Made in Hollywood

The preview meeting is extremely important for an upcoming film, and some producers will make necessary deletions or even re-editing the film based on the feedback from the preview meeting.

Duke and The Fellowship of the Ring are not on that list, though.

The reason is very simple. Both he and Warner Bros. are very satisfied with the data returned by the trial screening.

On the office floor of Warner Bros. in the Warner Building, many executives gathered in a conference room. Duke and Charles Rowan were also invited to attend. The meeting discussed the "The Fellowship of the Ring" related to them.

The person presiding over the meeting was Doug Walter, with an uncontrollable excitement on his face, as if the project he was in charge of had already sold out.

Just like his mood, his voice was high and loud, "In one week last week, we held a total of three test screenings, and the detailed data has been counted!"

Although everyone has a relevant document in their hands, Doug Walter said to himself, "In terms of general audiences, a total of 1,345 people watched "The Fellowship of the Ring", and the people who scored A+ were... "

After a short pause, Doug Walter seemed to want to attract everyone's attention, "1215 people! Excluding A-, the film's A-plus rating is as high as 98%!"

Although there are relevant data in front of them, many executives of Warner Bros. widened their eyes when they heard what Doug Walter said, as if they couldn't believe it.

Jamie Johnson is the one with the calmest expression. As the person in charge of the publicity and distribution of "The Matrix" and "The Fellowship of the Ring", he is no stranger to it!

As early as when the film was still in the post-editing stage, he had watched the demos and edited clips several times. Other than shock and admiration, he couldn't find any suitable adjectives for that feeling.

Sitting here now. Hearing such overwhelming audience word of mouth, Jamie Johnson couldn't help but think of the hype and propaganda slogan he formulated - if there is anyone in this world who can successfully adapt the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, it is Duke Rosenberger Mo genus!

He felt so wise, so forward-looking, so early on that Duke Rosenberg would be successful!

The quality of the film is excellent, and the publicity he is in charge of is exceptional. The test screening is so popular, "The Fellowship of the Ring" clearly shows the potential of a summer blockbuster movie!

Unlike Warner executives with different ideas, Charles Rowan felt relieved for a while, and he also felt that such a reputation was taken for granted. Since "Brave to the Dead Island", he has cooperated with Duke and knew the other party's film talent. How outstanding!

Not to mention. More outstanding than talent is his hard work and diligence, his continuous success, which doesn't seem to bring him much arrogance and complacency, and consistently treats every film.

Only Charles Rowan knew. For this trilogy, and how hard the crew, including him and Duke, have put in, New Zealand has almost become their home. They have been stationed in Australia since 1997 and spent two years making preparations. If Duke's time to prepare the script is counted, the entire pre-production time will be as long as four years!

The countless hard work of hundreds of people has led to today's film and today's achievements. This is no fluke at all.

Relatively speaking, Duke is one of the coolest people in the conference room. Judging from the effect of the test screening, he cut out some scenes that existed to show New Zealand, slightly accelerated the rhythm of the film, and enhanced the special effects. The effect and the initial response were enough to satisfy him.

Doug Walter didn't stop talking, and continued, "In terms of theater chains, the major commercial theater chain companies in North America have a total of 159 film selections to participate in the trial screening, and 143 people finally scored A+ as expected by the market, and 11 people received A. There are also two A- and three B's."

He slowly raised his head, his eyes swept over everyone, "The comprehensive commercial evaluation of the theater chain is A+, which means that we can win the largest number of theater chains!"

The number of theaters opened will directly affect the box office performance of a film in the first week, and the box office in the first week is extremely important for summer movies.

Not only is the distribution company doing the work of the theater chain, but the theater chain side will also choose the key projects from the large number of films released, although the profit of the North American theater chain is increasingly relying on the peripheral sales such as popcorn. , but the box office is still the key. No box office means no audience. Without audience, where can you sell products?

A film that can detonate the summer season is often the most anticipated project by the theater chain.

At the end of April, the feedback from the theater also came to Duke, and the best-received "The Fellowship of the Ring", if nothing else happened, would set a new opening record in film history.

The film will be officially released in North America in a weekend of about 3,600 theaters before Memorial Day!

"There's no way, Michael..."

Sitting at his desk, Michael Ovitz looked at Michael Bay across from him, "I have called AMG and the top executives of Emperor Entertainment more than once, and at present, Pearl Harbor can only be sold in about 3,200 theaters. show."

