It was already evening in Europe when Simon welcomed the eleventh child of the Westeros family in Greenwich.
Venice, Italy.
The 54th Venice Film Festival in 1997 is coming to an end.
Just like the 50th Cannes Film Festival in May, where films such as "Six Pigs" and "The Lost Girl" appeared, this time the Venice Film Festival also has many topics.
The reason starts from Cannes in May.
Thanks to the strong public relations of Daenerys Entertainment, the British film "Six Pigs" unexpectedly won the Palme d'Or at the 50th Cannes. Relying on the halo of this award and the heated social discussion caused by the film itself, on August 8 After it opened in the UK, it became a hit at the box office and became the biggest box office dark horse in the UK in 1997.
In the box office week that just ended on September 11, the cumulative box office of "The Six Strongest Pigs" in the UK has reached 50.41 million pounds, equivalent to about 77 million US dollars, which has set a box office record for a movie with a 15+ rating in the UK.
The production cost of "Six Pigs" was only a mere 2 million pounds.
Considering that the film's box office revenue in the last week has still reached 4.62 million pounds, and there will be at least 10 million pounds in subsequent revenue, the total UK box office is expected to exceed 60 million pounds, which translates to close to 100 million US dollars.
Affected by the halo of the Palme d'Or and the phenomenal sales in the UK, "Six Pigs" has reached the highest expectations in many countries and regions around the world. In North America, it happened to open on September 12th, with 1,435 opening screens. It was only the first time. According to feedback from some theaters during the day, the film can be expected to gross at least 50 million in North America. Moreover, in the eyes of many film critics, this film is basically locked in an Oscar nomination for Best Picture in 1998.
Based on feedback from the UK and North America, this low-cost feature film with an investment of only 2 million pounds is expected to reach a global box office of US$300 million.
The box office cost-return ratio is close to 100 times.
No one will deny that the beginning of it all was a Palme d'Or in Cannes.
The Palme d'Or's halo of awards has at least saved tens of millions of pounds in advertising costs for the promotion of "Six Pigs" in the UK, allowing the film's reputation to reach its peak without fermentation.
This is also true.
In Simon's memory, the British box office of "Six Pigs" was about 52 million pounds. This time, compared with the original time and space, it is expected to be 10 million pounds more. This is the gain brought by the Palme d'Or.
Moreover, the value of the Palme d'Or lies even more outside the UK.
After all, it is a very regional film, just like American gangster movies, French literary films, etc.
Without the aura of the Palme d'Or, even if it would be a box office success overseas due to the phenomenal British box office, it would still be subject to great restrictions. , the UK’s phenomenal box office, and the Palme d’Or, which has a strong global recognition. Compared with the historical global figure of 257 million, this time the global box office volume of "The Six Strongest Pigs" is 300 million. Forecasts at the dollar level remain conservative.
On the other hand, this year's Cannes Film Festival not only produced "Six Pigs," but also "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which premiered in Cannes, also set an overseas box office record for a Chinese-language genre film.
There is also "Double Yolk", which won the Best Actress Award for Mia Kirschner and Angelina Jolie at Cannes. It was previously released in North America on August 22 and has been screened for the past three weeks. Time, the cumulative box office reached 34.16 million U.S. dollars, the North American box office is expected to be around 50 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office can reach at least 100 million U.S. dollars.
The production cost of the film is US$20 million, and it has already begun to make profits in North America alone. The successive overseas distribution will also bring more generous returns.
It can be said that at one Cannes, the three films "Six Pigs", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "The Girl Who Moved", with a total cost of US$40 million, are expected to bring Daenerys Entertainment a global revenue of 600 million. The box office is equivalent to the size of a "Tornado"-level super blockbuster.
So, what will happen to Venice this time
You know, at the upcoming 54th Venice Film Festival, Daenerys Entertainment’s film lineup is almost the same as Cannes.
