William's first thought was: "BrandoMania is in Los Angeles for the 'Buried', and it's happening tonight at the Landmark Theatres! And yet, they missed seeing each other!"
So, he quickly left a comnt under the post, "I'm also at the Landmark Theatres in Los Angeles. Renly is like a moving feast; the vibrant colors only truly co to life when he's in motion. It was the sa when I saw him perform 'Ophelia' on the street, and tonight, seeing him discuss his performance in the cinema was no different."
After replying, William quickly browsed through other comnts. In the short ti since he left his ssage, the thread had already gained over a hundred more replies. Among them, many people were clamoring, "Have you abandoned our Depp?" "When was the last ti you posted a picture of Jas McAvoy?" "Will the Robert Downey Jr. version of Sherlock Hols continue?"
This left William puzzled, so he carefully read through the comnts, and then it dawned on him.
It turns out that "BrandoMania" is actually a well-known movie blogger—or more precisely, a well-known movie fan blogger. He—or she—is a famous illustrator who not only published their own artbook but also occasionally takes on brand logo design jobs while maintaining their own blog.
As the nickna suggests, "BrandoMania" is a die-hard fan of Marlon Brando. His blog often features illustrations from Brando's golden era, earning widespread acclaim. Occasionally, he would draw actors from movies he currently enjoys, attracting a loyal following, all hoping he might notice their favorite stars.
William quickly searched for the nickna "BrandoMania" and found his personal blog. Upon opening the webpage, he noticed that the 24-hour visitor count on the left was an astonishing 300,000, which is remarkable for a personal domain blog. Clearly, "BrandoMania" has a solid online fanbase.
Unfortunately, "BrandoMania" hasn't updated his hand-drawn illustrations for a long ti, though he continues to update his blog articles. His last hand-drawn work was from April of this year, depicting Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Hols. But now, after a six-month hiatus, Renly's appearance has reignited his creative passion!
Before this, "BrandoMania" was only leaving replies in the thread, without attracting much attention in the Yahoo community. But today, for the first ti, he drew a watercolor painting of Renly, proving his admiration for him and instantly sparking excitent among the netizens. William beca thrilled imdiately!
However, the blog hadn't updated with the Yahoo thread. The most recent post on the blog read, "I'm done with the blog! Future works will be updated on Instagram. Please follow." The comnts below were full of complaints, as people doubted a blogger who hadn't updated in six months would be any more reliable on a new platform.
William quickly grabbed his phone, found the "Instagram" app in the store—surprisingly, it was only released ten days ago, yet it was already among the top three free apps, showcasing its incredible popularity.
After quickly registering, William effortlessly found the "BrandoMania" account. As expected, the latest picture was the hand-drawn image just posted on Yahoo, with the caption, "Just back from watching 'Buried,' biggest surprise of the year!" The tags included "Renly Hall" and "Buried Premiere."
Even though this was a newly launched app, "BrandoMania" had already amassed over 50,000 followers, a significant number. And within just 25 minutes of posting, the illustration had received 4,000 likes, with a long string of comnts below, many praising the work and adding similar tags.
William had a sudden idea. He checked Instagram's trending topics and sure enough, the tag "Buried Premiere" had already made it onto the instant hot list, with over 3,300 users utilizing the tag.
It was clear that more people would soon hear about the movie "Buried," and perhaps even choose to watch it in theaters due to the positive word of mouth.
An unknown independent film, screened in just eleven art theaters without any promotional budget, had managed to attract so much attention—within less than twelve hours, it had sparked a frenzy on Yahoo, spread widely on Facebook and Instagram, and even entered the trending keyword list. Without spending a di, it had successfully made a na for itself, sothing unimaginable before.
The power of the internet far exceeded people's expectations—or perhaps just as expected. Could it be that in the future, the advancent of AI would ultimately overthrow human dominance? But for now, "Buried" had already taken the internet by storm thanks to this wave of excitent.
Returning to the Yahoo community, William saw that both the reply rate and click rate had reached new heights. The "BrandoMania" post alone had attracted 20,000 clicks, with 1,500 replies, the growth rate was staggering. It was hard to imagine how many netizens across North Arica were staying up all night, and how many of them were staying awake because of "Buried's" premiere.
More interestingly, how many of them, like William, were too excited to sleep? He felt no exhaustion from staying up all night, his mind was buzzing with excitent, constantly replaying scenes of his interactions with Renly in the theater, snippets of the film, details from Renly's discussion, and the entire viewing experience—all of it was like an active volcano, continuously erupting!
When William saw both Graham and Hope's usernas among the repliers, he finally couldn't help but laugh out loud. Clearly, he wasn't alone.
The "New York Tis," Yahoo community, social networks... So, what's next?
William quickly opened IMDb.
This is undoubtedly the largest gathering place for hardcore North Arican film fans. People may think IMDb's taste is too mainstream, or that its preferences are too market-driven, but no one can deny that it is the largest platform for North Arican core film audiences to express their opinions. IMDb's user rating system is complex and authoritative, now on par with tacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, and CinemaScore, becoming an important asure of a film's reputation and quality.
Seeing IMDb's ratings, William was imdiately disappointed. The number of votes was only 781, which was pitifully low—not even reaching the 1,000-vote threshold. Although the current rating was an astonishing 8.5, William knew that with so few votes, the score was not reliable and couldn't qualify for the Top 250 list. Moreover, it didn't reflect the audience's true opinion.
High expectations led to greater disappointnt.
But William soon cald down, thinking carefully: "Buried" was only screened in eleven theaters, and even if every screening was sold out, there would only be 3,000 to 4,000 viewers at most—but in reality, that's unrealistic.
In other words, with only 1,000 to 2,000 people watching the film, nearly 800 of them logged into IMDb to vote, giving it an extrely high average score of 8.5. For reference, only fifty films in the current Top 250 have an average score of 8.5 or higher.
What does this indicate? It shows that "Buried" has already received overwhelmingly positive feedback from its initial audience!
The midnight audience for "Buried" was a very special group, consisting not only of supporters but also detractors, curious onlookers, and even troublemakers looking for flaws. Amidst all these diverse opinions, "Buried" received an average score of 8.5—does this an Renly's performance silenced those detractors and skeptics?
Realizing this, William beca excited once again!
He habitually opened the "Los Angeles Tis" website and imdiately saw a report updated 35 minutes ago: "'Fast & Furious 5' Cast Attends 'Buried' Midnight Screening, Sparking Viewing Frenzy!"
In the report, they didn't provide photos of the Landmark Theatres. Instead, they showed pictures of the entire cast heading to Paul Walker's Santa Monica villa for a party. It was clear they had missed the classic midnight mont, but still managed to catch the tail end of the news spotlight, successfully jumping on the trending bandwagon.
The "Los Angeles Tis" and "The New York Tis," two top-tier dia outlets covering both coasts, had both turned their attention to "Buried." For an independent film without any promotional resources, this was an overwhelming honor.
It's worth noting that most independent films are almost completely overlooked, relying on word-of-mouth from viewers, the tireless efforts of the cast and crew to promote, and hands-on marketing to barely open up so market space. But now, "Buried" was having an incredibly bright debut!
Even more remarkably, "Buried's" real-ti discussion heat had surpassed that of "Paranormal Activity 2," becoming the hottest topic of October 22nd. This was the real miracle!
Because "Paranormal Activity 2" not only had a small but grand premiere but was also simultaneously released in 3,216 theaters across the U.S. In other words, "Buried's" screening venues were not even a fraction of its competitor's.
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