The premiere was ultimately scheduled for Thursday, November 5. The following day, Friday, November 6, Wedding Wedding officially opened nationwide.
In the days leading up to November 5, the film also held advance screenings in other cities with large university populations, such as Shanghai and Jinling.
As a result, discussion of the film began spreading across university forums throughout the country, not just in the capital.
In cities with many universities that hadn’t been selected for advance screenings, people started complaining online.
“Why do they get advance screenings while we don’t? We have plenty of universities too. Are they looking down on us?”
That slightly sour tone only made the college students who had already seen the film feel secretly pleased with themselves.
Online discussions about the movie also gradually spread from university forums to several well-known general discussion boards.
At first, the topics were fairly mild. Most posts focused on things like:
“I watched a really good romance movie today.”
“A warm, down-to-earth love story.”
“A small romance in a big city.”
As more and more posts appeared, however, the discussions gradually became more heated.
“Did Zheng Wen love more deeply in this relationship?”
“Was Zheng Wen the braver one?”
“Did Tong Xiaole deserve Zheng Wen’s love?”
It was starting to sound like the eternal argument over whether tofu pudding should be sweet or savory.
In Chi Ying’s eyes, these debates were nothing more than online gimmicks and weren’t worth discussing in the slightest. But every movie needed a publicity angle before release. Having people talking was better than being met with complete silence.
So she could only grit her teeth and accept it. After all, it wasn’t as if audiences were going to spend their time discussing her cinematography or visual storytelling.
Thursday, November 5.
Huaying Group selected a theater owned by Beijing Film Company to host the premiere, inviting members of the media as well as representatives from other organizations in the film industry.
In truth, all of that was thanks to Lei Dongming’s influence. The Script Planning Center alone couldn’t have persuaded those people to attend.
As for people like Ma Yuanchao, besides showing respect for Lei Dongming, they were also influenced by what had happened during the previous seminar. Ma Yuanchao and the private investors behind him had come to regard Chi Ying as someone on their side, so he had brought along plenty of colleagues and friends to support the event.
Many people from private film companies were also curious to see what kind of commercial film this professionally trained newcomer could make.
The premiere was a great success.
From a professional standpoint, the story flowed naturally, the film was full of everyday warmth and humanity, and it was an emotionally touching work. Technically, it was virtually flawless.
Many industry veterans had originally assumed that a young woman fresh out of film school would inevitably produce something inexperienced and rough around the edges. But after watching the entire film, they realized they had been completely mistaken. Every aspect of the movie met professional standards, and the overall execution was remarkably polished.
Friday, November 6.
Wedding Wedding officially opened in theaters across major cities nationwide.
During the day, business at the theaters was fairly normal. It was a weekday, after all, so attendance was sparse.
But once evening arrived, things suddenly exploded.
Large numbers of young moviegoers walked into theaters specifically asking for Wedding Wedding. Cinemas that had no major blockbuster releases suddenly became lively and crowded.
Even the ticket clerks were surprised. They had barely heard of the film. The director’s name was unfamiliar, and the lead actors were all fresh faces.
Ordinary moviegoers who had simply come to relax over the weekend became curious and asked the young people, “Why are you all watching this movie? Is it really that famous? How come I’ve never heard of it?”
The other movies playing at the same time were all relatively obscure, so why was everyone buying tickets for this one?
Some outgoing young women enthusiastically explained, “I read about it online. It’s supposed to be really good, a super heartwarming romance.”
“I heard the same thing. It was screened at a bunch of universities, and a lot of people cried watching it. It’s about the lives of young people today.”
…
Although Wedding Wedding had received a fairly generous number of screenings, its attendance rate turned out to be unexpectedly high, exciting everyone working at the theaters.
That day, Chi Ying still stopped by the office during the day instead of, like Song Lin, Tan Yi, and Lu Wei, camping out at various theaters to observe audience reactions firsthand.
She knew the real test would begin after evening fell, when young people in the city got off work or finished classes and had time to spend their Friday night at the movies.
After having dinner in the office cafeteria that evening, she returned directly to her dormitory.
Song Lin had spent the entire evening visiting theaters and didn’t return until nearly midnight. She was practically bursting with excitement.
Seeing Chi Ying sitting alone on her bed with a book in hand, Song Lin couldn’t help feeling that her friend was just pretending to be calm.
Grinning, she asked, “So? Any latest news? I’m definitely not sleeping tonight.”
Chi Ying laughed.
In truth, she was just as anxious, feeling as though a cat were scratching inside her chest while waiting for the first day’s box office figures.
Director Han was keeping watch as well, and the office ladies at the Planning Center were all waiting too. Earlier that day, everyone had agreed that as soon as Director Han received the numbers, she would send them a pager message.
Finally, sometime after one in the morning, Chi Ying’s pager beeped.
Wedding Wedding. First-day box office: 1.07 million yuan.
Song Lin had spent the entire night pacing around the dorm room. Every time Chi Ying’s pager beeped, she rushed over, only to discover it was another false alarm from miscellaneous messages.
This time, however, it was the real thing.
She jumped into the air.
