55 A Fever (1/2)
”Seriously, this movie is wonderful! Oh, my God. Yesterday, hundreds of us just started to dance in the screening room! Man, it's hard to describe how that felt. Cool! I didn't know until yesterday that I like to dance. I'm going to enroll myself in some dance classes.”
”Anyone know when the original soundtrack of the movie will be released? I want to buy one! Those songs are amazing.”
”I wanna watch it again in the school cinema, cuz I found I fell in love with Troy. He looks so handsome when he plays basketball!”
Sitting in the chair, Wang Yang was looking at the computer screen with a smile. He was browsing through the comments the fans of High School Musical had left on the official website. Basically, all of those comments were compliments, which were paid to the singing and dancing, the cast, and East High. He felt satisfied and happy. This meant students across the country had accepted and liked High School Musical. Whether a fever for High School Musical would start would depend on those students' word of mouth. That was viral marketing for the movie in real life.
He dragged the scrollbar of the page down with his mouse again. Then, he saw a comment that made him frown and smile at the same time. ”Yang, honey, I love you. I want to date you. I want to marry you!” And the comment was followed by another comment in parentheses. ”(Don't let me know which woman has got you. Otherwise, I will go crazy!)”
Shaking his head, he murmured, ”I'm actually a man hiding behind the camera…” However, he had become an idol director who had many fanatical female fans. Should he feel happy or sad?
Of course, it was not just student fans who were dropping comments for High School Musical. The movie critics and the media who had attended the premiere had also published their opinions.
In the entertainment section of the latest issue of the Los Angeles Times, although the review of High School Musical was not a headline, it occupied pretty much the same space on the newspaper page. The title was ”A Novel Teen Musical”. In this article, they wrote that the movie had a novel style, including its bright images, the simple but beautiful story, and the singing and dancing that blended perfectly into the school life and everyday life. All these aspects were worth some attention.
”This movie is not so terrible as people imagined. In fact, it is not terrible at all. For a director who is 19-years young, this is an excellent movie.” Although the newspaper did not say it explicitly, it was actually implying the box office gross of High School Musical would surprise everyone.
Compared to the reserved attitude of the Los Angeles Times, California Film Reporter revealed a drastic change in their opinion. They had questioned Wang Yang a lot, describing him ”hot-headed and blindly confident”. However, at the moment, they paid a great compliment to him as if they wanted to make up for their mistake. ”This movie is beyond expectation. Not many people would suppose it is such a great movie before they really watch it! It has a magic which could make young people sing and dance while watching it, giving off their youthful vibe to the fullest. This 19-year-old director knows perfectly what an outstanding teen musical needs, and in his movie, he offered all of them to the audience in a very mature way.”
”In this movie, he proved to us his ability as a playwriter, a director, and a producer. 'I'm more than a DV guy. I can also make a good camera film.' It is a little plain to call him promising. Maybe we can expect more. Let's wait quietly and see how far he could go!”
Chicago Sun-Times commented in a kind of sarcastic way, ”Is Magic Yang trying to atone? His Paranormal Activity scared too many people, including a poor little girl who was almost scared to death. Thank God she is in good health now. However, if Paranormal Activity left her any haunting shadow, she could go and watch High School Musical. This movie has a youthful and warm vibe. It is positive and cheering. It is hard to believe that this is the work of the same director whose thriller reached $310,000,000 at the box office.”
There were critiques as well as compliments. Kevin Thomas, who had dropped pretty terrible comments for Paranormal Activity, was a freelance movie critic at that moment. His review was published in a tabloid. ”I haven't watched this movie yet because it is shown in schools only, while I, obviously, left the school a long time ago. However, it is imaginable that this will be a new disaster. A story of a kid director striving for candies. Would he use those disgusting, shaky shots again? Come on. Give us a break!”
However, apparently, Kevin Thomas's comment did not get any attention. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, asking for candies, but unfortunately, he was ignored.
Flames Films got the first day's box office figure of High School Musical in the afternoon. The first week's screening of the movie involved 500 schools. Every school had 300 seats on average. All of the tickets were 40% off, which meant each ticket had cost 3.9 dollars. There were two sessions every day. The attendance rate of last night's two sessions had reached 75%, which was incredible! The movie had reached $877,500 at the box office on the first day! This result excited Flames Films and the whole crew of High School Musical. Closing his fist, Wang Yang kept shouting, ”Yes!” and then let out a long sigh.
The production cost of the movie was $8,000,000. The promotion cost was $10,000,000. The copies, transportation, and others were estimated to cost over $2,000,000. In short, the total cost of the movie was $20,000,000, which meant the total box office gross should at least reach $50,000,000 to recoup the cost after the tax was paid. In fact, this investment accounted for two-thirds of the assets under Wang Yang's name. Such a big investment was once doubted by the media. ”Is this young man incredibly brave or hopelessly foolish?”
