Chapter 223: The First to Eat the Crab

Sitting in his seat, Tang Ran took Zhou Ming's hand and said, 'Brother Ming, don't worry, I believe this is just an unexpected situation. After all, it's still early, and I heard that generally speaking, the number of people watching movies peaks at around 7 or 8 o'clock in the evening.'

Zhou Ming took Tang Ran's hand in his other hand: 'Don't worry, Ran. This situation is within my expectations. Making an animated film in 20 days and spending $200,000 on promotion will get people into the cinema. I'm already very satisfied. The key now is whether they will recommend it to their friends after leaving the cinema.'

'This is like eating crabs. Only when someone eats crabs and tells others that they are delicious, then there is a chance of promoting them. Otherwise, it is just for one's own entertainment,' said Zhou Ming.

Tang Ran folded her hands together and said, 'I believe this animated film will surely awaken their innocence!'

As for Tang Ran's prayer, Zhou Ming could only shrug his shoulders and smile. While they were chatting, time passed quickly. It was time for the movie to start. Zhou Ming subconsciously glanced around the audience again. The number of people was still not high. There were less than twenty people in this small screening room.

I hope Steve Jobs is still the Steve Jobs who created the iPad!

Zhou Ming thought to himself, and looked at the big screen with the others. Like any other movie, at the beginning of the movie, the logos of Pixar Animation Studios and Disney appeared first, followed by the actual movie.

First appears in the camera is a home full of all kinds of toys, then a child holding these toys reenacts a robbery, and finally Sheriff Woody comes out and puts the robbers in jail in their beds.

This is was just the opening sequence of a movie before the credits, but when he saw this scene, Zhou Ming could hear a burst of light laughter coming from the cinema. Obviously, this opening sequence had triggered their most innocent memories. After all, when we were little, we all fantasised about many things through our toys. Of course, more ∞∠∞∠, people would fantasise that they were the sheriff in uniform who saved the beauty by defeating the bad guys.

Then when the even more handsome and tall Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear appeared, shouting that he was a peacekeeper from another galaxy, that he had come to save the Earth, etc., all these silly things that made Sheriff Woody crazy, and they made the cinema hall full of laughter. And when Buzz Lightyear accidentally fell out of the window, everyone gasped again.

Later the Sheriff and the Space Ranger met at the gas station, and they tried to find a way to get home. On the way, the Sheriff was constantly punched in the face. The transition between that kind of thrilling and Chaplin-style comedy made people laugh and scream with joy again. When the Airborne sees himself on TV, he still can't believe that he is a toy, and he is still obsessed with flying. In the end, he breaks his hand, which undoubtedly has a kind of Hamlet-style black humor.

Finally On Christmas Day, the film finally ends as the toys in the room continue to watch the progress of their owner unpacking the new toys. The Pixar and Disney logos also return to the big screen once again.

At this time , when the audience came back to their senses, there was a flurry of emotion and discussion. After all, they were the first people to see Toy Story, which means they are the people who believe most strongly that toys have souls.

Zhou Ming and Tang Ran still sat in their seats, trying hard to listen to what the audience was saying. Some of them exclaimed, 'My God, although this is just an animated film, it has made me believe even more that toys do have souls, otherwise the toys in my house wouldn't change positions every day!'

Some of them exclaimed: 'But seriously, this cartoon seems to be too short, it's not even enjoyable. I feel like Woody the little guy really looks like me, the same smart and able to charm the girls!'

Some some people even philosophised: 'My god, Astro Boy is really pitiful. He has always believed that he is destined to be a great hero who will save the earth, but he never expected that he is also a mass-produced plastic toy. At that moment, I almost cried for him because it reminded me of myself. I was once also unbeatable, but now I have also become an idiot who goes to and from work every day at three o'clock. That's really sad!'

These words gave Zhou Ming a sigh of relief, because these comments were very favourable to the movie, which meant that after they left, they would likely recommend Toy Story to their friends.

As the audience left one by one, Zhou Ming and Tang Ran also left.

On the way home, Tang Ran said to Zhou Ming, 'Brother Ming, do you want me to buy some storybooks tonight and come back to tell you stories? It is said that this can also help you fall asleep better.'

