hollywood melon man

Chapter 296: Word of mouth at preview screening

"I didn't expect that it took you so long to shoot this movie." Xu Qing also came to attend the wrapping banquet.

She said it herself, although she had only been an assistant for two months, she was still considered a part of the crew.

Little Gilbert looked at the singing and dancing bonfire party and smiled at Xu Qing: "Ms. Xu, this is not one movie, but three."

Xu Qing shook her head and said: "I have never seen a movie of this scale. This is quite rare in the history of movies."

Little Gilbert smiled and said, "Miss Xu, I think you have overlooked a series of movies."

"what movie?"

"The Armageddon Series."

Xu Qing was stunned for a moment, then she remembered that there was this series of movies, and she suddenly felt ashamed. She is Chinese, but no foreigner understands Chinese movies.

Ashamed!
"After this time, are you going back?" Xu Qing asked.

As long as he's speechless and doesn't speak to him, he'll be fine. As for the North American people below, it is basically whatever the media says, and their remarks are basically irrelevant.

Little Gilbert nodded and said, "Yes, there is still a lot of work to be done in Los Angeles."

The equipment that couldn't be taken away was basically 'damaged', so it was handed over to Chinese friends to be disposed of as garbage.

After a three-day break, the American staff of the crew began to return to North America with their equipment.

As for issues such as media smear campaign and public opinion control, how much money does the media have? Little Gilbert now has money and buying the media is not a problem.

Little Gilbert was stunned for a moment, but seeing that Xu Qing's eyes were sincere and not fake, he thought about it and nodded in agreement.

Gilbert Jr. also plans to acquire the "Los Angeles Times", control "Variety", "Hollywood Reporter", "Vanity Fair", "Empire" and other newspapers and magazines, and fully control public opinion.

This is something that every squid with status will do, control the media, and little Gilbert can apply what he has learned.

Everyone wants this piece of meat in the Chinese market, and it is necessary to have a good relationship with some big shots.

Besides, for North American people who don’t care about the world, little Gilbert’s story is not worth mentioning at all.

I had heard many rumors about Xu Qing in her previous life, and it was said that she had an unusual background. The public route has to be taken, and little Gilbert also has to take the background route.

Xu Qing hesitated and then asked, "Then can I go to Los Angeles to find you? I want to attend the premiere of the movie. At the very least, I can be considered a member of the crew."

Leaving Kane Waxman to deal with the aftermath, Gilbert Jr. returned to the studio in Los Angeles with a large amount of material and the edited "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" to continue busy with post-production work.

But in North America, everyone is not a fool, and may suspect that there is something wrong with little Gilbert. But no matter how outrageous it is, one would never think that little Gilbert has a Chinese soul inside.

"It depends on the situation," little Gilbert looked at the night sky over the prairie, with clearly visible stars hanging in the sky.

After returning to Los Angeles, Little Gilbert completed the editing of the soundtrack and the editing of the sound effects.

For example, in his beloved Los Angeles Business Journal, Gilbert Jr. directly became a shareholder and promoted Sarah to the editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

The special effects work and editing of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" have been completed.

By the time he controls the media, who will still say that he is Tongzhong...

"Okay, come when the time comes and I will receive you personally." Little Gilbert said.

"Then when will you come back?" Xu Qing asked again.

The level of the China Philharmonic Orchestra is good, and little Gilbert was very satisfied with the version of the recorded soundtrack.

But this is a band from China after all. Later, Gilbert Jr. and Howard Shaw plan to tour the "Lord of the Rings" concert and release the soundtrack album, which requires a local band to complete.

But there is no need to worry about this. Robert Egger quickly helped little Gilbert contact the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra to re-record the new "Lord of the Rings" soundtrack album.

So there were two versions. The soundtrack in the movie was completed by the China Philharmonic Orchestra, while the original soundtrack and future tour versions were by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

Of course, the version recorded by the China Philharmonic Orchestra will also be released on a small number of original soundtrack albums.

If the sales are good, it won’t be too late to add some albums.

The tours of the two orchestras are also very clear. The China Philharmonic Orchestra is responsible for the Asian tour, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic is responsible for the European and American tour.

When the film is released in July, the two bands' tour plans will start at the same time.

The tour schedule is long and will last until the release of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" the following year.

Such a long tour time is to fully absorb and sustain the popularity of the entire "Lord of the Rings" movie series.

According to the plan, the tour may take place once a month, or twice or three times, traveling through major cities around the world. The decision will be made based on the actual situation.

These are just secondary tasks to coordinate with the crew's promotion. The most important thing is to focus on the movie.

In addition, Disney and Warner Pictures attach great importance to online promotion. After "The Matrix" and "The Blair Witch Project" relied on online promotion to achieve success, major Hollywood companies began to pay attention to online promotion.

