Laimeng.com.
The largest film and television data website on the internet.
It has professional global popularity statistics.
At this international film festival, the popularity of several works in different categories has been vying with each other.
On the night before the international film festival was about to begin.
Suddenly, something incredibly shocking happened.
#International Film Festival Popularity Ranking#
First Place: "The Wandering Earth"
Second Place: "Saints"
Third Place: "Star Disaster"
...
"The Wandering Earth" from China, overnight, directly surged to the top of the popularity ranking!
The overall network popularity value reached a staggering two billion, and this number is still rapidly increasing!
As "The Wandering Earth" reached the pinnacle of popularity.
The news was simultaneously transmitted back to the domestic entertainment industry.
Instantly.
Weibo hot searches exploded!
# "The Wandering Earth" Takes the Top Spot Before Competition!#
#The Jiangnan International Film Festival's Opening Performance is Impressive, with Unexpected Nationwide Popularity!#
The sudden good news left netizens who were not optimistic about the international film festival completely bewildered.
How was this publicity done? How could global popularity defeat that of the US and France?
Even with Tingyu's help, it shouldn't have achieved this effect.
"Holy crap, why is it so fierce?"
"Someone who knows, tell us, is this real?"
"It's real, I just came back from the foreign website, 'The Wandering Earth' is going viral!"
"There are ads everywhere, major websites are displaying ads for 'The Wandering Earth', this time Xinghui has really spent a fortune!"
"Speaking of which, do we have a chance to win?"
The sudden surprise caused the domestic entertainment scene to erupt in excitement!
When the popularity had already reached third place, everyone was already very surprised. Now, seeing "The Wandering Earth" directly surge to first place, it left domestic netizens utterly shocked and at a loss.
"Stop dreaming. Early publicity can only be said to have won the starting line. The real results depend on the quality of the film. After all, the competition statistics are based on five-day box office, and early publicity only affects the first day."
At this moment, as everyone was getting excited, someone poured cold water.
"Heh, it can only rely on the large population of China to grab these insignificant rankings. Apart from self-consolation, it's useless. The real nature will be revealed when the film festival begins."
"No wonder Jiangnan is so arrogant, turns out they invested heavily in publicity!"
"Do you know what science fiction means to the US? Do you really think Jiangnan's team can compete with established sci-fi powerhouses like SK Entertainment and Lozen Entertainment?"
"Domestic sci-fi hasn't even started, and others have already achieved god-like status. How can we fight?"
"Judging by the movie title, Jiangnan is also clashing with the US on the same theme this time, aren't they?"
"Haha, what terrible luck."
Jiangnan's previous remark had already stirred up dissatisfaction among many trolls. As everyone was congratulating Jiangnan for topping the popularity chart, these people jumped out to mock and ridicule.
For a time, the controversy surrounding the film intensified.
...
United States.
SK Entertainment.
Chairman Laim stood by the window, looking at the prosperous and dazzling city outside, elegantly holding a wine glass in his hand.
The assistant knocked and walked in with a tablet.
"Found out?" Laim asked without turning around.
The assistant said in a deep voice, "Yes, it was found that the rapid surge in popularity of 'The Wandering Earth' is due to the joint promotion by several major Chinese entertainment companies."
"Joint promotion?" A hint of surprise flashed in Laim's eyes, but he instantly shook his head with a strange expression. "Quite interesting."
"We are currently in third place. Should we increase the promotion budget?" the assistant asked.
Laim swirled the red wine in his glass, casting his gaze out the window.
After a long pause, he shook his head. "The film festival is about to begin. Spending money to fight for the number one spot in popularity is useless. If they want to fight, let them fight. If the gap is too large, they won't have any sense of participation in this competition."
In a few more hours, the films for the international film festival would be globally released.
As the largest film company in the United States, SK Entertainment boasted some of the hottest international movie stars in the industry. If they truly promoted with all their might, they could directly crush the competition with their data.
However, Laim felt that spending a large sum of money to promote for a few hours of popularity was an unwise choice. The film festival was about box office, what good was high popularity?
And he had absolute confidence in his company's film box office. If they completely dominated, it would lose the fun of the competition. It would be better to let these mice scurry around a bit. Then, with a direct box office crush, this international film festival would have some excitement.
...
France.
Lozen Entertainment.
Chairman Viggo had already held ten meetings.
"Are... are we still investing?" the Director of the Publicity Department said with a trembling voice.
They had already invested heavily in promotion. Originally, they had firmly held the number one spot on the popularity chart, but unexpectedly, they were surpassed by China's "The Wandering Earth," and the gap had widened considerably.
This outcome was unexpected by everyone.
"Have you found the reason?" Viggo asked in a deep voice.
"Yes, we found out that the four major Chinese entertainment companies are all promoting this drama..." the Director of the Publicity Department said with a wry smile.
"All promoting it?" Viggo seemed taken aback. "Why? Did they all invest in this movie?"
"We didn't see any of those company names in the information. This movie has no co-partners." This was also the point of confusion for the Director of the Publicity Department.
"This country, China, is indeed very strange," Viggo took a deep breath.
"Then... Chairman, should we continue?" the Director of the Publicity Department asked.
Viggo looked at the popularity chart and shook his head. "There are only a few hours left. There's no point in fighting for this kind of ranking anymore..."
This list tracked global popularity. It didn't mean that the first place had any particular advantage, it only indicated that films with higher popularity at the premiere were more likely to have higher box office sales.
The principle was simple: the fame of a work was linked to its box office. The more famous it was, the higher the probability of people spending money to watch it.
Of course, this was not absolute. The most important factor for a blockbuster film was its reputation and word-of-mouth among audiences, which could not be achieved by spending any amount of money on promotion.
"Next, it will be a battle of quality. China has always been weak in science fiction, so we don't need to worry too much. What we need to guard against is the US."
After speaking, Viggo took a deep breath and got up to leave the conference room.
The executives also looked solemn. They had initially thought that by investing so much money, the number one spot on the popularity chart was within their grasp, but unexpectedly, "The Wandering Earth" had appeared out of nowhere.
However, they were not too worried about the Chinese side. Their threat had always been the US's SK Entertainment. Although SK Entertainment was ranked third in popularity, everyone could tell that they were not giving their all.
From now on, any fancy tactics would be useless. It would be a competition of quality. Whichever company's film was more beloved by global audiences, making them willing to pay for tickets to go to the cinema, that company would be the box office king of the international film festival!