At nine o'clock in the evening of April 20, the premiere of "Sniper Phone Booth" was finally ushered in, and Sun Ziming and Fa Ge sat in the Octavian theater in fear, waiting for the audience's final verdict.

'There are eight million people in this city,......

Fa Ge, who was holding a mobile phone, walked on the streets of New York, his mouth was full of financial jargon, a windbreaker blown by the wind, an assistant followed by him, and the style of a successful person.

After a long shot, in order to avoid his wife's phone list check, Fa Ge walked into the phone booth with his assistant, took off his wedding ring, and began to call and flirt with a beautiful widow he had just hooked up with.

The hung up phone rang again, Fa Ge hesitantly picked it up, and an eerie voice came from the phone, "Don't hang up from now on, or you will be shot"

……

With a soft 'porphyry', the pimp who was scolding at the phone booth hesitated to touch his back, and his hands fell to the ground with blood on his hands.

'Whew' a few soft exclamations, so that Sun Ziming was slightly relieved, as long as the audience has a sense of substitution, the movie will be successful.

Finally, Fa Ge collapsed under the pressure of the killer, and said the most unethical things such as killing customers for profit, bribing reporters to mislead investors, and deceiving rich women in front of everyone......

The lights in the theater turned on, and the audience began to applaud politely, and the excited Fa Ge hugged Sun Ziming and shouted out in a gaffe: "Ziming, we succeeded!" ”

Sun Ziming also hugged Fa Ge excitedly and shouted, and Jiang Peng next to him also breathed a sigh of relief, now he is waiting for the situation in other theaters.

After the excitement, everyone bowed to the audience and thanked them, "Thank you, thank you." ”

"Ming, you're amazing! I love you! ”

……

Back at the company, Sun Ziming and Fa Ge were drinking beer while nervously looking at Jiang Peng and Claudia who were answering the phone and recording. In the car just now, Jiang Peng had already told them the reason, the Octavian Cinema is a high-end theater, and the audience who went there to watch the movie were professional movie fans, and their reactions were not representative.

Half an hour later, Jiang Peng sighed, and sure enough, as he estimated, the average attendance rate of the 50 selected theaters was only 65%. The reactions of ordinary fans are also polarized, 1/3 say it is a bad movie, 1/3 say it is a classic, and 1/3 give a passing grade, and there are three theaters where the audience quits halfway. Sun Ziming and Fa Ge also sighed, and some viewers left the show halfway, which proves that the market acceptance is not high, and this movie is a smash.

Back at Beverly Hills, sitting at Yang Guozhong's bar, Sun Ziming regretted drinking Moutai. , what's itching on your own hands? How good is it to shoot according to the 'original', the movie is for entertainment, not for satirizing reality, and you really think that you are an omnipotent God?

Fa Ge, who knew the ending, thought about it, took a hot bath, and came out with Sun Ziming's cup, "Come on, Lao Tzu has made people scold 'box office poison' for a few years, and he still hasn't carried it over!" Hey, this house is good, tens of millions? ”

Sun Ziming took a new cup from the bar, and poured another half cup himself, "8 million"

"What? So cheap? Pounce on your mother, I have to buy two sets, it's too cheap! ”

"Dollars!"

Fa Ge reacted at this time, "You decrepit boy! However, you can buy a few more sets, one set for the wife, one set for the little wife, and then raise the lover in another set. ”

When the topic of women was mentioned, Fa Ge gossiped, "Hey, what do you think? The house in Repulse Bay will cost at least 20 million, so it will be given to Ah Zhi? ”

Sun Ziming quibbled: "Which bastard said it, obviously Xiang Huaqiang's bastard misunderstood." Am I still going to tell people, hey, brother, I didn't mean that, you can take the house back? ”

"Really?"

Sun Ziming was a little weak-hearted, and said with his face as usual: "Am I sick?" It's only 500,000 a week to charter a Hong Kong sister, and I will spend 20 million to hire a female artist? ”

Fa Ge stared at Sun Ziming for a while, then suddenly pointed at him and smiled and bent over, "Make it up, make it up again!" You have a habit of lying that you don't know yourself? ”

Yes? Sun Ziming startled Brother Fa, but fortunately he was also a calm person, "Cut, don't come with Lao Tzu for this set." ”

Fa Ge suddenly suppressed his laughter and hesitated: "Really? Pounce on your mother, Jia Shang also swears that you must have a leg. Hey, can Ah Zhi be at ease? ”

Sun Ziming also happened to cover this matter, "In her name, I gave it to Guan Zhilin, and after two or three years, let them transfer the house." Remember when I was in prison, it is estimated that the Ma family bought off her agent, I don't give some sweetness, she will tell the truth? ”

Fa Ge suddenly realized, "No wonder, if you want to say that the company is a bunch of bastards, Ah Jing and Xingzi are smarter, and when they saw that Miss Guan also lived in, they guessed that it was a lawsuit." You are really unlucky, you lost 20 million in a fight, and you were in jail for nine months. ”

"Forget it, without eating royal meals, can I think of adapting "The Shawshank Redemption"? Therefore, if Seon loses his horse, he will not know whether it is a blessing. ”

made Fa Ge make trouble for a while, and Sun Ziming's boredom was much better. Anyway, this film can still make a small profit, if you don't shoot it first, and wait for those students to make a short drama, then it has nothing to do with you.

