Chapter 273

On July 1st, the battle for the summer box office officially kicked off.

However, for "No One Survives," it seemed as if nothing had changed.

The reason is very simple.

Because the box office competition for the summer season was intense in the early stages, cinemas would schedule popular movies for late-night screenings.

That is to say, "No One Survives" was currently only logged in art-house cinema lines.

And although art-house cinema lines gave this film a lot of help, it was impossible to play only this one movie all day long.

The art-house line intersperses new movies with old ones, scheduling four slots for "No One Survives" a day—

Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and twice in the evening.

This was already a very supportive art-house cinema line, specifically giving this film support as encouragement for a new director to film art-house movies.

Most art-house cinemas only gave two slots a day.

Once in the afternoon, once in the evening.

Coupled with the fact that art-house cinemas don't have many seats—compared to regular cinemas, a screening hall has at least half the seats, and the number of screening halls is not large.

So even if "No One Survives" were completely sold out, the box office it could contribute in a day was limited, probably between one million and two million.

Of course, this is the ideal state.

All members of the "No One Survives" crew fantasized about a full house, but fantasies are just fantasies; reality is often that if the attendance rate can reach half, it's already considered not bad.

Deng Zexu gave the actors a heads-up in advance: "Even if our movie only has a box office of a few hundred thousand to several hundred thousand on the first day, this is normal."

"The scheduling of art-house cinemas is limited, and coupled with it being a niche and small-audience film, it wouldn't be bad if we didn't end up with zero."

He thought that as long as expectations were kept very low, there would be no harm if there were no expectations.

But after saying this, Deng Zexu couldn't help but ask himself:

"Some segments of this film went viral on short video platforms for a while, and the discussions among netizens in the comment section are also very enthusiastic. With the drive of this popularity, it shouldn't be the case that not a single person went to watch it."

All the actors in the movie gathered in the conference room of Chenxi Entertainment.

As the promotional party for this film, Chenxi Entertainment put in a lot of effort.

As an investor, they are also responsible for communicating with the cinema lines to obtain the latest data.

Everyone was waiting here, wanting to see the box office data report.

But in fact, the summary was not fast.

This film is not a popular movie and is only shown in art-house cinemas, where the staff are mostly quite laid-back; sometimes there isn't even anyone at the ticket office.

Netizens all operate according to the self-service ticket machines online.

Even the ticket gate doesn't necessarily have anyone there; everything relies on self-discipline.

However, that is in the case of playing old movies; people who generally go to watch old movies won't cheat on these few movie tickets.

Now that there is a new movie being shown, involving box office aggregation, various art-house cinema lines still arrange for staff to keep watch.

An veteran actor saw Deng Zexu so anxious and couldn't help but laugh: "Director Deng, if you are really that worried, why not go to the art-house cinema for a visit?"

Deng Zexu was stunned, "What?"

Jin Li also felt this idea was good and echoed: "Yes, we have never seen what the final film is like; like the netizens, we have only seen clips. Why don't we treat this as a team-building activity and go to the art-house cinema to see it ourselves?"

Ren Zhangtao immediately followed up: "Yes, let's go see it. I'll cover the expenses!"

Deng Zexu came back to his senses and hurriedly said: "No need, I'll cover it. I can still afford this little ticket price. It was my oversight; I should have let you watch the final film in advance."

The others laughed happily and didn't blame Deng Zexu.

Actually, it is normal not to show it to the actors separately.

Some popular movies will specifically hold movie press conferences, inviting professional directors, actors, and movie critics to watch it first, which is an internal advance screening.

If the quality of the movie is very good, then everyone will release movie reviews in advance to give netizens a reference for purchasing tickets.

But if the quality of the movie is average, everyone will generally remain silent.

Unless the quality of the movie is really bad to the extreme, there might be negative reviews.

Often these negative reviews are spoken by professional movie critics.

Deng Zexu has financial resources; everyone knows his background.

If he wanted to, he could also hold an advance screening for "No One Survives."

But there is no need.

Small-cost, small-production films don't have this necessity.

When Jin Li and the others went out, Sui Lingfang heard the news and rushed over to join them.

She was also quite curious.

Deng Zexu didn't know what he thought of, suddenly stopped, and walked to the side to make a phone call.

Jin Li vaguely heard words like "buy out the venue," "no need to clear people," and "treat it as a free viewing activity."

She quickly reacted and couldn't help but think to herself, as expected, he is wealthy and generous!

Deng Zexu didn't deliberately cover his voice, and the other actors heard it too.

