Chapter 473: The Eerie Opening Day Box Office

Song Ge left the cinema as if he had lost his soul.

"He actually still wants to start a new project."

"He actually still wants to invest in another animation film with an outrageously high budget!"

This ambition, which could not be hidden, was exposed completely!

Does Song Ge have this kind of vision, this kind of guts?

He does not.

He doesn't even... have that much money.

This requires real money to be pulled out; what matters is cash, not assets.

Based on his observations, it was clear that the vast majority of the audience felt unsatisfied after watching *Monkey King: Hero is Back*.

There were even little children clamoring to come back and watch it again tomorrow.

What gave Song Ge a strong sense of crisis was that not only were the children satisfied, but the adults were as well.

For example, the three audience members sitting in the row in front of him were a family of three who had come to the cinema together.

The little boy kept shouting things about how cool the Great Sage was, while the boy's parents were chatting and smiling.

"We originally just brought him here to relax, but I didn't expect to get drawn into it myself; it's quite good," the man said.

"What are you talking about? I even cried!" the woman said with a smile on her face, though her eyes were slightly red.

When Jiang Liu Er was in danger, she couldn't even describe how anxious she felt.

This little monk was just too adorable, too cute!

Song Ge knew very clearly in his heart that once parents felt a movie was good, it would be hard for the box office not to soar!

During the winter break, parents definitely want to take their children out to have some fun.

But many entertainment activities suitable for children are a form of torture for parents.

If the word-of-mouth for *Monkey King: Hero is Back* spreads among parents, the effect will be incredibly terrifying!

As for the rest of the young audience, that goes without saying.

The movie itself is good, not to mention that it also carries a sense of nostalgia.

Some people go to the cinema specifically to look back at their childhood, to be a child for once.

But they didn't expect to be so amazed!

After arriving at the underground parking lot, as soon as Song Ge sat in his car, he took out his phone and started checking the real-time box office data on the ticketing app.

It was already 10:30, and the opening day box office for many films had already soared to a certain height.

Those who were going to buy tickets had mostly already done so; after all, even for screenings after 11:00, it was time to buy tickets by 10:30.

Song Ge first took a look at the total national box office for the day up to this point.

The total box office had just broken 600 million, and it was estimated to be in the range of 620 to 630 million.

"This should have broken the national single-day total box office record, right?" Song Ge thought to himself.

For him, this was definitely something worth being happy about.

After all, he also had a film he participated in being released during this year's Spring Festival slot.

However, this was within expectations.

Long before the Spring Festival slot began, many industry insiders had predicted that this year would break the previous single-day box office record.

The reason was simple: over the past year, major cinema chains had been expanding crazily, and the total number of cinemas nationwide had surged.

The market environment was also improving, and more people were willing to go to the cinema to watch movies.

3D movies had emerged in the last two years, and the audiovisual experience in a cinema was completely different from that at home.

Since all the attributes and conditions were improving, the Spring Festival slot, packed with blockbusters, would definitely be the first explosive point!

This trajectory was almost no different from the one on Earth.

The overall environment of the film market was similar to the period around 2016 on Earth.

In 2016, the total national box office on the first day of the Lunar New Year was 640 million, shocking the industry.

And the film that swept the box office that year was Master Xing's *The Mermaid*.

The total box office broke 3 billion, topping the film history charts.

The song lyrics "Invincibility is how, how lonely" could be said to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In fact, that year *The Mermaid* broke the box office record in one fell swoop, and raised the record by so much, thanks to the contrast provided by its peers.

During that year's Spring Festival slot, the word-of-mouth for all the other films was truly fucking terrible!

Before *Monkey King: Hero is Back* was released, Luo Mo had checked a large amount of box office data and then reached a conclusion.

"The current situation cannot support the kind of exaggerated 5 billion box office seen on Earth."

Right now, breaking 3 billion was indeed the ceiling.

For a film where the highest box office record was only a little over a billion, for the male lead to suddenly shoot a film that makes 5 billion—that was unrealistic.

