Traffic Star Development Program

Chapter 26 Rare Items

"It's less than five million," Li Hang said, "but the reputation is there. It has an 8.3 rating on Douban and its rating on Maoyan is also rising. If we don't adjust it now, other cinemas will adjust it later, and we'll be at a disadvantage."

"Okay," said General Manager Liu, "We'll increase the screenings by 15% next week, and observe for another week."

Li Hang hung up the phone, reopened the backend data, and pondered where the film would ultimately end up.

At the same time, in a coffee shop in Shanghai, film critic Zhou Kai was writing an analysis of "Back to 20".

He watched this movie on a friend's recommendation. He thought it was a typical low-budget heartwarming film with a formulaic plot and sentimental soundtrack, something he would cry about and then forget about.

But after reading it, he realized that wasn't the case.

The film's plot is indeed heartwarming, but the pacing is excellent, with no dragging moments and restrained emotional outbursts that feel forced or contrived. More importantly, the casting is spot-on; Yang Shanshan's portrayal of the elderly woman who transforms into a younger version of herself doesn't feel like she's trying to look young, but rather genuinely evokes a sense of rebirth.

Zhou Kai wrote the following in the article:

"The smartest thing about 'Back to 20' is that it didn't try to be a blockbuster, but instead honestly told a story, told it solidly and sincerely. This kind of film is a rare find in today's market."

He published the article on his WeChat official account with the title: "How to Create a Big Picture with a Small Budget - A Look at the Breakthrough of Genre Films from 'Back to 20'".

Within two hours of the article being published, it had over 30,000 views, and someone in the comments section said:

"After reading this article, I bought a ticket specifically. It was indeed very good, much better than expected."

"The theme song for this movie is sung by Lu Han. I went to see it because of the theme song, but I didn't expect the movie itself to be so good."

"I feel that this is one of the most outstanding low-budget films this year."

Zhou Kai felt a mix of emotions as he read the comments.

The producer of this film is Zeng Hao. I looked him up and found he's a newcomer with no prior work. For a newcomer to make his first theatrical film like this, he's either lucky or has real talent.

Judging from the current situation, it seems more like the latter.

In a conference room of a film and television company in Shenzhen, Vice President Chen Gang is holding a debriefing meeting with his team.

Their company also released a movie last month. It cost 30 million yuan to produce, starred A-list celebrities, and spent 8 million yuan on marketing and distribution. In the end, the box office barely broke 100 million yuan. After deducting the share of profits, they basically didn't make any money.

Someone mentioned "Back to 20" at the meeting.

"This film has now grossed 1.6 million yuan at the box office, with a production cost of less than five million yuan. The marketing and distribution cost almost nothing, relying entirely on word-of-mouth and the theme song. The producer is a newcomer named Zeng Hao."

After listening, Chen Gang remained silent for a moment, then said, "A newcomer?"

"Yes, I checked. He didn't have any theatrical works before, only one web series, 'Go Princess Go,' which he also produced and was very popular on iQiyi."

Chen Gang frowned. "This guy is interesting. Keep an eye on him and see what he does next."

After the meeting, Chen Gang sat alone in the conference room, looking at the financial statements on the table, feeling a little uneasy.

A film with a 30 million investment didn't even gross a fraction of someone else's 5 million. This industry is becoming increasingly incomprehensible.

Meanwhile, in a movie theater in Qianhu City, a girl who looked like a college student walked out of the screening room, took out her phone, opened Douban, and gave "Back to 20" a five-star rating.

In her short review, she wrote:

"Before watching, I thought it was a clichéd family drama, but after watching it, I realized it's a movie about life choices. The female protagonist becomes younger and lives her life again, but in the end, she discovers that some things, once missed, are gone forever, and you can't go back even if you have to do it again. This premise is actually quite cruel, but the movie doesn't deliberately amplify this cruelty; instead, it leaves you with a sense of relief after watching it. I recommend it."

She posted her review, walked out of the cinema, and found it was already dark outside with streetlights on. She remembered the theme song from the movie and hummed the tune as she walked towards the subway station.

There are many such viewers in cinemas across the country.

They didn't know who Zeng Hao was, didn't know about the capital operations behind the film, and didn't care what methods the producer used to reduce the cost to below five million.

They simply thought the movie was good and worth recommending.

These simple recommendations, when aggregated, amount to 1.6 million, and are still rising.

Zeng Hao saw it in the morning. After reading the content, he put down his phone and didn't have any particular feelings.

Whether something is smart or not isn't determined by film critics, but by box office numbers.

Three days before the Happy Camp broadcast, the account arranged by Xu Wen posted that photo on time.

The photo is a behind-the-scenes shot. Yang Shanshan and the male lead are standing next to a set. The distance between them is not too far or too close, and their expressions are very natural. One is reading the script, and the other is talking to the assistant director. There is no trace of deliberate posing. It looks like someone secretly took a photo during a break in the work.

The caption was just an ellipsis.

After the Weibo post was published, there was little reaction for the first four hours. In the fifth hour, an entertainment blogger with around 100,000 followers reposted the photo and added: "What does this mean? Those who know, know."

Then the conversation started moving.

Zeng Hao was in his office watching the real-time data updates sent by Xu Wen. The photo had been forwarded more than 20,000 times in the sixth hour, and the discussion in the comments section was going exactly as he had expected—some people said that the two of them had a connection, some people said that the film set was the easiest place for feelings to develop, some people started digging up photos of the two of them attending events in the past to find clues, and some people directly shouted: "Announc it! I'm shipping them!"

Throughout the entire process, not a single penny was spent on purchasing promotional space on the platform.

Xu Wen sent me a message: Should we have Yang Shanshan do something on Weibo to create some interaction?

Zeng Hao replied: No, silence is the best response. If either side speaks, it will cut off the topic and let the fans discuss it themselves. That's how rumors start.

Xu Wen: Understood.

The day Happy Camp aired was Friday night.

Zeng Hao didn't turn on the TV or look for a live stream; he continued doing his own thing. He didn't need to monitor the program content; what he needed to monitor was the data trends after the broadcast.

Xu Wen sent a report at 10 p.m.: Happy Camp's ratings ranked first in its time slot this week, Yang Shanshan's Weibo gained 27,000 followers in a single day, the hashtag for "Back to 20" returned to fourth place on the entertainment hot search, and the male lead's name also came up with it. The topic of the two as a couple spontaneously formed that night, and the number of discussions has now exceeded 120,000.

The box office figures for the day jumped from less than two million per day in the previous days to four million three hundred thousand.

Zeng Hao looked at the number and did some calculations in his notebook.