Inside the screening hall of Lido Island Cinema Palace.
Mark Belford did not choose to sit in the front row with the creative guests, but sat at the back of the hall with several staff members.
The attention of the surrounding audience was focused on the film, and Mark Belford spent most of the time silently observing the audience's reaction to the film.
The screening lasted for more than three hours. Except for a few viewers who left briefly to solve physical problems, no one left early because of the length of the film, which made Belford feel a little relieved.
After the ship sank, many viewers in the screening room began to shed tears, which made Belford once again gain some confidence in the film.
When the main story ended and the subtitles began to rise, the lights in the hall had not yet been turned on, and some people could not wait to start applauding. Belford confirmed that it was not his own staff who arranged the final applause in advance to avoid an awkward moment, but the spontaneous behavior of the audience. For this film Movie, the mood is finally no longer heavy.
At the end, the movie ended completely, the lights came on, and as the audience once again stood up and applauded the film in the hall, Mark Belford was completely relieved.
Although, the first one to get up was the staff who had arranged for it in advance, but since other viewers were willing to follow suit, it is enough to show the excellence of the film.
Mark Belford is a pragmatist and has no psychological barriers to these small actions that he personally arranged in advance. The photographer must have captured this scene and wait until this scene is logged in the major media tomorrow, which will last for a year starting last year. All the negative public opinions about "Titanic" will disappear.
Next, the film will have a very favorable publicity environment.
The applause that lasted for more than a minute gradually subsided. The main creators came on stage and began to interact. Mark Belford took his seat again. Tim Fogelman, a vice president of the publicity department of Gaomen Pictures who was in charge of the film festival, asked : "Mark, it seems now that the global minimum guarantee of 300 million should be no problem, right?"
After burning 200 million U.S. dollars, the expectation of a global box office of 300 million U.S. dollars seemed a bit hopeless at first glance.
However, even Mark Belford himself had the same idea before today's premiere. As long as the global box office of "Titanic" can reach 300 million US dollars, the loss will definitely still be a loss, but at least it will not be that embarrassing. .
As for now
Looking at Cameron and others communicating with reporters on the stage, Mark Belford thought for a moment and said: "Let's wait until the results of the questionnaire and tomorrow's film review are released. Tim, please don't go to the party later. Sort out the questionnaire as soon as possible, the boss is also waiting."
Even so, Mark Belford raised the initial expected figure of 300 million by a notch.
$400 million.
As long as the global box office reaches this figure, even if there is still no hope of repaying the money at the box office, after the subsequent channel operation, it can basically make up for most of the expenses.
Achieving this goal is not easy either.
Today is September 12th. "Titanic" is scheduled to be released on December 12th. There are exactly three months left. If we want to achieve a global box office of 400 million US dollars, in addition to today's good sign, every next step All announcements need to be carefully considered.
In addition, the duration of more than 3 hours is still the biggest problem in Mark's opinion, which will seriously limit the number of filming scenes of the film every day.
When Tim Fogelman heard Mark's request, he did not refuse and nodded in agreement.
While Mark Belford was thinking about the announcement of "Titanic", his mind was no longer as heavy as it was at first, and he began to worry about other aspects. He continued to tell the senior executives around him: "Also, this time "The Pianist" and You have done a great job with the strategy of reverse public relations for "Life Is Beautiful" without striving for any awards. The boss told us that it is easy to pick up and hard to put down, but sometimes you have to put it down. Our operations at Cannes this year have been It has gone too far, and if it continues, it will definitely cause a backlash, which will be detrimental not only to us, but even to the entire industry in the long run."
Tim Fogelman smiled bitterly: "I understand, it's just a pity. Both movies are so good."
The two chatted, and after the interaction, which lasted for more than ten minutes, ended, Tim Fogelman followed Mark Belford's arrangement to focus on the questionnaire, while Mark himself went to the film's after-party, and he also had to talk to Some important media or film critics will personally communicate the details of tomorrow's press release.
The film's premiere response far exceeded expectations, and some of the arrangements in advance also needed to be adjusted. Initially, I hoped that some film critics would not be too harsh, but this time, it will definitely be the icing on the cake.
