Just past midnight.
On the homepage of the International Film Festival.
The box office results of several participating films were announced.
First place: USA's "Planet Disaster," global opening weekend total box office of 350 million!
Second place: France's "The Saints," global opening weekend total box office of 280 million!
Third place: China's "The Wandering Earth," global opening weekend total box office of 230 million!
...
USA's "Planet Disaster" ranked third on the popularity list.
But it secured the championship for opening weekend box office.
This peculiar situation did not surprise anyone.
The US, a major power in sci-fi culture, has a very large fundamental base on the entire blue planet. It's completely normal to achieve an opening weekend box office of 2.7 billion.
As for "The Wandering Earth," although it ranked third, its global box office achievement of 230 million US dollars is already the highest in Jiangnan's history. After all, converted into Chinese Yuan, an opening box office of around 1.6 billion is very strong!
"According to statistics, 70% of 'The Wandering Earth's' box office comes from China. One country accounts for more than half. Jiangnan has strong support in China!"
"What's the use of high support? Box office is measured by the total global number. Jiangnan is at a disadvantage on the world stage. Even with such high popularity before, not many audiences were willing to pay."
"It seems that even if Ting Yu is very popular and brings popularity to Jiangnan, it cannot monetize that popularity."
"The music and film industries are different circles after all. Although both are entertainment industries, many people who like listening to songs don't like watching movies."
"The US is still strong, but it's also normal. After all, it's a sci-fi culture that has been cultivated for over a decade. To achieve such a high opening result is well-deserved."
France.
Los Angeles Entertainment.
A group of executives sat in the conference room.
"It's over..."
The Director of the Publicity Department had a complicated expression.
They had originally thought that promoting their film more before the premiere would give them a head start. But no one expected that the audience would still be willing to pay for American sci-fi films.
The pre-premiere promotion for this film had already reached the company's limit. Yet, the American SK Entertainment had clearly held back on their promotional efforts.
Even so, they still failed to secure the first place in the opening weekend box office.
It would be even more impossible to surpass them later.
After all, that was an American sci-fi movie!
"Alas... second place is fine too, at least there's still profit to be made," Viggo sighed.
Although they had invested a large amount of funds in pre-premiere promotion, the International Film Festival itself generated a lot of box office buzz. It wouldn't lead to losses, and might even result in a small profit.
However, the dream of winning the global box office crown, barring any unforeseen circumstances, had basically been dashed.
"China is catching up quickly, and their global popularity ranking is still increasing. Should we continue to promote vigorously?" The Director of the Publicity Department looked at the data with a slight frown.
After the premiere ended, "Planet Disaster" from the US had surpassed "The Saints" to rank second on the overall popularity chart.
However, it still hadn't surpassed "The Wandering Earth," and there was even a feeling of the gap widening.
"No need. The popularity chart is not useful. China has gone crazy, thinking that spending money on promotion can increase box office. But they don't know that no matter how much it increases, there's a limit. When this proportion reaches saturation, no matter how high the popularity, it's useless," Viggo waved his hand.
"Then we will do our usual promotion and not increase the budget," the Director of the Publicity Department nodded in agreement.
Popularity can indeed boost box office performance. However, after the popularity reaches saturation, its impact on box office improvement diminishes. Moreover, publicity and distribution are very expensive. If the investment is too large, it could even lead to losses.
Everyone is a capitalist, so profit comes first.
To win the championship again, it's impossible to lose money to gain popularity. There's always a limit to this.
Therefore, upon seeing China's "The Wandering Earth" still leading in popularity over the US's "Planet Disaster," and even its growth rate accelerating,
everyone at Los Angeles Entertainment believed that China was becoming anxious and increasing its promotional investment.
...
USA.
SK Entertainment.
Liam leaned back in his boss's chair, holding a glass of red wine.
His assistant entered from outside the office.
Holding a tablet.
"Have the results come out?" Liam took a sip of the mellow red wine.
"They're out, just as you predicted. We have the first place for opening weekend box office," the assistant said with a smile, handing him the tablet.
Liam put down his wine glass and took the tablet to look at the opening weekend data.
"Heh, we've improved quite a bit in this year's International Film Festival," he chuckled, seeing the opening weekend box office results.
"After all, audiences who watch sci-fi have formed a culture. Many believe that we are the true orthodoxy of sci-fi, so they are very supportive of our films," the assistant said with a smile.
This is the benefit of cultural output. With sci-fi culture established in the US, their formulas have become the most orthodox for this culture. The sci-fi series they create have almost formed a cultural universe, and have also formed a stereotype in the minds of audiences worldwide.
And this stereotype is the source of their fundamental base and the fundamental reason for their explosive opening results.
"Hmm, the popularity of this Chinese film is increasing quite rapidly?" Liam said with surprise.
"I also find it very strange. Generally, after the premiere, popularity is linked to box office. However, the global popularity data for China's 'The Wandering Earth' is actually growing faster than before the premiere," the assistant nodded.
"Have you analyzed the results?" Liam frowned.
Such abnormal data does not follow the rules, and there must be some problem within it.
"The data analysis department has analyzed it. There are two possibilities."
"One is that China is increasing its film promotion worldwide, leading to rapid popularity growth. However, to achieve this kind of popularity growth, it would cost too much money. Even with their current box office results, it would lead to losses."
"Meaning, China is getting anxious?"
Liam picked up his wine glass and swirled it, saying with a faint smile.
If that's the case, then this China is not to be feared.
"There is another possibility."
The assistant hesitated.
"Speak," Liam gestured.
"This popularity is naturally generated, meaning word-of-mouth..."
The assistant's words made Liam's eyes narrow!
The best promotion is to rely on quality to make audiences promote it themselves.
Because this kind of promotion has no cost, and it is also the fastest.
If this is really the case, then it's quite terrifying.
Generally, after the initial promotion of a film is in place, the premiere will be a peak, and the box office will decline on the second day, because most loyal audiences will choose to watch it during the premiere. Those who come later are the ones who have been influenced by word-of-mouth.
Therefore, popularity determines the opening performance of a film, while word-of-mouth determines the subsequent performance of the film.
If the popularity of China's "The Wandering Earth" is not bought by themselves.
Then, based on the current global popularity growth, the box office performance on the second day...
"Impossible, right?"
A hint of imperceptible panic flashed in Liam's eyes.