After Warner's anniversary reception, Wang Jie's energy returned to the post-production of "Independence Day", from mid-October to mid-November, he and Mike Dawson basically completed the first cut and further fine editing of the film, but because the CGI special effects were still early to be completed, the edited version of the film without special effects still looked extremely rough.

Lucasfilm's Skywalker sound effects also came up with the first version of the soundtrack, Wang Jie listened to it, discussed it with the person in charge, and roughly determined the tone of the soundtrack, but this is only the initial version, and the Skywalker sound effect needs to be improved and expanded on this basis.

In addition, manufacturers such as Morcous Brewing Company have also joined the ranks of advertising sponsorship for the film, and Wang Jie must also consider adding them to suitable scenes in post-production.

At the end of April, Wang Jie, who had been busy with post-production work, received another news that the public relations departments of United States and Twentieth Century Fox finally accepted his request after careful research and consideration, and did not invite any professional film critics when the test screening of "Independence Day" was held, so as to invest the large amount of public relations expenses saved into the advertising and promotion of the film.

At the same time, with the cooperation of the special effects production department, Wang Jie edited the first official trailer of the film, which inherited the style of his previous film, which is hot and exciting, and the aliens who invaded the earth are also a little grandiose at the end of the film.

Before the arrival of the trailer, Luen Mei and Twentieth Century Fox used a lot of their resources to intensively invest in theater big screens and TV station commercials, many of which attracted the attention of fans, especially the dialogue between the president and the alien at the end of the trailer.

"Can we live in peace?"

Aliens with hideous faces appear in the painting, "Peace?

"What do you want us to do?"

"Die! Die......"

This dialogue is full of the contempt of higher beings for lower beings, and it can easily resonate with people.

After the trailer fermented for a while, the public relations departments of Luen Mei and Fox began to exert their efforts, and a large number of related reviews appeared in the media to win the public's attention.

As it appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the public is very interested in the war between aliens and humans.

"Although human beings continue to explore the universe in search of other possible life forms, their knowledge of the universe is still limited. Many movies depict visiting aliens as lovely, kind, and intelligent creatures, such as "E.T." before director William. But if one day, when the aliens who come to visit Earth are brutal and powerful, and see the earthlings as inferior beings who must be destroyed, will human civilization be rewritten?

The investigative companies hired by United America and Twentieth Century Fox also conducted immediate investigations on the streets of major cities across the United States in order to obtain first-hand relevant information.

In Times Square, New York, James of TPP Research and Consulting stopped a young man in his twenties, and after a brief introduction of himself, he asked directly: "Do you know the movie "Independence Day"?"

"You know, I've seen the trailer. A new film by super director William. ”

"What do you think of the trailer, and will you watch it when it comes out?"

"It was more wonderful than I expected. Young people seem to like this type of film, "I will definitely go to the theater and watch this movie whenever time permits." ”

Then, James stopped a boy who looked like a student and asked a similar question.

"I didn't watch the trailer, but my friends and classmates were talking about the film, and most of them wanted to see it soon, and I think I'd watch it too. ”

In one afternoon, James asked more than 60 people, and nearly 50 people had heard of or seen the "Independence Day" commercial, and more than half of them said that they would go into the theater at the right time to see how the earthlings fought against aliens, and how the super-director Mr. William destroyed the White House and major cities in North America, and a considerable number of people would choose to buy tickets depending on the situation.

A new Christmas file is coming, and if you talk about publicity alone, "Independence Day" deserves to be the first in North America.

Although the film will not be released for a month, it can always be seen in a prominent position on the four major television networks, the three major newspapers, major professional magazines and other influential media, and even on the computer networks that are gradually emerging, there are many people talking about "Independence Day".

Time entered November, the 1994 Christmas war kicked off, as the CGI special effects of the film were completed one after another, Wang Jie also entered the busiest stage since post-production, temporarily throwing away all the idle chores and devoting himself to post-production.

Yes, with the accumulation of experience and getting used to working under pressure, Wang Jie is indeed a little easier than before, but it does not mean that he can distract too much energy, this is a Hollywood where the competition is so fierce that he can't wait to fight with a knife, and over-indulging himself is likely to lead to failure, although he has always had an interest and a playful mentality.

He never thought that after one more life, everything would be taken for granted, and success was never a simple thing.

Adding special effects, determining the soundtrack, calling the actors to dub and making appropriate sound effects editing, etc., although Wang Jie does not have to do it himself, he must review them one by one, and any flawed links will be redone by him.

