Chapter 395

The trial screening is extremely important to an upcoming movie. Some producers will make necessary deletions and even re-editing of the film based on the feedback received from the trial screening.

However, Duke and "The Fellowship of the Ring Expedition" are not in this rank.

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

The Warner Building belongs to the office floor of Warner Bros. Many senior executives gathered in a conference room. Duke and Charles Rowan were also invited to attend the meeting. The meeting discussed the "Legend of the Rings Expedition" related to them.

The person who presided over the meeting was Doug Walter. His face was full of excitement, as if the project he was in charge of had already sold out.

Just like his mood, his voice was high and loud, "In the last week, we held three trial screenings in total, and the detailed statistics have been calculated!"

Although everyone has a related document in their hands, Doug Walter said to himself, "As for the general audience, a total of 1,345 people watched "The Fellowship of the Ring". Among them, the person who scored a+ was... "

After a short pause, Doug Walter seemed to want everyone's attention, "1218←, 5 people! Excluding a-, the film's positive rate of "a" is as high as 98%!"

Although there are relevant data in front of them, hearing what Doug Walter said, many Warner Bros. executives opened their eyes wide, as if they could not believe it.

Jamie Johnson is the one with the calmest expression. As the person in charge of the announcement of "The Matrix" and "The Fellowship of the Ring Expedition", he is no surprise!

As early as when the film was still in the post-editing period, he had seen several samples and edited clips. In addition to shock and admiration, he could not find a suitable adjective.

Sit here now. Hearing such an overwhelming audience's reputation, Jamie Johnson couldn't help thinking of the hype slogan he formulated-if anyone in this world can successfully adapt the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, it would not be Duke Rosenberger. Belong!

He felt that he was so wise, so forward-looking, that he had expected Duke Rosenberg to succeed so early!

The quality of the film is excellent, and his publicity is very effective. The test screening is so overwhelming, "The Fellowship of the Ring Expedition" clearly shows the potential of the summer to sell movies!

Unlike Warner executives with different ideas, Charles Rowan felt relaxed, and he also felt that such a reputation was taken for granted. Starting from "Break into Death Island", he worked with Duke and knew each other's film talent. How outstanding!

What's more, what is more outstanding than talent is his hard work and diligence. Continuous success does not seem to bring him too much arrogance and complacency, and he treats every movie consistently.

Only Charles Rowan knows what kind of efforts the crew including him and Duke have put in for this trilogy. New Zealand has almost become their home. They have been based in Australia since 1997. . It took two years to do the preliminary preparation, if you count Duke's time to prepare the script. The entire preparation time will be as long as four years!

The countless hard work of hundreds of people has made it possible to achieve the current film and the current results. This is not a fluke.

Relatively speaking, Duke is one of the calmest people in the conference room. Judging from the effect of the trial screening, he cut out some shots that existed to show New Zealand, slightly accelerated the pace of the film, and strengthened the effect of special effects, and the initial response was obtained. Enough to satisfy him.

Doug Walter's words did not stop and continued, "In terms of theater chains, major commercial chain theater companies in North America have a total of 159 selected films participating in the trial screening. In the end, 143 people hit the market expectation a+, and 11 people a. There are also two a- and three b."

He slowly raised his head, his gaze swept over everyone, "The comprehensive commercial evaluation of theaters is a+, which means that we can win the largest number of theaters to open!"

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 films.

Not only is the distribution company doing the work of the theater chain, in fact, the theater chain will also choose key projects from a large number of films released, although the profit of the North American theater chain is increasingly dependent on peripheral products such as popcorn. , But the box office is still the key. No box office means there is no audience. Where can I sell products without audience?

A movie that can set off a summer vacation is often the most anticipated project of the cinema.

At the end of April, feedback from the theaters also came to Duke. The best response to the screening of "The Fellowship of the Ring" will be a record in film history if nothing goes wrong.

The film will be officially screened in North America with about 3,600 theaters over a weekend before Memorial Day!

"There is no way, Michael..."

Sitting at his desk, Michael Ovitz looked at Michael Bay on the opposite side, "I have made more than one phone call between AMG and the top executives of Emperor Entertainment. At present, "Pearl Harbor" can only be used at around 3,200 theaters In theaters."

