China Entertainment’s rescue plan is hard to come by

Chapter 665: Group Movie Viewing and Box Office [Two-in-One]

ps: Due to the plot, the release date of the previous chapter has been changed, which does not affect the reading. The following is the main text:

The importance of the Christmas period in the North American film and television industry is just like the Spring Festival period in later generations in China. It is a period that major Hollywood production companies will never miss.

Any well-known film and television company will arrange for its films to be released during this period.

Generally speaking, holidays like Christmas are when people have a lot of free time, and most families go out together, so it is more suitable for family comedies, or some romantic love movies and cartoons that children love very much.

Horror and suspense movies, by comparison, were less popular during this period.

"The Invisible Guest" produced by North American Star is precisely a suspense film.

It’s not that Sun Yi doesn’t understand this principle, it’s mainly because he doesn’t have any better solution.

This is North America, not his home turf, so the release date cannot be the same as in China. He can still discuss it with China Film.

Here, your film will be released at the time they arrange it, and you have no choice unless you give up the theaters.

Fortunately, Sun Yi's "Pacific Rim" a while ago was amazing enough that the popularity has not completely dissipated, and many movie fans still remember this overly young oriental director.

December 12, Dallas, Regal Cinemas.

The ticket hall was crowded with people, and men and women, as well as families of adults and children, lined up in a long queue in front of the ticket office.

A young couple wearing masks and dressed very fashionably stood arm in arm next to the line. They didn't buy tickets or queue up. I don't know what they were doing.

"Four Harry Potter tickets, for the nearest show."

"Two copies of Black Swan, in the back row, in the back row."

"Five Harry Potter photos, please, thank you!"

"Two of them, uh, The Invisible Guest. Yes, that's the name."

This year's North American Christmas season kicked off with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 11". The film was released in mid-November and the box office exceeded $ million that week. Countless American parents chose to watch this movie with their naughty children.

"The Invisible Guest" is lucky in that its release date is about 20 days apart from "Harry Potter". If there wasn't this buffer period, I don't know how badly the movie's box office would have been hit.

However, even after three weeks of screening, "Harry Potter" is still going strong and continues to attract fans to watch it.

“Got it, got it~”

"Ha, what do you mean, you are pregnant?"

"What? I meant movie tickets."

Seeing that some fans bought tickets for "The Invisible Guest", Liu Yifei excitedly shook Sun Yi's arm, but she didn't expect to be ridiculed by him, which made her so angry that she glared at him.

Sun Yi laughed awkwardly.

"How could it be possible that no one would buy tickets? Even if it can't compare to the big IPs Harry Potter and Natalie Portman's Black Swan, it's not that no one would buy tickets at all. If you ask me, your worry is unnecessary."

That’s right, the two young lovers standing arm in arm next to the queue window, “doing nothing”, were Liu Yifei and Sun Yi.

"The Invisible Guest" did not hold a premiere. After a step-by-step promotion by the media, it was directly released to the public.

It happened that the filming of "Dallas Buyers Club" was completed, and the crew gave Leo a vacation to adjust his condition.

But this guy is a real party-lover. In his current situation, he is as thin as a stick, so he can't have a swimsuit party, but he can still watch a movie.

The name is: support Sun Yi.

So tonight I paid for a screening at a Regal Cinema in downtown Dallas and invited the entire crew to watch the movie together.

Before the movie started, Liu Yifei suddenly had an idea and insisted on dragging Sun Yi to the ticket office to see what movie tickets everyone was buying.

This was the scene just now.

"Tsk~ I just think you didn't promote the movie because you were afraid no one would come to see it. After all, you are the nominal director. People are doing their best for you, but you still blame me. I will never care about it again."

Liu Yifei raised her eyebrows and gave Sun Yi a stern look.

"Titular Director, why do I feel like your words are referring to me?"

Sun Yi frowned slightly and asked Liu Yifei with a curious look.

"Hey, hey, no!"

Liu Yifei shook her head repeatedly, but her eyes were already curved with smile.

"Oh, I don't believe you!"

Sun Yi knew that the little girl was reflecting him, but he had no way to deal with her. He could only shake his head helplessly, take her hand and say:

"We've seen it all, and it's almost time. Let's go back quickly. Everyone is waiting."

"I want popcorn!"

"You're so grown up, and you still eat this?"

"You think I'm old~"

"No, no, my wife will always be eighteen."

