I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 245 Premiere!

Horror movie.

It's considered a very niche genre by Hollywood filmmakers.

His target audience is very fixed, mostly young people...

In the global film category, it is not particularly outstanding. Even the most famous film in the world, "The Curious Case of the Doll," only grossed around $1000 million worldwide.

As for global box office history, apart from some beast movies that borrow horror elements, there isn't a single genuine horror film in the top 300.

Big directors disdain making these films, and small directors can't make them well. After producing a few good works, directors quickly switch to making other films, since the market is only so big, and the formulas are basically fixed.

They tried creating original content, but found that the scripts were nothing more than changing a few characters and scenes, and it was a thankless task with mediocre box office and so-so reviews.

Since the turn of the millennium, the Hollywood horror film market has begun to fall into an originality crisis. Since creating original content is exhausting and doesn't amount to much, they might as well stop creating original content altogether!
In order to squeeze every last drop of value from this niche group of moviegoers, after the turn of the millennium, film studios set their sights on overseas markets and began frantically acquiring the rights to Asian horror films for American adaptations.

Japan's "Child's Play" was remade into an American version, Thailand's "Shadow" became an American version, and South Korea's "The Brush" also had its adaptation rights bought...

After being processed by Hollywood's assembly line, these Eastern horror elements, while having more refined special effects, gradually lost the bone-chilling sense of horror of the original. However, they still grossed much more at the box office than the original.

Seeing that this approach was feasible, Hollywood studios began to extract the remaining value from their older films. The 1970s classic "The Devil" was remade, and the 1980s classic "The Devil" was re-released with CGI. The desks of executives at major Hollywood studios were piled high with dusty film reels. They rummaged through the piles of papers, trying to find new commercial value in these old films and to re-exploit them...

Since the turn of the millennium, the entire Hollywood horror film market has become a giant remake factory!
………………

8 month 16 day.

Saw premieres in North America.

It was more of a small-scale preview screening than a North American premiere.

Theatrical release resources in the United States are very tight and limited. After all, in addition to films from the eight major Hollywood studios, the US imports many films from around the world every year...

Basically, the production and promotion costs are in the tens of millions of dollars. Ordinary imported films follow market rules very strictly. They are given a 24-hour partial screening period. If your occupancy rate is high and the box office is good, you can go on screen. Films that perform poorly at the same time will have their screenings halved after 24 hours. If there is still no improvement after 48 hours, they will be completely removed from the market.

The premiere of "Saw" opened in 320 theaters in North America.

While over 300 theaters may seem like a lot, in North America it's actually a very small-scale trial, even less than the number of films made by small Hollywood directors.

Each cinema doesn't schedule many screenings, only two per day, and they're mostly shown in the midnight theater.

Although Mark was quite interested in the film and thought it could make money, the executives at Paimon had a unified plan regarding the film's screening schedule and estimated costs...

If Mark hadn't found the $120 production cost too embarrassing and hadn't increased it tenfold to $12 million, the budget for screenings of this film would probably have been even smaller.

Around 10:50 p.m.

Peter, the copyright manager at Universal Pictures, got out of the car with a hint of helplessness. Looking at the words "Saw" on the screen, he felt a pang of frustration.

A while ago, my childhood friend Wilson excitedly came over with a script called "Fast & Furious," saying he hoped they could invest in the movie together...

Pete was initially quite interested, but after reading the script and seeing that it was written by a Chinese screenwriter, he became somewhat disappointed and dismissed the matter with a few casual words.

But Wilson launched into a long, rambling introduction, insisting that his company invest at least thirty million US dollars in the film, and suggesting that he learn more about the Chinese director, who might surprise him.

Damn it, they think they can scam millions from their company with just a script!

Are you kidding me?
then……

What's even more infuriating is why he had to drink with that bastard Wilson a few days ago!

Drinking is one thing!

Why did I agree to go see "Saw" with Wilson after drinking? Even though he's always been interested in horror movies, this one was produced by Paimon.

and……

He had done thorough research on "Saw." The film was shot in less than 15 days, with only a handful of unknown actors, and the production cost was...

Do you have $200,000?
He's a Universal Pictures sourcing manager going to see this kind of movie!

If a reporter sees this, who knows how much they'll laugh at me...

He subconsciously pulled his mask up a little, then looked around.

