Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 20: Publicity and Hype

"Hey, Link, I heard your movie is out, how's the box office?"

In West Hollywood, Link was having a late-night snack at a restaurant when he met a few familiar men and women, who immediately surrounded him when they saw him.

"not bad."

"Don't lie. We went to the Grove Shopping Center to watch a movie yesterday. After we entered the theater, there were less than 20 people in the audience. Two people left halfway through the movie. It was like we had the theater to ourselves, and we were treated like VIPs."

"There was no promotion yesterday, so there were few people. Today there are more people."

"Impossible. You are the only actor in this movie, and all the scenes are set in a small wooden box. It looks easy to fall asleep. How could anyone buy a ticket to watch a movie like this?"

"Well, you're right!"

Link finished eating the barbecue, paid the bill and left.

After returning to the apartment to rest, Chris Bauer came to him to report on the screenings at the Grove Shopping Center Cinema, which were also average, only slightly better than yesterday.

Chris Bauer also began to persuade him not to release "Buried" at his own expense, saying it was not cost-effective and that he might as well use the money to buy a car. A car would also be convenient for delivering food.

Link said that the money had been paid and there was no way to get it back.

Chris Bauer felt sorry for him.

After finishing his part-time job at Burger King in the morning, Link went to the Grove Shopping Center to check yesterday's box office data.

Yesterday, "Buried" sold a total of 719 movie tickets, with sales reaching $4812, which is only a hundred dollars away from the minimum guarantee line. Obviously, the situation is much better than what Chris Bauer said.

But Jerome Preston also reminded him not to be happy too soon.

The box office results increased slightly yesterday, partly due to media publicity and partly because it was Saturday and there was a large flow of customers in the shopping mall.

By Monday, the working day, box office sales of all movies had fallen, and the daily box office sales of "Buried" were likely to fall below $1000. Jerome asked him to prepare for losses in advance.

"I understand, but I dare to release this movie at my own expense, so I am not afraid of losing money. If I lose money, I can earn it again later."

"You are awesome. Now that you have made up your mind, I will not nag you any more. If you lose all your deposit, don't blame me for not advising you."

Jerome Preston pointed at him. He had seen many poor people, but he had never seen someone like Link who was poor, stubborn and didn't value money.

After leaving Jerome's office, Link found a newsstand on the street to read the newspaper.

There are many reviews about "Chaplin" in the newspapers, most of which are positive, praising Robert Downey Jr. for his superb acting skills and his potential to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, transforming from an idol to an acting star.

Link spent half an hour flipping through several newspapers before he found four reviews of "Buried" in newspapers such as "The Hollywood Reporter", "Film Variety", and "Entertainment Today".

There are two good reviews, one average review, and one bad review.

The content of the positive reviews is similar to what Will Roger said, praising the high quality of the film and the sense of thriller throughout, calling it one of the more amazing thriller films.

The mid-level review said that "Buried" is innovative and an experimental film with a good directing level. The storyline captured by the camera is closely linked, and a tense atmosphere is created with limited tools and scenes. The film has a profound meaning and is worth watching.

Negative reviews said that the film was crudely made, the images were not clear enough, the soundtrack was poor, and it could not create a thriller atmosphere, which was much worse than "Chaplin" released at the same time.

Link also saw a news article in the Los Angeles Times that was reprinted from the New York Post. It was about P. Diddy and was also somewhat related to Link.

The news said that after the Grammy Awards ended a few days ago, rapper P. Diddy and his group flew back to New York.

During the flight, BIG, a singer signed by P. Diddy, got into a physical conflict with an Asian passenger and used discriminatory language to attack the Asian passenger.

The Asian passenger quoted Dr. Martin Luther King's speech "I Have a Dream" to fight back and demanded an apology from BIG.

After being rejected by BIG, P. Diddy later apologized on behalf of BIG.

There was also a picture accompanying the news, which included the fat black man Wallace, P. Diddy, the rapper Jay-Z with dreadlocks, and Link.

Link had his back to the photographer at the time, with half of his profile shown in the photo.

If it is someone familiar, you will recognize it as him.

There was also a news item about P. Diddy in the newspaper.

On December 12 last year, P. Diddy held a celebrity charity basketball game at the City University of New York-City College, inviting black stars such as Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, and Mike Tyson to participate.

Due to insufficient preparation, a serious stampede occurred at the scene, resulting in 9 deaths and 29 injuries.

After the accident, the victims' families and survivors filed lawsuits against P. Diddy, and P. Diddy paid $75 in compensation.

Many media outlets published articles criticizing P. Diddy, and the New York Post called him a "fool who seeks to attract attention."

P. Diddy is very popular in the media right now.

This is probably the reason why this small conflict on the plane was exposed by the media.

After reading the newspaper, Link went to a phone booth and called the Los Angeles Times' news tip line.