Michael Bay's long face is a bit gloomy. Since last year, he has been suffocated. He wants to compete with Duke Rosenberg in the summer file to prove that he is not an imitator, and even to avoid public opinion again. His success can be attributed to the imitation of someone, he specially increased the weight of the love scene in the hot battlefield scene.

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

The gap between the 400 or so open theaters will probably bring about a bigger gap in the box office.

The corner of his mouth barely pulled out a smile. Michael Bay knew that this was the most direct reaction to the reputation of the screening and the influence of the director himself in the theater market. He wanted to surpass Duke Rosenberg, and obviously there was more. A long way to go.

Michael Ovitz didn't say anything to Michael Bay. He had done everything he needed to do. However, the audience and theaters in the preview of "Pearl Harbor" had double a-scores and double a+s with "The Fellowship of the Ring". The scoring is not a gap that can be made up by language and friendship.

He has friendships with Disney and the theater alliance, and Warner Bros. has not let go.

Warner Bros.'s performance and influence have increased significantly in recent years. For example, within mpaa, it has many supporters. When rating the "League of the Rings", he and Disney wanted to rate the film as r-rated, but ultimately did not Achieved, the final rating of "The Fellowship of the Ring Expedition" is the same as that of "Pearl Harbor", pg-13.

In this regard, Disney also does not want to be completely deadlocked with Warner Bros., after all, there are sensitive shots in "The Fellowship of the Ring", and there are many in "Pearl Harbor".

If the two companies fight according to his advice, the other company will only be proud in the end.

Now Michael Ovitz's greatest hope is that the first week of "Pearl Harbor" is good enough at the box office. After all, there are not only examples in Hollywood, but also not rare in Hollywood, where the film has a poor reputation as a test screen.

Moreover, 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 everything they can, and the rest is waiting for the film to be released.

Every May is the beginning of the summer season for the North American film market. Every beginning weekend, a super producer is often released.

The first weekend of May this year belongs to Universal Pictures. "The Mummy Returns" directed by Stephen Somos and produced at a cost of US$98 million was the first to be released in the summer file. Although this film has been on Rotten Tomatoes for three days The freshness fell to 65%, but it won the audience's reputation and the first weekend's box office double harvest!

"The Return of the Mummy" opened in North America with 3,400 theaters. It won US$68.13 million in three days during the first weekend. While winning the North American weekly box office ranking, it also achieved the best first weekend box office performance this year.

However, the film faced the impact of the epic WWII epic "Pearl Harbor" with an investment of 140 million US dollars in the second weekend.

Walt Disney and the artist management company created an epic premiere for this film. Not only did they invite many Hollywood stars to help out, they also learned from the premiere of "Saving Private Ryan" and brought dozens of personal experience. The veterans of Pearl Harbor helped out.

It's just that these veterans don't buy much money from the film and Disney after watching the film.

They have experienced the baptism of brutal war, and now they may hang up at any time. They don't care about the public relations between Disney and the artist management company. If the film is really as real and touching as "Saving Private Ryan"... No, it's only half of it. , They don't mind singing hymns for the film.

But what exactly is this shot? There is no realism in war. It's like a romantic firework show. Even if it uses a lot of main plots to describe a dog blood triangle, instead of cruel war, the director's head is obviously a problem!

In an interview, an 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 only a foil. The film is shot in this way and it disrespects the battlefield! "

Although the veterans are extremely dissatisfied, it is difficult for their remarks to appear in the mainstream media under Disney's public relations. In this era, as long as the media uses clever methods, the veterans are sometimes the focus of public attention and sometimes they are the objects of spurned. .

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

The production cost of "Pearl Harbor" is as high as 140 million U.S. dollars, and the prior publicity and hype are also in place. Although Michael Bay's is known as a small explosive maniac, it also proves from the side that his work is more popular with the market and mainstream audiences. Welcome, the attendance rate for the first three days of the film is pretty good.

It won the first week's box office of US$59.07 million in North America with 3,214 theaters, and successfully squeezed the "Mummy Returns", which received US$33.74 million in the same period, from the box office champion.

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