I was just thinking about taking the arts exam and you said I've been playing supporting roles

Chapter 359 One hour is Hua Yi's whole life!

January 17, 2012, around 8 a.m.

"The Flowers of War" will officially begin pre-sales in mainland China at 9:00 AM.

The blitz marketing campaign that lasted for more than half a month has finally come to an end; not only film science, Zhang Yimou and others, but the entire industry, including China Film Group, Dida, Alibaba, Huayi Brothers and so on, are observing the pre-sale situation on this day.

Today's sales signal the beginning of whether the Spring Festival box office will be successful.

Many people know that the Spring Festival is an auspicious time, but no film company has dared to try it. Film Science is clearly the first to take the plunge.

This all requires courage and determination.

Moreover, other domestic film companies will be watching quietly, hoping to make a fool of themselves if the project fails, but if it succeeds, they will be eager to launch their own projects and try to release one during the Spring Festival next year.

Such companies are actually quite common in the country.

Huayi is the kind of company that will never be the first to step forward, but will be the fastest to follow trends.

Early in the morning, Wang Zhonglei arrived at Wang Zhongjun's home, accompanied by Feng Xiaogang, Fan Bingbing, and several other senior executives from Huayi.

They seemed relaxed, chatting and laughing.

"To be fair, Chen Jin has a pretty good business sense!"

"After 'Love is Not Blind' got its money, it invested in Dida. Thanks to his hype during Singles' Day, he's managed to build up the platform!"

Wang Zhonglei felt a mixture of envy, jealousy, and resentment.

To be honest, Huayi also wanted to invest in a ticketing website, but the owner of Gewara was a bit stubborn.

Meanwhile, Meituan and Nuomi are barely surviving, and it's said that Tencent and Alibaba have their eyes on Dida and are preparing to launch a Series B funding round.

With no other options, Huayi has now set its sights on a company called "Maizuo.com," one of the earliest ticketing websites, which has been active in the Pearl River Delta region.

Acquisition and cooperation are currently under negotiation.

"That kid's lucky!"

"He joined Alibaba's marketing campaign for Singles' Day. Do you think Alibaba still pays attention to him now?"

Feng Xiaogang was smoking a cigarette. Currently, Alibaba and Huayi are getting very close. Ma Yun is preparing to take over Huayi and start his big entertainment dream at Alibaba.

But Huayi didn't want that; she only wanted to bring Larry in as a partner, so she kept getting involved and had to check on the activities of his competitor, Motion Science, from time to time.

Fortunately, Film Science shared the same idea as Huayi Brothers and also broke up with Alibaba.

Therefore, Huayi now has the confidence to negotiate with Alibaba.

"Anyway, the Double Eleven shopping festival has really taken off!"

"Next year, we absolutely have to collaborate with Alibaba on a romance film. Little brother, have the marketing department look for more scripts, and the screenwriting department should also come up with some ideas. We can't let CETC (China Electronics Technology Group Corporation) get all the credit!"

Wang Zhongjun is currently creating his oil painting, "The Smile of a Female Star," which is not based on Fan Bingbing, but rather on Junzi's longtime dream girl.

Gong Xue, a famous film star who was active in the 70s and 80s.

At that time, almost every boy who was a fan of celebrities liked this female star.

Wang Zhongjun was no exception.

Only families with some wealth could afford to let their children watch movies in their spare time after the reform and opening up; the Wang family was considered a privileged family in the capital, although not quite high-class, but at least they didn't lack food and clothing in their childhood and could occasionally pursue fashion.

"Yes, I've already got someone working on the project!"

"Next year's Double Eleven might not just involve us and CETC, it could involve five or six departments, and we'll have to find people to squeeze in!"

Just like the upcoming Spring Festival film season.

Since the release of "Love is Not Blind" on Singles' Day two years ago, many film studios have been envious; but they lack the confidence to create a miracle during that single day's release.

So last year's Double Eleven shopping festival gave film science another opportunity, making "So Young" a huge hit.

It's so popular that film studios can't sit still.

