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

Chapter 436 "The Killer" - Unexpected Pre-sale Results!

"Hehe, Chan!"

"Jin Chan!"

Can I take a picture with you?

"..."

At Dallo Cinema in Los Angeles, Chen Jin and the main cast of "The Killer" attended a promotional event for a preview screening.

There was a large group of foreigners in front of me.

Although "The Killer" has not been officially released yet, many cinemas across North America have begun to arrange some preview screenings, which can be regarded as a way to warm up for the film's premiere.

At the same time, it also adds some positive reviews to several rating websites.

This is actually the same everywhere in the world.

The Chinese mainland actually copied this overseas model.

Previews generate word-of-mouth, which then spreads.

Especially in North America, the quality of a film is given more attention.

but!

Chen Jin still couldn't understand where these foreigners came from.

"You hired a shill?"

Chen Jin finally got back to the backstage area and called Kavanaugh to ask him questions.

Kavanaugh, who was at the hotel preparing to discuss a collaboration with Warner Bros. on "Hitman 2," shrugged: "It must be the marketing department's arrangement!"

"Chan, this is inevitable. Do you really want your premiere to be completely empty?"

Bringing in some people to help out isn't a big deal; it won't cost much.

Things that can be solved with money aren't really problems; this is actually quite common in North America.

Don't think that North American audiences are so high-class. They are human too. If they pay money to see a movie, many people are happy to do so.

"Haha, I was just asking out of curiosity, of course I have no objection!"

Chen Jin certainly didn't object to this behavior, after all, he had practically no popularity in North America.

It would be strange if anyone came to the scene to support him like that.

"I think you should have told me beforehand, otherwise I would have been very surprised!"

"Although, there aren't many people here who know me..."

Chen Jin was laughing, and Kavanaugh laughed too: "No, no, no, Chan, you absolutely can't believe in yourself like that. In my heart, you should actually have someone who knows you in North America!"

"The Venice Film Festival Best Actor award does have some prestige; of course, the most important thing is that if a movie starring an award-winning actor like you were given away for free, many Chinese and Black people would be willing to waste their time in the cinema!"

"You know, our goal is simply to let more people know about our movie, right?"

"These free viewers are still viewers; if they find the movie enjoyable, they'll likely share it with even more people!"

Kavanaugh was afraid that Chen Jin wouldn't understand this, so he kept explaining it to her.

In fact, Chen Jin understood the logic behind this better than he did.

Giving away tickets isn't just a promotion for bad movies; many blockbuster films, especially successful debuts and newcomer works, also need to do this when they're initially ignored.

The aroma of wine is also afraid of the deep alley!

No matter how good a product is, it will be very difficult to find if you don't do marketing, promotion, and advertising.

They promote their products city by city in North America, but their goal is the same.

The goal is to let more people know about the film "The Killer" and get more people to go to the cinema.

After chatting with Kavanaugh for a while, Chen Jin hung up the phone.

The person in charge of AMC Theatres in New York, the guy who originally connected Chen Jin with AMC, called at this moment.

"What's wrong, buddy?"

Chen Jin answered the phone.

"Haha, Chan, don't you want to know about the pre-sales of the movie 'The Killer'?"

Borna spoke with a hint of elation on the other end of the phone.

"Oh?"

Chen Jin raised an eyebrow; judging from the guy's tone, he knew it must be selling well.

"How many?"

"This seems a bit unexpected to you?"

Chen Jin also laughed.

"Indeed, for a debut work with no reputation, having pre-sales is already a good thing, let alone... it's pretty good!"

Bernard Simmons didn't keep anyone in suspense.

"At least sales in New York are doing well. I spoke with the theater managers of several other AMC regions this morning, and it seems they all have records of people buying tickets in advance!"

Borna said, somewhat puzzled, "Judging from the way movie tickets are purchased, it shouldn't be your promotional activities that are attracting people!"

"is it?"

Chen Jin hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise!

"We've sold over 2000 tickets in New York so far, bringing in about $3; I estimate that pre-sales across North America have already exceeded 10, and if things go well, it could reach 20!"

With $20 in pre-sales on the first day, it's definitely a great start.

Especially for a relatively unknown debut film, especially one with Chinese leads and director.

This record even surpasses that of some local Hollywood directors.

However, the North American film industry has always been highly developed. They have long been able to buy tickets online and select seats online, which is even faster than the development of the Internet in China.

