The traditional May Day Labor Day, since Zhang Hao's several consecutive movies were released during this period, the May Day period has become more popular.
If we want to rank the schedules, the Lunar New Year schedule ranks first now, followed by the Spring Festival schedule, which has been the last two years, then the National Day schedule, and then the May Day schedule.
Although the May Day period is not as good as the previous three periods, it has the advantage that it can cover the entire summer period very well.
After the popularity of the premiere, "Gravity" was still popular on the second day, and as word-of-mouth spread on the first day, the film became even more popular.
"I heard from my classmates that this movie is good," Tao Yiting, wearing 3D glasses, shared the information she gathered with her father and mother.
"Isn't it just a movie, with all these bells and whistles." Tao's mother was playing with the 3D glasses, looking puzzled.
Tao’s father explained: “Because of the 3D effect, it’s like being on the scene, so you need to wear special glasses to watch it.”
"That's right, Mom, just wait and see. Don't be shocked when the time comes." Tao Yiting raised her white chin, looking very proud.
Tao's mother said unforgivingly: "I have never seen anything..."
As a result, when the movie was shown, he grabbed Tao's father's hand and said, "Honey, it's so scary, the pieces are going to hit my face."
Dad Tao was speechless and quickly comforted him: "Don't worry, it's all fake. I'm just watching a movie."
Tao Yiting had no time to care about her mother's condition. She was completely attracted by the vastness of space on the big screen and could no longer move her eyes away.
At the end of the movie, Tao's mother, whose legs were a little weak due to the shocking 3D effect, was helped out of the cinema.
Looking at the huge poster of "Gravity", Tao Yiting asked: "Mom, Dad, is the movie good?"
Dad Tao praised: "It's really good-looking. Even though the story is simple, I don't think there are many people who can make such a simple story so thrilling."
Tao's mother also agreed: "The last time I came to the cinema to watch a movie was when your dad and I were dating. I didn't expect that movie technology would be so advanced now."
"Then our family will have to watch more movies from now on." Tao Yiting rolled her eyes and immediately thought about it.
"Okay," Tao's father and Tao's mother agreed. Watching a movie together as a family really strengthens their relationship. Their daughter, who usually doesn't have much in common with them, talked a lot today.
This was what Tao Yiting was waiting for, and she suddenly saw: "Great, let's watch the movie again!"
Tao's father and Tao's mother wanted to refuse, but when they thought about how exciting the movie was, they instantly agreed: "Okay, hurry up and buy the tickets."
"Okay!" Tao Yiting quickly took out her mobile phone and opened the cat's eye to buy tickets. She was surprised to find that not only were the IMAX tickets gone, but even the tickets for other shows were only left in the corners.
Tao Yiting did not believe in evil and continued to watch all the nearby movie theaters, only to find that all the tickets were sold out.
Tao Yiting was so angry that she yelled: "If you don't go traveling during the May Day holiday, why are you here watching movies?"
"Forget it, let's do it next time!" Tao's father comforted his daughter, and the family went to a restaurant for dinner.
The film was so popular that it naturally attracted the attention of those who pirated and recorded it. Just one day after its premiere, a so-called high-definition pirated version appeared on the Internet.
There are also many viewers who are unwilling to spend money to go to the movies. They are asking for resources and want to buy this movie for free.
"Does anyone have the Baidu network disk resources for "Gravity"? A kind person shared one."
"I do, but in my opinion, the movie is just average and not as good as it is boasted on the Internet."
"You don't even want to go to the cinema to support such a good domestic science fiction movie, but you actually watch a pirated version?"
"That's right, and this movie only shows special effects. If you don't go to the cinema to watch a pirated version, you'll be fooled!"
People who watch pirated copies also have reasons to say:
"It's not that I don't want to go to the cinema to watch it, it's just that the ticket price is too expensive."
"How expensive can it be? An IMAX movie ticket only costs about 100 yuan, and a meal costs more than 100 yuan, right?"
"Who said it costs 100 yuan? A ticket to the cinema near my home costs more than 360 yuan. It's hard to get a ticket like this. The film company is going crazy for money."
"Don't say nonsense, otherwise you will spread rumors."
"Who spread the rumor? If you don't believe me, see for yourself."
With that said, this netizen took a screenshot of the film's price display on the Maoyan and Taopiaopiao systems and posted it online.
This moment caused quite a stir. In the past, when popular movies were released, theaters often made temporary price increases. But none of the increases were as big as this one, which almost tripled.
So amid the overwhelming praise of "Gravity", a different voice suddenly poured in.
"Shanghai Daily" first reported: "This year's May Day period undoubtedly created extremely exaggerated box office figures, and the market performance of "Gravity" is also amazing.
However, there is a mystery behind the high box office.
Our reporter learned that some private theater chains that are not theater chain franchisees, as well as some small theater chains, have temporarily increased prices.
A movie ticket sells for as much as 300 to 400 yuan, turning movies, an entertainment activity suitable for everyone, into a luxury entertainment, which may go against the original intentions of the filmmakers."
The report by "Shanghai Daily" is quite accurate, but I think the temporary increase in ticket prices by theaters is unreasonable and should be restricted.
But the following Internet media and self-media Vs were not so polite, pointing the finger directly at Tianmi Film and Television Production Company and Zhang Hao.
