Chapter 51: Linked Promotion and Film Wrap-up

On the day *Crazy Stone* was released, the cinema scheduling was quite impressive, with the vast majority exceeding 50%. This was mainly because the films released in the same period had almost no competitiveness, except for the Hollywood blockbuster *Mr. & Mrs. Smith*, which was released on July 8th; it is reported that this film had an investment of over 110 million USD.

As for the Shanhe Cinema invested in by Wei Jin, it gave an even higher scheduling rate of 70%. After more than half a year of development, Shanhe Cinema has now expanded to 15 theaters, possessing over 80 large screens. This speed of development is basically maintained by blood transfusions from ringtone revenue.

Because the film's main creators did not have much fame, Wei Jin's promotional strategy this time did not focus on roadshows, but instead set its sights on television programs.

Through some tie-in cooperation with Mango TV, Wei Jin successfully sent Huang Bai to the scene of the *Super Girl* national top ten qualifying round.

On the evening of July 15th, Huang Bai appeared on the competition stage as a surprise guest.

As the Bitter Love Song King of the music circle, Huang Bai appearing on a music-themed variety talent show was not the least bit incongruous.

When the host asked him which contestant he liked more, Huang Bai pondered for a moment before giving an answer:

"I quite like Zhang Jingying. As a pure vocal singer, I really envy singers with such powerful singing skills like her. If I had such singing skills, my boss would be able to write some difficult songs for me."

Huang Bai's words were implying that his bitter love songs were all written by Wei Jin, and that it really wasn't his persona.

The live audience laughed out loud upon hearing this. The host then asked what advice he had for the contestants on stage, and Huang Bai self-deprecatingly said: "If you have the chance, improve your creative ability more; that way, you will have the right to choose your songs."

The live audience was laughing uncontrollably; Huang Bai was truly too humorous, and in this kind of occasion, he was simply like a fish in water.

Finally, Huang Bai did not forget the purpose of coming here and continued: "The film I starred in, *Crazy Stone*, was officially released today. I hope the friends on site and the audience in front of the TV can support it a lot. I guarantee the film will not let you down. Additionally, there is a surprise to give to the contestants on stage."

Huang Bai teased them, and the host was also quite cooperative; only with suspense can one attract the audience.

"The international Gold Medal Producer, my boss Wei Jin, will tailor a song for one of the top three contestants of this competition and invite her to perform it at the premiere of the film *Painted Skin*."

Once this news came out, the group of contestants on stage were all extremely excited. To have Wei Jin personally take action to tailor a song and perform it at the film premiere—this temptation was truly too great.

One must know that the *Unstoppable* that Wei Jin wrote for Scarlett has already broken into the top three of the Billboard charts.

During this period, domestic media have also popularized the concept of Billboard many times. A song in the top three of the Billboard charts can directly allow an unknown singer to instantly become a popular star with international influence. It is no exaggeration to call Wei Jin an international Gold Medal Producer.

The contestants on stage had all secretly made up their minds to definitely exert their strength and strive for the top three. Zhang Jingying was even more surging with emotion; she had excellent singing skills, and if she could obtain Wei Jin's favor, wouldn't that be a step up to the heavens?

If this were in a two-dimensional manga, behind the people on stage, there should already be faint flames rising at this moment.

*Super Girl* was popular all over Huaxia this summer, and the viewership rating had already reached an heaven-defying 10% or more.

With the broadcast of that night's program, countless people knew that *Crazy Stone* was being released and knew about the film *Painted Skin*. It can be said that this promotional effect absolutely exceeded expectations, and facts proved it was indeed so.

On the 15th, the day *Crazy Stone* was released, the box office was 7.14 million, which counts as a pretty good start. After all, the Summer Slot had not yet matured, and enthusiasm for watching movies was not high.

But with the broadcast of *Super Girl* in the evening, the box office on July 16th reached 14.25 million, and on July 17th it was 12.89 million. In the first three days of the weekend, the cumulative box office was 34.28 million, stunning all the major companies in the industry.

One must know that the film's cost had already been exposed during the promotion; with a production cost of 6 million, it had already achieved profitability in three days of release.

