As soon as nine o'clock arrived, the cinema opened on time.
It's only March now, neither the summer vacation nor the Christmas or New Year season.
Plus today is Friday, a workday.
Normally, there aren't too many customers early in the morning.
But this is usually the case.
Fate fans who had been holding back for a whole year burst out with endless enthusiasm at this moment.
Especially those audiences who were unable to get tickets for the premiere preview and could not watch the midnight show for various reasons.
Their anticipation for "Purgatory's Flames" has reached an uncontrollable level, and they can no longer wait.
Therefore, as soon as the main door of the cinema opened, nearly a hundred viewers rushed into the theater.
Most of these people are young people. They don't even read the introductions about the films in the theater, but go directly to the ticket office to buy tickets.
They have been waiting for this moment for a whole year.
Among these viewers, many wanted to have the most perfect movie-watching experience, and even cut off contact with the outside world after taking a look at the first round of reviews of a movie and finding that the quality was OK.
In 2008, it was not like in 2010 when you needed to shut down your computer and uninstall WX to block spoilers.
All-round protection is needed, but even so, there will still be many unintentional spoilers.
Catch those who are spoiled off guard.
"The earliest game, 'Purgatory Flame'."
"I want tickets for the first show of 'Purgatory's Flames'!"
Similar voices were heard one after another, as if all the audience came to see FZ's next movie which was released in a wide release today.
Because at this time the audience is in a hurry to buy tickets to watch the movie, no one is interested in movie-related products.
Chen Gong, who had no job, leaned on the counter, looking at the corridor in front of him with boredom.
In order to allow the audience to see the surrounding shops of the cinema immediately after watching the movie, the main entrance of the shop is designed to face the corridor of the entrance and exit of the theater.
This makes it convenient for Chen Gong to observe the number of people entering different theaters.
It seemed that there were only two pitiful audience members for the first show of "10,000 BC" in the morning.
Chen Gong believed that with this number of people, the screening would definitely lose money.
This epic blockbuster produced by disaster film director Roland Emmerich was a huge dud.
Fortunately, Warner has made a lot of money from the Harry Potter series in the past two years, otherwise it would have been bleeding from this level of losses.
In comparison, Horton Hears a Who is a bit better.
Even though this is a cartoon, there were 10 viewers at the first show.
However, it seems that 6 of them are family groups watching the movie, mainly to accompany their children.
Anyway, seeing the two fathers looking back every few steps at the poster at the door, Chen Gong believed that they wanted to watch "Purgatory's Flame" more.
"Invasion," this low-budget, R-rated, heavy-taste movie has no audience so far and it is estimated that it will not be shown.
However, I think this movie should not lose money. After all, the profit model of R-rated movies has long been determined.
It will be in theaters for two weeks, and then make money from offline DVDs.
Although I am not a professional movie box office statistician, I have worked in the cinema for a long time.
Chen Gong had already summed up some rules a long time ago, and he believed that his observations were definitely more accurate than those of most market researchers.
As for "Purgatory Flame"...
Anyway, except for the 12 viewers mentioned above, everyone else came for this movie.
Just calculate the specific number of people who came to the cinema this morning, and then subtract 12.
Anyway, Chen Gong himself didn't count.
There are too many people to count.
As an internal staff member, Chen Gong knew it very well.
Assuming a normal single-ticket price, the break-even point for screenings in a small cinema is six viewers.
There are 11 large-scale cinemas, and the number of special cinemas depends on the equipment used and the specific ticket prices.
Obviously, the first run of screenings in cinemas must have made money.
And the biggest contributor is definitely "Purgatory Fire".
Chen Gong heard that his own cinema was planning to undergo a large-scale renovation during the off-season in the second half of this year.
Not only will the most popular IMAX theaters be added, but 3D playback equipment will also be added to several ordinary theaters.
This renovation seems to be a deep collaboration between Jiufeng Entertainment and AMC Cinemas.
The purpose is to promote the 3D movie craze which has the potential to be a big hit.
"But will there really be such a boom?"
Chen Gong was not very sure. After all, 3D movies had existed before, but they had never shaken the status of 2D movies.
A colleague who was selling popcorn on the other side saw Chen Gong in a daze, so he asked, "Chen, you haven't opened yet?"
"No!"
Chen Gong shrugged and looked at the busyness in the ticket office with some envy.
Then he took another look at the deserted shop and the various new "Purgatory Fire" peripheral products for sale.
"Hey~"
Chen Gong sighed. His income was closely related to sales performance.
You have to know that he is a salesperson, and being idle means no commission bonus.
Because of the off-season for movies last month, his quality of life has declined significantly this month.
It's only one step away from eating dirt.
