Hollywood: The Greatest Showman

Chapter 278: Fan Favourite

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 comment under the post, "I'm also at the Landmark Theatres in Los Angeles. Renly is like a moving feast; the vibrant colors only truly come to life when he's in motion. It was the same 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 comments. In the short time since he left his message, 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 time you posted a picture of James McAvoy?" "Will the Robert Downey Jr. version of Sherlock Holmes continue?"

This left William puzzled, so he carefully read through the comments, 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 nickname 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 nickname "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 time, 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 Holmes. 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 time, he drew a watercolor painting of Renly, proving his admiration for him and instantly sparking excitement among the netizens. William became thrilled immediately!

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 comments 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 comments 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 dime, it had successfully made a name for itself, something 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 advancement of AI would ultimately overthrow human dominance? But for now, "Buried" had already taken the internet by storm thanks to this wave of excitement.

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 America 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 excitement, 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 usernames among the repliers, he finally couldn't help but laugh out loud. Clearly, he wasn't alone.

The "New York Times," Yahoo community, social networks... So, what's next?

William quickly opened IMDb.

This is undoubtedly the largest gathering place for hardcore North American 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 American core film audiences to express their opinions. IMDb's user rating system is complex and authoritative, now on par with Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, and CinemaScore, becoming an important measure of a film's reputation and quality.

Seeing IMDb's ratings, William was immediately 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 disappointment.

But William soon calmed 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 extremely 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 mean Renly's performance silenced those detractors and skeptics?

Realizing this, William became excited once again!

He habitually opened the "Los Angeles Times" website and immediately 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 moment, but still managed to catch the tail end of the news spotlight, successfully jumping on the trending bandwagon.

The "Los Angeles Times" and "The New York Times," two top-tier media 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 some market space. But now, "Buried" was having an incredibly bright debut!

Even more remarkably, "Buried's" real-time 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.