lcionline Chapter 188 A Great Success
Chapter 188 A Great Success
Overnight, "Asking Immortals" became a huge hit.
Viewers of "Asking the Immortals" have shared their reviews online:
—"The special effects of 'Asking the Immortals' are absolutely divine, they deserve a separate award! The technology is on par with Hollywood blockbusters! I highly recommend watching it in IMAX theaters, and remember, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely don't be late! I'm saying it three times because it's important!"
"Director Xu didn't just make a movie, he made a meritorious deed! After watching it, my eyes, which had been poisoned by bad movies for ten years, were cleansed!"
"Xu Min, you are my goddess! Original fans kneel in gratitude for not drastically altering the story!"
"I originally went to see Zhang Yu's looks, but I ended up crying through a whole pack of tissues... 'Asking the Immortal'! Give me back my money for my tears!"
"Are they really all new actors? How can they act so realistically? There's no jarring moment. And the action scenes are no joke either, every punch feels real. I suggest the Chinese entertainment industry should adopt this standard!"
The reviews were almost universally positive.
Even if there are complaints, they are mostly regrets that too many subplots were cut from the movie, and many exciting scenes could not be shown on the big screen. They suggest releasing all the behind-the-scenes footage or making a long TV series.
In contrast, the neighboring film "Dragon Scale Code" also achieved remarkable box office results on its first day, but its audience reviews were polarized.
Positive reviews are mainly concentrated in the lead actor's super topic, fan groups, and the star's personal topics, and the captions are highly similar, mostly praising things like "the actor's acting is natural" and "the special effects are amazing".
However, on third-party ticketing websites where reviews can only be left after purchasing tickets, negative comments are frequently seen, such as "confused worldview," "the screenwriter wrote the script with their feet," and "boring."
"Asking the Immortals" grossed over 2 million yuan on its opening day. Although this is an impressive achievement, the gap with "Dragon Scale Code" (which grossed 1.8 million yuan) is not very significant.
The data from the first day may not be of much use, but the data from three days later is sufficient to illustrate the point.
The situation has undergone a dramatic change.
The box office of "Asking the Immortals" has seen explosive growth, exceeding 30 billion yuan in just three days, far surpassing the box office of "Dragon Scale Code" which was less than 5 million yuan.
Meanwhile, various rating websites have finally completed the "demystification" process, revealing the most authentic scores for the two films.
"Asking Immortals" received a high score of 9.3 on Douban and an even higher score of 9.6 on Meitu.
Netizens' comments are full of amazement and love for "Asking the Immortals":
—"Is Director Xu Min making a movie or a documentary about Chinese geography? The sea of clouds in Zhongnan Mountain, the flying apsaras murals in Dunhuang, the green-tiled bamboo houses in Sichuan and Chongqing... it's all filmed on location, and every frame is breathtakingly beautiful!"
——“The props team of ‘Asking the Immortal’ should be praised! When I watched it for the second time, I paid special attention to the details of the costumes and props. They were absolutely amazing! The healer’s hairpin with the blue phoenix hairpin changes color with her emotions, the villain’s mask is inspired by the bronze eyes of the Sanxingdui bronzes, and what’s even more amazing is that all the characters’ costumes are based on historical research. Every frame is a cultural export.”
"Doesn't anyone think the soundtrack of 'Asking Immortals' is great? It's produced by Day and Night Entertainment, and Bai Zong is the producer of every single track. No wonder the quality is so high."
"Ahhh! My favorite artist released couple illustrations for 'Asking the Immortals'. Although 'Asking the Immortals' doesn't have a romantic storyline, I still managed to ship a few couples. Of course, the group scenes are also super interesting. They're so adorable!"
"My wallet is ready! Please release official merchandise! I'm begging for a gold fan model!"
……
As it turns out, public aesthetic appreciation has never been absent.
While other film crews were still using "photo studio + green screen", "Asking Immortals" had already provided the correct answer.
Compared to "Asking Immortals," "Dragon Scale Code," which boasted an "all-star cast" and "god-level special effects," instantly lost all its appeal and paled in comparison.
Because most of the investment was used to pay the high salaries of the big stars, the production cost was constantly squeezed, and the final result was far from satisfactory compared to "Asking Immortals," which spared no expense in creating special effects.
Despite fans' frantic efforts to book screenings and boost box office numbers, as well as their collective positive reviews, they were unable to stop the continuous decline in the ratings of "Dragon Scale Code".
In the end, it only received a D-fold score of 6.2 and an M-fold score of 7.2, barely passing the passing grade.
Thus, whether looking at box office figures or ratings, "Asking the Immortals" has unsurprisingly and completely crushed "Dragon Scale Code".
Actually, if you judge "Dragon Scale Code" on its own, its data is actually quite acceptable.
