novelraw Chapter 79 Breaking Historical Records
Chapter 79 Breaking Historical Records
July 2nd, 9:24 AM.
China Film Distribution Branch.
Wang Wei is a data specialist at China Film Distribution Company. His daily work involves compiling the daily box office data for the films distributed by the company and then reporting it up the chain of command.
He sat at his workstation, a thermos next to him, enjoying a sip of freshly brewed hot tea, and idly continued flipping through the newspaper in front of him.
Tickets are in high demand for the film "Little Girl's Kung Fu Uncle," directed by Shen Qing and starring Jackie Chan, which is currently showing nationwide, with long queues forming at cinemas in many cities.
"I don't know if this movie is good or not. If it is, I'll take my wife and daughter to see it in a few days."
Just then, I received an email in my work inbox.
The sender is the official account of China Film Stellar Media!
Wang Wei's spirits lifted, and he immediately put down the newspaper in his hand.
"As expected of our own cinema chain, they are always the fastest to report data." He couldn't help but remark, and at the same time, he immediately opened the relevant email.
The first line of the email was the same as yesterday's, summarizing yesterday's box office data for "Kung Fu Panda". This movie was also distributed by China Film Group, and the data was also collected by the cinemas below and sent to the distribution branch of China Film Group.
"23 views. It's been more than ten days since it was released, and it's still making that many. That's pretty good. It's a real shame that this movie wasn't made by Chinese people."
He had just watched this movie with his wife and daughter a few days ago, and his daughter laughed hysterically.
Next up is the data for the film "Little Girl's Kung Fu Uncle," which premiered yesterday.
"what?"
Wang Wei was stunned when he saw the specific numbers.
"327 million? This... can't be a mistake? I remember..."
Errors in data reporting are common, and Wang Wei has encountered them several times. Sometimes the numbers reported by the cinemas below are outrageous. When Wang Wei calls to verify, it turns out that the data specialists on the cinemas' side have been negligent.
This time is very likely to be the same.
After all, China Film Stellar Cinemas is just one cinema chain under China Film Distribution Corporation. There are dozens of cinema chains of all sizes across the country. Is it possible that China Film Stellar Cinemas alone sold for 327 million?
It's important to understand that this is only the data from the film's opening day, not the data for the entire film's theatrical run!
He remembered that the highest first-day sales record for a film released by China Film Stellar Media was only around 250 million!
Wang Wei swiped the mouse, frantically searching through historical data. A moment later, a smile appeared on his face.
Found it, the data from when "Transformers" was released last year.
Clicking on it clearly shows the data from its opening day, which was also reported by China Film Stellar Media.
252 million!
This was the highest single-day record for China Film Stellar Media before, and it had never been broken since Transformers. But with this film, Little Girl's Kung Fu Uncle, it not only broke the record, but also surpassed it by so much.
From 252 million to 327 million, that's a full 75 more!
Is there really no mistake?
Could it be that they mistakenly reported 327 million instead of 227 million?
Wang Wei didn't rush to call China Film Stellar Media to verify. A blockbuster movie wouldn't only be a hit in one theater chain; it would definitely see a surge in sales across all major theater chains.
Be patient and wait for data from other cinema chains!
Just then, another cinema chain sent an email.
It's the Southern Shinkansen Cinema Circuit!
This is also a cinema chain under China Film Group.
He eagerly opened the email. Yesterday's box office figures for *Kung Fu Panda* were 19; it should be fine. He quickly glanced at the figures for *Little Girl's Kung Fu Uncle*.
288 million!
Wang Wei stared wide-eyed at the number, finally realizing that it might not be a problem with the data reported by China Film Stellar Media, but rather that the movie had truly become a hit.
He hurriedly flipped to the previous data, where the highest first-day record for the Southern Express was also held by "Transformers" released in 07, with a record of 222 million.
From 222 million to 288 million, the number increased by a full 66!
