Entertainment: Who still wants to fall in love when there are cheats?

Chapter 192 Over 60 Million
The film "Night Shop" was undoubtedly a success.

While its opening day box office wasn't as high as that of "One Cut of the Dead," reaching less than five million, this was largely due to its limited screening share of less than ten percent. As a result, the film's occupancy rate was actually quite good.

It can only be said that the online video parodies have boosted the popularity of the movie "Nightclub".

However, on the theater side, because the director of this film was Li Boda, and it was Li Boda's first time directing a film, and because Xu Shanzheng in this film didn't have much box office appeal in the film industry, no matter how Wang Jie negotiated, she couldn't get more than 10% of the theaters to release the film.

Therefore, the box office of less than five million on the first day is already considered quite good.

After all, the total investment in the movie "Night Shop" was only three million. Based on the box office of "Night Shop" on its opening day, it should break even in two days at most, and the rest of the time would be pure profit.

The next day, the box office for "Night Shop" increased significantly, reaching over six million.

However, due to the box office performance and attendance of the film "Night Shop" on its opening day, the theaters were optimistic about it and therefore allocated more screenings to the film.

This is partly because the film "Nightclub" performed quite well in terms of various metrics. However, it's also because it's currently the off-season for film releases, with no particularly good or outstanding movies hitting theaters.

At this time of year, most of the movies being released aren't making much money; their box office performance is shaky and they're not worth even looking at.

Therefore, with less than 10% of the screenings, "Nightclub" still managed to gross nearly five million yuan, which is a relatively impressive achievement for this period.

Naturally, the number of screenings for "Nightclub" was increased.

This is one of the advantages of releasing a movie during the off-season.

While it's the off-season and there are fewer moviegoers, there aren't many good films either, so the competition is very low. As long as your film is good and performs well at the box office, you can get more screenings.

As Li Boda and his team promoted the film "Night Shop" on the road, its box office performance became increasingly impressive.

It grossed over 30 million yuan at the box office in just one week.

This led some media outlets to report: 'A dark horse has emerged.'

The term "dark horse" refers to both the film "Night Shop" and the new director Li Boda.

The title of "up-and-coming director" was thus bestowed upon Li Boda.

Some media outlets have even started proclaiming that 'Li Boda is about to become the second Ning Hao.'

Although professionals within the entertainment industry scoff at this claim.

After all, the two Crazy series films directed by Ning Hao, in terms of plot setting and filming methods, are enough to demonstrate Ning Hao's ability as a director.

Li Boda's "Night Shop" features a simple filming background and a simple plot. Everything is so simple, and there are no flashy techniques. While "Night Shop" did very well at the box office, even surpassing the total box office of Ning Hao's first commercial film "Crazy Stone" in just one week, many people believe that the reason why Li Boda's "Night Shop" did so well at the box office is mainly because, as time goes by, more and more people are watching movies, and it is much easier for movies to make money at the box office now.

On the other hand, it is also thanks to the promotion of the movie "Nightclub".

After the opening week box office results for the movie "Night Shop" were released, some film and television companies began to investigate why the movie's box office was so good. They then found the parody videos that Li Boda had posted online and concluded that the movie's good box office was entirely due to the effect of publicity.

Therefore, the directors in the industry didn't think much of Li Boda's career change to directing. They didn't believe Li Boda was particularly capable as a director; they thought he was just good at publicity.

At the same time, online promotion has come into the view of many people, and many filmmakers are considering promoting their films online when they are released.

"Director, if you need anything for filming in the future, just ask. No matter what the situation, I will be there for you immediately." Xu Shanzheng smiled happily, his smile carrying a hint of flattery and obsequiousness.

Regardless of what others thought, Xu Shanzheng believed that Li Boda would definitely rise to prominence in the future. No, Li Boda had already risen to prominence. In any case, he believed that Li Boda was absolutely capable of becoming a great director.

Therefore, Xu Shanzheng wanted to curry favor with Li Boda, hoping that Li Boda would have a better impression of him and think of him when he came across a suitable role.

Moreover, the fact that "Nightclub" grossed over 30 million yuan in its opening week is still quite impressive, even though it's unlikely to break 100 million yuan. Its final box office performance might even place it in the top ten of the year's highest-grossing films.