However, they can only operate it on a computer, not a mobile phone.

From this perspective, China has already achieved a leapfrog development, completely outperforming North America in the mobile app arena.

This is undoubtedly due to Chen Jin's butterfly effect, which advanced the timeline of group buying and mobile ticketing by a full year.

"Wait for my message. I'm still having my subordinates investigate the behavior of these pre-sale attendees!"

"Okay, I'll wait for your call!"

Chen Jin smiled. North American movie theaters do indeed pay a lot of attention to audience feedback.

They even conducted various random market surveys and questionnaires before and after watching the movie.

The questionnaire contains both open-ended and closed-ended questions. For example, a closed-ended question might ask respondents to rate characters and elements, such as rhythm, music, and ending.

There are only a few options, such as excellent, good, bad, etc.

Open-ended questions are more complex, asking viewers which scene they liked best, which they disliked the most, and how they would recommend or describe the film to others.

This is a common practice in North American cinemas, and it's been a tradition for many years.

Many viewers felt honored to be selected, as they would receive a variety of small gifts, or even movie merchandise, randomly.

Therefore, many people filled in very truthful information.

From a demographic perspective, these randomly sampled audience tastes actually represent the entire audience.

Soon, a message from Bernard Simmons arrived.

He was so eager to call Chen Jin just now, partly out of curiosity; from his perspective, Chen Jin's "The Killer" was indeed a nobody, even though Relativity Media commissioned Universal to distribute it.

Publicity and promotion are all relative matters. If you launch a massive, loud campaign but it's not popular with the audience, no one will buy into it.

Not to mention, people actively go to the cinema to buy tickets in advance and wait.

This is actually more difficult.

From this perspective, "The Killer" is actually quite successful. At least, nearly 1 to 2 people in North America really wanted to see the movie, otherwise they wouldn't have bought tickets in advance.

"He's Chinese!"

"90% of the tickets were bought by Chinese people!"

"My God, Chan, this is the first time I've ever seen anything like this!"

Chinese people are actively buying tickets for a movie starring a Chinese actor. This guy's box office appeal can actually influence the North American Chinese community?!
This is actually another form of market value validation.

This shows that Chen Jin's influence is not as unknown as outsiders imagine.

At least, he is known in the Chinese community.

"I see……"

Chen Jin now understood somewhat.

However, he didn't explain, letting these foreigners misunderstand as they pleased!
Although several of the Chinese-American lead actors in "Hong Kong Trip" recommended the movie "The Killer" within their Chinese communities, Chen Jin, who had read many news reports, knew very well that Chinese people still had the purchasing power to buy tickets.

The original timeline indicated that the Chinese market would take several more years to become a driving force for Chinese films.

Many films released during the Spring Festival season can gross $100-2 million at the North American box office, with "Ne Zha 200" even grossing over $2000 million.

Much of this was achieved through the efforts of Chinese people.

The reason why it is not obvious now is because the country's strength has not yet reached a certain level.

Another issue is that most Chinese-language films these days are terrible, and they don't have any Chinese people involved in North American distribution, so Chinese people can't form a trend.

But now, Chen Jin's "The Killer" has not only become a phenomenon in China, but has also attracted many viewers in North America, Europe, and even Malaysia and Singapore who want to watch it.

It even went so far as to promote itself extensively, with its premiere in 3000 theaters across North America, making it the most high-profile Chinese-language film to have premiered in nearly a decade.

The Chinese community was unusually united this time, eager to be among the first to go to the cinema to see this Chinese film made in Hollywood.

By sheer chance, Chen Jin managed to attract this group of viewers.

The influence in mainland China and the momentum in North America are both indispensable.

Although some Chinese people are very anti-Chinese.

Deep down, they still identify with Chinese culture, so of course they want to see this kind of film; but this film is different from traditional Chinese films, as it is full of Hollywood elements.

It also seems quite unique.

It is precisely because of the complexity of this film that such a peculiar pre-sale has occurred.

Even Chen Jin clearly hadn't expected this.

"It's actually a good thing for the movie's release!"

With pre-sales, cinemas will appropriately increase screenings, creating a virtuous cycle.

It's easier than having no momentum and then slowly making a comeback through word of mouth; a comeback is actually very difficult. No matter how excellent the movie is, there are only so many screenings. By the time you make a comeback, there may not be many theaters showing it anymore.

