Made in Hollywood

After the first week, "Inception" is carrying a huge discussion boom, and will soon land in major film markets around the world.

"The famous movie star Ken Watanabe will partner with Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio for the first time in the Hollywood blockbuster "Inception" is about to land in Japan!"

This is a piece of news repeatedly mentioned by the Asahi Shimbun in recent days.

During this week, the promotional video footage of "Inception" appeared on 136 large street screens in 35 prefectures and prefectures across Japan, as well as 50 appliance stores and on-board TVs of important Japanese subways and buses. Large-scale publicity is the first in Japanese film history.

In the promotional film of about 1 minute and 15 seconds, Leonardo Caprio, Ken Watanabe, and Duke, the director, appeared one after another.

And Leonardo DiCaprio, whose appeal in Japan can only be described as unmatched, is the focus of this propaganda film. He deliberately stated: "This is a movie that no one has ever experienced so far. A movie with great visual impact. This summer, war is about to break out of the brain!"

Then Watanabe Ken also said, "In this world, the most valuable thing is the idea generated from your mind. We will steal it after your idea is born. Maybe the next goal is ∈, you... …"

In the square in front of Tokyo Shimbashi Station, when the movie promotion screen appeared on the screen of the station building, the bustling people walking on the street suddenly stopped, all watching the big screen attentively. At this moment, Japan is like a pool of still water. The sound played on the big screen seems to have really become a "dreamland" world.

After a premiere event in Tokyo, Duke became the focus of siege by media reporters, and the questions they asked were mainly his views on various interpretations of the film.

Of course Duke will not answer directly.

"I don't want to make a film about the'shooting process'. What really attracts me is this creative process. I don't want to use film terms to tell the audience how to distinguish between dreams and reality.

Faced with media reporters from all over the world. He deliberately threw out some ambiguous words, "Through the end, you should be able to see that Cobb's real life and dreams are very similar, that is, Cobb is also suspicious, and whether the top is down or not, Cobb doesn't use it. Know the truth. Because he has been reunited with the children."

Having said that, no matter what the reporter asked, Duke closed his mouth firmly.

These remarks spread to the Internet at the fastest speed. At this time, the film has been released all over the world. People who have watched the film combined with Duke's words, with the fastest speed and the highest enthusiasm for the film again. Interpretation, and this interpretation far exceeds the scope of North America and Japan.

The focus of interpretation and controversy, Duke planted the seeds as early as the filming, and was induced by his words. A large number of movie fans found that the scene where Cobb woke up on the plane was a bit weird.

As a result, the dispute between Cobb and his wife who is the dreamer appeared.

According to the protagonist in the film, Cobb and his wife died in a dream after taking the strengthening drugs, so both entered the lost domain.

Women are eager to stay together without the end of time and think that this is reality and do not want to return to reality. Cobb tries to implant ideas in his wife's brain-this is a dream, and must commit suicide to return to reality-did not expect the side effects of idea implantation Then, the wife began to suspect that reality is actually a dream. Think that only death can escape, and commit suicide later in reality.

Cobb has always felt guilty for his wife's death. It is impossible to "make dreams", because every time you enter a dream, all the scenes are the same.

There has never been a lack of bold people in this world, so it is essential for movie fans to make bold conjectures. This is the saying that "the protagonist's wife is the one who returns to reality".

They believe that Cobb's wife committed suicide by jumping off the building in a dream. It is not a real space, and Cobb actually did not recognize this fact, so he really returned to reality and only his wife was the only one. Cobb could not face the “fact” that his wife committed suicide in the dream. Child reunion and so on. The subsequent plots are nothing but dreams created by Cobb.

But the disagreeing party thinks that if the protagonist’s wife returns to reality, it can directly stimulate Cobb, so why let him have so many dreams.

There is even another view that the entire movie is a dream, a dream of Cobb on an airplane, and a lot of evidence is listed for this.

The most typical one is that after Cobb woke up from his dream, he had no communication with the people around him, and the people around him looked at him as if he was watching a stranger. Cobb didn't know the people on the plane at all, but was surprised why The passengers on the plane became the dreamers, which can be seen from his horrified expression when he suddenly woke up.

They think that everything is a dream, a wonderful dream made by Cobb on his way home. The so-called story of his wife, his crimes, and the dreamer are all dreams and have nothing to do with reality.

Of course, this interpretation is both supported and refuted.

