Made in Hollywood

On Christmas Day, Duke did not rest and relax. He spent Christmas Eve with his mother and Scarlett Johansson. The Force Awakens is still making great strides in the North American market.

On Christmas Day, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" made $59.34 million at the box office in North America, breaking the Christmas day box office record of $24.6 million created by "Sherlock Holmes" when it premiered on Christmas Day in 2009.

The dazzling performance of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" also brought the North American stock market to a new high. The North American film market earned more than 100 million US dollars on Christmas Day this year, breaking the record of "Sherlock Holmes" and "Avatar" in 2009. It grossed a record $86 million on Christmas Day.

The three-day box office of Christmas and weekends in 2015 is also likely to break the box office record of 260 million US dollars in the same period in 2009, becoming the highest in North American film history.

For this overseas promotional trip, Duke specially invited George Lucas. After all, he is not the former Walt Disney, and George Lucas readily agreed.

George Lucas' colleagues also added a lot of attention to this overseas promotional trip.

Although the media's publicity reports always use the prequel trilogy of Star Wars as an example, in Duke's heart, George Lucas' status is far better than Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola .

This has nothing to do with the relationship between the two, but because George Lucas can be said to be the founder of the modern film industry.

The Star Wars series, or George Lucas, essentially started the modern franchise.

It is recognized by Hollywood and even the world film industry that Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" in 1975 opened the era of summer blockbusters, while the "Star Wars" series raised Hollywood blockbusters to a whole new level.

In the late 1970s, serial movies were not popular in Hollywood. The "Planet of the Apes" series and the "007" series are the only remaining successful examples, but the birth of the Star Wars series and its brilliant achievements have changed all this. Hollywood began to think seriously and explore a series of film product projects.

To a large extent, the success of the "Harry Potter" series, Duke's "Lord of the Rings" series and the Marvel series is inseparable from George Lucas' groundbreaking first in 1977.

Duke's phrase "George Lucas is the Edison of the film industry" is not just talk, because he has also found an extremely important aspect of profitability and even survival for Hollywood films.

George Lucas created a hugely popular series of films. It also created a business model for film derivatives.

Before that, movie peripherals were generally limited to T-shirts and some small souvenirs, and the quantity was not large; while the "Star Wars" series peripherals were large in quantity, high quality and varied.

Lucas has successively cooperated with toy giants Mattel, Hasbro, and Lego to develop many Star Wars series toys, including characters, scenes, and spaceships.

This is also the harbinger of the "soldier craze" in the early 1980s, and it has cultivated a large number of "collection fan" fans, and it also gave hot-blooded teenagers the first opportunity to buy a "Luke Skywalker" after leaving the theater. Or "Han Solo" builds and restores his favorite scene at home.

You must know that there were no home theaters in the late 1970s and early 1980s. By deriving peripheral products, George Lucas has also cultivated future movie fans among the new generation who have not seen the movie.

Many people, especially children, tend to fall in love with its spinoffs before seeing the movie.

This trick has since been used by countless movies and manufacturers, and it also built a fan base for the American "Saturday morning cartoons" in the 1980s. Such as "Transformers", "He-man the Giant of the Universe", and "Special Forces" are all better examples of selling toys than making movies.

Even now, Duke still remembers that when he was studying in the 1980s, the popular game on American campuses suddenly changed from "cops and thieves" to "rebels and imperial soldiers". There are kids everywhere wielding lightsabers and laser pistols, and with the rise of consoles. The Star Wars series has also developed related games for street teenagers to immerse themselves in the interstellar adventure of human-computer interaction.

In fact, as of today, the entire Star Wars franchise. Including film and television, video games, toys, etc., the global revenue has already exceeded 30 billion US dollars.

There is a process for fans to grasp Star Wars culture and integrate it into their own lives, but Lucasfilm's special skill has been there from the beginning, which is why it is different from other companies that are constantly contrasting with legal regulations. One of the big differences between companies that make people do this and don't make people do that.

So the Star Wars fan base has been growing quietly, and when the kids grow up, they become fans. Now there are three generations of Star Wars fans. If you think about it, it's pretty scary.

In London, the first stop of the crew's overseas publicity tour, a reporter asked Duke his opinion on the huge business system established by George Lucas through the first part of Star Wars.

