In a middle-class neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, Kyle rode his bicycle swiftly down the street, with a large stack of neatly sorted newspapers in the front basket.
Although his family was well-off, his pocket money was limited, and if he wanted more, he had to earn it himself.
As he passed by a large convenience store, Kyle instinctively turned his head to look. A large poster was displayed above the store, with a somewhat eerie image and the title "Final Destination."
Kyle knew this was a horror movie. He had seen the trailer for it when he went to see The World Is Not Enough a while ago.
Glancing at his digital watch, Kyle sped up. He had to finish his paper route quickly; otherwise, he'd be late for school.
"Hey, Kyle!" someone called from the roadside. "My newspaper!"
Kyle slowed down slightly, took out a folded newspaper, and tossed it to the person. "Eddie, here's your paper!"
The newspaper landed on the lawn. Eddie went to pick it up, shaking his head as he watched Kyle ride away.
At home, Eddie's mother had already prepared breakfast and was sitting at the dining table. Eddie divided the newspaper into two parts, setting the political section aside for his father and taking the entertainment and sports section for himself.
After checking the latest news on the Dallas Cowboys, he turned to the entertainment page.
"Real-Life Cases Behind Final Destination!"
Eddie took a big bite of his sandwich and continued reading. "Death is always hunting those who avoid their fate. There are many such cases in real life!"
Finishing his sandwich, Eddie wiped his hands and read on.
"In real life, many people have escaped major disasters, only to be hunted down by Death and die in various bizarre ways."
"In January 1993, 21-year-old Jessica Lima helped organize a party for students at the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil, and also sold tickets. But when she was about to leave for the nightclub, her sick boyfriend called and asked her to stay home and take care of him."
"Even though most of her friends were at the party, Jessica Lima heeded her boyfriend's request and stayed home. A few hours later, the band at the party set off fireworks on stage, igniting the club's foam ceiling. Many people died from inhaling toxic fumes, while others were trampled or trapped in the fire, resulting in a death toll of 238 that night."
"Five days later, Jessica Lima and her boyfriend went to another town for a trip. On their way back, their car collided head-on with a truck. Jessica Lima died instantly, and her boyfriend died later in the hospital."
Eddie scratched his head. Could there really be a Grim Reaper? The article listed several other cases in Canada, Mexico, the United States, and even a shooting in Texas four years ago.
The dates, locations, names, and details were all very clear. A mainstream newspaper like the Dallas Morning News wouldn't make things up.
Then Eddie read the last part of the article: "Final Destination, said to be based on a true airplane crash, will be officially released on December 3. In the 1970s, several students were removed from a flight due to an argument, escaping a plane crash. But in the following two months, they all died in various accidents."
Could there really be a Grim Reaper? Or was it impossible to change one's fate?
At this point, Eddie found himself deeply intrigued by Final Destination.
December 3? That's the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Eddie noted the date.
In Brooklyn, New York, twenty-two-year-old Tom finished a day's work and returned home to surf the internet.
He opened Yahoo's homepage and logged into a forum, noticing a popular post with many replies.
Tom quickly opened it. It was a video interview, showing a few people discussing the accidental death of a relative.
First, a photo of a smiling red-haired woman appeared on the screen, followed by a picture of her corpse. Although the body was pixelated, the bloodstains and wounds were faintly visible, making it a shocking sight.
"This is my cousin, Lisa Reed, a broadcaster for Channel 5 in Texas, who died in a shooting two years ago."
A young woman, barely in her twenties, was speaking. "Her death brought endless sorrow and immense fear to our family."
A microphone appeared in the frame. "Why is that?"
The middle-aged woman next to the young woman answered, "Because Lisa had just escaped one shooting and then died in another a week later."
The man sitting in the middle chimed in, "You've probably heard about the Eaton Mall shooting in Texas two years ago, right? Lisa was there. She had just come out of a burger joint when the shooter attacked. Someone knocked her down, and she escaped the bullets, but the burger bag she was holding was shot to pieces."
