Made in Hollywood

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The Lord of the Rings trilogy, from the time of preparations for the official communication with Charles Rowan in Los Angeles, this series took Duke seven years. The project is as huge as a mountain, and the preparation is more complicated than chaos. It is unprecedented. Investing money, Duke faces more than just enormous pressure.

Only those who are close to him know how many midnights he has tossed and turned, but no one knows that he was awakened by a nightmare in his sleep, and what woke him up was the situation he might face after the failure of the project.

There is no easy and natural success in this world. Duke is very clear that his special experience is important to get to where he is today, and his own decades of prudent efforts and perseverance are equally important.

If he doesn't work hard, persevere, study, and recharge, he will never be able to make the fragmented image memories in his mind into movies one after another.

Don't say that he is just an ordinary head, without the ability to remember, what if he can remember every detail of a movie from beginning to end?

Anyone who doesn't have water in their heads understands that watching a movie and making a movie are two very different things.

Every time he makes a production, especially a big production with an investment of 50 million or even 100 million US dollars, he is under enormous pressure.

He has a tough personality, and although the mountain of pressure can make people restless and sleepless, it never overwhelms him.

He works hard, the world may not succeed if he works hard, but there is no possibility of success if he does not work hard.

He has a clear goal. Since more than ten years ago, he has known what he is best at and has been working hard for it. Whether it is a woman or other temptations, he cannot stop for a while.

Twelve years into Hollywood. After working so hard for so long, Duke finally ushered in the most glorious moment of his directorial career.

"The Return of the King" has shown unmatched momentum in North America and the global market!

Entering the third weekend of May, "The Return of the King" met a new film by 20th Century Fox in North America. On Friday, May 16, "Sniper Phone Booth" was officially released in more than 2,400 theaters. The fate of this film It can be described as catastrophic. First, the director and script were rejected by several companies one after another, and Joe Schumacher, the director who almost killed Batman, finally got the investment and made the film into an independent film. Then he encountered a sniper incident in the United States. Fox has repeatedly delayed the film.

Last year, I finally found a suitable schedule, but it didn't take long for it to collide with "The Return of the King", which was announced by Warner.

but. Twentieth Century Fox didn't change the date, first because the film had been delayed for too long, and secondly because such a small investment release was not worth the effort they put into it.

After the release of "Sniper Phone Booth", the director of the series, Joe Schumacher, was almost killed with "Batman Forever" and "Batman and Robin". Instead, he received unanimous professional praise with his films.

Perhaps in the minds of film critics. Under their endless vicious attacks and guidance, a commercial director can wake up and enter the independent film circle, which is worthy of praise, as for the quality of the film. That's next.

"The film has a strong dramatic meaning, and the director almost gave up the richness of space brought by the transformation of multiple scenes that the film is good at. However, the limitations brought by the camera frame have another deep meaning, and the film is straight to the heart! "

Roger Albert, in his column, gave the film nine points.

Another well-known film critic, David Denby, also praised the film. A high score of 8.5 was given.

"In general, the script of the film itself can only be said to be second-rate, and the director and actors' control of the rhythm of the entire film has turned the film into an absolutely first-rate good work."

On the Rotten Tomatoes website, which collects film critics and film reviews as a basis, the freshness of the film is as high as 87%, while the freshness of "The Return of the King" is only 74%, and it is still declining.

If you only look at this data, "Sniper Phone Booth" is definitely a movie with a higher rate than "The Return of the King" in terms of theaters and schedules.

However, "Sniper Phone Booth" has more than 2,400 theaters, but all the theater chain companies in North America have less than 10% of the films, and refuse to increase the number of screens for this film, because they want to guarantee "The Return of the King" Nearly 80% of the filming rate!

Cinema companies have never used critics' ratings and Rotten Tomatoes freshness as the basis for arranging films. In terms of several aspects that can be their basis, the performance of "Sniper Phone Booth" can only be said to be average.

The CinemaScore audience rating is only 71%, the theater audience rating is 'B+', the popcorn audience favorite is 64%, and 48 entertainment reporters from MetaCritic Media rated it with an average score of 67 points!