With a box office of 17.3 billion, who wouldn't be envious?
Therefore, it is foreseeable that the competition for next year's Double Eleven will be just as fierce as that for the upcoming Spring Festival.

Many youth romance films are trying to make a splash during this release window.

Everyone wants a piece of meat when there's food to eat.

Chen Jin's return to the Spring Festival film season has garnered particular attention.

No one would underestimate such an opponent, especially since their commercial marketing capabilities are renowned in the industry; not only in the film industry, but also in the business world, the marketing success stories of Chen Jin's "Love is Not Blind" and "So Young" are widely known.

Each one is more intense than the last, yet the production costs are low!

These box office records were all achieved by leveraging existing trends.

Has Dida.com started providing real-time pre-sale information?

Wang Zhongjun painted over the colors, then suddenly looked up and asked Fan Bingbing, who was looking at her phone.

Not yet, I'm refreshing!

Dida.com created a real-time box office report for the pre-sale of "Jinling" during the Spring Festival, which can be viewed on both its mobile app and website.

This was also Chen Jin's request, in order to maximize the audience's interest in the Spring Festival film season.

Movie fans are also very interested in the box office performance of their favorite movies.

If the box office performance is good, they will check it every day, which will make the event more social; the benefit is that the pre-sales will be higher and higher, more people will participate, and the pre-sales will be better.

This is a virtuous cycle.

"I don't think it's anything to see!"

Feng Xiaogang suddenly exhaled a smoke ring and said calmly, "Would CETC allow poor pre-sales? We're all in the same boat; it's just part of the marketing!"

What constitutes a good pre-sale?

"2 million, or 3 million?"

"Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. can definitely afford this amount of money!"

"They've made such a big splash; if pre-sales don't go well, where will they put their face?"

The Wang brothers had actually considered what Feng Xiaogang said.

For example, if Huayi Brothers is doing the marketing this time, then it's definitely a complete package. They'll even try to inflate the box office figures, that's the idea.

"I think 2 million is the maximum!"

"There's no point in going any higher; we've already lost too much money..."

"No, based on my understanding of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), it definitely has to break the record of 2.75 million yuan set by 'So Young'. Otherwise, why would they go to such lengths for marketing?"

"It's even more popular than 'So Young' was during Singles' Day!"

"Zhang Yimou is different. Old Zhang still has box office appeal!"

"Haha, it would be hilarious if 'Jinling' flopped at the box office!"

"If the Spring Festival film season doesn't take off, won't CETC (China Electronics Technology Group Corporation) go bankrupt from the losses?"

"Very likely!"

"It looks like they're spending at least 3 million on pre-sales. They've already spent over 1 million on marketing, so I'd estimate the total cost at 1.5 million. They're really aiming for 6 million!"

"..."

Everyone in Wang Zhongjun's family was talking at once, all about the movie "The Flowers of War".

In their view, things might really be as Feng Xiaogang said.

Even if CETC (China Electronics Technology Group Corporation) were to spend its own money, it would still boost pre-sales; after all, if it were Huayi (a Chinese real estate company), it would definitely do the same.

That's marketing.

Sometimes you have to stop once you've started investing heavily; it's not up to you. If you don't invest, you'll feel bad for the marketing efforts ahead. But if you do invest, you'll lose even more money, just like with the future "Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "Investiture of the Gods 2," knowing full well that they'd suffer huge losses.

But it has to be added, because it has to be complete.

Quitting halfway through could lead to a terrible reputation and a barrage of criticism from fans.

That's pretty much how "Jinling" is now.

If we don't count the money spent on pre-sales, the marketing and other costs alone are already over 2 million yuan. This is an operation that would require at least 5 million yuan to break even.

If data is also purchased during pre-sales, the requirements for box office revenue will be even higher.

In the eyes of Huayi Brothers, this move must have been based on high hopes for the Spring Festival film season; more importantly, while outsiders may not know what kind of film "Jinling" is, they know it all too well.

Massacre, and making audiences watch this kind of movie during the Lunar New Year is indeed a very reckless act.

