"Big Player" successfully broke through and shattered the prediction of "cannon fodder"

The comedy movie "Big Player" grossed 5 million yuan in box office in its first four days of release. So far, the box office has reached nearly 10 million yuan. Not only did it completely shattered the cannon fodder predictions of some industry insiders before its release, it has also completely recovered its investment and made a small profit. The publisher, Huaxia Company, was surprised. They didn't expect the small "Big Player" to be so strong. So, what unique skills did the producers and directors of "Big Player" play?

One of the unique tricks of "Big Player" is to control costs

According to Zhang Xuedong, the film's producer, as a small-budget comedy movie,"Big Player" has very good cost control, only a few million yuan. Before its release, it had recovered part of its investment through online copyright sales, DVD sales, TV copyright sales, and download share of mobile games. The box office pressure was not large. Zhang Xuedong said that there were Hollywood blockbusters such as "Harry Potter" before them, and domestic blockbusters such as "The Orphan of Zhao" later, so it is normal for some people to predict that "The Big Player" will become cannon fodder, but we know in our hearts that as long as there is a box office of seven or eight million yuan, we can make a profit, so we are still confident. Subsequent box office results also confirmed this point. Even during the most dangerous period of the year, we still exceeded the profit and loss line. There are still film dealers who want to buy Southeast Asian copyright. Next year, we will go to the Hong Kong Film Festival to seek more profits.

The second trick of "Big Player" is cutting scenes

As a movie with more than 20 stars, how can it cost only a few million? Even the cost of hiring a celebrity is not so much! Sun Shuji, the producer of "Big Player", revealed this secret for us: Although we have many stars, everyone has very few scenes. This is the biggest feature of the play and the cleverest part of director Niu Chaoyang. At the script stage, the actors 'scenes are cut into paragraphs. The most actors in the drama "Big Player" only have four days of scenes, and most of them only last for three or two days, even one day or a few hours. All stars are paid by the day, and the fees are relatively low. Moreover, Li Xiuxian, Sun Xing, Jiao Enjun, Xuecun and others have been friends of mine for many years, so naturally I only charged a friendship price.

The third trick of "Big Player": Moderate marketing

After deciding to release it during this dangerous period, the "Big Player" film company chose a very calm and moderate publicity and marketing in order to reduce costs. In terms of publicity, it mainly relied on its partner Hangmei Media to replace advertisements on airports and online platforms; in terms of distribution, it listened to the opinions of Huaxia Company and reduced copying costs (if you copy too much, the box office can be moderately increased, but if you can't get back the copy money, you will actually lose more); for theater promotional materials, you simply don't even have to put up a stand, only basic posters and a small number of X display shelves. In the words of the person in charge of distribution, if you do it anyway, other theaters will also display "Harry Potter","Resident Evil","Orphan of Zhao", etc., relying on basic film layout and reputation without wasting a penny, and I don't imagine that there are many box office boxes. During the release period, the film company only continued to promote it in a sincere but cost-effective way.

The fourth trick of "Big Player" wins by reputation

Even with the above three points,"Big Player" is still unable to guarantee that it will not become cannon fodder. What really made "Big Player" earn nearly 10 million yuan in box office is the reputation of the film itself. This can be clearly seen from the number of screenings in theaters: in the movie market, which can show about 25000 screenings per day,"The Big Player" only received 1800 screenings on the first day, and rose to 2000 screenings on the second day., rose to 2200 screenings on the third day, and rose to 2500 screenings on the fourth day. This would have been impossible if it weren't for the high attendance rate of the film and the spread of word of mouth. Later, as the release of other new films gradually decreased, it was a general trend and there was no way to reverse it. However,"Big Player" still spun around in this extremely narrow space and grossed nearly 10 million yuan at the box office. According to Weibo feedback,"Big Player" has won praise from the vast majority of viewers, and about 40% of the viewers still shed tears of emotion for the climax of the movie and gained insights into life about happiness. Many viewers went to the theater to watch "Big Player" twice or even three times.

Although "Big Player" retired unscathed, industry insiders who used cannon fodder language in the early stage couldn't help but ask, why did they choose such a cruel schedule? If we had started earlier, or changed it to the spring and summer of next year and picked a slot without so many blockbusters, wouldn't the box office be higher? Producer Zhang Xuedong said: It is for experience. I just want to see how we perform in front of the most powerful competitors. I can't lose much money at such a small cost. I want to learn some experience. Next year, China's film market will be more open. You hid this time, but in the end, you still can't avoid the head-on confrontation with Hollywood blockbusters. You can do better in the future. This time we have gained a lot, which is much more valuable than making more profits. Director Niu Chaoyang also expressed support for the film company's choice and said with a smile, it was really exciting. The first movie was competing with so many blockbusters. It was very fun. I long for one day to be on the same plane as movies like "Avatar".