Chapter 406: Rave Reviews

"Resident Evil!"

Number one on today's Twitter trending list, with over 200,000 tweets!

The comments section was exploding with heat:

"The best horror film in recent years. Honestly, when that zombie turned its head and smiled at me, I was genuinely terrified!"

"I knew Captain Wesker wasn't simple the moment he appeared; he had the look of a villain, but for some reason, I really liked him. It's a pity he died."

"There's a post-credits scene at the end of the movie. They showed Wesker again—he's been resurrected."

"Damn, I closed it as soon as the movie ended and missed that. I need to go back and take another look!"

"Actually, you could guess he wasn't dead from the plot. Every living person in the movie turns into a zombie after dying. Parker and Wesker died almost at the same time; Parker turned, but Wesker didn't, which means Wesker wasn't dead at all!"

"Am I the only one who likes the two female characters? Alice and Jill are both so beautiful, and they both survived in the end!"

"I've already paired them up: Jill and Chris, Alice and Matt. These four are definitely going to have plenty of screen time in the sequel!"

"Is that how you pair them up? My pairing is Alice and T-002."

"What kind of twisted pairing is that?"

"To be honest, when Alice was stabbed by T-002's tentacle, I immediately imagined ten thousand fan-fictions."

"That's pretty hardcore, but I like it."

"One Resident Evil movie has flushed out so many perverts..."

………………

Without a doubt, the discussion surrounding Resident Evil reached a phenomenal level, second only to The Lord of the Rings, which was released not long ago.

Even Netflix itself hadn't expected Resident Evil to become this popular.

Zombies, viruses, infections, monsters, evolution—there were too many captivating elements. Furthermore, while there were few beauties in the film, every one of them was a feast for the eyes, and the action sequences were exceptionally thrilling.

The entire movie could be said to have no dull moments; not only was it packed with details, but it also left plenty of suspense for the second film.

The first film had just been released, and already a large crowd of fans was clamoring to see the second one.

On the other hand, extended discussions about Resident Evil began to spread across the entire internet. Relevant communities appeared on NGA, and their popularity shot straight into the top three.

And with the rise of Resident Evil, the true wave of viewership finally arrived.

Today, Netflix's active membership reached its peak in the last six months, the number of new daily members broke historical records, and the view count for Resident Evil surpassed the 100 million mark in less than twenty-four hours!

It must be said that online movies are indeed much more cost-effective to watch than theatrical releases.

You can watch them at home, at the office, or in the car, and they are cheap, too.

As for the exclusive big screens and 3D of cinemas, they didn't offer much of an advantage for a movie like Resident Evil, which had relatively few special effects.

Of course, this 100 million view count certainly couldn't be compared to 100 million cinema admissions.

After all, you only pay once to watch on Netflix, and there might be many people watching together. However, Resident Evil's box office had already exceeded 30 million USD, and the actual number of viewers had reached over 6 million.

As word-of-mouth spreads and subsequent promotions continue, this number will only continue to grow.

The only pity was that China, the world's second-largest box office market, wouldn't provide much revenue for this film.

Because of the existence of the Great Firewall, those inside couldn't get out, and those outside couldn't get in; the number of people willing to "climb the wall" to pay for the movie was truly negligible.

Even if there were some, most were likely using those domestic pirate websites.

Although Netflix had set Resident Evil to be non-downloadable and restricted screen recording on devices during playback, as long as people wanted to pirate it, there was always a way—it just meant the image quality would be lower than the original.

Before the movie was released, a large group of people in China were clamoring to send movie tickets to Luo Quan, looking for ways to watch the film.

By the time it aired, such voices had diminished significantly, and raw resources of Resident Evil began to spread on Tieba, official accounts, and other platforms.

Luo Quan saw this and felt quite helpless.

This was something that couldn't be helped. Fans would certainly be able to afford the 30 yuan; if it could be released in China, the box office would likely not be small.

But that was the policy. She could only hope that Netflix would contact domestic websites to see if they could sell the broadcasting rights.

