Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

We arrived in Tokyo at 12:30.

The screening of "My Sassy Girl" in Japan is similar to the usual screening situation in China. Currently, it is only being shown in 7 small arthouse theaters in Shibuya and Shinjuku, Tokyo. The reason for these 7 theaters is that 4 more were just added today, and there were only 3 theaters on the opening day.

Kazuo Fukasawa ultimately opted for a strategy of continuous screening, similar to the promotional strategy Yang Che had suggested for "Postmen in the Mountains." However, this approach wouldn't work in China at the moment, as piracy was far faster than film production companies.

With this kind of release model, talking about box office revenue is not very meaningful; it's more about attendance, since it relies on word-of-mouth.

The total number of viewers so far is 5500, with a cumulative box office of 850 million yen and an average occupancy rate of 88%, which is very high.

Given this situation, the crew only participated in one fan meeting, with about 30 people... but almost all of them were professional audience members, and they really talked about the details. As a result, Cheng Er became the main force among the main force. He thoroughly enjoyed the process and chatted with these 30-plus people and Kazuo Fukasawa for nearly 2 hours.

For example, "Mr. Cheng, I feel that your films have a very strong sense of immersion, and the camera work has a great sense of breath, but I can't quite put my finger on why. If you could, could you please explain?"

Cheng Er explained this in great detail, from choosing 35mm film to present a panoramic effect to lens arrangement.

"Although it is a romance film, we use long takes as much as possible when shooting. When shooting on location, we will consider the effect of even an insignificant passerby."

The sense of immersion you mentioned stems from this. As you may have noticed, whenever there's an outdoor scene, the camera regularly switches between macro-narrative and micro-details. You might see an aerial view of a city, and the next moment you might see a wrinkle at the corner of a character's eye. The camera is from the protagonist's perspective, which is also the audience's perspective.

Fan Bingbing and Huang Haibo were the audience members at the event.

However, the two actors were busy the next day, taking all sorts of photos, basically recreating classic scenes from the movie, only the background was changed to Tokyo—subways, cafes, schools...

During this period, they also had to be interviewed by magazines.

This gave Yang Che and Liu Chang great inspiration; they realized that this was how art films were promoted and distributed.

The promotional trip to Japan was relatively relaxed for everyone. Kazuo Fukasawa arranged for them to stay in a kaikan-style hotel, similar to a guesthouse, which was very quiet.

The food was quite delicious.

What annoyed Yang Che was that Fukasawa Kazuo, that old Japanese devil, was not even as good as Zheng Bingyuan; he didn't even mention the waitress incident.

On December 30th, the waitress—oops, I mean, Little Fatty—was busy early in the morning, very proactive. She was so proactive that she even set her alarm. What's so touching about that? She set the wrong time; she woke up at 5 a.m.

Little Fatty was still half asleep and didn't check the time. After turning off his phone alarm, he slipped under the covers without even opening his eyes and followed the scent.

Yang Che, who was woken up, felt a mixture of pain and pleasure, and reached out to pull her out.

Then both of them closed their eyes, their purpose was simple: to finish quickly and go back to sleep.

This is usually the case when I'm half asleep in the morning.

Sure enough, the two of them slept incredibly soundly afterward.

If Li Yue hadn't been banging on the door frantically at 8:30, Yang Che would have definitely missed his flight to Los Angeles.

Just as Liu Chang was taking Yang Che to Narita Airport, he received a call from Yu Dong in China. After hearing what Yu Dong said, Liu Chang became very excited, and his voice suddenly became high-pitched, like a woman's.

"real?"

Liu Chang chatted passionately with Yu Dong for two or three minutes, and was still excited after hanging up: "Brother Che, guess..."

Yang Che interrupted him coldly and emotionlessly: "I'm not guessing, just tell me."

The interruption felt like a phone call had cut short his evening with Ma Shu; it was incredibly frustrating.

"Shiba~Baga, you're so boring."

Yang Che's gaze was deep and unfathomable: "Have you gotten too cocky, or have I lost my ability to wield a knife?"

Liu Chang chuckled, "Ahem, reporting to the great Comrade Yang Che, the movie 'My Sassy Girl,' which we co-produced, grossed 1760 million RMB in its first five days in mainland China, with 700 million RMB in Beijing alone. China Film Group predicts a surge during the New Year's Day holiday, with the final total box office expected to reach 5000 million RMB."

Yang Che suddenly felt like he was sprinting towards the top of the mountain, but he ran out of strength halfway there and fell down.

He couldn't help but chuckle: "Old Liu, our movie has all the advantages – perfect timing, perfect location, perfect support. It already grossed 1760 million in the first five days, and there's practically no piracy anymore, yet the most authoritative forecasting agency is still predicting 5000 million. Why do you think that is?"

Liu Chang stopped laughing: "Brother Che, let me tell you something from the bottom of my heart, don't take it hard to believe."

Yang Che looked at him in surprise: "When did you start talking like that?"

Liu Chang has always been outspoken and is also the most radical young man.

He paused for a moment, then smiled awkwardly: "Ultimately, our film doesn't really have any real box office appeal. The reason it's so high now is actually due to two reasons. First, our film has gone overseas, and people think that if foreigners think it's good, then it must be good. Second, it's because of the negative publicity surrounding our film, 'Legal Report'."

But this "GG" effect will eventually fade. Look at Macau's return to China—it was a huge event, but in Shanghai, almost nobody talks about it anymore. The reason I can predict 5000 million is because our movie is genuinely good and can spread through word of mouth.

So, Che-ge, if the box office drops significantly after New Year's Day, don't be discouraged. I believe it will definitely recover slowly.

Yang Che listened attentively, and although he didn't quite agree, he didn't explain anything: "I know, don't be arrogant when you win or discouraged when you lose. Besides, there's nothing to be discouraged about. We've already broken even, okay? The rest is pure profit."

"Yeah, haha."

They arrived at the airport in the blink of an eye. Yang Che patted Liu Chang's arm and said, "I'm entrusting 'My Sassy Girl' to you. I will definitely keep my promise to share it with everyone."

Liu Chang nodded: "Understood, be careful in everything."

"With Lao Wu around, nothing will happen."

Yang Che then looked at Zhou Liren: "Bingbing is a reckless fool, you've gone to a lot of trouble."

Zhou Liren subconsciously straightened up: "I know, Brother Che."

And so, at 10:00 AM on the 30th, Yang Che boarded a plane from Tokyo to Los Angeles. The flight took 9.5 hours, and he arrived at 2:00 AM local time on the 30th.

During this period, the China Film News was the first to report on the box office performance of "My Sassy Girl," with the headline:

Why is "My Sassy Girl" so "savage" that it only ranked eighth in box office revenue after just five days?