With less than a week to go before the premiere of "Rocky" on February 13, Searchlight Distribution Agency has finally fully cooperated with Hong Kong Concord Films to promote "Rocky". Although only 50 searchlight medium-sized theaters and 30 small and medium-sized theaters were released, Wang Xiaohu still took this publicity very seriously.

The poster of "Rocky" is divided into three categories, the first is the picture of Rocky and Adrian hugging at the end, which is prepared for the Valentine's Day schedule. The second is the picture of Rocky standing in front of the morning light and raising his hands, and the most is the third poster, which is the most profound in Wang Xiaohu's memory: Rocky standing in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and shouting.

During the promotion period, Wang Xiaohu and Zhao Yazhi went to the court, and the two fully appreciated the style of Hollywood this time, in Zhao Yazhi's words: "Every year, I accompany you to shoot films and release them all over the world, just like traveling, and I have a lot of knowledge." ”

In the evening, Shang Ge Yunton would find Wang Xiaohu to learn the basics of Wing Chun, Shang Ge Yunton showed considerable interest in this, and learned every move and style so seriously, but there was still too little time left for him, and he reluctantly left Los Angeles with his father three days before the release of "Rocky".

On February 13th, Wang Xiaohu, Zhao Yazhi and all the Rocky crew and main actors came to a theater in Los Angeles, which is the largest theater in all the "Rocky", which can accommodate 500 people, and when the group arrived, the film had already begun to play, and the audience stared at the big screen without saying a word. Supplemented by the messy Philadelphia street scene in the lens, it makes people feel that Rocky has countless scars in his heart.

Everything is as real as the American streets that the audience is familiar with, Rocky is unhappy in his professional field, and even he himself is very chagrin and helpless, but he does not force it, but looks for the happy part of his embarrassing life. And Adrian's brother Pori is his opposite.

The movie continues to play, and as Wang Xiaohu expected, the audience began to get bored after seeing the first half of the film was all trivial life, and even began to leave the theater, muttering as if to express their dissatisfaction, and they thought that there was no point in wasting time in such a dull film.

"Boss, someone left!" After Sylvester Stallone looked around, he said to Wang Xiaohu beside him in a very disappointed voice: "Did we fail?" ”

"Sylvester, you should have confidence in yourself." Wang Xiaohu smiled and encouraged: "Don't worry, the good show is still to come, those who don't stick to the end will regret today's hasty behavior!" ”

Stallone sighed, he didn't have any bottom in his heart now, he could only stretch his neck to observe the reaction of the audience around him, he was more nervous than anyone now, because this was his first time as a leading actor, he didn't know if his style would be loved by the audience, and he didn't know that sweat gradually stretched out in his palms.

Just when Stallone suspected that the young boss was misjudged, he suddenly noticed that the audience in the front row let out a soft sigh, and then the most classic inspirational clip in the whole "Rocky" began to play.

Rocky ran out of the Philadelphia ghetto wearing a dirty gray sweatshirt, passed through the train viaduct, passed through the countryside, he sweated in the club doing push-ups, sit-ups, and hitting frozen beef, these pictures edited by Wang Xiaohu himself deeply attracted the audience's attention, they were completely awake, they finally found that after a long wait, what they wanted came!

In particular, the shot of Rocky running fast made them surprised that a person could run so fast, no movie has ever filmed such a wonderful action, although it was just a run, the audience was immersed in the joy of running, when Rocky quickly climbed the steps of the art museum, the camera took Rocky's ambitious and energetic expression from the bottom up, and many viewers were excited to clench their fists and half-stand up from their seats.

"Boss, look" Stallone, who discovered this abnormality, excitedly reported to Wang Xiaohu, but was interrupted by Wang Xiaohu: "Shut up, doesn't anyone tell the most basic etiquette when watching movies in Hollywood?" ”

The biggest difference between American audiences and Hong Kong audiences when watching movies is that they will not make particularly obvious sounds, which is their respect for film art, while Hong Kong audiences applaud directly when they see the wonderful places, compared with the two, Wang Xiaohu prefers the atmosphere of Hong Kong movies, because it will more directly reflect whether the audience likes the film, and will not be as worried as now.

Don't look at Wang Xiaohu's very calm appearance now, in fact, he is more nervous than anyone else, he has struggled for a long time for this goal, and he has paid a lot, if "Rocky", a film that should have won a full box office, hit the street because he was released 3 years ahead of schedule, he will be hit by a double blow!

Soon the film enters the final stage, and the cheered up Rocky ultimately fails, but it is only one game, just one of countless games in life. Although he was defeated, for him, the victory or defeat of the game did not matter, he showed a spirit of striving for the top, a persistent attitude towards love. He earned respect and happiness. When his girlfriend's "i-love-you" arrived, Wang Xiaohu noticed that a few drops of liquid were dripping from Zhao Yazhi's hand, and turned to look to find that she was pursing her lips and wiping her tears. "Ah Hu, congratulations, you have succeeded!"

At this moment, thunderous applause broke out in the theater, Wang Xiaohu looked at the foreign audience who clapped their hands excitedly, his fists were clenched tightly, the corners of his eyes were moist, and he hugged Zhao Yazhi and said excitedly: "Azhi, we finally succeeded." ”

Only Zhao Yazhi can best understand Wang Xiaohu's mood at this time, Wang Xiaohu has been happy and disappointed for half a month, she has seen the hard work in her eyes, seeing the crazy appearance of the audience, she shed tears, hugged Wang Xiaohu's back tightly and cried silently.

