Chapter 294: Test Screening Reception

"I never expected this film to take you so long to shoot," Xu Qing said as she attended the wrap party.

She had only worked as an assistant for two months, but she still considered herself part of the crew.

Gilbert looked at the lively bonfire party and smiled at Xu Qing. "Miss Xu, this isn't just one film—it's three."

Xu Qing shook her head. "I've never seen a film of this scale before. This is quite rare in film history."

Gilbert chuckled. "Miss Xu, I think you've overlooked one film series."

"Which one?"

"The Decisive Battle series."

Xu Qing was stunned for a moment before realizing she had completely forgotten about that series. Suddenly, she felt ashamed. She was Chinese, yet a foreigner knew more about Chinese cinema than she did.

How embarrassing!

"After this, are you heading back?" Xu Qing asked.

Gilbert nodded. "Yes, there's still a lot of work to do in Los Angeles."

"When will you be back?" Xu Qing pressed further.

"That depends," Gilbert replied, gazing at the vast night sky above the grasslands, where the stars shone brilliantly.

Xu Qing hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Can I visit you in Los Angeles? I'd love to attend the film's premiere. After all, I was part of the crew, even if just briefly."

Gilbert was taken aback, but when he saw the sincerity in Xu Qing's eyes, he realized she wasn't joking. After thinking for a moment, he nodded in agreement.

"Of course. If you come, I'll personally welcome you," Gilbert said.

In his past life, he had heard many rumors about Xu Qing, including speculations about her powerful background. While he had to follow the mainstream route, it didn't hurt to cultivate good relationships with influential figures.

The Chinese market was a goldmine, and everyone wanted a piece of it. Establishing connections with key figures was a strategic move.

Of course, in North America, people weren't fools either. They might be suspicious of Gilbert's connections, but no one would ever imagine that deep down, he carried a Chinese soul.

As for media smears and public opinion control, that wasn't an issue. How much money did media outlets even need? Gilbert had plenty. Buying influence over the press wasn't a problem.

For instance, he had already invested in his trusted ally, Los Angeles Business Daily, and even promoted Sarah to editor-in-chief.

Gilbert also planned to acquire The Los Angeles Times and gain control over Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair, and Empire, ensuring a firm grip on media narratives.

This was a strategy every influential Hollywood mogul employed—controlling the media. Gilbert was simply following the playbook.

Once he controlled the narrative, no one could label him as being too close to China.

If no one could voice that accusation, then the issue wouldn't exist. As for the general North American public, they were largely indifferent. Media told them what to think, and they followed along.

And truthfully, most of them wouldn't care about Gilbert's affairs in the first place.

The wrap party was a resounding success. After three days of rest, the American crew members began returning to North America with their equipment.

As for the gear that couldn't be taken back? Most of it was conveniently labeled as "damaged" and left behind for their Chinese colleagues to "dispose of."

Gilbert left Kane Wexman in charge of the final wrap-up while he took a vast amount of footage—along with the completed cut of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring—back to his Los Angeles studio to continue post-production.

The special effects and editing for The Fellowship of the Ring were already completed.

Once back in Los Angeles, Gilbert finalized the sound editing and score mixing.

The China Philharmonic Orchestra had done an excellent job, delivering a film score that Gilbert was very satisfied with.

However, since it was a Chinese orchestra, Gilbert and Howard Shore needed a local alternative for The Lord of the Rings concert tour and soundtrack release.

Fortunately, this wasn't a problem. Robert Iger quickly arranged for Gilbert to work with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, which recorded an entirely new version of The Lord of the Rings soundtrack.

This resulted in two versions of the score: the film's soundtrack, performed by the China Philharmonic Orchestra, and the album and concert tour version, recorded by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

Of course, the version recorded by the China Philharmonic Orchestra would still be released in a limited number of soundtrack albums.

If sales were strong, they could always produce more.

The division of the concert tour was also clear—the China Philharmonic Orchestra would be responsible for the tour in Asia, while the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra would handle the tour in Europe and North America.

When the film premiered in July, both orchestras would begin their respective concert tours simultaneously.

The tour schedule was extensive and would continue until the following year when The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released.

The long duration of the tour was designed to sustain and maximize the hype surrounding the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The tour would be flexible—perhaps one or two concerts per month, sometimes three, covering major cities worldwide, depending on actual circumstances.

However, these were just secondary promotional efforts. The primary focus remained on the film itself.

Additionally, Disney and Warner Bros. placed great emphasis on online marketing. After The Matrix and The Blair Witch Project achieved success through internet-based promotion, Hollywood studios began paying serious attention to online marketing strategies.

Gilbert had been ahead of the curve in this regard—he had his own team of online influencers.

