Chapter 51: Shall I Treat You to Spicy Hot Pot? [Seeking Monthly Tickets!]

After a short while, Tony Leung, Jiang Wen, and Sharla Cheung, along with Michael Hui—who was practically ready to play a corpse—had all completed their blockings, rehearsals, and preparations.

Behind the monitor, Boss Xiang, Big Brother Wang, and the young translator were still excitedly discussing how monumental the impact of a "One More Ticket" campaign would be.

This truly warranted sending representatives to negotiate with every single cinema chain across the length and breadth of China.

Once those deals were struck, it would act as a massive boon to the box office earnings of dozens of films.

That was far more dashing than a simple twenty percent discount. The intoxicating thrill of winning a prize, coupled with the joy of dragging a friend along to watch a magnificent blockbuster, carried an entirely different psychological weight.

Tsingtao Beer had leveraged the "One More Bottle" promotion in the 1990s to successfully crack open the southern market.

Who could say they wouldn't want a rewatch after finishing the film?

They could pass it on to someone else; cinemas everywhere would only recognize the "One More Ticket," and holding that winning ticket meant trading it in for a brand-new one... Who knows? Some people might watch a movie four or five times, caught in a continuous loop of winning.

If photos of these tickets were posted online to show off on microblogs, it would inevitably ignite people's vanity, competitive drive, and desire to show off.

Never mind how explosive Michelle Lee's nationwide popularity after the release of *My Love from the Star* had been in driving the growth of microblogging; pairing "One More Ticket" with *The Piano Tuner* alone could easily magnetize tens of millions of users!

To take a film to such heights...

Li Wenyu coughed twice. "Boss Xiang, Boss Wang, Sister Min and the others are all ready. Let's officially start shooting. May this day's filming go smoothly and everything turn out auspiciously."

"*The Piano Tuner* is packed with veteran acting heavyweights. If shooting goes smoothly, we can wrap up principal photography in a month. Whether we can smash summer blockbuster records with higher numbers than *The Shallows*, and whether we can push mainland box office earnings past 150 million RMB..."

"All depends on whether everyone can execute this 'One More Ticket' campaign properly. Today is March 12th. What do you all think?"

The production preparation for *My Love from the Star* had been underway for over half a year. He had left assistant directors behind to handle the groundwork, with Ning Hao and Xiao Yang leading the recruitment teams.

If *The Piano Tuner* raked in over 200 million RMB at the mainland box office, a twenty percent discount still yielded a remarkably high actual profit. Li Wenyu mentally estimated it would definitely surpass what he had spoken aloud.

Boss Xiang was grinning from ear to ear, unable to close his mouth. "We must pull out all the stops to make this campaign a total success. Once we take off, any other films trailing behind *The Piano Tuner* can come in and lap up the gravy."

He intended to have China Star finish filming a movie in advance and keep it on standby. The moment *The Piano Tuner* box office momentum softened and theater chains began cutting down its screenings, they would step right in to harvest the leftovers.

Boss Wang felt the same way. "Director Li, rest assured. I'll head back to Beijing tomorrow to visit China Film Group, and then organize a team to run all over the country. We'll also invite representatives from the major film studios to join in."

Huayi Brothers could likewise produce one or two films to wait in the wings for the subsequent spillover.

With profits this rich, those leftovers could easily translate to tens of millions in box office revenue!

It all hinged on whether they could seize this opportunity.

Li Wenyu nodded and said no more, signaling for the shoot to begin.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the film camera began to roll. The shot captured Tony Leung walking through the door, being led by Sharla Cheung to the piano, and sitting down to play.

Brother Leung only performed the physical actions; the actual music would naturally be handled by professionals. The ensuing sequence of performances was utterly brilliant—a clean take on the first try!

After Li Wenyu called cut, he started applauding. "Brother Leung and Brother Wen truly live up to their reputations as seasoned Best Actors. Sister Min was just a hair weaker, but this take is of top-tier performance quality. Let's take a five-minute break and shoot a safety take."

The miniature film set instantly erupted into applause.

Tony Leung and the others relaxed. Jiang Wen walked over, looking curious. "Director Li, Boss Wang, what were you guys discussing just now that had you all so happy?"

Tony Leung and Sharla Cheung also crowded around to see what the excitement was about.

With those words, everyone's gaze shifted back to Li Wenyu.

Fan Bingbing giggled charmingly. "Brother Yu devised a 'One More Ticket' concept to plan the post-release marketing for *The Piano Tuner*. It's just like a scratch card."

"Though it's the exact same principle as Tsingtao Beer's 'One More Bottle,' nobody had ever thought of applying it to cinema chains before..."

Fan Bingbing spoke in Mandarin, leaving even Jiang Wen profoundly stunned. You could actually play it this way? Come to think of it, why not? If it worked for beer, it could certainly work for movie tickets.

He quickly grasped the distinction: a twenty percent probability of winning a free ticket to the next screening or the one after that was fundamentally different in nature from a mere discount.

Those who understood were completely bewildered and awestruck, continuing to eye Li Wenyu as if he were some kind of otherworldly genius.

