Made in Hollywood

Because of his identity, Duke can't say much, and if he says these words, how much the other party can listen to is unknown. As a person who is very rational most of the time, this is just a matter of past feelings. With little emotion, Duke knew very well that he would not be the one to lead the development of Chinese films.

Moreover, he will not give too much consideration to Chinese films and Chinese filmmakers, and he will not get too involved in choosing some Chinese actors and shaping them into Hollywood superstars.

Not to mention now, even in a few years, it will not be possible.

Hollywood's exclusion and invisible discrimination against non-English-speaking actors and other filmmakers is actually quite obvious.

The problems brought about by the entire social environment cannot be changed by one person at all. Anyone with a little brain knows this.

Speaking of the development of some Chinese films, Duke rarely spoke any more, and the topic of Zaoshan Diao and Phil also turned to many issues in the introduction of Warner Bros. films into the Chinese market.

Although not very involved in it, Duke is still very concerned about the content of the discussion between the two, after all, this will also involve his future movies.

Phil first mentioned the release date of Warner's films. He believed that once the China Film Group introduced it, the release date should be determined as soon as possible to avoid the collision of the schedules of different films.

The domestic film protection month has always been a problem here, and Warner hopes to enter the Chinese market during this period.

On the other hand, marketing is the key to the life and death of a movie. If Warner Bros. can determine the release date of the movie in China, it can let the stars go to China for interviews and promote the movie.

"China's theater side and the film itself can benefit from it, and taxes can also increase. It's a triple win, as long as the marketing can be prepared in advance."

Phil's was clearly well prepared. "Transparency is also very important to ensure that the box office revenue of theaters can go back to China Film Group, producers and investors."

The eagle and Phil's words basically revolve around these four issues - conservation month, release date, marketing and transparency.

In fact, Warner and China Film Group have been discussing and working hard to solve these four issues, but the progress has not been great.

In addition, the two men also discussed co-productions, involving not only Hollywood-style films, but also Chinese-language films.

The explosion of Transformers. It also allows Warner to fully see how huge the potential of this market is. Capital wants to maximize profits, and Warner also wants to truly enter the Chinese film industry.

The number of films imported each year is limited, let alone a mountain sculpture, even the entire China Film Group can do nothing about it, which is part of the China-US WTO agreement.

Therefore, not all of Warner's big productions can be introduced into the Chinese market.

Compared to making movies, Duke has paid less attention to this aspect. Although he has his own agents at Warner Bros. and Time Warner, and has a strong voice on matters of self-interest, he is not very involved in Warner's operations for a considerable part of the time.

Shooting a movie and running a movie company are two completely different professions.

The people actually involved in filmmaking in Hollywood are a relatively small group. Filmmakers are familiar with each other, and a look at their resumes will reveal that they have worked on many sets, even in different departments on different sets. So in many ways it's a small group.

This ability to work with each other in a stressful environment makes for a movie. It may take a year or even longer, but after the production is completed, people come and go quickly. There's a gypsy feel to it, it's challenging, people who don't know each other come together, and making a movie together could take longer.

Anyway, in this world, anyone who builds a thing hopes that someone will like it, and then move on to the next one.

Duke can be said to be a typical example of this. He never made movies for himself or a small group of people.

As he said to Zuo Shandiao before, the cost of making movies is very high, and some movies do cost very little, but most excellent movies require large-scale investment to make the movie well, and it involves the participation of a large number of people , this is the case in the United States, and the same is true in China.

About 95% of film professionals have no chance to walk the red carpet or be on the cover of film magazines. These people are conscientious behind the camera and work hard every day.

Electricians, carpenters, makeup crews, truck drivers, plumbers...they are all working hard to make the movie, and if you sit a little longer after the movie, you can see their names in the end credits.

Gathering so many people together and working hard, what is never needed is art and ideals, but real money. Without enough money in return, there is no such thing as excellent filmmaking.

For example, films such as "The Shawshank Redemption" are regarded as classics by many people, and they do have sufficient quality assurance, but it takes more than ten years to generate profits. If you know that this will happen, the Castle Stone Company of that year This project will definitely be rejected.

