Compared with the last "Human Removal Plan", the test screening of "The Grim Reaper is Coming" went very smoothly, after the test screening, the embassy film industry barely spent much tongue, and won 500 more theaters from the major theater companies in North America, plus the previously determined 2000 theaters, "The Grim Reaper is Coming" will be opened in North America with a super scale of more than 2500 theaters.

In addition, a number of chain cinema companies have guaranteed that the film scheduling rate will not be less than 15% on the opening day.

North America is the most mature commercial film market in the world, and major cinema companies have long set standards for measuring the quality of the films screened, and the creepy feeling of "Death is Coming" is deeply felt by even non-horror movie lovers.

If "Blair the Witch" won purely with "deceptive" propaganda and marketing, then "Death is Coming", a horror film, in addition to marketing, is also of enough quality to attract audiences.

The theater was confirmed, Ronan signed a loan agreement, and a large amount of money from Relativity Entertainment was transferred to Embassy Pictures again, ready to print 3,500 copies at a time.

"Ace Agent" and "Death is Coming" are about to be released successively, and the post-screening promotion of the two films has also reached the most critical stage.

The former has limited funding and can only be seen outdoors near minority communities, and almost all media advertising is placed in newspapers and television stations that target ethnic minorities.

The film features an Arab male protagonist at its core, bringing together African-American, Asian-American, and Latino supporting characters to defeat white terrorists together.

While extremely politically correct, the primary audience is definitely minorities.

In this day and age, there are not many minority stars like Will Smith who really have market appeal.

In another decade or so, Ronan dared to continuously invest in the production of black films, which was much less risky than using a white man as the leading actor.

The pre-release publicity budget for "Ace Agent" is only $2 million, and with the distribution expenses, Ronan plans to control the publicity and distribution costs of this film within $5 million.

In terms of "The Grim Reaper", the media and theatrical test screenings have received excellent responses, and Ronan temporarily increased the total publicity budget to $10 million.

The big money was smashed, and the pre-screening publicity momentum was very strong, and posters and advertisements for "Death is Coming" were easily found in newspapers, magazines, radio, television and outdoor billboards, and two different trailers also made it to the evening commercials of NBC/ABC and several popular cable TV stations.

Stores such as Pepsicard and Walmart that sell rental discs and videotapes have posters prominently displayed early on.

The advertising effect is completely proportional to the money invested, and even the opportunistic publicity method of "Blair the Witch" caused a sensational effect with tens of millions of dollars.

If this is not an R-rated film, but PG or PG-13 rating, Embassy Pictures may win more theaters.

Since the editing was done by Jessica Felton, this film was also influenced by Ronan as a producer, the most typical is the increase in the scale of blood, if measured by Ronan's standards, it is probably about the same as the bloodiness of "Death 3".

This is taking into account the needs of mainstream audiences of North American horror films.

It's only the end of the nineties now, and horror films that don't have enough plasma are not scary enough in the eyes of many traditional horror movie audiences.

After the release of "007: Black Sun Crisis", "Ace Agent", which was also patched and advertised, received a mediocre response, perhaps most viewers are not used to an Arab face frequently appearing in front of the camera.

On the contrary, "Here Comes the Grim Reaper" has attracted a lot of attention.

The media comments on the test screening have been suppressed by the embassy films, and now when the time comes, the media that have participated in the test screening have released relevant comments, and the media reputation is generally good.

"The standout point of "Death is Coming" lies in the creativity, the inescapable doom of death, the ubiquitous death crisis, the novel and strange way of dying, the exquisite but close to the daily life of the death layout, and many of the plot designs seem wonderful. The progression of the story allows the viewer's curiosity to be mobilized to a high level, and this emotional tension runs through the whole film. ”

"Premiere" magazine gave this horror film an excellent review.

The influential entertainment magazine "Variety" also gave a very good preview review, with a score of four out of five stars.

"The Grim Reaper is Coming" The story is simple, the title is enough to explain the whole plot of the movie, but it is so different from traditional horror films, there are no monsters that will roar out in this movie, and there are no unjust ghosts that suddenly appear, some are just the fear of death that is approaching step by step after a group of students accidentally escaped, this kind of unknown fear that comes from death is not terrible, what is terrible is the process of waiting for death, has become the most brilliant idea of the movie, and the horror created by this can be so gripping and breathtaking. ”

In the office, Ronan put down the newspaper and found another statistical report and looked at it.

This is a survey conducted by a third-party market research company specially hired by Embassy Pictures for the Internet and ordinary movie fan groups, which can also be regarded as a market barometer, so that the promotion of the film can be adjusted in time according to the actual situation.

