Chapter 943

On September 12, Lu Yan He arrived in New York to participate in the screening and promotion activities for *The Boat* alongside director Luo Yuzhong, Wen Shengming, and Yu Mengling.

Green Valley adopted a traditional small-scale screening strategy for this art film, which clearly had difficulty achieving outstanding box office performance.

Throughout the early stages of the awards season, the number of screening theaters was kept in the double digits—

This is the experience Hollywood has explored over so many years.

Whenever it is an art film, once a large-scale release strategy is adopted, it will inevitably be attacked by a large number of non-target audiences who walk into the cinema without seeing what they wanted to see, which will affect the film's reputation—this is even more likely to happen the more big-name art films there are.

Conversely, through small-scale screenings, the initial audience can be controlled to the "die-hard fans" of this film. Only audiences who truly understand this film will know about it and buy tickets to watch it without large-scale promotion, effectively controlling the film's reputation and letting it ferment slowly.

In the process of this fermentation, what kind of film this is will have an "initial impression" outlined by reviews. Other audiences will then go to watch the film with this "initial impression." Even if they still don't think it's that good in the end, they won't directly call it a terrible movie. After all, so many people say it's good. If you say it's bad, even if you are stubborn, you will still think in your heart, is it because you don't have an eye for appreciation?

To build momentum for the film *The Boat*, Lu Yan He and others not only had a dialogue session on-site with last year's Oscar Best Director winner but also appeared together on the cover of *Variety* magazine.

Green Valley's promotion and PR resources have always been first-class.

This is also the reason why many of Lu Yan He's award-seeking films are collaborations with Green Valley.

The overseas rights for the film *The Boat* have actually basically all been sold.

Films starring Lu Yan He, which also won awards at the Xitu'er International Film Festival, never have to worry about selling.

However, if *The Boat* can have a showing in the North American awards season, just like *Storm Calmer No. 1*, even though it didn't make the final nomination list for Best Foreign Language Film, it still entered the mainstream global view through high-intensity exposure and word-of-mouth public opinion in the early stages. Every media outlet will discuss this film; as long as they pay attention to film, they cannot turn a blind eye to it.

On a shallow level, the film's copyright value will be more preserved, rather than just staying at the position of a temporary word-of-mouth work. On a deeper level, it will follow this year's awards season into film history, rather than being gradually forgotten as time passes because it is no longer paid attention to.

The significance of awards to a work largely lies here.

"*The Boat* and *Storm Calmer No. 1*, although both are films starring me and Wen Shengming, have completely different themes and styles," Lu Yan He said during media interviews. According to the PR strategy formulated this year, Lu Yan He needed to emphasize this point over and over again. On one hand, it was to use the "upset of missing the nomination" of *Storm Calmer No. 1* to win support votes for *The Boat*, and on the other hand, it was to pull *The Boat* out of many people's habitual thinking.

"This film actually focuses on a secret that happened in a family. Every family has its own secrets, and no matter what secrets are hidden, everyone is trying to maintain a harmonious appearance," Lu Yan He introduced the film, saying, "Appearance and reality, secrets and truth—from the moment I received this script, I decided to act in it."

"We saw reports saying that the script for this film came from a deceased female screenwriter. This is a script she wrote based on the family relationship between her and her parents. At the end of the film, it actually wants to express the theme of patricide. Is that so?"

"I have my own interpretation, but I think the most important part of this film is to try not to watch this story with preconceptions," Lu Yan He said. "The film presents an appearance. What kind of truth you want to see from this layer of appearance depends on your understanding of the characters, details, and story. If I state my interpretation, everyone will inevitably watch this film with my interpretation, which will lose a lot of fun."

The release of the film *The Boat*, as a Chinese film, also indeed attracted the attention and discussion of the American film criticism community.

Just as many people said, the upset of *Storm Calmer No. 1* missing the nomination made *The Boat* quickly become the top seed for Best Foreign Language Film after its release.

The honor of the Xitu'er Film Festival Jury Prize already "guaranteed" it into the first tier of Best Foreign Language Film for this year's North American awards season. With the blessing of Lu Yan He and others, as well as the "guilt" in many people's hearts, *The Boat* was predicted by major media outlets to be a strong contender for Best Foreign Language Film this year.

Three days later, Mukan Zorge's new work after *Get Out*, *Gudao Horror*, started filming.

The film started filming on a small island.

The official account specifically posted a photo from the scene.

This is a very common promotional task.

If it weren't for the fact that the director of this film is Mukan Zorge, it might not have attracted attention at the start-up stage.

After all, the cast of this film, although all have some fame, doesn't have the kind of big names that attract all media attention.

However, just two hours later, media suddenly broke the news that the *Gudao Horror* crew dug up a mysterious coffin at the filming site.

There were even photos from the scene.

Mukan Zorge and others all looked at the coffin still lying underground with shocked and helpless expressions, each person's face showing shock.

For a time, this topic exploded on social media.

It is a horror thriller film itself—

For films of this theme, a very common promotional method is to claim that various supernatural events occurred during the filming.

The audience for this theme is itself a fan of this kind of event.

Therefore, when this news and this photo came out, many people's first reaction was that this was a promotional tactic.

However, two hours after this photo was exposed, no one from the *Gudao Horror* film stood up to claim this promotion.

Even the media that released this photo had no follow-up.

Searches and discussions about *Gudao Horror* soared due to this "lost silence."

Everyone clearly knew that it was very likely just a promotional gimmick, but they couldn't suppress their feelings—

What if it's true?

Late at night, *Gudao Horror* suddenly released a video.

This video seemed to be footage shot by a camera that had fallen to the ground and hadn't been turned off.

Its frame wasn't straight.

Coincidentally, it was aimed at that coffin.

