At this very moment, nearly everyone in the film industry was focused on the box office performance of "Piaomiao Zhilv" Part Two, eager to see how astonishingly well it would continue. However, when the weekly box office results for "Piaomiao Zhilv" Part One were announced, revealing it had surpassed 600 million US dollars and officially claimed the tenth spot on the North American box office charts, the film industry fell into silence.
What in the world?
A film that had been in theaters for over six weeks, a film that, by all accounts, should only have had a few hundred screenings nationwide daily and a daily box office revenue of no more than 100,000 US dollars, had somehow surged to tenth place on the North American box office rankings?
This outcome left Hollywood in a state of bewilderment, completely unsure of what had happened or the scientific reasoning behind it. It wasn't until some professionals interviewed the owners of various movie theaters that they began to grasp the underlying mystery.
According to the usual pattern, by the time the second installment was released, the first one would have long been out of theaters.
But the issue was that the interval between "Piaomiao Zhilv" Part One and Part Two was only twenty days. In the United States, a film typically runs for 90 to 180 days, meaning that "Piaomiao Zhilv" Part One was still technically in theaters.
Of course, theater owners, considering that the second part was already out, assumed fewer people would be interested in the first. Therefore, they initially reduced the number of screenings for Part One, limiting them to only one or two shows per day to make way for the second part.
After all, it was still the Christmas season, with a multitude of blockbuster films vying for attention, and movie theaters were simply not enough.
However, these theater owners were soon astonished to discover that even though Part One had only one to two screenings left, and these were mostly at inconvenient early morning hours, the number of audience members was extraordinarily high.
Based on their past experience, whether it was a weekend or a weekday, movie theaters in the morning were invariably empty, with no more than ten viewers per screening.
Yet, the audience for "Piaomiao Zhilv" Part One numbered around a hundred people, nearly filling the entire theater. And this situation wasn't confined to just one theater; almost all theaters experienced the same phenomenon.
Soon, these owners realized that these viewers were likely drawn in by the buzz from the market and news coverage. They hadn't seen Part One but had gone straight to Part Two and were now returning to catch up on the first installment.
Well, if you've watched the second part, wouldn't you want to go back and watch the first? It was still playing anyway.
Upon discovering this, some owners experimented by reintroducing a few screenings of Part One during prime time. To their surprise, even more people came to watch Part One, and the viewership for the subsequent Part Two also surged.
It turned out that many viewers felt it was a rare occasion in their lives to have the first and second parts of a film released consecutively. Finding this quite novel, they decided to watch both parts back-to-back, enjoying nearly six hours of a magical journey within the cinema.
This data seemed unbelievable to many professional filmmakers. According to their research, sitting in a movie theater for two hours was considered optimal for a normal human. Exceeding three hours would lead to restlessness, physical discomfort, and other issues, as humans are unable to remain in a fixed space and a fixed seating environment for extended periods.
This is precisely why the duration of most films is controlled between 120 and 180 minutes. It's not that directors don't want to film more, but rather that audiences simply cannot endure it.
Therefore, in their view, the idea of audiences willingly spending six hours watching two films consecutively was simply incredible.
The experts' assumptions were not entirely wrong; most viewers would indeed be unwilling to go through such an ordeal. However, they overlooked human psychological reactance and the desire for individuality.
And then there was a psychological phenomenon that Boss Huang termed "Since You're Already Here."
Psychological reactance refers to the inclination to do the opposite of what is expected or commonly done. If most people watch one movie at a time, then I will defiantly watch them all at once, doing what others cannot, proving how awesome I am.
As for "Since You're Already Here"... since you've already come, wouldn't you finish both movies in one go before leaving? After all, the online ratings are so high!
Capital, however, doesn't concern itself with rationality; it only cares about whether something can make money. If increasing the screenings for Part One could boost box office revenue, then theater owners would unhesitatingly increase those screenings.
And so, Hollywood professionals witnessed a scene they found perplexing: four weeks after its release, the number of screenings for "Piaomiao Zhilv" Part One not only didn't decrease but actually increased. Meanwhile, the box office for Part Two, driven by Part One's surge, also climbed. At times, the daily box office for Part One even surpassed that of Part Two!
This was because some viewers, influenced by recommendations from others, came to experience this Eastern fantasy special effects film. As new viewers, with similar screening availability for both Part One and Part Two and the freedom to choose, they would naturally opt to watch Part One first and then decide if they wanted to see Part Two.
Naturally, a portion of these viewers would find the film unappealing and abandon Part Two after watching Part One, which is why the daily box office for Part One sometimes exceeded that of Part Two.
Of course, this situation was not very common; most of the time, the daily box office for Part Two remained higher.