After all, with the powerful appeal of top-tier celebrities and the support of a host of big names, many viewers are still willing to pay for tickets when they go to the cinema.
Unfortunately, it chose to compete with "Asking Immortals" in the same time slot, so when the two were compared, its data looked particularly dismal.
It's worth noting that the data growth of "Asking Immortals" is unprecedented, soaring at a record-breaking pace.
In the history of Chinese films, no film has ever broken the 30 billion yuan mark in just three days.
What does a box office of 30 billion yuan mean?
Bai Li only invested 10 billion...
This means that Bai Li had easily recouped his investment in just three days.
Mr. Li, the general manager of Longtao Entertainment, previously thought that Bai Li's investment of 1 billion yuan was too risky and that she was likely to lose everything.
As a result, he watched helplessly as the box office of "Asking the Immortals" soared.
He is now completely convinced and even wants to kneel down and sing "Conquer" to Bai Li.
On the day that "Asking the Immortal" broke one billion yuan at the box office, President Li did not hesitate to order a huge amount of congratulatory bouquets and exquisite gifts, which were quickly delivered to Bai Li's company.
We absolutely have to send this! We have to cling to their coattails!
Given the current explosive growth of "Asking the Immortals," it is highly likely that it will break the 10 billion yuan box office mark in the future.
This is the first film in China's history to gross over 10 billion yuan!
Although I only happened to invest 160 million yuan at the time and wouldn't get much profit, at that moment the profit didn't matter at all. Being associated with such a landmark film was the most precious thing.
After this experience, President Li's determination to closely follow in Bai Li's footsteps became even stronger.
Seeing this, other people in the same industry also sent their congratulatory blessings to Bai Li.
Bai Li thanked everyone individually and distributed all the gifts from General Manager Li to the company's employees. She also gave a large red envelope to the team members who had worked hard for so long.
The amount of the red envelopes was far beyond expectations, so much so that the employees suspected that President Bai had used all of the revenue from "Asking Immortals" to make red envelopes.
Faced with the employees' questions, Bai Li simply smiled and felt no pressure at all.
She's so busy making money she's almost numb.
Too much money...
No matter how many times you spend them, you can never finish them all...
The 10 billion yuan investment in "Asking Immortals" was the largest investment I've made recently, and it actually broke even within three days of its release.
Moreover, based on current trends, it is conservatively estimated that they could earn several billion more in the future.
Box office revenue sharing is only part of the income; the subsequent commercial benefits of the film are immeasurable.
As for peripheral products, Bai Li has already worked carefully with suppliers to prepare, and all products have been produced and are just waiting for the best time to be launched.
These peripheral products, thanks to the immense popularity of "Asking Immortals," will undoubtedly bring her massive profits.
Furthermore, the possibility of future collaborations with brands is extremely high, and by further exploring the IP value of "Asking Immortals," even greater profits can be obtained...
Moreover, once "Asking Immortals" aired, the value of all the artists under his management increased exponentially.
Zhang Yu, in particular, has seen her market value skyrocket. In just three days, she gained 20 followers, and the number of people checking in on her super topic exceeded 5. She is definitely the hottest person in the world.
The others are no less impressive.
Their value can no longer be described as that of ordinary people; they are all rising stars.
The company is already working diligently to re-plan the future career paths of these rising stars. If all goes well, the company will have another large number of "cash cows" capable of creating huge value.
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The film market is ever-changing, and the astonishing sales figures of "Asking the Immortals" have prompted major cinema chains to urgently adjust their screening strategies.
Jiang Yanglin's cinema chain had already given strong support to "Asking Immortals" by allocating a considerable number of screenings.
Seeing the phenomenal sales of "Asking the Immortals," the company has not hesitated to further reduce the number of screenings for other films released at the same time, reserving more screenings for "Asking the Immortals."
Seeing this, other cinema chains followed suit.
In the film industry, data is a barometer. When "Asking the Immortal" demonstrated such strong earning power and audience appeal, no cinema chain was willing to miss this wealth express.
In a short period of time, the screening rate of "Asking Immortals" in major cinemas increased significantly, soaring from about 30% to more than 60% in just a few days.
The box office soared like a rocket, fueled by positive word-of-mouth. It broke the 5 billion yuan mark in its first week and continued to grow at a staggering rate of 50 million yuan per day in its second week.
The popularity of "Asking Immortals" means that the survival space of "Dragon Scale Code" will be continuously squeezed.
Han Qing has been in a state of utter chaos lately.
There has always been a rule in the film and television industry—the rule of breaking even with 3 times the box office revenue.
The box office revenue of a movie does not go directly into the pocket of the production company; it goes through multiple layers of commission.
For example, there are national taxes and fees, plus the cinema chain taking half of the revenue, and finally, agency fees to be paid to the distributor, etc.
After layers of commissions are taken, the remaining box office revenue is what investors ultimately receive. Typically, this portion of the revenue accounts for only 35%-40% of the total box office.
