Chapter 733: Calculating the Area of Zhou Ping'an's Psychological Shadow (12,400 words)

How did the talk about Lu Yan He carrying the box office even start?

Thinking back, it seems to have begun with "Sanshan."

During its first run, that film sold over eighty million, and after several re-releases, its total box office has surpassed one hundred million.

Although he only made a cameo appearance for fifteen minutes, the entire film's marketing at the time focused heavily on those fifteen minutes of Lu Yan He's performance.

Afterwards, under the boost of international awards and the "Rooftop Confession" marketing campaign, "Late Spring" achieved a box office of over six hundred million.

"Road to Glory" launched an unusually long limited preview, essentially referencing North America's "limited release" strategy; by restricting the number of screening theaters to maintain occupancy rates, it secured screen allocations, extended the promotional timeline, and gradually collected box office revenue through exposure during the North American awards season; ultimately, despite a release period lasting over five months where the highest daily box office just broke ten million and the lowest dropped to merely tens of thousands of yuan per day, the final box office still surpassed two hundred million.

After that came "Love Letter"; thanks to finding a marketing angle that resonated socially, combined with the gimmick of international awards, it achieved a box office exceeding one billion.

In reality, Lu Yan He's title of "box office carrier" stems more from his performance in the art film sector than in commercial films.

The reason this title sits so firmly on him is that while commercial films succeeding is expected, art films succeeding is a miracle; yet Lu Yan He manages to replicate this miracle time and again.

All told, "Tropical Rainy Season" is Lu Yan He's fourth art film.

Linghe has consistently emphasized in its marketing and promotion that "Tropical Rainy Season" is an art film, that box office is not the primary goal, and that earning a few tens of millions would be enough to break even and turn a substantial profit; under such bombardment-style promotion, many people formed the impression that the film entering the National Day slot was merely hoping to "sip some soup."

But what if it turns out to be another film like "Late Spring" or "Love Letter," which accidentally hit upon social issues and sparked nationwide discussion?

How many audience members today will choose to believe in his taste upon seeing Lu Yan He's name and walk into a theater to watch a film?

This is something no one can predict.

Because Lu Yan He's foundational fanbase is difficult to measure.

And just one day before "Tropical Rainy Season" premiered, the film played its trump card in the promotional battle—

Director Huang Tianlin and Qin Shulan, who played the mother in the film, appeared on a talk show on CCTV, discussing the "past and present" of the Chinese community in Malaysia.

Why their ancestors went to Malaysia in the first place.

What perception the Chinese in Malaysia currently hold regarding their motherland.

How much effort everyone has made across generations to ensure the continuation of Chinese culture.

Finally, they returned to the film.

"Tropical Rainy Season" tells the story of a very ordinary Chinese family living in Malaysia; just like countless family stories in mainland China, they share the same roots and origin, an unseverable blood tie, where those who left are still being waited for to return.

"They actually pulled this move!"

In this National Day slot, the two top-tier films viewed as contenders for the box office championship were, first, the comedy "Descendants of the Dragon" produced by Ruyi Pictures, starring Jia Long.

The other was the sci-fi film "Operation God Mender" produced by Long Yan Pictures; although it lacked several top-tier actors with box office drawing power in the lead roles, this film had attracted significant attention since its inception because it was adapted from a top-tier domestic IP, and the released trailers, with their visuals and special effects, left people stunned.

Following these two films was "Well Electric," an action crime thriller starring Cheng Shiyan.

Lu Yan He's starring vehicle, "Tropical Rainy Season," indeed seemed to have no competitiveness against these films.

Lu Yan He himself had truly never considered trying to compete with these films for box office.

In his heart, if "Tropical Rainy Season" could scrape together one hundred million in box office within such a large market, he would be thanking heaven and earth.

Who would have known that CCTV would suddenly take the initiative to contact them, wanting to produce such a talk show episode.

Upon discussion, they learned that Wen Shengming was very close to the show's chief director and had suggested that selecting the cast of such a film for this topic during the National Day holiday would be timely, fitting the occasion, and socially meaningful.

