Fixed some typos and re-uploaded. This is an update on the 16th, and today's update continues in the evening.

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The movie ends with Rachel's Mel smiling weirdly and turning off the DV camera. The Lionsgate logo appeared again on the big screen, with a few small lines underneath the logo, "Producer: Young-Wang" and "This film is pure fiction", but the words were small and inconspicuous for only a second or two, and the audience was so frightened that no one noticed the words.

When the audience came back to their senses, exclamations and discussions rang out one after another, filling the entire movie hall. The first batch of people who ate crabs all believe that "Smart-Ghost Shadow" is a real person, and the sense of substitution and fear of watching the film is naturally the highest, and their evaluation of the film is very important, which determines whether they will "viral marketing" in reality.

"It's crazy! Oh God! It scared me to death in the end, oh my God, is there really an evil spirit in this world?" "We're going to have to call that guy Sean to see what that guy is going to look like...... "Two young white men walked down the aisle between their seats, one still unable to shake off the horrors of the movie, and the other enthusiastically preparing a terrifying plan.

"It's the scariest horror movie I've ever seen, damn it! I regret watching it now, I think I'm going to have trouble sleeping, and I'm going to have nightmares when I do, damn ......it," a young black man babbles at his friends as they walk down the aisle.

Wang Yang sat in his seat, listening to these words of the departing audience, his heart felt unprecedented fullness, he closed his eyes slightly, felt all this, enjoyed all this, he found it, found the things that he had pursued since childhood, dreamed of things, he made people become like the villagers in "Paradise Cinema", he made things that can make people laugh, make people cry, and make people crazy.

He bites out his cocoon and turns into a butterfly, ready to soar into the sky at any moment!

Jessica next to her didn't bother him, she looked at Wang Yang, her sweet face was quiet, she could feel Wang Yang's heart, the heart that touched her dreams and achieved success, she remembered her first participation, she was so excited and happy, and felt that she had found the true meaning of life.

After sitting for a long time, the audience left the venue one by one, and then sporadically new audience members entered. Wang Yang suddenly opened his eyes, exhaled, and looked at Jessica with a smile on his face, Jessica smiled at him: "Congratulations, Yang." Wang Yang grinned and said, "Jessica, thank you." ”

As soon as the two walked into the movie hall, Wang Yang received a call from Joshua, in the mobile phone, Joshua's voice was very excited, he shouted: "Dude, it's so fun! They were so scared that they almost peed their pants! Haha, there was a guy next to me, he was so frightened by the last moment that he jumped up, and rushed around like crazy, shouting 'Help me, ahh ”

Wang Yang listened to Joshua's call, and Jessica next to her also ended her call, she shook the mobile phone in her hand, and said with a smile: "Yang, Erin said that she and her friends were scared to death, and their hearts have not calmed down yet. Wang Yang let out a "wow" and said with a smile: "Good news, it's good that it didn't disappoint them." ”

While picking up the car in the parking lot, Wang Yang received another call from Jon Fittimmel, Lionsgate's distribution manager, and Jon said in a calm voice: "Young man, good news, bad news! The good news is that the audience is basically frightened, and the bad news is that the attendance of the first screening is not high." ”

Wang Yang sat in Jessica's car and smiled at his phone: "Hey, Jon, don't worry about this! I believe the box office will get better and better, as long as the audience is scared." After a pause, he asked Jon again, "By the way, you haven't forgotten our second step of propaganda plan, have you?"

The second step is to send five Lionsgate employees, each with a camera, to the five movie theaters participating in the test screening, secretly film the panic reaction of the audience, and then put it on the Internet, and then put the slogan "Are you scared like this?" I believe that this will definitely arouse people's curiosity, and it will make them eager to try, what kind of horror movie?

"Don't worry. Jon smiled, "It's our job, and we won't delay." The Vitai Projector cinema also has our people filming, and you're watching there, right? Maybe you'll see yourself in the video. After finishing the joke, he said in a serious tone: "Okay, Young, wait for the box office data for the first day that will come out tomorrow." You know, in the first week of screening, only if the box office exceeds 100,000, the next week will it continue to be screened, and if the box office exceeds 150,000, we will consider whether to increase the number of theaters to 50. ”

"I know, Jon. Wang Yang nodded.

