Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Chapter 449FlyingStar Journey

Pei Qian clicked on the movie’s promotional page to check it hurriedly.

Flying Star Journey

Action/Sci-Fi/Fantasy 3D IMAX

United States/134 minutes

Released 12th March 2011.

Description:

The traumatized former military officer Tim (played by John Stanton) inadvertently traveled to a mysterious planet on the eve of World War I and became involved in the disputes of multiple forces on the planet. These forces regarded him as the key figure in ending the dispute. He even won the love of the beautiful princess Lynn (Deca Morton); however, could he really leave the past and reverse the fate of this planet?

Pei Qian’s cheerful mood was instantly spoilt after reading this summary. This story did not seem very attractive!

However… it seemed as though most films made in the United States were of this style. Wasn’t the very popular Avatar also transmigrating to another planet and falling madly in love with the indigenous girl?

Well, it’s almost the same.

The director and investment were key to this! If the director was reliable and the investment was high, then it wuld definitely drive Tomorrow is Beautiful to the ground!

Pei Qian checked for more information about this movie hurriedly. After closer inspection, Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief.

It’s set!

Director Darryl directed his first animated short film as early as 1988. He had directed many films and received multiple Oscar nominations to date. In 2005, his animated film obtained 600 million US dollars in the global box office and won the Oscar Award for Best Animated Feature Film. His science fiction animation film won this award again in 2008.

Moreover, the film ‘Flying Star Journey’ was based on a classic science fiction novel published in 1911 in the United States. This year marked the 100th anniversary of the original novel. The total investment in the film exceeded 170 million US dollars. Well-known celebrities were cast in the show.

The male protagonist John Stanton worked hard to complete very rigorous physical training during the filming. He lost a full 25 pounds while enduring the pain of injury to complete the filming. He was a role model of professionalism.

In short, Pei Qian felt instant relief as he looked at the information of this film thoroughly.

That was the standard United States blockbuster template model!

Look at this luxurious line-up, the generous investment, famous director, top actors, and the great script. It would probably make 600 to 700 million US dollars with no problem at all once it broadcasts all over the world?

Getting a box office of 500 to 600 million yuan in China would also be easy for them.

Moreover, Pei Qian estimated it very pessimistically. Based on the investment of 170 million US dollars, a global box office of 500 to 600 million US dollars would only break even.

It should have at least 1 billion US dollars if it was popular!

When the time comes, the major theaters will be struggling to line up this movie and squeeze out Tomorrow is Beautiful. Wouldn’t this be a piece of cake?

At present, 31.4% of the theater space was scheduled for its launch date. This line-up would definitely rise if this trend were to continue!

Moreover, the schedule for Tomorrow is Beautiful had fallen to less than 15%.

The only pity Pei Qian felt was that this film did not release half a month earlier. It would have been the best if it was released together with Tomorrow is Beautiful!

However, it was never too late, it could at least help Pei Qian earn less money afterward!

Pei Qian was elated as he thought of this scenario.

March 12th, Saturday…

It was the weekend, and there was no need to go to work. However, Pei Qian had a very heavy task every weekend starting from today!

He checked the latest updates with OTTO E1 while eating his Fish-Catching Take-Out. As expected, the pre-order did not reach 5,000 units. They could at least reduce 4,000 units this time. The numbers were about the same as Pei Qian’s estimates.

This number had caused a lot of ridicule online as well.

That was because the news conference for the launch of OTTO E1 was very lively. The video website showed the digital list of Aili Island. Chang You’s crosstalk attracted many imitators.

The 1,000 units were instantly sold out on the day of the news conference, creating an illusion of high popularity.

Many people had questioned if this was hunger marketing previously. Now that there was an appointment by deposit scheme and yet the number of appointments was less than 5,000, it was very far off from the other larger cell phone manufacturing brands whose order books were in the 10,000 units.

As a result, everyone’s focus naturally changed. “Otto Technologies really made a bad move. They should continue engaging in hunger marketing so that the popularity of the cell phone could be maintained. Everyone knows how many phones are sold now that they made it public. Isn’t it shameful that only 5,000 people had pre-ordered?”

“What if they just faked the data? They might have just added one more digit behind the pre-orders. How shameful!”

“Hehe, I think Vice President Chang must have grown arrogant. The 3,000 units sold previously gave him an illusion that this phone is very popular so he increased the reservation numbers and instantly fell from his high horse!”

“You call it hunger marketing when there is no stock. When there is enough stock, you say that this cell phone is not popular enough. Trolls always win…” “Hehe, that is reality. Let’s not ask for more. I’ll reluctantly admit that this cell phone is popular if it can sell 30,000 units. The question is, can it? Only 3,000 units have been sold until now. There is a pre-order of 5,000 units. It has reached its peak! Facts have proven that it’s impossible to go far with marketing and IQ tax!”

Pei Qian felt much better after reading these ratings. His appetite increased. Especially the last message. It was full of righteousness and utterance. It completely affirmed that the OTTO cell phone had no future. It made Pei Qian feel good.

The only pity was these people did not understand how this industry worked. Selling just 3,000 units made Boss Pei profit 12 million yuan. He would have made a net profit of more than a million yuan even if he returned profits to the other departments. Wouldn’t Boss Pei die if he really sold 30,000 units?