“Over a million on the first day! Our total box office is definitely going to break ten million!”
“If attendance stays this good, theaters will definitely increase our screenings,” Chi Ying said happily. “Then our initial batch of film prints won’t be enough. Looks like we’ll have to strike more copies.”
Chi Ying was already thinking about distribution matters.
Song Lin couldn’t care less about any of that.
Her head was completely spinning from the figure 1.07 million.
The entire film had only cost 1.5 million yuan to produce. To earn this much on opening day alone… there was no telling how high the total box office might climb.
If they really reached ten million, then none of them would have to worry about their futures anymore.
The more she thought about it, the more excited she became.
Never mind that it was already the middle of the night. Seeing that Chi Ying didn’t even have a telephone, making it impossible to spread the news immediately, Song Lin groaned in frustration.
“We should’ve bought a cell phone. It was all because you talked me out of it…”
Chi Ying laughed.
“It’s this late already. Stop fussing and get some sleep.”
She pointed toward the neighboring rooms, reminding Song Lin that other people were sleeping nearby and they shouldn’t make too much noise.
Left with no choice, Song Lin reluctantly gave up, cleaned up, turned off the lights, and lay down.
But she clearly couldn’t sleep.
She tossed and turned constantly, blurting out a comment every now and then, until eventually Chi Ying stopped responding altogether.
In truth, Chi Ying couldn’t sleep either.
Still, she forced herself to stay still and relax as quickly as possible.
In the darkness, though, she could hear every single rustle as Song Lin kept rolling over in bed.
It wasn’t until dawn was almost breaking that Chi Ying finally drifted into a light sleep.
It felt like only moments later before she was awakened again.
Song Lin had gone out early to buy breakfast.
Chi Ying was utterly helpless.
She knew perfectly well that “buying breakfast” was just an excuse. Song Lin had almost certainly gone to find a landline so she could call the others and share the news.
“Come on, can you have a little self-control?” Chi Ying complained as she climbed out of bed. Seeing the pile of food Song Lin had bought, she asked, “Why did you buy so much? Can the two of us even finish all this?”
“We can, we can. And if we can’t, Tan Yi and the others are coming over later. With those guys around, are you worried there’ll be leftovers?”
Hearing that, Chi Ying had nothing more to say.
She hurried off to brush her teeth and wash up.
The group had already arranged to meet that morning to discuss the schedule for their upcoming promotional tour. They were originally planning to gather at the Planning Center around nine or ten o’clock.
“I’m telling you, we’d better get plenty of rest these next couple of days,” Chi Ying warned in advance. “Things are only going to get busier from here.”
“Busy? Not at all! The more chances we get to show our faces and make a name for ourselves, the better!”
Taking the disposable chopsticks Song Lin handed her, Chi Ying rolled her eyes.
“Have some self-control.”
The night before, Lei Dongming had been the very first person to learn Wedding Wedding‘s opening-day box office.
When his staff reported the figures, even the veteran executive couldn’t help feeling excited.
Looks like I really do have a good eye for talent.
Chi Ying had fired a successful opening shot.
As long as he and Han Haiyan continued steering things in the right direction, wouldn’t they be able to hit whatever target they aimed at?
They didn’t need to rely on private film companies.
They could make profitable movies all on their own.
He had already begun considering raising the overseas licensing price for Wedding Wedding.
The reason was simple.
The previous evening, several of the China representatives from European and American distributors who had worked with him before had all gone to watch the film.
Without exception, they gave it positive reviews.
“This is a fully qualified chick flick. It should sell well in overseas markets.”
The highest offer had already risen to 600,000 U.S. dollars, which converted to more than 4 million yuan. Combined with the opening day’s 1.07 million yuan at the domestic box office, the production costs had already been fully recovered.
Lei Dongming couldn’t help humming a tune.
Early Saturday morning, he called Director Han.
“Haiyan, congratulations!”
Director Han was smiling so broadly she could hardly stop.
“Oh, General Manager Lei, you’re the lead producer. This is our shared achievement. Congratulations to both of us!”
“Very good. I won’t say much more. Xiao Chi is a girl with plenty of ideas. Our job is simply to support and protect her. Yesterday was only the first day. From here on out, we need to stay steady and keep moving forward. This year, I’ll recommend your Planning Center for the bureau’s ‘Outstanding Collective’ award, and I’ll nominate Xiao Chi for ‘Outstanding Individual.’ Just don’t let me down.”
Director Han was speechless.
“General Manager Lei, you’re really stingy. Young people need recognition, sure, but they also need real rewards.”
“Well, that depends on how far this movie goes. If the box office exceeds 20 million yuan, I’ll personally authorize a special bonus from the Group.”
“Director, yesterday you said we’d get it if we passed 10 million. How did the target double overnight?” Director Han complained.
“Hahaha! Yesterday was yesterday. Today is today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?”
“Director, don’t tell me that by tomorrow morning it’ll become 30 million before we qualify for the bonus?”
“Can’t rule it out! After all, I never issued an official written directive.” Lei Dongming laughed heartily as he hung up the phone.
…
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