Chapter 234: Reaching the Pinnacle of Perfection

This kind of self-hurting tactic is very damaging to competitors.

The moviegoing audience is only so large — say twenty million people go to the movies. If ten million of them get pulled away, combined with their own influence, even more people will follow.

That would be a blow to "Painted Skin 2."

Because a single movie is nearly two hours long, and idling through it eats up half a day, audiences don't have that much time to watch this one and then that one.

There are people who watch three or four times, but after all they're a minority.

And theaters just look at whose movie draws more viewers and give that one more screenings.

And the total number of screenings is finite — it's not unlimited. Give other movies more screenings, and other movies get fewer.

This easily creates a vicious cycle where the strong grow ever stronger.

You talk about a dark horse rising — for a movie like "Painted Skin 2," the post-release word-of-mouth only hit 700 million because in the previous life there were no competitors.

In this timeline, with competitors around — and competitors handing out money — it's really hard to say.

Anyway, Tu Piaopiao doesn't care about box office, only traffic, so the loss to Jade Rabbit is limited.

With two days until release, Fang Hong has been keeping a close eye on Tu Piaopiao's download numbers.

"Right now the competing lifestyle-service platforms on the market are Douban, Mtime, QQ Movie Tickets, Damai, Puding, Tuan800, NetEase, Gewara — among them Gewara has the largest ticket-issuing volume, and Douban has the most comprehensive coverage.

After Tu Piaopiao launched its ticket subsidies, the download numbers clearly started accelerating — currently up by 204,000 and still speeding up."

Zheng Zhihao continued his briefing: "That's just downloads. There are also plenty of users who haven't downloaded the app but come in through third-party entry points — on release day we expect to break a million."

Breaking a million is fine, and all these people are here to buy tickets. As long as the platform can sell a million tickets, plus offline sales, a daily box office of forty million is guaranteed.

Big Data is great — you can calculate the minimum daily box office.

"How are the other ticketing platforms reacting?" That was Fang Hong's worry — he feared the ticket-subsidy war would kick off early and disrupt the rhythm.

"Apart from Douban and Puding, which have small amounts of ticket subsidies, the others only subsidize in specific situations — group buys, fan screenings, celebrity screening events and the like. After all, movie tickets aren't their only section; they have other lifestyle services too," Zheng Zhihao said.

Right now ticketing-platform apps don't just cover movie tickets — they also have business in community merchants, performances, sports venues, and so on.

Unlike Tu Piaopiao, which is purely focused on movies. It's simple — the overall movie market just hasn't taken off yet. Last year the entire market only just passed ten billion in ticket sales; this year maybe a bit more.

So the market is still immature, and capital isn't that bullish on it. They'd be doing well to raise twenty million USD in funding.

That's about 140 million RMB — most of them only raise funding in the single-digit millions of USD.

The reason Fang Hong could raise that much is that Tu Piaopiao had a solid foundation in its early phase, and on top of that it was already making money distributing Jade Rabbit's films — it had resources.

The other ticketing platforms aren't making money, and they haven't gotten into distribution either — no film-source resources, just running a platform.

And right now this platform isn't at the stage of charging service fees yet.

It's simple — nobody is going to carve out a special share of their movie for the current ticketing platforms.

As long as BAT doesn't enter the fray, those ticketing platforms can't make waves. QQ Ticketing also won't play for now — they just don't have the knack for building products.

Tony Ma knows perfectly well what his subordinates are like — the kind who can't even copy properly.

For now, as long as Tu Piaopiao keeps growing, that's fine — we'll see the results when the movie releases.

Of course, offline ticket purchases are still 40 yuan each.

As for online ticket payment, Alipay currently has 250 million users, and UnionPay works too.

As long as it's cheap, users can figure out how to operate it themselves — Tu Piaopiao just needs to handle customer service well.

Just as Tu Piaopiao was making its move, Huayi Xiao Wang General Manager also got the news.