"It's the Lunar New Year, and there's nothing much to do, so let's just have some fun!"

"If it really goes viral, there will definitely be a lot of discussion online... If it's just pre-orders, we know exactly who the paid trolls are!"

"The fact that the electronics company is going there once can be seen as them paving the way for us!"

"Isn't it open yet?"

Wang Zhonglei glanced at his watch; it was already 9:15, and there wasn't a single tick.

Didn't we agree to go live at 9 o'clock sharp?
However, tickets that are on pre-sale can be purchased now.

Fan Bingbing clicked and selected the nearest cinema, but when it came time to buy the tickets... she didn't move.

its stuck.

"Can't open it?"

Fan Bingbing suddenly looked up: "There's no way to buy a ticket!"

"What's going on?" Wang Zhongjun also stopped what he was doing. Fan Bingbing shook his head and waved his phone: "It's like this as soon as you click in, you can't buy anything at all!"

"Haha, did the program freeze?"

Wang Zhonglei smiled, but his smile vanished the next second.

Everyone in the room actually understood what had happened.

The website may be down.

What situations would cause a crash?

Alibaba crashed in the early hours of last year's Singles' Day... It is said that it encountered a peak in traffic, and even Alibaba itself did not expect that so many users would shop at that time.

Although the advertisements advertised a 5% discount on everything at midnight on Singles' Day.

At first, Alibaba thought it was being attacked by a competitor's DDoS attack, but it turned out to be a real user.

The current situation is exactly the same.

If CETC (China Electronics Technology Group Corporation) had bought the tickets themselves, there would have been no collapse at all.

Nobody would go against the users. If the system crashes, how can anyone buy tickets? It must be because too many people are buying tickets at the same time, causing insufficient server capacity.

"I still can't buy tickets. It gets stuck when I try to select the movie theater and buy tickets!"

Fan Bingbing shrugged, subconsciously opened Weibo, glanced at the square, and saw a bunch of complaints that were stuck.

Many users who logged on promptly at 9 o'clock had indeed bought movie tickets in advance and were posting their purchase records online.

Fan Bingbing also discovered something else.

Those who say the system is stuck are mostly users in first-tier cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai.

This shows that these two places have the most ticket buyers!
"Mr. Wang, I have a feeling..."

Fan Bingbing brushed her loose hair aside and said with a charming smile, "The Spring Festival film season has really been made a big deal by China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC). Everyone online is talking about how hard it is to buy tickets!"

If this were an online troll, it's unlikely they would do this immediately.

We should at least test the waters first.

If not, then they would have bought tickets themselves and hired online trolls to enter the venue. It's only been a few minutes.

Moreover, the biggest problem is that the website crashes.

If you're going to hire online trolls for marketing, at least keep the purchasing channels open, right? Going against both sides like this is just embarrassing yourself; no company would do that.

This is not the norm.

The worst-case scenario is that many viewers really want to see "Jinling" in theaters during the Spring Festival, so they immediately started a rush to buy tickets. Dida did not expect such a surge in simultaneous data, which caused the server to crash.

This is the most likely, and leans towards, the true scenario.

But if that happens... everyone present will feel uncomfortable.

Just as Fan Bingbing said, the pre-sales of "Jinling" were definitely a success.

Even if the system crashes, it won't dampen the audience's enthusiasm; and there's something particularly absurd about Chinese people: the more unavailable something is, the more they want to buy it!

The fact that many people are showing off how well they bought movie tickets makes those who didn't even feel anxious.

You can call these people idiots, but there are indeed such people in China, and many of them; they all love to follow the crowd.

This is how the so-called scarcity marketing strategy came about.

Xiaomi phones sell out in one second as soon as they're released; that's the kind of tactic they use.

Lei Jun has completely manipulated the minds of the Chinese people.

The current situation is a complete accident for both CETC and Dida. They didn't expect that a pre-sale would crash their website.

It wasn't until 9:30 that Fan Bingbing finally opened the ticket purchase channel for the nearby Xinyinglian Huayi Cinema.

