The director starts by learning from the abilities of renowned directors.

Chapter 60: Opening Day Box Office: Boiling Point

Late at night on September 27.

Shen Qing, right?

"Did they show 'Taken 2' at its premiere today? How was the quality? Was it good? Let me know if you know," posted a netizen named "I Want to Hit Ten."

"Let's wait and see. It's not too late to check it out after the reviews come out in a few days."

"I only have time tomorrow and I'd like to go, but I'm afraid it won't look good."

"Go see it if you want, Shen Qing's movies are always of good quality."

"Anything produced by Shen Qing is bound to be of high quality, even 'Half a Comedy,' which he wasn't involved in much of, is still quite good."

At this time, a netizen named "Qingshan Bugai" replied: "Just came back from the premiere. Go see it without worry, it's definitely worth the ticket price. Fan Bingbing is a major highlight of this movie, it's a really pleasant surprise."

I want to call ten: Could you elaborate? How does it compare to the first one?

Green Hills Unchanged: Just think of this second movie as the second installment of "The Bourne Identity," "Police Story," or "The Matrix." In short, it's on the same quality level as the first one, no doubt about it! It's definitely not like "Speed ​​2."

Keanu Reeves' Speed ​​is an absolute classic, but the script for the second film was bad, so Keanu Reeves refused to star in it. As a result, the film was replaced and was a complete flop, only scoring 5.9 on Douban.

I'll fight ten: I'm relieved if you say that.

"I'll go see it tomorrow too," another netizen said.

"Trust Shen Qing!"

"It seems like this is a simultaneous release in China and the US? I wonder how the North American box office will be!"

"Is 'Lust, Caution' also hitting North America around the same time?"

"Lust, Caution is NC-17, so don't expect much from its box office. Taken 2 opened in more than 3000 theaters, breaking records. It's even more impressive than Hero. It really has a chance to make history."

"Can it be even better than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?"

"The number of opening screenings is already much better than that of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had very few opening screenings. At first, there were only a few, but later, it relied on word of mouth to increase the number of screenings one by one. It opened with more than 3000 screenings, which is definitely a record-breaking number."

"It's hard to say. Hero opened with over 2000 theaters, but in the end it was far worse than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

"Taken 2 is different; it has the foundation laid by the first film. It's like a lower-budget Rush Hour series."

……

Xijing, a private cinema.

Today, "Taken 2" was released, and Wang Jianguang arrived at the cinema early to personally oversee the event.

Upon entering the lobby, a huge poster for "Taken 2" immediately catches the eye, and the best seats in the entire theater have long been occupied by the promotional staff of the film company, Light Media.

"Why is it blocked? Luckily I came to check—Good morning, Mr. Wang."

Good morning to you too.

This was a young man in his twenties who saw that the standee of "Taken 2" had been moved and was partially blocked by the standee of "The Sun Also Rises". He immediately went over and moved the standee of "Taken 2" to the most conspicuous position. When he saw Wang Jianguang, he greeted him warmly.

Wang Jianguang responded with a smile and shook his head.

Enlight Media's distribution strategy is truly unique in China. Most other distribution companies only influence the cinema chain level, while Enlight Media's on-the-ground promotion goes directly into cinemas to follow up on film scheduling and material distribution.

That young man in his twenties had been pestering Wang Jianguang for over half a month, listing various data and Shen Qing's past achievements, concluding that "Taken 2" had too few screenings. He even went so far as to say that if "Taken 2" only received 60% of the screenings, it could result in the cinema losing 50,000 to 60,000 yuan in revenue per day.

Wang Jianguang disagreed with this, arguing that if his own cinema made a mistake in scheduling screenings, he would be the one who suffered the most, and no one cared more about the rationality of film scheduling than him.

As for this young man, wasn't he promoting "Taken 2" just for the performance bonus?

People started arriving at the cinema after 9:30 a.m.

"Two tickets for Taken 2, please."

"The movie with three Shen Qings."

"A copy of Taken 2"

……

Wang Jianguang smiled with delight upon seeing this. It seemed like there was a lot of traffic today. He wondered if he could sell 60 copies.

I took a stroll around and then went into the office. At lunchtime, I returned to the lobby.

He found a seat and sat down, looking at the bustling hall. Thinking about the money flowing into his pockets, he couldn't help but laugh out loud, even humming a little tune: "A dappled horse, a sharp sword, boundless land..."

"Hello, four copies of Taken 2."

"Is 6:10 PM okay?"

"Isn't there breakfast available?"

"That's all."