"We can understand how much effort Director Zhang Hao put in and how much money he spent on this film, but this is not the reason why the movie ticket price has increased so high. Please let the movie ticket price return to a reasonable position."
"This is an exaggerated fare increase, and this market mechanism is abnormal."
"This is entirely a joint effort between producers and theaters, with the intention of taking advantage of the popularity of the movie and the audience's support for domestic movies to earn a lot of box office."
There are many similar reports, which can be said to have affected the box office of "Gravity" to a certain extent. Because of high ticket prices and temporary price increases, many viewers have been prevented from entering the cinema in the first place.
Audiences with hundreds of dollars may not hesitate to pay, but if it rises to several hundred yuan, the audience will have to think about whether it is worth it.
This is just like supporting my brother's concert. At first, seeing how enthusiastic the fans were, my brother paid thousands of yuan for the ticket, which is about the same as the ticket price for a concert by a king like Jay Chou.
However, if fans support you, you must also consider whether the wallet in your pocket is enough.
If the wallet is not rich, my brother will lower the price, from thousands of yuan per ticket to a few hundred yuan, to a level that fans can accept.
The scalper will also be affected by this and has to sell his brother's tickets at a loss, and from then on thinks that his brother is a waste.
Therefore, even if it is a passionate and impulsive purchase, excessive prices can easily scare away fans and viewers.
Zhang Hao actually knew that some theaters temporarily increased prices, but in many cases such price increases were private behavior of the theaters and had nothing to do with the producers.
On the day of the midnight show, he discussed this matter with Liu Yongyun, the head of the China Cinema Line, but it was useless. The movie theaters below had to increase their prices even if they should.
The problem is, even if the theaters raise prices, the blame will be directly placed on Zhang Hao's head.
The producer and the theater chain had a share of the revenue, but as a result, the theaters temporarily increased their prices, and not even a dime of the excess ticket price was given to the producer, but the producer was left to take the blame.
To borrow a classic line from Emperor Jiajing in "Ming Dynasty 1566": "They took hundreds of yuan, but only gave me a few dozen yuan as a share, and they asked me to take the blame for them. Do I still need to thank them?"
Zhang Hao definitely couldn't do this, so he and Cai Runping did some research, and directly got an insider to break the news online.
An insider claimed to be an accountant from an accounting firm that connects theaters and producers, and directly revealed a big melon and a data chart.
Above you can clearly see the guided ticket prices of each major theater chain, as well as the split between the producer and the theater chain.
It can be seen that in this report, there is a gap between the box office unit price reported by the theater and the actual ticket sales price, and some are even as high as several hundred yuan.
The producers will not get a cent of the extra money, and it will all go into the pockets of the theaters.
Afraid that it was not lively enough, Zhang Hao arranged for a navy team to hype it up, making the report known to everyone online. Of course, the theaters also knew about it, but they had nothing to say because it was a fact.
In fact, China Film's theater chain is not bad. After all, it is a state-owned enterprise and will not do things like temporarily increasing prices to deceive audiences and producers. Moreover, the relationship between China Film's senior management and Zhang Hao will certainly not make it difficult for Zhang Hao.
Among the price increases, the main ones are some IMAX theaters owned by Wanda Cinema Line, as well as other private theaters and franchise theaters that are not directly operated by the theater chain.
A very miraculous phenomenon is that movie theater ticket prices in big cities and first-tier cities are very normal, and those with sharp price increases are basically movie theaters in second- and third-tier cities.
As soon as the report came out and the navy started to hype it up, Zhang Hao accepted an interview with "Penguin News" at the right time and talked about this matter.
“Actually, from the very beginning, I noticed that some movie theaters were increasing prices without permission, and I also alerted China Film Bona and other distributors about this matter.
Our original intention in making movies is to make movies as an entertainment activity acceptable to a broad audience, rather than turning it into a luxury consumer entertainment activity."
"Then what can you do in the face of theaters increasing prices?"
Zhang Hao said bluntly: "Obviously, our mainland market is in a stage of rapid growth. Cinemas are not short of income, and there is also income from the sale of lucrative peripheral products, such as popcorn, cola, etc.
I think theaters should think long-term and not think about short-term benefits and then temporarily increase prices.
An appropriate increase is a normal behavior of the market, and I believe the audience will understand it. But it should not be too outrageous. An outrageous price increase may appear to be profitable in the short term, but in fact it will drive the audience out of the cinema.
When the day comes when audiences lose trust in movie theaters, our producers can still produce online movies and put them on online video platforms, but the theaters will disappear."
These words can be said from the bottom of my heart and are very thorough.
But as we all know, good advice can go against the ears, and Zhang Hao's sincere behavior is regarded as an act of passing the buck to those theaters that have raised prices.
They didn't consider that Zhang Hao was the one who took the blame in the first place. In short, they just treated Zhang Hao's words as bullshit and continued to go their own way when it was time to increase prices.
Zhang Hao didn't have any good solutions for this kind of thing. Temporary price increases were very common in his previous life. Zhang Hao had even seen outrageous things like over a thousand movie tickets.
Anyway, as long as he doesn't take the blame, and the box office revenue brought by the temporary price increase, he doesn't have to worry, someone will worry for him.
The money that should be paid for "Gravity" will not be less.