Who said this top flow is crazy! This top flow is awesome!

Chapter 361 A Shocking Achievement That Made Chinese Film History
The phenomenal success of "The Martian" was predictable; its release at midnight after Chinese New Year's Eve indicated that it was destined to be a massive hit.

This has nothing to do with whether a certain leader likes it or not, because even if no one likes it, what's meant to happen will happen eventually.

On the first day of the Spring Festival film season, by noon on the first day of the Lunar New Year, The Martian had grossed 4 million yuan.

It fell short of the 5 million figure predicted and touted by various media outlets.

"The Moon" continued its strong performance, raking in 5.1 million yuan at the box office on its opening day and topping the charts for the first day of this year's Spring Festival film season.

"Star Trek III" also performed well, ranking second with 450 million yuan in box office revenue, while "The Martian" remained in the same position.

But Shen Bin, Ma Li, Mahua FunAge Pictures, and even the overseas distributor of "Star Road" were all panicked—because compared to them, "The Martian" had at least 2 million yuan less in pre-sale box office revenue.

Therefore, if we consider the "real results," The Martian accumulated 4 million in box office revenue in just two or three days, while they took at least half a month.

and…

The reception of "The Martian" is also quite off.

This strange thing was proven to everyone even before the next day.

The second day of the Lunar New Year, in the early morning.

A cinema chain under the Beijing-based Jingquan Group.

The theater manager, head down, ate the oden he had bought from the third floor, strolled through the doorway, and was about to head towards his office.

"Um…"

He paused, suddenly noticing a long queue at the front desk and ticket gate.

This is not uncommon, although it is the most "lively" moment in recent years, seemingly sweeping away the previous film and television winter and revitalizing the film and television industry.

But this year's Spring Festival film season was truly amazing, with a bunch of blockbusters being released at once. After being pent up for so long, and with the Spring Festival being the holiday, audiences across the country finally showed a wave of revenge spending.

As a seasoned professional in the industry, the manager has heard that some industry experts have predicted that after this period, another period of sluggishness may follow.

After all, a false prosperity is always false and can never become real.

This scene is nothing special; it was just like last night, except...

This time seems a little different.

They started arguing because...

The audience and the ticket seller started arguing.

That's really rare... Nowadays, tickets are usually purchased online, so he couldn't understand why audience members who bought tickets at the venue would argue with the staff.

He leaned closer and heard the audience member's voice.

"Why are there so few screenings of 'The Martian'? If there are no screenings, why are you advertising that you can buy tickets online at the theater? I took a taxi here, which cost me over fifty yuan, and then waited for more than an hour. This is consumer fraud and false advertising!"

The ticket seller, a young woman, seemed a bit flustered, only saying, "I'm sorry... I'm not quite sure how the cinema advertised it, but the screenings of 'The Martian' are really sold out. If you want to buy tickets, you can do so through our WeChat official account or the Maoyan platform, where you can reserve seats in advance..."

"what is this?"

The angry audience member pointed towards the entrance, where posters listed the seven major films scheduled for this year's Spring Festival release. But behind these posters, there was another prominent advertisement: "[Buy tickets offline for *The Martian*."]

Not long ago, he saw an advertisement on the internet from the cinema's marketing account, saying that they could buy tickets for "The Martian" offline. The online tickets were sold out, but the offline tickets were sold out through a separate channel in a private theater.

Then the audience member happily walked over.

What he didn't expect was that he wasn't the only one who thought so. After arriving, he discovered that almost everyone queuing up was a fellow enthusiast who wanted to buy "offline tickets" for "The Martian".

Then... and then everyone waited in line with great anticipation, only to be told by the theater staff that the theater was sold out and they were instead recommended other blockbusters.

Hearing this, some viewers might leave, but many others would think, "We're already here, and it's Chinese New Year. Other movies released during this year's Spring Festival have also received good reviews and performed well at the box office. Since there are no tickets left for 'The Martian,' we might as well watch other movies first."

Of course, there are also science fiction fans like this male viewer who, after being bombarded with all sorts of "Martian" wonders from the outside world all day, were itching to try it out, only to encounter this situation and immediately feel cheated.

