I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Of course, some cinemas chose to apologize and refund tickets directly, but it takes time to process the situation, so the film's screenings remain very high during this period.

"We need to think of a solution..."

Lu Ban didn't quite understand this kind of real-world business competition; he felt that dealing with monsters from other realms was much simpler.

"Or how about we start by opening midnight screenings, like we did at the film festival?"

"That's all we can do. I'll discuss it with Mr. Song at our own cinemas, and we should be able to increase the number of screenings."

Li Zijian replied, and then added one more thing.

"By the way, your plan sounds amazing. Can you manage it all by yourself?"

"Now that you mention it, it's true, I don't know how to set up web pages."

Lu Ban replied.

"...Is it just a problem with the website?"

Li Zijian was ashamed. Could it be that he could really handle the other parts in one go?

Even the donkeys in the production team shouldn't do that, right?

"It's okay. If there's a problem, I'll definitely make trouble for you. Don't worry."

Lu Ban added another sentence.

"Then I'll thank you very much."

Li Zijian twitched the corner of his mouth.

Around noon, Lu Ban saw a notification on his phone that "The Crying" was adding midnight screenings, specifically between midnight and 5 a.m.

"That's very efficient."

Lu Ban sighed.

Chapter 203: Do people actually watch this kind of movie?

Li Anyi is a passionate fan of celebrities.

She works in a big city and enjoys watching dramas, talk shows, and murder mystery games after get off work. Recently, she became a fan of an idol named Wu Zhan. During the audition, she spent a lot of money voting for him and fighting with his rivals. After the audition ended and her idol debuted, she started worrying about data and popularity, becoming quite obsessed.

She finally managed to snag tickets to her idol's concert, went to see him in person, and had a get-together with her best friends, which made her feel much more fulfilled.

This time, her idol starred in a TV series, and even played the lead role. Although the female lead was a bit annoying, Li Anyi still had to support her idol, so she obediently bought a ticket to watch it.

While watching the movie, she was only focused on her idol's good looks, and didn't pay any attention to the plot.

Of course, during the kissing scenes between the male and female leads, she had already cursed the female lead a thousand times in her mind.

However, after the first day, the film's box office plummeted, and many fan groups came up with ideas to help their idol's first film perform well.

They quickly figured out how to lock in screenings, and Li Anyi naturally participated, buying tickets for several screenings at cinemas in her city.

However, as movie box office revenue continues to decline, sometimes cinemas are locked out of all their screenings for the entire day, resulting in almost no revenue. As a result, many cinemas have begun to restrict pre-sales and refund tickets for screenings with low attendance.

Especially for those who bought tickets but didn't show up, the first to be affected are the movies starring Li An Yi's idols. If less than ten tickets are sold an hour before the movie starts, the show is canceled and another movie is shown instead. In this way, they make a lot of money from the audience who couldn't buy tickets for the right time.

Therefore, they devised a strategy for the person to be present.

Li Anyi was present in person today, ready to wait until the movie was about to start an hour later.

She sat down on a chair at the ticket counter when her phone suddenly rang.

When she answered the phone, it was the movie theater. They told Li Anyi that because there were too few people at the screening she bought tickets for, they had to cancel the screening and refund her tickets.

"No, I'm already here, how can you cancel?"

Li Anyi spoke righteously and firmly, and she immediately went to the ticket office to argue with the cinema manager.

"We are very sorry, but there are very few people buying tickets for this show. We are just following the arrangements made above. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you."

The cinema manager practiced Tai Chi.

"But I'm already here. I'm planning to watch a movie and then have dinner with my friends. I can't just sit here doing nothing for the next few hours, can I?"

Li Anyi continued.

"With this kind of service, I will never come to your store to watch movies again."

"I'm so sorry, but how about this: we'll process a full refund for your ticket, and since this show has been changed to another movie, we can arrange for you to watch this one for free, how about that?"

The person in charge said that these are some compensation plans given by the higher-ups. If the movie is withdrawn and the audience protests, they will be given a free screening of the movie. Since it is a last-minute change, there will be seats available in most cases.

Although the person in charge didn't understand why such a strategy was necessary, it was still better than being locked out and only making a profit from one or two tickets, or even encountering unscrupulous people who refunded tickets a dozen minutes early and didn't make any profit at all.

Li Anyi frowned slightly. Although she felt that the cinema was being unfair, she figured she might as well watch the movie.

"Alright, since you all put it that way, I want the best seat."

She took the ticket and sat back down.

Looking at the electronic screen at the ticket counter, Li Anyi saw that his idol's movie was gone, replaced by a movie with a strange-sounding title.

"cry".

What movie is this?

Li Anyi, who doesn't pay much attention to the film industry, searched on her phone.

Looking at the online ratings, it's only 8.5 points, which is quite average.

She scrolled through the comments again.

"It's not scary at all. Calling this movie a horror film is an insult to the word 'horror'!"

