The director starts by learning from the abilities of renowned directors.

Chapter 158: 2.5 million? Is this the box office for the preview screenings?

2011年11月4日上午8点30分。

Shanghai Century Cinema, located on the 4th floor of the Shanghai West Suburbs Shopping Center.

"Are there many people today?"

The boss, Chen Lisheng, stood outside the sales counter, glanced at the two or three people in the waiting area, and asked the sales clerk.

"It seems like there are more."

The salesperson said uncertainly.

Chen Lisheng nodded slightly, then glanced at the time, feeling inexplicably anxious.

He didn't see any significant change in today's passenger flow compared to yesterday.

The cinema has been open for about ten days. On opening day, they offered a 5 yuan movie ticket discount, and the occupancy rate exceeded 9%. At that time, he was very proud and thought that this time he would definitely succeed. However, as soon as the opening discount was stopped, the audience also stopped. In recent days, the occupancy rate has dropped to 20%, and he is losing money every day he wakes up.

He was hoping that Maoyan Movies could really turn his life around.

The system shows that more than 80% of the tickets for "Breakup Buddies" have been sold, but with so many tickets sold, why are there so few people at the cinema?

Is buying tickets online reliable or not?

Is the data displayed on the system accurate or inaccurate?

If the movie starts at 9:30 and there are still no viewers, will Maoyan still be able to settle accounts with the cinema?

Has something changed, and those who bought tickets have all canceled them at the last minute?

"Where do I pick up my tickets? I bought them on Maoyan."

A young couple entered the hall, looked around, and then called out.

"Hello sir, please collect your ticket here."

A young woman standing next to the ticket machine immediately waved to the man upon hearing this.

The young couple walked over and first showed the staff proof of their online ticket purchase. It turned out they wanted to see "Breakup Buddies." Then, with the staff's guidance, they quickly picked up their tickets.

Chen Lisheng became interested and walked over to stand not far from the ticket machine to observe it.

Where do I pick up my tickets for "Breakup Buddies" that I bought online?

"You've already gotten it? That's really convenient."

"Wow, this is amazing! I was able to select my seats on my phone several days in advance, and picking up the tickets was even simpler than I expected."

"Excuse me, do I pick up my tickets here if I bought them online?"

After 8:40, people began to arrive at the cinema. Chen Lisheng stood nearby, and later, when he got into the mood, he simply took it upon himself to teach the audience how to get their tickets.

The flow of people grew larger and larger as time went on. By 9 o'clock, there was even a queue in front of the ticket machine. Chen Lisheng was completely relieved and couldn't help but smile.

Selling tickets online is really effective!

There was also some activity at the ticket booth.

"Give me two tickets to 'Breakup Buddies'."

Three copies of "Breakup Buddies".

Four copies of "Breakup Buddies".

After personally helping another audience member retrieve their ticket, Chen Lisheng left the ticket machine and walked around to a spot near the ticket window to observe carefully.

The customer flow has finally picked up, and it's even starting to resemble the day we had our opening day promotions.

Before today, Maoyan had already sold 75% of the tickets for "Breakup Buddies," and there are still tickets available for last-minute purchases at the ticket counter.

Is the occupancy rate approaching 80%? Today is Friday, a workday, and to achieve this occupancy rate, "Breakup Buddies" is quite impressive!

It was 9:20 a.m. when Chen Lisheng entered screening room number 2 with the audience. He found a quiet corner where no one was around and watched the film.

The movie opens with Huang Bo using a chainsaw to divide his assets. It turns out he was divorced and was unwilling to accept it. He was about to hit his ex-wife's current girlfriend with the chainsaw, but at the last moment he chickened out and didn't dare to actually hit her.

The scene then shifts to a hospital, where Xu Zheng makes his appearance.

He is Hao Yi, Geng Hao's best friend and buddy, played by Huang Bo. He comforts his friend while flirting with the nurse who gives him injections.

"Call me when you've lost."

Can I call you now?

"What's wrong?"

"You've got the wrong needle; he's the patient."

Xu Zheng's performance was spot-on, and the cinema owner, Chen Lisheng, and the audience laughed together.

Next, in order to help Geng Hao get rid of his pain, his best friend Hao Yi took Geng Hao south to "hunt for women" under the pretext of delivering props. The journey began with two men and a dog named "Juice".

The film uses a dual narrative. Gao Yuanyuan plays Kang Xiaoyu, who encounters her ex-boyfriend at her best friend's wedding and is embarrassed by her best friend's concern. Later, she accidentally hears a song called "Go to Dali" sung by Geng Hao and decides to go to Dali to clear her mind.

At Tianmen Mountain, the two met Dongdong, an Avatar girl. Hao Yi encouraged Geng Hao to pursue her, but Geng Hao refused. As a result, Hao Yi and Dongdong ended up having sex in a car.

The two then went to find the non-mainstream girl Hao Yi had been chatting with online, who turned out to be played by Zhao Liying, a rather unconventional image for her.

