Chapter 309: The Box Office Ambition of The Martian
In "The Martian", the astronauts sacrificed their lives in outer space. If it happened now, there would definitely be countless people at home and abroad who would come out to say this and that.

It was announced in the movie as soon as possible and Liu Zhou did not change it.

In addition to paving the way for the climax of the story where the Earth Space Agency discovers the male protagonist and launches a rescue, there are other reasons.

“People who know something about space travel should know that if a space suit is damaged in space, it is almost certain death.

The oxygen in the space suit can only last for one minute at most. This is not like an earthquake, where you can still survive for a while even if you are buried.

The reason we announced it at the first opportunity was because we couldn't let our astronauts die in obscurity.

In the movie, we can all land on Mars, the country is becoming increasingly powerful, the nation is becoming increasingly prosperous, and the people’s cultural confidence is by no means comparable to what it is now.

Although the sacrifice of astronauts will be attacked by outsiders, as a country that is becoming increasingly powerful, we should not be afraid of rumors. "

So that’s it?
Although I was surprised by Liu Zhou's explanation, I was also satisfied.

Many of the people who come to see the movie at this time are college students. These young people, whose edges have not yet been smoothed out by society, are full of dreams and overflowing with self-confidence.

Hearing Liu Zhou's words, some people even couldn't help but applaud. Finally, others were also infected, and slowly the audience in the entire theater applauded together.

The photographer nearby recorded the entire scene.

Liu Zhou was a little surprised. Looking at the young people in front of him with light in their eyes, he wanted to say a few more words, but he held back in the end.

Liu Zhou only hopes that the light in their eyes can be preserved a little longer.

The person who asked this question just now also understood something and said:
"I didn't expect such a small thing to have such a big meaning. No wonder the foreign reporters didn't make any trouble during the two press conferences in the movie. It turns out that the background of the movie is the country's growing strength."

After this incident, the audience seemed to relax a lot and asked more bizarre questions.

One audience member said, why did they use a rope to rescue Qin Hao in space at the end? Wouldn't it be better to just use a net to wrap him up?

It would be better to just invite Spider-Man over.

Liu Zhou, Qin Hao and Zhang Ziyi answered their questions one by one, and the roadshow gradually came to an end.

Finally, a girl asked a question:
"Director Liu, why don't you arrange a love scene for the male and female protagonists? The scene of the two of them during the space rescue at the end is so beautiful.

If they could have kissed passionately at that time, it would have been a classic, no less than the scene of Jack and Rose on the bow of the ship in Titanic. "

"Well, we're in space, are you sure you want them to open their masks and kiss? That's the kiss of death!
We can't have gone through so much trouble and been so anxious for so long just to watch them commit suicide and show their love, right?!"

"Hahaha!"

"That seems to be true. If you open the mask of your space suit in space, it will be very dangerous."

After hearing Liu Zhou's answer and the laughter from the audience, the girl who asked the question couldn't help but sit down with a red face.

In fact, not only do many people online hope that the male and female protagonists will have more emotional scenes, but Zhang Ziyi also asked for it.

However, Liu Zhou rejected her without hesitation. Not every situation has to involve love. You have to know that they are all astronauts and soldiers. Sometimes pure comradeship is more touching.

The later film "The Climbers" was originally a good story, but at Zhang Ziyi's strong request, an emotional scene was added for her.

In the end, the movie almost turned into "The Last Love on Mount Everest".

Afterwards, Liu Zhou and several others thanked the audience and left, preparing to head to the next city.

That evening, a reporter who attended the roadshow processed Liu Zhou's words and turned them into a news article.

“The Martian—a dream of a great nation!”

However, after this report was posted online, it caused quite a bit of controversy.

"Why so many interpretations? Isn't this just a commercial blockbuster?"

“I think it’s well said. We Chinese were once powerful. At that time, Westerners were just barbarians in our eyes. It’s just that we have fallen behind in modern times.

I believe that China can achieve rejuvenation again, and becoming a great power is not a dream. "

"You're still dreaming. Dream on. There has to be a limit to your fantasies."

"I think we should be more realistic, talk less about dreams and focus more on reality."

"What's wrong? Can't I have a dream?"

"Of course you can have dreams, but dreams have to be realistic, otherwise they will just make people laugh at you."

"How is this unrealistic? Decades ago, Martin Luther King was able to shout out "I Have a Dream", but look at the life of black people now? Is anyone laughing at him?"

"There's no need to argue with such a fool. In the eyes of the kneeling people, Lord Yang's dream is just a dream, and our dream is just a dream."

"Yes, you can tell from the looks of it that he's been kneeling for too long."