After the call was connected, Link told the operator that he knew the Asian man who had a conflict with P. Diddy. The man was called Link, and he was the protagonist of the movie "Buried Alive".

"Movie? Buried Alive? What kind of movie is this?" "Buried Alive is a new movie that is showing in the Union Theater, the Grove Mall Cinema and other places. The famous film critic Will Rogers strongly recommended this movie in The Hollywood Reporter yesterday. You will know once you have seen it."

"Okay sir, the clues you provided are very valuable. Please leave your contact information. After we confirm the news clues, we will apply for the corresponding reward for you."

"No, I am a loyal reader of the Los Angeles Times. It is my pleasure to provide clues to the newspaper. I hope this clue will be useful to you."

"Okay sir, thank you again for your support of our newspaper's work."

"You're welcome!"

After hanging up the phone, Link returned to the cinema and took charge.

This weekend, the number of customers in the shopping mall has increased, and the number of people coming to watch movies has also increased, but the increase is not much. On average, there are about fifty to sixty people going in to watch movies every hour.

The next afternoon, the box office results for "Buried" on its third day of release were released. The Burbank-Union Theater sold a total of 704 movie tickets, with revenue of $5632, just above the minimum guarantee line.

A total of 1506 movie tickets were sold in the first three days of the premiere, with box office revenue of US$1.21.

The average daily box office data is still below the average for art films.

The Grove Mall Cinema sold 1821 tickets in its first three days, grossing $1.45.

This data ranks third from the bottom among movies of the same period.

Jerome Preston and Old Mason asked him if he wanted to continue the show, as the box office results would be very poor on weekdays, and if he continued, life would become even more difficult.

If we stop now, we can still get some of our money back.

Link shook his head. He had already gone all in, so how could he take it back so easily?

Foot traffic to shopping malls dropped sharply on Monday, as did the number of people visiting cinemas.

The impact was huge for several commercial films released at the same time, with declines of more than 60%, and almost no one came before pm.

But for "Buried Alive", the impact is not significant.

The reason is that the attendance rate of "Buried" was very low in the past three days, less than 40%.

In the past two days, with the release of "Buried", word of mouth has gradually spread, and the number of viewers has increased. The number of reviews and discussions about "Buried" in the media has gradually increased.

The Los Angeles Times also added some exposure to the film on Tuesday morning when it mentioned Link in a story about P. Diddy and the movie Buried.

On Monday, "Buried" sold 512 tickets at the United Theater and earned $4096. Although this result was lower than that of the weekend, it was far higher than expected and higher than the average daily box office of several art films in the same period.

Over at the Grove Shopping Center, the three-day schedule had expired and the theater had other plans, so Buried ended its screening there.

Jerome Preston gave Link 65% of the box office revenue from the premiere, leaving only 35% for labor costs.

Link earned nearly $1.

After getting the money, he found The Hollywood Reporter and bought a piece of tofu-sized space in the movie section to continue promoting Buried.

Buried sold 749 tickets at the Union Theatre on Tuesday, helped by media hype.

In the afternoon, a reporter from the Los Angeles Times came to the cinema to interview Link and ask about the conflict with P. Diddy.

Link claimed that he didn't know much about rap music and didn't know that the people were stars at the time. He only found out later when he saw the news. He also expressed regret for BIG's discriminatory remarks and appreciated P. Diddy's willingness to apologize on behalf of BIG.

During the interview, Link also took the initiative to talk about the new movie "Buried".

He said a lot at the time, but unfortunately, when reporting the next day, the Los Angeles Times only mentioned the movie "Buried", and the rest was about his answers to reporters' questions.

On Wednesday, "Buried" sold 806 movie tickets at the United Theater, with sales reaching more than $6400, exceeding $6000 for the first time and firmly crossing the $5000 minimum guarantee line.

"How is that possible? How could the box office of Buried increase instead of decrease during the weekdays?"

William Mason looked at the box office data in his hand, an expression of surprise appeared on his thin face.

"That's normal! My movie is of high quality. After watching it, many people will actively recommend it to people around them. If one person recommends a few, word of mouth will gradually spread, and more and more people will watch the movie naturally."

"That's impossible. Your movie is not very popular, the plot is a bit monotonous, and you are an Asian. People who can accept this kind of movie are mostly those who watch a lot of movies. Young people don't have that patience."

"Not necessarily. Maybe I am popular with the audience."

"Based on the current results, in the next two days, if Buried can continue to earn more than $6000, I can apply to the theater headquarters to continue showing Buried in theaters."

"William, thank you so much."

"I'm saying if, if the box office revenue on Thursday and Friday is more than $6000, I can help you apply. If it's lower than that, the application won't be approved, so you'd better pray to God that the box office data won't plummet in the next two days."

"Well, God bless you."

Link crossed himself.

(End of this chapter)