Perfect Superstar

"A Chinese Ghost Story" is officially released on February 21, Tuesday.

And just yesterday, as the biggest competitor, "Painted Skin" announced its first-week box office.

From its release on the 14th to the 19th for a total of 6 days, this film jointly produced by Arima Films and Star Arts Entertainment has accumulated 36.77 million, which is quite dazzling.

In the past ten years, under the impact of Hollywood blockbusters, Hong Kong's local films have been in a very bad situation. A large number of film and television production companies have closed down, talents in the industry have been exodus, and the box office has rarely achieved good results.

Although "Painted Skin" is a co-production film, it was advertised as a Hong Kong-produced film, so its first-week box office of 36.77 million broke the record for Hong Kong-produced films in the past three years.

Arima Pictures and Xingyi Entertainment naturally celebrated with great fanfare. Even Jiang Wei, who was forced to apologize for scolding Wang Dong for causing public outrage, became active again on his blog, posting several bragging blog posts in succession, very proud of himself.

It's just that those who don't know the truth think that "Painted Skin" has achieved great results, and that the box office in Hong Kong will break through the 100 million mark, just as they boast. However, those in the industry who know the inside story have a very different opinion.

The results of "Painted Skin" in the first three days of its release are really impressive, with a box office of 24.45 million, which is unparalleled among its peers, showing the momentum of soaring into the sky.

However, on February 17, the box office of "Painted Skin" suddenly dropped to 4.27 million, a drop of nearly 50% compared to the 16th!

On February 18, the box office of "Painted Skin" was 3.2 million, which continued to drop sharply.

It didn't pick up until the 19th. The box office of 4.85 million showed a trend of rebounding. The cumulative first-week box office was 36.77 million, and then remained at around 5 million on the 20th.

On the surface, it looks very good. With a box office of 5 million a day, many films produced by Xiangjiang may not be able to achieve it after a few weeks of release. It can still crush the Hong Kong films released in the same period.

However, an insider revealed that starting from the 19th, Arima Films and Star Arts Entertainment made a move to support the market.

To put it bluntly, it is to buy the box office.

The so-called box office buying refers to the unfair competition method adopted by some film producers in order to create the illusion of high box office and exclude competing films of the same period, that is, the film producers pay to buy a large number of movie tickets, and then sell them as gifts and at low prices. way to the audience.

Since the theater schedule is a scarce resource, "buying box office" creates false box office figures, which will not only mislead audiences to choose, but also squeeze other film screenings.

The phenomenon of buying box office exists in Hong Kong, and more in China. The source is still in Hollywood, the United States. It belongs to the unspoken rules in the film industry, and everyone just tacitly understands it.

The box office was only 5 million, so one can imagine the real box office. The most important thing is that "Painted Skin" received rave reviews on the Internet, and the follow-up box office results are worrying.

And at this critical moment, "A Chinese Ghost Story" was released.

Needless to say, the competitive relationship between "A Chinese Ghost Story" and "Painted Skin". Both films are adapted from Pu Songling's "Strange Tales from a Liaozhai Studio".

And there are other grievances between the two parties.

"A Chinese Ghost Story" was released a week later than "Painted Skin", and the two are naturally like sparks colliding with the earth. It has attracted quite a lot of attention in the industry, and it can be regarded as one of the hot topics in the circle.

Many people in the industry believe that it is impossible for "A Chinese Ghost Story" to beat "Painted Skin" at the box office. First of all, the investment between the two is several times different, and the cast is also stronger in the latter than the former.

As for the most important publicity, "Painted Skin" crushes "A Chinese Ghost Story" in all aspects. This can be seen from the premieres of the two films. , It is estimated that not many media will publish large-scale reports.

Another point is very important. "Painted Skin" took the lead and consumed a large part of the box office potential. Naturally, it also put a lot of pressure on the box office of the same type of "A Chinese Ghost Story"-everyone has seen this movie. If you want to plant a film, you have to think carefully about paying for it. The money in anyone’s pocket is not blown by the wind.

Finally, "Painted Skin" will 100% squeeze "A Chinese Ghost Story" by buying box office means, so the latter is facing a very serious situation. Some professionals deduce that "A Chinese Ghost Story" should normally have a box office of 1,500 in Hong Kong. - Between 25 million.

The real decisive battle between the two sides is still in the interior of the mainland.

Regardless of the public opinion in the industry, "A Chinese Ghost Story" will land in major theaters in Hong Kong on time.

The film schedule of "A Chinese Ghost Story" that day was 18.75%, which was less than the estimated 20% a few days ago. The reason is naturally the malicious squeeze of competitors.

18.75% of the filming can't be said to be too bad, but it is undoubtedly a lot worse than "Painted Skin".

As for reservations, the online and telephone reservations for "A Chinese Ghost Story" were also not satisfactory. From the premiere to the 21st, only 20,000 tickets were booked.

...

"Ahui, I'm downstairs with you."

Qi Zihao pinched the phone, lowered his voice and asked, "You, when can you come down?"

He was very nervous, his palms were covered with sweat, and he tried his best not to let his voice tremble. His slightly weird appearance caused the passing aunt to cast strange glances at him.

Qi Zihao didn't notice it at all, all his attention was on the phone.

He was worried that Ah Hui would miss the appointment to release the pigeons.

Qi Zihao is a sophomore student at Mingde High School in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Recently, he fell in love with a junior high school girl.

Qi Zihao's family background is ordinary, and he looks fair and clean. Although he is not extremely handsome, his appearance is not very bad, but his character is a bit shy and timid, so he has not held hands with any girls until now.

And chasing girls, you must be courageous and thick-skinned!

Qi Zihao likes Jiahui, a straightforward and lovely school girl, so with the encouragement of his good friend, he plucks up the courage to pursue Jiahui.

The sad thing is that there is no shortage of suitors for a good-looking school girl like Jiahui, and he is not astonishing because of his clumsy words, so so far, he can only say that he is a little hopeful, and he is at least three blocks away from success.

Tonight was the first time Qi Zihao asked Jiahui out, even though the latter agreed, but before meeting her, Qi Zihao was still terribly entangled in his mind.

"Why are you here so soon?"

Fortunately, Jiahui had no intention of repenting. She said on the mobile phone: "Then give me another 10 minutes, is that okay?"

Qi Zihao immediately said as if he had received an amnesty, "No...no problem, 100 minutes is fine!"

Immediately, Jiahui's uncontrollable "puchi" laughter came from the microphone, which made Qi Zihao's face turn red, and he wished he could slap himself—it's so embarrassing!

After finishing the call, Qi Zihao scratched his head angrily.

He has a feeling that being able to pursue success depends entirely on his own performance tonight.

As a result, one point was lost first.

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The first one is sent. (To be continued.)