Michael Bay's long face is a bit gloomy. Since last year, he has been full of energy and has to compete with Duke Rosenberg in the summer to prove that he is not an imitator, and even to avoid public opinion again. His success is due to the imitation of someone, and he specifically adds weight to the love scene in the hot battle scene.

It's just... it's just that the movie hasn't been released yet, so he lost!

The gap between the 400 or so opening theaters may bring about a bigger gap in the box office.

There was a slight smile on the corner of his mouth. Michael Bay knew very well that this was the most direct reaction in the theater market by the word of mouth of the test screening and the influence of the director himself. He wanted to surpass Duke Rosenberg, and obviously there was more. Long way to go.

Michael Ovitz didn't say anything more to Michael Bay, he's done everything he should, but the audience and theaters double A- ratings for "Pearl Harbor" and "The Fellowship of the Ring" double A+ The score is not at all a gap that can be made up by language and friendship.

He has a relationship with Disney and the theater alliance, and Warner Bros. is not too conceited.

Warner Bros. has grown significantly in performance and influence in recent years. For example, within MPAA, it has many supporters. When rating "The Fellowship of the Ring", he once joined Disney to give the film an R rating, but in the end it didn't. Realized, the final rating of The Fellowship of the Ring, like Pearl Harbor, is PG-13.

In this regard, Disney does not want to have a complete standoff with Warner Bros. After all, there are sensitive scenes in "The Fellowship of the Ring", and there are many in "Pearl Harbor".

If the two companies fight according to his suggestion, the other company will be the one who will be proud in the end.

Now Michael Ovitz's biggest hope is that the box office of "Pearl Harbor" is good enough in the first week. After all, the film has a bad reputation in the test screening, but the example of the film selling well is not only in Hollywood, but also not uncommon.

What's more, the audience rating of "Pearl Harbor" A- is not bad.

Summer commercial films ultimately depend on market performance. Michael Ovitz and Walt Disney have done all the work they can, and the rest is only waiting for the film to be released.

Every May is the beginning of the summer season in the North American film market. Every opening weekend, there is often a super production released.

The first weekend of this year in May belongs to Universal Pictures. "The Mummy Returns," directed by Stephen Sommers and costing as much as $98 million to produce, will be the first to be released in the summer. Although this film has been on Rotten Tomatoes for three days The freshness dropped to 65%, but it won both the audience's reputation and the first weekend box office double harvest!

"The Mummy Returns" opened in North America with 3,400 theaters. It raked in US$68.13 million in the first weekend and three days. While winning the North American weekly box office chart, it also achieved the best first weekend box office results this year.

However, the film faced an onslaught of the $140 million World War II epic "Pearl Harbor" in its second weekend.

Walt Disney and the artist management company created an epic premiere for the film, not only invited many Hollywood stars to help out, but also learned from the premiere of "Saving Private Ryan", drawing dozens of people who experienced it firsthand. Veterans of Pearl Harbor.

It's just that these veterans didn't buy much of the movie and Disney after watching the movie.

They've been through a brutal war, they can die at any time, and they don't care about the PR of Disney and the artist management company, if the movie can really be as real and moving as "Saving Private Ryan"... No, only half , and they don't mind singing the praises of the film.

But what the hell was this shot? The war doesn't have any realism, it's like a romantic fireworks show, even if it uses a lot of main plots to describe a dog-blood love triangle instead of a cruel war, there is obviously something wrong with the director's head!

In an interview, a veteran said directly, "Is this a war movie? Why can't I feel it, this is clearly a movie about a love triangle, the war is just a foil, the film is shot like this, it is disrespectful to that battlefield! "

Although the veterans are extremely dissatisfied, under Disney's public relations, their remarks are difficult to appear in the mainstream media, and in this era, as long as the media uses clever means, the veterans are sometimes the focus of public attention, and sometimes they are the object of rejection .

In the face of Walt Disney, they can't make their own voices after all.

The production cost of "Pearl Harbor" is as high as 140 million US dollars, and the publicity and hype in advance is also quite in place. Although Michael Bay's is known as a small explosion madman, it also proves from the side that his works are more popular in the market and mainstream audiences. Welcome, the three-day attendance of the film's first weekend was not bad.

It earned $59.07 million in the first-week box office with 3,214 theaters in North America, and successfully pushed "The Mummy Returns", which earned $33.74 million in the same period, to the top of the box office chart.

It's just that compared to the dazzling box office results, the audience's reputation for the film is almost rotten! (To be continued ~^~)

PS:  Ask for a monthly ticket~Ask for a recommended ticket~