"It only says here that tickets can be purchased offline, but the tickets are really sold out..."

Before the ticket seller could say anything more, another audience member yelled, "Is your cinema going out of business? I've been here since noon, watching all afternoon, and you can't even buy tickets offline. You're just cheating people!"

"??"

"Holy crap! Really?"

"What the hell? Are you kidding me? Why are you doing this to us during the Lunar New Year?"

"..."

The crowd erupted in chaos.

The manager frowned and glanced over, signaling the security guards to disperse the crowd. Then, ignoring the ticket seller's pleading look, he walked into the cinema like a passerby and went straight back to his office.

That's right, it was his idea.

Since the beginning of the day, he had noticed that the on-site feedback for the movie "The Martian" was exceptionally good... or rather, it was one of the top three blockbusters he had ever seen in his career.

The other two are the cross-century classic "Avatar" and a global blockbuster.

Given such a positive response and high attendance, in theory, cinemas should immediately increase screenings of "The Martian," in order to make money, and ramp up promotion and audience attraction to maximize profits from this blockbuster.

However, at this point, other problems suddenly emerged.

First of all, their cinema's parent company is China Film Group, and there has always been some conflict between China Film Group and Chi Ye. Furthermore, the higher-ups may know some information now, but at least he has not been notified at all.

Secondly, and most importantly, "The Martian" already had a high number of screenings.

Yes, this time the Jingquan Group didn't really make things difficult for Chi Ye, because their conflict with Chi Ye didn't affect their ability to make money. Before the release of "The Martian," there was a lot of hype, and they gave it enough screenings to make more money.

The problem now is that the competition during this year's Spring Festival film season is too fierce, and currently, "The Martian" is ranked third in total box office.

With multiple competitors, each with its own connections and theater chains, "The Martian" is not actually increasing its own screenings, but has already fast-forwarded to the point of encroaching on and seizing the screening share of other blockbusters—a process that would usually take at least four or five days to begin during major film releases.

In other words, everyone knows that The Martian is a hit, but The Moon and Star Trek III are also very popular. Moreover, they are too short, less than 24 hours long, making it difficult for those who are slow to react to them.

The cinema manager was actually quite quick to react. After realizing that there was no action from above, he tried to promote the "advertisement" online in order to generate revenue.

Unexpectedly, the effect was this good.

No… it’s not just about good results. His feeling was right. The audience feedback for *The Martian* that day was definitely not exaggerated because he liked the movie—he also saw *The Martian* and liked it very much.

and so……

"Make a call to headquarters and tell them that our theaters are under siege, and most of the people buying tickets are here to see 'The Martian.' Also, send them today's attendance figures... um... that's about it."

After the manager finished speaking, he sent the newly released first-day attendance figures to his assistant, who then forwarded them to headquarters.

"Is it...okay to do this?"

The assistant was still somewhat apprehensive, mainly because he felt his boss's actions were indeed too drastic, and this move essentially started the war of seizing screen time during the Spring Festival season ahead of schedule. The subsequent impact could be long-term.

"...We opened the movie theater to make money."

The manager curled his lip and looked at his assistant: "Do you think headquarters really doesn't know about this situation? It's just that they're reluctant to switch sides so quickly because of their relationship with those big shots in the Beijing circle, after all, it's only been 24 hours."

"Even a change of heart can't happen that quickly. It would be so awkward if we ate together at a dinner party in the future."

The assistant was taken aback.

"Go ahead, they're just waiting for news from me. With this excuse, things won't look too bad."

"……okay, I get it."

Cinema chains with good ties to the Beijing film industry became one of the main players in this takeover of film screening slots, something many industry insiders had not anticipated.

After this incident, more people realized that cinema chains are still cinema chains, the ones who control the "lifeline" of the film industry and have too much say. The phrase "cinema chains with good relations with the Beijing film circle" is not the key point; the core is the latter two words, "cinema chains".

With the release of such a film, no theater chain can remain indifferent.

China Film Group's reaction was a bit too swift... because a long time ago, they apparently had an opportunity to invest in "The Martian," but unfortunately...

