Chapter 74: Box Office, A Gap of Light-years

  In fact, Yi Fei Yang worried too much about people's comments. Most of the audience who watched "Paranormal Activity" reacted with "scary enough", "surprising enough".

  "My god, some of the scenes inside are so scary that I dare not look!" a spicy girl said.

  ……

  "Yeah, how should I put it, I'm also a veteran of watching horror movies, but this one... is really scary!" A handsome guy said.

  ……

  "I highly suspect that the filming technique of 'Ghost Blowing Lamp' is taken from 'The Blair Witch'! Yes, absolutely yes! China Yi very cleverly uses this pseudo-documentary technique to deceive audiences again!" said a veteran film critic.

  ……

  "It's undeniable that this Chinese film is extremely cunning! Without mentioning how terrifying 'The Ghost Story' is, just the fact that it's still following the old path of 'The Witch' makes us look down on it!" said a high-ranking executive from a certain film company.

  ……

  "The filming technique is not particularly new, but the story content is surprising enough. 'Paranormal Activity' is generally quite good," said a well-known reporter from a certain newspaper.

  ……

  Although the media has mixed reviews for Yee Fai Yang's "Ghost Blowing Out the Candle", it can't be denied that this play is very interesting and thought-provoking, at least sparking people's discussions.

  Compared to the popularity of "Ghost Blowing Out the Lamp", Yi Feiyang's productions, "Terror Cruise" and "Buried Alive", which were shot by Tu Zhibi and Pangzi Jieke, are far less successful in terms of box office numbers, and can even be described as "desolate".

  In the face of this situation, Rabbit Bill and Fat Jack immediately remembered that Yifei Yang had once said that he had a trick for promoting movies that could "shock the rivers and lakes".

  The two were originally disbelievers, but now they really had no choice. So the two urged Yi Feiyang, "Boss, didn't you say there was still a trump card to play? Hurry up and use it, or else we're dead for sure!"

  "No rush, no rush." Yi Feiyang said with a gentle breeze and clear clouds, smiling. "It's not time to play the trump card yet."

  "Come on, God, we're all about to be driven to hang ourselves, what are you waiting for?"

  "I am waiting for an opportunity..."

  "A turning point? What turning point?"

  Yi Feiyang didn't answer directly, but instead said: "I ask you, what if I make our company's play explode, but the box office is still just a tiny bit, what can we get?"

  Rabbit Bill looked at fat Jack, and they stared at each other with wide eyes, "At least the box office can be higher."

  "Your vision is too short!" Yi Feiyang sneered, "Either it doesn't explode, or if it does, it must blow a large area to death!"

  Facing this sentence, Bill, Jack felt a chill.

  What does it mean?

  Are you saying Lao Da is going to carry out a terrorist attack?!

  ……

  The movie continues to be screened, and the Halloween War is still in chaos.

  Yi Feiyang's Dream Illusion Films, aside from "Ghost Blowing Lamp", had two other films that were not well-received and continued to decline.

  A week later, in downtown Los Angeles, the box office results for Halloween Week were finally released.

  North American box office ranking as follows:

  First place: Miramax Films, "Scream 2", this week's box office, $17.3 million.

  Second place: BIM Film Company, "Child's Play 4", this week's box office, $11.8 million.

  Third place: Lionsgate, "Blair Witch 2", this week's box office, $7.5 million.

  Fourth place: Emperor Motion Pictures, "Halloween Kills", this week's box office, $4.3 million.

  Fifth place: New Line Cinema's "Blade", with a weekly box office of $3.5 million.

  6th place: Blue Rider Pictures, "Children of the Corn V", this week's box office $2.8 million.

  ……

  According to this week's ranking, Miramax film "Scream 2" topped the list with a box office revenue of $17.3 million, accounting for one-third of the total box office revenue for the week.

  The BIM film company "Child's Play 4" followed closely with $11.8 million in second place.

  Lionsgate's "Blair Witch 2" ranks third, but judging from the audience's reaction, it still overshadows the first one.

  Universal's "Halloween Kills" ranked fourth, this stinky and long Halloween "undead bird" made a comeback again, thanks to the huge release volume given by Paramount.

  An insider revealed that if Paramount cuts the film's release by half, it is estimated that the film will only be able to break even.

  ……

  Overall, among the top six, except for the fifth-ranked "Evil Night Flying Demon" which is a new story, the rest are basically sequels of sequels, and series films almost dominated the entire market during the Halloween season!

  To make matters worse, the three films under YiFeng Yang's Meng Huan Ying Ye, including "Ghost Blowing Lamp", which had a good reflection, did not even enter the top ten this week.

  "Buried Alive" this week's box office: $380,000.

  "Horror Cruise" box office this week: $430,000.

  "Paranormal Activity" this week's box office: $960,000.

  "Such box office results, compared with the top ten, are not just a general gap, but light years away!" said an industry insider.

  "If DreamWorks wants to turn things around, it might have to wait until Mars collides with Earth!"

  "It seems that the prospects for the three films of Dream Factory are not very promising... no, not very promising, but rather bleak."