"Boss, we succeeded, we succeeded!" Stallone was very uncomfortable until the end of the film, and when he wanted to have a hug with the young boss, he found that the young couple was hugging him, so he raised his hand and was a little at a loss.

"Sylvester, don't you want to find someone to hug you?" Thalia. Charles smiled and stretched out his hand to invite him to hug.

"May I?"

"Of course, you are the brightest star of this film, you see the audience is hugging wildly, as the couple in the film, we should celebrate it as a matter of course!" Thalia. Charles didn't wait for the shy big boy to come and hug him lightly.

Stallone froze for a moment, then hugged Thalia hard. Charles, it's like it's all happening in a dream!

"What's the name of Rocky's music when he runs? There is no sale! After watching "Rocky", some fans directly stopped Wang Xiaohu, who was about to leave, and asked.

Wang Xiaohu smiled and said, "'Gona-fly-now', but it's not available on the market yet, you may have to wait a while to buy it." ”

"God, let's get the record out, I can't wait!" The fan was anxiously urging.

Wang Xiaohu left the theater with Zhao Yazhi in his arms and smiled, he saw that many audiences coming out of the theater were recommending "Rocky" to other people who bought movie tickets, and he thought that this kind of scene should quickly spread throughout the United States, right?

The United States is a society that worships individual heroism, especially for the little people who rise from the bottom of society. Lodge is a microcosm of American society, and there are too many such people. They have their own ideals and pursuits, as well as a desire for love, but they are pressed to the bottom by the ruthless society. But the United States is such a place where dreams of creation and destruction exist at the same time. "Rocky" is an inspirational movie that makes every little person living at the bottom of the United States gas hope, the typical American spirit, and there is no reason why it should not be popular

Los Angeles Times film critic Jon Brown. Robert said: "This is not an impetuous movie, every scene and every detail of it is so exquisite, it shows the skill of the screenwriter, and it is unbelievable that such a classic script is actually written by an oriental director!" ”

"You can imagine how painful it is for a talented person to endure the loneliness of being unappreciated for six years, and the helplessness of having to help others collect debts in order to make a living. Although the film wants to show people that in the United States, it is possible to succeed by seizing any opportunity, but without its own efforts, even if the opportunity comes, it is useless. Although Rocky's life is very mediocre, he has always had dreams in his heart, it is not that he does not want to succeed, he just keeps waiting for an opportunity. ”

Some fans introduced to their friends: "The film is very close to life, although I don't know if the director of the film has lived in the United States, but at least it feels very real." It's so real that even the small details such as mantras and slang are quite life-like. Either Stallone has seriously experienced a life in the slums, or another may be the real life experience he has experienced. And I was able to find my own shadow in Rocky, so this film became my favorite movie. ”

A reporter from New York News who went to watch "Rocky" said: "I originally watched it with my girlfriend, and I want to say that at the beginning the film made me sleepy, not very used to the way of film storytelling, and the general background narration of the characters made it difficult for me to get into the state." However, as the second half began, I was completely blown away, and Rocky finally found himself, the Rocky with a fire in his heart. In Him we can see ourselves. ”

"What I appreciate most is the narrative technique of the whole movie, most of the time, the director is always calmly explaining the plot, without any emotion, but wants the audience to experience it for themselves, to experience Rocky's compromise with reality, his desire for dreams, and his straightforwardness to love." - Thomas, Los Angeles News commentator.

With the release of "Rocky", many Los Angeles citizens on Valentine's Day through the newspaper media, or through the recommendation of friends, they praised the film "Rocky" to the sky, thinking that this is a must-see film of the year, and the love story in the film is simple and unpretentious, which is the best holiday gift for lovers, so more people ran into the theater to experience the shock, the touch, and the inspiration.

"Hey Tiger, the box office results of the theater are out, God, do you know what the numbers are, it just blew my mind! It's $200,000, which is incredible! "George. Wilson screamed loudly on the phone.

"Not bad." Wang Xiaohu looked a little unhappy, if it was released directly in 100 theaters, it would definitely not be a small number of 200,000.

George on the other side of the phone. Wilson seemed to hear Wang Xiaohu's unhappiness, and immediately said: "Tiger, I have good news for you, Fox executives called me this morning, and they asked me to give up 100 theaters to release "Rocky" before noon, man, I really want to say, our chance has come!" ”

Yes, an American film directed by an oriental director, no one is optimistic, no one is willing to release it, and George. Wilson took this guy with a try-and-see mood, and the box office results of the film turned out to be a hot mess, what, do you think this box office is not very good? The total investment in this film is less than 500,000 US dollars, which means that it has recovered one-fifth of the cost in just one night, and it is also 80 small and medium-sized theaters, which is definitely a miracle of small cost and big box office!

In short, George. Wilson felt that he was out of luck, and he couldn't wait to make the film more profitable at the box office with his plan, so he hung up the phone and went into action. The managers of all 100 theaters under Searchlight received a call from him, asking them to send someone to pick up the promotional poster for "Rocky" before noon, and they had to arrange for the release of "Rocky" immediately.

When the staff told him that the copy of "Rocky" was nowhere near enough to meet the requirements of 100 theaters, George Brown. Wilson angrily wanted to smash the glass: "Damn, immediately arrange for someone to work overtime to make a copy, can't affect the box office revenue because of such a small problem, God, why didn't I think of this problem in the first place!" ”

by George. Wilson's efforts, on February 15, the day of February 15, all 300 theaters under Searchlight should have been replaced with the film "Rocky", and in just three days, the box office income of "Rocky" has reached 4.5 million, which has exceeded 9 times the investment of the film itself!

(To be continued)