As a movie that completely suppressed it, even if "The Return of the King" was released for half a month, these data still occupy an absolute advantage. 94% liked, 82 entertainment reporters on MetaCritic Media rated it with an average score of 88!

The subsequent weekend box office also proved the correctness of the choice of theater chains. "Sniper Phone Booth" earned US$3.21 million in 2,433 theaters in the first three days of the first weekend.

On the third weekend of the release of "The Return of the King", the number of theaters in North America was still 4,013, and it cut $39.89 million in three days!

Including the $34.21 million earned in the previous three working days, the North American box office of "The Return of the King" has reached $378.1 million!

The market once again proved with facts that film critics can get out of the summer.

Overseas, in the past week, "The Return of the King" slashed another $101.26 million, thus pushing the film's global box office past the $1 billion mark to $1,021.71 million!

In less than 20 days, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" has achieved a global box office of over one billion US dollars!

However, no matter how popular the film is, there is a time for its popularity to decline. After the new week began, the weekday box office of "The Return of the King" fell to 6.5 million US dollars, and showed a trend of small and continuous decline.

But Duke and Warner have no dissatisfaction and surprise, which is the normal law of the market.

Of course, it is inevitable to continue to promote and build momentum. After a video conference call between Duke and Warner Bros., the publicity cost of "The Return of the King" has increased from $50 million to $80 million, and if necessary, will continue to increase investment. .

Without enough input, there will be no more output. Let alone a big production like The Lord of the Rings, Hollywood has successfully produced small and large-scale productions in recent years. Which one does not have astronomical advertising and marketing expenses behind it?

Just as Duke was going around Australia and flying to Europe with the crew, he got a message from Warner Bros. UK.

"Because of the huge success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and your contribution to promoting British culture."

On the business jet that had just taken off after refueling, Tina Fey said to Duke, "The British royal family is considering awarding you a medal."

"Honorary knight?" Duke asked.

"Yes," Tina Fey reminded him. "You're not English, and you won't be given a higher title."

"Um."

Duke nodded. The honorary jazz is also called 'SIR'. He remembered that Ian McLean had won such a title. To be precise, honorary jazz is not a flood in sports and show business, nor is it anything. Rare stuff.

If the British royal family is willing to give it, Duke will definitely take it, if not, then he doesn't care.

With his current status and status, it doesn't matter if there is one more title than one less.

"Tina, remember to notify Robin when you get off the plane." Duke pulled a blanket, ready to sleep for a while, before he went to bed, "I'll make time to go to the Harry Potter crew."

The series was suspended for a while, and after the young actors had passed the voice-changing period, the money-making journey started again. Robin Grande, Joanna Rowling and Harry Potter Studio finalized new projects as early as the beginning of the year. The director of the film, the result is not surprising at all, they chose the Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron again.

Of course, the Mexican director was just an overkill, now that Joanna Rowling has a growing voice on the set, and Duke and Warner Bros. have promised her that a British director will eventually be used to complete the series.

As for who to choose, like Alfonso Cuaron, Duke does not intend to directly intervene. After the success of the series, in fact, as long as the latter few episodes do not cause catastrophic problems, the possibility of failure is extremely small.

Joanna Rowling also tried to let him take over, but Duke chose to refuse without hesitation. Now, for the director, this series has many similarities with "007". There are few really famous directors. willing to take over.

What's more, Duke's next plan has been set, and if it is completed, it will be a few years later.

The "Batman" trilogy will definitely not be produced using the method of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Duke plans to divide it into three shots, and on the Warner Bros. side, in order to avoid risks, it is impossible to agree to invest so much money in one shot. make.

It is the most sensible choice for the film company to make a film, first observe the reaction of the market, and then decide whether to continue.

After arriving in London, Duke reunited with the crew that came earlier, and started busy running announcements again. He, the director, didn't mind using himself as the propaganda head. From the beginning of the film's promotion period, he was trying to win headlines from various media.

Participated in two events in London, and accepted an exclusive interview with the BBC. Duke also received invitations from some celebrities in London to participate in a celebrity party.

At this party, Duke met a Russian and was inspired by him to think of a good way to further hype, football-related publicity hype. (To be continued ~^~)