America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 80 Going to Hollywood
In mid-November, the trailer for "Zombie Gigolo" was broadcast during late-night time slots on local TV stations in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

Professionals at Lionsgate Films edited out highlights such as the aerial trapeze and machine gun dance.

The ad also placed a late-night show by Grey's Company, which has always had good ratings.

Then there are the trailer and poster columns in the preview theaters.

For advance screenings, the distribution company invests very limited resources and only targets target audiences.

After just a week of quiet promotion, "Zombie Gigolo" was screened simultaneously in eight independent theaters in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

Elena was having a day off that day, and Martin made an appointment with her to go to the movies in the afternoon.

Lily followed out shamelessly.

With two adults following her, and given Lily's tall stature, it was easy for her to sneak into the theater. After all, the movie was only R-rated, not banned for 17+.

There were many empty seats in the slightly old theater, and the three of them chose a row at the back. When they sat down, Lily slipped past Elena and sat on Martin's left.

Elena, who was on Martin's right, glanced at him and said, "Watch the movie and watch your mouth."

Lily nodded and said, "Not many people, Martin, no one watched the movie you acted in?"

Martin stuffed the popcorn in his hand into hers and said, "Eat and talk less."

Elena handed Martin a cup of Coke and whispered, "Isn't the audience a little small?"

In the old cinema that could accommodate nearly 200 people, there were less than forty people sitting sparsely.

With Zombie Dancing Male now showing in theaters, Martin has achieved his goal and is in a good mood: "It's a low-budget B-level movie, shot and produced in just three months, so we can't expect many viewers."

Lily wanted to speak again, but Martin stuffed the Coke into her hand and said, "Drink some water."

As the opening commercials played, Lily did a quick count and said, "Not counting us, 37 people."

She muttered, "Let me do the math. Movie tickets are $6 each, so this show is going to cost $240."

Elena was curious: "What are you calculating?"

Martin said, “She’s counting the box office.”

"The movie he starred in is about to be released." Lily stretched out her finger and poked Martin: "I looked up the box office calculation method in a movie magazine."

She glanced at Elena's slightly higher chest, and secretly complained that her sister's chest was inversely proportional to her brain capacity. She continued, "This movie is short, only 92 minutes, and can be shown nine times a day. Taking this afternoon show as the average, the single-day, single-theater fee is $9."

Elena said, "You must have miscalculated. It should be $1860."

Martin was not stupid enough to refute Elena and said, "The preview will start from Friday. The box office of this movie in a single theater during the weekend will be about 6000 US dollars."

Because the number of spectators for each show is different, it may be more or less.

Elena was still counting on her fingers, but finally gave up. She was surprised: "Martin, you dropped out of school earlier than me, why can you figure it out but I can't?"

Lily spoke faster than she thought: "Because you are really stupid, even more stupid than Martin..."

Elena took the bottle of Coke and smashed it on Lily's head through Martin.

With a bang, Lily became depressed.

Martin quickly grabbed Elena and said, “Don’t disturb people watching the movie.”

The main plot and basic content of the film remain unchanged, but some redundant shots have been cut and the scale has been slightly reduced to cope with the MPAA rating.

From the beginning of the film, Elena was stunned.

She thought that the late night scenes Martin had filmed, such as Ma Zhen, were exaggerated enough, but she didn't expect this film to be even more exaggerated.

Elena held Martin's hand tightly and pressed her body against him. With her quick-witted personality, she would dare to sit on Martin's lap if there was no one around.

Martin quietly tickled the palm of her hand and gave her a look.

Elena was patient and decided to wait until after the movie to talk about it.

The atmosphere in the theater was good, with the audience in the front laughing constantly and occasionally exclaiming.

The audiences who can come and watch this movie are undoubtedly B-movie fans. This bad movie, which takes the old zombie plasma theme and makes it a little bit new, is quite enjoyable for them.

When the show was over, many people criticized the poor plot, but praised the leading actor for his unique and wonderful performance.

As they walked out of the theater, Lily angrily shouted, "Which idiot came up with this stupid idea?"

Elena regretted bringing her out: “Don’t force me to do it.”

The words stuck in Lily's throat pushed up her cheeks like an oversized frog.

Back home in the community, Lily wanted to find Elena to discuss the movie they had just watched, but found that the idiot couple Martin and Elena were gone.

She sneaked out, set up a wooden ladder, climbed onto the roof, and looked around in the still bright moonlight.

Soon there was chaos and Elena chased Lily with a shotgun.

Martin, Harris and Hall watch Sister Killing together.

…………

"Zombie Gigolo" was screened in three theaters in Atlanta, with an average single-theater box office of $3 over the three days of the weekend.