To film "Dragon Scale Code," Han Qing went to great lengths, raising a total investment of 5 million yuan. This means the film needs at least 15 billion yuan in box office revenue to barely break even.
In Han Qing's original plan, a box office of 15 billion yuan should not be a difficult goal.
However, reality dealt him a heavy blow.
Who could have predicted that the data for "Asking Immortals" would be so outrageous?
It practically swept up the majority of the market's box office.
However, because "Dragon Scale Code" directly ran into the monster "Asking Immortals", the goal of 15 billion yuan suddenly became very difficult.
Previously, some cinema chains had made a firm promise to guarantee screenings of "Dragon Scale Code," and Han Qing even signed a screening guarantee agreement with them.
Unexpectedly, at the crucial moment, they all switched sides, changing the screening slots originally allocated to "Dragon Scale Code" to "Asking the Immortal".
This sudden turn of events caught Han Qing off guard. Without enough screenings, the box office performance of "Dragon Scale Code" began to weaken.
Daily box office revenue gradually declined from hundreds of millions to tens of millions.
Just as he was in urgent negotiations with the theater chain, the investors called again:
"Han Qing, what exactly happened? The box office results are far below expectations. If the film ultimately fails to break even, who will bear the losses? Have you taken any effective countermeasures?"
Large beads of sweat rolled down Han Qing's forehead instantly. His heart was already filled with anxiety, but at this moment, he could only pretend to be calm and first reassure the investors on the other end of the phone.
It took more than half an hour of calming them down before the call was finally disconnected.
Although he appeared very confident on the phone, it was all an act.
Actually, he's more panicked than anyone else right now.
If the film ultimately fails to recoup its costs, his reputation in the industry will be severely damaged, and his future career as a director may be over.
While Han Qing was in a state of utter chaos, a series of chain reactions also occurred on Song Jin's side.
In the early stages, fans enthusiastically recommended the film on various social media platforms, claiming that Song Jin's performance in the movie was a qualitative leap. They even launched various topics and polls in an attempt to push Song Jin's acting skills to a new level.
But the eyes of the masses are discerning.
Song Jin's expression was stiff in the movie, and his lines were delivered without any emotion. Compared with other talented actors, the difference in his acting skills was obvious.
Viewers flooded film review websites and social media with complaints, and the number of views on related topics skyrocketed, completely shattering his "improved acting skills" persona.
Song Jin's dream of entering the film industry was ultimately shattered.
Moreover, his commercial value has also been greatly affected.
A luxury brand suddenly postponed the official announcement of its spokesperson, and a sports brand unilaterally terminated its spokesperson's contract due to a clause in the contract that "automatic termination if box office performance does not meet expectations".
This was undoubtedly adding insult to injury for Song Jin.
Subsequent revelations about the distribution of actors' salaries for "Dragon Scale Code" pushed Song Jin and the entire crew into the eye of the storm of public opinion.
An industry insider revealed that actor salaries accounted for the majority of the film's investment in "Dragon Scale Code".
While the veracity of this information is unknown, the actors' salaries certainly appear staggering, sparking heated debate.
"Now I know why the special effects in 'Dragon Scale Code' look like a web game! If even a fraction of the lead actors' salaries had been allocated to production quality!"
—"Hollywood actors get paid $30 million for just one minute of screen time?"
"Traffic vs. content, in the end content won the market, that's great!"
Ultimately, "Dragon Scale Code" was a box office flop, grossing less than 10 billion yuan, and even breaking even became a major problem.
After seeing these results, many investors added Han Qing to their "risk director" list, and other film projects originally planned to be directed by him were urgently replaced. Song Jin was also abandoned by investors due to his reputation as a "box office poison".
On the other hand, "Asking Immortals" ushered in unprecedented glory.
Not only did it receive praise from CCTV—"Empowering culture with technology, allowing the world to see Chinese aesthetics"—but the People's Daily also reposted an interview with director Xu Min: "Chinese films need more courage to 'not ask about traffic but about the original intention'."
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television is also planning to introduce new regulations on "actors' remuneration". This measure is to some extent influenced by the success of "Asking the Immortals" and aims to guide the film industry to pay more attention to content creation and allocate funds more reasonably.
What was even more unexpected was that "Asking the Immortal" also became a hit on foreign websites. The number of views of the movie clips of "Asking the Immortal" on foreign websites exceeded 10 million, prompting theaters in various countries to urgently negotiate its import.
While Hollywood was obsessed with superheroes, "Asking the Immortals" opened up new possibilities for the global market with its Eastern fantasy.
More importantly, it proves that Chinese films can conquer both domestic audiences and international movie fans!
Good things have been happening one after another lately.
Just as Bai Li was basking in the joy of the film's success, another great thing quietly arrived.