Made in Hollywood

In early February 1998, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held a luncheon for the Oscar nominees at the Regent Hotel. As expected by most media and industry insiders, "Titanic" became the biggest winner.

Ren is that Miramax, who tasted the sweetness of the Oscars last year, has double insurance for the awards of "Mind Catcher" and "Life is Beautiful", but all of this is cloudless in front of the unprecedented box office numbers of "Titanic", and this is not one. It’s impossible for the school’s conservative judges to ignore this unrealistic film, and gave the film a total of 14 Oscar nominations.

When an epic masterpiece adapted from real historical events entered the Oscar with a box office of more than 1 billion dollars worldwide, conservatives finally bowed their heads.

Yes, at the beginning of February, the North American box office of "Titanic" reached 462.15 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office totaled 1.062.1 million U.S. dollars. It has firmly secured its top position in movie history!

Fourteen Oscar nominations have undoubtedly added a boost to Big Ship. The box office in North America rose sharply that weekend, with a reverse increase of 79%! And many countries that did not intend to introduce "Titanic" have also set their sights on this giant system, such as some countries on the other side of the Pacific...

The peripheral development of the film, thanks to the Oscar nominations, is also in full swing.

Postcards, cultural shirts, kaleidoscopes, stationery boxes, handbags, and Jack and Ruth doll models, etc., reached a series of licensing agreements in early February, and the North American market alone received $70 million in licensing revenue.

Counting the original soundtrack album that has occupied the top spot in the Billboard record sales charts for nine consecutive weeks-6.43 million copies-the film's profit in North America has reached 120 million U.S. dollars, excluding labor costs and accounting costs!

After more than two months of screening and promotion, "Titanic" also ushered in the first revenue sharing. In this regard, the Twentieth Century Fox, which has always been tight in the funding chain, is far more enthusiastic and active than Duke, and has been urging. Paramount Pictures, the North American marketer of "Titanic".

After the Oscar nominees luncheon, the North American Cinemas League and Paramount Pictures have conducted two box office splits, with a total amount of US$400 million. Since this is the predominance of the issuer's pre-shared accounts, according to the distribution agreement signed by the two parties, the distribution company has a relatively high share of accounts. Paramount Pictures received more than $224 million from it.

After deducting the film’s corresponding 10% of the North American distribution costs of 40 million U.S. dollars, and the North American publicity expenses that Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox have invested, the share of funds before the three major investments is still as high as A huge amount of 160 million US dollars.

Because the three parties signed a clear agreement. Moreover, their respective accountants and Vito’s professional organizations have always been involved in the announcement, and the amount and proportion of the share are clear at a glance. With 50 million US dollars, Duke accounted for a quarter of the investment and received 40 million US dollars from it.

Although this is a pre-tax profit, he has recovered most of the investment just by the early share of the North American box office.

For North American peripheral profits, the three parties also made the first share on the books of the studios specially established for the film. Duke received a quarter of the $120 million peripheral profits-$30 million.

Two and a half months after "Titanic" was released. Investors, including him, finally used actual data to make the most beneficial counterattack. The ship ridiculed as ‘the ship destined to sink’ has already brought profits to the three major investors!

Moreover, the pre-tax income of US$70 million is only part of the profit. Now the overseas income of Hollywood commercial masterpieces has surpassed the North American income. When the overseas income of future films is accounted for, it will be enough to surprise many people.

Don't forget, movies like "Titanic" are not just box office revenue, its surroundings are indeed weaker than "Jurassic Park". But it cannot be ignored.

However, Duke is very clear. If you want to get back your overseas income, you have to wait slowly.

For more than a month after Christmas, Duke was busy with the late workdays of The Matrix every week, and he would fly to New Zealand on weekends to participate in the preparatory work of regulating the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, even if he was strong-willed. Energetic and healthy enough, I gradually became tired, and I even felt that the whole person was about to be divided into two.

"I finally understand that even Spielberg is the most famous fast shooter in Hollywood. Why did he only make two movies in the same year once, and he also prepared for "Schindler's List" for ten years. Long."

Sitting at the rest table in the editing room, Duke chatted with Tina Fei. As the post-production work was left with only special effects production, the two associate directors Zach Schneider and Anna Prinz had left and rushed. New Zealand, participated in the preliminary work of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

In the editing room of the Duke's studio, only Duke and Mike Dawson and their assistants remained.

