Chapter 50: The Tuner’s Encore Campaign

March 12, in a luxury residential district in Hong Kong.

The crew of The Piano Tuner had completed the opening ceremony and was about to shoot their first major scene. A crowd of staff members, including equipment operators, lighting technicians, and prop masters, had gathered around to watch.

The first scene featured the pianist and tuner Tony Leung Ka-fai at the home of actress Sharon Chan. The moment he begins to play, he accidentally discovers a dead body, suffering a drastic emotional shift. He rushes to the bathroom to splash water on his face and calm his nerves. Just as he shuts the door, Jiang Wen, stripped to the waist and holding a gun, stands right behind the door, fixing him with a death stare...

Choosing this highlight piece was meant to help the actors grind and sync their acting states.

A dramatic piece entirely dependent on performance put the acting skills and reactions of Tony Leung, Jiang Wen, and Sharon Chan to the ultimate test.

Across China, actors who would be completely outmatched by Leung and Jiang in a acting duel were a dime a dozen. Although Sharon Chan had starred in her fair share of B-movies, her acting was far from poor.

She had been nominated for the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress, putting her a cut above Cecilia Cheung, Rosamund Kwan, and Michelle Lee.

Sitting behind the monitor, watching Jiang Wen and Tony Leung rehearse their impending bathroom scene, Li Wenyu could not help chuckling. "This kind of dark humor isn't delivered through overt exaggeration. It focuses more on subtle micro-expressions and body language. Audiences will enjoy it more and more upon a second or third viewing."

Beside him, Fat Bing muttered in a voice no louder than a mosquito, "Sister Chan is really stacked~"

Sharon Chan was wearing a silk nightgown, deliberately showcasing the alluring cleavage of a domestic housewife.

Having just rendezvoused with her lover and accidentally killed her veteran actor husband, she had no reason to rush into a change of clothes or worry about accidental exposure when the tuner knocking at her door happened to be blind.

As one of the investors observing the shoot, President Wang of Huayi asked curiously, "Director Li, this script of yours is truly ingenious. All those twists and acting duels—it's no less intense than Infernal Affairs."

"In fact, it's even more thrilling than Infernal Affairs. But wouldn't that make publicity and distribution tricky? Director Feng's Big Shot's Funeral was in theaters for a month and a half, and even with the mysterious digital teaser campaign, it only grossed 35 million so far."

Big Shot's Funeral had been pushed to the New Year slot. The film's quality was fantastic, and its final sequence felt almost prophetic, achieving legendary status two decades later.

Though the box office followed its original trajectory, Huayi didn't just break even; they made a killing. Product placements alone covered the entire budget, though compared to The Shallows... well, comparisons were always the thief of joy.

Fellow investor Xiang Lao shi also remarked with wonder, "I've also been following the internet buzz. Nowadays, whenever anyone uses mysterious numerical teasers to build hype, netizens easily crack the code. Once the mystery is solved without any accompanying follow-up operations, it doesn't help much at the box office."

"Director Li, what kind of strategy are we using for this one? You call the shots. President Wang, Young Master Rong, and I are just the errand runners, and we'll definitely give it our all."

Not to mention those two, Angie Chi was also standing nearby, eager to jump into the conversation.

During dinner last night, Angie had discovered that Li Wenyu's Cantonese had improved by leaps and bounds, meaning she no longer had to worry about communication barriers. She was desperately eager to have a deep, meaningful exchange with Brother Yu, and had specially come to visit the set today to find an opportunity.

After all, she was the Goddess of Bathing Beauties!

Li Wenyu pondered for a moment before explaining, "Since everyone is here—excluding Brother Rong, of course. Brother Rong is still busy with Hugging Happiness; when it comes to publicity and distribution, he's always strictly a financial contributor."

"I think for the movie The Piano Tuner, we can unite nationwide theater chains to launch a 'Buy One, Get Another Ticket' campaign. Every single movie ticket sold will feature a scratch-off section."

"Out of every ten tickets, two will be scratch-off winners for a free ticket. Moviegoers can redeem them for a new ticket for the next screening or the subsequent one at any time. A 20% winning probability is very high. Whether a viewer wants to watch it a second time on their own and get free admission,"

"or call up friends to join them, it will drive further consumption. For moviegoers, a genuinely good movie easily sparks a strong urge to share."

Movie tickets today were still different from those in the 1920s, and printing methods varied as well, but with a bit of equipment clustering, the "Buy One, Get Another Ticket" scheme could easily be implemented.

It might look like giving away 20% free tickets would mean taking a loss!

In reality, discounting movie tickets functioned just like a standard promotional campaign. True film buffs and star fans who discovered that their idol had delivered another classic, high-quality work would readily drag their friends along to watch.

