Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 470 The situation is great

On November 21st, when Love Is Not Blind was still reaping the box office revenue, Liu Zhou convened the publicity and promotion department of Golden Harvest after participating in CCTV's Dialogue program.

There were less than ten days left before the movie was released, and because of the huge expectations for "Interstellar", Liu Zhou always felt that there would be omissions, so he called them over to give them some more instructions.

"The promotion of Love Is Not Blind will continue, and from tomorrow Interstellar will also begin large-scale previews. We will allocate major promotional resources to continue to increase the promotion of Interstellar.

It's already the 9st, and there are still 80 days until the movie is released. I want to see Interstellar occupy % of the entertainment news within a week, and there won't be any negative news! "Liu Zhou said to the publicity department with a serious face.

It was originally scheduled to be screened half a month earlier on November 11th, but Love Is Not Blind was too popular, so in order to avoid losing both sides, Liu Zhou decided to wait a week.

It is undeniable that the huge success of "Love Is Not Blind" did have a certain impact on the promotion of "Interstellar".

When this movie became a hit, Golden Harvest spent 100 on promotional resources but only got 50% of the effect.

Only "Love Is Not Blind" is his own movie, otherwise Liu Zhou might not be able to resist using some means to deal with it. He would not allow any accidents to happen to "Interstellar".

Fortunately, "Love Is Not Blind" no longer needs Golden Harvest to continue to maintain its popularity. The media and netizens will spontaneously contribute to the popularity of this movie.

Golden Harvest can also invest most of its promotional resources into "Interstellar".

After Liu Zhou confirmed the publicity plan with the people in the publicity department and made sure there were no omissions, he also announced the adjournment of the meeting.

In fact, as Interstellar approaches its release, its publicity has become quite large.

For Golden Harvest, it is very clear how important publicity is to a movie. The intensity of early publicity can even directly determine the success or failure of a movie.

"Interstellar" has a publicity budget of 100 million yuan, which is truly pervasive. Information about this movie can be heard and seen in every corner of life.

Not to mention some common channels, in addition to the common methods, online promotion also involves life service platforms, online shopping platforms, local life service websites in various provinces and cities, etc.

However, the most effective online promotion should be the Penguin pop-up. Penguin now has hundreds of millions of users. After more than ten years of development, middle-aged and young people are almost all Penguin users.

Most of these people are potential audiences who will go to the cinema to watch movies.

In addition to online and offline, taxis and buses in most first-, second- and third-tier cities in China are covered with movie posters, and even the bodies of the express tricycles driving around the streets are covered with posters.

Moreover, this time, Golden Harvest also spent a large amount of advertising fees on Focus Media. Indoor and outdoor digital display screens, advertising screens on landmark buildings in various provinces and cities, office buildings, and shopping malls are also playing promotional videos for the movie.

Anyway, all the methods that can be thought of have been used.

Even though the momentum is already big enough, daily publicity is still essential.

Liu Zhou also took Liu Ye, Fan Xiaopang and other main creative team members to visit several major voting bases in China.

After all, the annual box office in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai is higher than that in most provinces in the country.

As time went by, the Internet was in turmoil.

Although "Love Is Not Blind" is still quite popular, with the full-scale promotion of "Interstellar", most of the current entertainment news is about "Interstellar".

After all, this movie is highly anticipated, and the huge number of science fiction fans in China have been looking forward to it for a long time.

And for most viewers, compared to "Love Is Not Blind", they are more looking forward to "Interstellar", so with the release of some trailers and the crew traveling around the country, the latter has dominated the screen again.

Magnificent frozen stars, huge waves thousands of meters high, space wormholes. The short trailers released one after another whetted the audience's appetite.

Trailers are basically just a few seconds long, less than one-tenth the length of an advertisement.

Willful enough!
Other movies would cut the most essential parts into trailers and release them to attract as many audiences as possible.

This also means that for some movies, it is enough to just watch the trailer, because the main film is not as good as the trailer.

Just like in later generations, when watching a TV series or movie, people find it more interesting and attractive to watch the videos edited by film and television bloggers, while watching the main film instead feels a bit boring.

After running for nearly a week, Liu Zhou and others finally returned to the capital. It was already November 28th.

"Interstellar" will premiere on the evening of the 29th, and then will be released nationwide at midnight.

