Unboxing, Director!

Chapter 191

The premiere was a great success.

Even though the film is not commercial and is somewhat obscure, and many people don't quite understand it on the first viewing, its success cannot be denied.

After all, the Cannes Best Director award is a testament to that; who would dare to disagree?

Of course, in reality, "The Lobster" did give everyone present a refreshing feeling.

This is especially true for the professional film critics present.

The style of "The Lobster" is quite different from all other movies at the moment.

His style is also very different from any other director.

It is new, international, and unique.

From composition and camera movement to plot, everything is "new".

It's a style that has never appeared before.

Therefore, it is obvious that this could not be a "proxy director" but rather a style unique to Lu Jiang.

That's why the film critics applauded the most enthusiastically after the premiere.

But how much of this was due to the Cannes awards remains unknown.
The premiere was followed by the usual post-screening interviews.

After a half-hour interview, Lu Jiang moved to another large studio in the Century Theater to hold a fan meeting.

The fans were really eager for such an event, which hadn't been held for a long time.

Lu Jiang also took the opportunity to perform two new songs for his fans live.

"The Killer" and "My Song".

Although instructions were given not to record audio, this kind of thing may be unavoidable.

But it doesn't matter, it's not like it's a full instrumental performance.

After Lu Jiang finished singing two catchy songs with different styles, the fans were not satisfied and even dared to ask him to sing another one.

How could Lu Jiang let them succeed?
So he sang a new song called "Rogue".
Three new songs were released, and fans were overjoyed.

Which other fandom gets to enjoy this kind of treatment?
In addition, everyone was more satisfied with the quality of Lu Jiang's new album.

With Lu Jiangjiu absent from the Chinese music scene for some time, the tiger is gone, and the monkey reigns supreme.

Some of the younger singers are really good at dancing!
Now that's settled, with just these three songs, everyone can be sure that Lu Jiang's new album is a sure thing!

But Lu Jiang quickly added, "I won't sing the 'King of Singers' song. I'll save it for when the new album is released."

Now, the more than 3,000 fans at the scene went completely berserk, all clamoring to hear it in advance.

Liu Qianqian, who was mixed in with the crowd, also shouted and cheered.

Lu Jiang laughed heartily and pointed at Liu Qianqian with his finger.

Now Liu Qianqian wasn't laughing anymore. She felt that once she joined the cast, Brother Lu Jiang would definitely give her a good rating!

How to do!
The acting skills issue hasn't been resolved yet.

Now a new problem has arisen.

I don't want to live anymore!!
After singing the three songs, Lu Jiang called over F3, and the four of them sang the Meteor Garden theme song together. Afterwards, they exchanged gifts and took a group photo.

The simple fan meeting came to an end, but for the fans present, today was definitely the happiest day.

After the fan meeting, Lu Jiang went to the Beijing Hotel.

The guests for the premiere have been arriving one after another. This kind of social interaction is necessary, and Lu Jiang needs to pay attention to it.

A meal confirmed the timing of Lu Jiang's joining the Film Association, effectively stamping his name on the association.

Regardless of its importance, at the very least, Feng Dapao desperately wants this kind of treatment right now.

Before "Hero" ushered in the commercial era, mainstream art films were the dominant force.

Box office figures are not that important.

Therefore, even if "The Lobster" only grosses one or two million at the box office, it will not cause any damage to Lu Jiang.

After all, the films directed by the great poet and Zhang Yimou have only grossed a few million in the last two years.

Conversely, no matter how high your box office is, it's still useless, like Feng Xiaogang's case.

Feng Xiaogang makes very good commercial films, accumulating over 200 million yuan in box office revenue over the years, but in the eyes of these people, he is at most a second-rate director.

And Lu Jiang? He's the new hope of the film industry! The top seed!
Lu Jiang's future plans seem bright and promising.

His status is something that people like Da Pao can't compare to at all.

But Lu Jiang also knew that this era would soon pass, and in the future, box office revenue would be the key.

Therefore, Lu Jiang simply drinks up all the compliments he receives, like wine in a glass, and then uses them as urine at night.
That very evening, reviews of "The Lobster" first appeared on major portal websites.

The reviews were overwhelmingly negative, as expected.

Of course, there will definitely be discussions about art films and commercial films.

It's just that these views won't become mainstream right now.

The following day, newspapers began publishing news about the premiere of "The Lobster".

Meanwhile, "The Lobster" also began its theatrical run across the country.

The first batch of online film reviews came out quickly.

Overall, it was pretty good. After all, it had the Cannes Film Festival bonus, and there weren't many trolls online these days, so "pilgrimage" made up the majority of the audience.

Of course, there are also some special ones.

For example, one netizen paid attention to Tang Wei.

Tang Wei's scene wasn't cut, and thus it became a famous scene.
Some longtime film fans who have seen Lu Jiang's short film "Not Drunk" even said: Lu Jiang's movies are awesome!
Lu Jiang said he was both amused and exasperated.
After the film's release, some people asked Lu Jiang about his box office expectations, and Lu Jiang naturally didn't have high hopes.

Besides the fact that "The Lobster" is an art film, current movie ticket prices are also an important factor affecting box office performance.

Back in 02, movie ticket prices were highly dependent on whether it was an imported blockbuster or whether it was shown in first-tier cities.

Generally speaking, imported blockbusters are priced at 20 yuan or more, while first-tier domestic films, such as "The Lobster" which have won awards or are films that the country attaches great importance to, are around 10 yuan; second-tier domestic films, which are ordinary domestic films, are around 5 yuan.

This is still in a first-tier city.

Tickets are even cheaper in second- or third-tier cities or county towns.

Last year, some regions even experienced a wave of price reductions.

The ticket price has been reduced from 5 yuan to 2 yuan.

Unfortunately, the film market is sluggish, with the total revenue for the year falling below 8 million, even lower than in the 90s.

There's no way to survive except by lowering prices.

The average ticket price for "The Lobster" in Beijing is 15 yuan, while in other regions it is 10 yuan, 8 yuan or even 3 yuan.

Overall, it's considered one of the better domestic films of its kind, and 180 screening copies were made.

But based on these factors alone, the box office performance is unlikely to be very good.

But still the same sentence.

During this period, the media did not care about box office revenue.

"The Lobster" has already fulfilled its mission at Cannes.

So after the release of "The Lobster", Lu Jiang turned his attention to "Xiao Shiyi Lang" and "The World's Number One".

On July 11, Lu Jiang and the main cast of "The World's Number One" appeared on the variety show "Super Winner". On July 12, the group appeared on "Happy Camp".

Over the next few days, Lu Jiang visited several variety shows and television stations to complete the promotional task for "The World's Number One". Now he just had to wait for the show to air so that the promotional effect could be seen.

Meanwhile, "Xiao Shiyi Lang" also aired on the evening of July 12.

The film stars Fan Binbin, Qiao Zhenyu, and Yu Bo, and has garnered significant attention.

The simultaneous broadcast of the show on four channels—Hebei TV, Anhui TV, Beijing TV, and Guangdong TV—further boosted its popularity.

"Xiao Shiyi Lang," which was already a phenomenal hit drama of the year, achieved even better ratings with the added boost of its popularity.

After three days, the market share reached 31%, firmly securing the top spot for the same period. It is expected to remain in the top ten this year and strive for the top five.

The trio's collaboration in "Xiao Shiyi Lang" has already made it so popular.

How popular would "The World's Number One" be if all the characters were combined?
Industry insiders and fans immediately began to look forward to it.
(End of this chapter)