Los Angeles is a bit better, with the average box office of the five theaters exceeding $5. Not great, but not bad either.

The advance screenings are specifically aimed at target audiences, and it is normal for some films with excellent advance screenings to have a box office of 2+ in a single theater.

The worse ones, of course, are three-day or one-day trips to the preview theaters.

This achievement is enough for Lionsgate to further expand its distribution and increase its publicity budget.

Advertisements and short trailers for the film began to appear on some websites, especially on forums where B-movie enthusiasts gathered.

Television advertising and print media were also invested in.

On the weekend before Thanksgiving, "Zombie Gigolo" expanded to 54 theaters in North America, and the weekend box office soared to 42.5 US dollars.

Including the box office from the previous weekend and weekdays, this B-level movie's North American box office exceeded 50 US dollars.

As for word of mouth, it is all nonsense for B-level movies.

On the contrary, the three wonderful performances of the male lead were talked about by a group of B-level film lovers on several movie websites.

Two days before Thanksgiving, the Zombie Gigolo Studio received a business letter from Lionsgate and immediately notified Martin, Catherine and Benjamin to come to a meeting.

Because the studio's office was small enough to accommodate only two operators, the meeting was held at Gray's company.

Benjamin was in a very good mood and hugged Martin tightly when they met: "Man, we are going to be famous."

Martin smiled and said, "Is it that exaggerated?"

Benjamin came first and said softly, "We are going to Los Angeles."

Catherine was excited: "Going to Hollywood?"

Benjamin did not answer.

Kelly Gray brought Ella into the conference room, nodded slightly to the three people, and said, "Lionsgate has just informed us that Zombie Gigolo will be expanded to 650 theaters this weekend, covering all states in the United States. We succeeded."

Martin leaned back in his seat, looked up at the ceiling, raised his hands and clenched them into fists, his gaze penetrated through many obstacles, as if he could see the sky. The sky was so damn blue, the sun was so damn bright, the bald Benjamin was so damn handsome, the freckles on Ella's face were so damn beautiful, Kelly and Catherine were so beautiful.

When I am happy, everything looks good to me.

Even if Lao Hei came over, Martin could still call him handsome.

Because the impact of advance screenings and large-scale releases is very different.

Isn't it just for this that Martin has been jumping up and down like a monkey for nearly half a year?

Benjamin slammed the conference table with joy, and when he saw Martin stretching out his fist, he bumped into him.

I was too excited and used too much force, and I cried out in pain.

Catherine was slow to react, or perhaps she had not yet realized what 650 theaters would bring. She pinched her face and asked, "Ms. Grey, can we go to Hollywood?"

Kelly glanced at Martin and said, "Lionsgate is planning to hold a fan and media meet-up in Los Angeles to further promote the film. They'd like you to go to Los Angeles. They've booked your tickets. You can spend Thanksgiving in Atlanta and leave early on Friday morning."

"Can I go to Hollywood?" Catherine's first sentence was a question, and the second sentence became affirmative: "I can go to Hollywood!"

She suddenly screamed, hugged her blonde hair, stood up and turned around.

The temptation of fame to an ordinary actor is as great as Catherine is excited at this moment.

Even Martin was staring at Kelly Gray and smiling.

Why hide your happiness?

Actors are naturally emotional.

After screaming loudly, Catherine calmed down a little, sat down on the chair, and smiled embarrassedly: "Sorry, I lost my composure, this is too important to me...to me."

She took the initiative to reach out her hand and high-five Martin and Benjamin: "Thank you! Thank you! It's my great honor to work with you."

Martin smiled and nodded: "Me too."

Kelly then added: "Dave has secured $5000 for each of you in negotiations with Lionsgate, but when you arrive in Los Angeles, you must cooperate with Lionsgate throughout the process."

Benjamin was so excited that he even cursed: "As long as they don't fuck my butt, I will definitely cooperate." Then he said fiercely: "Even if they fuck my butt, I will endure it!"

Kelly said to her assistant, "Ella, go get some wine, we need to celebrate."

Ella quickly brought over champagne and wine glasses, and several people had a drink together in the conference room.

Benjamin and Catherine soon left hand in hand.

Martin had lunch with Kelly and went to her luxurious apartment.

Kelly said, "Your wish has come true."

Martin said: "It's our wish come true."

Kelly did not deny that Martin got the leading role in the theatrical movie and obtained an important qualification. Her company made a profit from the project and had more funds to invest in new movies and the renovation of the studio in the automobile industrial park.

Martin thought about it and said sincerely: "Kelly, I hope you can become a member of parliament soon."

Kelly Gray laughed and said, "Martin, I hope you become a superstar soon."

(End of this chapter)