The market simply could not support that figure.

After looking at the national single-day total box office, Song Ge's gaze moved downward, and he began to look at the box office for each individual film.

Currently, the one in first place was *Casino Game within a Game*.

The director of this film had previously had several casino films that were popular across Asia, and this film was the one most favored by investors and cinema chains this year, with a screen share as high as 33.2%!

And as of now, its single-day box office had reached as high as 261 million!

As for the attendance rate, it was 63%.

Song Ge looked at this data and only felt it was impressive.

"As expected of Director Zhang's new film, and it continues the style of his previous work; if this momentum continues, the total box office should be quite scary."

Song Ge felt that this film would conservatively reach 2 billion!

"It's enviable; a single film can equal all the movies I've ever acted in, tsk tsk tsk."

"When will I ever have such an opportunity?"

Song Ge's gaze continued downward; ranked second was *Dragon Detective*, with a screening rate of 26.8%, an attendance rate of 61.5%, and a box office reaching as high as 169 million!

As for *Across the Future*, which Song Ge participated in, it ranked fourth with a box office of over 96 million, just one step away from breaking 100 million in a single day.

This box office result was within expectations, as the screening rate was much lower after all.

"Looking at the attendance rate, it's quite good, it's at 52%!" Song Ge was very satisfied.

In his view, if this momentum continued, his joining the 【Ten Billion Box Office Club】 was just around the corner!

If it weren't for the fact that it was already Chinese New Year and many well-known 【Money-Burning Machines】 in the industry had already returned to their hometowns, he would have wanted to happily order two takeout meals tonight.

Until he continued to cast his gaze downward, and his good mood instantly shattered.

There were a total of 6 films in this year's Spring Festival slot: 4 super-productions and 2 major animated films.

Since *Across the Future* was ranked fourth, then the one ranked fifth must be *Monkey King: Hero is Back*.

Sorry, animated film *Bear Battle*, we were indeed very impolite...

*Monkey King: Hero is Back*, its box office as of now is 57.98 million!

A staggering number.

With a screening rate of around 7%, achieving this box office figure, we can call it a film monster!

Song Ge looked at this data, suspecting that something had gone wrong somewhere.

"With a 7% screening rate, how could it possibly have a box office of nearly 58 million!"

"It shouldn't even have logically broken 50 million!"

The calculation of box office is actually very complex; one cannot just look at the screening rate and attendance rate, as the total number of seats in each Cinema is not consistent.

Some Cinemas are relatively large, and some Cinemas are relatively small.

There are also VIP Cinemas, which don't have many seats but charge extremely high fees.

Song Ge felt it was absurd because he knew very well that *Monkey King: Hero is Back*, as a major animated film, had received a large amount of high-quality screening slots because the Xindi Cinema Chain—for reasons unknown—was particularly optimistic about it.

The other cinema chains either gave it small screening rooms or had very few slots during prime time.

With these two situations combined, even if the total number of screenings was decent, the number of viewers it could accommodate was at a disadvantage, not to mention that fewer people go to watch movies in the middle of the day than at night.

So, logically and reasonably, with *Casino Game within a Game* having a box office of 260 million, there was no reason for *Monkey King: Hero is Back* to have 58 million!

"What's more, our *Across the Future* is only at 95 million!"

"All our data points are very normal, and can even be described as relatively excellent."

"Unless..."

Song Ge's gaze narrowed, and he began to check the detailed data for *Monkey King: Hero is Back* in the ticketing app; his gaze lingered on the attendance rate column, and then he took a deep breath of the warm air inside the car.

"*Monkey King: Hero is Back* attendance rate..."

"Seventy-one percent!"

(PS: Second update, asking for monthly tickets.

Also, to say it again, if I write data in the text, I have definitely checked detailed information. I'm afraid of data-trolls coming to argue, so everyone please don't blindly imagine things to criticize.)

(End of this chapter)