Chapter 105: The Art of Legitimate Deception

"So many people here?"

Standing in the lobby of the Waterflow Theater, Gray Enric looked at the crowded heads and suddenly felt a bit of claustrophobia creeping in. "This is too overwhelming."

But what he found terrifying wasn't the crowd in the theater, but rather the fact that both screening rooms were showing the same movie, "Blair Witch."

"Gray!"

Hearing someone call his name, Gray turned to see Billy Hofford from Atisen Entertainment.

Pointing at him, Gray said, "You're late! There are too many people here. Luckily, I bought the tickets yesterday, or we would have had to reschedule."

Billy glanced at the surging crowd entering the screening room and said, "Let's go in."

The two had met here not for anything intimate but to witness firsthand the movie they had seen together at the Saint Denis Film Festival.

This film had caused quite a stir, and Billy had naturally taken notice. After watching some promotional videos, he immediately remembered where he had seen it and contacted Gray.

Entering the screening room, the two settled into seats in the corner of the last row.

With so many people, only the first and last rows had a few seats available.

"Have you seen today's box office statistics?" Gray whispered. "This movie grossed $4.12 million on Friday and another $4.43 million yesterday, Saturday."

He held up two fingers. "As far as I know, it's only showing in 200 theaters, and it made $45,000 per theater in two days!"

Billy's heart pounded with excitement. "Ronan Anderson's marketing tactics are shameless!"

Gray nodded. "It's the most shameless marketing I've ever seen." Then he added, "And it's driving people crazy."

The two had long seen through the rumors but had remained silent. In Hollywood, unconventional marketing tactics were common, and insiders could easily discern them. But there was an unspoken rule: unless there was a direct conflict of interest, nobody would speak out.

They were all in the movie business, and someday they might need to use similar methods themselves.

But curiosity and envy were hard to suppress.

Two hundred theaters, $45,000 in single-theater screenings—it was insane!

Moreover, this was only in two days, with Sunday just beginning.

Next week, the film would surely expand its release, and with such successful preview screenings, the expanded release would undoubtedly perform well.

A film that had been ignored at the Saint Denis Film Festival had turned into this under Ronan Anderson's hands. Should they envy or admire it?

Billy felt a twinge of regret. "I thought this movie had potential, but I didn't have the courage to act. If only I had bought it."

Gray chuckled. "Even if you bought it, would you have thought to use this method for marketing?"

Billy Hofford thought of the story of the Blair Witch and the three college students that had caused a stir in society, and fell silent for a moment. Recovering from the blow, he forced himself to say, "I'm a conscientious filmmaker, not as shameless as Ronan Anderson."

"No matter the marketing tactics," Gray said, glancing at the fully packed theater, "the results speak for themselves."

He continued, "Lionsgate made a prediction. This film's North American box office will exceed $50 million."

"Fifty... fifty million dollars!" Billy's mouth twitched, feeling torn apart inside.

The saddest thing in the world was to see a low-budget film become a box office hit right before your eyes, while you just missed out.

Suddenly, Billy remembered something. During the Saint Denis Film Festival, when he called the director of the film, the director said that Ronan Anderson had bought it the day after seeing it.

Did Ronan Anderson already have a marketing plan in mind when he watched the film?

This conclusion left Billy dumbfounded. Was the gap between people really that big? He was a veteran at Atisen Entertainment, yet he couldn't compare to a kid barely in his twenties?

It wasn't his own incompetence; it was that the marketing of "Blair Witch" was a stroke of genius. Ronan Anderson was simply a genius, using innovative methods to package the film.

As the film began, Billy stopped pondering and focused on watching.

There were no studio logos, no credits, not even the names of the director and actors. It seemed like a homemade video.

Reading the opening credits, Gray felt a sense of absurdity. It was too low, claiming the film was found in the woods...

If Ronan Anderson's operation succeeded, what chain reaction would it bring? Gray could already imagine it. Hollywood's baseline was already negative, but Ronan Anderson had dragged it down to triple digits!

The film was still terrible, and Gray's attention soon shifted from the movie to carefully considering this marketing technique.

