After the first week, Inception is about to hit major film markets around the world, with a huge buzz of discussion. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info⊙,

"Famous movie star Ken Watanabe partnered with Hollywood superstar Leonardo for the first time? DiCaprio's Hollywood blockbuster "Inception" is coming to Japan! ”

This is a piece of news that the Asahi Shimbun has repeatedly mentioned in recent days.

During the week, promotional images of Inception appeared on 136 large street screens in 35 prefectures across Japan, as well as on the car TVs of 50 electronics stores and major subways and buses in Japan, making it the first time in the history of Japanese cinema that such a large-scale promotion method was carried out.

In the promotional video of about 1 minute and 15 seconds, Leonardo? Caprio, Ken Watanabe, and Duke, the director, appear one after another.

And Leonardo, whose appeal in Japan can only be described as unmatched? DiCaprio is the focus of the campaign, saying, "This is a film that no one has ever felt before, and it has a huge visual impact. This summer, war is about to break out in the brain! ”

Later, Ken Watanabe said, "In this world, the most valuable thing is the idea that comes out of your head, and we will steal it after your idea is born, and maybe the next target will be your ......."

In Tokyo's Shimbashi Station Square, when the movie trailer appeared on the screen of the station building, the crowd walking on the street suddenly stopped, and all of them focused on the big screen.

After a premiere event in Tokyo, Duke became the focus of a mob of reporters who asked questions about his views on the film's various interpretations.

Duke certainly won't answer positively.

"I didn't want to make a film about the 'shooting process', what really attracted me was the creative process. I don't want to tell the audience how to tell the difference between dream and reality through cinematic jargon. ”

In front of journalists from all over the world. He deliberately threw out some ambiguous words, "Through the ending, you should be able to see that Cobb's real life is very similar to his dreams, that is, Cobb is also suspicious, and whether the top falls or not, Cobb doesn't need to know the truth." Because he has been reunited with the children. ”

After saying this, no matter what the reporter asked, Duke kept his mouth shut.

These statements spread to the Internet as quickly as possible, and by this time the film had been released around the world, and those who had seen the film combined with Duke's words once again began a new interpretation of the film with the fastest speed and the highest enthusiasm, and this time the interpretation far exceeded the scope of North America and Japan.

The focus of interpretation and controversy, Duke had planted the seeds as early as the time of filming, and was induced by his words. A large number of fans found the scene where Cobb woke up on the plane was a bit weird.

As a result, a controversy arose between Cobb and his wife, over who was the man in the dream.

According to the hero's own account in the film, Cobb and his wife took a booster drug and died in a dream, so they both entered the Lost Domain.

The woman is greedy for the endless time and thinks that this is reality, and does not want to return to reality, Cobb tries to implant the idea in his wife's brain - this is a dream, and he must commit suicide to return to reality - but he did not expect the side effects of the implantation to occur, and the wife begins to suspect that reality is actually a dream. Thinking that only death can be detached, and committing suicide after being in reality.

Cobb has always felt guilty about his wife's death. So much so that you can't "dream", because whenever you enter a dream, all the scenes are the same.

There is never a shortage of bold people in this world, so it is essential for fans to make bold conjectures about this, and the saying that "the protagonist's wife is the one who returns to reality" is like this.

They believe that Cobb's wife committed suicide by jumping off a building. It's not a real space, and Cobb actually didn't recognize this fact, so he really returned to reality only his wife, Cobb couldn't face the "fact" of his wife's suicide in his dream, and gradually schizophrenia imagined that he was wanted and couldn't go home to reunite with his children, etc. The plot after that is just a dream within a dream created by Cobb.

But the disagreeing side thinks that if the protagonist's wife returns to reality, it can directly stimulate Cobb, so why let him dream so long and so much.

There is even another view that the whole movie is a dream, a dream of Cobb on a plane, for which a whole lot of evidence is listed.

The most typical is that after Cobb woke up from the dream, he did not have any communication with the people around him, and the people around him looked at him as if he was looking at strangers, Cobb didn't know the people on the plane at all, but was surprised why the passengers on the plane had become dream people, which can be seen from his frightened expression when he suddenly woke up.

They think that everything is a dream, a wonderful dream that Cobb had on his way home, the story of his wife, his crime, the dream thief, are all dream things, and have nothing to do with reality.

