Chapter 283 The only savior

In early February 1998, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held an Oscar nominee luncheon at the Regent Hotel, and as expected by most media and industry insiders, Titanic was the biggest winner.

Ren is Miramax, who tasted the sweetness of the Oscars last year, and has double insurance coverage for Good Will Hunting and Life is Beautiful, but all this is a cloud in front of the unprecedented box office numbers of Titanic, and this is not a one-off. It's a non-reality film, and the old-fashioned judges of the academy can't ignore it, giving the film a total of 14 Oscar nominations.

Conservatives finally bowed their heads when an epic based on true historical events made its way to the Oscars with a worldwide box office figure of more than $1 billion.

Yes, at the beginning of February, the North American box office of Titanic reached 462.15 million US dollars, and the global box office totaled 1,062.1 million US dollars, which has firmly secured the number one position in film history!

Fourteen Oscar nominations have undoubtedly added a boost to the big ship. The North American box office rose sharply that weekend, with a reverse increase of 79%! And many countries that did not intend to introduce Titanic have also set their sights on this giant system, such as some countries on the other side of the Pacific Ocean...

The peripheral development of the film, with the trend of Oscar nominations, is also in full swing.

Postcards, cultural shirts, kaleidoscopes, stationery boxes, tote bags and dolls of Jack and Ruth, etc., reached a series of licensing agreements in early February, and the North American market alone received $70 million in licensing revenue.

Counting the original soundtrack album, which topped Billboard's album sales chart for nine consecutive weeks - 6.43 million copies - the film's profit in North America, excluding labor and billing costs, has reached 120 million US dollars!

After more than two months of screening and promotion, Titanic also ushered in its first revenue split. In this regard, 20th Century Fox, whose capital chain has always been tight, is far more enthusiastic and active than Duke, and has been urging Paramount Pictures, the North American marketer of Titanic.

After the Oscar nominees luncheon, the North American Cinema Alliance has made two box office splits with Paramount Pictures, totaling a total of $400 million. Since this is a pre-account split in which the publisher has the upper hand, according to the distribution agreement signed by the two parties, the distribution company has a relatively high share of the account, and Paramount Pictures received more than 224 million US dollars from it.

After deducting 10% of the North American distribution cost of $40 million corresponding to the film, as well as the North American publicity expenses already invested by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox, the share of funds before the three major investments is still as high as A huge $160 million.

As the three parties signed a clear agreement. In addition, their accountants and Vito's professional organizations have always participated in the announcement. The amount and proportion of the shares are clear at a glance. Duke accounted for a quarter of the investment with $50 million, and gained $40 million from it.

Although this is a pre-tax profit, he recovered most of his investment from the early share of the North American box office.

Profits around North America, on the other hand, are on the books of studios established specifically for films. The three parties also made their first share, and Duke got a quarter of the $120 million in peripheral profits - $30 million.

Two and a half months after the release of Titanic, investors including him finally made the most favorable response with actual data. The ship that was ridiculed as a 'doomed ship' has become the top three investors Bring profit!

And that $70 million pretax is only part of the earnings. Today, the overseas income of Hollywood commercial masterpieces has exceeded the income of North America. When the overseas income of the future films is paid out, it will be enough to shock the attention of many people.

Don't forget, a movie like Titanic isn't just a box office hit. Its surroundings are indeed weaker than Jurassic Park, but they cannot be ignored.

but. Duke is very clear that if he wants to get back his overseas income, he has to wait slowly.

For more than a month after Christmas, Duke's weekdays were busy with the latter stages of The Matrix. He is going to fly to New Zealand on the weekend to participate in the preparatory work for the control of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Even if he is strong-willed, energetic, and in good health, he gradually becomes tired, and even feels that the whole person is about to be divided into two parts. Two.

I finally understand why even Steven Spielberg, the most famous fast shooter in Hollywood, has only once made two movies in the same year, and he also prepared Schindler's List for ten years. Long.

Sitting at the break table in the editing room, Duke chatted with Tina Fey. With only special effects left in the post-production work, the two assistant directors Zach Snyder and Anna Prinz had already left and hurried too. New Zealand, participated in the preliminary work of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Duke and Mike Dawson and their assistants remained in the editing room of the Duke Studios.