No one knows what China Film Group was thinking, but starting from the second day of the Spring Festival season, because of their actions, the competition for screen time was brought forward by several days and put on the agenda.

That evening, according to media statistics from the following day, over a hundred cinemas across the country tacitly increased their screening share for "The Martian".

Among them, China Film Group made the most drastic move, raising the percentage for "The Martian" from 18% to 32% overnight.

With a full 14% of the national screening share, it was taking away the share from films like "Dream Lover," "The Affairs of Jinling," "Volunteer Army 2," and even "The Surface of the Moon" and "Star Journey 3."

Everyone was stunned, then filled with anger and shock.

"Hey? Lao Li, what do you mean? We agreed on 19% of the screenings, why is it 5% less today?"

"Dude, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that the higher-ups said 'The Martian' is really popular."

"Our attendance rate isn't bad either!"

“...It’s three times the size of yours, bro.”

"..."

"Alright, I'm hanging up now. I have to go to a meeting right away. It's highly likely that 'The Martian' will have its release period extended."

"..."

The producer of "Dream Lover" hung up the phone with a gloomy expression.

"How to say?"

Feng Kuzi, looking anxious and angry, rebuked them: "This is a breach of contract! They have absolutely no business integrity!"

"Pants, how much is 'The Martian' at the box office now?"

The producer didn't vent his emotions; instead, after a moment of silence, he checked the time and asked a question.

It's now the end of the second day of the Spring Festival film season. Half a day has passed since they last saw the box office figures for "The Martian," which were 2.4 million yuan before.

Feng Kuzi was taken aback and turned to look at another key member of the production team.

The creator looked up, paused, and said, "That's a bit much."

"It's broken 5 million?!"

A chill ran through them.

To everyone's surprise, the creator swallowed hard and said, "It didn't break 5 million."

Feng Xiaogang was overjoyed: "Even with this level of effort, they didn't break 5 million the next day, they..."

"It just broke 6 million at the last minute."

The two of them: "?!"

Silence, a brief silence followed.

The producer's voice was tinged with disbelief: "What the hell?! 6 million in a single day?! You fucking didn't read that wrong, did you?!"

The creators were also confused at this moment, because they were looking at the box office in stages. The speed at which "The Martian" broke 5 million was not fast, but it may be because a new day was about to begin and another round of adjustments to the national screening share had resulted in many more theaters showing "The Martian".

Even so, the fact that the box office increased by 1 million in such a short period of time still left the creators feeling surreal and shocked.

This…

This isn't the kind of trajectory a normal movie should have!

From the start of its release until now, that's not true!!

"6……"

Feng Kuzi muttered something, then plopped down on the sofa, a brief clarity appearing in his eyes. He stopped coughing: "His box office... his box office..."

"It broke the record...it broke the record, it must have broken the record..."

The single-day box office of Chinese films has exceeded 6 million yuan. If there is no exaggeration, it is more than just breaking a record.
Including the 4 million yuan box office on its opening day, "The Martian" raked in over 10 billion yuan in just two days during the Spring Festival holiday. What does that mean?
Two more days, and the movie will break even; two more days, and Ikeno will make a fortune; two more days…

How many "two days" are there in The Martian so far?
Feng Kuzi felt that, based on the current trend, there should be many.

It flew! This time it really flew!

"600 million in a single day... What about 'The Surface of the Moon' and 'Star Trek III'? What about those two?"

At this point, the producer thought of the two "big shots" who had been "suppressing" "The Martian".

The creators said: "Moon Surface" grossed 410 million, Star Trek III grossed 300 million..."

"Two hundred million short?!"

The producer chuckled and instantly lost all will to "resist".

Yesterday, including the pre-sales that had lasted for more than half a month, "The Moon Surface" achieved a stunning box office of 5.1 million yuan. However, on the second day, it dropped by 3 million yuan. Similarly, "Star Trek III" dropped from 4.5 million yuan to 3 million yuan.

The Martian's box office soared from 4 million to 6 million by the end of the second day...

Even without many pre-orders.

What a "grand occasion" this is!
"Wolf Warrior 2 Enhanced Plus Edition is out."

The Chinese entertainment and film industry is about to welcome a new ruler.

(End of this chapter)