However, to air in China, many segments of the movie would have to be cut. Blood and violence were major highlights of Resident Evil, and she didn't know how much would be left after the cuts.

That was the only frustrating thing. Overall, the release of this movie could be considered a success.

That evening, Luo Quan, her brother, and Seifert celebrated the movie's success with a grand meal at the villa.

"I knew you would succeed. I won't watch this year's Oscars if you aren't there," Seifert said, downing the red wine in her glass in one go, half-jokingly to Luo Quan.

"Commercial films at the Oscars? Don't joke around. If I can earn 200 million USD, that's a success." Luo Quan wasn't greedy and gave a not-so-high estimate for Resident Evil's earnings.

The three of them had each invested 10 million in this movie. Although Seifert had said she only needed to pay back the 10 million if it made money, Luo Quan wasn't the type to abandon principles for profit and insisted that the three of them split the earnings equally.

If the final box office really reached 200 million, she would split it 50/50 with Netflix, meaning she would get 100 million, and after the three of them split it, each would get over 30 million.

It didn't sound like that much.

But then Luo Quan thought about it: in the current movie market, isn't 200 million USD the box office for a flop?

With Resident Evil's current reputation and popularity, even if online ticket prices weren't as high as offline ones, it wasn't impossible for the box office to reach 500 million!

"It doesn't matter how much money you make this time; the point is that you've made a name for yourself. Once the next movie is filmed, I expect people won't be looking for you like they did this time. By then, that will be when your box office truly explodes!" Seifert wished Luo Quan well.

"Then I'll take your word for it." Luo Quan raised the juice in her glass and drank it all with a smile.

Although Luo Quan herself regarded this movie as her breakout work—a stepping stone into Hollywood—she hadn't thought about making too much money.

But Resident Evil clearly didn't think so.

Although it couldn't charge as high a fee as cinemas, Netflix's channels were also spread across the globe.

North America was just the first region where Resident Evil became popular; Japan, South Korea, Europe, and South America soon saw its explosive presence.

This movie was just like the T-virus, possessing an unparalleled speed of transmission, and once people were hooked, they became as fanatical and addicted as zombies.

The popularity first manifested on short-video platforms like TikTok and YouTube, where countless zombie-related short videos appeared overnight.

People took to applying bloody zombie makeup and filming their own Resident Evil short films according to their own ideas.

And the word "T-virus" also frequently appeared in the headlines of major newspapers.

Many people claimed on forums that they had encountered zombie incidents and posted photos as evidence.

Some even dug up ambiguous footage from over a decade ago, labeled it with the name Resident Evil, and claimed that the zombie virus had briefly broken out in a certain region, attempting to use conspiracy theories to grab the public's attention.

Although most of the rumors were just for fun and were quickly debunked.

But there were also videos that were hard to distinguish as true or false, and combined with the fact that the Resident Evil movie was indeed too scary, the rumors spread, actually causing panic among the public.

In some small European countries, there were actually a large number of reports to the police from people claiming they had encountered zombies.

In reality, it was just pedestrians passing by these people while walking at night.

However, having watched Resident Evil, they were far too jumpy; catching a glimpse of a figure from afar, they associated it with the zombies in the movie and, in their fear, immediately chose to call the police.

The final result was naturally laughable, providing countless jokes for netizens in other countries.

But on the other hand, it also brought unimaginable, massive popularity to the movie.

People flocked to Netflix to purchase the movie, wanting to see what kind of film it was that could cause so much panic.

And after these people finished watching it, the world gained another poor, jumpy soul.

What was the reason that could make this movie so terrifying? And what was the reason that could make its popularity so explosive?

Many netizens raised the same question.

Finally, a veteran horror movie director gave the answer on Twitter:

"The reason zombies can make so many people terrified is mainly due to the Uncanny Valley effect.

Simply put, the more a non-human thing resembles a human, the easier it is to trigger human terror.

