Huayu: This producer has no bottom line.

Chapter 146 A Small Goal

On June 4th, Ren Pingsheng's phone was ringing non-stop.

It's either a phone call or a text message, or a text message or a private QQ message.

But what concerns him most is the chain reaction happening on the Internet.

On Tencent Weibo's topic square, the discussion volume of #LostJourneyMeal# surpassed that of #WillYouDieIfYouMissAnEgg# in the afternoon, becoming the most popular topic of the day.

The reason is simple: the first batch of viewers who received the product started posting pictures.

Someone posted a picture of the "囧" character pendant with the caption, "This thing is perfect for hanging on your backpack. My classmates all asked me where I bought it. I told them you can't buy it; you can only get it by watching a movie."

Someone was holding up a selfie with a custom-made Moslian yogurt container. "A still from the movie where Wang Baoqiang spits up milk is printed on the yogurt container. I took a sip and laughed, almost spitting it out."

Someone posted a picture of a scratched-off CD-Key card, saying, "Hahaha, you guys have no idea how green my roommate's eyes turned when he saw my profile picture glowing!"

Those who didn't manage to get one reacted even more strongly.

"Who managed to get one? I went to three Wanda Plazas, and they all said they were sold out! Weren't there supposed to be 100,000?"

"Hey upstairs, I just saw a scalper at the movie theater, holding a dozen or so movie tickets in line! It's unbelievable that scalpers are even selling these things!"

'

"The Wanda Plaza in Chaoyang Joy City, Yanjing, sold out of set meals by 3 PM when I went there. Damn it..."

2

"I queued for forty minutes at Global Harbor in Shanghai, and the guy in front of me took the last one. I wanted to punch him on the spot."

"Please, please restock! I really want that medal!"

The effects of scarcity marketing were even more potent than Ren Pingsheng had anticipated.

The topic square was full of wails from those who couldn't get the tickets, and these wails themselves became content, attracting more people to click on the topic to watch the excitement. After watching the excitement, those people were then recommended the movie.

The real highlight was the film's positive word-of-mouth, which was almost unanimously positive.

"I originally went to see it because of the package deal, but I ended up laughing so hard in the theater that I sprayed milk all over the guy in front of me."

"It was the first time I saw a movie on its premiere day, and I have no regrets at all. It was lighthearted, humorous, and full of warmth about life."

"My wife is very understanding and the mistress backed down gracefully. This man's life has been worthwhile."

Viewers who have already seen it are enthusiastically recommending it, while those who haven't are already checking screening times, asking which cinemas still have packages available, and when the badges will be restocked.

The word-of-mouth snowballed and grew bigger and bigger, and all emotions pointed in the same direction—I want to see it too.

At 11 p.m., the studio was still brightly lit.

Ren Pingsheng sat in front of his computer, looking at the first-day box office report sent by Huaying Film Studio.

"Pingsheng, how is it?" No one went back; they crowded around the side, too nervous to even breathe.

"First-day box office: 217 million," Ren Pingsheng said calmly.

"Only 200 million?" Da Peng was stunned for a moment, clearly somewhat disappointed by the number.

After all, it had caused such a big stir online, he thought it would at least break five million.

"Don't sigh yet, look at the data below."

Ren Pingsheng pointed to another column of numbers on the table, a smile playing on his lips.

"It ranked 4th in box office revenue that day, but its national average occupancy rate reached 34%!"

Dapeng and Baike had no concept of theater data and still looked blank.

Ren Pingsheng gestured to the famous screen and patiently explained to them, "You can compare them. Today, the number one film, 'Prince of Persia,' has taken nearly 40% of the screenings nationwide and has a daily box office of 502 million yuan, but its average occupancy rate is less than 20%."

Our film, "Lost in Thailand," only had 8.5% of screenings nationwide, but in those limited screenings, our average attendance rate was more than double that of "Prince of Persia"!

Even in some cinemas in Hubei and Wanda, prime-time screenings in the evenings were sold out and tickets were hard to come by!

Remember, for low-budget comedies like ours, attendance is everything! High attendance is a money-printing machine in the eyes of theater managers!

Hearing this, they finally realized, "So even though our box office isn't high right now, we're actually better than those Hollywood blockbusters?"

"That's roughly the idea."

Before Da Peng could ask anything else, Ren Pingsheng had already stood up.

It's almost midnight, I need to get tomorrow's plans sorted out tonight.

He dialed Zhang Wenbo's number. "Mr. Zhang, have you seen the data?"

"I saw it, Mr. Ren! An average attendance rate of 34%—that's incredible!" Zhang Wenbo's voice was filled with excitement on the other end of the phone.

