Tokyo Literary Godfather

Otomo Keiichi is very famous in the industry. He is one of the top three animation directors in Japan. He has produced many famous works and many high-grossing films.

When Otomo Keiichi left the Koganei Studio he founded, it caused quite a stir in the animation industry. Otomo Keiichi parted ways with his former colleagues due to philosophical issues, and impulsively announced his retirement statement.

Of course, less than two months after "retiring", he resumed work again and founded Studio Ghibli, which he jointly held shares with Mizubo Productions. Due to Mizunami Production's recent incredible record, the industry is also wary of Otomo Keiichi's upcoming work.

Although not even a trailer has been released, the industry has already listed this movie as the next big hit, and many people have once again given predictions of exceeding 10 billion.

Half a year ago, casual predictions of a movie hitting 10 billion yen would have been considered random speculation with no factual basis. Do you know the concept of a 10 billion yen box office? There were only a few movies in the entire Japanese film history. Ten-billion-level works appear.

However, two tens of billions of works have been released one after another, and no one thinks that this judgment is nonsense. This guy Fujiwara Kei...

"You're not going to release the trailer?!" The producer's voice rose an octave, and he felt like his temples were beating.

This producer was assigned by Mizunami Productions and was selected by Studio Ghibli among a number of producer candidates. Different from the general production model, many movies choose a producer first, and then choose a suitable director after getting a good script. Producers often hold the most power.

But this film is completely in the hands of Keiichi Otomo. The producer is only responsible for calculating the budget, completing logistical support, and coordinating all parts of the crew to help the director complete his work.

Moreover, according to the agreement between Kei Fujiwara and Keiichi Otomo when Studio Ghibli was founded, even if Kei Fujiwara personally expresses his opinion, as long as Keiichi Otomo disagrees, there is nothing that can be done. Studio Ghibli has full independence. .

The producer has vaguely felt that this artist in the animation industry is not easy to work with, and many of his ideas are against commercial logic. This gives the producer a headache. After all, as a director, he may pay more attention to whether a film can be spread around the world and whether it can gain a good reputation, which is linked to the longevity of his career.

But for a producer, he is always more concerned about the financial benefits of the film, and the box office is the first consideration.

Of course, this does not mean that Otomo Keiichi does not pay attention to box office, and he is not the kind of "artist" who likes to use investors' money to make money. This is also the basis for Kei Fujiwara’s willingness to cooperate with him.

On the contrary, Otomo Keiichi has great commercial ambitions for his work. He wants to surpass all of Fujiwara Kei's historical film works and obtain a higher box office of tens of billions.

As for anti-commercial logic, this is not a problem either. Because many times, those who cater to the market cannot make money, but those who go against the market can make a lot of money. "White Night Walk" is a vivid example.

Otomo Keiichi has enough confidence that even in the era of computer painting, he can still produce big-selling works by insisting on hand-painting. I feel that even if we take a different approach without making in-depth announcements in advance or releasing trailers in advance, we can still attract audiences to the theater.

"No! Absolutely not!"

The producer was so anxious that he jumped, "I have never heard of a movie that can achieve high box office without publicity, especially in a month like January where competition is fierce. I don't agree!"

Otomo Keiichi looked very calm, and seemed to have expected the producer's objections: "It's not that we don't want to promote it, but that there is no need to put all the budget and energy into advertising, which will easily overwhelm the guest. In the end, it's still The quality of the film itself is most important.”

"With so many movies released in January, and so many trailers rolling out on major TV stations throughout November and December, will the audience have an impression of my movie? It would be better to maintain a sense of mystery, which would make the movie more popular. The audience finds it new and unique.”

The producers don't know whether the audience will find it novel and unique, but they just feel that Otomo Keiichi's statement has never been heard before and is a brand new version.

"Director Otomo, this is too natural!" the producer persuaded patiently: "The quality of the film itself is important, it determines the reputation of the work and whether more viewers can enter the screening room later. But if Without enough publicity, most viewers will simply ignore the film, and by the time word-of-mouth has fermented, the work has already been downloaded.”

Otomo Keiichi said nothing and began to rub his chin and think.

But the producer knows this person's character very well, and maybe he has already made a mental note, but is just pretending to consider it, and will still have to stick to his original idea in the future.

So the producer walked out of the conference room and called Kei Fujiwara without saying a word.

After Kei Fujiwara received the call, he was also a little bit dumbfounded.

This Otomo Keiichi... what new path has he taken?

Is it possible that he is expecting in his heart: "A work that has received little attention quietly appears in the market, in a terrifying competitive environment, knocks out all the opponents and shocks the world." This kind of dramatic script will happen to me?

The investment in "City of the Deep" was very large, more than that of "Infernal Affairs" and "The Embalmer" combined. Kei Fujiwara did not allow Otomo Keiichi to use money to show off his character, so he immediately called without saying anything. Otomo Keiichi.

I called twice in a row before anyone answered. After the phone call was answered, Kei Fujiwara went straight to the point and told Otomo Keiichi that Mizuno could not interfere too much in terms of content, but he could not be willful in terms of publicity, otherwise not only Mizuno's production would be in trouble, but the theaters would also be in trouble due to the intensity of publicity. Not in place, and lower the film arrangement.

Otomo Keiichi didn't insist anymore, and spent one day cutting out two trailers, but they only lasted less than thirty seconds. Kei Fujiwara felt that it was perfunctory, so he sent someone to edit again.

At the same time, a large budget was spent to hire the most famous poster designers in the industry to paint posters. Everything is ready and planned to be fully rolled out in early December.

For a product like a movie that is very seasonal, it is not a good thing to promote it too early or for a long period of time. On the contrary, it will offend some viewers.

"Infernal Affairs" gradually dropped, with the total box office gradually settling at 18.3 billion yen, and "The Executioner" landed in theaters across the country.

"The Embalmer" earned 180 million at the box office on its first day. Although it is a lot, it is far behind its two predecessors. However, it received excellent reviews and was very popular among critics. It was almost booked to win the best film at the next Tokyo International Film Festival and the Academy Awards.

So far, three of the five films produced by Mizunami have been released, and two more are about to be released. Shuibo has now become synonymous with high-quality film factories among movie fans, which is quite a bit like the meaning of Yuejiu drama among TV drama audiences back then.

The reputation of Studio Ghibli is also growing day by day, and animation audiences are eagerly awaiting the two works of Otomo Keiichi and Oshii An.

It is obviously an animation studio that was established less than two years ago, but a work has not yet been officially produced, but it has become famous as a top studio. This is the first time in the decades-long history of the Japanese animation industry.

Because of this, Oshii'an's pressure became even greater.