Today will also be the last day for the movie’s preview. There won’t be many previews, only about two to three hundred a day across the country.

The most important thing is to cover all areas and let the word-of-mouth of the movie spread across the country. That’s enough.

It also has a bit of a hunger marketing feel to it, and they’re also afraid that there will be too many shows and it’ll be hard to control.

After all, we should always be on guard against others.

If piracy occurs before the film is released, it will be a huge disaster for the box office.

In order to prevent the copy from being leaked during the preview, Golden Harvest also spent a lot of money to protect it from being leaked.

Liu Zhou, through his connections with Poly Group, found three professional security companies, which serve the wealthy individuals and large groups in the country.

Two copies of each document are kept by four people, one from two different companies, just in case.

The preview lasted for a week, and the total number of previews nationwide reached nearly 1,500 in the past few days, and more and more audiences watched the movie.

What shocked the major domestic cinema chains was that all 1,500 preview screenings were sold out, with each one achieving 100% attendance.

Especially for the preview screenings in the evening, there are almost always long queues, and you won’t be able to buy tickets if you’re late.

Everyone has time at night, and most people find it difficult or unwilling to take time off during the day to go to the movies.
As more and more viewers watched the preview, the reputation of the movie spread through word of mouth among fans in real life and on the Internet. Coupled with the vigorous promotion by Golden Harvest, "Interstellar" became an absolute hot spot in China.

Almost all the reviews online are positive. After all, those who can queue up for advance screening tickets are at least movie lovers, and it is rare for anyone to deliberately abuse or slander a truly excellent movie.

Of course there are definitely people with different tastes, they may not like it but they are ultimately a minority.

So before the preview was released, "Interstellar" had already received a high score of 8.8 on Douban. Although it did not reach points, it was still a rare high score for a domestic film.

As of November 3.6th, the box office of "Love Is Not Blind" has reached million yuan. In two days, "Interstellar" will be released, but it should be no problem for the box office to exceed million yuan.

After six days of previews, "Interstellar" contributed nearly 50 million in box office revenue, which also shocked the industry.

This is a preview screening, and the box office of the preview screening is actually more than the total box office of most preview screenings.

If it is officially released, that will be a terrifying number. Some film critics and media predict that "Interstellar" has a high chance of breaking the billion mark at the box office.

As for breaking the 1.3 billion box office record of "Avatar", they didn't dare to think about it. After all, it is too difficult to get another 300 million box office on the basis of 1 billion. But even if it is 1 billion box office, it is amazing enough.

If "Interstellar" can really break the 1 billion box office, it will be a boost to the Chinese-language film industry. At the very least, it will be a big step closer to the box office record and will no longer be so out of reach.

Whether it's audience word of mouth or media reviews, everything about the movie seems to be moving in a good direction.

However, as the saying goes, "care too much leads to confusion", Liu Zhou was still a little worried after returning from the promotion trip.

It just so happened that Zeng Li had just finished her confinement and hadn't been out for a long time. The two of them hit it off immediately and went out after disguising themselves a little.

The two came to Wanda Plaza in Shijingshan, west of the fifth ring road in Beijing, which is already considered a suburb.

They originally thought that there would be fewer people here, but they obviously underestimated the speed of Beijing's development. Even a remote place like the Fifth Ring Road is very popular.

But since they were already here, there was no reason to go back. Liu Zhou and Zeng Li prepared to walk up one floor at a time like an ordinary couple, and then go to see a movie at the end.

Come to think of it, the two haven't been on stage like this since they became famous.

When getting off the bus at the south gate of the mall, you can tell that Zeng Li seems to be in a very good mood and is very excited.

There was a supermarket on the underground first floor, and because the cinema did not allow snacks to be brought in, the two of them did not go downstairs.

However, Zeng Li was quite curious about this and asked:
"Zhou Zhou, why are most supermarkets in shopping malls on the basement floor?"

Liu Zhou looked at Zeng Li with a curious look and replied with a smile:

“The things sold in supermarkets are mostly daily necessities, such as chicken, duck, fish, meat and seafood, which have strong odors. Customers pick them up after buying them. If you put them on the upper floors, the whole mall will be filled with odors.

There is also a parking lot below the underground floor, so it is convenient for customers to park their cars there after shopping.”