Two films were shortlisted for the main competition, one is Giuseppe Tornatore's new work "The Pianist", and the other is "Life is Beautiful" written, directed and starred by the famous Italian actor Roberto Benigni, which is similar to The Cannes Film Festival's "Six Pigs" and "The Girl Who Moved."
Moreover, both films received widespread acclaim after their premiere at the film festival. Among them, "Life is Beautiful" not only won a long standing ovation from the audience after the premiere, but also made many people marvel at this touching film. The story brings tears to my eyes.
Then, similar to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Daenerys Entertainment's long-delayed $200 million blockbuster "Titanic" chose to have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
It's today.
Whether it is film and television-related media, fans who pay more attention to industry trends, or even the Venice Film Festival Organizing Committee, they all have very mixed feelings about Daenerys Entertainment.
On the one hand, if Daenerys Entertainment can replicate the success of the previous three films in Cannes, it can greatly demonstrate the value of the film festival in all aspects.
On the other hand, if Daenerys Entertainment is a big success again, it will inevitably give people the feeling that Daenerys Entertainment is the only one in major film festivals. So, will others still enjoy it? In such a huge film festival market, even if Daenerys Entertainment is large enough, this company alone will definitely not be able to sustain it.
At the Lido Cinema Palace, the world premiere of "Titanic" begins at 5 p.m. local time in Venice.
First up is the red carpet ceremony.
Under the strong appeal of Daenerys Entertainment, the film festival's jury headed by Jane Campion and famous filmmakers from all continents in Venice, as well as film critics and media reporters from all over the world, joined in.
Because "Titanic" is positioned as a commercial film, a large number of lucky fans were invited to watch the movie this time. The official also distributed questionnaires to fans who had the opportunity to watch the movie in advance, so as to make possible final evaluations of the film based on this public screening. Adjustment.
The red carpet ceremony lasted an hour.
Near six o'clock, the three main creators James Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio and Rachel Weisz appeared on the red carpet, announcing that the red carpet ceremony had reached a climax.
Unlike Leo and Rachel, who are relatively relaxed, James Cameron, who has been suffering for more than a year, is basically in a state of despair.
Anyway, finally relieved.
Taking the leading actors and actresses along the red carpet, he politely interacted with fans and took photos cooperatively. Cameron pretended not to hear the hoarse questions from reporters in the media area. After all, since the project got out of control last year, even with Daenerys Entertainment trying its best to control it, he still saw too many negative comments about this project in the media.
What can I say now, will it be useful
Just don't say it.
If you like it, you may not be a director at all.
Entering the movie palace, the playback session is about to begin.
No one in Daenerys Entertainment is optimistic about this movie except for her own boss who has an unclear attitude and whether he is sitting on the Diaoyutai or is equally broken. However, there is still no slack in the promotion, because the rules set by Simon are In this way, you can have problems with your ability, but not with your attitude.
Therefore, this time Mark Belford, the vice president of global operations of Daenerys Entertainment, came personally to arrange and host the premiere.
Mark Belford initially caught Simon's attention with the announcement of "Scream" and has been promoted along the way. Over the years, he has been responsible for the construction of Daenerys Entertainment's global production and distribution network outside of North America, and has also extended his business to games. He has outstanding achievements in business fields such as music and music, and is the fifth executive in Daenerys Entertainment behind Simon herself, Amy Pascal, Nancy Brill and Robert Egger.
Mark Belford is personally responsible for the operation of the "Titanic" premiere, which shows that Daenerys has not given up on this project.
In fact, it is easy to understand.
Who dares to give up on a record-breaking super blockbuster that cost 200 million yuan
However, only each person knows in his heart whether he should do his best in everything he does and obey destiny.
At least some media relied on various clues to judge that Daenerys Entertainment's confidence in "Titanic" was obviously insufficient.
For example, the film chose to premiere today, which is neither the opening nor the closing of the film festival, which is a bit neither good nor bad.
With the energy of Daenerys Entertainment, it would be a no-brainer to get "Titanic" to open or close a film festival if you wanted to.
