~： Thirty-one-point screening starts

On April 12, 1991, an ordinary Tuesday, Wayne ushered in the first test of his life.

"Happy Memorial Day" will be released today in New York and Los Angeles, with a total of 40 theaters in the two cities, and will be launched in the North American theater market.

There was no glamorous premiere, no overwhelming propaganda, and all the announcements in the early stage of the film were only a promotional video from the Fox Network's evening program.

From the day the film was bought out by Fox, all of this has nothing to do with Wayne. All he can do is wait for Fox's survey data and pray that the film will perform well.

Simeon is a questionnaire surveyor for Twentieth Century Fox. At this moment, he is standing in a theater in West Hollywood, waiting for the first screening of "Happy Day" to start.

The film did not go through large-scale publicity, and Simeon saw only a few movie posters in the theater. The posters simply printed a beautiful woman looking back in panic, followed by a huge grimace mask.

Because he came early, he sat on the chair next to the ticket gate, observing the fans' choices. However, Simeon sat here for half an hour, and there were not many audiences entering the "Happy Memorial Day" screening room.

It was not until the movie started, when the sound of the opening advertisement was heard in the theater, that he greeted the conductor and walked into the corner seat in the last row of the theater, which helped him to observe the audience's reaction.

The movie hall arranged by the theater for "Happy Memorial Day" is not too small. There will be more than 80 spectators when the whole hall is full, but now there are only a few 20 people, including Simeon himself.

Suddenly the lights dimmed, the title of Twentieth Century Fox appeared on the screen, and the men and women in the theater who were chatting quietly began to pay attention to the film.

The film does not have long staff subtitles, nor does it have a long-winded plot foreshadowing, and it directly enters the theme of the story. A few minutes after the opening, the killer with the grimace mask stabbed Terry to death neatly.

"What?"

"ohmygod!!!"

"what happened?"

Hearing the fans' exclamations, Simeon also focused on the film. The plot began to unfold rapidly, and after Terry, the mean girl, died once, she slowly started to find a way to leave the sacrificial cycle.

It was only nearly ten minutes after the movie started, and the heroine died in the early stage, which aroused the interest of everyone in the theater. Then Terry was instantly resurrected. One second she was lying on the ground full of blood, and the next second she appeared in the dormitory where she woke up.

The film did not provide the audience with time to think about the suspense. After the moment when the heroine was killed, she opened her eyes and woke up from the bed in the boys' dormitory.

So the male protagonist said the same thing, Dad called on time, and everything was replicated.

"It's a time loop."

Simeon heard what the audience in the front row said unconsciously. Yes, it was a time loop.

Sitting not far from him was a couple who should be young. The girl was asking her boyfriend in a low voice, "Jerry, you see she went to that party again, can she escape this time?"

"Be quiet, dear, holysxxxt!"

In the film, the person who opened the door for Terry was wearing a grimace mask. Not only the audience in the front row, but almost everyone was startled. They were only relieved when they saw that it was a prank by a friend.

Just when everyone thought it was all right, Teri's doomed fate came again, and she was stabbed to death with **** blood again.

Simeon instantly felt that the film was not simple. He only used some simple techniques to attract the attention of all the audience to the screen.

If you want to survive tomorrow, you must find the murderer. While the heroine died in a fancy way, she ruled out the possible targets of the crime. Since it is impossible to escape death, it is better to let yourself go. The heroine tries different methods to make every day fresh, and even goes out naked, no one will remember anyway.

Almost all of these rebellious and **** actions hit the nerves of young people. He hardly heard any audience scolding this mean girl, and they all followed her to find answers.

In the second half of the film, except for some laughter and panic, no one could be heard chatting in the whole movie hall.

But the cycle and death also come with a price. The damage she suffered on her body accumulated and made her weaker and weaker. If it goes on like this, it is very likely that she will die once and for all.

If it goes on like this, it is very likely that she will die completely once. Fortunately, she finally found out who the real culprit was, and saw her life clearly in these cyclical days.

Seeing this, Simeon slowly walked out of the theater. He didn't need to watch the ending. It must be the happy ending of the heroine Teri and the hero, a classic Hollywood trial ending.

He has to wait at the entrance of the movie hall in advance and collect as many opinions as possible from moviegoers. This is his job. Suddenly there was sparse applause from the audience in the movie hall, and he knew it was because the number of people was too small.

This has already surprised Simeon. He is also half a veteran movie fan, but such a small-scale screening can cause the audience to applaud spontaneously, but too few.

At the end of the film, the audience began to slowly pour out of the theater, all chatting about the story they had just seen.