"So that's how it is. There are so many explanations in it."

"There aren't so many theories, you just haven't thought about it seriously. Let me ask you another question. Do you know why movie theaters are usually located on the upper floors or the top floors of shopping malls?"

Zeng Li looked at the people going up and down the elevator, and an idea suddenly occurred to her. She said:

"If the cinema is placed on the top floor, customers will pass by the shops on the middle floors. There should be many people who will walk up slowly like us."

Liu Zhou touched Zeng Li's head and said with a smile:

"The reaction is quite fast. In fact, it is not only about going upstairs, but also going downstairs. Most people don't just watch a movie and leave, they just walk around.

The key to whether a shopping mall can make money lies precisely in how to attract customers to higher floors.

Another important reason is that cinemas usually require a larger area, and the rent for the top floor is relatively cheaper, which can also save costs. "

"It seems that I am not suitable for doing business. There are too many twists and turns here."

"Leave the brainwork to me, and you take care of your beauty, haha."

The two of them didn't buy anything as they walked along the way. They didn't need anything either. They just enjoyed the fun of shopping in the mall.

More than an hour later, Liu Zhou and Zeng Li also arrived at the Wanda Cinema on the top floor. Many people were also rushing to the cinema.

When we arrived at the cinema, it was already packed with spectators. There was no place to stand, let alone seats in the hall.

Liu Zhou originally wanted to go see "Interstellar", but when he saw a long line, he thought he wouldn't be able to buy a ticket.

However, he didn't come here specifically to watch a movie, so seeing this situation, he felt a little relieved.

Moreover, Liu Zhou took a quick look at the people queuing to buy tickets and found that there were people of all ages, including men, women, young and old.

I feel more confident. This is the advantage of this type of movie. Otherwise, why were there so many companies shooting martial arts and costume blockbusters in the past few years?
This is because ancient costume martial arts blockbusters have a wider audience and have natural advantages.

For example, a romance film may have an audience of five million, but only two or three million people can go to the cinema to watch it.

The potential audience for costume martial arts blockbusters is at least 20 to 30 million. Even if only 5 million people come to watch it, the box office will be 200 to 300 million.

After all, movies are an art form of the senses. People go to the cinema to watch movies for the visual effects, which is why Hollywood blockbusters can wreak havoc around the world.

Compared to feature films, people still prefer watching blockbusters.

Unless a feature film resonates with the vast majority of people or evokes some kind of social phenomenon, it is difficult to get high box office.

The movie "Love Is Not Blind" which is currently in theaters has caused a social phenomenon, otherwise how could it have achieved such a high box office.

There is also the later "Dying to Survive", which also resonated with most audiences. After all, many people can relate to the problem of difficulty in seeing a doctor.

"The Shawshank Redemption", which is now praised by movie fans both at home and abroad, was completely defeated by "Forrest Gump" in terms of awards and box office in its day, because the latter reflected many social phenomena.

"Forrest Gump" is a mainstream movie in the United States, but it also grossed $3.5 million in the overseas film market because it resonated with most of the audience, resonating with their dreams.

What was most needed in the 1990s was dreams, and what everyone was pursuing was dreams.

So "Love Is Not Blind" was unexpectedly popular, "Naked Marriage" also had a huge viewership rating, and "Snail House" was so popular that it was banned.

These are all because they fit certain social phenomena in the country.

Wen Zhang starred in all these works of the original time and space. His vision for selecting films is really amazing.

However, the popularity of these movies and TV series is indeed largely due to the times. For example, if "Love Is Not Blind" was released five years ago, even if it was directed by Zhang Yimou, it would not have been able to gross 200 million yuan.

The professional filmmakers in major domestic companies are not all blind. One or two may make mistakes, but it is impossible for most of them to make mistakes. There is a reason why major companies were not optimistic about the movie "Love Is Not Blind" before.

They analyzed all the reasons, but probably didn't expect that this movie would cause a social phenomenon.

There is no need to consider these things too much for blockbusters, especially special effects blockbusters. As long as the scenes are big enough and the special effects are shocking enough, it will be a success.

If the plot was better, it would have been a classic.

"Interstellar" is first-rate in both its special effects and its plot, otherwise it would not have become a classic.

Seeing people of different ages enjoying watching this movie now undoubtedly proves this point.

(End of this chapter)