Made in Hollywood

"China Film Group would like to invite director Rosenberg to lead the entire crew next summer to our premiere."

This Mr. Wang said sincerely, "If you can, please consider placing the world premiere of "Transformers" on the other side of the Pacific Ocean."

Before deciding to invest in this project, China Film Group conducted a targeted survey in China. The post-80s generation has grown up and has a certain degree of economic autonomy. They are very enthusiastic about the various memories of their childhood. Transformers is one of the hot topics. First, there are even various Transformers fan associations in the country, which means huge market potential.

There is also the director. Originally, China Film Group was a little worried about the style of "The Dark Knight". It was not unshakable when it was introduced, but the appeal of the name Duke Rosenberg in China is amazing. "The Dark Knight" broke in one fell swoop. The "Titanic" has a domestic box office record for nearly a decade, and became the domestic box office champion since records.

The China Film Group also thoroughly understood that Duke Rosenberg's film is extremely in line with the appetite of its own audience.

Duke didn't reply immediately, but instead looked at Jamie Johnson, and when he saw the other side nodded slightly, he understood.

Warner Bros. has close cooperation with China Film Group in many aspects such as the theater chain. The huge sales of "The Dark Knight" on the opposite side also proves the unlimited potential of the market. They obviously don't want to miss this promotional film and Warner Bros. opportunity.

Frowning and thinking about it, Duke said to Jamie Johnson, "Warner Bros. is the distributor of the film. Please handle it according to your opinion."

If you want to find a partner in the opposite market with huge potential, China Film Group is undoubtedly the best choice.

Since they invested in the film and issued the premiere invitation, the script review and film review would certainly not be a problem, and in all of Duke's films, there is nothing aimed at or undermining the other side. Except for some great Americanism, there is basically no sensitive content.

Of course, all Hollywood mainstream commercial masterpieces are very Americanism.

If this is unacceptable, the other side will not introduce Hollywood movies.

The specific matters will naturally be resolved through negotiations between Warner Bros. and China Film Group and send away the Mr. Wang and Jamie Johnson. Duke's energy returned to the Transformers.

He put a large model of Optimus Prime and Megatron on his desk. This is a limited-edition model from the 1980s. It can be disassembled and transformed. Duke is like a child who gets his favorite toy. Generally, in the whole afternoon, Optimus Prime and Megatron are constantly being disassembled, deformed and combined...

There is only one purpose for this. Transformers is not only a popcorn movie, but also a teenage popcorn. Duke's mentality is too calm and aging. In this way, he wanted to find the feeling of touching Transformers when he was a teenager.

To make this movie, his director must maintain a young enough mentality.

At the same time, as he said, remember that Transformers are a group of alien intelligent machine life forms, not cold and bulky robots.

He has to consider how to incorporate virtual characters such as Transformers into the relatively realistic world of the film in his early planning. And give the Transformers real humanity, whether it is a Decepticon. Still Autobots, they are like human beings, they will have their own thoughts and personalities.

After installing the Optimus Prime model, Duke's eyes fell on the base. The sentence above is undoubtedly the starting point of all Optimus Prime's personality and beliefs-freedom and right belong to all beings!

According to the outline of the script he set, Optimus Prime is a gentle and kind leader. At the same time, he has a cold and ruthless side. In order to maintain the belief in his heart, he can betray his race and turn to humans to become a ‘robot’, and sacrifice the members of the Autobots and even his own life when necessary.

The right to freedom is also a universal value. No matter what countries all over the world do, they always shout this slogan loudly, and Optimus Prime has a strong stand for what it does.

Movies are Duke's greatest interest, and "Transformers" has an extraordinary meaning, which is where he once dreamed.

How many children have dreamed of transforming and setting off with Optimus Prime; how many teenagers have imagined flying in the sky with Megatron; and how many people have never forgotten their childhood memories...

Transformers even affected the lives of many people.

Although to a certain extent, all directors who make a generation of childhood dream films will be the culprit for ruining childhood memories, but Duke is willing to bear this charge for his dreams and large commercial gains.

On July 10, 2007, Warner Bros. and Hasbro officially announced the establishment of the "Transformers" project. Duke's new film conference has just been held, and this topic has become a hot topic in the media and movie fans.

"The Dark Knight" hasn't been released yet, Duke has started a new project. The media and Hollywood are not surprised. After all, he has been making films at the rate of one a year in recent years.