Lu Yan He had not expected that Wen Shengming would help him from behind the scenes.

At this moment, Lu Yan He suddenly recalled the words Wen Shengming had spoken when "Storm Calmer No. 1" wrapped filming: "I will always be watching you."

So this is what "watching" meant?

A CCTV talk show may have a large or small influence, but no one would claim its coverage range is small.

Among current media outlets, only CCTV can truly achieve wide-scale coverage of the middle-aged and elderly demographic.

Not to mention that CCTV's official accounts on various platforms have equally exaggerated follower counts, astonishingly high.

Whatever they wish to promote, the coverage rate is staggering.

At this moment, people from both Ruyi Pictures and Long Yan Pictures could not hold back and erupted in profanity.

Because "Tropical Rainy Season" was "playing foul."

Facts proved that once this CCTV program aired, clips of it began flying everywhere.

Never before had a film used such a theme for promotion.

Overseas Chinese, sharing the same roots and origin.

Clearly just a very niche film focusing on private emotions, it suddenly found itself wearing the hat of a "main melody" production.

While Ruyi Pictures and Long Yan Pictures were growing anxious, fearing "Tropical Rainy Season" would surge against the tide, Lu Yan He himself was also somewhat worried that this promotional strategy might backfire.

"Tropical Rainy Season" was a film that had not even a half-cent's worth of relation to the "main melody."

The current angle of "overseas Chinese, same roots and origin" was entirely fabricated for this specific stage.

Of course, it exists and is real, but this is not the theme "Tropical Rainy Season" intended to express.

Promoting it this way, wouldn't many audience members feel after watching that the "content didn't match the title" or the "goods didn't match the description"?

Lu Yan He sent his concerns to the promotion and distribution group chat.

Colleagues in the promotion and distribution group responded: We will increase the promotion of the film's actual theme moving forward.

On the first day of the National Day slot, this art film, "Tropical Rainy Season," relying on Lu Yan He's influence and the market potential demonstrated during its early promotion and limited previews, secured a 12% screen allocation, ranking fourth among films released during the National Day period.

When Lu Yan He woke up, the opening day box office for "Tropical Rainy Season" (including that day's pre-sales) had already broken 18 million, ranking fourth in daily box office, matching its screen allocation rate.

Lu Yan He let out a long sigh of relief.

Seeing the figure of 18 million, he knew that the strategy of "just hoping to sip some soup" had succeeded.

For this film, Lu Yan He did not join the crew in running the roadshow events.

First, it was too exhausting, and Lu Yan He didn't want to hassle with it; second, the theme of the film's roadshow had little to do with him, so his absence was better than his presence.

The roadshow was being run by Huang Tianlin, accompanied by young Huang Feng, who was on National Day holiday, and Qin Shulan.

Leveraging their identities as overseas Chinese, they interacted with audiences on-site about the lives of overseas Chinese, while also talking about the film "Tropical Rainy Season."

On the first day, "Descendants of the Dragon" achieved a box office of 95 million, "Operation God Mender" 92 million, "Well Electric" only 42 million, and "Tropical Rainy Season" 23 million.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tropical Rainy Season" breathed a sigh of relief because this release strategy was a risky move, yet securing 23 million on the first day proved the strategy successful.

The other films breathed a sigh of relief because "Tropical Rainy Season" did not, as they had feared, spring a shocking upset and knock all their blockbusters down.

Lu Yan He had no idea they held such apprehension toward him.

To be honest, an art film, not even a genre picture, has its ceiling clearly set; their worries were entirely superfluous.

Just as everyone was breathing a sigh of relief, predictably, some trolls began making a huge fuss, claiming Lu Yan He's box-office appeal was nothing special.

With only slightly over twenty million in first-day box office, it was simply a massive flop.

Whenever Lu Yan He has a film released, someone always grabs certain data to call it a "massive flop."

In reality, any behavior that ignores a film's genre, release window, and competitors to talk emptily about high or low box office figures is nothing but hooliganism.