At the same time, Wang Zhongjun stopped painting altogether and instead picked up his phone to call the heads of the few cinemas under his company.

He needs to find out if there really are that many people buying tickets.

"I've bought it!"

Tickets for the evening of Chinese New Year's Day!

There are still seats available. It's clear that Didi Chuxing doesn't offer online seat selection now, only time slots.

"Didi has issued a statement!"

Wang Zhonglei also received a message from his subordinates: Just now, Dida issued an apology statement on Weibo.

Anyway, Wang Zhonglei understood the gist of it: the website crashed because they hadn't anticipated such a large volume of user ticket purchases, including the online voting via the app.

This statement drew a lot of criticism, but it was definitely part of a successful marketing campaign.

As more and more people learn about the Dida crash, more and more netizens will become aware of the ticket-buying frenzy surrounding the "Jinling" performance.

"Could this have been intentional as well?"

Feng Dapao couldn't help but speak out; he was very unhappy with the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC).

All the glory of "Aftershock" was overshadowed by several films made by this company.

The real problem was that he was investing in blockbuster commercial films.

Damn, how could Feng Xiaogang not be able to stand a few cheesy romance movies?

These days, even these terrible romance movies can get their ass on me?
Gangzi is the true king of Lunar New Year films, the box office pioneer of domestic commercial films!
"If this is also a marketing tactic, then Chen Jin is truly terrifying!"

Of course, this applies if you encounter it without knowing it.

It's actually even more terrifying.

This shows that pre-sales for the Spring Festival films were indeed a huge success!
Anyway, no matter how you look at it, Movie Science has won big this time, regardless of whether the outage incident is real or not.

"Updated! Dida has updated the real-time pre-sale box office information!"

Fan Bingbing had been keeping an eye on Dida's app, and at that moment she finally received a pop-up window announcing the real-time pre-sale of "Jinling" for the Spring Festival.

Once you click on it, you'll see the constantly changing real-time pre-sale data.

"How many?"

Wang Zhonglei also raised his head.

"1, 2, 3... 7!"

Fan Bingbing counted the box office figures, becoming increasingly surprised: "Five million... more than five million!"

"How much? 500 million!!"

Wang Zhonglei's expression changed drastically.

5, 137, 880!

Strictly speaking, it's over 513 million!

This is the box office pre-sale data for "Jinling" in less than an hour.

This includes a downtime of about half an hour.

"More than 500 million?"

"Wouldn't that mean we'd break tens of millions in just one day?"

Thinking of this, Feng Xiaogang felt terrible. Wang Zhongjun, who had just finished a phone call with the theater manager, also walked over with a gloomy expression.

The competitor's big sales are a nightmare for Huayi!
The key is that everyone here is in this industry and knows very well what selling 500 million in less than an hour means.

Even if you buy it with real money, it's still terrifying.

When "So Young" was released, it only had a little over 300 million views within an hour.

The total pre-sale box office for that day was 3100 million!
With a current value of 500 million, it's very likely that it could reach 5000 million on the first day.

This number... all the movies produced by Huayi over the years combined probably don't even reach this much on the first day of pre-sales.

One hour is Huayi's lifetime.

It's such an exaggeration.

"Are you crazy?"

Wang Zhonglei simply couldn't believe that a film about a massacre could sell so well during the Spring Festival, a period that had never been opened before!
"Did people actually go to the movies during the Spring Festival?"

Fan Bingbing expressed his doubts.

But no one answered her. Everyone was thinking the same thing: damn it, CETC... is about to release another phenomenal movie.

This is worse than killing them.

Chen Jin deserves to die!

The key point is that this is still a Zhang Yimou film, which is different from Guo Fan's "So Young".

This is a real blockbuster!

The pre-release marketing has already been a huge hit, and judging by the pre-sale momentum, this could very well be another film that grosses over 10 billion.

Are 10 billion yuan in box office revenues nothing new these days?
So many movies released in one year?!

Feng Xiaogang and the others were all questioning the meaning of life.

The entire Wang family compound fell into an eerie, deathly silence!

(End of this chapter)