It was already late at night, Wang Yang didn't ask Jessica to send him back, and she also needed to go home as soon as possible. When the car came to a nearby subway station, Wang Yang got out of the car, waved to Jessica through the window, and said, "Bye, Jessica! ”

Jessica held the steering wheel with one hand, waved at him with the other, and said with a smile, "I will." Jan, thank you, I had a memorable evening tonight. ”

"Me too. Wang Yang smiled, watching her step on the accelerator and about to leave, he waved goodbye again: "Good night, Jessica." ”

Returning to the apartment at nearly three o'clock in the morning, he received a call that Jessica had arrived home safely, and Wang Yang lay down on the bed to sleep. He felt sleepy, but there was always an excitement in his head that woke him up from time to time, and he slept for a long time before he fell asleep in a daze, and in his dreams he dreamed that he was sitting in a movie hall that could seat a thousand people, full of seats, and everyone was screaming......

Early in the morning, despite only a few hours of sleep, the habit he had developed over the years still allowed him to get up as usual. After washing up, boxing and other daily necessities, he came to the computer with a bowl of boiled noodles, ready to see the reaction to the movie on the Internet. Just as the computer was entering the system, the phone rang, and it was Jon Fittimmel's.

Wang Yang couldn't help but wonder a little, Jon called so early, could it be that the box office had already been counted? He answered the phone and said with a smile: "Good morning, Jon." Didn't you sleep well?"

"Young, something happened, I was woken up early in the morning. Jon's tone was heavy. Wang Yang's heart suddenly burst and asked, "What's wrong?" Jon took a deep breath and sighed: "Last night, there was a 14-year-old girl in San Francisco who was paralyzed by fright when she watched "Spirit-Ghost Record". ”

"Oh my God!" Wang Yang was stunned, his brows furrowed tightly, and he hurriedly asked, "How is that girl now, is she okay?" Jon changed his tone and smiled: "It's not a big deal, she's okay now." "Thank God!

Wang Yang couldn't help but close his eyes, breathed a sigh of relief, and then scolded with a smile: "Damn, Jon, your tone just now scared me a lot! "It's a blessing that if any audience member is scared to death because of watching his movie, he will feel guilty for the rest of his life.

Jon laughed triumphantly and said narrowly, "Ha, I just want you to taste what it's like to be scared, this is to get justice for that girl." He laughed a few times and said, "Young, this matter is on Yahoo's news section, you can go check it out, there's a report there." ”

"OK, I'm right in front of the computer. Wang Yang held the mouse and opened the Yahoo homepage, and sure enough, he found this news, which was not attributed to the entertainment and movie sections, but belonged to the people's livelihood news, with the title "A 14-year-old girl in San Francisco was paralyzed by fear watching a horror movie".

It turned out that there was a 14-year-old white girl in San Francisco in the early hours of the morning, and she and her 20-year-old brother went to the movie theater to watch a horror movie, and they were both loyal believers in "Kevin's Murder", so they walked into the movie theater at the first screening. At the end of the movie, the girl was overly frightened, and her body was completely paralyzed, her brother, who was also frightened, quickly called the staff of the cinema, and then worked together to send the girl to the hospital for first aid, fortunately, there was no major problem, and she only needed to stay in the hospital for observation.

The staff of the cinema told reporters: "She collapsed there, her face was blue, her lips were black, and she was shaking incessantly. You know, huh...... It's like you're dying. Oh, it's scary to think about!", and the owner of the movie theater said angrily, "Why is "Smart-Ghost Record" at PG-13? It should be classified as NC-17! My movie theater will perform this level, and I don't want my guests to be scared to death. ”

Then the editor of this news suggested that heart patients, teenagers and children should fully consider their own psychological endurance when watching horror movies in the cinema, or directly avoid watching horror movies, so as not to cause tragedy.

"It's a blessing that no one is okay. After reading the news, Wang Yang was also in the mood to laugh: "Oh, Jon, it's not fair, that movie theater will give my film an NC-17 rating, which will make me a lot less box office." ”

"Haha, Jan, I think we should be thankful for that boss!" Jon laughed and said mysteriously, "You know what? ”

Wang Yang was slightly stunned, and then reacted: "You mean to use this news for publicity?" There is only one "Spirit-Ghost Shadow Record" in this news, which is from the words of the movie theater owner, and the rest of the places are replaced by "a horror movie".

Jon said "yes", his voice was brisk, and he seemed to shrug his shoulders, "Young, it's not a big deal, that girl is okay now." It's a fact, and we're just letting people know about it and how horrible your movie is. ”

"Then what are you going to do?" Wang Yang asked with a frown.

