In early February, "Inception" ended its screening in Syria and officially removed from all global markets, and after nearly a year of screenings, the film finally earned $1,121.14 million at the global box office. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

At the same time, the release configuration of the film's upcoming limited edition DVD/Blu-ray set has also been revealed in advance through unofficial channels.

As early as last year, the DVD of "Inception" was released in North America, and it still sold nearly $130 million in sales despite the continuous decline of the entire industry background.

The limited edition DVD/Blu-ray set released this time is different from the previous ones, and has a certain collectible value.

The limited-edition set includes a number of souvenirs, a limited-edition aluminum dream machine suitcase, a user manual for the portable automatic Somnacin IV injector, a set of postcards, a spinning top, and three discs consisting of a DVD, a Blu-ray and a digital copy.

Once the product was introduced to the market, it was an avid cult among Inception fans, selling more than $35 million in North America alone in just ten days.

For a hit film like "Inception", there are too many peripheral projects that can bring profit.

"Inception" is down, and the popularity of another Duke film has also declined, "Gravity" has just spent its fifth weekend in North America, and the weekend box office has slipped to $12.15 million, although the North American box office has accumulated more than $330 million, but the market potential is obviously consumed.

However, the decline of "Tronomics", which only came to its second weekend, was even more violent, and the film's box office plummeted by nearly 60 percent the next weekend compared to the first weekend, with $19 million that weekend and $87.37 million in ten days of North American release.

Compared with "Robin Hood", this can be said to be a relatively successful commercial production.

As for Walt Disney and David? Whether Ellison would think so, Duke didn't know. What he cares about now is the list of Oscar nominees.

Due to his stay in San Francisco to participate in Lucasfilm's final negotiations, Duke did not attend the nominee luncheon on Wihill Avenue in Beverly Hills. Johnson did the work for him. As soon as the nominee luncheon ended, Los Angeles sent the relevant nominees to Tina? Faye's hands.

"The results of the nominations have been announced."

Taking advantage of the gap in negotiations, Tina? Faye walked over to Duke, sat down on a chair next to him, and whispered. "We are the biggest winners in the list of nominees."

After working hard for several months, for today, Duke couldn't help but ask with concern, "What have you gained?" ”

"There are eight nominations for Inception!"

Glancing at the email on your phone, Tina? "Best Cinematography, Best Sound Effects, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Best Original Score. ”

Duke nodded slightly, these nominations are basically based on technical awards, which are completely in line with the usual style of the academy, and awards like Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, "Inception" is destined to accompany it.

Tina? Fei continued. "Gravity, which is our focus on public relations, was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Effects, Best Sound Editing, Best Art Direction and Best Score, for a total of 10 awards."

"We have a total of eighteen nominations." Tina? Fei said with regret, "It's a pity that you didn't get a double nomination for Best Director." ”

Not getting a double nomination is also a good thing in some ways, double nominations are extremely easy to distract the judges' votes, Duke is well aware of this, shook his head, and went straight to Tina? "Now that the nominees are out, it's a little bit more restrained for Nancy and Pani's actions." ”

In accordance with the regulations of the college, after the list of nominees is announced. The filmmakers are not allowed to do any more public relations work, but this is obviously impossible, and if nothing else, many members of the academy are part of the Hollywood industry. In the filming or preparation of many films, it is unavoidable that some of the filmmakers involved in the Oscars will gradually come into contact with members of the academy.

As for what the two sides talk about in private, it is not controlled by the academy at all.

However, there are some things that can't be overdone, otherwise it will be more than worth the loss to really let the academy catch the typical.

The Academy's Executive Committee is aware of this, as long as it doesn't go too far. They will turn a blind eye accordingly.

This is a game of money and fame, and if all these factors are removed, there is no need for this game to be played.

Putting the Oscar nominations aside for the time being, Duke then devoted all his energy to negotiating the acquisition with Lucasfilm.

After more than half a year of see-saw and investigation, the acquisition group jointly formed by Duke and Time Warner has become the first of Lucasfilm, Time Warner can provide Lucasfilm with a broad and complete platform, and the large amount of money in Duke's hands can meet the price requirements of Lucasfilm's shareholders.

