Another 40% of the screenings went to The Record of Upholding Integrity, a big-budget film that cost 500 million and was set to be released during the Golden Week holiday.

Ji Pan’s fans who had come to the cinema for a company outing helped each other out as they walked out of the theatre. They were not really scared; it was just very late, and they had lost too much energy after watching the movie.

“Did I scream while watching the movie?” one fan asked.

“I don’t think so. I didn’t hear you,” another replied.

“Hmm, then we were pretty brave.” The group quietly cheered themselves.

Lao Cai, who had failed to get a ticket and overheard their conversation, was left speechless.

It was not that this group had not screamed. They had screamed together every single time. Thanks to the group effect, each person seemed unable to hear their own screams and only heard everyone else’s.

Their conversation made Lao Cai notice something else—the movie’s limits.

When filming the movie, the director seemed to have a very good understanding of what ordinary people could handle. He had carefully kept the frightening scenes at just the right level: scary and thrilling, but not so intense that people could not take it.

And no matter how frightening the movie was, it rarely used disgusting visual effects to make people feel afraid. It was clearly a horror movie, yet most of the time, the actors’ faces looked beautiful. Especially Qi Wanlian. Whenever she harmed someone, she would show an innocent expression, making the audience unable to resist being drawn to the actress’s stunning face even while screaming. It was hard to tell whether they were frightened or simply admiring her.

For most horror films, when you are scared, simply closing your eyes can greatly reduce your fear. But this movie was different. If the audience closed their eyes and listened to the music and sound effects in the darkness, they would feel as though ghosts were right beside them. But if they opened their eyes and stared at the actors’ faces on the screen without looking away, they would instead be captivated by the powerful ghost and develop the illusion that dying just like this and staying with her forever would not be so bad.

Yet it was precisely thoughts like these that made the audience reflect after the movie ended: What was I just thinking? Could I really have been bewitched by a ghost? Damn, the actors in this movie couldn’t really be ghosts, could they?

Rather than relying on sensory stimulation, the movie appealed to the fear and confusion of the mind. Lao Cai had not seen a horror film like this in many years.

He really wanted to watch it again as soon as possible, but unfortunately, the cinema had no more screenings scheduled.

After thinking about it, Lao Cai posted an update online: “Can’t the cinemas schedule screenings of Fallen Home during the day? Seeing the pitch-black sky outside as soon as you leave the cinema is really too unfriendly to the audience! Don’t ask me anything. I need a new pair of pants right now. [Dog-head emoji]”

Even though it was already two in the morning, many fans who stayed up late were still waiting for Lao Cai to come out and tear the movie apart. They never expected that this time Lao Cai would not criticize the movie, but the cinema instead!

“Lao Cai, although your screams are very cathartic, when did you really become this bad? A Chinese horror movie actually scared you this badly?”

“Why do you need a new pair of pants? Wouldn’t it be cooler if they were a little wet? [Dog-head emoji]”

“Lao Cai, Lao Cai, judging from what you said, does that mean the movie was actually really good?”

Lao Cai then posted another comment under his update: “I was so absorbed in the movie tonight that I forgot to take notes. I’ll watch it again tomorrow and make a video afterward. If you’re brave enough and willing to stay up late, I recommend the midnight screening. It’s especially intense and satisfying!”

While Lao Cai was recommending the movie to his fans, a trending topic quietly climbed the rankings.

#WhyAreHorrorMoviesScheduledForMidnight#

This hashtag had originally been created by Ji Pan’s fans who had come to the cinema for their company outing. After finally making their way home in pairs, they found themselves unable to sleep once they got into bed. Their minds kept returning to the movie, and the more they thought about it, the more bewitched they became. They felt as though they had been enchanted by the ghosts in the movie, so they contacted some friends who were also still awake and created this hashtag, chatting under it.

“Before this, Panpan praised Qi Wanlian to the skies. I thought someone had asked him to do it, but now I understand. Qi Wanlian really is mesmerizing.”

“Yes, I kind of understand why the movie is called Fallen Home. In the final scene, when Qi Wanlian stood together with the three humans who would remain in the villa forever, I actually thought it looked kind of beautiful.”

“Stop, stop! How can you have such morally twisted thoughts? This movie is promoting truth, goodness, and beauty. Of the four people, only kind-hearted Xiao Luo made it out of Fallen Home alive. It is telling everyone not to be scumbags, not to bully others, and to be good people!”