"Don't just get excited. Immediately get your PR teams stationed across the country moving. Compile today's box office figures, attendance comparisons, media reports, and screenshots of online reviews into a one-page report and have them deliver it door-to-door to all the cinema managers!"

Ren Pingsheng spoke extremely quickly, without the slightest slackening.

"Tell them, tomorrow is a rest day. If you want to make money, cut all the empty screenings and put them all on 'Lost in Thailand'! Whether it can be a hit depends on these two days!"

"Understood," Zhang Wenbo immediately understood, "Use data to drive film scheduling."

After hanging up the phone, Ren Pingsheng called Huang Qunfei again, asking the local representatives of Huaying to cooperate with the Yingxing Tianxia team to visit cinemas together.

After doing all that, he leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a while.

In its previous life, "Lost in Thailand" only grossed 700 million in its opening week.

We made 207 million today alone. If we can pick up the pace over the weekend, breaking 10 million in the first week is not a dream.

But he dared not slack off. Low-budget films are like stepchildren in this era. The trust of theater managers comes and goes quickly. Once the attendance rate fluctuates, the number of screenings will be cut even faster than a sudden change of heart.

Therefore, we must strike while the iron is hot and make the data from the first weekend so that everyone will be silenced.

June 5th, Saturday.

The results of the forced action were immediate.

Although the attendance of "Prince of Persia" is declining, it is still the most stable cash cow for theaters, and no one dares to easily cut its screenings.

But those small and medium-sized films that already had few screenings and even worse attendance rates weren't so lucky. Their screenings were freed up in batches and given to "Lost in Thailand".

Under Ye Ning's personal direction, Wanda increased its screening rate from 15% to 22%.

Star Media and Jinyi followed with 18%, while United Group gave 16%.

Other cinema chains followed suit, allocating an average of 17% of screenings.

Even more unexpectedly, some small cinemas across the country that had not yet been connected with Huaying began to add screenings on their own initiative. Some independent cinemas in third- and fourth-tier cities even called Huaying to request copies of the films.

Fortunately, Huaying listened to Ren Pingsheng's advice and made 200 digital copies in advance, which were then distributed in various locations.

Otherwise, faced with a sudden surge in demand for screenings, the film copies simply wouldn't be available, resulting in the loss of millions in box office revenue.

On Monday morning, the China Film Data Information Network released the box office data for the first weekend.

Saturday, 370 million!

Sunday, 550 million!

With the addition of 2 million on Friday, "Lost in Thailand" successfully broke through with a box office of over 11 million in its opening weekend, becoming the only film among the several new releases released at the same time to exceed 10 million.

It has left far behind the nostalgic Hong Kong film "Gallants," produced and endorsed by superstar Andy Lau.

Meanwhile, with only 3 days in theaters, it made a strong entry into the second place of the weekly box office chart, second only to "Prince of Persia," which had been in theaters for 10 days and had a weekly box office of 58 million.

It's worth noting that in its previous life, "Lost in Thailand" only grossed a paltry 700 million in its first week.

In this life, thanks to his strong intervention, the company achieved 1100 million in the first week.

It sounds like it's almost doubled, but considering how much money and effort he's put into promotion and marketing, the increase isn't actually that exaggerated.

The reason is simple: the number of screenings has only increased slightly.

Even with explosive attendance, even with data pressure, and even with Wanda leading the way in adding screenings, the total number of screenings over the weekend was only 19%.

Meanwhile, "Prince of Persia" still holds a commanding 40% share.

But conversely, this proves exactly one thing.

The 5800 million yuan weekly box office for "Prince of Persia" was accumulated over 7 days with 40% of the screenings.

"Lost in Thailand" achieved almost the same sales figures in just three days with less than half the number of screenings.

What does this mean?

This means that as long as there are enough screenings, the box office potential for this film is far greater than it appears.

Cinema managers across the country are not blind.

"In my lifetime, our movies have blown Hollywood out of the water!"

Looking at the battle report, Da Peng was so excited he was yelling and screaming in the studio. He rushed over and hugged Ren Pingsheng tightly, "Shouldn't we celebrate?"

The others were also grinning from ear to ear. Although they weren't involved in the film, as members of Shengping TV, they felt genuinely proud, which also foreshadowed a bright future for them all.

Ren Pingsheng laughed and pushed Da Peng away, "What are we celebrating? The movie has only been out for three days."

Da Peng's smile froze for a moment. He had been with Ren Pingsheng for so long that he knew that if he said no celebration, he really meant no celebration.

"Okay, then I'll wait a few more days..."

"Don't wait any longer, hurry up and prepare for the audition for 'Love is Not Blind'," Ren Pingsheng glanced at everyone present, "Don't let the excitement here make you forget about the important matter."