Watching more and more people walk into the screening room of "Inferno", Chen Gong could only hope that they would buy more peripheral products after watching the movie.
"I hope you guys can buy more stuff later, otherwise I will blow you up one by one!!"
For the sake of his own quality of life next month, Chen Gong even did not hesitate to issue a terrible curse.
The colleague who originally planned to come over to chat with him, saw the reflection on Chen Gong's glasses and the gloomy smile, and quickly walked away quietly.
Chen Gong sat at the counter waiting bored for more than two hours.
"10,000 BC" and "Horton Hears a Who" have already ended, but the audiences of these two movies have no desire to buy any peripheral products.
Now Chen Gong can only hope that "Flames of Purgatory" can bring him good results.
Finally, when the clock on the wall approached 12 o'clock, the first show of "Purgatory's Flames" today finally ended.
Chen Gong immediately saw quite a number of men and women coming out of the screening room.
After watching the movie for more than two hours, the audience did not feel tired at all, but their faces were full of excitement!
No.
The word "excited" would be more appropriate!
These audiences discussed the plot and various settings of the movie with each other, and the excitement in their eyes was beyond words.
It looks like it's been given an injection of chicken blood.
Chen Gong even had the illusion that if he lit a fire behind these people's clothes, they might explode on the spot.
The audience was chattering and making a lot of noise, and their voices could be heard from far away.
There are discussions about various settings and characters, which are not only disorganized but also very noisy.
Chen Gong had no idea what these people were talking about.
I have to say that it makes sense to place the merchandise department directly opposite the entrance and exit corridor of the theater.
The audience is most excited right after watching a movie, and this is also the time when impulse buying is most likely to occur.
So when they first saw the various peripherals in the merchandise department, they immediately rushed over.
Seeing so many customers, Chen Gong, who had been holding back for the whole morning, finally smiled.
He warmly entertained these customers and introduced them to a variety of peripheral products.
"Hey, I want a model pistol! And Kiritsugu's Command Seal tattoo!"
"I want Saber's keychain!"
"Give me a set of Gilgamesh armor, the cardboard I'm wearing got ruined when I sat on it during the movie."
…
Less than 5 minutes after the movie ended, Chen Gong, who had nothing to do before, was completely busy.
Although it was already noon, Chen Gong, who had not eaten, was already very hungry.
But at this time, I don't care about that anymore.
There were even too many guests and we couldn't entertain them all.
Chen Gong had to ask his colleague who was selling popcorn to help out temporarily.
"Hey, Chen, remember to treat me to a meal later."
Hearing his colleague say this, Chen Gong pushed up his glasses.
"Hold on, Chen Gong. This is a necessary sacrifice..."
"ha?"
Colleagues who didn't know Chen Gong's financial situation had question marks on their faces.
There were so many customers crowding in front of the counter wanting to buy peripheral products that a rough count showed there were more than thirty of them.
The most basic thing these people did was buy small items like Command Spell tattoos and key chains.
Some who were a little more generous bought some movie props.
For example, Saber's holy sword, Iskandar's saber, Emiya Kiritsugu's pistol, and Kotomine Kirei's black keys.
The prices of these props range from tens of dollars to hundreds of dollars, depending on the level of workmanship.
It all depends on whether these enthusiastic movie fans can afford it.
In addition to props, many viewers also bought character clothes.
The most popular clothes chosen by the girls were those of Altria.
The products selected by male customers are mainly Emiya Kiritsugu's windbreaker and Iskandar's cloak.
Of course, there are also wealthy people who choose the Gilgamesh luxury golden armor priced at US$1,999.
And there is more than one.
After getting these peripherals, almost all the guests put them on immediately.
Now, various looks of Artoria, Iskandar, Emiya Kiritsugu, and Gilgamesh appeared in the merchandise department.
There were even a few Kotomine Kirei holding black keys mixed in with them.
This is almost a portrayal of a day in the sales department. Even if the first batch of customers leave satisfied, the next batch of customers will immediately take over.
Since noon, Chen Gong has never been idle.
As more and more people watched "Inferno", the sales of his peripheral products increased dramatically.
You have to know that these fans who bought the peripheral products didn't just pay and leave.
They changed into their newly bought clothes in a relatively open area next to the sales department, and then took photos of each other for fun.
These people added a joyful atmosphere to the entire studio.
These enthusiastic viewers inspired others, including many who originally did not buy peripheral products.
Seeing the sales department so lively, I felt a little itchy in my heart.
Then, under the temptation of others, these people couldn't help but walk into the sales department.
They only realize it when they walk out of the cinema.
But at this time, their hands were already filled with packaging bags of peripheral products.
Well, it's full of routines.