After the chaos, the two continued on their way. Halfway there, Geng Hao insisted on turning back to Beijing. When he grabbed the steering wheel, an accident occurred, and the props in the car were scattered all over the ground, including the large rock they bought from Tianmen Mountain.

The car behind couldn't brake in time and crashed into a rock. Then a tall, beautiful woman got out of the other car.

"Wang Jianguo!"

Someone in the theater was whispering.

"I know her, her name is Gulnazar."

Wow, those legs are so white, straight, and long.

When Xu Zheng climbed up the tree and used a prop sword to hold up his phone and make a call, the entire theater burst into laughter.

"Your eyes are glued to your ass, you big idiot! You didn't even look back to see if there were any cars before you drove on. Do you even have a signal here? — Hurry up and come back to pick me up."

After finishing the call, she even took a vain selfie.

Siqing's car brakes were broken, and she almost hit Hao Yi off the bridge. After getting out of the car, Geng Hao asked Siqing: Are you alright?

To Hao Yi: Are you alright?

Siqing got out of the car and slapped Geng Hao hard across the face: Are you alright?

Hao Yi was stunned: Are you two alright?

Chen Lisheng and the other audience members grinned. This film, while not daring to say it could surpass "Lost in Thailand," was at least close to or even comparable to it.

At the airport, Hao Yi encouraged his best friend to bravely confess his feelings to Si Qing. He then gave Geng Hao a small potted plant from the airport. The two rushed off to find Si Qing, only to see through the glass that Si Qing and another girl were passionately kissing.

The other girl is played by Dilraba.

Geng Hao and Hao Yi in the movie were stunned, as were the audience in the theater. Just then, the vase in Geng Hao's hand fell with a clatter, pulling the audience back from their shock, and then the whole theater burst into laughter again.

"Holy crap, it's working!"

People in the theater started talking about it.

"What's open?"

"Remember how surprised you were when Hao Yi made up that Geng Hao was gay? Turns out it was all foreshadowed all along!"

"That's true."

"Siqing said Hao Yi is gay and not a good gay man. So that's what was going on."

Next, the two best buddies called two "service workers" at the nightclub, and Sasha, played by Ma Su, was full of witty remarks.

"Brother, please don't scold me. How would I know what I did wrong?"

"Who are you trying to fool? I'm here to have fun, not to put on an act for you. You think you can mess around with Russian celebrities for just a few hundred bucks?"

When Ma Su delivered these lines in a Northeastern accent, the theater immediately erupted in laughter again.

The Avatar girl, Dongdong, chased after Hao Yi again and asked him: "Don't you think it's dirty?"

Sasha, played by Ma Su, retorted, "You're the dirty ones!"

Mao Xiaotong, who plays a hot girl from Hunan Province, says: "People who drink bathwater are the dirty ones."

Some people in the theater were already laughing so hard they were slapping their thighs.

Especially Mao Xiaotong's line, "People who drink bathwater are the dirty ones," is hilarious no matter how you look at it.

The two were walking down the street in their pajamas when they were suddenly surrounded by a group of motorcycles. "Where's the woman?"

Ma Su took off her glasses. "Look, the thread I just pulled off snapped in one slap. What do we do?"

The audience burst out laughing as soon as they saw Ma Su's uneven eyelids.

Even the theater owner, sitting in the last corner of the back row, burst out laughing.

Some audience members laughed so hard they slapped their thighs, some couldn't help but pat their companions on the shoulder, and others even rested their heads on their companions' arms, almost laughing until they cried.

"Tattooed, gangsters?"

The laughter hadn't even completely subsided when the gang leader opened his mouth again, and the audience couldn't help but laugh again.

The gang leader forced Geng Hao to perform: "Sing a song, 'Where is the road ahead?'"

The audience burst into laughter again.

"I can't take it anymore, I can't hold back any longer, where is the way out, hahahaha————"

Actually, just looking at the lines, you can't feel how funny they are at all, but when the gangster boss Wang Yanhui reads them with his accent, the humor explodes.

There's also Lei Jiayin's "Wo Ni Ma".

The audience was laughing so hard they were almost numb.

When Xu Zheng couldn't take the beating anymore, he took out a prop gun from his bag and fired two shots, even getting spent cartridges ejected. Wang Yanhui, playing the older brother, immediately chickened out and sang "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf."

This is the border of Yunnan Province. Then a gunshot rang out, and there were sparks. Looking at the two men's attire, one was a big bald man with a beer belly and a shoulder bag around his neck full of cash. The other was tattooed and clearly mentally unstable. He looked like he was high on drugs.

With this setup, who would dare bet on whether what he has is the real deal?

In the end, Hao Yi marries the Avatar girl played by Li Yitong. Geng Hao encounters his ex-wife Kang Xiaoyu, played by Gao Yuanyuan, at the wedding, just like the scene at the beginning of the movie where Kang Xiaoyu sees her ex at her best friend's wedding.

At the end of the movie, Geng Hao meets Xiao Bei, the best friend of the Avatar girl, foreshadowing the start of his next relationship.