“I think Shen Leshan is so handsome. He gave up so much for Qi Wanlian. Her youthful beauty and appearance were bought with the countless times he suffered the agony of having his flesh peeled away. He was even willing to descend into the demonic path for her. Ah! He loves her so much!”

“Everyone, take a look at what hashtag we’re chatting under. Sisters, stand up and protest against the cinemas! Horror movies cannot be watched in the middle of the night! Can they show it at noon instead? I keep feeling like Qi Wanlian is coming to find me. The scariest part is that when she waves at me, I actually want to go with her. Sob, sob.”

There were even people who quietly slipped into the hashtag to praise Pang Xinhao: “I originally came here to criticize Pang Xinhao, but I ended up getting proven wrong. I switched to an alt account and secretly joined the group to praise him.”

After fermenting for an entire night, early the next morning, #WhyAreHorrorMoviesScheduledForMidnight# quietly climbed to the top of the trending searches. There were no major hot topics that day, and the top celebrities who normally dominated the trending list had not gotten up yet, giving the hashtag a chance to take first place.

The hashtag was naturally eye-catching. Many random users clicked on it and saw everyone praising a recently released horror movie, so they casually searched for the film.

Those who searched on short-video platforms found the short video uploaded by Zhong Jiudao. After watching it from beginning to end, they felt that, judging from this unique promotional approach alone, the movie seemed worth seeing.

Many people searched for the screening times on ticketing platforms and then decided not to go. Fortunately, the next day was Saturday. Some people who had received strong recommendations from friends and those who had Saturday off still bought tickets, causing the attendance rate on the second day to be even higher than on the first.

Cinemas would adjust their screening schedules according to the box office. When they saw that the movie’s box office had continued to rise instead of falling after two days of screenings, and that many people who had watched it on Friday night had gone to the cinemas during the day to protest, saying that scheduling a horror movie at midnight was too inhumane, some cinemas appropriately added two more screenings on Sunday.

The new screenings were mainly scheduled for 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. They did not take up the afternoon and evening prime-time slots or the largest theatres. And since many people enjoyed watching horror movies in the middle of the night for the thrill, the original midnight screenings were not cancelled. More choices were simply added.

Although the new screenings were not during prime time, because it was the weekend, the movie’s attendance rate that day still reached 40%.

By this point, more and more people had seen the movie, and recommendation videos from many film and television video creators were gradually being released.

After the movie’s first day of screenings, Zhong Jiudao uploaded a short 30-second trailer that same night. It included edited clips of the human actors running wildly toward the camera and the ghost actors watching from the shadows. Combined with the extremely powerful music composed by Jiang Fen, the entire trailer was highly impactful.

The trailer could be downloaded, and after getting permission from the official account, many video creators directly used the trailer, music, and posters to make their own videos.

Lao Cai’s Horror Shock: “For all these years, I’ve been making commentary videos about classic horror movies and criticizing Chinese horror films. That doesn’t mean I hate Chinese horror films. Most of my criticism comes from my frustration at seeing them fail to live up to their potential. Are Chinese horror films really getting worse because they aren’t allowed to show ghosts? That’s what I used to believe, but Fallen Home changed my mind. Even if the blood had been changed to black, even if they had added an ending where everything was Xiao Luo’s hallucination, I would still consider this an excellent film made under the compromises required by policy. Because it isn’t filled with fake silicone faces, nor does it deliberately show off large breasts and swimsuits just to attract viewers. It has only dedicated actors and a dedicated creative team.”

Ling Ling Ling Ling Watches Dramas: “Anyone who has seen the movie knows that Fallen Home is a low-budget film, so low-budget that every scene was created using a single house as the setting. Many of the props can even be found in various online movies, and there isn’t a single famous actor. The director and producer are also completely unknown. Yet it was precisely this kind of low-budget film that allowed me to see how much care the creative team had put into it. Excellent actors, music that strikes straight at the heart, special effects with no trace of PS (NT: litt. Photoshop, meaning no digital retouching), and smooth editing—the creative team spent every penny where it mattered most. I hope everyone can put aside their prejudice against Chinese horror films and, when you have time, go watch this movie with some friends during the day (definitely don’t go alone). When you come back, I want you all to praise it!”