Zhou Ming smiled and replied, 'Forget it. I think it's just an animated movie, which is not exciting enough to keep me awake. Just wait until tomorrow morning to see the box office statistics.'

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and then said, 'But Ranran, I think our computer technology business should be able to make it to the cinema circuit, because this movie made me feel that they are relying on manual counting every day, which is too troublesome. If they change to a system where every ticket sold is recorded immediately, they can calculate real-time box office statistics at any time.'

Tang Ran felt a sudden lightbulb moment, and she suddenly realised, 'This is really a good solution, I'm sure they'll agree to it. Ming, you're really amazing!'

Zhou Ming were having a lively conversation in the car. The result was that after they had both returned home, Ming had to tell Ran a long story before she fell asleep.

Although Toy Story is an animated film aimed at teenagers, and they only had two screenings in the afternoon, but the vote counting was not completed until noon the next day.

'Zhou Ming, I need to tell you something very bad. The average attendance rate for yesterday's Toy Story screening was only 9%, which is a very poor result. Therefore, the company has decided to reduce the number of screenings even further. Otherwise, if the box office is not satisfactory, both the distributor and the cinema chain will lose money.

At noon , after the box office for the first day of the cinema release was calculated, Disney's distribution manager, Eg, called Zhou Ming.

From the data data, Zhou Ming quickly calculated that although he could not know the exact amount for each cinema, a rough estimate would not exceed 10,000 US . According to the contract he signed with Disney before, if the first week's box office does not exceed 100,000 US dollars, then the subsequent screening plan must be rescheduled.

Zhou Ming could understand that this so-called rearrangement meant further reducing the screening plan, and he knew that they had only had 30 cinemas for the initial screenings.

Thinking about this, Zhou Ming said to Eiger, 'This is only the first day of the preview, I don't think you need to be in such a hurry.'

Eiger remained calm: 'I'm sorry, I just wanted to give you a heads-up, after all, it's a preview, but it can also reflect the box office situation to a large extent.'

'Then Let's talk again when the real box office comes out.'

Zhou Ming hung up after leaving Eg with these words, but not long after, Zhou Ming's phone rang again, only this time it was not Eg calling, but Jobs.

'Zhou Mr. Zhou Ming, I'm very sorry about the box office situation. If Disney has any requests in the future, please let me know, I will definitely do my best to help!' Jobs said.

From Jobs' words show that he already knew the results of yesterday's Toy Story preview. The reason he made the call was that, on the one hand, he didn't quite believe the results, and more was that he felt a bit sorry for Ming Chow, which is why he wanted to help him recoup his losses as much as possible by keeping the preview in the cinema.

As for Steve Jobs' idea, Zhou Ming helplessly shook his head and said, 'You are Steve Jobs, not just anyone, can you have a little faith in yourself? Today is just a preview of our film, a kind of warm-up for the market. The real big event is still to come!'

'It's still Mr. Zhou Ming who has so much confidence...'

Without waiting for Steve Jobs finished speaking, and Ming Zhou said, 'I guess you could say I have blind confidence. I don't know why you have no confidence in your own work, Steve Jobs, but I have great confidence in my investment. I know I'll make a fortune on this one!'

The phone Jobs was stunned. He never expected Ming to be so confident, but at the same time, he felt that Ming was very much like himself when he was young, full of confidence and daring to do anything.

Time Three days passed quickly, and the day of the official Toy Story release soon arrived. Compared to the previous preview, Ming specially prepared a Toy Story premiere. Not only did all the creative staff attend, but even Steve also came to attend. At the suggestion of a colleague, the premiere was also organised as a kind of drama performance, with actors performing a drama as a warm-up before the film started.

Zhou Ming and Tang Ran naturally came to the cinema as well. As Toy Story time drew near, Zhou Ming and Tang Lin walked into the cinema hall. Tang Lin excitedly told Zhou Ming, 'Zhou Ming, look at all the people here today. It seems that the viral publicity you mentioned last time was very effective!'

Following Tang Ran's words, Zhou Ming looked around the cinema and sure enough, the cinema was very crowded today, almost filling half the hall.

But even so, Zhou Ming still dared not let his guard down, just waiting for the final box office statistics tomorrow.