The production cost of "Tropical Rainy Season" did not exceed two million RMB; it had already earned back its costs long ago, damn it.

Linghe's purchase price for acquiring the distribution rights in China was one million US dollars.

One could say that with this first-day box office added to the pre-release earnings, the film directly broke even and began turning a profit.

Chen Ziyan arranged for several marketing accounts to produce "insider analyses," "cost analyses," and the like to draw attention to the production costs of "Tropical Rainy Season," subsequently emphasizing the film's return on investment.

It should be noted that "Tropical Rainy Season" screened in five theaters across North America, with the per-theater average directly exceeding ten thousand on the first day, an equally gratifying result.

Most crucially, on the second day, both "Descendants of the Dragon" and "Operation Divine Supplement" saw varying degrees of box-office decline; "Well Electric," due to its mediocre reception, saw its box office halved, whereas "Tropical Rainy Season" experienced a reverse drop, securing 25 million on October 2nd, breaking through 50 million in total box office after just two days of release.

Judging by the trend, "Tropical Rainy Season" might possibly secure the third position at the box office during the National Day holiday.

The reception for "Well Electric" collapsed rather severely; if the box office continues to collapse on the third day, it is truly possible that this film will ultimately achieve a total box office of just over 200 million.

"Tropical Rainy Season," however, has a very long window period after the National Day holiday.

There are no more major release windows—

This means no more blockbusters will gnaw away at screening space; "Tropical Rainy Season" can maintain a certain level of screenings and slowly reap its box-office rewards.

During the National Day period, aside from the interview program on CCTV, the currently airing "Days of Youth" played the trailer for "Tropical Rainy Season" in the middle of two episodes.

Not only that, but "Jump Up" pushed soft articles across all channels for promotion, and furthermore, the Vein Network, led by Xin Zixing, created a special feature plan for "Tropical Rainy Season," inviting overseas Chinese to recount their family stories on the Vein Network.

Bai Yu also invited the "Tropical Rainy Season" cast and crew to attend a seminar on "Literature and Film Art in Malaysia" hosted by the editorial board of her upcoming literary magazine; including Teacher Shi Xia, numerous giants of the contemporary literary world attended, watched the film together, and discussed it at the seminar.

With this multi-party coordination, such promotional resources would cost tens of millions for other films to secure; without that sum, it simply couldn't be done.

It wasn't even a matter of money; for a seminar like the one Bai Yu organized, that group of writers generally cannot be invited by ordinary people, nor do they lack money.

The key lies in the readers this group can mobilize, and given that this demographic is generally adept at "chattering," their role in promoting the film "Tropical Rainy Season" within the upcoming internet ecosystem is significant.

"Tropical Rainy Season" obtained all these promotional resources for free.

For no other reason than Lu Yan He himself.

Whether Ruyi Pictures or Long Yan Pictures, they were all so envious their eyes turned red.

There was even a film Producer who publicly posted on Weibo: "What do you have to compete with Lu Yan He? As long as it's his film or TV drama, so many people promote it for free, and suddenly a cultural phenomenon appears. Even a film like 'Tropical Rainy Season' can sell over twenty million worth of tickets daily; besides him, who can achieve this?"

The words reeked of sour grapes inside and out.

Lu Yan He thought for a moment, then reposted this Weibo post, writing a long article in the form of an image:

—Thanks to my girlfriend for turning a magazine we started unintentionally into its current scale.

—Thanks to my peers, friends, and classmates, each with their own abilities, shining and generating heat themselves, and helping me shine and generate heat through their respective fields; thanks to the teachers I have met along the way, who silently built bridges for me, constantly nurturing and supporting me.

—Fortunately, this is not an industry of zero-sum games; when I suggested that perhaps during a massive release window like the National Day holiday, one out of ten people might want to watch an art film, and if one film could satisfy that one person's need, adding them up still makes a lot of people, my colleagues in distribution and marketing supported my idea after conducting market research and calculations.

—Facts have proven that we Chinese are so numerous, and our demands are equally diverse.