Carman Lee began popularizing the concept to those who only understood Cantonese.

As they listened, applause began to ripple across the entire set—from cast to crew—swelling everywhere. This wave of applause was even more fervent than the one for Tony Leung, Jiang Wen, and Sharla Cheung nailing their scene in a single take.

Everyone understood that as long as the film's consistent quality remained high and guaranteed, whether in Hong Kong or the mainland, a massive wave of high-box-office cinema fever was about to sweep the region.

How far it could go ultimately depended on the film's quality and craftsmanship.

Li Wenyu waited a moment before cutting through the crowd's chatter. "Alright, this is something that will take months to build and brew. It's enough that we had our moment of joy. Brother Leung, Brother Wen, Sister Min, shall we continue?"

Continue!

It was another one-take wonder; the actors were all in stellar form.

Li Wenyu spent the entire day filming without encountering more than a handful of interrupted takes, leaving both Fan Bingbing and Carman Lee secretly traumatized.

However, the moment Fan Bingbing recalled how the acting chops beaten into her by old Li made her feel like she had undergone a complete reincarnation, she snapped back to life and eagerly joined the ranks of those looking down on Carman Lee. After all, she was now a graduate thoroughly enlightened by her "big elephant."

...

A little past midnight, Fan Bingbing was already fast asleep.

Li Wenyu sat in front of his computer, browsing through the notes and data compiled by Xiao Hu and several hired researchers over nearly two months of chatting with various Indians to gain an in-depth understanding of India.

These had long since been uploaded by Xiao Hu to the internet, forming digital archives.

Just as he finished reading another document and stood up to pour some tea, his phone rang. It was a text message from Michelle Lee.

"A-Yu, you absolute madman. Can you really pull off marketing through a 'One More Ticket' campaign? It's raining, and I'm practically soaked through. Are you still alive?"

Li Wenyu: "!!!"

He and Michelle Lee had only been apart for three days, ever since he had showered her with billions in hot money last time.

After his fitness level surged past 150, he discovered that out of the twenty-four hours in a day, he only needed to sleep for a couple of hours, while his mind and body remained in peak condition for the rest of the time.

Li Wenyu sent a reply: "Should I invite you over for some spicy hot pot?"

Michelle Lee replied two minutes later: "What spicy hot pot?! I'm treating you to champagne and abalone seafood."

Regardless of what Li Wenyu thought of the idea, true genius was genuinely intoxicating.

At that evening's opening banquet, Leslie Cheung, Andy Lau, and Stephen Chow—having caught wind of the news—had all rushed over midway through, and everyone was gathered around discussing it heatedly.

What about confidentiality? Could outsiders intercept and steal the idea?

As negotiations were conducted with one cinema chain and small-town theater after another across the Chinese mainland, keeping it entirely under wraps was impossible. The moment the news broke wide open and triggered nationwide discussions, it would serve as extraordinary publicity for *The Piano Tuner*.

The nationwide buzz generated by *The Piano Tuner*'s "One More Ticket" campaign would be on par with the scale of the Asian Pageant.

Countless people born in the 1980s still remembered the "One More Bottle" craze whipped up by Master Kong around 2009. In reality, Tsingtao Beer had already kicked off the trend back in the 1990s, and the practice had ended around the year 2000.

That was because frontline retailers like supermarkets and convenience stores refused to keep cooperating, finding the hassle unprofitable for them.

When you had to shell out hard cash while constantly giving away free beer, sacrificing so much profit year after year meant even Tsingtao Beer couldn't sustain it indefinitely.

Movie tickets in a "One More Ticket" campaign were completely different!!

Getting people through the doors with those tickets actually increased profits for individual cinemas on soda, cola, melon seeds, and popcorn!

Then there was the issue of anti-counterfeiting. Stamping "One More Bottle" onto a Tsingtao beer cap? Forgery was easy and the work wasn't hard.

If you gave away 10 million bottles a year, the fake caps collected back from supermarkets and convenience stores might reach 3 million...

Movie tickets, however, were individually produced by provincial, municipal, and county-level cinemas themselves.

The means of verifying ticket authenticity remained strictly in the hands of the cinemas themselves, unlike Tsingtao Beer, which had to blindly collect bottle caps in bulk from supermarkets and convenience stores nationwide—retail outlets that lacked adequate anti-counterfeiting verification technology.

Li Wenyu was even planning to consult Wahaha to see if they wanted to ignite a "One More Bottle" war within the beverage industry to help propel Wahaha to dominance.

He wanted to utilize physical Wahaha AD Calcium Milk, Future Cola, purified water, and tea beverages distributed across every corner of China to drive the "One More Ticket" and "One More Bottle" concepts into thousands of households nationwide.

As a piece of physical-world viral marketing, Wahaha needed its drinks to conquer the market, and he could readily provide the convenience of celebrity endorsements!

He would call Boss Zong tomorrow to discuss it in detail. Surely, his Future Cola would also love to defeat Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola.

(PS: Seeking monthly votes~)