At the same time, it should not be fried too much.
There are still three months until the official release. If this wave of hype is too intense, it will inevitably consume the audience's expectations, so it needs to be simmered slowly and step by step.
North America, Greenwich.
Simon received various feedback on the Venice premiere of "Titanic" early the next morning.
Compared with the unsatisfactory premiere at the Tokyo Film Festival in the original time and space, this time, under the operation of Daenerys Entertainment team, the media response to the new version of the premiere far exceeded expectations.
That's a very good sign.
As for why this contrast occurs, we can only say that it is still the influence of team capabilities and publicity strategies.
Simon wasn't sure what the previous Tokyo Film Festival premieres were like, but this time, both the media and film critics invited to the premiere had been screened in advance and were the ones who were on good terms with Daenerys Entertainment. Even if the film is poor, it can be merciful if done properly, and if the film is good, it can easily be the icing on the cake.
In addition, there are also general audiences invited this time.
These people have no right to speak publicly, but compared to professionals who are inevitably more demanding when seeing commercial films, at last night's premiere, it was these people who were the first to stand up and applaud the film.
Daenerys Entertainment also pays more attention to the feedback of these potential audience groups.
Along with the results of the general audience's questionnaire, Mark Belford drafted a publicity plan overnight and gave it to Simon, proposing that "Titanic" can be fully publicized according to the treatment of a super blockbuster. The main thing is of course publicity. Budget, $50 million. With this investment, the film's global box office is expected to hit US$400 million.
150 million in North America and 250 million globally.
In this way, the film can recover about US$160 million in box office share globally, with the remaining US$90 million remaining. Relying on the popularity driven by the box office, follow-up channels can also recover most of it, and even achieve a revenue balance or even a slight profit.
In addition, even though in the questionnaire, more than 70% of the audience held an "acceptable" attitude towards the film being over 3 hours long, Belford once again proposed to compress the film's length, at least to less than 3 hours.
Simon read the report, approved a $50 million publicity budget, and rejected the suggestion to shorten the duration.
As for the reason, even if you put aside the memory of the previous life, from a filmmaker's perspective, the reason why "Titanic" became the most successful love movie in the 20th century is largely due to the completeness of the film's structure. sex.
In the 194-minute story, the whole process of the male and female protagonists from acquaintance and acquaintance to falling in love and separation is narrated in a eloquent way. There are no blunt and abrupt emotional turns. Every step is logical, so the audience is immersed in it. The tragic historical event of the sinking of the Titanic behind the scenes sublimated the entire story and ultimately contributed to the success of the film.
To sum up, "Titanic" is similar to "Gone with the Wind" half a century ago. They are all small characters in a big historical background, and they eventually become classics.
Of course, this does not mean that similar models will be successful.
On the contrary, after "Gone with the Wind", countless directors have tried various love epics, most of which ended in failure, such as "Australia" by an Australian director, and "Small Over Paris" by another Australian director. 》.
Australian directors especially like to make epic films.
Either succeed with a bang or fail with a bang.
In the past few days, I will definitely spend more time with Lin Su, who has just given birth to a baby. It is Saturday again, so Simon directly handles some work in the manor.
As for the others, it was the beginning of the fall semester. Lin Dong and Bai Lan, who were studying here in the morning, said goodbye and returned to Boston. Lin Lan and Qin Yusong, who had taken a week off, were also preparing to leave tomorrow. Lin Xing, the fourth eldest son of the Lin family, was about to leave. She will start her senior year classes and will return to China with her second sister tomorrow. Mother Lin will continue to stay and take care of her daughter until she returns to China next month to organize a full-moon party for the little one.
Simon was working in the study, and only Chen Qing came over to discuss some domestic affairs with Simon.
"If the development of the domestic economy follows the boss's expectations, I think it would be good to invest in a few highways. Boss, this is some information I asked people to collect. Look, each project is worth 1 billion yuan. Take it. With these projects, we are not only profitable, but we can also win another big favor.”
In the study room.
What the two discussed was the matter that China asked Chen Qing to test on their behalf a few days ago.
