Chapter 64: The Violent Box Office Curve

On the morning of December 3rd, Wei Jin and the cast and crew officially gathered, and he received a call from President Han:

"Wei Jin, the midnight box office is 1.38 million, nearly double that of *Hero*. A great start."

Han Sanping on the other end of the line sounded somewhat excited, as this gave him hope of reclaiming the box office championship.

"President Han, I have done my best regarding the film; for the box office, I will have to rely on you and the leaders above."

The meaning behind Wei Jin's words was to remind him about piracy. Domestic copyright awareness was weak, and piracy was everywhere. Many films clearly had strong potential for their theatrical run, but because piracy was too rampant, they had to be pulled from theaters.

"Rest assured, this time several companies have dispatched a large number of employees to major cinemas to supervise. Director Tong of the Film Bureau has also spoken up to protect domestic blockbusters; whoever dares to touch the film copies shouldn't even think about receiving special funding in the future."

President Han was also bitter; back then, *Hero* stopped at 250 million precisely because of rampant piracy.

After hanging up, Wei Jin told everyone the midnight box office figures, which drew a round of cheers.

"Old Wei, you're awesome!"

After becoming familiar with Wei Jin, Young Master Zhou spoke very casually; she knew Wei Jin liked this way of interacting between friends.

Ceng Li's eyes were even more affectionate, looking at Wei Jin with love, happy for him.

As one of the female leads, Ceng Li naturally could not be absent from this roadshow. As for *My Love from the Star*, Sun Hao could only film the scenes of others for now.

The group officially began the roadshow, their morale high along the way.

Media reports and online reviews had already emerged, and the word-of-mouth was excellent. The media called it "the pioneer of domestic special-effects blockbusters," and netizens even exclaimed that they had enjoyed a visual feast.

However, it was a pity that regarding the plot, everyone didn't have much of a surprise. There was no helping it; the story of *Painted Skin* was already a household name, and it was hard to adapt it with any new ideas. Even so, Wei Jin was quite satisfied.

On December 3rd, the group of 6 arrived in Changsha to participate in *Happy Camp*. After recording the program, they split into two teams: one team led by Chen Kun, with Zhou Xun and Zhen Zidan, headed from the west to the north;

One team led by Wei Jin, with Huang Bai and Ceng Li, headed from the south to the east, eventually covering all major box office cities across the country within half a month.

In order for the film to achieve a breakthrough at the box office, Shanhe Cinema provided a screening share as high as 90%. Currently, the only other film screening in the same period was *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*, but that film had already been out for over half a month and posed no threat to *Painted Skin*.

On December 4th, the film's first-day box office results came in, reaching as high as 26 million, setting a new first-day box office record for a Chinese-language film in Mainland China. The momentum was so strong it was staggering.

On December 5th, the film's second-day box office hit a new high, reaching 28 million. The 54 million box office for the first two days stunned the entire film industry.

Even Wei Jin himself was somewhat surprised, but thinking of the expansion of Wanda and Shanhe Cinema this year, he felt it made some sense.

After a year of development, Shanhe Cinema had expanded to 32 cinemas, possessing over 180 large screens. Most of these properties, which had significant appreciation potential, were purchased directly, for which the entire company was funneling capital into Shanhe Cinema.

At this time, the number of large screens in the country was nearly 2,900, and Shanhe Cinema already accounted for over 6%, entering the top ten.

As time entered the work week, the box office began to shrink, but it still easily broke 10 million every day.

The newly released South Korean film *Public Enemy 2* did not affect the box office in the slightest.

Many media outlets had already predicted that *Painted Skin* might really break 300 million, or even break records.

Inside the China Film Group office, Han Sanping was all smiles, walking with a spring in his step these past two days. The main reason was that the box office was too stunning; according to this trend, the box office would likely break 300 million.

Based on the film's average 38% revenue share, the production side could split 114 million, which was already fully enough to cover costs, not to mention the Hong Kong box office and overseas rights.

Conservatively estimated, overseas rights would be at least over 10 million USD. Roughly calculated, the entire film would profit at least 100 million or more. China Film Group's 25% share meant an easy income of over 25 million, a return rate of over 100%—simply a massive profit.

Yu Dong of Bona was also looking smug, making people in the company think he had taken another concubine.

Wang Changtian of Enlight Media was even more determined to latch onto Wei Jin's coattails, wondering what Wei Jin's preferences were... It seemed that the box office performance of *Painted Skin* gave Chen Shiren great confidence in the domestic film market, and in an interview, he stated with great certainty:

"*The Promise* is the true domestic blockbuster. When the time comes, everyone will know what a visual feast is."

As of December 11th, the film had been out for 9 days, with the box office reaching 178 million, and the Hong Kong box office also reaching as high as 38 million.

On December 12th, *The Promise* held a grand premiere ceremony at the Great Hall, which was even more extravagant than *Painted Skin*. The tickets for the premiere were even sold at 1,880 yuan each; the greed was simply too ugly to look at.

Whether out of confidence or a desire to annoy his rival, an invitation was sent to Wei Jin's company. Wei Jin, still on the roadshow, had no time to attend and could only decline, but he missed a major event because of it.

At the press conference before the premiere, Liu Yan, who had just joined Enlight Media, interviewed Chen Shiren and asked a question from the script:

"If the film's result is not as good as you expected, will it hurt your self-esteem?"

Chen Shiren's face changed on the spot, because he thought of China Film Group asking him to change his release date earlier. Han Sanping looked down on him, Wei Jin underestimated him, and even this little reporter before him was humiliating him.

"I tell you, I am very unhappy with your words; this question itself is unfriendly."

After saying this, he flicked his sleeves and left, and even stated at the premiere:

"I don't hope that when our film is about to be released, someone comes like they are attending my child's full-month celebration and says, 'What if your child dies?'"

Perhaps due to the stimulation from Wei Jin and *Painted Skin*, Chen Shiren's anger was unexpectedly great. Upon learning that Liu Yan was a reporter for Enlight Media, he called Wang Changtian directly to say that this reporter's quality was too low and she shouldn't appear in the entertainment industry.

For a time, facing the direct blacklisting by a big director, Liu Yan was in a state of constant panic.

On December 14th, the *Painted Skin* crew finally finished their roadshow and gathered in Beijing. The high-intensity work of flying to a new city every day left everyone physically exhausted, but watching the box office climb, they felt incomparably satisfied.

But Wei Jin knew at this moment that the real challenge was about to come. If there were no *The Promise*, *Painted Skin* would dominate the New Year Slot and breaking the box office record would be no problem, but now with an extra blockbuster, the theater screening arrangements would inevitably be greatly affected.

For this reason, Wei Jin played his trump card. That afternoon, Wei Jin Fengliu announced the list of winners who had uploaded their movie ticket stubs within the last 10 days.

For a time, many netizens received calls asking them to provide bank account numbers, and after verifying their identities, one thousand yuan was quickly deposited.

Many netizens posted screenshots of the bank deposit text messages online, drawing envy from many onlookers, and then some people wondered: the film hasn't even finished its run and they've already started a lottery?

That night, Wei Jin Fengliu released news again that every ten days would be a statistical phase, meaning the prize money was not one million, but three million for everyone to split.

Once the news came out, many who had won before expressed they would continue to participate, and those who hadn't won said they must win this time. In short, everyone's enthusiasm for participation was very high, and the film's box office also ushered in a wave of counter-trend growth. Three updates provided, please support me a lot, thank you!

(End of chapter)