Chapter 30: The Gamble
The first Monday of November.
At noon, reservations opened for Before the Light Reaches.
Middle seats for the Saturday 4 p.m. Gangnam GV began disappearing first.
The Sunday 2 p.m. Busan screening moved similarly.
Friday evenings and weekend afternoon showings at independent art theaters also began receiving bookings.
Hyunsoo, watching the data inside Bridge Pictures' meeting room, held out his phone.
"Hyung, Gangnam already sold this much."
About a third of the seats were gray.
"Busan keeps moving too."
Assistant Manager Min showed another screen.
Hyunsoo smiled.
"Pretty good start, right?"
Yoon Jihye didn't answer.
She scrolled lower.
A normal screening without a GV appeared.
Only one or two seats had been reserved.
Hyunsoo's smile faded slightly.
Geonwoo compared the Gangnam GV and ordinary showings.
The difference was obvious.
"It looks like the people who already knew the movie from Busan bought first."
"Some may have been waiting because of the award articles too."
Jihye opened the traffic-source data.
"We still have plenty of time before release. There's no need to judge based on today's numbers."
Before the Light Reaches would open seventeen days later.
But another film would reach theaters first.
Low Ceiling.
Kwon Taeoh's movie would open that Thursday, only three days later.
Hyunsoo scrolled through articles.
[Seo Jiwan's Low Ceiling Ranks #1 in Advance Reservations]
[Direct Clash With Hollywood Blockbuster]
[Can a BIFF Award Winner Succeed in Regular Theaters?]
Seo Jiwan's face and the collapsing mine appeared prominently in every article.
Geonwoo studied the headlines.
Hyunsoo watched his expression.
"Does it bother you?"
"I'd be lying if I said it didn't."
Geonwoo returned to the reservation page.
"But right now, their numbers aren't what we need to watch."
He pointed at his own movie's page.
"We need to watch our seats."
Assistant Manager Min refreshed an ordinary screening.
A showing that had one reservation now had three.
Hyunsoo said,
"We still have more than two weeks until release. They'll keep increasing."
"They have to."
Jihye kept the page open.
"Let's continue watching."
Three days later.
Low Ceiling opened.
It immediately took first place at the box office.
The gap with the Hollywood movie opening the same day was small, but Low Ceiling still led.
Most stage-greeting screenings with Seo Jiwan sold out.
By the end of the weekend, the cumulative audience was close to one million.
[Low Ceiling Takes #1 at the Box Office in Opening Week]
[Seo Jiwan's Star Power Meets Kwon Taeoh's Direction]
[A Disaster Drama Beyond the Scale of Independent Cinema]
The ranking remained unchanged in the second week.
The Hollywood movie increased weekend screenings, but Low Ceiling narrowly held first place.
By Monday morning after the second weekend, cumulative admissions had exceeded 1.95 million.
Before the Light Reaches would open in three days.
Inside the Bridge Pictures meeting room, reservation pages for both films appeared side by side.
Hyunsoo whistled.
"It's really going to hit two million."
"It'll probably pass that today."
Assistant Manager Min answered.
Jihye moved the mouse.
The reservation page for Before the Light Reaches filled the screen.
The Gangnam GV was nearly sold out.
Very few seats remained for the Busan GV.
Weekend afternoon screenings at independent theaters were over half full.
The problem was everything else.
Some Friday evening screenings had less than ten percent reserved.
Even some good Saturday afternoon slots still had many empty seats.
Hyunsoo stared at the screen.
"It's still increased a lot compared to opening day, but..."
"The difference between GV screenings and normal ones is too large."
Assistant Manager Min said.
Jihye checked reservations by region.
"The people who were waiting since the festival have already bought tickets."
Geonwoo asked,
"Meaning new audience members aren't coming?"
"The trailer has been viewed plenty."
She opened another dataset.
"And people keep visiting the ticket pages."
But the percentage of trailer viewers who actually purchased tickets was low.
"They leave before buying."
"Why?"
Assistant Manager Min opened a collection of online reactions.
[It's a festival winner, so it seems like it'll be difficult.]
[The atmosphere looks good, but it seems too heavy.]
[Is it a movie about finding the killer after the younger brother dies?]
Jihye placed a document in front of Geonwoo.
"That's why I booked this."
The first page showed a YouTube channel.
[Opening Eve]
It was a movie channel with over one million subscribers.
Directors and actors appeared before releases to introduce new films, discuss filming stories, and show unreleased clips.
Unlike Cha Myunghoon's channel, it didn't deeply analyze films.
Instead, its audience was much wider.
Many viewers weren't film enthusiasts.
They simply watched to choose what movie to see that weekend.
"The appearance is the evening after tomorrow."
Jihye explained.
"Director Baek, Han Yura, and Kang Taejun. Can all three of you do it?"
"If it helps the movie, we'll make it work."
Geonwoo reviewed the one-hour structure.
The theatrical trailer and making-of footage were scheduled.
On the last page was a note saying they could include an unreleased clip.
Geonwoo asked,
"How much unreleased footage can they show?"
"Usually one or two minutes."
"Actual footage from the movie is okay?"
"If we approve it."
Geonwoo looked again at the reservation page.
Most seats for a Friday evening screening without a GV remained untouched.
After studying it for a moment, he spoke.
"What if we release the first ten minutes?"
Jihye tilted her head.
"Ten full minutes of the movie the day before release?"
"Yes."
"That's not short. It might feel like we're giving away too much for free."
She added,
"Theaters might dislike it too."
"It depends on where we cut."
Geonwoo continued.
"The trailer already reveals that Seoyoon dies."
"But short clips don't tell people what kind of child Seoyoon was."
"If we show the first ten minutes and twelve seconds, people will want to know what happens next."
"Ten minutes and twelve seconds?"
Jihye immediately opened the film and jumped to 10:12.
The paused frame showed Seorin checking the camcorder returned by the police.
There were no saved videos.
Her fingers stopped in front of the empty slot.
"Where's the memory card?"
The police officer looked up from the paperwork.
"What card?"
"The memory card that was inside."
"Wasn't it empty from the beginning?"
Seorin looked up.
The video stopped there.
10:12.
Hyunsoo stared at the monitor.