As the male lead of this film, Xu Shanxiong's benefits are self-evident.

This movie directly broke the deadlock for Xu Shanxiong's desire to enter the film industry, allowing him to successfully squeeze into the film industry from the television industry. Although he may not be chosen as the male lead, Xu Shanxiong can still strive for important supporting roles.

Because there was little competition during this release period, "Nightclub" had a good number of screenings.

Even a month after its release, the daily box office for "Nightclub" was only around 100,000 yuan. However, its total box office reached over 60 million yuan. This figure still made many people envious. After all, how much was the total investment for "Nightclub"? Only 3 million yuan. If you include the advertising fees that Sister Wang brought in, its investment was only a little over 2 million yuan.

With such a small investment, it ultimately grossed over 60 million at the box office.

Admittedly, of the more than 60 million, more than 30 million went to the cinema chains and distributors, plus various tax deductions. In the end, only a little over 20 million ended up in Li Boda's hands—no, in the hands of Li Boda's studio.

However, a film with an investment of three million can generate more than twenty million in revenue, nearly ten times the initial investment, which is enough to make many filmmakers envious.

After all, nowadays, very few movies have such a high return on investment.

Just like Zhang Yimou's movies, his movies have high box office revenue, two or three hundred million, but that can't be offset by the large investment in his movies.

While Zhang Yimou's film will ultimately bring investors more than 20 million yuan in revenue, the investors have invested a lot, so they won't even get a return of one time, let alone ten times.

Therefore, the fact that a small investment like Li Boda could yield nearly ten times the profit made him a hot commodity in the eyes of many film investors.

In the eyes of some film investors, Li Boda is almost synonymous with Ning Hao.

After all, Ning Hao's film "Crazy Stone" didn't earn as much as Li Boda's film. It was Ning Hao's later film "Crazy Racer" that achieved high box office and good reviews. Otherwise, Li Boda's film might have even surpassed Ning Hao's.

After the film "Night Shop" finished its run, as is customary, a celebration party was held.

However, quite a few people came to attend this celebration.

People like Fan Bingbing, who have a particularly good relationship with Li Boda, can also build connections by attending the celebration party.

In addition, many people from film and television companies were also present.

For example, Wu Kebo from Orange Sky, and Xiao Wang from Huayi, etc., came to the celebration banquet, but they planned to try to win over Li Boda first.

After all, Li Boda was not signed with any film and television company, nor was he a contracted director with any other film and television company; he was a freelancer.

Although Li Boda has his own studio, it's rather small and insignificant. They could easily have Li Boda register the studio under their company's name.

Although the probability is not high, after all, although Li Boda did not establish a film and television company, he is the boss of 'Magic Cube Technology'.

But even without signing a contract, they can still build a good relationship so that when Li Boda makes movies in the future, they can invest and get involved.

After all, there aren't many directors in the country who can make money from making movies.

Take Feng Gangpao, for example. He's a contracted director with Huayi Brothers. When he makes movies, it's very difficult for other film and television companies to get involved.

Take Zhang Yimou, for example. He has a very good relationship with Zhang Weiping. Zhang Weiping makes the decisions regarding the investment and other aspects of his films.

In addition, executives from distribution companies such as Enlight Media and Bona Film Group also attended the celebration banquet for "Night Shop".

Their purpose in attending the victory celebration banquet was, of course, to collaborate with Li Boda.

When Li Boda makes any more movies, they hope to take over the distribution work, and at the same time, they also hope to invest in Li Boda's next film.

After this group of people arrived, they surrounded Li Boda.

After this person talked to Li Boda, another person came to him.

Anyway, after Li Boda arrived here, he really couldn't stay idle for a single moment.

To Li Boda's surprise, Han Sanye from China Film Group was also present.

Clearly, Li Boda, a rising star director in China, has entered the sights of bigwigs with this film, "Night Shop".

This is quite normal, after all, Han Sanye has been promoting the development of domestic films over the years. He is eager for more directors to invest in commercial films, because only commercial films can expand the film market and attract more audiences to the cinema.

(End of this chapter)