Ren Zhangtao's eyes turned, and he also walked to the other side, using the cover of green plants to make a phone call.

The content of his speech vaguely overlapped with Deng Zexu's voice.

Jin Li:...

Another God of Wealth sending box office revenue.

But I don't know if it triggered a chain reaction, some veteran actors thought about it and also walked to a place to make a phone call.

Jin Li blinked, having already anticipated the content of their conversation.

She couldn't help but secretly marvel, wouldn't this be a bit too competitive? Wouldn't it be bad not to follow the crowd?

Jin Li then looked at Sui Lingfang.

Sui Lingfang also looked at her and said very calmly: "No need for you to buy out the venue. I called President Xiao yesterday to report."

"President Xiao didn't know that 'No One Survives' had the company's investment, nor did he know that the promotional party this time was Chenxi Entertainment. He was quite surprised to hear my report."

"He had scrolled through video clips of 'No One Survives' and praised your acting skills for looking much improved. Coupled with Chenxi's investment, he was in a very good mood and told me he would buy out the venue for ten days to celebrate the release of 'No One Survives'."

When she said this, she was implicitly proud.

Jin Li also raised her eyebrows; I have to say, having a generous president is truly reassuring.

The other actors heard Sui Lingfang's words, and their eyes flickered uncertainly.

Is Chenxi Entertainment's capital a bit too abundant!

There have been rumors in the industry that although Chenxi Entertainment's connections are not good, they have plenty of money. It seems this news is not groundless.

At most, they buy out a screening hall, but the boss bought out a cinema for 10 days; at the very least, they could contribute 1 million in box office!

Stable, stable!

Deng Zexu quickly contacted a cinema, and everyone waited for a few minutes after the screening started before entering to facilitate concealing their figures.

They watched the afternoon screening.

While they were watching the movie, some netizens who had already watched the morning screening began to express their thoughts on social platforms.

【There is a small cinema in my hometown that specifically plays art-house movies. I checked in advance and saw it would also show "No One Survives," but it doesn't open online ticket purchases, so I went early to squat for tickets.】

【I came very early and was the first to buy, just afraid of not being able to grab one.】

【The waiter was a bit surprised to see me, like looking at some rare animal. I even took a photo with Jin Li's standee!!】

【Unfortunately, art-house movies don't have many viewers, and there was a period of time later when no one came to buy tickets.】

【I thought I would enjoy a private screening, but just before the screening, more than a dozen students suddenly came, all discussing the original work of "No One Survives."】

【After watching it, I felt quite satisfied. Many details differ from the original work, intensifying the sense of guilt and reversal. Rather than calling it an art-house movie, I actually think it's more like a commercial film.】

【You are not alone!!!】

【I went to watch it in the morning and also felt it was very good. It had a lingering feeling, and I wanted to drag my friends to watch it again!】

【It seems there were very few people in the morning screening. I was in the afternoon screening. I originally thought not many people would watch it, so I went right on time, but I had to queue in front of the self-service ticket machine (sweat), almost missed it!】

【+1, there were quite a lot of people queuing in front of the self-service ticket machine for the afternoon screening. I had to ask the front desk for help. The front desk was in a rush, as if it was the first time encountering this kind of battle (crying)】

【Personally, I feel that this director's expression in some scenes is very simple, and the straightforward narrative seems a bit monotonous, but the plot dialogue creates a sense of suspense and conflict.】

【Most importantly, his handling of several segments made me feel like a god-tier shot!】

【Holy crap, I'm watching it, I'm watching it right now. Jin Li's hanging scene is amazing! Damn, it's really not synthesized, it's the real deal, too amazing!】

【I went with the mentality of picking faults. I am a fan of the original work. When the trailer for this version came out, I felt it deviated from the original.】

【In the original work, I feel the judge's approach is just. But in this movie, I suddenly feel that his seemingly just behavior is actually a kind of evil.】

【Life is supreme; apart from the law, no one can judge another's life, not even a judge.】

【The judge, in the process of judging, is also the process of releasing the malice in his heart.】

Chenxi Entertainment has dedicated personnel to check the reviews of this drama.

At the same time, after "No One Survives" was released, this drama also appeared on professional movie rating websites.

Netizens gave ratings of over 7 points based on ticket information.

On professional movie rating websites, if a drama can reach over 7 points, it is already considered a good work with a good reputation.

If it can reach over 8 points, it can be called a boutique with unique insights in some aspects.

At this time, the score for "No One Survives" had already come out; over 100 people commented, and the total score was 7.4!

From the start, the reputation of this drama was very good.