"The ending is so touching, Terry finally ended the ordeal!"

"The heroine is so beautiful, she is definitely a cheerleader in reality"

"I don't know if there are any masks for sale. I'll ask the theater later, I want to buy one, and go back and scare my roommate."

"Wayne Greenberg's work? I don't think I've heard of this director before?"

Looking at this group of young audiences, whether the ending is touching or bloody, or the vase-style heroine, these are what they like to see, don't they?

Simeon walked up to the three audience members who came out first, shook the questionnaire in his hand, and asked, "Is it alright?"

"Of course, I choose A+, it's rare to see such a great horror film, and it's still so moving." The only girl first put a check mark on the questionnaire. "What about you, choose A+, this movie is worth it."

The friend next to the girl shrugged, took Simeon's questionnaire, and chose A+ as well.

"Okay, thank you."

After taking the questionnaire, he continued to approach the fans who came out. He didn't know how many times he had done this kind of work. Unless they encountered a particularly disgusting film, everyone was basically willing to fill out the questionnaire and express their opinions.

The same work, on this ordinary Wednesday night, appeared in forty theaters. Simeon returned the collected questionnaires to the company and was also reminiscing about this unusual horror film.

A cinema near Century City just finished a screening of "Happy Memorial Day". Wayne took Naomi's hand and walked out of the cinema together.

"Nami, how are you feeling? Are you satisfied with your performance?" Wayne took out the car keys, started the pickup, and asked Naomi who was in the passenger seat.

"I didn't pay attention to watching the movie, I just watched the audience's reaction." Naomi said, her mood was not high. "There are too few people. Did you see that there are only twenty or so audience members, and the theater is empty."

"It's normal, Nami, today is not a day off, it's only Wednesday, and there are not many fans who go out to watch movies."

Originally it was a film made by a novice director, and there were no famous actors, so there would definitely not be many people who choose this kind of niche.

"But it's finally in the theater for the screening, isn't it? It'll get better, Nami. You'll gain some fame through the role of Terry." Seeing that she was in a low mood, Wayne comforted her.

"Of course, I hope we can all be famous because of the film."

If it is said that Naomi may have some fame because of this, he still believes it, but forget it himself.

No matter when the director is, he is only a behind-the-scenes type of work. It is still in the early 1990s, and the director has not yet come to the foreground and has his own fan group.

First sent Naomi back to the apartment and refused her invitation. Wayne returned to his room and continued to start writing the script, waiting for the statistical news.

At 11 o'clock in the evening, he received a call from 20th Century Fox, explaining various data to him in detail.

Because there are only two cities and 40 theaters are showing the relationship, all the first-day statistics of "Happy Memorial Day" have been released.

The average number of people attending a single show is 19. Excluding package members, the average box office per show is 90 US dollars. The average number of single-seat theaters is 8, and the total box office on the first day is 28,800 US dollars.

There is no room for comparison with the popular blockbuster films of later generations that often cost $15,000 in a single pavilion, this result can only be said to be an extreme failure.

Sighing lightly, Wayne packed his wallet and went down the apartment building, walking towards the bar in the middle of the street. It was getting a little hot in the Los Angeles area in April, and despite the constant breeze on the road, he was still sweating when he entered the bar.

"Joey, give me a big glass of beer." He hasn't been here for a while, and since he started preparing for the movie, he has rarely been in a completely relaxed mood.

Joey took a full glass of beer, put it in front of Wayne, picked up the money on the bar, and asked casually, "Hey, Wayne, the movie you heard about is showing?"

"You have very well-informed information, how do you know?" After taking a sip of cold beer, he asked the other person curiously.

"This is Hollywood, Wayne." Joey took a large cloth, wiped his glass vigorously, pointed to the dance floor and continued: "From there, you can hear everything, and no one knows if they will change tomorrow. Be a movie star."

"Okay Joey, I hope you can go to the cinema sometime and support my career. Maybe tomorrow I can become a big Hollywood director."

Listening to Wayne's sarcastic words, Joey put down the cup in his hand and said, "I saw you coming to Los Angeles to go to school a few years ago. I didn't expect to have your own work so soon. Don't worry, Wayne, I will definitely mobilize the people around me. Friends, let's go to the cinema to watch your movie together."

Hearing the other party's words, he woke up a little bit. Yes, although the box office on the first day was not ideal, he believed that fans who had seen the film would definitely bring their friends to watch "Happy Memorial Day" together. How terrible is the power of legend.

After all, the data from the questionnaire cannot be deceived!