At the end of October, the crew of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" ended filming in France and went to New York for the final part of the shooting.

Not surprisingly, in mid-November, the movie will be basically completed.

said that it was basically finished, because Mel Gibson still has some scenes that need to be refilmed.

This will have to wait until "Unsinkable" is completed in mid-December, and then it will be filmed in January next year.

"A Beautiful Mind" directed by Don En has dragged on, and it is estimated that it will not be completed until early December.

Now, Donn's main concern is, of course, the screening of "Chainsaw", which is distributed by Focus Pictures.

With the quality of this movie, Donn dares to guarantee that if Miramax operates the distribution, it will not need to be screened at all, it can be released directly in the United States, and the number of theaters will definitely not be less than 2,500!

However, Focus Pictures has just been acquired, and has not yet expanded its business, and its strength is limited.

Fortunately...... There are no rounds that have gone through a test screening.

American movies have a very complete distribution model.

The screening, in fact, is a wave of pre-public opinion propaganda before the official release in the most developed cities in the United States.

The screening of "Chainsaw" will be screened in 20 theaters in 20 major cities including New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago to collect word-of-mouth.

For the upfront publicity, Don approved $1 million.

Director Zack Schneider cut a 20-second trailer and showed it on Fox TV, but the response was mediocre because of the limited scale.

And the propaganda reports of several second- and third-tier gossip tabloids have attracted limited attention.

$1 million in publicity expenses is a drop in the bucket for the marketing of a movie, and it may not be as effective as Donn's words.

However, Don does not want to trade his fame for the pre-publicity of the film.

"Saw Horror" is so scary that many viewers even fainted in the cinema.

This certainly shows that the movie is terrifying, but it has a bad impact.

Donn would never squander his reputation in this area to pursue a questionable value orientation.

It's better to let "Chainsaw" ferment through word-of-mouth and slowly attract the attention of fans.

October 30th, evening.

Don asks Natalie to go to the AMC theater in downtown Boston to watch "Saw".

The two dressed up in disguise and looked inconspicuous, and quietly slipped into the movie theater under the escort of two plainclothes bodyguards.

Don searched around the wall full of posters, and finally found the poster of "Saw Horror" in a corner.

The poster design is minimalist – a bloody hand that has been sawed off!

Natalie's face turned pale, "I...... I kind of regret coming. ”

"Let's take a look first, if it really doesn't work, let's stop looking. Don patted her waist, grabbed her little hand, took the movie ticket purchased by the bodyguard, and quietly slipped into the screening room.

It's a small hall, but there are very few people, less than ten.

"The response is not good!" Natalie frowned, as Don's girlfriend, of course, it was a blessing.

Tang En's performance was relatively indifferent, "Anyway, it's a screening, take your time." ”

……

Five minutes later, the movie begins.

In the first shot, there are enough horror elements.

Dark, damp, confined spaces, lonely, frightened, bound people.

Donn's hand was grabbed by Natalie, and she could feel a little cold in her little hand.

Tang En smiled, leaned over and kissed her soft face, and said in a low voice: "Don't be afraid, I'll see the audience's reaction, it's really not good, let's withdraw in half an hour!"

Natalie bit her lip and remained silent.

After a few vague and quick conversations, the light on the big screen changed, and the lights in the closed room turned on, and the audience realized that there were other people in the room.

As the camera progresses, a dead man with a broken head and bleeding all over the ground lies on the ground.

"Ahh

In the cinema, the first terrifying screams rang out.

Don En is a little funny, it's just a plasma picture, just scared like this, and when the plot unfolds, won't it scare you to cry?

With the development of the plot, the context of the story is gradually presented in front of the audience.

The tied up "Lawrence" was told that he should kill another person, "Adam", before 6 o'clock, and he would be able to escape.

This is a test of human struggle, whether it is to save oneself with the lives of others, or to ignore one's own life for the sake of others?

And the audience in front already knows that this Lawrence, he is a doctor!

Such a cruel choice made Natalie really unable to stand it, so she couldn't help but pull Don En out and say nothing.

"I'm never going to watch these movies again!"

Walking out of the cinema, Natalie vented her frustration in a huff.

Tang En was a little helpless and spread out his hands, "Look at those audiences, how serious are you watching?"

"Seriously?" Natalie said sarcastically, "I don't dare to breathe when I'm scared, I'm still serious." In my opinion, people who like this kind of movie are psychologically deformed. ”

Tang En shook his head and smiled: "It's a shame that you still major in psychology, this is called psychological curiosity! People with psychological deformities are the heroes in the movie, not the moviegoers." ”

Natalie frowned, "What if...... I mean, what if, some psychopathic people watch a movie and then imitate the plot?"

Don rolled his eyes, "What does this have to do with me? If someone watches a movie and shoots the president, is "Taxi Driver" going to be banned? No one can restrict Hollywood's freedom of speech!"

But whether it is director Scorsese, Robert DeRonnie, or Jodie Foster, because of this incident, the career has been silent for a long time. Natalie said with a frown.

Don smiled and said cynically, "My Nat, so smart!"

Natalie pursed her lips and said seriously: "Anyway, I think it's best for you not to participate in similar movie production in the future, you are not short of this little money, there is no need to consume your reputation." You look at those big-name directors, even if there are some sensitive themes in the movie, what they finally express is the correct value orientation, "Chainsaw"...... It's too controversial. ”

Don was slightly silent, and then smiled: "Okay, listen to you! There is only one person in this world who can control me, and that is Natalie Portman!"

Natalie pursed her lips and chuckled, giving him a blank look, "It's going to be nonsense, I can't control you." ”

Don shook his head, "It's already had a big impact. ”

Natalie pursed her lips and smiled, her face pretty.

……

Early the next morning, Donn was in the crew of "A Beautiful Mind" and received a fax document from Focus Pictures.

The results of yesterday's screening are out.

20 movie theaters in 20 cities across the United States, with an average of 9 screenings per theater, sold a total of 2,548 movie tickets, with an average ticket price of $5.4 and a total revenue of ...... $13,759!

Such a result made Don En shake his head.

is used to seeing hundreds of millions, tens of millions of box office data, such a screening box office is really a bit miserable.

Fortunately, the most important thing in the screening is not the box office results, but the audience's viewing experience!

Every audience member who bought a ticket to enter the theater received a questionnaire to rate "Saw Horror".

Of the 2,548 questionnaires, 1,789 were returned, of which 478 had an A+ score and 1,047 had an A score!

It is no exaggeration to say that for a "shoddy" B-grade film with an investment of only $1.5 million, such a rating result is definitely beyond imagination!

The audience's word-of-mouth exploded overnight!