"The ending of this movie is very heartwarming, and it's not scary at all, really!"

"I've never seen such a hilarious horror movie before, I recommend you all watch it!"

"After watching this movie, I didn't feel scared at all."

"It's not scary at all, and children can watch it without worry!"

Most of the comments with many likes and replies express this viewpoint.

"What? People actually watch this kind of movie?"

Li Anyi found it strange. The synopsis suggested it was a horror movie, but the reviews said it wasn't scary at all. So what was the point?

Is that all there is to it?

She didn't quite believe it.

At this point, Li Anyi saw that the tickets for the extra performance of "Crying" were rapidly decreasing, and soon only a dozen or so seats on the periphery were left.

When she arrived at the theater to have her ticket checked, she found herself surrounded by people.

Most of them were young people, chatting and laughing.

She wondered, "Didn't the comments all say it wasn't good or scary? Why are so many people watching it?"

The movie theater was quite generous, arranging for Li Anyi to sit in the very center of the theater, the best seat for the viewing experience, directly facing the big screen and enjoying the most immersive sound and visual effects.

"not bad."

Li Anyi relaxed, looking at the people around him sitting upright, as if they were about to face something terrible.

The movie has started.

More than an hour later.

Li Anyi sat on the soft sofa, unable to move.

She tried to stand up, but found that her legs were already weak. Li Anyi's back was soaked with cold sweat, which she had produced herself from fright.

Ten minutes into the movie, Li Anyi realized that she shouldn't be sitting there.

Although the movie theater was crowded, the atmosphere of the movie still made her feel as if she were in a hospital, and she was terrified.

As the plot progressed, Li Anyi began to consider quitting, but her legs were already stiff, and she didn't even dare to close her eyes. She could only watch the entire movie from the best viewing position.

Li Anyi and several audience members were still unable to move until the cleaning lady came over.

She has only one thought right now.

What was wrong with the person who made this movie? How could they have produced something like this?!

It took Li Anyi a long time to finally leave the movie theater. She was glad that she had at least come in the afternoon; if it had been evening, she might not have even dared to go home alone.

She took out her phone and glanced at the film reviews for "The Cry".

Only then did Li Anyi understand everything.

She promptly showed him her ticket stub and then posted a comment.

"This movie isn't scary at all; it's very family-friendly. I recommend everyone to watch it when gathering with friends."

After posting, Li Anyi felt it wasn't enough, so she went to her idol's fan group and made a comment.

"This movie, 'The Crying,' is quite good. It's not too scary. Sisters, you should all go and watch it when you have time."

I can't be the only one who gets scared!

Chapter 204 Keeping the Appointment

The opening day box office of "The Crying" was finally set at 40 million yuan. With only about 3% of the screenings, this is already an extremely good result. Although some industry insiders analyzed that this may be due to the positive word-of-mouth from the previous film festival screening and the advantage of midnight screenings, which led to a very high attendance rate on the first day, the development trend in the following days proved many people wrong.

On its second day of release, "The Crying" accounted for 5% of all screenings in theaters nationwide and grossed nearly 60 million yuan.

On the third day, the cinemas under Jiangcheng Industry first increased the screenings of "The Crying" and canceled some of the previously locked screenings, replacing them with "The Crying". They also gave away free tickets to the "The Crying" screenings to the audiences of the canceled screenings. On this day, the screenings of "The Crying" exceeded 7%, and the box office exceeded 80 million. It was only a matter of time before it broke 100 million.

On the fourth day, with the cancellation of the large-scale screenings by the theaters, the number of screenings of "The Crying" quickly increased to 18%, and the box office exceeded 170 million yuan that day, quickly becoming the number one film at the end of the year.

In various communities, "Crying" is also spreading like wildfire.

"The movie 'The Crying' really made me feel the fear of hospitals firsthand. My goodness, I never thought hospitals were anything scary before, but now I'm afraid to go to the hospital."

"We are sorely lacking in a real horror movie. Horror thrillers, as a specialized genre, have always been a part of the film industry. Many big-budget directors started out making B-movies and horror films. However, our industry has been developing low-budget romance films and urban light comedies with low special effects requirements, while neglecting these fantasy contents. I believe that 'The Cry' is not just about the crying of a newborn in the movie, but also the beginning of a change in the film market."

"No wonder it's the first horror movie for young people. When I was in the theater, I saw that the young people looked like they had never seen anything like this before. They had no idea how scary the zombie and horror movies we watched when we were kids were."

"I'm dying of laughter. Let me tell you, there was this brat in our theater. He was yelling about wanting to buy things when he first came in, and he even hit his parents. He was still making a fuss right from the start, it was so annoying. Then, halfway through the movie, I heard that there was no sound at all. When the movie ended, I took a special look, and lo and behold, that brat had wet his pants and was calling for someone to come and clean him up. It's true what they say, what goes around comes around, and the wicked get their comeuppance."