Happy Watch Watch Watch: “Everyone has been praising the film’s production and frightening atmosphere, but I have a different perspective. I want to praise the love story in it. It’s hard to believe, but I was actually moved by the love between two evil ghosts. Shen Leshan and Qi Wanlian are locked together forever; I’ve thrown the key into the villa, so don’t even think about opening it, even if you die!”

Straightforward Film Talk: “Fallen Home is the first horror film released after the new rules for thriller and suspense films were introduced. It is a pioneer in the new journey of Chinese horror films. I hope that under its leadership, more and better thriller and suspense films will emerge.”

The creative team behind Fallen Home had been insanely busy these past few days. From the very first day, positive reviews online had been pouring in without stopping. Zhong Jiudao and Luo Huai spent both day and night happily reading the comments. Zhong Jiudao slacked off on set, while Luo Huai would rush to the car to check his phone and read the comments as soon as he finished filming.

On the first day, with only midnight screenings available, the day’s box office still reached six million. Zhong Jiudao calculated his investment and discovered that the first day’s box office alone had already covered his costs!

However, six million was only the beginning.

The second day was Saturday, and more people went to see the movie that night. The daily box office reached nine million.

On the third day, Sunday, the cinemas added more screenings. With the attendance rate exceeding 40%, the daily box office reached thirty million.

On the fourth day, after calculating the attendance rate, the cinemas increased the number of screenings again. Fallen Home even got some prime-time screenings. Despite it being Monday, the box office still reached as much as fifty million.

On the fifth day, Zhong Jiudao received a call from the cinemas. The theatre chain wanted him to provide more high-resolution poster images and permission to produce merchandise, because the posters displayed in the cinemas had already been secretly torn down by audience members. Quite a few enthusiastic viewers had also gone to the ticket counters asking to buy posters and merchandise.

That same day, the theatre chain contacted Zhong Jiudao again. Advertisers wanted to run advertisements before the movie, so they needed to discuss how the advertising revenue would be divided with the investor.

Because Fallen Home had been too obscure at first, the cinemas had never discussed merchandise or advertising fees with Zhong Jiudao. All these rights were now held by Jiudao Film and Television Entertainment Company, so they could negotiate a fairly favourable revenue split with the theater chains.

On the evening of the fifth day, before the advertising and merchandise issues had even been settled, various media outlets came looking for Zhong Jiudao, asking to interview the creative team and the main actors.

Before Zhong Jiudao had even arranged the interview schedule, several advertisers contacted the company’s nominal person in charge, Qian Duoqun, hoping to have Qi Wanlian and Fu Yue endorse their products, mainly skincare products and clothing. These were short-term endorsements. The fees were not particularly high, but for newcomers, they were still quite substantial.

On the sixth day, as soon as Zhong Jiudao got up, he saw countless missed calls and friend requests from strangers. Among them were even several producers of variety shows, inviting the actors from Fallen Home to appear on various programs.

That same day, the short-video platform Zhong Jiudao was on contacted him, hoping that he could arrange an online livestream in the near future with the main cast of Fallen Home. Many advertisers would be coming to invest and sponsor the livestream.

He politely turned down many of the invitations before finally having time to check the previous day’s box office. On its fifth day of release, Fallen Home had made sixty million.

At this point, after five days in cinemas, Fallen Home had earned a total box office of 150 million. As its sole investor, Zhong Jiudao could take at least 50 million, not even counting his share of the advertising and merchandise revenue.

And this was still far from over, because on the seventh day of its release, the Golden Week holiday would begin. During this Golden Week, 40% of the cinemas’ screening allocation was given to Fallen Home.

Another 40% of the screening allocation went to another big-budget film, The Record of Upholding Integrity, which was scheduled to be released during the Golden Week holiday (NT: long public-holiday period early October) and had a budget of 500 million.

It was the film that the Zhong family had invested a huge amount of money in.

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The author has something to say:

Content creator: “Every penny invested in Fallen Home was spent where it mattered most!”

The truth: “The excellent actors, music that strikes straight at the heart, special effects with no trace of PS, and smooth editing were all completely free.”

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Question: What was the most expensive part of the entire movie?

Zhong Jiudao: “Rent, food, and the actors’ hush-money… ahem, consolation bonuses.”

 

Translator : DarNan