While this builds positive word-of-mouth, the actual increase in box office revenue is limited.

The most striking example is the upcoming film "Monkey King: Hero Is Back".

It received great word-of-mouth, and the buzz eventually spread across the entire internet. However, by the time it gained widespread attention online, it had already been released for more than half a month, and ultimately only grossed over 9 million yuan at the box office.

If there were screenings from the beginning, the buzz would definitely be much faster, and the box office would be much better.

This has multiple impacts.

Pre-sales, screening schedules, word-of-mouth, buzz... all these factors influence a film's final box office performance.

This is a universal rule that applies to all film markets worldwide, and North America is no exception.

Soon after, Kavanaugh apparently learned of the news as well.

This guy excitedly called Chen Jin: "Haha, Chan, the pre-sales have actually exceeded 10! In your words, this is really a good omen!"

"Yes, I just heard about it too, it was quite a surprise!"

"This is the influence of the Chinese market. I knew it was very useful. I'll have the marketing department promote it more!"

Has the box office in China surpassed 2 million?

"It's broken! It'll cost 15 billion RMB right away!"

"Yes!"

You could tell Kavanaugh was quite excited. The higher the box office of "John Wick" in China, the more confident he would be in negotiating with the Big Six.

Isn't it money?

Box office revenue in the Chinese market is money too!

Chen Jin's personal value has also been rising.

"We absolutely must have Hitman 2, the second installment of Hitman, released simultaneously worldwide!"

Kavanaugh was speaking excitedly.

"Alright, alright, let's finish the first 'Hitman' movie first!"

It's like they're about to push "Hitman 2" out right away, they need to lay the groundwork with the first "Hitman" first.

However, Chen Jin is quite satisfied with the current pre-sales and promotion.

The number of theatrical releases was also better than he initially expected.

Next, all we have to do is wait for the midnight slot next Thursday. Before that, pre-sales are always welcome.

The Chinese market definitely needs to be developed properly.

There are at least 500 million Chinese people in North America. If we consider the movie-going rate in China, even if one-fifth of them are Chinese, that's still 100 million people.

If managed properly, that's at least 2000 million US dollars!
If every movie release had such a solid fanbase, even Americans would have to look at Chen Jin with new respect.

That's the advantage of having a large group.

If Chen Jin can focus on this aspect and then use the strategy of "encircling the cities from the countryside," she can actually establish herself in Hollywood.

"I wonder how much we'll be able to get from the North American pre-orders this time?"

The pre-sales for "The Battle at Lake Changjin" reached 512 million yuan, which "The Killer" obviously cannot surpass, because it does not have Bale's box office appeal, and it also had the support of the Chinese community at the time.

This time, Chen Jin was quite satisfied with 200 million.

Based on current trends and divergent projections, this number is still very likely to be achieved.

……

The next day, as word-of-mouth spread from the film's preview screenings and premiere, pre-sales indeed increased once again.

Among them, besides Chinese people, there are finally some foreign viewers who like action movies.

29.3 million!
There were about 3000 more people than yesterday's pre-sale.

This is a good sign, indicating that roadshow promotion is still somewhat effective.

Good news also came from Kavanaugh's side: the Big Six are very interested in "Hitman 2" and have a strong desire to cooperate.

Clearly, all the cards are now in the table. If "Hitman" performs well in North America and catches the eye of the Big Six, then "Hitman 2" will become Chen Jin's most important battle in North America.

In fact, according to the original timeline, it was the second installment of the "John Wick" series that truly became a global phenomenon.

Moreover, the film that truly widened the gap between Jackie Chan and Jet Li's North American film salaries was "Rush Hour 2," which grossed over $2 million at the North American box office.

Therefore, the second installment in any film series is extremely important.

It's a great shot; it'll make you famous overnight.

If it's not shot well, start over.

Mission: Impossible, Fast & Furious... they're all like that.

And now, Chen Jin is at such a critical juncture.

He must ensure that "Hitman 1" does well at the box office and that "Hitman 2" is also well made.

Only in this way can he have the capital to establish himself in Hollywood!
The audiences of the six major cities, including Chinese viewers who love "John Wick," Kavanaugh, and even Vin Diesel and others... are all closely watching this crazy journey of a director's debut film!
(End of this chapter)