Little Gilbert started relatively early in this regard, and he had a navy under his command. During this period, trolls began to go out everywhere, praising, suppressing, smearing, and confronting. Various methods were used in an endless stream to continue to create popularity on the Internet.

Throughout the history of Hollywood, publicity and distribution are a vital link that complements the film.

Many of the movies with excellent quality and even classics in film history were not released because of poor promotion and distribution.

The only movie in the world that was a box office hit without good publicity and distribution was probably "Titanic", and it was from a previous life.

The publicity work for this big ship in time and space was very good. It was because of Little Gilbert's reminder that the big ship got the publicity it deserved.

The production cost of each "Lord of the Rings" series is approximately US$1.16 million when divided evenly. In terms of production scale and texture, it is much higher than Peter Jackson's version.

After all post-production was completed, Disney and Warner held internal previews.

There is no doubt that the movie captivated all the executives at both studios. To borrow the words of Solomon, head of Warner Pictures' distribution department: "If the movie doesn't do well in the summer, it's not the movie's problem, and it's not the problem of Little Gilbert.

It’s those of us who do publicity and dissemination work who don’t do our job well. "

Being able to say this shows that Solomon has great confidence in the quality of the film.

Having conquered all the executives of the two film companies, they will naturally invest all their resources in publicity and distribution. Disney and Warner once again added additional funds, raising the publicity and distribution costs to $80 million.

The first film in the series is the most important. As long as "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" is a big success, the announcement of the subsequent two films will save a lot of resources and costs.

But the cost of the first film was nearly 200 million US dollars, which was like a heavy mountain, weighing on little Gilbert's shoulders.

If such a big project fails, it means that all subsequent films will be in vain, and little Gilbert will suffer a major blow.

Although executives are confident in the film, that confidence needs to be tested by the market.

After the internal preview meeting, Disney and Warner immediately held three preview screenings attended by theater representatives, media reporters, and ordinary senior movie fans.

Various statistical data from the preview screening will directly affect the release and theater opening data of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring".

If the reputation of the test screening is very poor, even if it is a joint work of Gilbert Jr., Spielberg, and James Cameron, it will not be able to open in large-scale theaters.

But this worry is unnecessary, the response from the preview screening was quite outstanding.

Among the high-level meetings jointly held by Disney and Warner, Solomon, head of distribution department of Warner Pictures, presided over the meeting.

He had an unstoppable smile on his face, and his voice was high and loud like Pavarotti, showing his excitement.

"Last week, we held three test screenings, all of which received good responses." Solomon asked his assistant to send the data to the executives present.

He continued: "We received 1432 survey reports from ordinary movie fans who participated in the preview. Excluding A-, the film has a favorable rating of A or above..."

Solomon paused deliberately, and when he saw everyone looking at him, he said loudly and excitedly: "The positive rating of A and above has reached 98%, and the positive rating of A+ has reached 95%!"

Many executives listened to this data and looked at the survey report in their hands, some of them couldn't believe it.

During the trial screening stage, there were not many films that achieved this level of reputation.

When Doug Walter and Robert Egger looked at each other, they both saw such a look in each other's eyes.

In the eyes of the two of them, it is not surprising that little Gilbert can create any kind of magic. Who makes him little Gilbert!
Compared to the two of them, Charles Rowan and Kane Waxman were relieved. This data looks pretty good.

The two of them are the producers of the "Lord of the Rings" project, and together with little Gilbert, they participated in all aspects of film production.

Everyone has put in a lot of hard work, and finally it’s time to reap the rewards.

Starting in 1997 until the end of May this year, the entire "Lord of the Rings" project lasted more than three years. If you include the time spent on Little Gilbert's script, the time has come to five years.

In the past five years, thousands of people have put in huge efforts on this project, spending huge amounts of money and energy.

If such efforts are not rewarded as they should be, then God is too unfair.

Little Gilbert was the calmest one. He asked, "Solomon, what's the feedback from the theaters?"

"The data are also quite gratifying. Among the 153 theater representatives who participated in the preview, 148 received A+ ratings, 2 received A, and only three received A-." Anyone can see the joy on Solomon's face. arrive.

"Are there no ratings below A-?" an executive asked.

"No, theaters are very optimistic about this movie." Solomon said.

"This is great," Doug Walter clapped his hands and said, "This shows that the film is indeed excellent."

“Everyone,” Doug Walter emphasized, “I’m asking you to put all your energy into this movie this summer, and we’re going to put an end to the summer charade once and for all.

Let them understand who is the king of summer movies. "

"understand!"

At this moment, both Disney and Warner people have only one goal, which is to promote the sales of "Lord of the Rings" in the summer season.

(End of this chapter)