And looking at this box office trend, at least before the release of *Seven Swords* on July 29th, there was almost no opponent. This is still more than ten days away; could it be another film that breaks 100 million?

From filming to release, this movie only took half a year. Calculating this way, the returns were too impressive. How many listed companies have annual profits that don't even compare to this one film? For a time, the film and television industry was in another stir.

There were many who were envious and jealous, and the official media even used this to encourage the active development of the film and television culture industry, and a large number of private capitals poured in as a result.

Regarding the explosive box office of *Crazy Stone*, many media outlets interviewed directors who had new films to be released.

Chen Shiren stated: "Wait until *The Promise* is released at the end of the year, and you will know what a blockbuster is."

Xu Laoguai stated: "*Seven Swords* will open the era of domestic special effects."

Emperor Group stated: "*The Myth* will show a completely different Cheng."

Most directors and film and television companies were full of confidence in their own films, and their words were also full of certainty.

Ning Hao himself became famous in one battle and was regarded as a hot commodity by the bosses of major film and television companies. Huang Bai also received market recognition due to his brilliant performance in the film and had already received some film offers.

Now the industry is just waiting to see the final box office of the film, and the most enviable one is still Wei Jin. How much can a 6 million investment actually earn? We will know in a while.

Everything in the outside world had nothing to do with Wei Jin. Since the end of the premiere, Wei Jin only stayed in Beijing for one day before returning to the crew, and the next day Huang Bai also returned.

For the filming of the whole movie, the drama scenes were relatively simple; it was just that a few emotional scenes were slightly more complicated and required the several leads to fully integrate into their characters, which was basically completed last month.

But the action scenes were very difficult. More than half of the time had to be spent on fight scenes and special effects, especially the three male actors, who basically fought every time they met from beginning to end.

Returning this time was mostly to film the martial arts scenes.

At the beginning of the setting, Wei Jin raised the upper limit of Wang Sheng's combat power so that the combat power of both sides could be balanced and the fight scenes would be more exciting. One must know that for special effects, you still have to add exciting martial arts movements to make it punchy. If you just stand there and move your fingers, the special effects won't be useful even if given to you, and the audience won't feel it either.

Therefore, the filming of the martial arts scenes was also exceptionally hard, and the three actors were basically exhausted these past few days.

In addition, this filming used quite a few expensive technological props. In order to make the painted skin effect on the fox demon Xiao Wei satisfactory, all the raw materials used by the crew were imported, costing more than one million yuan in production fees. Zhou Xun was also very cautious when using them.

As for Pei Rong's poisoning effect, Wei Jin also made changes. Every time he watched the original film, Wei Jin couldn't help but complain: "After being poisoned, you just got a whitening treatment? Change it, it must be changed."

But when the stylist finished the look for Ceng Li, the staff on site couldn't bear to look at that bald and rotten-faced appearance, but Ceng Li insisted on using it for the sake of the effect.

Just like that, day after day passed, the scenes inside the city were officially finished, and the entire crew transferred to Yinchuan to film the exterior scenes.

The exterior scenes were very few, but the visuals were beautiful and were the essence of the entire film. With the assistance of the Western Film Group, the filming process was also very smooth. On July 29th, lasting 66 days, the film *Painted Skin* officially wrapped up.

At the wrap-up banquet, the several actors also expressed their gratitude to Wei Jin. Wei Jin also expressed his recognition of their acting skills and his perception of Zhen Zidan had also changed; at least in terms of acting, he was still quite serious. Overall, this cooperation was still pleasant.

President Deng of the Western Film Group also came over personally, pulling Wei Jin to chat about many hometown matters, hoping to continue cooperation in the future. Helplessly, the Western Film Group really didn't have any resources worth mentioning, so Wei Jin could only play Tai Chi, talking about everything but the point, and kept urging President Deng to drink. As for cooperation, he didn't loosen his mouth at all. The new author is writing a book for the first time, kneeling and begging for collections, follows, reading, and recommendations. Thank you everyone. The new author is writing a book for the first time, kneeling and begging for collections, follows, reading, and recommendations. Thank you everyone.

(End of this chapter)