You should take a break for yourself. Tina Fey poured a cup of espresso and handed it to Duke, reminding, You haven't had a formal break since Christmas.

Are you tired too? Duke asked.

He didn't rest, and of course Tina Fey, who was a personal assistant, couldn't rest either.

Tina Fey didn't deny it, If it were when I first came here a few years ago, I would definitely hide in the room and cry.

I have finished the commercials for this film, and I can rest for the time being. Duke also felt his body exhausted.

With the expansion of the Duke's studio, more and more affairs need to be handled. After Christmas, he specially hired a high-paying executive from his mother. The other party had worked hard in Hollywood and could handle the Duke's studio with ease. However, the final decision still has to be summed up to Tina Fei, who will make the decision.

Moreover, Warner Bros. also has executives stationed in it. This is inevitable after the exchange, and the other party has rich work experience. As long as the necessary supervision is done, it can actually bring a lot of help.

Now he and Warner Bros. are in the honeymoon period. The interests of the two companies are closely linked, and conflicts are not absent, but they will be controlled within a very small range.

It took a whole afternoon for Duke, Mike Dawson, and the special effects team of Industrial Light \u0026 Magic to add the few remaining special effects in the commercial. The advertisement is declared complete.

Tina...

As he was leaving the studio in the car, Duke asked the assistant in the passenger seat, I'm going to take a few days off next week. Do you want to take time off alone, or go to the Super Bowl with me?

Tina Fey thought for a while, Let's watch the Super Bowl together. If there is an emergency, I don't want to rush over from the vacation.

The Matrix is confirmed to be released in the summer, and Duke Studio and Warner Bros. will naturally not miss the promotion of the Super Bowl halftime. Since Duke put Brave Island on the Super Bowl advertisement, the box office It was a big sell, but now more films are focused on the event, and Super Bowl commercials have gradually become the traditional promotional front for Hollywood blockbusters.

In fact, the promotion of The Matrix has long been planned under the instigation of Warner. As in the past, a summer commercial blockbuster will not rely solely on any kind of publicity method. Duke has been busy with two movies. Except for interviews or participation in publicity activities organized by Warner, he basically did not give much opinions on publicity.

However, there is only one exception, the frequent mention of computer networks in the film, and now, in 1998, the Internet in North America is already very developed, how could he ignore this propaganda position that has a huge impact on young people.

The film is constantly being advertised on websites with high click-through rates, including Yahoo, and, according to Duke's suggestion, he has hired Shui Jun to post in some film and television forums, which has attracted the attention of the Internet community.

In particular, the personal website that Duke asked Penny Kelly to find someone to build. After it was completed, it was directly linked to many film and television forums. The main content on it now is to promote The Matrix.

…………

In the dim light, Allen sat in front of the computer, exited the chat room of the Blast Maniac, and habitually clicked a link on this section, and a strange website opened.

The website is dominated by gloomy and dark tones, with some green sliders on it. Allen knows computers well and knows that it is similar to program code, but the website is generally very simple, except for the conspicuous message board. , is the more conspicuous person wearing black sunglasses and a black trench coat, that person is very familiar to senior movie fans like him, the famous bomber and Duke of Nukem Duke Rosenberg.

The young director in the picture is an image he has never seen before, but it is unusual-cool!

It's just so cool!

The director holds an extremely evil looking mechanical squid in his right hand, and holds a pistol of the same color as the windbreaker in his left hand. The muzzle is not a bullet, but a very strange word - is this world real? Do you think what you see, smell, and hear is real? The real world is like this!

This is obviously a link. Allen clicked to open it, and many pictures were displayed. Among them, some machines were planting the fields, but what grew out of the fields was not grain...

There is also the most conspicuous one in the middle - don't be confused, the mother body is confusing you, follow Duke to find the truth of this world, you are the only savior!

Moving the mouse, Alan opened the link again, and the pictures that appeared were shocking, the sky with dark clouds, Manhattan that turned into black ruins, and humans sleeping in unknown capsules...

what world is this?

Although he has seen it many times, Alan is still very curious, what is the mother body? The only savior?

Of course, there are very few idiots in this world who don't turn their heads at all. Allen quickly thought that this had something to do with Duke's new film. Looking at the cool shapes, quiet life scenes and apocalyptic environment in it, he was born in his heart. Countless expectations. (To be continued ~^~)