On September 27th, inside a screening room at Hollywood's Paramount Pictures, as eerie drumbeats merged with the sharp turns of the jigsaw, the audience watching the film spontaneously erupted into enthusiastic applause.
Inside the screening room were not only Lyman, James Wan, and Leigh Whannell, the core creative team, but also managers and subordinates from Paramount's distribution department.
After the film concluded, the group exchanged their thoughts on the movie.
"It holds certain commercial value. The story is tightly woven, and the visual flow is well-executed," the first to speak was a middle-aged Caucasian, David Andrews, the person in charge of this film's distribution.
Another person chimed in, "I agree. This film should resonate well with certain cult film enthusiasts. After all, the intricate death traps and the ideology of punishing those who disregard life hold considerable attraction."
"But the film's target audience isn't too broad, and we can't set our marketing costs too high," another person suggested.
After a brief discussion, on the whole, these Paramount distribution personnel recognized that the film had some value, but they weren't overly optimistic.
As for why?
A new director with no successful experience, coupled with actors who didn't possess great drawing power, producing a thriller film—other than Lyman, it was difficult for anyone else to have much confidence in it.
Even James was feeling anxious at this moment.
He himself was somewhat fearful of failure. That's how films were; until they were actually screened, everyone could only estimate their potential success. Who could predict how the market would respond?
In the previous life, "Saw" had such low production costs, and due to Lionsgate's lack of attention, they barely promoted the film and quickly released it to theaters, with a paltry number of around 200 cinemas.
Moreover, "Saw" was released alongside "Cradle 2 the Grave" from Silver Productions and Universal's "Friday Night Lights", both of which seemed to have an edge over it.
However, the outcome was astonishing. In the face of three films clashing at the box office, the film that was deemed unfavorable— "Saw"—surprisingly outperformed the others.
In the end, it grossed over $50M in North America and a global total of $100M, which not only made a substantial profit for Lionsgate but also prompted them to continue exploring sequels for the film.
Given these circumstances, can you say that Lionsgate had not underestimated it?
But indeed, at the beginning of its release, not many had high hopes for it.
Lyman, of course, was confident. With an ample budget for this film, it not only had superior production quality, richer color tones, and more visually striking scenes, but it also benefited from marketing efforts. At the very least, it would surpass the original work.
However, he couldn't make a complete guarantee. There were many factors affecting a film's box office performance—film quality, scheduling, theater distribution, and competition from other films during the same period. Any disruption in these factors could cause fluctuations. He could only do his best and leave the rest to fate.
"Could you please prepare a comprehensive marketing plan first?" Lyman said.
"Sure, Director Lyman. Rest assured, we'll be prepared in this aspect," compared to James, David Andrew clearly respected Lyman's opinions more.
And indeed, he continued politely, "Regarding the film, we are planning to release it on October 10th. I've reviewed the schedule, and there aren't many prominent films around that time. The target audiences for various works don't seem to overlap much, making it quite suitable for us."
"Feel free to arrange it as you see fit." In this regard, David Andrew was evidently the expert.
He nodded, bid farewell, and said, "We'll go back and get in touch with the manufacturer to customize the film posters and have people put them up around the cinemas for promotion."
"You've worked hard."
"It's part of our job."
After exchanging a couple more polite phrases, once the other party left with a copy, Lyman turned to the two budding filmmakers nearby and smiled, "Alright, now it's up to Paramount's arrangement. We can only hope that the audience and fans will accept the film."
At this moment, James appeared to be somewhat uneasy, just like Lyman felt when he made his first film "Buried". He was afraid that if he failed, it would jeopardize his future directing career. Upon hearing Lyman's words, he awkwardly chuckled.
...
Two days later, the promotional campaign for "Saw" started with relatively little fanfare.
Offline promotions, advertising pushes, poster placements, online buzz...
With only a budget of 4 million dollars for marketing, once these were done, it was depleted.
At the same time, Paramount Pictures leveraged its industry connections to have James and several key creatives participate in TV show recordings, interviews with journalists from various media outlets, and they even stirred up some publicity in tabloids claiming that this was a film produced by Lyman, directed by the assistant director of "Miscreant". Catchy headlines like "The Most Thrilling Movie of October" and "Watch If You Dare" were being circulated.
Unfortunately, these tabloids didn't hold much weight.
The catchy headlines failed to gain traction, but they were marginally better than the previous life. At least, there would be a group of viewers who would notice that such a film was going to be released, which was better than being completely under the radar.
Of course, even with this, it was still an improvement compared to Lyman's initial situation.
His second film "3 Idiots" received a similar treatment, yet it managed to achieve great success based on word-of-mouth alone.
When it came down to it, the ultimate competition was the film's inherent strength. No matter how much you hyped it, once you recognized its essence, you would understand its true worth.
Just like a certain fortress that went overboard with its publicity, boasting about being a grand sci-fi masterpiece that respects the original work.
Pah, it's just a damn ridiculous romance film. Why pretend it's sci-fi? If they were more honest, there wouldn't be so many criticisms. The key is to not treat the audience like idiots and end up with a disappointing outcome.
As for that certain deer... forget it, let's not talk about him.
That hairstyle is worth critiquing, let alone the acting.
...
By October 9th, James' team had finally concluded their week-long promotional tour.
Perhaps the advertorials had some effect, or maybe the assistant director of "Miscreant" had a sufficiently intimidating reputation, or perhaps the association with Lyman as a producer carried some weight. Whatever the reason, on this evening, for the premiere hosted by Paramount Pictures, a portion of the pre-released film tickets were sold out.
The venue was set at the China National Grand Theatre and was beautifully arranged well in advance.
With a mix of nervousness and anticipation, James awaited the premiere of his directorial debut.