to be said that it is very regrettable. "

"The novel narrative technique shows the long journey of love in human life. Although the story is simple, it has an ordinary touch.

Pure love, pure youth, pure boys and girls, for some reason, whenever I recall the story, tears always come out of my eyes. "

However, no matter whether it is criticism or appreciation, more and more people are entering the cinema.

The end of December was just one month after the movie was released. According to the statistics of major theaters, "Crying Out Love in the Center of the World" attracted a total of 12 people to the cinema this month.

Nowadays, the box office statistics of Japanese movies only include the distribution revenue and the number of movie viewers, and have not yet referred to the total box office as in later generations.

However, based on the current average movie ticket price of 1400 yen, 30 person-times is about 40 billion movie box office.

This figure not only greatly exceeded Kazuki Akiyama's own expectations, but also triggered a major earthquake in the industry.