—I like this major release window composed of different films, where every audience member can find the movie they want to see.

—I like this industry where a hundred flowers bloom; we do not imitate others, we only be ourselves. Sometimes, even if one is just a tiny flower, because it blooms on a bustling street corner, it causes some flower lovers to pause and admire this small blossom.

—This is the meaning of creation for every one of us creators; as long as we create with heart, someone will always pause for us.

"What are you comparing yourselves to Lu Yan He for? What do you have to compare?"

The next day, during Long Yan Pictures' internal video conference, Huang Zong directly complained, or rather, raged: "Are you more cultured than him, or is that group of people around him more cultured than yours?"

The reason Huang Zong complained was that "Operation Divine Supplement," released by Long Yan Pictures, had made a incredibly stupid move in its promotion yesterday.

A promotional staff member for "Operation Divine Supplement" wrote a passage on their Moments: "Small flowers are certainly beautiful, but what supports the development of this industry can only be big trees. Long Yan Pictures has always been engaged in the business of planting trees; this is more arduous and more challenging, but only in this way can Chinese cinema grow into a forest."

This was not an outburst of righteous indignation by some individual; this was a "hype-leeching" promotional strategy planned by the "Operation Divine Supplement" promotion team.

The goal was to stir up the audience's patriotic sentiments and once again reinforce the impression of industrial progress and advancement represented by a film like "Operation Divine Supplement" in the minds of the audience.

The result, however, was an onslaught of mockery.

Huang Zong was so furious that he convened a video conference first thing in the morning to scold everyone: "How many times have I said not to sing one's own praises like the old woman selling melons? Claiming yourself to be the representative of industrialization—who the hell cares? 'Operation Divine Supplement' clearly has excellent reception in all aspects, the audience is praising the special effects as being great, it is indeed a blockbuster, and the situation is extremely promising; yet you insist on applying more makeup to your own face, unaware that the more you apply, the thicker it gets?"

Huang Zong scolded again: "And this small flower, big tree nonsense; do you have Lu Yan He's level of skill to play with metaphors? You graduates of those diploma mills, what do you have to compare with someone who graduated from the School of Literature at Zhenhua University? Forcibly leeching hype! If today's box-office trend for 'Operation Divine Supplement' falls below expectations, you all get out!"

The group was scolded until they looked utterly disheveled and ashamed, then immediately followed Huang Zong's instructions to remedy the situation.

Huang Zong personally posted a Weibo message: "The tree planter works hard planting trees and is delighted to see small flowers blooming beautifully, happy to have small flowers for company; yet this tree has become arrogant first, thinking the small flowers distract the planter's attention. It seems tree planting also requires, besides fertilizing, instruction in values. Apologies for making everyone laugh at us."

One Weibo post turned the tide.

When the boss of a film company personally explains and apologizes, as long as the posture is sincere, it is actually easily accepted.

Indeed, it was no major incident.

Lu Yan He simply liked the post and said: "Only because the big trees help shield from wind and rain can the small flowers remain safe and sound; this is what makes a forest."

The seven days of the National Day holiday passed in the blink of an eye.

"Descendants of the Dragon" achieved a total box office of 540 million, while "Operation Divine Supplement" reached 640 million; yes, the latter relied on its hard strength to overtake from behind.

Third place still went to "Well Electric"; although it lacked momentum in the later stages, its box office in the first few days still brought its total to 250 million.

In fourth place, "Tropical Rainy Season," thanks to efforts from all parties and the solid quality of the film itself, maintained a daily box office of over 20 million for seven consecutive days; adding the 9 million from the preview screenings, it achieved a total of 190 million, nearing the 200 million mark.

An art film bravely entering the National Day holiday window concluded with success.

However, this was merely a periodical full stop.

"Tropical Rainy Season" is in it for the long haul.

This is because "Tropical Rainy Season" has begun its journey through the North American awards season.

After Lu Yan He finished recording the final episode of this season of "Days of Youth," he flew to the United States.

The official period for the North American awards season generally runs from December to February of the following year.