For example (not recommended for readers to search), Alaska smiling faces, dolls, and the like—at first glance, you might not feel anything, but if you look closely, you will become increasingly creeped out.

This is the Uncanny Valley effect.

The zombies in Resident Evil utilized this point very well because these monsters were entirely transformed from humans; apart from their bloody faces and stumbling gait, they were fundamentally no different from humans.

What's even worse is that before being bitten, the zombies were every ordinary person around us.

The reason for this, in fact, is that Director Luo Quan's Resident Evil was filmed truly too well.

She keenly grasped the points that the public fears and shaped the zombie into a monster image that can be called a classic.

In this regard, she is a genius.

Like all the fans, I am looking forward to her second movie!"

This analysis clearly voiced the sentiments of the vast majority of fans and was cited by major media outlets to analyze why Resident Evil was so popular.

And Luo Quan, who had anticipated the movie would be a hit, had registered a large number of related patents long ago.

Including the name Resident Evil, the term T-virus, the image of the zombies, and the images of the main actors in the film.

These would all be important components of the zombie universe in the future and were living IP.

Once the universe was established and became a hit, whoever wanted to use it in the future would have to pay her copyright fees.

In fact, someone had already come to her to purchase this IP.

It was mainly some haunted house chains in the United States that had taken a fancy to the terrifying image of the zombies and wanted to buy the usage rights, offering a price as high as 30 million USD!

This was the first income Luo Quan earned using the IP, and there would be more and more in the future.

Besides this, some film companies also contacted her one after another, wanting to obtain the filming authorization for this type of movie.

Because whether it was the zombie virus or the zombies, this concept was pioneered by Luo Quan; if others wanted to film it, they could only look to Luo Quan's approval.

Now that the market was so hot, everyone certainly wanted to come and get a piece of the pie.

And Luo Quan was quite generous, posting directly on Twitter:

"Resident Evil is just one form of expression for zombie movies. If you want to film similar movies in the future, just pay 1 USD as a token.

I welcome all original new adaptations or expansions, but I will not allow knock-offs and plagiarism."

Making such a choice wasn't because Luo Quan didn't want to earn money.

Holding onto the IP could indeed allow her to sit back and earn a fortune, but it wouldn't be good for this type of movie.

Luo Quan's intention is to make zombie movies a major category within the thriller genre, or rather, to make them truly mainstream.

If one day zombie movies can truly conquer the global market, then as the progenitor of this genre, the status and value of *Resident Evil* will be self-evident.

However, this still requires the diligent creative efforts of other directors and screenwriters; after all, a single flower blooming alone does not make a spring, and only when a hundred flowers bloom can the garden be filled with the colors of spring.

Of course, as far as the present is concerned, it is hard to say whether these things can be realized.

*Resident Evil* has become a hit, but whether the copycat works can reach its level and continue to contribute to this genre remains to be seen.

In any case, Luo Quan's blueprint for the zombie universe has long been set; besides the scripts, she and several main actors have also signed long-term cooperation contracts.

Moreover, it is not just movies; television series are also one of the fields she intends to enter.

As a zombie-themed film and television work, *The Walking Dead* is also a classic among classics; with slight modifications, it could be connected to the world of *Resident Evil*.

Once both the movie and the TV series become hits, and a crossover is staged, the effect would be explosive!

At the mere thought of this, Luo Quan cannot help but drool with excitement.

After the box office of *Resident Evil* became a massive success, Luo Quan packed her luggage and returned to Shanghai.

This mission can basically be considered more than half complete; the current global box office has already reached 80 million USD, and the goal of 1 billion RMB is no longer far off—it is just a matter of a few days.

Having been busy for two months, Luo Quan's mind has been in a state of high concentration.

Filming a movie is indeed more exhausting than singing; if she had a choice, she would rather record three albums than film one movie.

Now that the winter break has just begun and her work is basically finished, and the other artists in the company also have their own careers, she can finally stay at home and enjoy the holiday properly.

PS. Thanks to book friend 95 Youth for the book coin tip, thank you!