Made in Hollywood

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

The Mr. Wang said sincerely, "If possible, please consider putting 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 economic autonomy. They are very keen on various memories of childhood. Transformers is one of the hot topics. First, there are even various Transformers fan associations in China, 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. However, the appeal of the name Duke Rosenberg in China is amazing, and "The Dark Knight" broke through in one fell swoop. It has set the domestic box office record of "Titanic" for nearly ten years, and has become the domestic box office champion ever recorded.

The China Film Group also fully understood that Duke Rosenberg's films were very much in line with their audience's appetite.

Duke didn't answer immediately, but instead looked at Jamie Johnson, and when he saw the other side nod slightly, he roughly understood in his heart.

Warner Bros. has a close cooperation with China Film Group in many aspects such as theater chains. The big sale of "The Dark Knight" on the opposite side also proves the unlimited potential of the market. They obviously do not want to miss the opportunity of this promotional film and Warner Bros.

Frowning for a moment, Duke said to Jamie Johnson, "Warner Bros. is the distributor of the film, so let's 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 an invitation to premiere, the script review and film review will definitely not be a problem, and in all Duke's films, there is nothing that targets or denigrates the other side. Except for some great Americanism, there is basically no sensitive content.

Of course, all major Hollywood commercial masterpieces are very big Americanism.

If even this is unacceptable, then the opposite side will not introduce Hollywood movies.

The specific matters will naturally be resolved through consultation between Warner Bros. and China Film Group, and Mr. Wang and Jamie Johnson will be sent away. Duke's energy turned back 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 deformed. Duke is like a child who got a favorite toy. Generally, in the whole afternoon, Optimus Prime and Megatron are continuously disassembled, deformed and reassembled...

There is only one purpose in doing so, Transformers is not just a popcorn movie. Still a teen popcorn, Duke's mentality is too calm and aging, and in this way, he wants to find the feeling of touching Transformers as a teenager.

To make this film, he, the director, must maintain a young enough mentality.

at the same time. Again, as he said, remember that Transformers are a bunch of alien intelligent machine lifeforms, not cold, hulking robots.

He had to think about how to make these virtual characters like Transformers in the early planning. It is integrated into the relatively real world of the film, and gives the Transformers real humanity. Whether it's Decepticons or Autobots, they'll have their own thoughts and characters just like human beings.

Install the Optimus Prime model. Duke's eyes fell on the pedestal, and the above sentence is undoubtedly the starting point of all Optimus Prime's character and belief - freedom and rights belong to all living beings!

According to the outline of the script set by him, Optimus Prime is a gentle and kind leader, and at the same time has a cold and ruthless side. In order to maintain the belief in his heart, he can betray his own race and become a 'robot traitor' to humans. Will sacrifice the Autobots, and even his own life, if necessary.

It is also a universal value that freedom and rights belong to all living beings. No matter what countries in the world do, they always shout this slogan loudly, and Optimus Prime has a strong position on what he does.

Movies are Duke's greatest interest, and "Transformers" has extraordinary significance, which was his dream.

How many children have fantasized about going out of shape with Optimus Prime; how many teenagers have imagined flying with Megatron in the sky; how many people have never forgotten the good memories of childhood...

Transformers even affected the lives of many people.

Although to a certain extent, all directors who make a generation of childhood dream films will become the culprit in destroying childhood memories, but Duke is willing to take on this crime for his dreams and large commercial gains.

On July 10, 2007, Warner Bros. and Hasbro officially announced the "Transformers" project. Duke's new film conference was just held, and this topic became a hot topic of discussion among the media and fans.

Before "The Dark Knight" was released, Duke started a new project. The media and Hollywood were not surprised. After all, in recent years, he has been producing films at a rate of one film a year.

But the media were surprised by Duke's choice of subject matter and genre.

The entertainment page of The Washington Post said that it did not understand Duke's choice at all, thinking that he had just made a very in-depth film and should continue in this direction.

Kenneth Turan pointed out in the "Los Angeles Times" column that Duke is ready to go back to the old ways.

However, on the Internet, some Transformers fans are still very worried, worried that Duke will darken Optimus Prime and then find himself back, which is too terrifying for Transformers.

Of course, Duke certainly won't use a darkened style to make a teen-oriented film like "Transformers".

To be precise, one use of that extremely dark style is enough.

In addition, to complete such a huge project as "Transformers" in a year's time, the support of the military is also essential.

Duke has reached out to the Pentagon.

"With so much shooting experience, I'm fairly familiar with some of the procedures in the military."

After getting a reply that the Pentagon would be involved, Duke made a joke to Tina Fey, "But I'm still a little worried because a lot of troops have been sent out to deal with the terrorists and may not have time to take care of us - after all 'Fighting' is what soldiers really care about."

Tina Fei quietly rolled her eyes, "I believe the 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, American soldiers will still play a very important role.

However, a plot where a team of American GIs can easily take down a Decepticon is not going to happen.

But according to the setting of the script, machine life forms are also life forms, including Optimus Prime and Megatron, they are indeed very powerful, but they are not invincible and indestructible. They will also be injured by human heavy weapons, even continuous Hit the key will also hang.

With the official launch of "Transformers", with the exception of Tina Fey who took over from Charles Rowan, the members of the Duke team returned one after another and began to prepare for this super-commercial masterpiece with a production cost of $200 million.

This amount of funding is quite large. After pre-sale and assortment plans have solved most of the funding sources, commercial sponsorship is another focus.

When the crew announced a series of lists of Autobots and Decepticons, as well as the approximate scene and time of their appearances at the investment promotion meeting, most of the Autobots became fat in the eyes of automakers.

General Motors packed Optimus Prime, Hornet and Tin, Hummer picked the ambulance, Lamborghini got the Jazz, and Gulfstream stole the Decepticons...

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

Unsurprisingly, the scale of the "Transformers" advertising placement will set a new Hollywood record.

But the protagonists are in modern society. It is natural for these brands to appear in life, and Duke does not object to placing advertisements in the film, but he will not come up with that kind of blunt placement.

If the cost of the car provided by the company and the cost of helping to promote the various brands are included, the film can save nearly 40 million US dollars in the cost of advertising only.

The support from the Pentagon can also save a lot of costs for the crew, but the crew must take care of the military. The film will demonstrate various advanced equipment of the U.S. military, which is actually a highlight.

Most of the Decepticons, Duke has left to the Pentagon, for example, Starscream will be 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 really strong, and the plan they put forward even exceeded Duke's expectations.

The crew can go to Holloman, Kirtland and Edwards Air Force Bases, as well as the Pentagon and White Sands Missile Range to shoot on-site, work with different military branches, and "borrow" high-end weapons that are not usually seen during filming. , from the CV-22 tiltrotor, F-117 "Nighthawk" stealth aircraft to C-130 "Hercules" transport aircraft, C-17 " Globemaster " 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 promoting weapons and its own military, the Pentagon's biggest requirement is to shape the image of the U.S. military. With the outbreak of the several anti-terrorism wars, the enlistment rate of the U.S. military has dropped to the lowest point in history, just like the original "Brave to Kill" Island" and "Independence Day", the military used "Transformers" to promote the idea of ​​conscription.

Like Top Gun, movies have always been excellent recruiting films. (To be continued ~^~)

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