……

Liu Zhou didn't expect that this would cause a quarrel. He was afraid that he would be attacked by the public intellectuals.

He didn't have the heart to argue with these people right now. However, after the online commotion, Liu Zhou still kept on traveling around the country with his people.

The box office was not affected at all by the controversy. On the third day of its release, "The Martian" grossed 56 million.

Afterwards, the National Day holiday officially began.

On National Day, "The Martian" raked in 61 million yuan at the box office, once again setting a new record for the highest single-day box office in mainland China.

However, maybe the box office exploded too much in the past few days, and then it fell back.

During the following holiday days, the box office did not break 50 million again.

But despite this, "The Martian" had a total box office of 3.8 million in ten days after its release, shocking everyone in the industry again.

If the box office record of "Titanic" had not been broken, then "The Martian" would have broken it in just ten days of release.

According to the previous box office predictions for "The Martian", it should have no problem breaking 4.2 million, and it should also have no problem exceeding the box office record of million set by "Red Cliff".

If it has more stamina, there is a great chance that the box office will exceed 500 million.

But according to the current situation, they have earned nearly 400 million yuan at the box office in just ten days. If there is an extension key, it is not impossible to break 600 million yuan.

Over 600 million!

This has raised the mainland's box office record by two orders of magnitude.

But what others don’t know is that for Liu Zhou, breaking 600 million was just his goal at the beginning.

As the opening performance of "The Martian" was better than Liu Zhou expected, he also had greater ambitions.

Breaking 600 million is the bottom line, breaking 700 million is the goal.

And this is not impossible. In this life, because of the rise of Liu Zhou, not only have the scale of domestic cinemas become larger and the number of screens increased, but the audiences have also become more interested in going to the cinema.

The current mainland film market is similar to the historical market in 2010.

At that time, "Avatar" had a box office of over 3 billion. Although "Avatar" was a D movie, the ticket price was much more expensive.

However, it is not impossible for a movie to have a box office of over 700 million now. The current film market is capable of producing a movie with such results.

What's more, "The Martian" still has a killer weapon that has not been released.

"By the way, Liu Zhou, has Director Xu informed us when we will be on the news broadcast?"

At this time, Liu Zhou had just finished his roadshow and returned to Beijing. The next day, he was called to Han Shanping's office to discuss the follow-up promotion of "The Martian".

In fact, there is nothing to promote about this. Given the current popularity of the movie, there is no need for further publicity.

However, Han Shanping felt a little uneasy when he saw that the box office of "The Martian" was halved after the National Day holiday, falling to just over 10 million per day.

So we want to continue to increase the publicity expenses to increase the box office of the movie.

However, Liu Zhou could only say that Han Shanping was really a little too proud. Was he not satisfied with the single-day box office of over 10 million?
Some blockbusters only had a first-day box office of over 10 million, while "The Martian" has been released for ten days.

It seems that the previous crazy box office performance of "The Martian" has somewhat blinded Han Shanping's eyes.

Finally, Liu Zhou persuaded Han Shanping to give up the idea of ​​further increasing the publicity budget.

However, although there is no need to continue the promotion, he also remembered that there is a channel that is more powerful than any other form of promotion, and that is the News Broadcast.

The fact that "The Martian" would be broadcast on the News Broadcast was confirmed when we started to gather forces from various departments and places like Dunhuang to prepare for the production of the film.

The final film was shown to CCTV, and after the first day's box office came out, there was no doubt at all.

"Boss Han, I was just about to discuss this with you. I just received a notice last night that it will be scheduled for next Monday, which is three days later. However, after discussing this with Director Xu, he suggested postponing it to next Friday."

"Why next Friday? Is there any special reason for it?" Han Shanping asked curiously.

“It’s nothing special, but in the next few days, the popularity of The Martian is still there, and people will still go to the cinema to watch the movie. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be more than 10 million box office every day.

However, the initial box office of the film was too explosive, and most of its box office potential has been consumed. In about a week, the box office will be weak.

At this time, "The Martian" was broadcast on the news, which could attract another group of audiences to the cinema.

Moreover, the publicity of the News Broadcast can reach every corner of the country, so in the next few days, we will roll out copies in third- and fourth-tier cities, including some wealthy county-level cities and county towns along the coast.

This will maximize the publicity effect of this news broadcast and fully unleash the box office potential of The Martian.”

Right now, movies cannot be fully released across the country because China is simply too big. Even ten years from now, new movies will take a week or even longer to be released in third- and fourth-tier cities.

This is even more so because now it is normal for movies in third- and fourth-tier cities to be released half a month later. In the past few years, movie screenings were even divided into first, second, and even third rounds.

"No problem, since you have thought about it, let's do as you think."

(End of this chapter)