  Many Hollywood filmmakers have given profound "sympathy" and "pity" to this newly established junior film company.

  Of course, more are "scoff" and "taunt"!

  ……

  Lion's Gate Entertainment Corp. Inside

  The chairman, Gustav, puffed on his cigar, looking very solemn.

  Next to him stood Mike, the head of distribution, and Dennis and Eduardo, the brothers who shot The Witch 2.

  "The box office numbers are in, and for the first week our company's new film 'Blair Witch 2' has grossed $7.5 million in North America, ranking third behind 'Scream 2' and 'Child's Play 4'. " Little Pumpkin Mike excitedly reported to Gusta.

  Gustav exhaled a mouthful of smoke, "This result is not bad, although it's still some distance from my expectations. However, there's still room for improvement... Hmm, let's increase the promotional efforts a bit more. New York, Boston, and Chicago, these major cities need to be especially taken care of. We should build good relationships with the theater chains over there and try to get them to allocate more screenings. As for the revenue sharing aspect, we can even make some concessions..."

  "Huh? Concession? Isn't that a bit too much?" said Director Mike, "Generally, the company and the theater chain have a 40-60 split, if we make concessions, it will be determined as malicious competition, which will provoke counterattacks from our peers."

  "You're too naive!" Gusta looked down on his subordinate with disdain. "When did I say that this matter should be put on the table? Many things can be operated privately. For the box office of 'The Witch 2' and for the reputation of our Lion's Gate Film, we must win this Halloween season!"

  "I understand, Mr. Gusta! I'll do as you instruct! Yes, I guarantee it to you, this time we will definitely get good results!" Manager Mike vowed.

  Next to Dennis and Edvard, the two brothers also chuckled and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Gusta, our play isn't that bad; besides, this time everyone is playing a sequel, what's Ghost 4, Scream 2, and Moonlight 7, these are all old tricks of the past, which is like us, The Blair Witch craze hasn't passed yet, we don't have to worry about the box office for this play!"

  Gustav puffed on his cigar, looked at the two of them and said one sentence, a simple sentence: "You're underestimating us!"

  "No way, we're not underestimating the enemy, we're just looking down on them! Yes, that's right, looking down on them! Whether it's in terms of publicity or story influence, our 'Witch 2' will definitely be the best! Just you wait and see, although we're currently ranked third, soon we'll trample those damned 'Scream 2' and 'Child's Play 4' under our feet."

  Looking at the two guys with great spirit, Mr. Gusta smiled. Then he said another sentence, "Do you really think I'm worried about those two damn plays? No, what I'm worried about is Chinese opera, Yi Feiyang's plays!"

  "Hah, you can rest assured now. Look at his three movies, they were heavily promoted, and yet they played with 'ghost stories'... In a week's time, the box office didn't even exceed $10 million, and the best one, 'Paranormal Activity', only made $9.6 million." Manager Mike sneered.

  "Yes, Mr. Gusta, you don't have to worry about him! That damned guy won't be so lucky again, the newspapers even said that he and our box office are light-years apart, even if Mars crashes into Earth, there's no way he'll turn it around! So, this time he's dead for sure!" Dennis and Edyardo said with glee.

  "Nine hundred and sixty thousand dollars?" Gusta chuckled. "Want to hear the exact figures... Paramount only gave Dream Factory one-tenth of the theatrical release for each film, while the remaining seven-tenths all went to Demonic Pictures' 'Moonlight'; in other words, Yi Feiyang's 'Ghost Shadow Record' only got one-seventh of the screening volume of that 'Moonlight'."

  "Now the box office of 'Moonlight' is 4.3 million, if all these theaters are given to 'Ghost', do you know what the box office will be? Not bad, at least it will be 6 million! And our 'Witch 2' has a box office of 7.5 million US dollars, if calculated with the same publicity, the first week's box office of 'Ghost Record' must also triple, that is 18 million US dollars!"

  $18 million?!

  Oh my god!

  The data scared Mike and Dennis, Ed jumped up together with them.

  Yes, if calculated according to the same screening volume and publicity, it seems that the performance of "Paranormal Activity" is slightly better than "The Witch 2". After all, "Paranormal Activity" has a better reputation and film quality than "The Witch 2".

  "Cough, Mr. Gusta, you're right, it seems we underestimated them. But no big deal, that damn Chinese Yi just has a tiny bit of box office power, it's not going to turn the tables on us, this Halloween file is ours for sure!" Mike said.

  "Do you really think so?" Gusta glared at him, "Geez, I don't know how you were appointed as the head of distribution in the first place... Use that dull brain of yours to think carefully, if we can see the potential of 'Ghost Recording', then what about Paramount? Are their people all blind? If it were me, I'd probably be deciding on increasing the film's screening quota by now."

  "Unbelievable, Paramount's people can't be this clever?"

  "You're the one who always treats others like fools, but in fact, I think you're the biggest fool of all!" Gusta's ruthless comment made Mike's face turn bright red.

  Muttering to myself, all of this is just your own guesswork. Everyone knows that Paramount is now utterly decadent, could it be that they really can see the potential in that damned "Paranormal Activity"?!