By the time Duke raised the offer to $4 billion, there were only two intending acquirers left in Hollywood, him and Walt Disney.

Lucasfilm's assets are indeed attractive, but there are also loss-making divisions such as Lucasfilm Animation, LucasS Online and Lucasgames Games, and when it comes to such a huge amount of money acquisition, any investor will inevitably consider the input-output ratio, and the high price of four billion dollars has exceeded the bottom line of many companies such as Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Columbia and Paramount Pictures.

In the minds of these companies, Lucasfilm is not worth so much money, and it is still a huge question whether it can be recovered in the future with such a large amount of money.

Looking at the whole of Hollywood, including Walt Disney, which competed with Duke in the end, only Duke firmly believes that the power and potential of the Star Wars series are unlimited, and the future will definitely burst into infinite brilliance, as long as there are no major mistakes in operation, it will not take too long for the sales of Star Wars peripheral products to offset this huge acquisition.

So, in the face of the last competitor, Duke raised the price again to $4.1 billion, and Walt Disney, which was already internally unstable, finally retreated, and Lucasfilm basically became Duke's pocket.

This time in San Francisco, the two sides have already agreed on the purchase price, and the discussion is more about the details.

For example, Duke plans where Lucasfilm's main business will go in the future.

Since the end of the Star Wars prequel series, the entire Lucasfilm industry has only produced one film "Raiders of the Lost Ark 4". Lucas is in semi-retirement, and his performance is naturally not very good, which directly affects the income of many employees and executives of Lucasfilm.

If the income is not guaranteed, it is useless and useless to talk about beliefs or instill chicken soup for the soul to employees.

Duke was well aware of this, and in a conversation with George? After a secret talk, Lucas directly wrote the reboot of the Star Wars franchise into the negotiation agreement between the two parties, and promised that he would be the director of the reboot if needed.

With his track record and his fame and appeal in the film market, this was undoubtedly a shot in the arm for Lucasfilm's management, and after agreeing on this aspect, the remaining details of the negotiations became much smoother.

In mid-February, Duke, Time Warner and Lucasfilm convened a press conference in San Francisco to officially announce the change of ownership of Lucasfilm, which involved a deal worth $4.1 billion!

In the new Lucasfilm, Duke holds an absolute controlling stake, and Time Warner's symbolic stake will also become the distributor of the new "Star Wars" series. Catherine, who is similar to Lucas's philosophy? Kennedy accepted Duke's offer to become the new CEO of Lucasfilm.

With the deal closed, Duke knew very well that he had a huge treasure trove of wealth in his hands - the Star Wars franchise!

He also enjoys nearly one-third of the revenue share of all aspects of the "Harry Potter" series, plus the current Star Wars series, the two most marketable film series of all time, can be regarded as his bag.

Correspondingly, the new Star Wars program will also be put on the agenda after Lucasfilm is back on track.

In this regard, Duke already has some ideas, and the new Star Wars need not be more creative and more technologically revolutionary.

In Duke's thoughts, the most important thing about the new Star Wars is that there is nothing like Anakin? Skywalker's transformation is so glaringly flawed.

In terms of special effects, the new "Star Wars" doesn't need to focus too much, as long as the special effects scenes are above the level of Hollywood blockbusters, the breakthrough technological revolution is James? What Cameron is going to do, rather than the risk that the new installment of the series should take, even if it is time to redesign a robot like R2D2, its main function is to 'sell cute'.

In some ways, Duke wanted to repackage the new Star Wars with today's Hollywood technology and make it a retro film with a good story!

Duke and George? Lucas was not satisfied with the lack of creativity and imagination of the new Star Wars he proposed, and in his opinion, "newness" should be the force of "Star Wars".

Still, George? Lucas has always admired Duke's approach to the market, and he has not insisted on his own opinions.

The launch of the new "Star Wars" is a matter of a few years in the future, after the completion of the acquisition of Lucasfilm, Duke has to adjust it accordingly, and he will stay in San Francisco for half a month before he returns to Los Angeles, and the 83rd Academy Awards will begin! (To be continued.) )

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