The arrival of spring means that everything recovers, everything should be vibrant, but the North American film industry does not follow such a natural law, every year from January to April, the film market is lonely, and there are generally no heavyweight blockbusters released, until May and June, will "spring return to the earth" to prepare for the summer season after that.

The premise of the cold spring file in North America is mainly because most film companies will put some movies that they are not very sure about in this schedule to test the waters, and the production cost of such movies is generally not too high. When the investment in a film is only a few million dollars, and the various departments are divided up, it is not difficult to understand that the film promotion is relatively weak.

In fact, publicity and marketing have always been the core consideration faced by the movies released in the spring file, because it is not like the summer file, where blockbusters can be borrowed from each other, and it can only create momentum at the nodes before the film is established, filmed, and released.

If you want to succeed in the spring file, you can only start with the topic.

With five times the cost of film production and the lawsuit between Jude and Sharon Stone a week before the film's release, "Two Big Smoking Guns" won the first place on the 95 North American spring topic list without suspense, and also provided a good promotional reference for other small-budget films.

From the beginning, the film's publicity methods were not to choose a few important nodes to build momentum like traditional films, but to "fragment" it, first using the residual heat of "This Man is from Earth" to firmly grasp the gimmick of Jude's transformation from an actor to a director to launch the first step of publicity; Followed by the actor beating incident that broke out during the filming of the film, because the protagonist of the incident is a well-known player in British football, almost half of the United Kingdom almost knows the existence of this movie, the producer saw this situation and took advantage of the situation to premiere the film in the United Kingdom, won 17 million pounds at the box office in one fell swoop, and then landed in North America with a big victory, and finally completely heated up the topic through the lawsuit between Jude and Sharon Stone...... The process of the film from preparation to release is like a serial, constantly whetting the audience's appetite, making other films that are accustomed to a few momentum nodes look particularly bleak in terms of publicity.

On Friday, March 31, 1995, the film was released simultaneously in 821 theaters in North America, just four days after the Oscars.

Countless audiences attracted by the media campaign walked into the movie, and CinemaScore's questionnaire was also conducted in more than 300 theaters at the same time.

At the premiere in Hollywood, Jude and Kate's hand appeared generously in front of the media camera, and various hugs and kisses on the red carpet showed affection to promote the film.

As a director, Jude actually doesn't want to do this, but "Two Big Smoking Guns" is full of British actors, and there is no familiar face in it that can be recognized by the American media.

Don't look at the British director and actor development in Hollywood, every year as soon as the Oscar list is announced, one or two Britons can be found in it anyway, and even actors, actresses, and best directors are often taken away by British, but the production cost of "Two Big Smoking Guns" is limited, and all the roles are played by British second-tier and unknown actors, as the main force of the film's early promotion, Vinnie Jones can't come because he wants to participate in the competition, and Jason Statham is busy with diving training and can't come to promote the film. That's why Jude had to pull his girlfriend to stand up for the film, otherwise American reporters would have nothing else to write about other than reporting on the film's box office.

Of course, Jude was able to do this step is the biggest concession, he refused to answer any questions on the red carpet, and in subsequent media interviews, he only talked about the progress of his relationship with Kate, and the lawsuit between him and Sharon Stone, all of which he refused to answer.

After the premiere officially began, Jude and Kate left early, and during the editing process, he had already reversed the movie and watched it countless times, and it was completely torture for him to sit in the cinema and watch it again.

The two walked through the side door of the theater, but they didn't expect to be blocked by several reporters as soon as they arrived at the parking lot.

"Remember to go back and remind me that I asked Ritter to arrange a few reliable bodyguards, and I won't be able to go out without a few people in the future." Jude whispered a whisper in Kate's ear, then turned his head and smiled at the camera and flashed the lights off.

"Is Director Locke going to any other promotional event?" A reporter asked first.

Jude didn't answer, but asked the reporters, "Don't you all go to see my movies?" ”

"We didn't get tickets for the premiere, and if we all went to the movies, we would have missed the opportunity to interview Director Locke now." Someone among the reporters joked.

"It's a pity, in fact, I think you will be more rewarded to enter the movie at this time than to wait here to interview me, this is not a joke, I am serious, the content of this movie can definitely surprise you." Jude had a serious expression on his face, as if he was not being interviewed, but chatting with a group of people.

Jude wanted to get by, but the very sober people in this group of reporters followed Jude's words and said: "If the movie is really as wonderful as you say, we will definitely go to see it, but now we have a few questions about this movie we want to ask, and I believe that Director Locke will not refuse a group of people who really like your movie." ”

Jude pretended to raise his hand and looked at his watch, "Okay, I have ten minutes, so please try to be as concise as possible in your questions, and be careful not to ask questions that are not related to the movie, I refuse to answer similar questions." ”

"Director Locke's films seem to be very fond of using non-professional actors?"

"Actually, it doesn't have much to do with personal preference, I just want to find the best actor for each role, and it just so happens that Winnie Jones and Jason Statham fit my requirements, and most of Hollywood's action actors are athletes, so I don't think there's anything wrong with finding one or two athletes to star in this movie."

The reporter then asked, "Are you satisfied with their performance?" ”

Jude shrugged, "If you're not satisfied, you won't be able to see this movie." ”

Then another reporter asked: ""Two Smoking Guns" got nearly $35 million at the box office in the UK, do you think the North American box office can exceed this figure?" ”

Jude thought for a while, "I have to admit that the tastes of British audiences are indeed not very different from those of American audiences, and many films that are popular in the UK have average results in North America, I know that if you ask this question, you may think that "Two Big Smoking Guns" was filmed in the UK, and the actors in it are all London dialects, such a standard British movie, American audiences may not like it, but don't forget that the director of this movie is an American, and a good movie can be accepted by the whole world, I believe in the taste of the American audience. ”