Hollywood Hunter

Inside the screening hall of the Lido Film Palace.

Mark Belford did not choose to sit in the front row like the main creative guests, but sat at the end of the hall with several staff members.

The attention of the surrounding audience is on the film, and Mark Belford spends most of the time silently observing the audience's reaction to the film.

During the screening of more than 3 hours, except for a few viewers who left briefly to solve their physical problems, no one left early because of the length of the film, which made Belford feel a little relieved.

After the sinking of the big ship, many audiences in the screening hall began to wipe their tears, which made Belford increase his confidence in the film again.

When the story of the feature film ended, the subtitles began to rise, and the lights in the hall had not yet been turned on, and some people could not wait to start applauding. Belford confirmed that it was not his own staff who arranged the final applause in advance to avoid the silence, but the spontaneous behavior of the audience. For this film The movie, the mood is finally no longer heavy.

In the end, the movie was completely over and the lights were turned on. As the audience once again stood up and applauded the movie in the hall, Mark Belford was completely relieved.

Of course, the first to get up was the staff arranged by the family in advance, but since other audiences are willing to follow up, it is enough to show the excellence of the film.

Mark Belford is a pragmatist, and he has no psychological barriers to these small actions arranged in advance. The photographer must have photographed this scene, and this scene will be recorded in major media tomorrow. It will last for a year from last year All kinds of negative public opinion about "Titanic" will disappear.

Next, the film will have a fairly favorable environment for publicity.

The applause that lasted for more than a minute gradually subsided, the main creator came to the stage and began to interact, Mark Belford sat down again, Tim Fogelman, a vice president of the publicity department of Gaomen Films who was in charge of the film festival, asked : "Mark, it seems that the global guarantee of 300 million should be no problem, right?"

Burning 200 million US dollars, and the expectation of 300 million US dollars at the global box office, at first glance, it is really worthless.

However, even Mark Belford himself basically had the same idea before today's premiere. As long as the global box office of "Titanic" can reach 300 million US dollars, the loss will definitely still be a loss, but at least it will not be so embarrassing .

As for now?

Looking at Cameron and others who were communicating with reporters on the stage, Mark Belford considered for a moment, and said: "Let's talk about it after the results of the questionnaire and tomorrow's film reviews are released, Tim, you don't want to go to the party later, Sort out the questionnaire as soon as possible, the boss is also waiting."

Having said that, Mark Belford raised his initial expectation of 300 million by a notch.

$400 million.

As long as the global box office reaches this figure, even if it is still hopeless at the box office, most of the expenses can basically be covered after the follow-up channel operation.

It is not easy to achieve this goal.

Today is September 12th, and "Titanic" is scheduled to be released on the next day, and there are exactly three months left. In order to achieve a global box office of 400 million U.S. dollars, in addition to today's good sign, every step of the next announcement will be very important. Careful consideration is required.

In addition, the duration of more than 3 hours is still the biggest problem in Mark's opinion, which will seriously limit the number of filming sessions per day.

When Tim Fogelman heard Mark's request, he didn't refuse, and nodded in agreement.

While thinking about the announcement of "Titanic", Mark Belford's mind was no longer as heavy as it was at the beginning, and he began to worry about other aspects a little bit, and continued to talk to the seniors around him: "Also, this time "The Pianist on the Sea" and "Life is Beautiful" has a reverse public relations strategy of not striving for any awards, and you have done a good job. The boss told us a truth, it is easy to take it up, but it is difficult to put it down, but sometimes you have to let it go. Our operation in Cannes this year has already It has gone too far, and if it continues like this, it will definitely cause a backlash, which will not only be bad for us in the long run, but even for the entire industry."

Tim Fogelman smiled bitterly: "I understand, it's just a pity, both movies are so good."

The two chatted, and when the interaction lasting more than ten minutes ended, Tim Fogelman followed Mark Belford's arrangement to stare at the questionnaire, while Mark himself went to the film's after-party. Some important media or film critics will personally communicate the details of tomorrow's release.

The premiere feedback of this film far exceeded expectations, and some arrangements in advance also needed to be adjusted. At first, I hoped that some film critics would not write too harshly. This time, it must be the icing on the cake.