The movie ends here.

Chen Lisheng did not leave immediately, and the departing audience members occasionally chatted about the movie's plot.

"How did you find it? Which one is better, this one or 'Lost in Thailand'?"

"Lost in Thailand, I almost laughed myself to death. That movie was already amazing. My cheeks hurt from laughing so much, but I still feel it's not as good as Lost in Thailand."

"9

"I feel this one is better."

"This one is indeed good, but I feel that the jokes are not as frequent as in 'Lost in Thailand'."

"Each has its own merits."

"How much do you think the box office will be?"

"It really does feel like it's in the billion-dollar range."

Listening to the audience's discussions, Chen Lisheng made up his mind to increase the film's screenings to 70%—no, 80%!

Whether it's a preview screening or a theatrical release, all he knows is that the more screenings he gets for the movie, the more money he makes.

There has been a surge in related discussions online.

Has anyone seen it? Tell me honestly, what's it like?

"Looking for a review."

-

"I just finished watching it. It's similar to 'Lost in Thailand' in its own way, so it's hard to say which one is better."

"Is that awesome?"

"That's really awesome, especially Ma Su. When he was wandering around with one eye drooping, my cerebellum felt like it was shrinking."

"Those legs are so white! And does anyone know who the girl who kissed her is?"

"That's Dilireba, also an actress from Shen Qingjumei Entertainment, and a graduate of the Shanghai Theatre Academy."

"What's going on? Naza and the woman are kissing?"

"Playing a homosexual character."

On the morning of November 11th.

The first thing Shen Li, the newly appointed vice president of Maoyan Movies, did after arriving at the company was to look at the data, and then she fell silent.

The preview screening period for "Breakup Buddies" lasted for seven days. On the first day of the preview screening, it sold more than 4000 million yuan in box office revenue on the Maoyan platform alone. On the second day, it even rose to more than 5000 million yuan. On the third day, it returned to more than 4000 million yuan. The following four days each saw more than 3000 million yuan in box office revenue. The total box office revenue for the seven-day preview screening was nearly 2.5 million yuan, most of which was sold through the Maoyan movie platform.

On the first day of preview screenings, the cinemas allocated 19% of the screenings to the theaters. Starting from the second day, they voluntarily adjusted the screening ratio, and it later clearly moved towards 25%.

I went.

Maoyan Movies didn't just sell "Breakup Buddies"; in fact, the Maoyan platform sold a total of 2.63 million yuan in box office revenue over those seven days.

More than 600 million movie tickets were sold in total.

Shen Li looked at the relevant data and fell into deep thought. Even without deep knowledge of economics, she should be able to judge what the future holds.

Shen Qing wasn't particularly impressed with the preview screening results of "Breakup Buddies." He'd seen movies that grossed 154 billion yuan, so 2.5 million wasn't anything to get excited about. He just glanced at it briefly and then went on to do something else.

Ning Hao was thrilled. During the preview screenings, the film grossed 2.5 million yuan. Even with a large-scale release, it wouldn't have reached that box office figure in seven days.

The cinemas and theaters were caught off guard. The speed at which Maoyan Movies became popular was beyond imagination. It may not be long before the vast majority of viewers are buying tickets online.

And then there's the feeling of heartache.

Shen Qing's company's share of the profits has increased from 43% to 46%, which means the cinemas will receive a lot less money.

Netizens went wild with excitement.

"A preview screening grossed 2.5 million yuan, that's really something."

"When I saw the news report, I thought I was seeing things. 2.5 million? This is just a preview screening?"

"This movie is really good."

"You can do this for preview screenings?"

On its first day of release, "Breakup Buddies" had already occupied more than 60% of the screenings, and then it actually grossed 9700 million yuan at the box office on the first day. On the second day of its release, it grossed 1.15 million yuan, and on the third day, it grossed 1.03 million yuan.

The film grossed 3.15 million yuan in its first three days of release.

The results for the first three days of the premiere may not seem like much, but it's important to remember that this was achieved after seven days of preview screenings.

With the combined box office revenue from preview screenings and the first three days of its theatrical release, "Breakup Buddies" has accumulated a total box office of 5.65 million yuan.

It's almost certain that its total box office will surpass 10 billion yuan, and some media outlets predict that its final box office will exceed 12 billion yuan.

"Did you see the news? Someone said you're going to become a 10 billion yuan box office heroine."

Gao Yuanyuan called, and Shen Qing chatted with her on the phone.

"What's the use of 10 billion? The audience says that it doesn't make much difference whether I'm in the show or not. I'm just a pretty face in it, not even as outstanding as that girl from your company in the Western Regions."

"How could that be? She only has such a small role, how can she compare to you?"

"I can't compare to her at all. Her legs are so white, thin, and straight in the movies."

Zhao Liying plays the non-mainstream character in the film, and many viewers said they didn't recognize her at first.

And then there's Li Yitong, wearing Avatar makeup, standing with a bunch of Avatars—who could tell who was who?