Unfortunately, it is not yet known what the attendance rate is, and I don't know if it will become a carnival for a small audience.

Zou Da, as the hidden "Codename X" of the public relations department, has great authority.

He can decide when to let Chenxi's public relations department exert effort to help "No One Survives" get on the trending searches again and promote box office growth.

Based on the preliminary reviews online, Zou Da had already written an article and was pondering whether to send it out.

But he looked at the trending searches on the blog again, his expression solemn.

After thinking about it, he still didn't express it, feeling that now was not the time.

Today is the first day of the summer box office battle. The popular movies that spent a lot of money on publicity before have all taken turns on the trending searches, striving to screen in front of netizens.

With these big movies fighting, it is difficult for small movies to find room to squeeze in.

And in terms of financial resources, they are indeed no match.

Thinking of this, Zou Da could only let people continue to pay attention to the reputation of "No One Survives" to see if it could counterattack based on reputation.

Time passed second by second, and it came to the second day.

The box office for the first day of major movies has already come out. Three movies obtained a box office of 50 million, seven movies obtained a box office of over one million, ranging from three million to nine million.

In the remaining 3 movies, they only obtained a box office of 700,000 to 800,000.

On the very first day, the box office battle showed a clear stratification.

The box office of 700,000 to 800,000 is destined to be abandoned by the cinema lines, seven movies with over one million box office barely retained their scheduling, and cinemas continued to increase the scheduling of movies with tens of millions in box office.

Among this box office information, "No One Survives" was not included because it had not yet been released in cinemas, so it was not recorded for the time being.

But it is not difficult to check the box office data of this film; art-house cinema lines also have dedicated data statistics software.

It's just that new films are rarely released, and they all count the box office of old movies, which looks boring, so the data is often not updated.

Now that it is rare for a new film to be released, and Chenxi Entertainment is watching closely, so at noon on the second day, the art-house cinema line finally uploaded and summarized the data for "No One Survives."

The first day box office reached 500,000!

This data did not fall below Deng Zexu's psychological line. Hearing this box office, everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

As a film shown in a niche cinema, a box office of 500,000 is not low.

Soon, the attendance rate was also calculated, with an average attendance rate of about 30%.

Don't look at the 30% attendance rate as if it is very little.

Art-house cinema lines belong to niche cinemas, and there are not many patrons. The year-round average attendance rate is only 5%~15%. "No One Survives" suddenly reaching 30% was very unexpected for the cinema line.

Art-house cinema lines can support themselves, half relying on policy support, half on passion, and the other half on the box office share contributed by the audience.

They also want to make money!

After the data was calculated, seeing that the attendance rate of "No One Survives" was so high on the first day, major art-house cinema lines adjusted the scheduling for it one after another, and every cinema arranged 5 full slots.

Fully assisting "No One Survives" to take another step!

Insiders watch the doorway, outsiders watch the excitement.

In a booth at a bar.

A group of rich second-generation kids with dyed hair played wantonly, playing cards, drinking alcohol...

One of them didn't know what he thought of, took out his phone to check the box office of "No One Survives," saw the premiere box office results, and couldn't help but mock:

"Brother Guo, it seems that Deng Erren San is really going to lose you two houses. It only made 500,000 in box office on the first day of release. I don't even know if the cost of this film can be recovered. Tsk, too weak!"

The drama-loving youth with green-dyed hair glanced at the phone handed over and snorted coldly:

"Still need to look? That film is just a niche film, and it can't get scheduling in cinemas. Why go to a niche cinema to show it."

"Even if it's completely full, it can't get one million in a day. Relying on this film to compete with me in investment, it's a sure loss."

Someone leaned over and flattered: "Brother Guo, do you want to celebrate?"

Brother Guo narrowed his eyes slightly and said: "No rush, isn't there still half a year? We'll see then."

He said: "By the way, go buy me a movie ticket for 'No One Survives.' I have a use for it?"

Someone immediately ran out to buy it.

Before long, the movie ticket was bought back. This person named Brother Guo patted the movie ticket, posted it to his Moments, and specifically tagged Deng Zexu and Ren Zhangtao.

Brother Guo: 【Supporting the "No One Survives" filmed by my buddies. Although this film is very niche, at least it has 500,000 in box office a day. Keep it up, I firmly believe this film has the potential to become a god!】

This is obviously speaking in reverse.

A bunch of lackeys liked this Moments post, praised it one after another, and just blew it up.

When the box office of "No One Survives" is bleak, it will only make this film look more desolate and pathetic, and no matter how you save it, it won't be saved.