In addition, the film did not use the first hall of the Cinema Palace, which can accommodate thousands of people, but the auxiliary hall with only 1,032 seats. It was not full, except for more than 200 guests from all walks of life, only carefully selected guests. of 500 ordinary movie fans, totaling less than 800 people.
This series of actions actually shows that Daenerys Entertainment is obviously deliberately keeping a low profile.
Why keep a low profile
It's obvious.
In case the film's reputation is not recognized after the premiere, it can also be kept low-key to prevent it from being completely ruined before it is released at the end of the year.
Inside the Venice Cinema Palace.
Seeing Cameron and others appear, Mark Belford left Jane Campion and others who were chatting, walked over, and greeted Cameron with a warm smile. There was no trace of any trouble caused by the loss of control of the ship. any negative emotions.
After greeting others, others entered the screening room one after another. Mark Belford personally checked the preparation status of the publicity and distribution team responsible for the questionnaire survey, including small gifts that the audience could get after submitting the questionnaire. Finally Entering the screening room just as the lights dimmed.
Six o'clock sharp.
On the big screen, the title sequence of Daenerys Pictures' Phoenix Reborn from the Fire appeared, announcing the official start of the film.
Not only has the heroine been replaced by Rachel Weisz, many details of the new version of "Titanic" are inevitably different from the original version. However, with Simon's personal intervention, as before, the duration of this new version of "Titanic" is still 194 minute.
The duration of 3 hours and 14 minutes is simply suicide for a commercial movie.
Many executives of Daenerys even felt that their boss had probably given up on the film completely, which is why he made such a movie that is more than 3 hours long.
One of the important questions in a batch of public questionnaires planned this time is whether the audience thinks the length of this movie is too long
If everyone thinks so, then there is still time to shorten the movie.
Of course, Simon definitely had no intention of shortening it.
As the movie screening began, in the hall, James Cameron stared straight at the big screen and fell into a state of forgetfulness. In any case, this film is like his child, and it may also be his child. The last 'kid' in Hollywood, no matter what others think, Cameron is very satisfied with this 'kid' and he did everything he could.
The movie begins with an expedition to find the famous gem 'Heart of the Ocean' that was said to have sunk with the Titanic.
The treasure hunting team found a safe. After opening it, they did not find the gem. Instead, they found a sketch of a woman, which led to a centenarian who claimed to be the person in the painting, Ruth.
As the old man recalled, a past event that had been sealed for decades with the Titanic unfolded in front of everyone.
In the screening room of the Cinema Palace.
The movie lasted for 20 minutes. In the shot, on the crowded pier, the audience finally saw the big ship from more than half a century ago for the first time.
The first impression of some reporters or film critics who are inevitably biased against this project is that they understand where the two hundred million US dollars were probably spent. Such a large ship with such a realistic texture cannot be made by pure CG. In fact, it is located in The large ship model on the Gold Coast, a resort south of Brisbane, Australia, has been exposed by many media and still exists.
Just because of the out-of-control of this project and all kinds of negatives, since it was a 'loser', not many people paid attention to the big ship model.
After all, there are only a few people who hold prejudices. Most people in the theater, especially ordinary movie fans who are lucky enough to have the opportunity to watch the movie, feel more immersive when they first see the huge body of Titanic on the big screen. The scene is shocking.
Even though the current tonnage of cruise ships has reached more than 200,000 tons, there are still only a few people who have taken a giant cruise ship.
Then, Rachel Weisz and DiCaprio, each at the peak of their appearance, appeared one after another, and together with the giant oil tanker itself, they became three good catalysts, making most of the audience in the screening room completely integrated into the smooth plot. .
Time passes unconsciously.
Rhythm.
At the end of the day, it’s rhythm.
Simon has always admired movies that can make people forget about time. Cameron's "Terminator" is a typical example. The whole story goes on in one go, and the audience doesn't realize that the movie is over until the subtitles rise. Even though "Titanic" is more than three hours long, James Cameron, who has integrated certain techniques into his directorial instinct, has actually achieved the same thing.