Simon took the information handed over by Chen Qing, but just put it aside and said: "Forget it this time, there is no need to respond to requests."
Chen Qing, who was sitting opposite the desk, was stunned for a moment, nodded, and said: "Boss, I really think highway investment is very good."
"I know that too," Simon smiled, raised his head and said, "That's why I don't want to touch it."
Thinking about the state of China's highway system that was so fat that it was running out of oil, from a pure investment perspective, this is certainly a very good business, and China has also been very active in introducing foreign investment into the construction of highways in recent years.
However, even if it is not clear how deep the water is, it is definitely very deep.
Simon really didn't want to get involved.
After all, you might offend someone at some point, and it's not just ordinary people who can get involved in highway business.
Again.
At the current scale of the Westeros system, there is no need to go eccentric. The pursuit of fairness is the right way.
When Chen Qing saw Simon saying this, she didn't insist and turned to talk about other things.
After chatting like this for more than half an hour, Chen Qing saw that her boss was still looking through the same thick document slowly, and curiously poked her head: "Boss, what are you looking at?"
Simon raised the cover of the document and gave Chen Qing a look. There was a string of abbreviations on it.
ITER.
Seeing Chen Qing's confusion, Simon took the initiative and said: "International Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor Project."
Chen Qing took a small breath: "Boss, are you planning to build a hydrogen bomb?"
Simon raised his eyes and glanced at the girl opposite: "Here, let me hit her."
Chen Qing immediately stood up with a smile, turned around the desk and jumped into Simon's arms. She was slapped on the buttocks by the man in cooperation, and then they both looked at the information: "What on earth is this?"
"To put it simply, it is similar to the experimental project of the Large Particle Collider, but the type of experiment is controllable nuclear fusion."
Only then did Chen Qing understand, and she immediately remembered something: "Isn't FusionTimes, which Aiman is responsible for, researching controllable nuclear fusion?"
"Well," Simon nodded and said, "Actually, I came into contact with this project two years ago, but gave up because I couldn't gain much initiative."
"Now?"
"Now, the Westeros system has more political and economic chips, and Ayman has laid a certain foundation, and plans to start a new project," Simon said, and added: "Actually, the main thing is that Westeros is now The Los Angeles system has too much cash on hand, so I plan to accelerate the deployment of some plans, even if some are wasted, it doesn't matter."
"What's the plan?"
Simon rubbed the slender waist of the girl in his arms and explained: "To put it simply, three goals are to break through the energy limit, break through the life limit, and break through the space limit."
To break through energy constraints, it is natural to master controllable nuclear fusion technology.
In fact, the tokamak device involved in ITER is not the most advanced controllable nuclear fusion design. However, unlike two years ago, for Simon now, let alone 5 billion US dollars, even 10 billion US dollars is not enough. No matter what, when this project was built, I never thought about pursuing a success. It was just like a large particle collider to provide a large-scale experimental environment for research in the field of controllable nuclear fusion.
The key to breaking through the limitations of life is actually life span.
human lifespan.
In this regard, Simon also plans to speed up investment regardless of cost. He will not pursue such illusory goals as immortality. However, since human exploration of life at this stage has entered the scope of molecular biology, extending human lifespan by decades, It's not a far-fetched thing.
Breaking through space limitations is naturally the exploration of space.
Humanity should not be limited to a small planet.
In fact, if we can throw away all the shackles of this world and develop science and technology with all our strength, at the speed of technological development that allowed humans to land on the moon in the 1960s, by now in 1997, or at most before Simon is reborn, humans will achieve controllable nuclear fusion , and even reaching Mars may have been achieved.
Unfortunately, due to various reasons, when the Soviet Union disintegrated and ushered in the most peaceful era in human history, the world not only failed to move forward, but fell into a stagnant situation.
Even though Simon started making some foreshadowing a few years ago, he didn't have enough determination to do something.
Now, since there is no more pursuit of personal wealth and power, the entire Westeros system has completed the accumulation stage and has begun to enter a snowball state of continuous expansion. The surplus capital will only become more and more abundant. After careful consideration, Simon further made up his mind and planned to use the Westeros system to forcefully drag human technology forward.