It was also a pitch-black night in the video.

In the background, there was the roar of wind and crashing waves.

The atmosphere was very eerie.

It was the kind of atmosphere that appears in many suspense horror films.

Suddenly, the coffin lid made a "click" sound.

There was movement.

After another two seconds, the coffin lid made a louder sound.

It was as if something was about to break out from inside.

Subsequently, it was completely pushed open from the inside.

A blood-stained, mud-covered hand reached out.

A figure crawled out.

He let out a weak, heavy gasp.

Listen carefully, and you can hear him shouting in a very light, weak, almost powerless voice: "Help—" Then, as if he noticed something, he turned his head and saw the camera.

A flash of lightning suddenly appeared, illuminating his face.

He looked at the camera in horror and shouted, "Help!"

Audiences who had seen *Buried* recognized him at this very moment.

That was Li Zhibai from *Buried*!

How should a film be promoted?

It's a matter of opinion.

It is ultimately reflected in the box office.

If the box office is successful, the promotion is successful.

The video released by *Gudao Horror* hung on its homepage for a full twenty-four hours without any explanation or response, attracting huge attention.

At this point, everyone had actually realized that this was some kind of promotional tactic.

But because this promotional tactic was a bit novel—

Especially since they actually invited Li Zhibai from *Buried* to act in such a segment, everyone was still very excited and pleasantly surprised.

The film *Buried* can be considered "famous" among thriller fans.

Confined space, one-shot filming.

With such elements combined, and the film itself being good, the viewing data after it went online on streaming media was very excellent.

It wasn't until twenty-four hours after the video for *Gudao Horror* was released that *Buried 2* forwarded this update and wrote: Escaping is not the end, but the beginning.

Another twelve hours later, Li Zhibai went online and posted a photo.

It was the moment his horrified expression was illuminated by lightning.

But on this photo, the words *Buried 2* and the release date were written.

It had clearly been made into a promotional poster.

This joint promotion successfully made *Gudao Horror* and *Buried 2* appear on the trending lists of major social media platforms one after another and attracted reports from major media outlets.

Everyone likes interesting and creative things, including promotional methods.

If a film production team adopts an unexpected and creative promotional method, major media outlets will report on it as if it were news.

There is no need for the film's promotional team to negotiate one by one, treating the report completely as a commercial transaction.

Another twenty-four hours passed.

*Buried 2* released a short trailer that was only five seconds long.

A coffin lid was pushed open from the inside.

The coffin lid fell to the ground upside down, revealing the underside.

It was covered with all kinds of scratch marks and a few lines of words written in blood.

—*Buried 2*.

—Starring: Li Zhibai.

—Director: Cliff Kubziri.

—Creative Promotion: Lu Yan He.

In a few days, a series of promotional materials were released in rhythm, and *Buried 2*'s trailer, box office pre-sales, and other data all saw a surge.

Even the streaming views for *Buried 1* rushed into the top ten of the global list for several consecutive days.

Such a promotional method not only brought a huge wave of topics to both *Buried 2* and *Gudao Horror* but also made Li Zhibai look as glorious as a top Hollywood star during the promotional stage under such huge exposure.

Li Zhibai's face, looking at the camera in horror and shouting "Help!", can be said to be the hottest face globally in recent days.

On September 19, *Buried 2* was released.

Friday.

The rough box office report for the first day hit 8.2 million dollars, a significant increase compared to the first-day box office of the first film.

Although the screenwriter for *Buried 2* is no longer Lu Yan He, because Lu Yan He still held the title of producer, coupled with the promotional method he planned for *Gudao Horror*, he remained deeply tied to this IP, not letting fans of the first film feel the strangeness of a "change of course."

And the story of *Buried 2* is not a direct continuation of the first film, but a brand-new character and a brand-new worldview.

It only made a formal connection at the beginning of the story with the ending of the first film.

This made the reputation of *Buried 2* drop slightly, but it still maintained an excellent level.

The second-day box office of *Buried 2* is the best proof—it took 8.5 million dollars on its second day, a slight increase compared to the first day.

For a horror film, this is a very good trend.

Reviews from major media outlets were released one after another, and everyone's evaluation of *Buried 2* was mainly positive.

In fact, the first film shot the entire movie in a coffin. Because it was the first to do so, it was genius, a gimmick, and creative. But if the second film did the same, there would be no freshness.

By Sunday, the box office had a relatively large drop, with only 5.7 million dollars.

Even so, the first weekend of three days added up to over 20 million dollars in North American box office. Added to the overseas box office, especially the Chinese box office released simultaneously, the global box office achieved a result of over 50 million dollars.

Such a number made *Buried 2*'s global box office exceeding 100 million dollars a reachable goal.

Parameters immediately announced that they would discuss the possibility of producing a third film with the film's creators, adding fuel to the box office of *Buried 2*.

The box office of *Buried 2* in China is basically on par with that in North America. For Parameters, this clearly has the potential to become a cash cow series. However, unlike *The Mist*, where the copyright belongs to D19, the copyright of *Buried* is in Lu Yan He's hands. Every time Parameters develops a new one, they have to renegotiate with Lu Yan He; otherwise, it cannot be crowned with the name of the *Buried* series.

This is a bit like the relationship between *Harry Potter* and Warner Bros. —

Why has Warner Bros. always held J. K. Luo Lin high and supported her from beginning to end—even when she faced huge criticism? Is it because this company has a conscience? No, it's because the copyright of *Harry Potter* has always been held in J. K. Luo Lin's hands, and J. K. Luo Lin can stop collaborating with Warner Bros. at any time.

In short, she holds a gold mine, and if Warner Bros. wants to enjoy the mining rights to this gold mine, they must coax her.