By the sixth week of its release, specifically on January 20, 2005, the daily box office for both installments of "Piaomiao Zhilv" was generally hovering around 10 million US dollars.
According to estimates, the final North American box office for Part One was projected to be around 680 million US dollars, challenging for the ninth position on the all-time North American box office charts. The second part was expected to stabilize around 520 million US dollars, making it impossible for it to break into the North American top ten.
Just as the heat surrounding "Piaomiao Zhilv" was finally expected to cool down, and as the major players in Hollywood were trying to forget this "terrible" movie, the poster for "Piaomiao Zhilv" Part Three arrived as scheduled.
Loyal fans like Zuckerberg were delighted to discover that Jiangnan Entertainment announced that "Piaomiao Zhilv" Part Three was set to be released on January 24, 2005. As usual, without giving audiences time to react, there were only three days between the announcement of the release date and the actual premiere.
However, Hollywood executives remained largely impassive to this news, as most of them had already learned about the release date of the third installment through their own channels.
After all, to set a release date, one must report to all major cinema chains at least a week in advance. Thus, the executives had known the release date of Part Three a week prior.
However, there was some good news: the cinema chains received confirmation that "Piaomiao Zhilv" was currently only a trilogy. While there might be more installments in the future, a fourth part would certainly not be released in 2005. This allowed many Hollywood executives to breathe a sigh of relief, realizing they only needed to endure one more month.
Many film companies quietly adjusted their release schedules to avoid conflicts with this seemingly crazed film.
These executives weren't foolish. Judging by the quality of the first two installments, they were confident that the third part would not be subpar and would likely maintain the consistent level of its superb world-building and unparalleled special effects. They estimated it would be another film grossing over 500 million US dollars. Their only hope was that this third installment wouldn't also break into the top ten of the box office charts, as that would make the entire Hollywood industry look rather awkward.
Hollywood, as a whole, maintained a tacit attitude of non-acknowledgment towards the third film. There were few reviews of the movie, and various Hollywood promotional events did not proactively invite "Piaomiao Zhilv" to participate.
However, the reaction on the internet was incredibly fervent, or rather, it had descended into a frenzy.
For instance, Mark Zuckerberg, the president of Weibo, made no secret of his affection for the film. Recalling a promise he had once made to himself, he boldly announced on his official Weibo account that he would spend one million US dollars to book ten movie theaters for a week. These ten theaters would exclusively screen the "Piaomiao Zhilv" trilogy during that week, and everyone would be invited to watch for free.
As long as they showed up, they could go directly to the cinema to watch the movie without paying any ticket fees.
Zuckerberg further explained his decision, stating that when he watched Part One, he had jokingly told others that if he could see Part Two within a month, he would book a movie theater.
Now, not only had he seen Part Two within a month, but he was even seeing Part Three, so he decided to go above and beyond, booking ten movie theaters.
While Zuckerberg's action was initially a personal idea and endeavor, it didn't significantly impact the overall box office.
However, perhaps Zuckerberg's gesture ignited the affection for this film in other executives. Hao Jianguo, the president of BLm Company, announced that he too would book ten movie theaters to screen the film for free for a week, under the same conditions as Zuckerberg.
Following this, Malik, the president of Atari Communications, also joined the fray, announcing his booking of ten movie theaters online.
Since these three companies were all located in California, instantly, thirty movie theaters in California were booked for free screenings for a week, much to the delight of countless audiences who praised the generosity of the owners.
Zuckerberg, however, was completely bewildered. His announcement was genuinely to fulfill a promise. But were the other two individuals out of their minds to jump in without a word?
In response, Hao Jianguo and Malik inwardly lamented. Unlike Zuckerberg, who was affiliated with the US Priority Group, BLm Company and Atari Communications were directly subordinate to Jiangnan Group.
Now that an outsider was supporting them with theater bookings, how could they, as direct subordinates of Boss Huang, not show their support? Reluctantly, they had to shell out one million dollars each.
But these three did not anticipate that their actions were merely the beginning. The presidents of Xiaomi and Vivo mobile phones, which were rapidly developing in the United States, saw the situation and, remembering Boss Huang's kindness, with a grand gesture, followed suit, with each of the two companies contributing one million US dollars to book theaters.
And with these two brothers making their move, how could the other five companies that followed Boss Huang not express themselves?
Thus, each of them contributed one million dollars to book theaters!
Later, even Michael Jackson announced that he would contribute one million dollars to book theaters.
Good heavens, everyone was stunned. Before the third film was even released, so many companies and celebrities had announced theater bookings. This alone added nearly 10 million US dollars to the film's potential box office revenue.