Ok!

reporter……

This movie had no reporters at all, and hardly anyone paid attention to it. Apart from authorizing screenings, the official Paimon Pictures didn't provide any other resources.

The audience was sparse; some glanced at the screen after watching the movie, while others had absolutely no interest whatsoever.

“Pete…”

"Mr. Wilson, I'll only be in for 10 minutes. If I'm not interested in anything within those 10 minutes, then the investment is off. Of course, Universal Pictures has no problem with distribution..."

"Okay, I've seen the movie, you definitely won't regret it!"

"Row!"

..........................................

11 pm.

The lights came on in the premiere theater for "Saw".

Sparse audience members gradually settled into the screening room...

There weren't many people in the premiere theater. About five minutes before the movie started, about a third of the seats were still empty.

"Mr. Zhou Yang, this is Mr. Pete..."

"Ah, hello Mr. Pete."

"Hello."

Just as Pete sat down, he saw a young man with an Asian face walking towards him.

After being introduced by Wilson, Pete smiled politely, shook hands with him, and then sat back down in his chair.

This Asian man didn't cling to me as I'd imagined, nor did he sit next to me with a fawning expression. Instead, he simply greeted me like an old friend, exchanging a few words before leading the actors to their seats in the corner...

During this time, Kathryn, the director of "Twilight", also came over, greeted him with a smile, and shook his hand.

After they were all seated... the lights in the screening room suddenly went out.

Pete subconsciously loosened his tie.

The first thing that appears on the screen is the Paimon Pictures logo, which is covered in blood vessels, accompanied by a faint metallic scraping sound in the background music.

Pete's expression, which had been somewhat nonchalant, gradually became serious.

Although he didn't think the movie would surprise him much, he would still carefully examine it when he actually watched it to make sure he didn't miss any good films.

This has been a long-standing professional habit of his.

On the screen.

After darkness, endless darkness, the camera gradually brightens, and the scene cuts to a cramped basement.

A close-up of rusty iron chains filled the entire screen, with dark red fragments resembling skin tissue embedded in the gaps between the chains. Even through the screen, Pitt could almost smell the blood.

His expression changed from serious to solemn.

This movie wasn't as bad as I imagined; at least, the atmosphere at the beginning was quite well done.

Just at this time……

The screen was plunged into endless darkness once again.

In the darkness...

He heard a dry sound and a recording filled with static.

"Adam..."

A sound, accompanied by static, rang out calmly and slowly.

"You should wake up..."

Pete suddenly stared at the screen.

The screen remained completely dark, but interspersed with the sounds of blunt objects being dragged.

It was as if they were dragging a chained corpse...

However, the dry voice carried an eerie, mechanical coldness, each word sounding like a rusty blade scraping against the eardrum.

"Welcome to……"

During the brief pause.

Faintly, the sound of dripping water could be heard.

With each suffocating splash, growing stronger, a chilling sound of water plunging into the water finally emerged: "Your grave!"

In the screening room.

Pete began to sit up straight.

Although the screen was still dark, the eeriness emanating from the sound was exceptionally strong!

This movie seems interesting.

The image finally appeared on the screen.

In a close-up shot of the chain, dark red debris falls off as the chain sways.

The recording continued to emit that subtle, soul-stirring sound.

"Dr. Lawrence Gordon is watching you rot. The .38 revolver in the middle corpse's hand is about to contain the soul of one of you..."

"When you spy on other people's lives... have you ever thought about how it feels to be spied on?"

The recording continued, accompanied by the sound of old film reels.

After a brief three-second pause in the recording, the air conditioning in the screening room suddenly intensified, causing the hairs on the back of Pitt's neck to stand on end...

"Have someone turn off the air conditioning. Damn it, Wilson, why is the air vent always pointing at me? God, do you have to create this unsettling atmosphere?"

Then, Pete took a deep breath, pulled his coat tighter, and stared at Wilson.

Wilson coughed lightly: "You need an atmosphere to watch a horror movie..."

"Turn it off!"

"Oh."

Just at this time……

Pete suddenly felt an indescribable chill run down his spine once again.

This time, it doesn't seem to be the air conditioning.

But...

A line from the movie screen.

"How pitiful!"

A dry voice, mixed with the sound of dripping water.

"You hate the darkness, yet you hide in it, and even your death must be done in the darkness..."