Everyone nodded and dispersed.

After the studio quieted down, Ren Pingsheng sat back down at his computer and looked at the film schedule for next week that had just been sent to him.

The screening rate of "Lost in Thailand" has steadily exceeded the 25% passing mark and reached the 30% mark.

Ren Pingsheng knew that all his previous efforts had paid off this weekend with a substantial number of screenings.

Starting next week, "Lost in Thailand" will no longer be constrained by the stereotypes of low-budget films in this era.

The real box office success is only just beginning.

He opened an EceI spreadsheet on his computer.

This table records the flow of funds for the film "Lost in Thailand".

[Share buyout: 1000 million (already spent)]

[Publicity and distribution costs: approximately 220 million RMB (already spent, including screenings, material subsidies, and service fees from Yingxing Tianxia, ​​etc.)]

[Wang Sicong's share transfer: 200 million (acquired)]

[Actual net expenditure: 1020 million]

Based on the momentum of the past two days, the total box office of this movie is bound to exceed 60 million.

Based on a 36% revenue share for the production company, the film's production company receives 70%.

With a box office of 60 million, the production company received 21.6 million, and he took 70%, which is 1512 million.

After deducting expenses of 1020 million, the net profit is about 500 million.

It seems like they don't earn much.

But what if the box office reaches 80 million?

The production company received 28.8 million yuan in revenue, and 70% of that is 2016 million yuan, bringing the net profit close to 10 million yuan.

One hundred million?

Fifteen million!

Expenses are already fixed; every additional ticket sold is pure profit.

Moreover, this is the first time that Shengping Vision has participated in a theatrical film as the primary producer.

From web series to micro-films, and now to the big screen in theaters, LifeVision's business empire has taken its most crucial and solid step.

However, whether the current attendance rate can be maintained after a significant increase in screenings depends on whether it can break out of the small circle of young people on the Internet and move towards a broader mass market.

In this day and age, relying solely on the Internet is clearly not enough to achieve this.

To get people who don't use the internet to notice this movie, we must leverage the power of traditional media.

These people are the key to pushing the box office from 60 million to 100 million.

Ren Pingsheng picked up his phone and dialed Zhang Wenbo's number.

"Mr. Zhang, I'd like to add another million to the marketing and promotion budget."

Zhang Wenbo on the other end of the phone was taken aback. "Add more? Mr. Ren, the screenings and buzz have already picked up, so we should be holding back."

"What are you going to collect?" Ren Pingsheng's thinking was very clear. "I want you to contact traditional media, print media, and even local TV news programs all over the country. Cover as many as you can."

A ruthless glint flashed in Ren Pingsheng's eyes. "This time, there's only one mission: to discredit 'Prince of Persia'!"

"Forget about comedy or not, raise the bar and write it in the direction of Chinese films challenging Hollywood culture. Package 'Lost in Thailand' as a banner for Chinese films."

"I want to make those middle-aged people who don't use the internet much feel that if they don't take their whole family to see 'Lost in Thailand' at the cinema this weekend, they're missing out on the times!"

He hung up the phone and threw it back on the table.

It gained positive word-of-mouth online, and then it got screen time.

Now, let's solidify the last piece of the puzzle—traditional media—so that this film can transform from a youth frenzy into a nationwide topic of conversation.

By then, a box office of 100 million will not be a dream.

Meanwhile, in Jiangcheng.

The atmosphere in Huaqi Film & Television's office was somewhat eerie.

Liu Guangwei sat in the boss's chair, looking at the report on his computer that "Lost in Thailand" had grossed 1100 million yuan in its opening weekend, as well as the overwhelming praise online.

He had a cigarette between his fingers, and the ash had burned quite a bit without falling off.

"Mr. Liu..." the assistant beside him began cautiously, "This movie seems to be a real hit. I saw some industry insiders online predicting it could break 60 million. If only we had chosen that revenue-sharing plan back then..."

"7

"Shut up!"

Liu Guangwei stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, his face turning pale and then flushed.

-

Of course he can figure this out.

If he had chosen option two, he would have received at least 17 or 18 million, but now he only received the 10 million buyout fee, nearly half less.

Half of that is pure profit!

But then, the image of Ren Pingsheng sitting across from him that day flashed into his mind.

At the time, he thought it was a kid who hadn't even grown up yet trying to outsmart him.

Looking back now, I realize they were genuinely giving him a chance.

But he didn't have the guts to accept.

"Forget it."

He gave a wry smile, picked up his teacup, and took a sip of the now-cold tea.

"Even if I manage to scrape together 150 million, my heart can't take this rollercoaster of emotions."

"This money is rightfully earned."