"A Chinese Ghost Story" is officially released on Tuesday, February 21st.
And just yesterday, the biggest competitor "Painted Skin" announced its first week box office.
In a total of 6 days from its release on the 14th to the 19th, this movie jointly produced by Huaguan Pictures and Xingyi Entertainment accumulated 36.77 million, which is quite impressive.
In the past ten years, local films in Hong Kong have been in a very bad situation due to the impact of Hollywood blockbusters. A large number of film and television production companies have closed down, industry talents have left one after another, and box office performance has rarely been good.
Although "Painted Skin" is a co-production, it is promoted as being produced in Hong Kong, so its first-week box office result of 36.77 million set a new record for Hong Kong films in the past three years.
Naturally, Huaguan Pictures and Xingyi Entertainment celebrated in a big way. Even Jiang Wei, who was forced to apologize for scolding Wang Dong and causing public outrage, became active again on his blog and posted several bragging blog posts. He was very proud of himself.
It's just that people who don't know the truth will think that "Painted Skin" has achieved great results and that Hong Kong's box office exceeding the 100 million mark is just around the corner as they boast. However, those in the industry who know the inside story have a very different view.
The results of "Painted Skin" in the first three days of its release are indeed impressive. The box office of 24.45 million is unparalleled among its peers, showing the trend of soaring to the top.
However, on February 17, the box office of "Painted Skin" suddenly dropped to 4.27 million, a drop of nearly 50% compared to the 16th!
On February 18, the box office of "Painted Skin" was 3.2 million, continuing to decline sharply.
It wasn't until the 19th that there was some improvement. The box office of 4.85 million showed a rebound trend, with a cumulative first-week box office of 36.77 million, and then maintained at around 5 million on the 20th.
On the surface, it looks very good. The box office of 5 million a day may not be achieved by many films produced in Hong Kong even after a few weeks of release. It can still crush Hong Kong films released in the same period.
However, an insider revealed that starting from the 19th, Huaguan Pictures and Xingyi Entertainment took action to support the market.
To put it bluntly, it’s just buying the box office.
The so-called box office buying refers to the unfair competition method adopted by some film producers in order to create the illusion of high box office and squeeze out competing films in the same period. That is, the film producers pay to buy a large number of movie tickets and then sell them as gifts or at low prices.
way to the audience.
Since movie theater schedules are scarce resources, "buying box office" creates false box office numbers, which not only misleads audiences in their choices, but also squeezes other movie screenings.
The phenomenon of buying box office is common in Hong Kong and even more so in China. The origin is still in Hollywood, USA. It is an unspoken rule in the film industry and is tacitly understood by everyone.
The box office was only 5 million, so you can imagine the real box office. The most important thing is that "Painted Skin" received a lot of bad reviews online, and its subsequent box office results were worrying.
And at this critical moment, "A Chinese Ghost Story" was released.
The competitive relationship between "A Chinese Ghost Story" and "Painted Skin" needs no further explanation. Both films are adapted from Pu Songling's "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio". First of all, they are similar in subject matter and type, and both belong to the category of fantasy ghost films.
And there are other grievances between the two parties.
"A Chinese Ghost Story" was released a week later than "Painted Skin". Naturally, the two are like sparks hitting the earth. They are quite eye-catching in the industry and can be regarded as one of the hot topics in the industry.
Many insiders believe that it is impossible for "A Chinese Ghost Story" to beat "Painted Skin" at the box office. First of all, the investment between the two is several times different, and the cast of the latter is more powerful than the former.
As for the most important publicity, "Painted Skin" crushed "A Chinese Ghost Story" in all aspects. This can be seen from the premieres of the two films. If "A Chinese Ghost Story" had not benefited from Liu Gangsheng and Shi Fang,
, it is estimated that not many media will publish large-format reports.
Another important point is that "Painted Skin" took the lead and consumed a large part of its box office potential. Naturally, it also put great pressure on the box office of the same type of "A Chinese Ghost Story". Everyone has seen this kind of movie.
, you really need to think carefully before spending money. The money in anyone’s pocket is not blown by the strong wind.
Finally, "Painted Skin" will definitely squeeze out "A Chinese Ghost Story" by buying box office, so the latter is facing a very serious situation. Some professionals infer that the normal box office of "A Chinese Ghost Story" in Hong Kong should be 1,500
-25 million.
The real decisive battle between the two sides is still in the mainland.
Regardless of the public opinion in the industry, "A Chinese Ghost Story" has landed in major theaters in Hong Kong on time.
The film schedule of "A Chinese Ghost Story" that day was 18.75%, which was lower than the 20% estimated a few days ago. The reason was naturally the malicious squeeze from competitors.
The film schedule of 18.75% cannot be said to be too bad, but it is undoubtedly a big difference compared to "Painted Skin".
As for bookings, online and phone bookings for "A Chinese Ghost Story" were also very unsatisfactory. From the premiere to the 21st, only 20,000 tickets were booked.
…
"Ah Hui, I'm downstairs with you."
Qi Zihao held the phone and lowered his voice and asked: "You, when can you come down?"
He was very nervous, his palms were sweaty, and he tried his best not to make his voice tremble. His slightly weird appearance made the aunt passing by cast a strange look at him.
Qi Zihao was not aware at all, all his attention was on his mobile phone.
He was worried that Ah Hui would miss the appointment.
Qi Zihao is a sophomore at Mingde High School in Kowloon, Hong Kong. He recently fell in love with a freshman girl.
Qi Zihao comes from an ordinary family and is fair and fair. Although he is not particularly handsome and his appearance is not bad, he is just a bit introverted and timid, so he has never held hands with any girl until now.
To chase girls, you must be bold and thick-skinned!
Qi Zihao liked Jiahui, a straightforward and lovely school girl, so with the encouragement of his good friends, he plucked up the courage to pursue Jiahui.
The sad thing is that there is no shortage of suitors for a good-looking school girl like Jiahui. In addition, he is not good at words and is not stunning, so so far, it can only be said that there is some hope, and he is at least three blocks away from success.
Tonight was the first time Qi Zihao asked Jiahui out. Although the latter agreed, before seeing the person, Qi Zihao was still terribly worried about gains and losses.
"Why are you here so quickly?"
Fortunately, Jiahui had no intention of going back on her word. She said on her mobile phone: "Then give me another 10 minutes, okay?"
Qi Zihao suddenly felt as if he had received an amnesty and said quickly: "No problem, 100 minutes will do!"
Jiahui's unbearable laughter immediately came from the microphone, which made Qi Zihao's face turn red and he wanted to slap himself. It was so embarrassing!
After ending the call, Qi Zihao scratched his head in frustration.
He has a feeling that his ability to pursue success depends entirely on his performance tonight.