Jon said of his plan: "First, we'll apologize publicly to the little girl, and then we'll invite her and her brother over to Santa Monica and visit Lionsgate, at our expense, of course." The most important thing is that we will publish these news on our website and then spread the word out so that every forum can see them. ”

Going to Santa Monica? That's good, and the little girl is a blessing in disguise. Wang Yang nodded and said with a smile: "Okay, this plan sounds good, it is beneficial to us and that girl." Jon laughed, "Of course, this publicity is not only promoting your film, but also our Lionsgate." ”

After a few more conversations, Wang Yang and Jon ended the call, according to Jon, he hadn't slept well all night and needed to catch up on sleep.

In fact, even if Lionsgate ignores this news, this news will not lose its publicity value in vain, because it has been reposted everywhere by "ghost fans". It's a fact, not a movie company hype, which makes people wonder and wonder, "Is this movie really that scary?"

Wang Yang browsed the Yahoo forum and other places, these forums have a lot of posts about the viewing experience of "Ghost Shadow", of course, many of these posts are posted by Lionsgate employees, but there are also a considerable number of posts from netizens, saying that the movie is very scary, and the voices account for the majority: "I'm scared to death, I highly recommend everyone to watch it, it's really scary, Kevin died so pitifully!", " I understand the girl who was paralyzed by fear, and I myself was so frightened that I tumbled over from my chair, which was the most humiliating horror movie I ever watched. But it's not all of these voices, and some people commented: "It's boring, it's a bad movie, I'm going to fall asleep watching it, the picture is blurry, and the camera ......is shaky."

Without Lionsgate and Wang Yang replying to this post, many people followed the post and said: "Man, this is a real documentary, all made in DV, you can't ask for too much." ”

Those who praise are praise, and those who scold are also scolding. There are also a lot of questions such as "is the story of this movie true or false", "is Kevin dead", "where is Meier", "is there a director in the end", etc., and people's desire to know the truth has become stronger and stronger, and the number of people who say that they are going to go to the cinema to find out is also increasing.

This momentum is very good, Wang Yang will not ask everyone to praise "Smart-Ghost Shadow", that is impossible; everyone's viewing experience is different, especially for horror films, divided into psychological horror films and visual horror films, psychological horror cannot scare a large number of Americans, their brains seem to be muscles, they disdain psychological horror techniques, and only like the kind of visual horror that sprays blood.

So Wang Yang never expected to get much box office from them.

The box office statistics on the first day of release came out in the afternoon, and now the box office statistics of the theater are all networked systems, and when you sell a ticket, you will record a ticket, which is naturally convenient and fast. Lionsgate got the data that it received more than 22,000 box office on the first day.

The 25 theaters are all theaters that are open all night, and "Smart-Ghost Shadow" only occupies one movie hall, with an average of 500 seats, from 12 midnight to 6 am, three shows a day, and the first round of ticket prices for the movie is $6 a piece, with a box office of more than 22,000, which means that the 75 screenings of "Spirit-Ghost Shadow" in 25 theaters only have an average attendance rate of 10%.

If they can maintain a 10% attendance rate, they can also receive 154,000 box office in a week, exceeding the target of 100,000 that can continue to be screened next week.

Wang Yang told Zachary, Rachel, Jessica and others about this box office result, and he smiled with Rachel: "It's okay to continue the screening, and the cost can be recovered in two weeks, and we won't be considered box office poison, maybe I can still get a dozen dollars, haha!" Rachel followed him and joked: "Wow, a dozen dollars, that's awesome! But I don't think it's like that, well, at least a few hundred dollars." Wang Yang smiled half-truthfully: "Well, I will definitely make money." ”

Just when Lionsgate was considering whether to continue the screening next week, the box office results of "Smart - Ghost Shadow" on the second day surprised everyone, and the average attendance rate of 75 screenings actually rose to 35%! The first show at midnight was as high as 87%! The box office on the second day reached more than 78,700 US dollars!

The cumulative box office in the first two days has exceeded $100,000, which means that "Smart - Ghost Record" can continue to be screened next week, and according to this trend, it is easy to exceed 150,000 box office, which means that Lionsgate will increase the number of theaters for this film!

"It seems that my own cost of 10,000 yuan will also have a chance to be recovered, and maybe I can make a small profit. Wang Yang smiled happily at Jessica: "Haha, then I'm also a 'profit-making director'!" Jessica smiled happily: "Well, it's almost a 'profit-making director' that scares people to death." ”

Just when Jon Fittimel and other distribution staff were discussing whether to add 50 or 100 theaters next week, the box office results on the third day once again caught them off guard. Lionsgate received a jaw-dropping report, with 25 theaters taking in $145,000 on the third day, with an average attendance of 64 percent and a 100 percent midnight first......