Gewara doesn't have that much money for subsidies. They suddenly knock twenty yuan off, and with five million people that's over a hundred million yuan — how could they possibly bear that?

Small amounts are fine — twenty percent off, ten percent off, three-yuan or five-yuan discounts — that's how they've always attracted people.

Besides, their subsidies aren't aimed only at "Painted Skin 2" — they're aimed at all movies.

Targeting a single movie with this kind of tactic is equivalent to spending a whole year's, even two years', ticket-subsidy budget in a single month.

It doesn't fit the platform's development strategy.

Ticket subsidies have always existed — it's just that Tu Piaopiao suddenly popped up subsidizing twenty yuan. Other ticketing platforms simply can't bear it, especially in such a short time — spending hundreds of millions in at most a month.

That's freaking outrageous! The theaters replied: lowering ticket prices is fine, but if you lower them, you have to lower the percentage split by a few points accordingly. Their staff, utilities and rent are all costs — the doors open and the costs are there, and these expenses are fixed.

Lower ticket prices mean less profit, so the percentage has to drop accordingly. This makes Huayi very uncomfortable — it forces them to take losses too.

Huayi just doesn't really want to take too big a hit — small ones are okay.

The theaters' thinking is simple: lowering ticket prices is less effective than giving "Lucy 1" more screenings. It's not like your movie is the only one out — the theaters have options.

Tu Piaopiao is still subsidizing them as usual.

As long as the discounted price for "Lucy 1" is posted at the theater, there won't be a shortage of people coming to watch.

"Painted Skin 2" can keep dreaming — wanting the theaters to share the losses.

Xiao Wang General Manager held his head in both hands, his face full of worry. Damn — there's even this kind of tactic? First time I've seen it.

They're just doing it out in the open, handing out money — how are you supposed to respond? "Do you have any ideas?" he asked.

"No way to handle it. We can only expand the Propaganda Department — we prepared too late. If we'd prepared earlier, we could have negotiated with the other ticketing platforms and made it work."

What Chen Guo Deputy didn't say was: they hadn't embraced big capital early enough.

Tu Piaopiao is precisely the approach of embracing capital.

"What if we go the opposite way — spend money to buy up their tickets, force them to lose more money, and they can't take it and drop out?" Xiao Wang General Manager said.

That dirty trick is even worse than ticket subsidies.

"Whatever you lose, they lose the same — you're just making data for them." Chen Guo Deputy had no idea how this guy's brain was wired.

What they want is the data!

You can't come up with a good answer to a capital-driven play unless Tu Piaopiao makes a mistake itself — but that's impossible.

"At this stage we can only step up the Propaganda Department — say 'Lucy 1' is a super-terrible film. Isn't it a big-female-lead movie? Liu Tianxian is the only female lead, and her acting can't carry the box office. Let's attack her — her expressionless acting has reached the pinnacle of perfection." Chen Guo Deputy offered the idea. *Slap! *

Xiao Wang General Manager clapped his hands: "Great idea!"

As July 15th drew near, Liu Tianxian was already doing promotion in South Korea — the market there is bigger, and the country is small.

After finishing the South Korea market, if the response in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other regions is good, we'll run it; if not, we won't.

No buzz, no fans gathering, no media coverage or reviews — going there would be awkward, so South Korea first.

The distributor here is CJ Entertainment; their distribution capability is strong, and they all have their own cinemas.

As expected, on its opening day in South Korea, "Lucy 1" broke 200,000 viewers and topped the box office chart.

It crushed "Midnight in Paris", "Deranged" and a host of other imported and local films.

At this point in time there's no real competition in South Korea — the only competitor, "The Thieves", doesn't open until July 25th, still ten days away.

According to the Korean Film Council's data, "Lucy 1" broke 735,000 viewers in three days, sitting in a continuous chart-topping streak.

The performance isn't as fierce as "The Big Shot" back then, but it's still decent — the population is small to begin with.

"Lucy 1" scored as high as 8.75 with viewers on South Korea's NAVER — the country's largest search engine.

