Made in Hollywood

After the first week, "Inception" is carrying a huge upsurge of discussion and is about to land in major film markets around the world.

"The Hollywood blockbuster "Inception" co-starred by the famous movie star Ken Watanabe and the Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio for the first time will come to Japan soon!"

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

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

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

Leonardo DiCaprio, whose appeal in Japan can only be described as unrivaled, is the focus of this promotional film. He specifically said: "This is a film that has never been experienced by anyone so far. A movie with great visual impact. This summer, war is about to break out from the brain!"

Then Watanabe Ken also said, "In this world, the most valuable thing is the idea that comes from your brain. We will steal it after your idea is born. Maybe the next target is you..."

In Tokyo’s Shinbashi Station Plaza, when the movie promotional screen appeared on the screen of the station building, the bustling crowd walking on the street suddenly stopped and stared at the big screen intently. At this moment, Japan is like a pool of still water, only The sound played on the big screen seems to have really become a "dream" world.

After a premiere event in Tokyo, Duke was the focus of a siege of journalists who asked him mainly about his thoughts on various interpretations of the film.

Duke, of course, would 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 explain to the audience how to distinguish dream from reality through film terms."

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

After saying this, no matter what the reporter asked, Duke kept his mouth shut.

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

The focus of interpretation and debate. Duke planted the seeds as early as the filming, and a large number of fans were induced by his words to find that the scene of Cobb waking up on the plane was a bit weird.

As a result, a dispute arose between Cobb and his wife who was the man in the dream.

According to the actor's own statement in the film, Cobb and his wife died in a dream after taking enhanced drugs. So both entered the lost domain.

The woman is greedy for the timeless togetherness and thinks it is reality, and does not want to return to reality. Cobb tries to implant a mind in his wife's brain—this is a dream, and he must commit suicide to return to reality—but he does not expect the side effects of the mind implantation. up. The wife began to suspect that reality was actually a dream, thinking that only death could escape. And in reality, he committed suicide.

Cobb has always felt so guilty about his wife's death that he can't "create dreams", because every time he enters a dream, all the scenes are the same.

There is no shortage of bold people in this world. Therefore, it is also necessary for movie fans to make bold guesses about this. The saying "the protagonist's wife is the one who returns to reality" is like this.

They believe that Cobb's wife committed suicide by jumping off a building in a dream, not in reality, but Cobb didn't realize this fact, so only his wife came back to reality, and Cobb couldn't face his wife's suicide in his dream. Facts", gradually schizophrenia, imagined that he was wanted and could not go home to reunite with his children, etc., and the subsequent plot was nothing but a dream within a dream created by Cobb.

But those who disagree think that if the protagonist's wife returns to reality, she can directly stimulate Cobb, so why let him have so many dreams for so long.

There is even another point of view that the whole movie is a dream, a dream of Cobb on the plane, and a lot of evidence is listed for this.

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

They think everything is a dream, a wonderful dream that Cobb had on his way home, the so-called story of his wife, his crimes, Dream Stealer, all are things in dreams and have nothing to do with reality.

Of course, this interpretation has both support and refutation.

Since then, Duke has stopped answering questions in this regard. The greater the intensity of the debate, the more beneficial it will be for Inception.

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

Going back five years, it is unimaginable that Duke could bring a superstar cast and crew like Leonardo DiCaprio to China to hold a premiere of a big production.

At that time, China was just an inconspicuous one of Hollywood's many overseas markets, and Hollywood big-name stars still dismissed China.

With the box office of "Transformers" and "Avatar" both exceeding 1.3 billion RMB in China, and at the end of last year, China and the United States reached an agreement on the memorandum of understanding on WTO film-related issues, and the proportion of imported Hollywood films has also changed from the original percentage. Thirteen percent increased to 25 percent—that is to say, for every 10 million yuan box office of a Hollywood blockbuster in China, the money in the pocket is 1.2 million yuan more—more and more Hollywood Big-name directors and stars have appeared in China one after another.

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

It was also from the time of "Transformers" that China's film market began to grow rapidly like the height of a teenager in development. The annual 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 are making more and more money in China.

Under this kind of stimulation, Hollywood is making more and more efforts in the Chinese market, and there are more and more marketing needs. The old routines in the past-finding media to publish articles, Chineseizing some trailers and posters, buying some bus stop signs, and organizing The premiere ceremony can no longer meet the needs of the market.

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

For example, based on the market and social conditions here, Warner Bros. made "Inception" a promotional slogan that was not very loud in North America into the main promotional slogan in 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 due to insufficient budget in the past have become easier to realize after the market becomes larger.

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

Although the budget has increased, when it comes to actually doing things, the marketing of Hollywood blockbusters is still limited in many ways compared to local films.

One kind of restriction comes from within the company. The overall strategy of Hollywood films in China needs to be communicated and discussed with the North American headquarters. North America is a very mature market for the United States. Advanced marketing methods and means are sometimes far better than adapting measures to local conditions.

Duke is very clear that the transplantation of market practices such as buying hard broadcasts, relying on celebrities, and holding premieres, which are commonly used by Hollywood blockbusters in China, is generally simple and extensive, lacking truly customized marketing.

"The Chinese market is so different from other countries, and it's so huge that you have to look at it in isolation."

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

On the whole, one of the biggest differences between the two markets of China and the United States is the difference in film marketing channels.

In the United States, the traditional marketing channels of Hollywood are TV commercials and outdoor advertisements; but in China, there are very few movie advertisements in TV commercials.

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

These things are unknown to the North American side. If it is not for a heavyweight like Duke, it will be very difficult to persuade them to use these channels.

In the North American market, the marketing of a film has already started before the filming starts, 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 is done, but in the end this blockbuster film is not introduced to China, then no matter how good the marketing is, it will be useless.

Even if a film is confirmed to be introduced, one cannot sit back and relax. Before the relevant departments determine the film's schedule, the publicity of the film will be greatly restricted.

Generally speaking, the trailers and posters that can be released for a movie promotion are always limited. When the schedule is uncertain, it is impossible to know when these trailers and posters will be released.

And before the public release license is issued, Big Scissors will also closely "monitor" every move of the film, and large-scale promotion is not allowed.

Under various restrictive conditions, it is very difficult for a Hollywood film to get a big hit in China.

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

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