At the same time, it can't be fried too much.

There are still 3 months until the official release. If this wave of hype is too strong, it will inevitably consume the audience's expectations, so it needs to be simmered slowly and step by step.

North America, Greenwich.

Simon received various feedbacks about the premiere of "Titanic" in Venice early the next morning.

Compared with the unsatisfactory performance after the premiere of the original Tokyo Film Festival, this time, under the operation of the Daenerys Entertainment team, the media feedback of the new version of the premiere far exceeded expectations.

That's a good sign.

As for why there is such a contrast, it can only be said that it is the influence of team capabilities and publicity strategies.

Simon wasn't sure what the previous Tokyo Film Festival premieres were like, but this time, both the media and film critics invited to the premiere had been screened in advance and were the kind who were on good terms with Daenerys Entertainment. Even if the film is bad, it can be merciful if it is done well. If the film is good, it can be easily added to the cake.

flower.

In addition, there are also general audiences invited this time.

These people have no right to speak publicly, but compared to professionals who are inevitably more demanding when seeing commercial films, at last night's premiere, it was these people who were the first to stand up and applaud the film.

Daenerys Entertainment also pays more attention to the feedback of these potential audience groups.

Along with the results of the general audience's questionnaire, Mark Belford drafted a publicity plan overnight and gave it to Simon, proposing that "Titanic" can be fully publicized according to the treatment of a super blockbuster. The main thing is of course publicity. Budget, $50 million. With this investment, the film's global box office is expected to hit US$400 million.

150 million in North America and 250 million globally.

In this way, the film can recover about US$160 million in box office share globally, with the remaining US$90 million remaining. Relying on the popularity driven by the box office, follow-up channels can also recover most of it, and even achieve a revenue balance or even a slight profit.

In addition, even though more than 70% of the audience in the questionnaire had an "acceptable" attitude towards the film being over 3 hours long, Belford once again proposed to compress the film's length, at least to less than 3 hours.

Simon read the report, approved a $50 million publicity budget, and rejected the suggestion to shorten the duration.

As for the reason, even if you put aside the memory of the previous life, from a filmmaker's perspective, the reason why "Titanic" became the most successful love movie in the 20th century is largely due to the completeness of the film's structure. sex.

In the 194-minute story, the whole process of the male and female protagonists from acquaintance and acquaintance to falling in love and separation is narrated in a eloquent way. There are no blunt and abrupt emotional turns. Every step is logical, so the audience is immersed in it. The tragic historical event of the sinking of the Titanic behind the scenes sublimated the entire story and ultimately contributed to the success of the film.

To sum up, "Titanic" is similar to "Gone with the Wind" half a century ago. They are all small characters in a big historical background, and they eventually become classics.

Of course, this does not mean that similar models will be successful.

On the contrary, after "Gone with the Wind", countless directors have tried various love epics, most of which ended in failure, such as "Australia" by an Australian director, and "Small Over Paris" by another Australian director. 》.

Australian directors especially like to make epic films.

Either succeed with a bang or fail with a bang.

In the past few days, I will definitely spend more time with Lin Su, who has just given birth to a baby. It is Saturday again, so Simon directly handles some work in the manor.

As for the others, it was the beginning of the fall semester. Lin Dong and Bai Lan, who were studying here in the morning, said goodbye and returned to Boston. Lin Lan and Qin Yusong, who had taken a week off, were also preparing to leave tomorrow. Lin Xing, the fourth eldest son of the Lin family, was about to leave. She will start her senior year classes and will return to China with her second sister tomorrow. Mother Lin will continue to stay and take care of her daughter until she returns to China next month to organize a full-moon party for the little one.

Simon was working in the study, and only Chen Qing came over to discuss some domestic affairs with Simon.

"If the development of the domestic economy follows the boss's expectations, I think it would be good to invest in a few highways. Boss, this is some information I asked people to collect. Look, each project is worth 1 billion yuan. Take it. With these projects, we are not only profitable, but we can also win another big favor.”

In the study room.

What the two discussed was the matter that China asked Chen Qing to test on their behalf a few days ago.

