From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Curiosity killed the cat, and the same goes for people.

Ultimately, humans are curious creatures, often unable to control their curiosity or resist the excitement of joining the crowd.

You often see such scenes in everyday life.

A plain, even dilapidated, shop has a long queue in front of it, curiosity ignites, and then the queue gets longer and longer.

The Angelica Film Center was just like that.

The mighty queue stretched continuously, grabbing the attention of passersby.

Then, finally, someone couldn't help but ask, "What's going on?"

Blair looked matter-of-fact, "'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'."

The passerby was speechless, "Of course, I know it's 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. I'm asking, why? Is this movie really that good, worth queuing for?"

Blair shrugged slightly, "I don't know your preferences, so I can't say for sure; but for me, personally, I think it's the best since the millennium."

"We discussed it passionately here all night last night and still can't get enough. So, we came to queue up as soon as possible today, ready for a second viewing."

Before the passerby could speak, Karen interjected, "I don't think everyone will like it because the movie is particularly brain-burning, and not everyone can understand it; if you go to the cinema expecting to see a romantic comedy, but you don't understand it at all, won't that ruin the reputation?"

"This movie has a viewing threshold."

After hearing this, the passerby immediately straightened his back, "It's actually a brain-burning movie, I like it, I like brain-burning the most, then I must see it."

Blair and Karen exchanged a knowing look, full of excitement.

When the next passerby came to inquire, Blair changed his tune again.

"It made me cry. I really didn't expect to see my story on the big screen, I completely empathized with it."

"Actually, I didn't fully understand it. The story is a little difficult to understand, but the emotional power of the movie is too strong, and I was completely hit by it."

Karen, on the side, was responsible for being infatuated, "Anson is really, really, really good-looking, how can there be such a good-looking person? Ah, Anson should make a few more romance movies to satisfy our fantasies."

Passerby, "Wow, really? Is he that handsome?"

Blair, "I don't know about you, but Anson's mature charm this time is really too charming. We were infatuated here all night last night."

After the passerby screamed and ran towards the end of the queue, Blair and Karen high-fived to celebrate, things were going exceptionally smoothly.

Moreover, this is still not all.

"I don't think the general public will like it. This is the taste of niche literary youth, private enough, niche enough, literary enough, you guys better not watch it."

"No, it's not romantic at all, it broke my heart."

"Surprisingly, Anson is actually very suitable for the image of a literary male god. He has an elegant temperament, which is great this time."

"Well, I think the box office will flop. The movie is too brain-burning and too literary, so I specially brought my friends to contribute to the box office. After all, we watched it for free yesterday. In any case, we still need to make up for a movie ticket."

"I don't know, I'm just here to join in the fun. My friend said this is her favorite movie in ten years, so I ran over early in the morning."

"Ah, ah, ah, it's so good-looking, really good-looking, I don't have much culture, besides good-looking, I don't know how to describe it."

The Chameleon Ladies—

Every time someone came to inquire, Blair and Karen responded with different routines.

Karen didn't know anything. Blair said that because people's expectations are different, it may affect the viewing experience, and then affect the movie's reputation. They need to create expectations but disrupt expectations, arouse the curiosity of passersby, but not burden the movie, and maintain expectations.

Otherwise, if they said "must-see", "classic", "don't miss it", "you're not human if you don't watch it" to everyone they met, let alone the fact that passersby may have unnecessary expectations, their responses would be as emotionless as artificial intelligence.

Karen was completely unaware of this. Anyway, she was just cooperating with Blair's performance. Blair gave her the signal, and she just went along with it.

Then, a peculiar scene appeared—

The mighty, dense, queue gathered at the entrance of the Angelica Film Center grew longer and longer, folding into a winding path, occupying the stairs and the square with a bustling crowd, a sea of people.

The grand occasion was unprecedented.

"Elephant" was a partial limited release, maximizing the effect of hunger marketing under the blessing of the Palme d'Or title.

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is a small-scale release, relying on topics to detonate attention, with thousands of possibilities all unfolding around the film itself.

Among them, a common point lies in: Anson.

Facts have proved that Anson is building his influence and appeal step by step through movies, not only breaking the vase label, but also showing his different possibilities as an actor—

And, the formula "Anson Wood = Quality Assurance" is taking root in people's hearts.

In the storm vortex of controversy and doubt, Anson's three consecutive works completed a hat-trick, proving his ability and taste as an actor on the one hand; on the other hand, proving his market appeal, continuing to shine outside of "The Princess Diaries", "Spider-Man", and "Catch Me If You Can".

These three works unanimously witnessed Anson's shining moments as an actor.

However, none of this is important. What is truly important and the only important thing is:

A surging crowd.

Again and again, a hit was born.

Under the combined effect of various factors, the tide rose again, all eyes were focused on "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", and the rolling crowd poured into the cinema.

Three months ago, "Elephant" had a limited release, tickets were hard to come by, and every show was packed. In the end, the film made a brilliant debut by writing a single-theater box office record.

Now, this scene has appeared again and again!

But soon, viewers realized that "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" did not need to squeeze their heads to grab screenings.

Although the film has a small release, there are many screening venues in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, so there is no need to worry about not having a seat.

Moreover, Focus Features is experienced. They did not choose venues in remote areas, nor did they choose large chain theaters with bustling crowds in the city center, but aimed at small theaters and art theaters where literary youth mainly gather, ensuring that the target audience can easily find venues—

As for the general public?

Focus Features doesn't pay attention at all.

In the rolling tide and surging traffic, Focus Features is completely unhurried and calm, because they know that those traffic seem noisy and boiling, but it may not be a good thing for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". They still need to aim at the target audience to lay the foundation for the work's reputation.

Not greedy, not adventurous, not impulsive.

Even if the "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" screening detonated ten times or a hundred times the influence, Focus Features still remained rational and was not overwhelmed by these waves.