Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

Chapter 286 Scalpers in Action

May 2003, 5, 13 p.m., Los Angeles.

Lin Yuan drove Liu Yufei from her home in Beverly Hills to the familiar small cinema to watch the premiere of "The King of Spy Wars".

Going to the cinema to watch the premiere of the movie in which he stars has become a habit for Lin Yuan. It is a way for him to feel the audience up close and be tested. Tonight he is with Liu Yufei.

Liu Yufei arrived in New York yesterday. After all, she is also one of the leading actors of "The King of Spy Wars" and should have attended the premiere of the movie.

The premiere ceremony, like the wedding photos before a couple gets married, is an essential part of the process, but most of the time it is unremarkable, so I won’t go into details about the process.

Before leaving, the two disguised themselves.

Liu Yufei is mainly known in North America as Lin Yuan’s girlfriend, but she is not exposed much, so the public is not familiar with her. They only need the three-piece set of mask, sunglasses and hat to know her.

Lin Yuan is completely different. His figure and body shape are well known to many fans. Last time when Lin Yuan was buying something in a convenience store, he was recognized by the cashier just by his back. It was outrageous.

Anyone who can say something like "I can recognize you even if you turn into ashes!" is either a super true fan or a creditor.

When Lin Yuan becomes a super star, he will also lose a lot of freedom.

After fully arming himself with the fat house suit again, Lin Yuan dared to go to the premiere of the movie with Liu Yufei without any worries.

As they just stepped into the cinema, a black man wearing a big gold chain suddenly came forward and stopped the two of them.

"Hi! Asian?" the black man greeted.

"Yes, Chinese." Lin Yuan replied.

"Oh! Just like Lin Yuan, so cool!" the black guy shouted.

"Excuse me, is there anything I can help you with?" After so many years in North America, Lin Yuan is still not used to the black brothers' evasive way of talking.

"Are you here to see the premiere of 'The King'? Do you have tickets?" asked the black man.

"Of course, but there are only two tickets. Just right for me and my girlfriend." Lin Yuan replied.

"Great! You have tickets! Brother, I have a good suggestion for you, how about you listen to it?" asked the black man.

"What good suggestions do you have? Tell me."

"How about you give me the movie tickets and I'll give you $200? Ten times the price, isn't this a super good deal?

Look, it's such a nice night, why not go to the movies? Take this money and treat your beautiful girlfriend to a nice meal, which is just as nice.

As for the movie you missed tonight, you can buy tickets in a few days and watch it later." The black man took out two brand new hundred-dollar bills and shook them, making a rustling sound.

This person was obviously a scalper who resold movie tickets. However, Lin Yuan did not expect that he could bid $200 for the tickets from him. So how high a price could he get if he sold them to others?
Lin Yuan asked curiously, "Are tickets for 'King of Spy Wars' so popular? You're actually willing to offer $200?"

The black man replied, "That's right, it's all the fault of the damn cinema. They didn't schedule more movies and gave all the screenings to other crappy movies!
There were too many people who wanted to watch "The King of Spy Wars", and everyone was eager to get tickets, so the price naturally went up.

Of course, the premiere tickets are the most expensive, and the other shows will be much cheaper."

"Thank you for your kindness, but I still won't sell it." After asking what happened, Lin Yuan refused with a smile.

"Don't be so quick to refuse! I can add another $50, would you consider it?" The black man wanted to argue again. "No, I don't want to disappoint my girlfriend. This is not about money." Lin Yuan refused again.

"Okay, okay, I failed again. You bunch of Lin Yuan fans are really more stubborn than each other. I didn't receive many tickets this evening. It's so disappointing." The black brother complained as he walked away.

"Your fans are so loyal that few people would give up their movie tickets for $250!" Liu Yufei whispered.

"That means they are not 250." Lin Yuan said with a smile, telling a cold joke that only Chinese people would understand.

"Hiss~ It's so cold!" Liu Yufei rubbed her arms and made a disgusted expression.

Unfortunately, she was wearing sunglasses and a mask on her face, and it was a bit difficult for her to express disgust with her acting skills in this situation.

"You heard it too. Not every ticket can be sold at this price. The price for the premiere is just a little higher." Lin Yuan replied.

"I saw the price on the Internet. Even non-premiere screenings cost $150 per ticket. The price has been rising continuously in the past few days. The scalpers have gone crazy," said Liu Yufei.

The price of scalper tickets does change three times a day. Such high profits will of course greatly stimulate the enthusiasm of scalpers.

Under normal circumstances, the price of scalper tickets is only 3 or 4 times the original price at most, but the price of "The King of Spy Wars" has reached an astonishing 7 or 8 times the original price.

This is mainly because the initial screening schedule of "The King of Spy Wars" was severely squeezed by competitors, resulting in a complete imbalance between supply and demand.

Even though the price of tickets bought from scalpers may be 7 or 8 times higher, the absolute amount is not a huge number for people in North America.

Fans who are eager to see the movie are still willing to pay to see it earlier, but it’s just the price of a slightly better meal in a restaurant.

Compared with the high-priced tickets sold by scalpers, the official price of $20 for a movie ticket seems very cheap.

There were even movie fans who suggested that the price could be set a little higher, as they thought that this would reduce the number of people buying tickets and make it more likely that they would be able to buy them.

The audience proactively requested a price increase? This is truly a magical story.

Lin Yuan and Liu Yufei walked into the cinema hall, waiting for the movie to start at midnight.

Lin Yuan looked around and saw many elderly fans waiting for his movie to start.

This scene suddenly reminded him of something. Lin Yuan walked to the promotional stand of "The King of Spy Wars" in the cinema and saw a makeshift medicine box.

Through the plastic baffle, you can see emergency medicines such as quick-acting heart pills and antihypertensive drugs inside.

Now Lin Yuan was completely relieved. This was because when he was promoting the movie, he required that theaters be equipped with necessary first aid medicines.

His movie is really too exciting, and his popularity will attract many elderly audiences.

If something unexpected happens while watching a movie, it will cause a troublesome public opinion storm.

So Lin Yuan and Mr. Eisen made preparations in advance and produced a brochure to warn the audience before the movie.

As twelve o'clock approached, the audience began to check in their tickets and enter the venue.

Lin Yuan and Liu Yufei walked into the screening room hand in hand and began to watch the first movie they co-starred in.

(End of this chapter)