After a while, Liu Yifei walked into the cinema happily, holding a bucket of popcorn that was bigger than her face.

It doesn’t matter whether you eat it or not, what matters is the feeling.

In the cinema, because Leonardo had reserved the theater for the entire crew today, everyone was very comfortable at the moment, sitting together in groups of three or four. Dozens of people probably filled up half of the theater.

Leonardo was so happy to see Liu Yifei holding a piece of popcorn that she smiled happily, and he felt a sense of admiration for Sun Yi in his heart.

He approached Liu Yifei with great expectation and asked in a low voice:
"Crystal? Are all Chinese girls like you? Uh, considerate?"

"Are you trying to say that I'm easy to fool?"

"No, no, I definitely didn't mean that!"

Leonardo was a little embarrassed. Although he more or less meant this, he certainly couldn't admit it.

"I want to say, if all Chinese girls are as considerate as you, then I will make a Chinese girlfriend."

Liu Yifei looked at Leonardo twice, not knowing whether what he said was true or not, but she still replied sincerely:
"I think the most important thing for two people to be together is to be happy. There is no need to materialize many things. No matter what my brother gives me, I am very happy."

After saying that, he took Sun Yi's arm and smiled happily.

Leonardo looked envious, which made Sun Yi feel very proud.

Oh, such a wife can't be found even with a lantern~
After a short break, the movie began.

The unique logo of Xingkong flashed on the screen, followed by a big "Produced by Director Sun Yi"

Seeing this, Sun Yi felt a little ashamed, but he could still hold on.

At the beginning of the movie, the protagonist's lawyer comes on scene and from their conversation, he reveals the lawsuit the protagonist is facing.

He was involved in a murder case in a closed room, the victim was his mistress, and all the evidence pointed to him, but he said that he was framed and the murderer was someone else. The lawyer told her that if she wanted to win the case, she had to confess everything to her without reservation.

In order to exonerate himself, the male protagonist brought up the incident three months ago when the two of them went out on a date and had a car accident, and he pushed the car and the two victims into the river.

The film has a fast pace. From the very beginning, it does not give people too much time to think. It starts with the protagonist recalling the first locked-room murder case. The lawyer points out the flaws in the protagonist's narrative step by step through reasoning, forcing him to give out more clues again and again.

A large bucket of popcorn appeared in front of Sun Yi.

Sun Yi waved his hand to indicate no. He was not really interested in these snacks.

"Hmm~"

But Liu Yifei on the side refused and insisted on eating.

Sun Yi had no choice but to take a few symbolically.

The movie continued. Liu Yifei was completely attracted by the content of the movie. She watched it intently, holding a piece of popcorn in her mouth, which she took a long time to put into her mouth.

Sun Yi knew that she was very fond of this kind of suspenseful crime-solving theme, because she had a complete set of Conan discs at home, including all the extras and theatrical versions.

Three months ago, the male protagonist and his mistress finished their affair. On the way back home, the male protagonist confronted his mistress and wanted to break up with her. In their excitement, they accidentally got into a car accident.

The other driver was a young boy who was unconscious and even stopped breathing. The male protagonist stated that he wanted to call the police at the time, but his lover stopped him, saying that no one saw it and they could just drive away.

But at this moment, another car suddenly drove up on the road, and the driver saw the faces of the two men, so he had to clean up the scene.

The male protagonist pushed the boy and his car into the pond, thinking that the matter would end there, but unexpectedly, their car broke down and could not start.

While waiting for roadside assistance, they met an elderly man who kindly helped them tow the car home to repair it.

Unexpectedly, the old man turned out to be the father of the boy in the car accident.

The heroine panicked, fearing that if she stayed any longer she would be exposed, so she got into the car immediately, adjusted her seat, and was about to drive away.

Seeing this, Liu Yifei's eyes suddenly lit up, and she pulled Sun Yi's sleeve, excitedly asking for confirmation:
"The male protagonist is lying. The detail of adjusting the car seat just now shows that the female protagonist was not driving when the car accident happened, right?"

Sun Yi was a little surprised. He knew the plot of the movie very well, but he never expected that Liu Yifei could immediately deduce the real situation through a small detail.

At this time, there was no need to consider whether it was a spoiler or not. Sun Yi pursed his lips, smiled and nodded.