In the report's data, "The Grim Reaper Comes" has attracted far less social attention than "Blair the Witch".

Random street consultations with young people under the age of 25 showed that less than 20 percent of people had heard of the name "Death Is Coming", and "Blair the Witch" was close to 50 percent before the release.

As for the discussion that the two films can spark on the Internet, they are not at the same level.

Ronan made an estimate based on these data, and the North American box office of "The Grim Reaper" is unlikely to be comparable to "Blair the Witch".

How much box office did "Death Come" get in his previous life? He has no relevant memory, but he can be sure that it was a success, otherwise he would not have made so many sequels in a row.

It's not easy to be a grim reaper, you need to constantly harvest people's lives on the screen in order to create profits for the film company.

There was a knock on the door, and Ronan said please come in, and Mary pushed the door and walked in, pulling out a chair and sitting across from him.

She put a document in front of Ronan and said: "The $50 million that Sony Columbia Pictures bought the overseas rights of "Blair the Witch" has arrived, and you said before that you would set aside 20% as a reserve fund for Embassy Pictures to prepare for overseas distribution channels, and I signed an agreement with them in the form of a middleman's commission. This is the contract and you need to sign it. ”

Ronan looked through it and signed it.

Mary handed over two more contracts: "This is the latest loan agreement for the two projects of "Ace Agent" and "Death is Coming", and you also need to sign it. ”

Ronan read it, signed it and said: "The accounts must be done, and the accounts of these two projects must be sent to Abu Dhabi." ”

"We're going to Abu Dhabi again?" asked Mary.

Ronan said: "I won't go for the time being, I will invite the relevant people to come to Los Angeles, and if they don't want to come, let the acting accountant go to settle the bill." ”

For some reason, since the last time he saw that Saimir, Ronan has become more and more uneasy about the Abu Dhabi side.

It's been two years since he came to Los Angeles, and how much he's put in from the imminent bankruptcy to the current situation? busy work, no relaxation for a moment to study and recharge, etc., resulting in him barely sleeping before 12 o'clock at night.

Strictly speaking, that is, I went to bed a little earlier during the nights when I was dark with Carmen Kashou.

After so much effort, the career has finally started, but there are people watching from behind, how can you rest assured?

Ronan used the investment of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to create a good situation today, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is not stupid, and Mansour has had an idea for a long time.

But if he does it again, Ronan will also go to Abu Dhabi to raise money.

It was too difficult to make the first film and solve the problem of funding.

If Ronan is really a good friend of the "Arab people", the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has a demand and will definitely respond, with the wealth of the Arabs, it will definitely be satisfied financially, but he knows that he is not, there is only one channel of connection with the friendship of the Arabs - funds!

The UAE has no money, he will run to Abu Dhabi?

Friendship with Arab brothers can only be measured in money.

Mary didn't want to go to Abu Dhabi anymore, and even though Abu Dhabi seemed prosperous, even after a few visits, she had the impression that the Arab countries were barbaric, ignorant, and backward.

Hearing Ronan say that she didn't need to go to Abu Dhabi as the financial director to settle the future earnings of the two films, Mary also changed the subject and said: "Isn't "Death Coming" going to have its premiere in early December?

"Yes. Ronan replied: "They are welcome to come and cheer." ”

Since there are no star actors, and James Huang has just become famous, Ronan is a little worried that the premiere will be cold.

even, I greeted Robert in advance and specially looked for some "fans" to come over.

Mary smiled and said, "I can bring four or five people to the show." ”

Ronan reminded, "You call Robert, he's in charge of the premiere." ”

The premiere was specially planned by an external company, and Robert was the head of Embassy Pictures.

Mary said "um", ready to say goodbye and leave, suddenly remembered that there was still a document in her hand, handed it to Ronan, and said: "Some time ago, you asked me to send a recruitment notice to recruit professional gunners, and ten people submitted resumes, I screened them, and these are the resumes of three people who meet the requirements. ”

Ronan took it and looked at it briefly, and said, "Yes, I'll have someone arrange an interview for them." ”

After Mary left, Ronan called Eva, the front desk of Embassy Pictures, handed her her resume, and asked her to call the candidates and ask them to come for an interview tomorrow.

All three are under the age of 40 and have been published in newspapers and magazines before, and one of them is a screenwriter at the bottom of Hollywood, and they are all experienced people.

The front desk quickly made an appointment with these three people, and the interview was scheduled for tomorrow morning.