That score is exaggerated!

The expert score was 5.83; the positive reviews mostly focused on the film's "unprecedented action sequences" and Liu Tianxian's overbearing acting.

Plus she's beautiful — it really fits the fantasies South Koreans like to indulge in.

"A Chinese martial arts film? Liu Tianxian is so pretty, KKK!"

"Oh! So cool!"

"Liu Tianxian is truly a goddess! What a shock! Why can she fight so well, mocking Young Master Zhao while fighting — it fulfilled my imagination!"

"The Korean dubbing gets praise!"

"Liu Tianxian in martial arts action — no one else can surpass her."

"Does the internet have no memory? Forgotten how Liu Tianxian insulted Korea? What's the use of being pretty — does she feed you or dress you? There's no reason to like someone who insulted Korea."

This refers to Liu Tianxian once recounting how she was bullied by Korean girls at school as a child; after some extreme Korean netizens dug it up and escalated it into "insulting Korea," it was all very baffling.

"."

Korean netizens' vocabulary is rather limited — it's either "cool" or "pretty," nothing else.

The media was lively too. According to a CGV source: "Lucy 1" follows the Chinese-style Hollywood model, so it's very popular with younger audiences.

Yonhap News Agency reported: "Since its release, 'Lucy 1' has received mixed reviews from viewers, but the younger generation rates it highly, saying it's no less than a Hollywood blockbuster."

"."

In a reception room, Liu Tianxian wore a blue suit, crossed her legs, her posture elegant.

She was in the middle of an exclusive interview with a KBS reporter.

The reporter asked: "Congratulations on 'Lucy 1' being a big hit in South Korea. How do you feel now that you're famous?"

"I don't really feel much — I was already very famous before." Liu Tianxian smiled, speaking very directly.

The Korean reporter was stunned for a moment, clearly unfamiliar with Liu Tianxian. Any other celebrity would have offered thanks and gratitude, some polite pleasantries — she just went straight to the point.

The reporter asked: "May I ask how you got this role? Was it through an audition?"

"No audition. When the director got the script, the person he had in mind to play it was me." Liu Tianxian said.

The reporter asked: "Did he tell you that himself?"

"Yes. I had done martial arts dramas before, and martial arts films too. He said my temperament, image and the character were quite a good fit." Liu Tianxian was not modest in the slightest.

Fang Hong had only said that to outsiders — back then he'd said it to Zuoshandiao.

And now Liu Tianxian brings it up too! The reporter thought there might be some gossip, but there wasn't. She continued asking: "Do you know if there are plans to film a sequel?"

"There probably will be, but it depends on the producer's plans — I'm not sure of the specifics."

"."

After finishing the interview, Liu Tianxian wrapped up the segment — this kind of interview was a breeze for her.

And she didn't need to put on any act — she answered whatever was asked.

Just as Liu Tianxian, accompanied by several assistants, walked out of the reception room and through the corridor, another group of people passed by them.

"Miss Liu." Someone called out in broken Chinese.

Liu Tianxian turned her head and saw a dashing, gentlemanly-dressed man walk up to her — she had heard of him: Song Chengxian.

She said nothing, just looked at him, wondering why he was calling her.

"Mr. Song says he met you once before at some event in Shanghai — do you remember?" the translator beside him said.

"I remember!" Liu Tianxian nodded.

Song Chengxian's face lit up with pleasure; looking at the beauty before him, his eyes gleamed.

When he had first laid eyes on this woman, he had taken a liking to her — that bearing, that look, that way of speaking, mature and charming.

Maybe he took a liking to every beauty! "He says, welcome to South Korea — may he invite you to have a meal together?" the translator said.

"Thank you for the kind offer, but I still have publicity to do, and once that's done I have to rush off somewhere else — I really don't have the time." Liu Tianxian declined tactfully.

After hearing the translation, Song Chengxian expressed his regret, then invited her to take a photo together.

Liu Tianxian had no objection to taking a photo.

(End of chapter)