Future microblog feeds, social moments, and the like were all testaments to the sheer power of the sharing impulse.

This strategy, originally used in beverage industry price wars where competitors fought tooth and nail while leaving consumers to reap the benefits, could achieve massive success when transplanted to film screenings.

The prerequisite was that the movie's quality had to be high enough!

The Piano Tuner had the quality to sustain such a gimmick, especially when paired with other promotional methods.

For instance, encouraging fans online to post photos of their winning "Buy One, Get Another Ticket" stubs on Weibo to flaunt their luck, thereby stimulating the vanity of others.

Releasing it during the summer vacation would boost the viral spread of the Weibo platform and attract massive user engagement.

Xiang Lao shi was dumbfounded. "Buy One, Get Another Ticket? Like Tsingtao Brewery's 'Another Bottle on Us'? That actually works?"

"A 20% winning probability will definitely create a huge spread. Even if it ultimately amounts to just a discount, the joy and excitement brought by winning far outweigh buying discounted goods."

He never expected that selling movies could be marketed with such slick ingenuity!

Wasn't this just copying Tsingtao Brewery's homework? But it was homework well worth copying!

Just think about it: a celebratory campaign like "Buy One, Get Another Ticket" would undoubtedly be far more powerful than a routine promotional push, whose effectiveness usually plummeted by the second wave.

This kind of campaign could be sustained across multiple films and repeated several times.

Movie theaters would also rake in profits. Aside from ticket sales, they made hefty margins on cola, soda, popcorn, melon seeds, and the like.

President Wang of Huayi clapped enthusiastically, startling the various behind-the-scenes staff members and Sharon Chan's group in the room, though those further away had no idea what was happening.

Angie Chi, relying on a translator, stepped forward and exclaimed with wide eyes, "Brother Yu, you are an absolute genius!"

Watching Li Wenyu, her eyes once again filled with unconcealed adoration, Angie possessed limited intelligence of her own, but she knew her godfather and godmother were formidable figures.

Li Wenyu smiled and continued to elaborate, "If this idea leaks out, it's liable to be poached by rival companies. But I have to say it, because this requires President Xiang and President Wang to contact nationwide theater chains in advance and enlist the backing of China Film Group."

"If we want a blockbuster with massive box office numbers, we still need to hit piracy hard and create a miracle!"

Xiang Lao shi rubbed his hands together in excitement. "That's not a major issue. With 'Buy One, Get Another Ticket,' Hong Kong's theater chains might pull in 80 million or even more at the box office."

"Theater chains are also dead set against piracy. If everyone watches pirated copies, who goes to the cinemas to buy soda, peanuts, and melon seeds? Those profit margins are massive."

"If the entire Hong Kong film industry gets paralyzed by piracy, how many people in the circle would be hoping to recoup their losses through a 'Buy One, Get Another Ticket' wave?"

Why was China Film Group's previous joint crackdown on piracy so successful? Because in every prefecture-level city and county, theater owners were desperate for a massive influx of audiences.

Especially couples coming on dates—surely they had to buy some cola and popcorn?

President Wang was equally galvanized. "Director Li, what about overseas distribution? Can we use 'Buy One, Get Another Ticket' for overseas markets in East and Southeast Asia?"

Overseas sales were no small sum. Throughout the pre-production stages, The Piano Tuner had already integrated numerous product placements, such as pianos, sunglasses, and blind canes.

Those advertisements had nearly covered the team's production costs upfront. This covered the paychecks for a massive roster of stars, including Tony Leung, Michael Hui, Sharon Chan, Yang Mi, Jiang Wen, Ding Haifeng, Xu Jingjiang,溫碧霞 (Irene Wan), He Qing, Liu Ye, Liu Kai-chi, and many others.

Including Li Wenyu's own directing and acting fees.

Top stars commanded tens of millions, and Huayi understood this game well, while the Xiang family's China Star was equally well-versed.

Once massive fame was established, recouping investments happened in the blink of an eye.

Li Wenyu chuckled as he handed out cigarettes. "It all depends on President Xiang and President Wang's execution. 'Buy One, Get Another Ticket' requires cooperation from theater chains in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia... Distributors certainly want to maximize profits, and cinemas can move high volumes of goods at thin margins."

"In theory, the more solid our execution, the more money we make. Once this campaign is properly planned and rival distributors see the profits, nobody argues with money. This alone is worth at least 30 million Hong Kong dollars in overseas sales."

Every industry had promotions, including movie ticket discounts, and in the era of online shopping, discounts reached absurd heights.

A massive undertaking like "Buy One, Get Another Ticket" required a massive cluster of cinemas to update their ticket-printing systems to incorporate a scratch-off prize zone.