Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 948 utterly vulnerable (13)

The reason Shen Yan personally handled the publicity...

The main reason is that "Us and Them" is just too amazing!

In the original timeline, this movie grossed over 1 billion yuan in just four days.

Zhou Dongyu is hailed as a box office magic bullet…

Officially taking over from Zhou Xun!

In the original timeline, films like "Us and Them," "Jade Dynasty 1," and "A Little Red Flower" all followed a similar pattern: high starting scores, dominating the release window, and KOLs keeping quiet...

They are all backed by large capital.

In its original timeline, "Us and Them" was produced by Huanxi Media and Maoyan, and backed by Alibaba and Tencent...

"Zhu Xian 1" was only produced by Tencent, and the final product was of very mediocre quality;

"A Little Red Flower" is much more skillful. It's still Alibaba + Tencent, but the model has evolved: big capital + top influencers. Pre-sales exceeded 2 million yuan, and it received an 8.2 rating on Douban!
Later, they evolved: many films no longer rely on audience viewing behavior to achieve their goals.

Through specific market operations, public opinion guidance, or internal circulation mechanisms, box office, awards, or other expected goals can be achieved even without a broad audience base.

Capital hypes up IPs, promotes resource-rich celebrities, buys online trolls, ratings, reviews, box office revenue, and trending topics, and then wins an award—a complete closed-loop service.

The phrase "ghost soldiers passing through" even came about!

This time, "Us and Them" is still produced by Huanxi Media, but the distributor has changed to Taopiaopiao...

Huanxi Media is very powerful; they've signed many star directors, including Zhang Yimou, Chen Kexin, Xu Zheng, Ning Hao, and of course, Wang Jiawei and Jia Zhangke…

The big boss of Huanxi Media is Dong Ping, a capital tycoon who has been in the Chinese film and television industry for two or three decades.

This bigwig of his caliber brought Wang Jiawei and Jia Zhangke together to build their business. Does he cherish talent so much that he thinks their movies aren't box office hits?
How can it be?

After losing money investing in "Devils on the Doorstep," Dong Ping rarely collaborated with Jiang Wen anymore. He even publicly called Jiang Wen a "film virgin."

The main reason for investing in these two individuals is their high copyright revenue…

Their main source of profit is back-end revenue that is not convenient to disclose, such as DVD sales revenue, revenue from overseas distributor contracts, revenue from pay TV and streaming services, and revenue from movie merchandise, etc.

Don't underestimate back-end revenue; it often accounts for the majority of a film's profits.

"In 2007, the total revenue of the major Hollywood film studios was $423 billion, of which 10% came from domestic box office revenue in the United States, and the rest was so-called back-end revenue."

Edward Jay Epstein, "The Inside Story of the Hollywood Film Economy"

Of course, they are also very good at making money!

"Man Jiang Hong" earned billions...

After studying the factors that make a product a bestseller: all you need is a few high-traffic areas and a few large courtyards, and you can easily rake in billions in just ten days.

Now, with all the feminist groups at their peak and celebrities everywhere, I'd be making at least 20 billion.

Then they made "Everyone Come and Beat Zhang Ziyi", which was divided into two parts.

Unfortunately, the audience isn't playing along anymore.

Let's get back to the marketing and promotion of "How Long Will I Love U"...

There weren't many complicated steps involved; they simply launched ads on Maoyan Short Video, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu...

The most clicked clips were from their three collaborations: "Architecture 101," "Our Times," and then behind-the-scenes footage from "How Long Will I Love U"...

We were all someone's first love!

Even though you're short, clumsy, and like other guys, I still like you!

Then there's "How Long Will I Love U": When fate brings you together, all attempts to please each other are superfluous!
The main theme is nostalgia!

At the premiere, Shen Yan also invited Li Lianhua and Ren Quan. Ren Quan revealed a secret: "Actually, when we were filming 'Architecture 101,' Shen Yan and Shi Shi had a kissing scene... It was filmed... But I heard that the director and screenwriter watched the finished film and felt that it didn't fit the innocent and poignant first love they wanted to portray, so they cut it out!" "It was an imagined kissing scene..." Shen Yan nodded in agreement, "But it really didn't match the overall mood and style of the film."

"So you were together back then?"

“Yes,” Shen Yan nodded with a smile, “Back then, we had just confirmed our relationship…”

"I said the way you're looking at Shishi is weird..."

Li Lianhua suddenly said, "It's been a long time since I've worked with my brother... The year before last, I approached you, but you refused!"

"You've asked me to make a co-production adventure film. There are many things to consider when making a co-production," Shen Yan said frankly. "I generally don't participate in projects that I can't make decisions about!"

"...So, you turned down a bunch of Hollywood offers?"

Shen Yan nodded: "Pretty much... Most so-called Hollywood blockbusters just need an Asian face...not many scenes, and it's impossible for you to lead..."

Have you been offered a directing role?

"Yes... They approached me for 'The Great Wall,' but they wouldn't let me touch the script, nor would they give me editing rights; they only wanted me to be in charge of directing... So I definitely refused!"

"I heard that Fox gave you maximum authority over Parasite?"

“Yes…” Shen Yan nodded, “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to cooperate with them…”

……

A marketing line for the film *Us and Them* reads, "You're unlike any other girl I've ever met. You can swear, you can gamble, and you can drink."

Then, a prominent online commenter said, "You can easily emulate Tolstoy and develop a personality disorder, but you'll never write *War and Peace*!"

The company's marketing team saw this message...

They used it for marketing, bought trending topics...

Are things like 'being able to swear, play cards, and drink' considered advantages?

All women in nightclubs know these things!
How rare could this be?
Capitalize on this marketing strategy!

They directly labeled the movie as pretentious…

Incidentally, a bunch of Liu Ruoying's past relationships were also dug up...

Whether it's a coincidence or not, female celebrities who cultivate an image of an artistic goddess generally have a rich romantic history...

The filter shattered all over the place!
In the original timeline, "Us and Them" grossed 2.85 million yuan on its opening day…

This time, the box office was 1.88 million yuan on the first day, 1.64 million yuan on the second day, only 9700 million yuan on the third day, and the box office dropped again on the fourth day, not even reaching 7000 million yuan...

Maoyan's prediction has also been revised down from the initial total box office of 12 billion yuan to 6 million yuan...

"How Long Will I Love U" grossed 3.7 million on its first day, 3.3 million on its second day, 3.2 million on its third day, and 2.7 million on its fourth day…

As of May 2nd, "How Long Will I Love U" had grossed over 15 billion yuan in its first five days of release…

Total box office prediction: 32 billion!
It has surpassed "The Ex-Files 3" and set a new box office record for domestic romance films!
However, only Liu Shishi was left to handle the publicity...

When asked by reporters, Shi Shi replied, "Yan Ge went to Cannes... As a director, he can't miss the premiere of his own film!"

Is there a chance of winning the Palme d'Or?

Shi Shi: "Who knows..."

Has he spoken to you about it?

“We chatted for a bit,” Shi Shi replied sincerely. “He said that Parasite is a genre film, not an independent film with a very obvious auteur style… It’s hard to say whether it will win an award!”

(End of this chapter)