Chapter 157
Every eye and ear in the office turned toward Baek Seonghan.
But I simply kept my eyes on the computer screen and nodded calmly.
“Yes. I just got the report.”
“What kind of reaction is that?”
Baek Seonghan sounded almost offended.
“It passed a hundred thousand reservations in a single day!”
“At this rate, we’ll easily clear at least three hundred thousand before release!”
He was speaking excitedly, but I remained composed.
Honestly, three hundred thousand advance reservations wouldn’t be enough.
Besides, we weren’t the only film opening during the summer peak season.
The massive Hollywood tentpole blockbuster Ocean Storm was scheduled to open in the same week.
Ocean Storm had poured more than fifty billion won into production.
It was a monster of a film in every sense.
Of course, before my regression, Kingdom of Crime had also been a commercial success, drawing six million viewers.
But the situation was different now.
Back then, Kingdom of Crime had opened under poor conditions with barely any promotion and slowly climbed through word of mouth alone.
This time, it was arriving with the glamorous title of Cannes Palme d’Or winner and a mountain of public attention from the very beginning.
Under these conditions, if things went well, we might even reach ten million admissions.
But the competition was just as fierce.
This time, we were going head-to-head with the Hollywood blockbuster Ocean Storm.
“PD Baek, it’s still too early to relax.”
He tilted his head.
“Why? The response is this good.”
“It’s only the first day of reservations.”
“And Ocean Storm hasn’t even opened advance ticketing yet.”
I continued.
“I heard the cast of Ocean Storm is coming to Korea for the release too.”
“If that happens, we don’t know how the situation could change.”
Baek Seonghan’s expression slowly hardened.
“Still, we won the Palme d’Or at Cannes...”
“That may not be as big an advantage with general audiences as you think.”
“In fact, quite a few people hear ‘award-winning foreign festival film’ and immediately assume it’ll be boring.”
Just then, Film Team Leader Ju Hanyoung approached us.
“Exactly.”
“No matter how good advance reservations look, if word of mouth turns bad after people actually watch it, attendance can collapse starting from the second week.”
“The reactions from industry people and critics need to be good first...”
At my words, Ju Hanyoung smiled confidently.
“That’s why for the VIP screening this time, we invited more industry professionals and critics than celebrities.”
Baek Seonghan suddenly looked serious.
“Should I invite a few critics I know out for drinks beforehand?”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Even if we’re desperate, let’s not do that.”
“Right.”
He laughed awkwardly.
“That probably would be too much.”
Ju Hanyoung handed him an envelope.
“The VIP screening invitations are ready.”
“There are twenty.”
“You’ll have to split them with the New Wave side.”
“What? Only twenty?”
Baek Seonghan frowned.
“There are how many people involved?”
“Manager Cha, the directing team, the production team... why are there so few invitations this time?”
“Sorry.”
Ju Hanyoung smiled apologetically.
“There were just too many people asking to come.”
“But I made sure your seats are good.”
“Still...”
Seeing his disappointment, I opened my drawer and held out some of my own invitations.
“Then I’ll give you a few more.”
“Don’t you have a lot of people to invite too?”
“It’s fine.”
“I’m okay.”
“Well, if you’re offering, I’m definitely not saying no.”
One day before the official release, we held the VIP screening at LD Cinema, a massive multiplex in Yongsan.
The moment we entered, the sight before us overwhelmed both our eyes and ears.
There was an enormous poster more than five meters tall.
The entire lobby had practically been covered in Kingdom of Crime promotional material.
Everywhere we looked, screens continuously played trailers from the film.
“Wow.”
Cha Seungjoon looked around in amazement.
“I’ve been to more VIP screenings than I can count, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a distributor put this much effort into one.”
I smirked.
“Don’t even start.”
“The CGN theaters promoting Ocean Storm are doing at least this much, if not more.”
Baek Seonghan looked at me in disbelief.
“What? CEO Min, you already went to CGN to spy on them?”
“I wouldn’t call it spying.”
“I was curious.”
“They’re probably paying just as much attention to us since we’re opening against them.”
“Ha.”
Cha Seungjoon shook his head.
“This really is a war.”
“A silent war at the summer box office.”
Just thinking about it seemed to exhaust him.
We hurried into the theater to prepare to greet the guests.
As seven o’clock approached, the venue became packed with celebrities invited to the VIP screening, reporters covering them, and ordinary people who had come just to catch a glimpse.
People from Big Picture and New Wave, including me, stood near the passage connected to the screening room and busily greeted the arriving guests.
“I hope it’s a huge success, CEO Han.”
“CEO Jo, thank you so much for coming.”
“Of course I had to come.”
“It’s Korea’s first Palme d’Or-winning film.”
Then the guest noticed me.
“Oh? CEO Min is here too.”
“I saw you on television.”
“You looked worse on screen than you do in person. Hahaha.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“I hope you enjoy the film.”
We were still frantically greeting guests when...
“Senior Baek!”
Director Go Jinseong and film critic Lee Sungwoo, whom we had met on Movie Talk, made their way through the crowd toward us.
“Oh, Director Go.”
“You must be busy. Thanks for coming.”
“Busy? Not at all.”
Go Jinseong laughed.
“By the way, CEO Min became a complete star after appearing on television. Hahaha.”
“A star? Hardly.”
I laughed awkwardly.
Lee Sungwoo looked around the lobby in admiration.
“You can really tell this is a screening for a top-class director’s film.”