Liu Yifei seemed to have received great encouragement and was extremely happy. She smiled happily at Sun Yi, then turned around and continued to focus on the movie.

This is what crime-solving movies are like. When moviegoers discover some important clues through an inconspicuous detail in the film, they will have a great sense of accomplishment, just like eating a popsicle in the summer and feeling refreshed.

Sun Yi turned around and looked around, and found that the crew members were all looking at the big screen very seriously, which showed that the movie was attractive enough.

You have to know that those sitting here are all industry insiders. Their ability to appreciate a movie is much higher than that of ordinary movie fans. A movie that they can watch is even more of a piece of cake for ordinary movie fans.

Sure enough, the lawyer constantly refuted the "truth" told by the male protagonist through logic and some minor details.

At the same time, she continued to put pressure on the actor, saying that the prosecutor had found a secret witness and repeatedly emphasized that time was running out.

The protagonist's psychological defenses were broken down bit by bit, and he slowly began to confess. The whole story was like peeling an onion, revealing itself to movie fans layer by layer.

Reverse, reverse continuously.

The clue that just appeared allows everyone to form a logical chain in their minds, but the next second, a new clue appears again, and the previous logical chain may no longer hold.

The film is in this state of breaking out of its cocoon, attracting the attention of movie fans bit by bit.

It turns out that the man himself was the one who killed the mistress, the one who drove the car and got the boy, the one who suggested not to call the police, and the one who destroyed the body. Even when the car was pushed into the water, the boy was still alive.

It's downright creepy.

Just when everyone thought the truth was revealed, the movie unexpectedly took another turn.

"This, this, this lawyer is fake!"

Liu Yifei looked at Sun Yi in shock.

I never expected that the female lawyer in front of me was actually the mother of the murdered boy in disguise.

According to the law, there can be no conviction without a corpse. This is also the ultimate purpose of the boy’s mother pretending to be a lawyer - to get the male protagonist to tell the location of the corpse.

At the end of the movie, the hero's crime was exposed and he was brought to justice.

There was applause in the theater.

Leonardo clapped his hands and said to Sun Yi with regret:
"This is a great film, why didn't they approach me when they were making this film?"

When Sun Yi heard this, he suddenly smiled.

"I wasn't as familiar with you as I am now. Besides, the total production cost of this movie was less than 500 million US dollars. How could they afford an actor like you?"

Seeing Leonardo moving his lips and wanting to say something, Sun Yi asked back directly.

"Why, you'll act even if you don't want to be paid?"

"It can be symbolic. Next time there is a good script like this, you must think of me first, okay?"

Leonardo looked so sincere that he felt a little embarrassed when he saw Sun Yi.

It's not easy to make Leo, who is in the $2000 million club, say such words.

"Okay, okay, don't worry, I will definitely give priority to you next time."

At the same time, this situation occurred in most of the more than 1400 theaters across the United States.

From the beginning to the end of the movie, fans kept exclaiming in sudden enlightenment. It was not until the last moment of the movie that they understood the whole story.

"Wow, this movie is so exciting. You won't know what the truth is until you see it to the end!"

"It was shot by the amazing Hua Xia Sun. I saw his "Shelter" a few years ago, and now I think it's even better."

"I will go back and recommend it to my friends. It is really the most unexpected movie this Christmas."

Due to the early publicity, "The Invisible Guest" did not cause much sensation on the first day of screening. The vast majority of fans who bought tickets to watch the film were either die-hard fans of suspense and crime-solving themes, or a few who paid attention to Sun Yi, the Chinese director.

Therefore, the box office performance on the first day was not very outstanding.

Across the United States, there is only about 400 million US dollars.

However, the movie's ratings and reputation are very high.

On the first day, the film received a score of 8.1 on relevant websites, and the Rotten Tomatoes and Popcorn Index were both above %. This shows that both relevant film critics and ordinary movie fans are satisfied with the quality of the film.

Later, relevant film reviews from some film and television bloggers on the Internet came out one after another, praising the movie "The Invisible Guest" unanimously. The vast majority of them gave it four stars, and only a few gave it three and a half stars, out of a full five.

The movie began to ferment among the fan community.

The box office steadily increased on the second day and directly exceeded 500 million US dollars.

At this time, the North American media also noticed this movie and thought of Sun Yi’s previous work "Pacific Rim". The combination of the two immediately made the topic hot.

(End of this chapter)