The middle-aged conductor was slightly surprised when he heard that two beautiful Asian girls asked for 8 tickets for the "Black Man" movie at a time, but he still dutifully checked the ticket system to report the appearance information, and there was exactly one at 8:15.

"It was a pleasure to watch. ”

In the end, he gave a formulaic polite sentence and sent the two girls away, and the middle-aged conductor began to greet the later guests.

This is a young white guy who has been obviously slightly groomed when he is dressed properly, with the sharp eyes of a middle-aged conductor, he can tell at a glance that the other party should be dating tonight, and his girlfriend is probably buying popcorn or something, and based on recent experience, he thinks that the guy is likely to watch "Romeo and Juliet".

This time, I guessed wrong.

Probably, or half right.

The young man really asked for two tickets, but it was still "Black Man".

Seeing off the other party again, the middle-aged ticket seller looked at the show information on the computer screen and found that "Black Man" at 8:15, the screening hall of 120 people, actually sold 103 tickets, which was really a bit surprising. In particular, the ticket seller cut Leslie Nelson's "The Ultimate Laughing Detective", which was released at the same time yesterday, the same 8:15 show, the same medium-sized screening hall with 120 people, and only 87 tickets were sold during the prime time of 8 pm on Saturday night in the summer season.

Although he is just an ordinary ticket seller at the multiplex theater of the AMC Cinema Line, which opened two years ago, the middle-aged man still knows some recent anecdotes.

The movie "Black Man", most theaters actually don't want it.

This is a summer file.

If it's January, February or September, it's just a hot schedule like the summer file, what's the deal with a Hong Kong Island movie that looks very cheap and stuffed in?

What's more, it's not Jack Cheng.

Who is Jett Lee?

Another point is that there is not even a single European and American face in this movie, which is bound to be even more repulsive to the audience. As for kung fu, well, it's really a selling point, it's just that there aren't many kung fu elements in this film, and it's more inclined to a gunfight movie.

In short, if you want to be on "Black Man", you might as well add a few more screens to "The Mummy".

It's just that, although I think so, the major theaters finally opened a total of more than 1,000 screens for "Black Man", because the current Daenerys entertainment is too strong, if you don't want "Black Man", okay, "Mummy" or not, "Mission Impossible 2", "007: Ghost Party" or not?

All right.

This is actually the package sale that Paramount Act prohibited, but the studio has always had a policy and a countermeasure.

It is forbidden to package multiple films and sign distribution agreements with theaters, and you can only talk about them one by one, right?

Let's talk about it one by one.

It's just that if you don't think "Black Man" is good and don't want to give me a canvas, then I also think that you are not sincere enough not to give you a copy of "The Mummy".

Well, it's not quite appropriate not to give.

Easy to eat lawsuits.

Then give less and it's no problem.

You need 200 copies, I'll just give you 100, and the remaining 100 screens will continue to play "Evaporation Secret".

The average of other museums is 15,000, and the average of yours is 1,000.

Tut.

Speaking of which, the three movies "The Mummy", "Mission Impossible 2" and "007: Ghost Party", and even the distributor is not Daenerys Entertainment, but Daenerys Entertainment can use these three blockbusters as bargaining chips, such power, such strength, who dares not to obey?

So "Black Man" not only can't refuse, but also can't be secretly stuffed into the small hall, and the posters that should be given for publicity are not missing at all.

Now it seems that the film is not as bad as it seems.

However, the middle-aged conductor of the AMC theater who kept giving away movie tickets on busy weekend nights still felt that it was inappropriate, but this matter may not be solved for a long time in the future, but it is more likely to tilt more resources towards the films produced by Daenerys Entertainment.

On the other side of the theater, the eight girls who got the tickets found a screening room on the third floor and entered directly.

Different from the street outside, after entering the theater, some people began to come forward to talk, and the girls were inevitably fearless because of a certain man, and there was no promise of some new immigrants at all, and the two waitresses also played a good role in blocking the driver, plus I found that the clothes and costumes on a group of girls were expensive, but there was no accosting person who was too entangled, and walked away after being rejected.

When the lights dimmed, there were first a few patch ads.

The girls who gathered together and sat in the front and back rows also relished this, although they basically didn't understand it.

Soon, the feature film "Black Man" began.

After the opening LOGO, the opening scene is a fierce action scene, Jett Lee fights fiercely and fights his way out of the encirclement, and the Chinese and English titles of "Black Man" appear on the screen.

Li Youhu, who sat between Chi Pujia and a waitress named Katie Roderick, watched it with relish, she belongs to the type of film that can afford both filmmakers and video recorders in China, however, there are not many domestic film sources after all, not to mention, the sound and other effects of the AMC theater that has only been open for two years are far from being comparable in China.

As for the film itself.