The two drank a bottle of Moutai and slept separately, and at a little after nine o'clock the next day, Claudia came with the sorted newspaper.

'China is not a failed transformation' - Los Angeles Times

Judging from the theme of the film, "Sniper Phone Booth" has a lot of thought-provoking points, and it will maintain a certain amount of tension during the vast majority of the time watching the film. In this regard, this film is comparable to other first-class suspense films. But China still didn't grasp what American audiences like to watch, they didn't like Yan sù's things, especially a director known for comedy, and what they wanted to see was a classic comedy like "Alonehome". Of course, he's still young, and it's not much of a failure.

'A thrilling and thought-provoking film' – The Dallas Morning News

This is a classic suspense thriller film that grabbed my heart from the beginning of the picture and kept me nervous until the end of the movie. The theme of the film is also thought-provoking. Well-dressed and successful people are so dirty and filthy behind them. While the whole movie is entertaining, it is also interrogating the sins of human nature. Isn't lying one of the original sins of our human race? This is not only a suspense film, but also a moral ******, especially its ending, which simply speaks to the dark ...... of human nature.

'Second-rate scripts, first-rate directors, first-class performances' - The Washington Post

The whole story takes place in the small space of a phone booth, but the film does not seem overstretched because of the small space, but catches your eye with complex compositions and weird angles. The kind of thing that is involved in it always grabs your heart when it goes on. This kind of story that takes place in a specific space should not disappoint as long as the script is good and there are good actors.

The gunman is in a mysterious position, the phone booth is surrounded by high-rise buildings, the infrared dot of the sight always stops at the fatal part of the hapless protagonist, the audience's perspective is on the side of being dominated and teased, and the strong psychology of exploring the truth pushes the audience to progress with the movie, I guess every audience is gloating with the psychology of "I'll see what you do" at this time, which is the only reason to attract the audience in this film with little investment.

In this movie, China Ming's directing ability and ChowYunfat's acting talent are vividly reflected. Unfortunately, the script has shortcomings, and if the protagonist is set as a public relations manager, advertiser or something like that, it may make the film more dramatic and conflictual.

Of course, the ending of the film was beyond my expectations, and I never thought that a young man who was only twenty-two years old would have such an extreme outlook on life.

'China Ming's interrogation? —The New York Times

This film is very good, it is completely a five-star work. What is human nature, for more than an hour, ChowYunfat explained to me the weakness of human nature. When the male protagonist cried and told everyone the secret of his heart, I was really shocked. There are so many people living like this in this world.

They lie, deceive, have no true feelings, chase fame and fortune, and do not hesitate to harm the interests of others...... They are the so-called big shots, and they are also the most pitiful people. Relieved, when he said a qiē. No need to disguise, no need to disguise, although you may lose a lot of glamorous appearance, but deep down you will gain more true feelings. From wives, friends, colleagues...... That's called life.

If the movie allows the police to catch the murderer, then it is a happy film, but the ending is not. The ending came a 180-degree turn, the real murderer was gone, and the innocent pizza boy became the scapegoat.

Who is the murderer?

The murderer walked away and picked up his mobile phone, "As you wish, remember to call the rest of the money." ”

The real murderer is Stu's opponent, and the design of this qiē is only to make him stink, bring him down, and make him a joke in the financial world.

What does China want to say? It is estimated that what he wants to say is that there is no justice and morality in the financial capital market at all, and there are only endless unscrupulous means and deceit.

……

After reading the film review, and then looking at the completely different opinions of the audience in the newspaper, Sun Tzu knew that this film was the second "Gunfire", and it was not popular. Unlike "Gunfire", "Gunfire" can get a high box office in Japan, but the film can't be liked by ordinary fans in the United States, which means that it has failed at the box office.

But Sun Ziming underestimated the power of gossip, and when he became a national talking point, the box office of the film would not be much worse. Especially after watching the movie review, when the audience does not watch the film with the mentality of watching a comedy, the reputation is reversed.

"No, I don't think China Ming made a bad movie, this is a good film, as long as you don't watch it with the hope of watching a comedy."

"Yes, it's a great thriller!"

……

The reversal of word-of-mouth finally brought a high box office, in the words of Fa Ge, the banknotes flowed like water, and his bathtub was used to hold money!

A week later, the first-week box office of "Sniper Phone Booth" came out, with $24.93 million, ranking second on the box office charts, only less than $140,000 behind "Ghost Love".

In the second week, the attendance rate remained at 61%, and the box office was $21.79 million, still ranking second.

In the third week, it fell to third place at $17.26 million.

In the fourth week, $15.22 million, it was still the third ...... In the end, the total box office was fixed at 10036. 5.82 million US dollars, it is estimated that the top 15 at the annual box office is still not a big problem.

Many media began to ridicule in good faith, and it turned out that China Ming was still a very good director, earning more than 100 million at the box office with $1.4 million. The ROI of 1:80, although not as good as the miracle of "Alonehome", is enough to be proud of other directors.

By the time Sun Ziming got this box office result, he had already finished his graduation exam. Because he returned to Hong Kong the day after the premiere to prepare for the exam, graduation exam, and make-up exam when he was in prison, he could only start reading with his head down.