Pei Qian took another look at the player rating of Be Quiet. Players were still arguing about the purchase threshold of this game. There was a very intense discussion about the game itself. The sales volume for the game was increasing, but less than 10,000 copies had been sold so far.

It was a flop compared to the previous games!

Pei Qian was elated. He designed this dissuasion process carefully. It was obviously effective and remarkable!

Of course, there was no lack of criticism. The most contentious point amongst the players on the internet was also here.

Many players were already simmering with anger when Be Quiet first released, but they could not buy it directly. Some of them even wanted to dismiss the game altogether when they found out they had to perform ARG decryption.

The ARG took one whole week to solve and when many people wanted to buy it with joy, they found that there were even prerequisites!

This prerequisite required nearly an hour to complete. It was a horror game; some people who did not have a webcam at home had to get a webcam. The Lonely Desert Road and Game Designer might be free, but there was no motivation for people who had never played it to play or even download it.

No matter what, all these steps made many players back out. It caused huge arguments even now.

Some players said that Tengda Games had become arrogant. They let go of themselves and did totally meaningless publicity. That affected game sales, which equated to the game waiting to die out. Some players also said that such a method screened out players and prevented the impatient novice players from entering the game. They could then purify the game environment and enhance the game experience. It was part of the game marketing strategy. Moreover, it seemed to be very successful currently.

Pei Qian watched these debates with vigor. Pei Qian wanted to tell everyone that they were all right!

He did hope for the game to die out; he was indeed screening players. They were all referring to the same matter!

In addition to the two types of people arguing fiercely, some posts made Pei Qian sigh with the great wisdom of the public.

A player named ‘super general’ posted a detailed guide on how to pass the preconditions, including how long to drive in The Lonely Desert Road, how to select the options in Game Designer, and how to maneuver in TPDb website.

The best thing was that this player also worked out the ultimate play for the final level test: find a piece of paper and dig a hole on it to cover the screen so that you only need to keep your eyes on that small area beneath the hole. You would be completely unaffected by the ghost around the screen.

The ultimate test originally required more than half an hour of trial and strong willpower to succeed. This method meant that many could pass in a single attempt.

Pei Qian only had one word for the person who wrote this post: admirable!

Of course, there was also a way to fill this loophole. That was to adjust the gameplay so that the player’s eyes must sweep across the corners of the screen throughout the entire process instead of just staring at one spot.

However, the current challenge already had an obvious and very strong dissuasion effect since the sales volume was not high. Pei Qian, therefore, turned a blind eye to it.

Only a handful of players would get to this last step anyway. Lastly, Pei Qian opened Gou Yan to check the box office for the first day of release for Flying Star Journey. The box office had broken 11 million yuan at noon so the total box office on the first day should be around 24 million yuan.

Pei Qian could not help but frown slightly. It did not seem to be as impressive as he thought it would be?

However, he thought, it was just the first day of the show. There would be a wave of moviegoers watching tomorrow on Sunday. Would it not be easy for the total figures of both days to add up to 60 million yuan? Famous director plus famous actors plus huge investments plus large setups. It was impossible for it not to be a success no matter how someone looked at it. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if it could not hit a box office of 600 to 700 million yuan easily?

Pei Qian remembered that the box office for Tomorrow is Beautiful was less than 8 million yuan in half a day and estimated to be 17 million yuan for the first day of release. Gou Yan estimated the total box office of it to reach 210 million yuan.

Gou Yan’s estimate increased to 230 million yuan when the ratings of Tomorrow is Beautiful increased afterward.

Pei Qian looked at the Flying Star Journey’s estimated box office hurriedly.

“320 million yuan?”

“Why did they estimate such a low box office for such a good movie? I don’t buy it!” Pei Qian almost thought that there was one digit missing in this number.

However, on second thought, the estimates on Gou Yan were estimates after all. They were not necessarily accurate, especially since it was based only on half a day’s box office estimates.

Didn’t they underestimate Tomorrow is Beautiful?

Flying Star Journey, do you best, I’m rooting for you! You must slap Gou Yan in the face tomorrow with a high box office. Let them know what it meant to be stuck up!

Pei Qian looked at the film schedule for tomorrow again. Flying Star Journey’s schedule increased to 32.3% from 31.4%. The increase was not a lot, but it would still have a rather good suppression effect for Tomorrow is Beautiful.

That was also because Tomorrow is Beautiful had been showing for the past 19 days. It would stop showing in 10 days.

What was more, Tomorrow is Beautiful’s competitor for the time slot was not only Flying Star Journey. Many other movies were being released during this period.

The box office of Tomorrow is Beautiful had now fallen to third place. The first two were Flying Star Journey and The Chaser. The latter was also a new movie released just two days ago. Its total box office might not be able to exceed Tomorrow is Beautiful, but it was a new movie with a high ranking after all. Its single-day box office could still win over Tomorrow is Beautiful.

At present, the daily box office of these three movies stood at 20 million yuan, 8 million yuan, and 4 million yuan.

Tomorrow is Beautiful seemed to have entered its twilight due to the constant squeeze of the two new movies.