"My first thought was that when the first Star Wars movie came out, the spinoff industry didn't exist in Hollywood."

Indeed, Hollywood at that time did not have the concept of an industrial chain at all, and what Duke said were basic facts, "I think that George's acquisition of the merchandising rights for this series of films is the most critical step in the entire history of the Star Wars industry. "

After thinking for a while, he added, "Movies have always been a business, but few movies can achieve the ultimate in this aspect like "Star Wars". In the billion-dollar derivatives industry, some are just Star Wars stories. But these concepts, such as, all hearts and lives are equally maintained and connected by the Force; there is a struggle between justice and evil in the world; A farm boy who pops up from an unknown place can also become a key figure in resisting an almost irresistible evil force, and it is based on these concepts that a huge Star Wars business empire has been built."

Film directors like Duke are not the only fans who have chosen their own career paths influenced by "Star Wars". Many children who grew up watching the original Star Wars series chose to work in NASA and the aerospace industry.

For example, NASA astronaut Jell Lindgren also accepted the invitation of the crew and came to London to participate in this Star Wars promotional event. In an interview with reporters, he said, "I think Star Wars can inspire people just in terms of stories. Imagination, and the high technology, and the idea of ​​being able to work and live in outer space is exciting. Astronauts of my generation watched A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi as kids. . Personally, Star Wars is one of the many reasons why I became interested in space travel.”

When doing a program on Sky TV, Duke said, "Star Wars has never lost its charm after 40 years. The most appropriate word to sum it up is: legend. Like Greek mythology, Western legend, Shakespeare Like the books, these stories have stood the test of time and are enjoyed by a new generation of audiences to this day. One of the appeals of "The Force Awakens" is that parents can take their children into the theater and watch They lead into this unique universe, just as our parents did many years ago as children..."

Of course, not everyone will praise this movie. Even if Duke adds the power of Star Wars, it is impossible to kill the whole world.

There are also people on the Internet who don't buy Duke and Star Wars.

"There are two recognized liars in this world, one is fame and the other is profit. In addition, there is another important liar-the trend! There is no doubt that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" leads the trend at the end of this year, but Such huge productions are often films that fail completely artistically, and are commercial films created by the completely vulgarized Duke Rosenberg for money and profit!"

"Such a movie can occupy the box office and sweep the Christmas schedule, not because of the artistic achievements we are proud of, but because of the stimulation of the senses, the stimulation of the eyeballs, and the stimulation of the endocrine."

"It is impossible for our society to be so vulgar forever. There will always be a day when people need to practice nerve-numbing and elegant art. Even if Duke Rosenberg, who has been completely vulgarized, can occupy the box office now, he will definitely be popular in the near future. Abandoned by the audience!"

"Film directors represented by Duke Rosenberg have forgotten the original function and mission of the film. They have increasingly betrayed the definition of the film itself, and more and more made the film far away from real life..."

Even so, the crew's overseas trip was welcomed by various cities. Among other things, the hundreds of reporters who poured into each event were excellent publicity tools.

In addition, there are many fans who have money and leisure, and they have followed the crew since the premiere in Los Angeles. They are all welcomed by the merchants.

Everywhere, the crew of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is the focus of everyone. Every promotion can be called a war. It has become normal to be chased by thousands of people. Many people sometimes have numb right hands when they sign. , had to replace the left hand, fortunately it was only a signature, otherwise it would definitely make a fool of myself.

"On December X, the crew of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" held an event in XX city. After Duke Rosenberg and his crew appeared, the whole city was in a state of boiling..."

This kind of news could attract the public's attention at the beginning, but later it became the norm. In the eyes of everyone, it is normal for Duke's crew to be popular, and it will be big news when they receive a cold reception.

The whole of Europe was sensational because of the publicity tour led by Duke.

Those filmmakers who are full of literature and art, such as European directors who call themselves "pure art", will certainly not be reconciled, saying that movies are nothing more than vulgar stories, with CG images paired with computer technology, which loses the original flavor of the movie. charm.

Even European audiences wouldn't believe such sour words, and the North American media didn't even bother to answer them.

For the film and ordinary movie fans, they don't have much influence at all. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" also won the North American and global box office championship in the second weekend without any suspense. (to be continued ~^~)

PS: Ask for a monthly ticket and a recommendation ticket!