Meanwhile, Billy watched the film attentively. As it progressed, he sighed deeply. This success wasn't a fluke; Ronan Anderson had clearly re-edited the film. The overall result was more like a DV self-documentary.

No computer effects, no visual violence, just crude footage and an unimaginably simple plot!

Billy glanced at the audience around him: these were the very people who had been deceived.

The internet, real life, and the screen were stages for magic tricks. Viral marketing was the magician's assistant, DV was the prop, the plot was the performance, and the final shot before the DV shut off was the miraculous moment that turned decay into magic.

And all of this was under the control of Ronan Anderson.

Though the film was still terrible, the version re-edited by Ronan Anderson was more than twice as good as before.

After the film ended and Billy and Gray left the theater, they looked back. The crowd flowed back into the theater like a tide.

Was this summer really going to witness a box office miracle?

On Sunday, Ronan received the box office statistics in the early hours of the morning. In the first three days of the weekend, "Blair Witch" had grossed $11.95 million in 200 preview screenings, ranking third at the box office!

The weekend's box office champion belonged to "Eyes Wide Shut," starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, which grossed $21.7 million in 2,411 theaters!

But whether it was the box office champion or runner-up, their single-theater performance was far from matching "Blair Witch."

"Eyes Wide Shut" had a single-theater box office of only $9,000, while "Blair Witch" reached a whopping $59,000!

Expanding the release wouldn't be a problem.

Another data report commissioned from a third party was also placed on Ronan's desk.

Of the audience for "Blair Witch," over 65% went in groups of friends, and nearly 70% of them were under 25.

Ronan was well aware that this was precisely the effect of viral marketing.

Those who paid attention to "Blair Witch" not only spent a lot of time on various information about the movie but also saw this process as an interesting experience to share with friends and family, creating a large viral group infected by "Blair Witch."

Each member of this audience became a transmitter, eagerly sharing various news and activities related to "Blair Witch" within their social circles, further increasing the audience, which naturally led to a box office miracle when the film was released.

Ronan had done extensive research on the film market and had another speculation.

The largest audience for American films was teenagers, living in well-behaved middle-class neighborhoods, yearning for adventure. They were unable to adventure in real life, but they were "cult followers" at heart, worshiping the mystery and unpredictability of nature.

To target this group, traditional methods like TV ads were outdated. The internet was their gathering place.

The internet had tremendous power and potential in film dissemination and marketing!

Creating a wave of viewers through viral marketing, even though the film's quality was average, spoke volumes about "Blair Witch's" reputation.

Ronan also found out that the film received a C+ rating from CinemaScore, a temporary score of 6.4 on IMDb, and a media composite rating of 42.

Many of the deceived audience members either ended up still concerned about the fate of the three 'characters' or left the theater cursing, feeling cheated.

A film purportedly about witches but without a single witch appearing on screen naturally wouldn't receive high ratings from the audience.

But what surprised Ronan was that "Blair Witch" became a darling of critics. After the first weekend, Rotten Tomatoes collected 45 critic reviews with a freshness rating of 90%!

In stark contrast, Rotten Tomatoes' audience popcorn index was only 54%.

This situation was quite strange. Critics almost unanimously praised the film not for its content but for seeing through its operation.

"There is a form of legitimate, popular, and often paid deception in the world, and that is magic. 'Blair Witch' is a part of a magic show in terms of production, performance, planning, and promotion."

This was a short review written by Kenneth Turan, a full-time film critic at the Los Angeles Times. "I give this film four and a half stars, with three and a half stars going to the marketing operation! Whoever devised this marketing plan is definitely a genius!"

With a box office trend of $11.95 million in the first weekend, "Blair Witch" was guaranteed to turn a profit through subsequent revenue. Ronan increased his investment in the film. After 3,000 copies were printed at the printing plant, they were rapidly shipped to theaters across North America via FedEx.

Thus far, apart from a small portion of the promotional funds still held back, Sin Embassy Entertainment's total investment in "Blair Witch" had reached a staggering $16.5 million!