And Duke did not answer questions in this regard since then. The greater the intensity of the argument, the better for Inception.

After the premiere in Tokyo, Japan, Duke did not return to Los Angeles, but joined several other actors with Leonardo and flew to China together to participate in the premiere of Inception.

Five years back, it is unimaginable that Duke can bring superstar-level cast and crew like Leonardo DiCaprio to China to hold a major production premiere.

At that time, China was just a humble one of Hollywood's many overseas markets, and Hollywood's big-name stars were still dismissive of China.

With the box office of "Transformers" and "Avatar" in China exceeding RMB 1.3 billion, and at the end of last year, China and the United States reached an agreement on a memorandum of understanding on wto movie-related issues. The share of imported Hollywood movies has also changed from the original percentage. The 13th to 25%-that is to say, for every 10 million yuan in the box office of a Hollywood blockbuster in China, 1.2 million yuan more in the pocket-more and more Hollywood Big-name directors and stars have appeared in China.

What attracts these stars is naturally China's increasingly prosperous film market.

It was also from the time of "Transformers" that the Chinese film market began to grow rapidly like the height of a growing teenager. The box office in 2009 was 10.1 billion, an increase of 4 billion over 2008.

The increase in this year is equivalent to 80% of the increase in the previous 7 years!

Correspondingly, Hollywood blockbusters can make more and more money in China.

Under this stimulus, Hollywood has become more and more aggressive in the Chinese market, and there are more and more marketing needs. The old routines in the past-find the media to publish, Chineseize some trailers and posters, buy some bus stop signs, The premiere can no longer meet the needs of the market.

Duke knows enough about this. Every time a Warner Bros. production is released in China, he uses his influence to force Warner to make some new ideas in the announcement.

For example, in combination with the market and social conditions here, Warner Bros. has made "Inception" a publicity slogan that is not very loud in North America and made it the main publicity slogan for the Chinese market-a movie that only smart people can understand!

And with the signing of the new memorandum, some ideas that could not be realized because of insufficient budgets in the past have become easier to realize after the market becomes larger.

Warner's Greater China region has a more adequate budget to purchase more outdoor hard broadcasting, invite more celebrity creators to China, hold larger-scale premieres, or support more localized ideas.

Although the budget has increased, the marketing of Hollywood blockbusters is still restricted in many ways compared with local movies.

One restriction comes from the company. The overall strategy of Hollywood films in China must be communicated and discussed with the North American headquarters. North America facing the United States is a very mature market, and the relevant industry chain in the Chinese market has not been so complete and complete. Sometimes advanced marketing methods and means are far less effective than adapting measures to local conditions.

Duke is very clear that the transplantation of market practices such as buying hard movies, using celebrities, and hosting premieres, which are commonly used in Hollywood blockbusters in China, is generally simple and extensive, and lacks truly customized marketing.

"The Chinese market is very different from other countries, and it is very large. You have to look at it separately."

As early as last year, Duke specifically emphasized this on the board of Warner Bros.

On the whole, one of the biggest differences between the Chinese and American markets is the difference in film marketing channels.

In the United States, Hollywood’s traditional marketing channels are still TV commercials and outdoor advertising; but in China, there are very few movie ads in TV commercials.

On the contrary, the participation of giants such as new media, the Internet, Baidu, and Tencent makes the marketing channels in China completely different from those in the US.

These things are not understood in North America. If it weren't for a heavyweight like Duke, it would be very difficult to convince them to use these channels.

In the North American market, the marketing of a film has already begun before the film is filmed, and the film is continuously exposed in different ways at different stages. However, this method is not suitable for the Chinese market. No matter how much marketing has been done, but in the end this blockbuster film has not been introduced to China, then the marketing is useless no matter how good it is.

Even if a film is determined to be introduced, it cannot sit back and relax. The publicity of the film will be greatly restricted before the relevant departments determine the schedule of the film.

Generally speaking, the trailers and posters that can be released for a movie promotion are always limited. When the schedule is uncertain, there is no way to know when these trailers and posters can be released.

Before the release of the release permit, Big Scissors will also closely "monitor" every move of the film, and large-scale promotion is not allowed.

Under various restrictions, it is very difficult for a Hollywood film to sell well in China.

Fortunately, Duke’s films have never lacked the support of Chinese audiences, and with his suggestion, Warner’s Far East branch has established strategic partnerships with a series of online media and social networking sites early on. (To be continued.)

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