The video showed several photos and newspapers. Tom carefully examined them. The photos seemed to be from the shooting scene, and the newspapers reported on the incident, with one headline reading "Lucky Girl Lisa Reed."
Tom fully believed this was a true event.
"Death didn't spare Lisa. After the shooting, Death was right beside her!" The man's words were chilling. "Just a week later, Lisa was shot in the heart by a mugger and died."
The man suddenly became hysterical, "Death will hunt down anyone who escapes their fate! Until it takes their life!"
After watching the video, Tom saw the first reply in the thread, listing other similar cases.
There was a girl who escaped a nightclub fire only to die in a car crash, someone who survived a tornado but was then killed by a rabid dog, and another person who survived a plane crash but soon died in another crash.
It seemed like these people were destined to die, and if they didn't die the first time, another accident would take them.
And there's a movie based on similar events?
Tom quickly read up on the movie. "In the 1970s, several students were removed from a flight due to an argument, escaping a plane crash. But in the following two months, they all died in various accidents. Renowned horror director James Wong, who directed The Purge, adapted this event into the horror movie Final Destination, set to be released on December 3. Death is all around!"
After Thanksgiving, reports of various accidents surged in newspapers, magazines, TV, and the internet, making it seem like the entire United States was shrouded in the shadow of accidents. Many famous past incidents were frequently mentioned in both new and old media.
Everything was telling the public that life was fragile, and Death was all around.
The promotional campaign for Final Destination did not reach the frenzy of The Blair Witch Project, but it still garnered significant attention. Embassy Pictures created a dedicated website for the movie, filled with cases of people who escaped accidents only to die in new ones, drawing significant interest.
Though some cases were fabricated by the publicity team, mixed in with many true stories, the overall credibility increased significantly.
By early December, the total visits to the Final Destination movie website had exceeded eight million.
Michael had the IP addresses of the website visitors analyzed, revealing that these audiences were spread across the United States, not concentrated in any single area.
This indicated that the extensive marketing campaign had brought Final Destination to the attention of many people nationwide.
With the movie market on the other side of the Pacific far from its prime, the United States was the world's largest film producer and consumer, with the EU forming a significant part of the global film market.
Securing these markets would undoubtedly lead to success.
How to get Final Destination in front of potential audiences was the focus of the marketing campaign.
It meant identifying the right target audience.
Over the past two years, Michael had continuously conducted market research and analysis. Even in economically developed areas, one-third of adults never visited cinemas. The core cinema audience comprised movie enthusiasts who watched at least one movie per week, accounting for about 40% of ticket sales.
Apart from these first-tier movie enthusiasts, the second tier consisted of those who watched a movie about once a month, also representing around 40%.
A new movie's fate was primarily decided by the first-tier audience.
These enthusiasts paid attention to the new releases each week, selecting a movie of interest to watch over the weekend, contributing to the opening weekend box office.
The promotion of Final Destination ensured that the movie's information reached the first-tier audience.
As long as the first-tier audience could help achieve a good opening weekend box office, attracting the second-tier audience would be easier.
Final Destination's release timing wasn't ideal, being the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday. The Thanksgiving weekend would likely satiate many moviegoers' viewing desires, leading to a quieter market the following weekend.
However, this weekend also had an advantage: no strong competitors were releasing simultaneously.
The only other major release that weekend was Universal Pictures' The Hurricane, starring Denzel Washington, which had a heavily artistic style and lacked significant market competitiveness.
In contrast, the films released before and after this weekend were much stronger.
The previous weekend saw the release of End of Days and Toy Story 2, and the following weekend featured Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and The Green Mile, with Stuart Little releasing soon after.
The holiday season, including Thanksgiving and Christmas, was as bustling and crowded as the summer.
On December 1, all copies of Final Destination distributed by Embassy Pictures were delivered, and the premiere event kicked off.