Recently, this team had been working aggressively, using every tactic imaginable—hype, comparisons, smear campaigns, manufactured rivalries—to generate continuous buzz across the internet.

Throughout Hollywood history, marketing had always been a crucial component intertwined with the success of a film.

Many high-quality, even classic films had flopped simply due to poor marketing campaigns.

There were hardly any films that achieved massive box office success without proper marketing—perhaps only Titanic in the past life.

In this timeline, however, Titanic had received extensive marketing efforts, thanks to Gilbert's prior warnings, ensuring the film got the promotional push it deserved.

For the Lord of the Rings trilogy, when spread across all three films, the production cost per installment was approximately $116 million.

In terms of scale and production quality, it was far superior to Peter Jackson's version.

Once post-production was completed, Disney and Warner Bros. held an internal screening.

Unsurprisingly, the film won over every executive from both studios.

As Warner Bros.' head of distribution, Solomon, put it:

"If this film doesn't dominate the summer box office, the fault won't lie with the movie or Gilbert. It will be because we, as the marketing team, failed to do our jobs properly."

For him to say this demonstrated his absolute confidence in the film's quality.

Having won over both studios' executives, they were naturally willing to invest heavily in promotion. Disney and Warner Bros. jointly allocated additional funds, increasing the marketing budget to $80 million.

The first installment of a franchise was always the most important. If The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring became a major success, the marketing for the next two films could be done at a much lower cost.

However, the nearly $200 million budget of the first film loomed over Gilbert like a massive burden.

If this project flopped, it would mean the entire trilogy was doomed, and Gilbert would suffer a major setback.

Even though the executives had faith in the film, that confidence still needed to be validated by the market.

Following the internal screening, Disney and Warner Bros. immediately organized three test screenings, inviting theater representatives, media journalists, and seasoned moviegoers.

The results of these test screenings would directly influence the film's release strategy and the number of opening-weekend screenings it would receive in theaters.

If audience feedback from the test screenings was poor, then even if the film was a collaboration between Gilbert, Spielberg, and James Cameron, it would not be able to secure a massive theatrical release.

But those concerns turned out to be unnecessary—the test screenings were an overwhelming success.

During a joint high-level meeting between Disney and Warner Bros., Warner Bros.' head of distribution, Solomon, presided over the discussion.

"Last week, we held three test screenings, all of which received exceptional responses," Solomon said, signaling his assistant to distribute the data to the executives in attendance.

He continued, "We received 1,432 audience feedback reports from regular moviegoers who attended the screenings. Excluding those who rated it A-, the percentage of A and above ratings…"

Solomon deliberately paused, glancing around the room to ensure all eyes were on him. Then, with an enthusiastic flourish, he announced:

"The percentage of A and above ratings reached 98%, with an A+ rating percentage of 95%!"

Many executives looked at the reports in their hands, struggling to believe what they were seeing.

It was extremely rare for a film to receive such high ratings during the test screening phase.

Doug Walter and Robert Iger exchanged a glance, both of them sharing the same thought—this was exactly what they had expected.

To them, nothing Gilbert accomplished was surprising anymore. He was Gilbert, after all.

In contrast, Charles Roven and Kane Wexman let out a sigh of relief—this was a fantastic result.

As producers of the Lord of the Rings project, they had been deeply involved in every aspect of the film's production alongside Gilbert.

Their team had poured immense effort into the project, and now it was finally time to reap the rewards.

The journey had started in 1997, and now, in late May of this year, the Lord of the Rings project had spanned over three years.

If they included the time Gilbert spent writing the script, the entire endeavor had taken five years.

During these five years, thousands of people had dedicated themselves to this project, investing enormous amounts of money, time, and energy.

If all that effort failed to yield the expected returns, then fate would be truly unfair.

Among them all, Gilbert remained the most composed. He asked, "Solomon, what's the response from theater chains?"

"The numbers are just as promising," Solomon replied. "Of the 153 theater representatives who attended the test screenings, 148 gave the film an A+ rating, two rated it A, and only three gave it an A-."

His excitement was evident to everyone in the room.

"No ratings below A-?" an executive asked.

"None. The theater chains are highly optimistic about this film," Solomon confirmed.

"That's fantastic," Doug Walter clapped his hands. "It proves that the film is truly outstanding."

"Gentlemen," Doug Walter emphasized, "I want all of you to dedicate your full efforts to this film this summer. We are going to dominate the summer box office.

We are going to show everyone who the true king of the summer blockbuster season is."

"Understood!"

At that moment, both the Disney and Warner Bros. teams had a singular goal—to ensure that The Lord of the Rings became the biggest hit of the summer.

...

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