Of course, there are those who support this interpretation and those who refute it.

And Duke has not answered this question since then, and the stronger the argument, the better it will be for Inception.

After the premiere in Tokyo, Japan, Duke did not return to Los Angeles, but joined several other actors with Leonardo and flew to China to attend the premiere of "Inception" here.

Go back five years, can Duke take something like Leonardo? It's inconceivable for a superstar-caliber cast and crew like DiCaprio to come to China for the premiere of a big production.

At that time, China was only one of Hollywood's many overseas markets, and Hollywood's biggest stars were dismissive of China.

With "Transformers" and "Avatar" both grossing more than 1.3 billion RMB at the box office in China, and with the end of last year reaching a memorandum of understanding between China and the United States on issues related to WTO films, the share of imported Hollywood films has also increased from 13 percent to 25 percent -- that is, for every 10 million yuan of a Hollywood blockbuster that has earned at the box office in China, 1.2 million yuan more money has been allocated to the pocket -- more and more big-name Hollywood directors and stars have appeared in China.

What can attract these stars is naturally China's increasingly prosperous film market.

It was also from the time of "Transformers" that China's film market began to grow sharply like the height of a teenager in the development period, and the annual box office in 2009 was 10.1 billion, an increase of 4 billion over 2008.

This year's increase is equivalent to 80% of the previous 7 years!

Correspondingly, Hollywood blockbusters are making more and more money in China.

Under this stimulus, Hollywood is working harder and harder in the Chinese market, and the demand for marketing is also increasing.

Duke knows enough about this, and every time Warner Bros.'s big production is released in China, he uses his influence to get Warner to force the company here to make some new ideas in publicity.

For example, in combination with the market and social situation here, Warner Bros. has made "Inception", a promotional slogan that is not very loud in North America, into the main slogan of the Chinese market - a movie that only smart people can understand!

And with the signing of the new memorandum of understanding, some ideas that were previously impossible to realize due to lack of budget have become more feasible as the market has become larger.

Warner's Greater China region has a better budget to buy more outdoor hardworks, invite more celebrity creators to China, hold larger premieres, or support more localized creatives.

Despite the increased budget, the marketing of Hollywood blockbusters compared to local films is still limited in many ways.

One restriction comes from within the company, the overall strategy of Hollywood films in China should be communicated and discussed with the North American headquarters, the United States is facing North America is a very mature market, and the relevant industrial chain of the Chinese market has not been so complete and perfect, and more advanced marketing methods and means are sometimes far less useful than adapting to local conditions.

Duke is very clear that the transplantation of market practices such as buying hard and wide, using stars, and holding premieres for Hollywood blockbusters in China is still simple and extensive on the whole, and lacks truly customized marketing.

"The Chinese market is so different from other countries, and it's so big, you have to look at it in isolation."

Back last year, Duke made a point of emphasizing this at Warner Bros.' board meeting.

On the whole, one of the biggest differences between the Chinese and American markets is the difference in film marketing channels.

In the U.S., Hollywood's traditional marketing channels are still TV commercials and outdoor advertising; But in China, there are very few movie ads in TV commercials.

On the contrary, the participation of giants such as new media, the Internet, Baidu, and Tencent has made the marketing channels of the whole of China completely different from those of the United States.

These are things that the North American side does not understand, and it would be very difficult to convince them to take advantage of these channels without a heavyweight like Duke.

In the North American market, the marketing of a film begins before the film is filmed, and the film is continuously exposed at different stages and in different ways. However, this method does not apply to the Chinese market, no matter how much marketing is done, but in the end, this blockbuster is not introduced to China, so no matter how good this marketing is, it is useless.

Even if a film is confirmed to be introduced, it will not be able to sit back and relax, and the promotion of the film will be greatly restricted until the relevant departments determine the schedule of the film.

Generally speaking, there is always a limit to the trailers and posters that can be released for a movie promotion, and there is no way to know when they will be released when the schedule is uncertain.

Before the release license is issued, Big Scissors will also closely "monitor" every move of the film, and large-scale promotion is not allowed.

Under all the restrictions, it can be very difficult for a Hollywood film to become a big hit in China.

Fortunately, Duke's films have never lacked the support of Chinese audiences, and at his suggestion, Warner's Far East branch has long established strategic partnerships with a range of online media and social networking sites. (To be continued.) )

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