There was certainly a big gap between $877,500 and $50,000,000. However, this first day's box office gross had come from school cinemas with 40% off! Judging from the attendance rate and the response of the audience, this movie's potential seemed to be as great as Paranormal Activity's potential had been.
The second day's box office gross further proved the movie's potential. The attendance rate of the first session of the second day, incredibly, reached 100%, and it reached 85% in the second session! And those were only school cinemas! However, if those who found such a result shocking knew anything about the complete promotion plan of High School Musical, they probably would not be so surprised anymore. This was the result in which the viral marketing online and in real life had both been aiming for.
Those schools that showed the movie in the first week were filled with High School Musical's posters, and they had been bombed with the ”Come to Dance” show for almost two months. Once the students that attended the first screening of the movie were lavish with their praises for the movie, other students would follow in a domino effect. Then, the whole school would be excited about the movie. Every student would feel curious. Naturally, some enthusiastic ones would be drawn to the cinema to watch it with their own eyes.
The two sessions of the second day had gained $1,082,200 at the box office. Together with the over $10,000 gained at the Vitascope Cinema, the movie reached $1,967,200 in all of two days! Then, the first week of April 23rd to 29th ended. High School Musical was ranked 11th at the North American weekly box office, with its revenue gained at the 500 school cinemas and a city cinema in two days. In the meantime, The Matrix remained in the first place at the weekly box office.
”Yang, many theater chains are contacting us.” On the phone, Mark Strong's laugh sounded very insidious.
Wang Yang shrugged his shoulders, not thinking it a big thing. He said into the cellphone, ”Ignore them for the moment. The movie is so popular at the moment. We'll have more and more bargaining chips to negotiate with them. We will collaborate with the one who gives us the best offer at the end of the second week.” He would not change his plan to show the movie in school cinemas for two weeks. This was to drum up enthusiasm for the movie, and it made the market hungry as well. It was a new bomb, which would not be ignited until May 14th.
”Yeah, I think so too, boss.” Mark Strong laughed. He had a good reason to feel happy. Wang Yang had told him if High School Musical turned out to be a success and he proved his ability to the fullest, he could be a partner of the studio.
A new week had started since April 30th. At the same time, some new movies were released, including Entrapment, distributed by 20th Century Fox, which was shown in 2,814 cinemas in the first week; and Idle Hands, on which Sony and Columbia had pinned great hope. It had cost $25,000,000 to produce Idle Hands. According to the usual proportion, its promotion cost should be at least $10,000,000, and there were other costs, too. It would need to break $80,000,000 at the box office to recoup the cost. As a result, it was shown in 1,611 cinemas in the first week.
High School Musical was still shown in those 500 schools, and it would be shown in another 500 schools in the next week. The discussion on the internet and those great comments for the movie piqued the interest of many students. They went to the school cinemas where the movie was shown to watch it, but the problem was that there were only two sessions in those schools and it was not even enough for their own students.
As the only non-school cinema where the movie was shown, Vitascope Cinema was full of students at the moment. It was even more crowded than when Paranormal Activity had been shown. In that period, Paranormal Activity was showed in five cinemas in Los Angeles, while High School Musical was only showed in one at the moment.
”Come on. Can't you show it in more screening rooms?” At the ticket booth, students who failed to get any tickets were pretty unhappy with the situation. They were yelling, staring at the owner of the cinema as if he was their enemy. A blond, white, high school student was standing at the front. He swore, ”Boss, are you stupid? Why don't you talk to Flames Films? We want to watch High School Musical!”
The boss was a middle-aged, white man, a little bald, and fat. Looking at the students, he tried to calm them down with a smile, ”Hey, boys and girls, why don't you watch some other films first? What about Entrapment and Idle Hands? They are both newly released, and they are great!” If it was possible, why wouldn't he show High School Musical in his cinema? However, the contract had been signed, and they were only allowed to show it for one week. Besides, Flames Films refused his request to open more screening rooms for the movie.
”Idle Hands? Oh, come on! Who would watch a thriller now?” That blond student was amused. Looking back, he shouted, ”Would you watch it, my friends?”
The students behind him shook their heads and pouted their mouths. ”No!”
A girl standing by the poster wall was looking at the poster of Idle Hands in a disdainful manner. She said, ”What is that? I wouldn't watch it! The leading actor is so disgusting. He can't be compared to even one finger of Troy! Gosh, Troy is so handsome!”
Another pretty white girl said, ”I'm here to support Yang! He is my idol!”
The students started to yell. Some of them had come to see handsome Tom Welling, while others had come to see pretty girls like Jessica and Rachel on the big screen. Many of them were Wang Yang's fans, while more of them only wanted to follow the trend and be in one of the first batches to watch High School Musical. They were all here to watch High School Musical.