If this happens at two consecutive theaters, it looks like this movie isn't just a minor hit, it's a massive one!
Next, data from various cinema chains were reported one after another, and Wang Wei opened and summarized them one by one.
The Shanghai Joint Cinema Circuit earned 318 million yuan.
Beijing New Film Union: 284 million.
Wanda Plaza in Beijing: 275 million.
The Pearl River Cinema Circuit in Guangdong Province has 168 million subscribers.
Zhejiang Times Cinema Circuit: 162 million.
Sichuan Pacific Cinema Circuit: 136 million.
……
11 o'clock in the morning.
Wang Wei finally finished compiling the data, and the preliminary statistics showed that the opening day box office of "Little Lolita's Kung Fu Uncle" was 3025 million. Wang Wei couldn't help but rub his eyes. The data should be correct. With so many theaters showing such a surge in data, it was impossible for every theater to be wrong.
But 3025 million?
He clicked on the data for Transformers, which had previously set a record, and it clearly showed 2241 million! And that was it, breaking the historical record.
Now it's been driven directly to over 3000 million!
What, this movie wants to break the 3 million record?!
It's no wonder Wang Wei thought this way. Before this, there was only one film in the mainland Chinese film market that had grossed over 3 million yuan, namely "Titanic," released in 1998, which grossed 3.6 million yuan in mainland China and had been sitting on the throne of the highest-grossing film in mainland China for a full 10 years.
The second-ranked film is "Transformers," released in 07, which ultimately grossed 2.687 million yuan in mainland China.
It seems almost certain that "Little Girl's Kung Fu Uncle" will surpass "Transformers"!
As for breaking Titanic's record—Wang Wei believes that no domestic film will be able to break this record within 5 years.
After compiling the data, Wang Wei promptly sent it to his supervisor.
……
China Film Group Corporation, Chairman's Office.
The assistant pushed open the door and handed Han Sanping a printed sheet of paper.
"Chairman, these are the opening day box office figures for 'Little Girl's Kung Fu Uncle'."
Han Sanping took the paper and glanced at it, then couldn't take his eyes off it.
"Have you verified it? If the data is abnormal, you need to call and verify it!"
"It has been verified, the data is correct. It's not just one or two cinema chains that reported a surge in numbers; all cinema chains reported a significant increase, regardless of whether they are in the north or south. Cinemas in the Northeast and Guangdong Province all saw substantial increases."
"Breaking 3000 million on the first day is truly remarkable!"
"Such solid results definitely deserve a lot of publicity. Some films that only made 1000 million on their opening day are still advertised by distributors as having made 1500 million. The most outrageous ones even dare to double that figure. It's only because we don't have to pay taxes for bragging in our country."
"Other companies are other companies, but we still need to be realistic. Even if the final figures from the special fund office are only tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands away from breaking 3000 million, we still need to be realistic."
"Once you reach the 3000 million mark, there's no point in exaggerating or overstating it anymore. Even if other films inflate their figures by 50%, they still can't beat the actual numbers of this movie."
"Let's wait for the data from the Special Fund Office. Once we have it, we'll send it to Shen Qing immediately, and I'll personally call to congratulate him."
"it is good."
The distributors rely on reports from cinemas at the grassroots level, while the Special Fund Office's data is directly connected to the cinema ticketing system at the grassroots level. The system is still in the rollout stage, but it is foreseeable that when the system is fully implemented in the future, the Special Fund Office will be able to grasp the box office data of a film in real time, even within seconds.
……
Office of the National Film Development Special Fund Management Committee (Special Fund Office).
Statistician Wu Xiaohua finally compiled the first-day data for the films released on a large scale yesterday, and he took one last look at the final number—3105 million.
I've checked it several times, so it should be correct, although the number looks exaggerated.
The Chinese film market is heating up.
Director Shen Qing: With such a box office performance on the first day, can you still sleep at night?
Wu Xiaohua organized the data and sent it to her supervisor.