……

"Hello, three copies of Taken 2."

"Is 6:10 PM okay?"

"So late?"

"Excuse me, everyone here today is here to see this movie."

……

"Whether awake or dreaming, life is short..."

Wang Jianguang was humming a song when he suddenly noticed the situation at the ticket booth. He stood up and went over to ask, "How's the attendance for 'Taken 2' today?"

"Extremely high."

"Are there any theaters showing 'Hurricane 2'?"

"It's pretty average."

"Can it reach 6% of the quality of 'Hurricane 2'?"

"Um……"

"Hmm? Just tell me how much it is."

"The attendance rate is probably less than half that of 'Hurricane 2'."

"Less than half?! Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, it's definitely less than half!"

……

At 10 p.m., Wang Jianguang sat in front of his company computer looking at the cinema's sales figures for the day, and a chill ran down his spine.

The cinema's daily revenue reached 64.6, which is quite an impressive achievement!

He's only encountered 60 views in a single day a total of 10 times over the years, but today he broke 60 again.

But he couldn't feel happy at all at that moment.

Of these 64.6 people, 50.8 were from the sale of "Taken 2".

With only 62% of the screenings, the company sold 78% of the box office revenue, a difference of 16 percentage points, indicating a major mistake in the screening schedule.

If we schedule the screenings according to the proportions my son suggested, how much revenue would we generate today?

要是真的按照8个厅有7个排《飓风营救2》来算，且上座率不降低的话，那幺今天光是《飓风营救2》一部戏卖的票房就是71万多？！算上其他厅就是差不多76万？

Of course, with seven out of eight theaters showing "Taken 2," the occupancy rate of "Taken 2" is bound to decrease, and it is unlikely that "Taken 2" will actually sell more than 8 yuan. But even so, the losses caused by improper scheduling today are likely to be in the range of 7 to 71 yuan.

When he got home that evening, his wife and son were watching TV on the sofa. Seeing him come in, his wife asked with concern, "Old Wang, you're back. How was it? How were the box office results today? Did it reach 50?"

"64," Wang Jianguang said in a deep voice, and then sat down on the sofa.

His wife's face lit up with joy, and she laughed, "The country really needs to make more blockbusters. Once a blockbuster is released, the theater attendance rate immediately goes up. Tomorrow's Saturday, can we make 70?"

Wang Jianguang sighed and said, "Even 80 is possible."

"So many?" his wife exclaimed in surprise.

"If the schedule is right, it's possible."

The wife patted their son, Wang Yupeng, and laughed, "When you go to the cinema with your dad tomorrow, you should also learn about film scheduling, especially when big movies are released. If you don't schedule it well, you can lose 30,000 to 50,000 yuan."

Wang Yupeng suddenly remembered his film scheduling ideas when his father tested him before, and asked, "Dad, if we follow my suggested schedule today, will we lose tens of thousands of yuan?"

"Son, you personally scheduled the film today?" his wife asked, sounding quite pleased.

"Yeah, but my dad rejected my proposal."

Wang Jianguang closed his eyes to rest.

When his father didn't answer, Wang Yupeng asked again, "Dad, honestly, if we really follow my suggested schedule today, won't we lose tens of thousands of yuan?"

"Hmm," Wang Jianguang mumbled.

"Will we really have to pay tens of thousands in compensation?! How much exactly?" Wang Yupeng was still a little unwilling to give up.

"Um."

"Dad, what are you always saying?"

"Um."

……

morning.

Shen Qing woke up in his hotel room in Jiangcheng. He and Fan Bingbing had come here to promote their movie. There was an unread text message on his phone: the movie's opening day box office figures were out.

Shen Qing reached out and pinched Fan Bingbing hard, making him wake up with a cry of pain.

What are you doing?

"The first day's box office figures are out."

Fan Bingbing snapped out of her daze and hurriedly asked, "How much?"

"I don't know, let's watch together!"

Shen Qing opened the text message. Fan Bingbing leaned forward, and after seeing the number, she read it aloud softly: "2030 million!"

"Wow!" She turned to look at Shen Qing, her eyes filled with excitement and admiration.

……

noon.

Shen Qing's fan club erupted in excitement.

"Sina News has already released the results: 'Taken 2' grossed 2030 million yuan on its opening day!"

"Is this a great result?"

"Is it impressive? Let me put it this way: only 'The Promise' and 'Transformers' have ever broken 2000 million in opening day box office before."

"So Taken 2 is... the third film to break 2000 million on its opening day? That sounds pretty impressive!"