For North American fans, you can see at a glance the strong cheap B-grade film style, and Li Youhu doesn't think it's inappropriate.

It was the subsequent literary drama that made Li Youhu quickly start to wander.

Because I can't understand it, I can't even guess the lip-sync if I want to, because the accent prototype is Cantonese.

can only roughly understand that the black man played by Jett Lee became a librarian incognito, has a good relationship with the same time, and has a police friend.

So I couldn't help but look left and right.

Chi Pujia looked at it very seriously.

All right.

Nasty school bully.

Li Youhu knows that Chi Pujia's family background is also good, before getting this job, he was a senior at the Shanghai Opera and Dance Academy, 21 years old this year, not only has he also picked dances for more than 10 years, but his other cultural skills are also quite good.

In fact, none of the 100 girls selected from hundreds of thousands of resumes were simple.

Thinking quietly in private, Li Youhu even vaguely felt that she and Chen Xingwei were probably the bottom two, as if they only got this job through the back door.

There is a problem.

Katie Roderick on the other side of the table certainly understood, but the interest was obviously not high.

Seeing Li Youhu looking over, Katie also retracted her gaze and smiled at her.

Katie is Li Youhu's designated waitress.

Li Youhu also smiled, leaned over a little to the side, and asked, "Katie, what do you think?"

"It's okay, I don't like it very much, Elle might be more interested. ”

Katie's name is Alyssa Camue, and she is Chen Xingwei's designated female guard, to be precise, it should be the standard one attendant and one guard of Li Youhu and Chen Xingwei. Alyssa is a standard Guardian Guards from the MCSS training base in Ohio, a girl with a very strong temperament, who is very interested in fighting and firearms.

This time, in addition to Katie, the other one who followed the six girls was also a female guard.

It's just that because she has been repeatedly explained in advance to pay special attention to the safety of the girls, Katie, who has also received professional firearms training, also brought a gun.

Li Youhu listened to Katie's concise and obviously accented Chinese, and knew that it was impossible to talk deeply, so he had to turn to the big screen again and quietly pay attention to the reactions of the surrounding audience.

After all, as a girl said before entering the venue, Jett Lee's movie can be released in the United States, which can be regarded as winning glory for the country, Li Youhu feels the same way, she doesn't understand the twists and turns of this movie's schedule, and she doesn't even understand what it means that the theater's attendance rate of more than eighty percent at this time means.

However, noticing the voices in the theater that were discussing or exclamating as the plot progressed, she was still sure that these foreigners probably still liked this movie.

So it is inevitable that some small pride will be born.

At the end of the movie, Li Youhu continued to walk out of the screening hall with Chi Pujia's arm, listening to the heated discussions of the people around him, even if he didn't understand a few words in the 90 minutes just now, he still felt a faint sense of satisfaction.

Several other white youths passed by the girls, they had a conversation before the movie started, but they didn't entangle after being rejected, they still looked at them unabashedly, and deliberately raised their voices, obviously trying to attract the attention of the girls, but unfortunately it didn't work until the two sides passed by.

Li Youhu was very disdainful of the display of these young people, and when he saw Chi Pujia with a smile on his face, he realized something, and asked, "What did they just say?"

"They say 'Black Man' is even better than Schwarzenegger's 'Evaporation Order'. ”

"Schwarzenegger, I know, I've seen both "Terminator", well, "Evaporation Order", a new film?"

Chi Pujia raised her finger and pointed to a poster on the wall inside the theater: "Na, in fact, the main thing, they also said that the production cost of "Evaporation Secret" is 100 million US dollars, and "Black Man" may not even be 10 million. ”

Li Youhu glanced at the poster on the wall, the obvious photo of Schwarzenegger, and he didn't know other English, but he was also proud: "10 million defeats 100 million, that's really amazing." However, 100 million US dollars to make a movie, well, equivalent to 830 million yuan, is too extravagant. ”

Chi Pujia smiled and said: "Actually, it's just that they think that the box office of "Black Man" is definitely not as good as "Evaporation Order", but if this movie can be released in North America, it is already very powerful." ”

"Heh, anyway, I'm definitely on the side of "Black Man". ”

Li Youhu and Chi Pujia chatted like this, unbeknownst to them, the topic of the two happened to fit a tone that had risen rapidly in recent days.

The various forums on the Internet are spreading rapidly.

"Black Man" from across the ocean is even more wonderful than the $100 million "Evaporation Secret", a film critic on the New York Times said on his Facebook page: "The same popcorn commercial film, "Black Man" may be rough, but the shootout and fight scenes have a lot to be remarkable, compared to "Evaporation Secret" is like a sluggish giant, clumsy and boring.

This argument was recognized by many people for a while.

The public attention of "Black Man" increased again for a while.

