As this battle for box office slots gradually comes to an end, the National Day Golden Week holiday is quietly approaching.
In the past two weeks, all the film companies have pulled out all the stops, one after another, especially in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Dongjiang, which are known as major box office markets. The film companies are fighting tooth and nail for the box office.
"Ah Sheng," on the other hand, took a rather laid-back approach, quietly launching its first large-scale preview screenings amidst fierce competition.
Xiaolin is a die-hard fan of Ye Cang. Although her idol rarely makes public appearances, Xiaolin still follows his every move.
Previously, Ye Cang's creation of the film score for "A Sheng" had already caused quite a stir in their small circle. Later, Ye Cang even posted a Weibo post recommending the film, and Xiao Lin immediately decided to go to the cinema to support her idol.
Therefore, after learning about the preview screening of "A Sheng", Xiao Lin immediately made an appointment with her best friend, who also loves watching movies, to go to the cinema together.
The timing of the preview screening wasn't ideal, and her best friend said with a hint of exasperation, "You're really bewitched. You never used to refuse when I invited you to the movies, but now you're actually coming to see a movie at this time for a man."
Kobayashi grinned and took her hand, saying, "Maybe this will make me fall in love with watching movies?"
My best friend rolled her eyes, and the two girls, carrying popcorn and cola, walked noisily into the movie theater.
At first, Xiaolin and her best friend ate some popcorn and laughed out loud while watching the movie, but later they both stopped what they were doing and focused on the screen.
When the movie ended, the two came to their senses and found that there was still more than half a bucket of popcorn left, and the cola was completely untouched.
The two women, however, were no longer concerned with such matters, as they were still engrossed in the movie.
Kobayashi sniffed: "It was really funny at first, but it became really sad later. I don't know why, but when I see Asheng, I think of myself. I don't know why, but I still have to desperately try to live..."
Her best friend also wiped away her tears. Her feelings were actually even deeper than Xiaolin's. Her first movie was a Hong Kong film, and she fell in love with watching movies after that. In recent years, Hong Kong films have gradually declined, which she feels is a great pity. Now, when she saw "Ah Sheng", she was pleasantly surprised.
With a thick nasal voice, Kobayashi asked, "Let's come and watch it again when it's officially released next time."
My best friend nodded vigorously, then suddenly remembered something: "Oh right, I need to recommend this movie to our movie appreciation group..."
After she finished speaking, she opened her phone and began editing a message.
Xiaolin slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "That's right! I'll post it on my WeChat Moments too!"
Under the same sky, there are many people who do the same things as the two. The number of people who gave the originally low rating on Douban for "A Sheng" has been rising, and most of them have given it a five-star rating.
As the word-of-mouth for "Ah Sheng" continued to grow, the time quietly came to the end of September.
Almost all film companies are paying attention to the screening schedule, and when the results came out, Guanrui's 33% screening share beat all competitors and proudly took the top spot.
The survival space for other films was squeezed to the extreme. "A Sheng" had less than 10% of screenings in several major cinema chains, which seemed quite meager. However, no one noticed that "A Sheng" had a much higher screening rate in third- and fourth-tier cities than in cities like Beijing, reaching 30%.
At the same time, the reputation of "Ah Sheng" finally reached its peak on social networks such as WeChat Moments.
On the first day, "The Twilight Killer" had a screening rate of 33% and an occupancy rate of 41.2%; "Ah Sheng" had a screening rate of 9.8% and an occupancy rate of 55%.
The next day, "The Twilight Killer" had a screening rate of 34.1% and an occupancy rate of 29%; "Ah Sheng" had a screening rate of 12% and an occupancy rate of 63%.
The two sides' evaluations were completely different.
So before Guanrui could even be happy for a few days, he was almost stunned by a barrage of negative reviews.
[This movie is rubbish! It's so mystical and nonsensical, and not good at all! A waste of my money!]
[What the hell is "Twilight Killer"? This is murder! I couldn't watch more than half of it; it's boring and childish, and I have absolutely no idea what the director was trying to express.]
Is Fu Cheng an idiot?! You actually gave up "Red Actress" to take on such a stupid film?!
I've been a fan of Fu Cheng for several years, but after watching "Twilight Murder," I think I might have to stop being a fan.
Seriously, I haven't seen a movie this bad in years, one that's riddled with flaws and so utterly terrible!!
[Comparable to "The Red-Haired Girl"?! How could the production company even dare to say that!]
Actually, "Twilight Killer" isn't without its merits; after all, I slept quite well, and it cured my years-long insomnia...
Aside from the audience's outrage, this movie has provided a livelihood for many movie-related public accounts and a large number of movie content creators on Bilibili. It can be said that all sorts of parody videos and review videos are released every day, and their viewership is probably even higher than that of the movie itself.
The occupancy rate of "Twilight Killer" plummeted from 41% on its opening day to 17%, which was completely unexpected during the Golden Week holiday. The managers of major cinema chains were furious and quickly reduced the number of screenings of "Twilight Killer" and increased the number of screenings of other movies, especially "A Sheng," which had performed remarkably well in the previous days despite its poor screening schedule.
After three rounds of preview screenings, "Ah Sheng" has attracted a lot of enthusiastic supporters who have been promoting the film tirelessly on social media platforms such as WeChat Moments, Weibo, and various forums.
This kind of "marketing" is far more effective than the film company's hard work. So a few days ago, although the screening schedule for "A Sheng" was heartbreaking, the attendance rate was surprisingly high. Some places were even completely full, and tickets were impossible to buy.
While audiences complained incessantly, many moviegoers in third- and fourth-tier cities proudly boasted that "Ah Sheng" had a high number of screenings there, and many people had watched it two or even three times.
As a result, many people noticed that in just a few days, "A Sheng" had accumulated 500 million yuan at the box office, far exceeding the box office of the films that followed.
Theaters then began to urgently adjust their screening schedules, and "Ah Sheng" was like a long-dormant beast, revealing its true strength.
Chapter 182
As the National Day Golden Week holiday passed, the box office of "Ah Sheng" continued to rise, leaving all its competitors far behind.
In contrast, "Twilight Murder," which had been heavily promoted before, has gradually faded into obscurity. Apart from being ridiculed occasionally, it has lost all its popularity.
Fu Cheng sat in his house, having not left the house for the past few days. He was obsessed, scrolling through news about "Twilight Murder" online, growing angrier with each page, yet unable to control himself. He hadn't felt this way in many years. As a rising star actor who had always been highly regarded, he had never been criticized so harshly.
Since the release of "Twilight Murder", Fu Cheng has not had a good night's sleep. His eyes are bloodshot and stubble has appeared on his lips. He looks extremely haggard and is nothing like the glamorous person he used to be in front of the public.
Fu Cheng gripped the mouse tightly, scrolling down the reviews as if torturing himself.
I watched "Twilight Murder" because of Fu Cheng, but all I can say is that the higher my expectations, the greater my disappointment...
[Has Fu Cheng been bewitched? How could he accept a role like this??]
I heard Fu Cheng also invested in this drama. Tsk tsk, after acting for so many years, is his taste still this bad?
[Leaving aside his taste, Fu Cheng's acting in the film was also terrible. He seemed to be sleepwalking the whole time, as if he were a completely different person.]