In Hollywood, no matter what type of film it is, film companies are willing to invest in production in order to make a profit, and to generate profit as quickly as possible.

The time cost is also the cost, and there is inflation that cannot be ignored.

If Hollywood companies were to choose between Cars and Wall-E now, they would 100% choose the former over the more classic latter.

Later, Duke also inserted a few words on the protection month and release date.

The further a movie is overseas from its North American release date, the more likely it is to suffer losses.

Anyone whose films can appear in the Chinese market, of course, want to be released in the summer season in July and August, the Lunar New Year in December, and the Spring Festival. The next May Day and November holidays are also good. Commercial masterpieces can be released in these time periods, which will undoubtedly create higher box office revenue figures.

But it is impossible now. The domestic protection month prohibits the premiere of foreign commercial masterpieces, that is, the originally screened imported films can continue to be screened, but new imported films are not allowed to be screened during this period.

Of course, except for the imported films that China Film Group buys out and shows the copyright.

Duke definitely wants to get his films into these schedules, but it will take time and will be difficult to resolve in the short term.

After the meeting with the mountain eagle, Duke took part in promotional activities in several other major Chinese cities, and after his third weekend in China, flew to Tokyo on a business jet.

"Transformers" also screened in China for a full two weeks.

After earning 325.6 million RMB at the box office in the first week, the popularity of "Transformers" declined in the second week, but it still swept everything in the Chinese film market. 96.24 million RMB.

Within two weeks of its release, "Transformers" has created the highest box office record in Chinese film history - 621.84 million RMB.

China Film Group and Chinese media have also quietly changed the film's box office forecast to 1 billion RMB.

Just when Duke flew to Tokyo, the latest news came from Warners Greater China. It is very likely that China Film Group will get the key to the postponement of "Transformers", which means that the film may create a terrifying horror in China. Box office numbers.

The film is popular in China, and it is no exception around the world. Although it is not a sequel like "The Dark Knight", "Transformers", which is the beginning of the series, has a lighter theme, more popular scenes, and easier to attract audiences.

Even in the relatively mature North American market, this heavily popcorn-oriented film is no exception.

And a slightly more rational media will not treat such a commercial masterpiece with the attitude of treating award-winning films.

Coupled with the public relations of Warner Bros., the major mainstream media praised the film's 3D and special effects compared to the few professional film critics who paid little attention.

"Chicago Tribune" said that after seeing "Transformers", you can understand how audiences felt when they saw "King Kong" in 1933; "Los Angeles Times" said that whether the audience chose 3D or normal mode, "Transformers" brought shock. and awe are worth watching, the film will give people an unprecedented visual impact; "Detroit News" praised "Transformers" in terms of real film special effects, "Transformers" can be called unparalleled; "Empire" praised "Transformers" for the audience Here comes the experience of great surprise. The new technology allows the director to make movies like a sandbox...

The latest issue of Time Magazine North America featured Optimus Prime as the cover character, and commented that "Transformers" is actually a movie we've seen before, but it's made in a bold way like we've never seen it before. , it is the Star Wars of our time.

The blazing sun was baking in the film school of the University of Southern California. Two students in their twenties quickly passed through the brown-red promenade and walked quickly towards the classroom. Different from the practice classes in the past, today It was a theory class.

The USC Film School is one of Hollywood's most important reserve talent bases, and the study life here will be closely linked to Hollywood.

The two students walked and talked, focusing on the character to be discussed and studied in this theory class, and his films.

"Joseph, if Transformers earned $311.21 million in North America and more than $670 million globally within two weeks of its release, if it was a failed movie, then what is a successful movie? "

The man named Joseph shrugged and asked back, "Carter, is this a movie? It's just a commercial film that relies on special effects technology!"

Carter wanted to say something, but the two of them had already walked to the classroom, so they had to shut up temporarily, chose a seat in the front and sat down, and then looked at the projection screen in front, which was the theme of this theory class— — What makes Duke Rosenberg so unique! (To be continued ~^~)

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