It just so happens that the villains in the final battle between "Black Man" and "Evaporation Order" both use pulse weapons, limited by cost, pulse weapons in "Black Man" look like toys, and the pulse weapons of "Evaporation Order" are undoubtedly much more professional. However, comparing the plots of the two phases, the pulse weapon combat of "Black Man" is both thrilling and exciting, and the Evaporation Order, except for Schwarzenegger grinning and pulling a steel bar from his thigh, nothing else can leave much impression.

The sudden rise of this discussion is, of course, the result of the behind-the-scenes operation of the "Black Man" publishing team.

Later, this is the standard rubbing heat.

The official announcement that a small film with a cost of only $7 million pulls a big guy of $100 million, how do you say that, I am weak and I am reasonable.

After all, it's only 7 million.

As a result, all the bright spots of the weak can be magnified, and the strong ones happen to fail again, so all the whole body has become shortcomings.

All in all, starting with Friday's release, the first weekend lasted three days, because of this rapidly emerging discussion, unwittingly had the unexpected effect of millions of dollars in publicity costs.

The weekend has passed in the blink of an eye.

Monday, May 27.

East Hampton.

After waking up early in the morning and getting the box office report for the past weekend, even Simon himself was a little surprised.

Three days after the opening of the film, "Black Man" was released on 1,276 screens, and it grossed $6.56 million in its first weekend, reaching an average of $5,141 in three days, and Simon's initial expectation was that the film would reach $5,000 in the first seven days of the film, even if it was a success.

Now, the average pavilion for three days has exceeded $5,000, and the average pavilion for "Black Man" may reach $8,000 in the full first week.

This is already a hot seller.

Although it is still a little short of the average sales threshold of $10,000, with the size of "Black Hero", it is already a small miracle that the average museum reaches $8,000.

It is not obvious when viewed alone.

In contrast, the success of "Black Man" is even more obvious.

Also released last Friday, Leslie Nelson's new film "The Ultimate Laughing Detective" grossed $10.45 million in the opening three days of the opening weekend. It seems to be more than "Black Man", but the number of screens in this movie is 2,286, nearly twice that of "Black Man", so the average three-day museum on the first weekend is only $4,570, which is lower than "Black Man".

It's like comparing "Black Man" and "Evaporation Order" on the Internet.

In fact, there is no comparison.

No matter how "Evaporation Secret" is, the box office will exceed the total North American box office of "Black Man" in the first week, and the volume of "Ultimate Laughing Detective" is much larger than "Black Man", the film only opened $18 million in production costs, which is equivalent to two and a half "Black Heroes", and New World Pictures only spent $2 million to get the distribution rights, and the publicity and distribution investment was only $3 million.

As a result, in terms of returns, in just three days of the first weekend, "Black Man" recovered a large part of the total cost of $5 million, and perhaps it could pay back and start to make a profit in the first week. On the contrary, whether it is "Evaporation Order" or "The Ultimate Laughing Detective", it is unlikely that it will be profitable in the theatrical release stage.

Moreover, the profits of "Black Man" are definitely not dispensable.

6.56 million in the first three days of the first weekend, which means that the local box office of the film is expected to exceed the 20 million mark, but the local box office, after deducting the total investment of $5 million in production and publicity, is expected to achieve a profit of more than $5 million.

New World Pictures still got the rights to the European and American markets.

Such a small film, of course, will not be distributed in Europe, it must be sold out directly, with the popularity accumulated at the North American box office, the film is sold out directly in Europe, and it is not a big problem to recover another $5 million.

Then there are the videotapes and TV peripherals.

The "Black Man" tape in memory was a big hit in North America, earning more than $50 million in this area alone. This time, even if it is the same as before, according to the gross profit of 40%, it is 20 million US dollars. The gross profit of the videotape is actually the net income of the project, which is mainly different from the after-tax profit calculation of the subsequent studio as a whole.

In fact, the box office is the same as in other aspects.

Finally, add the TV broadcast, and it's another one.

Another $5 million.

Not to mention the long-tail forward operation, this is actually the expected income for the next two years or so.

A total of $35 million.

After calculation, the overall income of a small film bought by New World Pictures for $2 million is actually higher than that of many bombshells.

Just like "Evaporation Secret Order", with the current sluggish box office trend that is gradually comparable to North America, the global box office may only be 160 million, mainly because of the same "Mummy" overseas sniping, this time Schwarzenegger obviously did not create a box office miracle that overseas is better than home.

The total cost of "Evaporation Secret" is 130 million US dollars, the global box office is 160 million US dollars, and it is expected to recover 70 million US dollars in shares, and the loss in the theatrical release stage is 60 million.

Word-of-mouth and box office failures will inevitably affect follow-up channels, and in the next two years, it may be that the combined videotapes and TV broadcasts may not be able to make up for the loss of $60 million, let alone generate profits.