Throughout November, although it was not as exaggerated as Cameron's eating and living in the studio, Wang Jie found that he had been in Los Angeles for nearly half a year.

However, he is also satisfied with the results of his work, and even if the later stage is not completed, it is nearing the end, and he will never delay the test screening in December.

In the disturbance of the outside world, "Independence Day" has completed all the post-production work, including adding the opening and closing credits, and the preview screening will start soon, but what the outside world did not expect is that as co-producers, Lianmei and Twentieth Century Fox invited ordinary fans, representatives of theaters and media reporters to participate in the preview screening, but only the group of professional film critics was left behind!

Passing through the long hallway, Holt pushed open the door and went straight to the balcony, where he saw his biggest patron, the bespectacled Roger Albert, sitting behind a small round table drinking afternoon tea, first making a gesture to him to be seated, and then taking the teapot and pouring him a cup.

"Offer?" Albert asked the agent.

Like Hollywood, the summer file, the Christmas file and the Thanksgiving Christmas file, which is closely linked to the awards season, are also the peak income seasons for professional film critics, although the influence of professional film critics in the Christmas file is far weaker than that of the awards season, but the commercial productions of film companies often need to borrow their names to wave the flag and build momentum for the film, and the two industries have been closely linked for decades, that is, for and for cooperation, it has long formed an unwritten rule.

Especially for big-budget commercial blockbusters, which are more expensive to promote and touted by top critics, producers and distributors can sometimes even offer seven-figure PR budgets.

The income of professional film critics seems to be columns, contributions and books, and some of the top ones, as well as TV programs invited by TV stations, which are enough to guarantee a lot of income every year.

However, this is only the income on the surface, last year, Roger Albert's column and TV show only brought in more than 800,000 US dollars, but in one summer file, his private income was as high as seven figures!

Although they continue to criticize Hollywood's increased investment in commercial productions and raise the flag for independent films, in fact, this is only to show that they will not be vulgar and popular, and it has taken these top film critics 20 years or more to get to where they are now, and where they don't understand that only commercial productions with a high enough investment can have the opportunity to bring in large revenues.

Since last year, Roger Albert has got a list of possible films to be released this summer, and has set his sights on projects with huge investments such as "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Independence Day".

The dollar is depreciating, Roger Albert has long had plans to raise prices, and Sony Columbia is also on the road, just for the film "The Shawshank Redemption", he got a check for $300,000.

Collecting money to do things is the most basic principle of the industry, and Roger Albert is still very professional, he not only gave "The Shawshank Redemption" a high score of 10, but also gave two thumbs up.

Film criticism is difficult to quantify with box office figures, and in the past two years, perhaps because of his vision or good luck, Roger Albert's thumbs up films such as "Terminator 2", "The Silence of the Lambs", "Into the Island of Death", "The Lion King" and other films have all been big hits, which is easy to create the illusion that his film reviews have a directing role for the entire film market.

Even industry leaders like Roger Albert have the emotions of ordinary people, who can be proud, delusional, overestimate themselves and greedy.

The income from "The Lion King" has been firmly in his hands, Roger Albert has been waiting for the invitation of "Independence Day", and the preview screening should also be held if the time is calculated, after all, it is mid-June, and it is only half a month before the release of the film.

Of course, he has watched the commercials and the two trailers released successively, there is no suspense, Wang Jie as he expected, unable to control his desire for destruction, and finally embarked on a crooked path, the trailer is a continuous explosion in addition to the inferior sensationalism, if the whole film is this rhythm, it is definitely a bad movie!

If you want him to say good things about such a bad movie, the other party must pay enough price!

"Several offers were received. ”

Putting down the teacup, Holt understood what Albert meant, and said directly: "There is no invitation to "Independence Day". ”

"I remember their test screening is about to take place, right?" Albert's eyebrows, hidden behind his glasses, furrowed slowly.

"The day after tomorrow. ”

Hearing the agent's words, Roger Albert's fingers flicked lightly on the table, "They didn't invite me?"

"It's not. Holt shook his head, "United States and Twentieth Century Fox didn't invite any film critics!"

"What?" said Roger Albert looked up at his agent.

Holt said with great confirmation: "The producers invited fans, media and theaters, but did not invite any professional film critics to participate. ”

Roger Albert's face gradually became serious, "What do they want to do?"

Since the sixties and seventies, the film critics have reached a tacit understanding with Hollywood film companies that as long as the film is tested, professional film critics are an indispensable link, and this kind of rule that is not a rule has fundamentally reversed the dilemma of low income of film critics.