But the media was very surprised by the themes and genres Duke chose.

The entertainment version of the "Washington Post" stated that he did not understand Duke's choice at all. He believed that he had just made a very in-depth film and that he should continue in this direction.

Kenneth Turan pointed out in a column in the Los Angeles Times that Duke is ready to return to the old path.

However, on the Internet, some Transformers fans are still very worried, worried that Duke will darken Optimus Prime, and then go to find themselves, that is too scary for Transformers.

Of course, Duke will certainly not use a darkened style to make a film for teenagers like "Transformers."

To be precise, that extremely dark style is enough to use once.

In addition, to complete such a huge project as "Transformers" within a year, military support is also essential.

Duke has made contact with the Pentagon.

"With so much shooting experience, I have a better understanding of some procedures in the military."

After receiving a reply letter from the Pentagon’s participation, Duke joked to Tina Fei, “But I’m still a bit worried because many troops have been sent out to deal with terrorists, and there may be no time to take care of us—after all. 'Fighting' is what the soldiers really care about."

Tina Fei quietly rolled her eyes, "I believe soldiers are more willing to fight aliens."

After all, the audience watching the film is human, and the North American market has the heaviest weight. In all "Transformers" movies, the American soldier will still play a very important role.

However, it would never happen that a team of American soldiers can easily fix a Decepticon plot.

But according to the script’s setting, machine life forms are also life forms, including Optimus Prime and Megatron. They are indeed very powerful, but they are not invincible and unkillable. They can also be harmed by human heavy weapons, even continuously. Hit the key will also die.

With the official establishment of the "Transformers" project, except Tina Fei succeeded Charles Rowan, the members of the Duke team returned one after another and began to prepare for this super commercial masterpiece whose production cost alone would reach 200 million US dollars.

This amount of funds is quite large, except for the pre-sale and platter plan to solve most of the sources of funds, commercial sponsorship is another important point.

When the crew announced a series of Autobots and Decepticons lists at the China Merchants Conference, as well as their approximate appearances and time, most of the Autobots became the fat meat in the eyes of automakers.

General Motors packed Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Ironhide, Hummer chose the ambulance, Lamborghini got the Jazz, and Gulfstream took the Decepticons.

In addition to cars and airplanes, many manufacturers such as Burger King, Coca-Cola, Le Cordon Bleu, Nokia, and Lenovo from across the Pacific will appear in the film.

Not surprisingly, the scale of placement of this "Transformers" advertising will create a new Hollywood record.

But the protagonists are in modern society. It is natural for these brands to appear in their lives, and Duke does not oppose the placement of ads in the film, but it will not come up with that kind of particularly blunt placement.

If the cost of the shooting car provided by Connectivity and the promotion of various brands are included, it is only the placement of advertising, this film can save nearly 40 million US dollars in expenses.

The support from the Pentagon can also save a lot of money for the crew, but the crew must take care of the military. The film will demonstrate various advanced equipment of the US military, which is actually a major attraction.

Most of the members of the Decepticons, Duke are left to the Pentagon, for example, Starscream is an F-22 Raptor, and Noisy is an improved version of the m1a2 main station tank...

After all, the support given by the Pentagon is indeed very strong, and their proposal even exceeded Duke's expectations.

The crew can go to Holloman, Cortland and Edwards Air Force Bases as well as the Pentagon and the White Sands Missile Range to shoot on-site, cooperate with different military branches, and can "borrow" high-end weapons that are rarely seen during filming. , From cv-22 tilt rotor aircraft, f-117 "Nighthawk" stealth aircraft to c-130 "Hercules" transport aircraft, c-17 "Global Master" transport aircraft and the US Air Force's ace f-22 Raptor.

And as long as Duke needs it, the crew can board the active aircraft carrier to shoot.

In addition to propagating weapons and its own military, the Pentagon’s biggest requirement is to shape the image of the U.S. military. With the outbreak of those wars on terrorism, the U.S. military’s enlistment rate has dropped to the lowest level ever, just like the original "Brave to Death" Like "Island" and "Independence Day", the military has used "Transformers" to promote the idea of ​​conscription.

Like "Rising the Clouds", the film has always been an excellent conscription promotional film. (To be continued...)

ps: Ask for monthly and recommended tickets!