"You should take a vacation for yourself." Tina Fei poured a cup of espresso, handed it to Duke, reminded, "Since Christmas, you have not officially rested."

"Are you tired too?" Duke asked.

He doesn't rest, and of course Tina Fei, who is a personal assistant, can't rest.

Tina Fei did not deny, "If I changed it to when I first came a few years ago, I would definitely hide in the room and cry."

"I have finished the commercial for this film, and I can rest for now." Duke also felt exhausted.

With the expansion of the Duke’s studio, there are more and more things to deal with. After Christmas, he specially hired a high-paying executive from his mother. The other party has worked hard in Hollywood and can handle the Duke’s studio relatively easily. Tina Fei’s administrative affairs, but the final decision still has to be summarized by Tina Fei, who will make the decision.

Moreover, Warner Bros. also has senior executives stationed there. This is inevitable after the exchange, and the other party has rich work experience. As long as the necessary supervision is done, it can actually bring a lot of help.

Now he and Warner Bros. are in the honeymoon period, and the interests of the two companies are closely linked. The contradiction is not without, but it will be controlled within a very small range.

It took a whole afternoon for the special effects team of Duke, Mike Dawson, and Industrial Light and Magic to add the few remaining special effects of the commercial. This one will be played in the next 30 seconds of the Super Bowl halftime. The advertisement is declared complete.

"Tina..."

When leaving the studio by car, Duke asked the assistant in the co-pilot seat, "I will take a few days off next week. Do you want to take a vacation alone, or go to the Super Bowl with me?"

Tina Fei thought for a while, "Let's go to the Super Bowl together. If there is an emergency, I don't want to rush over from vacation."

"The Matrix" is confirmed to be released in the summer season. Duke Studios and Warner Bros. naturally will not miss the promotion position of Super Bowl halftime. From the time Duke let "Break into Death Island" board the Super Bowl advertisement at the box office It is selling well, but now more films are focused on this event, and the Super Bowl advertisement has gradually become a traditional propaganda position for Hollywood blockbusters.

In fact, the promotion of "The Matrix" has been launched in a planned way under the instigation of Warner. As in the past, a summer commercial blockbuster will not rely solely on any propaganda method. Duke has been busy with two movies. Apart from accepting interviews or participating in publicity activities organized by Warner, basically he did not give too many opinions on publicity.

However, there is only one exception. Computer networks are frequently mentioned in the film, and since 1998, the Internet in North America has been very developed. How could he ignore this propaganda front that has a huge impact on young people.

The film is constantly advertised on websites with high click-through rates, including Yahoo, and in accordance with Duke's suggestion, the navy is hired to post posts in some film and television forums, which has attracted the attention of the Internet community.

In particular, Duke asked Pani Kelly to find someone to build a personal website. After completion, it was directly linked to a lot of film and television forums. Now the main content on it is to promote "The Matrix."

…………

In the dim light, Allen sat in front of the computer, exited the Explosive Madden chat room, accustomed to clicking on a link on this section, and then opened a strange website.

The website is dominated by a gloomy dark tone with some green sliding bars on it. Allen knows computers well and knows that this is something similar to program code, but the website is generally very simple, except for the conspicuous message board. , Is a more conspicuous person wearing black sunglasses and a black trench coat. That person is very familiar to senior movie fans like him, the famous blast frenzy and Duke of Destruction Duke Rosenberg.

The young director in the picture is an image he has never seen before, but it is very cool!

It's so cool!

The director is holding a very evil-looking mechanical squid in his right hand, and holding a pistol in the same color as the windbreaker in his left hand. What the muzzle ejects is not a bullet, but a very strange thing-is this world real? Do you think what you see, smell, and hear are all real? The real world is like this!

This is obviously a link. Allen clicked to open it, and many pictures showed up. Some of them were farming, but what grew out of the ground was not food...

There is also the most conspicuous one in the middle-don't be confused, the mother is confusing you, follow Duke to find the truth in this world, you are the only savior!

Moving the mouse, Allen opened the link again, and the pictures that appeared were shocking, the sky with dark clouds, Manhattan turned into black ruins, and humans lying sleeping in unknown capsules...

What world is this?

Despite seeing it many times, Alan is still very curious, what is the mother body? The only savior?

Of course, there are only a few fools in this world who don’t turn their heads at all. Allen soon thought that this was related to Duke’s new film. Looking at the cool shapes, quiet life scenes and the apocalyptic environment, he was born in his heart. Countless expectations. (To be continued...)