Although over the years, there have been a number of blockbuster films that have been favored by critics but failed at the box office, and films such as "Star Wars" that have been reviled by critics but have been super-hits, the situation in which film critics can profoundly influence the film industry has not changed, and professional film critics are most of the time the target of movie stars, directors and production companies need to curry favor.

Today, professional film critics and the film industry are inextricably linked.

At least, from Roger Albert's point of view, it is true, and professional film critics have had a profound impact on the entire film industry, past, present, and future.

Picking up the teacup and slowly sipping the black tea, Roger Albert fell into thought, if it was just that he was not invited, it was normal, but now no film critics were invited, could it be that Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox did not have enough budget for publicity?

Certainly not, the film is so hyped that funding won't be an issue.

Although he couldn't think of a reason why Lianmei and Twentieth Century Fox did this, Roger Albert thought about it for a few minutes and suddenly found another problem that could affect the entire film critic world.

If there were no film critics to play a role in it, and "Independence Day" was released and it was a big hit, how would Hollywood as a whole view the film critics' community? Will it affect the status and income of film critics in the future test screenings of commercial blockbusters?

Suddenly, Roger Albert discovered that this matter was not only about himself, but probably even about the entire film critic industry.

Moving interests are like cutting meat from people, and Wang Jie's publicity suggestions that are more in line with the actual situation may touch the interests of the film critic industry.

But he doesn't care, as long as he can drive the income of the film and bring benefits to himself, even if he stands up and confronts the critics, it is not a big deal.

The most influential place for film critics is the awards season, especially the academic awards represented by the Oscars, for Wang Jie, who first positioned himself as a commercial director, the awards are of course good, and they will not be pursued too deliberately.

Of the many directors in Hollywood history who have won Best Director, how many of them are more influential than Hitchcock, who never won an award?

He has already won the Oscar, and he will not deliberately welcome it again, let alone make a special award-winning film.

Of course, Chongjiang films will not adopt the publicity and distribution method of "Independence Day", and the theater side will not attach so much importance to it, and send the chief film viewing team of their respective companies at today's test screening, and only this kind of film with large investment and big production and box office may be super explosive is the most popular genre for the theater side.

Sitting in the front row of the theater, Wang Jie was in a very calm mood, and the representatives of the theater line were sitting behind him, when he just entered the theater, these people looked at him as if they were looking at green dollar bills, and many summer files were produced and sold in a row, as the theater closest to the market, he obviously had full confidence in him.

Just as Wang Jie was thinking about this, Drew Barrymore walked in from outside, searched his eyes slightly, and came over and sat next to him.

"Just got a piece of data. She whispered to Duke.

"What does it have to do with us?" Wang Jie turned his head to look at her, Wang Jie nodded, "Fox's "Interview with the Vampire" has basically dropped from the world, with a global box office of $221.57 million. ”

"Not bad. Wang Jie laughed, "Profitability shouldn't be a problem, presumably CAA still has the opportunity to package and produce commercial masterpieces, and Tom Cruise's appeal is still amazing." ”

"It's good that you understand. Drew crossed his legs, "Even though Michael Ovitz leaves office this year, CAA is still very influential in Hollywood, and fortunately we got the previous shares." ”

CAA will only be bigger, Wang Jie knows this, even if CAA's packaging services have failed across the board in terms of commercial production, they continue to attract new stars to join it, and will occupy half or more of the Hollywood actor market in the future, and Tom Cruise, whom he doesn't like, although he has missed a lot of films in this life, has no signs of slowing down his superstar journey.

"And ......," Drew added: "I just got the news from Sony Columbia that 'The Shawshank Redemption,' which was released a week after us, received a super high 9.8 in the critics' session. ”

She looked at Wang Jie, "I know that you have always paid little attention to film critics, thinking that their influence on movies is very low, but you don't forget that the people who can stand at the top of the film review industry have worked hard for decades and have many supporters, and it is difficult to say that their high ratings will not bring a sensation to "The Shawshank Redemption", which will have an impact on the box office of our second weekend." ”

"Don't worry, Drew. Wang Jie still looked indifferent, "Instead of worrying about "The Shawshank Redemption", it is better to worry about whether other films of the same period will affect us." ”

"The Shawshank Redemption"? Even if God comes in person, he can't redeem this film in theaters.

Seeing that Wang Jie didn't care at all, Drew didn't say anything anymore, and turned his energy to the big screen that was gradually lighting up.