By the end of August, the crew of "House of the Dead" had been assembled, and the entire project production budget was only $1.2 million, of which $200,000 was paid to Uwe Bauer.

Ronan handed over the crew to an external producer, but let people control the most critical financial links.

He also wanted to see how bad Wubao's film could be with such a low investment.

At this time, Ang Lee and the crew came to Los Angeles to attend the Toronto Film Festival, and Ronan talked to Ang Lee specifically.

"The promotion and distribution of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in North America will revolve around the awards season and the Oscars. Ronan told Ang Lee: "I have made an advance estimate with the professionals of the embassy films, and we will apply for as many Oscars as possible for 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', with Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director and Best Picture being the key PR targets." ”

Ang Lee has been in Hollywood for many years, how could he not know the importance of the Oscars to film practitioners? Without any hesitation, he said: "If you need my cooperation, just ask." ”

"It's a win-win for us to get multiple Oscar nominations," Ronan said. ”

There is no doubt about this, and Ang Lee is also very clear, saying: "I have hired a professional public relations company to do public relations. ”

Ronan handed a plan to Ang Lee: "This is a preliminary plan, including propaganda priorities and media discourse. Director Li, you are a member of Hollywood, and you know the hidden political correctness of the Oscars, so I won't say much about this. ”

"Hmm. Ang Lee nodded: "I promise, I personally and the crew members will not talk nonsense." ”

"The Toronto Film Festival is a very good platform for publicity, and it is gradually influencing the North American awards season, and David Villa from Embassy Pictures will accompany you to Toronto, and there may be some media events during this period, so you should try to cooperate," Ronan advised. ”

Ang Lee's success in Hollywood, and taking the initiative to integrate can be said to be the key: "I met David once, and I went to visit in the afternoon. ”

In order to make Ang Lee more involved, Ronan deliberately said: "If "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" can win the Oscar, the significance is far from winning a few awards in the end. ”

Ang Lee was so smart that he immediately understood what Ronan meant, and said, "I understand. ”

"I'm not familiar with the crew, so I hope you can convey it. Ronan saw Ang Lee's serious expression and said calmly: "During the period from the end of the Toronto Film Festival to the Oscars, I hope that the main creative staff of the crew will stay in Los Angeles as much as possible, and if they have a job and cannot stay for a long time, they will also try to participate in the public activities of the crew." ”

He said lightly: "This is good for their future career." ”

Ang Lee is confident: "I believe that no one will refuse." ”

Ronan emphasized: "Director Lee, before the end of this awards season, I hope you don't take on new jobs, do your best to prepare for the Oscars, and it's best to settle in Los Angeles temporarily." ”

"Yes. Ang Lee immediately responded.

Although the nearly 6,000 judges of the film school are scattered all over the world, Los Angeles is the largest gathering place, and the entire Oscar public relations is actually centered in Los Angeles.

Funding and copies for the North American release of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" are in the works, just waiting for the awards season to begin.

But before "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Embassy Pictures had to release "Human Eradication Plan 2" first.

As Halloween is approaching, the promotion of this film is also making efforts.

"The trailer for "Human Eradication Plan 2" has been released, and the bloody horror and massacre has been fully upgraded!"

News and reports related to the film began to appear frequently in the media.

"The biggest problem with the previous game is that it's hard to tell if it's an action movie or an indoor thriller, and judging by the trailer released earlier, the sequel is an outright action movie, and it should be quite exciting!"

Advertorials are essential.

At the same time, Embassy Pictures also held a special screening for "Human Erasure Project 2" for theaters, fans and media.

Perhaps because of the traditional relationship between white protagonists, the film's test screening reputation was quite good, and most of the media and fans gave it praise.

Embassy Pictures did not limit media word-of-mouth, allowing media to publish relevant reviews the day after the test screening, provided there were no spoilers.

The North American film industry is very mature, and a tacit understanding has long been formed between film companies and the media, for example, for test screenings, film companies will generally say hello in advance, and the media can write relevant comments or articles according to the quality of the films they see, but the time of release of the report must be after the film company lifts the ban on media release permissions.

Of course, there are some media that do not bird film companies, but film companies will not invite such media either.

There are no contractual provisions in this regard, it is an unwritten rule that few people will take the initiative to break.

In Ronan's previous life, after the test screening of a Disney film, a media reporter released a comment in advance, and then all Disney's films and works closed the door to this media.