When Wang Yang heard the news, although he had been mentally prepared, he couldn't help but be stunned, then jumped up and waved his fist and shouted, "Oh my God!"

Jessica, Rachel, Zachary ...... Everyone was stunned, this box office result completely exceeded their imagination, the cumulative box office of the movie reached 245,700 in three days, and the growth rate was several times a day, this is clearly a dark horse movie posture that will sell well!

Lionsgate, which has basically recovered its distribution costs, has seen the "ghost" craze and blowout box office growth on the Internet, and at this moment, the entire company, even the front desk lady Jennifer, knows that Lionsgate has really picked up a treasure this time! At the meeting, the company's management unanimously agreed that the number of theaters screened in "Smart - Ghost Shadow" will increase to 200 next week!

But the blowout continued, as Lionsgate changed its mind when faced with a fourth-day box office of 181,000, an 80 percent average attendance, and requests for releases from cities across North America on its website message boards. The number of theaters will increase to 750 next week, and in some cities, multiple theaters will be shown at the same time. At the same time, they added additional publicity expenses, put the horror reaction images of those viewers on the official website, and started a new round of momentum with the "paralyzed girl who was scared" incident.

Now there are no people who often go to Internet forums who don't know about it, "Kevin's murder", "The girl who was scared to almost death", and the slogan "Do you dare to see it?"

Curious and competitive, young people rush to the cinema to watch the "scariest real movie" the next day, taking advantage of the summer vacation when they don't have to get up early to go to school......

Movie theaters in Los Angeles are also running out of tickets, with tickets for the first midnight show often sold out as soon as they hit the counter, and young people who didn't get tickets simply sat in the box office and waited for the second and third shows in high spirits.

In the ticket office of the "Vitai Projector" movie theater, there are now more than 100 young people standing and sitting everywhere, ranging from 14-year-old children to young college students in their 20s, some of them are chatting on the phone, some are playing with Gameboy and other handhelds, and some are sitting on the ground playing cards together......

"Look at them...... Their parents must be scolding you. Jessica and Wang Yang stood in one of the ticket halls, she looked at the young people crowded the entire ticket hall, and smiled proudly: "Yang, they will be here, all because of your movie, because of you." ”

"Well, it feels good. Wang Yang smiled with satisfaction, looking at the crowd waiting for the next movie, he sighed: "Jessica, it seems that I succeeded." A few months ago, when I was first fired from USC, I was depressed and felt like the sky was falling, but now, I'm a director earlier than anyone else, and I can't believe it's a movie that has been released. ”

Jessica nodded silently, remembering her reaction when she was about to make a DV movie just now, the cost of $10,000? Are you kidding?

At that time, Jan said to her very seriously, "Ten thousand dollars is enough, enough to make a good movie!" She remembers Jan very well the way he longed for someone to recognize him and support him, and he said, "Jessica, trust me! You'll see, but I need your support!" and then she said to Young, "I believe in you." ”

Next, she saw how to make a movie for $10,000, saw people go crazy for this movie, and saw his success. It's unbelievable, but it's all happening, Jan doesn't say anything big, he makes her see the charm of the $10,000 movie, he sees his charm.

Jessica thought about it again, but she was still a small role that kept failing auditions. While she was happy for Wang Yang, she was also a little uncomfortable.

"Hey, how long will we have to wait!" a curly-haired white guy the age of a high school student walked past them, his face impatient, and his mouth complained: "Why are there only five movie theaters showing it, and it's just a movie theater!" God, if I don't watch this movie, I look like a primitive person......

He suddenly saw the beautiful Jessica leaning against the wall, his eyes lit up, and then he saw Wang Yang beside her, he was stunned, as if he was thinking about something, looked at Wang Yang, and said, "Hi, buddy." You're a little familiar, I think I've seen you somewhere?"

"No, you haven't seen me!" Wang Yang said solemnly, and added with a smile in his heart, is it in the trailer of the movie? Without waiting for the curly-haired white man to think about it, Wang Yang winked at Jessica, then ran outside the movie theater, and shouted with a smile: "Jessica, we have to go!"

"Wait for me!" Jessica laughed, interrupting her messy thoughts and running to follow.