Simon took the information handed over by Chen Qing, but just put it aside and said: "Forget it this time, there is no need to respond to requests."

Chen Qing, who was sitting opposite the desk, was stunned for a moment, nodded, and said: "Boss, I really think highway investment is very good."

"I know that too," Simon smiled, raised his head and said, "That's why I don't want to touch it."

Thinking about the state of China's highway system that was so fat that it was running out of oil, from a pure investment perspective, this is certainly a very good business, and China has also been very active in introducing foreign investment into the construction of highways in recent years.

However, even if it is not clear how deep the water is, it is definitely very deep.

Simon really didn't want to get involved.

After all, you might offend someone at some point, and it's not just ordinary people who can get involved in highway business.

Again.

At the current scale of the Westeros system, there is no need to go eccentric. The pursuit of fairness is the right way.

When Chen Qing saw Simon saying this, she didn't insist and turned to talk about other things.

After chatting like this for more than half an hour, Chen Qing saw that her boss was still looking through the same thick document slowly, and curiously poked her head: "Boss, what are you looking at?"

Simon raised the cover of the document and gave Chen Qing a look. There was a string of abbreviations on it.

iter.

Seeing Chen Qing's confusion, Simon took the initiative and said: "International Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor Project."

Chen Qing took a small breath: "Boss, are you planning to build a hydrogen bomb?"

Simon raised his eyes and glanced at the girl opposite: "Here, let me hit her."

Chen Qing immediately stood up with a smile on her face, turned around the desk and jumped into Simon's arms. After being slapped on the buttocks by the man in cooperation, they looked at the document together: "What the hell is this?"

"In simple terms, it is similar to the experimental project of a large particle collider, but the type of experiment is controlled nuclear fusion."

Only then did Chen Qing understand, and immediately remembered one thing

: "Isn't the fusiontimes that Aiman ​​is responsible for researching controllable nuclear fusion?"

"Well," Simon nodded, and said, "Actually, I was in touch with this project two years ago, and I gave up because I couldn't win too much initiative."

"Now?"

"Now, the Westeros system has more political and economic chips, and Ayman has laid a certain foundation and plans to re-establish the project," Simon said, adding: "Actually, the main thing is now Westeros The Luo system holds too much cash, so I plan to speed up the deployment of some plans, even if some are wasted, it doesn't matter."

"What plan?"

Simon stroked the slender waist of the girl in his arms, and explained: "Simply speaking, three goals, breaking through the energy limit, breaking through the life limit, and breaking through the space limit."

To break through energy constraints, it is natural to master controllable nuclear fusion technology.

In fact, the tokamak device involved in iter is not considered the most advanced controllable nuclear fusion design. However, unlike two years ago, for Simon now, let alone 5 billion US dollars, even 10 billion US dollars is not enough. What is it, this project was built without thinking of pursuing a success, but just like a large-scale particle collider, it provides a large-scale experimental environment for research in the field of controllable nuclear fusion.

To break through the limit of life, the key is actually life.

human lifespan.

In this regard, Simon also intends to speed up investment regardless of cost. The illusory goal of immortality will not be pursued. However, since the exploration of human life at this stage has entered the field of molecular biology, it will extend human life span by decades. It's not something that's out of reach.

To break through the limitation of space is naturally the exploration of space.

Human beings should not be confined to a small planet.

In fact, if we can throw away all the shackles of this world and develop science and technology with all our strength, with the speed of technological development that humans can land on the moon in the 1960s, now in 1997, or at most before Simon's rebirth, humans can achieve controllable nuclear fusion , and even reaching Mars, may have been achieved.

Unfortunately, due to various reasons, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the world ushered in the most peaceful era in human history, not only did not continue to move forward, but fell into a stagnant situation.

Even a few years ago, Simon started to make some foreshadowing, but he was not determined enough to do something.

Now, since there is no more pursuit of personal wealth and power, the entire Westeros system has completed the accumulation stage and has begun to enter a state of continuous expansion of snowballing. Surplus capital will only increase, and more and more After careful consideration, Simon further made up his mind to use the power of the Westeros system to forcibly drag human technology forward.

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