Doing so will outweigh the losses for the media.

Under normal circumstances, if the test screening effect is good, the film company will not suppress the media comments, and most of the films that quickly lift the ban on media word-of-mouth after the test screening have a good reputation.

In fact, the time to lift the ban on word-of-mouth can also spy on the quality of upcoming films.

A film that can win the media, theaters and the audience's reputation during the test screening, I can't wait to promote the good word-of-mouth as soon as possible in order to attract more potential audiences, and the ban on word-of-mouth in all aspects will be lifted as soon as possible.

For example, media reviews, public interviews with test screening fans, ratings from sites like Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB on the Internet.

Correspondingly, a film with a lot of investment, the film will be released the next day, and the comments from all sides have not been lifted, and there is a great possibility of bad movies.

Some bad movies, even after they are released, want to suppress negative word-of-mouth communication.

On IMDB, which is now becoming more and more influential, although there is no relevant score for "Human Removal Plan 2" due to the insufficient number of rating users, the comments of some fans who participated in the test screening have been hung on it.

"Compared to the first part, the sequel is simply much higher, and the two are not the same level at all. ”

"The director perfectly depicts all the plots that a clean-up plan will eventually bring, and the depiction of human nature is also deeply rooted in the marrow. If the male protagonist is not a veteran soldier, but an ordinary person like the female protagonists, then there will be no so-called heroes, and what will happen to them can be imagined. ”

"The second part puts the story on the street, not in a house. Through various interwoven images, one can see the results of the so-called sweep plan. Good people will still suffer from heaven if they are confined to their homes. And the government has played a less honorable side. As the boss at the end says: in order to make the people more controllable and balance the number of people, and people don't kill enough, so they choose targets and increase kills. ”

These reviews are hung high above the site like advertisements, attracting the attention of movie fans.

Propaganda inevitably dragged the U.S. government back in.

How can a popular Hollywood movie not hack the U.S. government?

It is difficult for the most professional statistical agencies to find out one thing: How many black pots did the Washington authorities carry in Hollywood movies, and why did they carry these black pots?

The U.S. government is always the best choice to carry the blame.

It's not that Hollywood is deliberately trying to blacken the U.S. government, it's that conspiracy theories are the best fodder for movies.

For example, the unsolved historical mysteries of controversy.

Because conspiracy theories have always been marketable for audiences, and for screenwriters, this is also a good opportunity for them to open their minds.

In the previous life, "Moonwalker" threw out a conspiracy theory: the American Apollo moon landing program was the United States hired the famous director Stanley Kubrick to falsify those moon landing images.

For example, in "The Anonymous", a man named Edward de Ville is considered to be the real writer of Shakespeare's works, and in "The Da Vinci Code", the founding of the United States, the assassination of Kennedy, and the defeat of the Vietnam War are all controlled by the "Freemasons......

In the eyes of those who advocate "conspiracy theories", the world is full of suspicions. Who killed Kennedy, whether the U.S. moon landing was real or fake, and whether the aliens were discovered by the U.S. government and kept mothball?

The best target for conspiracy theories is undoubtedly the U.S. government, which is in turmoil all over the world.

Of course, secret organizations are also very suitable for backing.

Who rules the Earth? UFO enthusiasts think it's aliens, racially biased people think it's Jews, Americans think it's the president of the United States, and jokers think it's Haidilao......

There are always some people in the world who firmly believe that certain areas and certain events are controlled by some hidden behind-the-scenes organization.

It's not that screenwriters like to tamper with history and create all kinds of conspiracy theories, but that it has fertile soil among the people. Rumors have been circulating for decades, and there are well-founded arguments, which can be a source of inspiration for screenwriters.

"Human Eradication Plan 2" also fits the market demand, full of conspiracy theories, the backing of the U.S. government, a mysterious organization established for the rich and unkind......

These are also the selling points of the film.

The film had an excellent response to the test screening, and the theater chain was also very satisfied, and after careful statistics from Embassy Pictures, there were as many as 2,850 theaters in North America in the first week.

This is very rare for an R-rated horror film.

Embassy Pictures printed 3,800 copies at once and will be sent to theaters across North America by Oct. 20.

At the same time, everyone in the Overseas Distribution Department, including Alan Albert and Danny Donald, rushed around the world to make final preparations for the overseas release of Project Human Erasure 2.