In this day and age, a film can exceed one billion dollars at the global box office, which can only be described as extremely rare, in fact, so far, there are only two films in the world that have done this, that is, James? Cameron's Titanic and Duke's The Fellowship of the Ring.

However, "The Fellowship of the Ring" was affected by a variety of factors such as 911 and audiences, and after the first three months of screening, it did not maintain a high trend, and after Duke returned to Los Angeles, there were less than 500 theaters left in North America, and by the time it broke into this world in 2002, the box office produced every day could only be said to be better than nothing, and it continued to be screened in theaters, the most important thing was for the next Oscar nomination.

Both Duke and Warner Bros. knew that the academy would not be able to throw a heavyweight award at the first part of the trilogy, even with a cramp in their heads, so the PR efforts were not great, it was enough to make sure the film got a key nomination.

The North American box office of "The Fellowship of the Ring" exceeded $470 million, and after receiving $470.15 million, it basically stagnated, and the single-day box office in North America fell to less than six figures, and although the global box office accumulated as high as $1,118.66 million, it was difficult to achieve a greater breakthrough.

In early January, the Lord of the Rings concert, co-hosted by the Lord of the Rings and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, kicked off at Chandler Hall of the Los Angeles Music Center, and the concert will run until May, which is not only a warm-up for "The Two Towers", but also for "The Fellowship of the Ring" to continue to create buzz and impact the upcoming Oscar nominations.

"The Fellowship of the Ring" is already recognized as an epic film masterpiece, and its soundtrack is equally epic, and the series of concerts has attracted the attention of countless movie fans, with attendance remaining above 90% in the first two weeks, and even in the first two weeks of Duke and the Lord of the Rings.

It's not just Los Angeles. In North America and throughout the Western world, a number of classical music groups that have negotiated cooperation with the Lord of the Rings have opened the curtain one after another, and all of them have maintained extremely high attendance.

Taking advantage of another Lord of the Rings craze set off by the concert, the Lord of the Rings Studios officially released the first trailer of "Two Towers" edited by Duke himself in late January. The official release date of the film was also determined - May 3, the first weekend of the beginning of the summer season in 2002!

Duke's intention is obvious, with "The Fellowship of the Ring" as the foundation, try to let the popularity of "Two Towers" spread throughout the summer!

At the same time, Warner Bros. also released the latest news about "The Matrix", "Reloaded" will be released on Independence Day!

Needless to say, these two supermasters immediately became the most watched films in the summer file.

The trailers for the two films immediately appeared on Duke's personal website, and although the latest server was changed, the website hung up again the second hour after the trailer was released due to crowds.

After the website is back to normal. In just three days, the trailers of "Two Towers" and "Reloaded" have been viewed more than 1.56 million times and 1.45 million times, respectively, and the message board under the trailer has almost been flooded.

"I'm looking forward to these two masterpieces, as a Lord of the Rings fan and a hacker fan, this will be my happiest summer."

"Keanu? Reeves and Charlize? Theron is still that cool! However, why do I feel like at the beginning of the trailer for "Two Towers", Gandalf and Queen Galadriel have an adultery? What about love? ”

"Gandalf and Queen Galadriel are looking at each other affectionately, does Kellerpen know?"

"There's more of an epic scene in 'The Two Towers'. It was really exciting to see Gandalf lead the cavalry down the section......"

"Even if I'm going to go bankrupt this summer. I'm going to watch these two films too, at least twice on each one! ”

"Twice? Where is enough twice! I dare to say that the wonderful journey of "Raiders of the Two Towers" will definitely surpass "The Fellowship of the Ring", and I will have to watch it at least three times! ”

"Can I say that I've saved up half a year's pocket money and I'm going to see it five times?"

After the release dates of these two films were announced, the audience who was already expecting the film raised their expectations again. But unlike the enthusiasm of the audience, many companies are gloomy, especially those that are already negotiating with theaters, avoiding Memorial Day, and planning to put the film at the beginning of the summer file.

"Why May 3rd?"

Sony Columbia Pictures in the office. Oga held back the anger in his heart, "Didn't you say that "The Two Towers" would be placed around Memorial Day? Why is the announced date the start of the summer season? ”

As an executive in charge of Sony's Columbia Pictures distribution business, Shinobu Ohga couldn't imagine that if his company invested $140 million in a super blockbuster and released it as originally planned, it would be similar to Duke? What will be the result of Rosenberg's new film colliding head-on the same weekend?

Yes, the Spider-Man comics are popular in the United States, with a large number of fans around the world, and Marvel's superheroes have also proved that they can succeed on the big screen through the "X-Men" series, but superhero movies are not the mainstream of the market, if they are replaced by other commercial masterpieces, Shinobu Ohga still has the confidence to compete with them, but that is Duke? Rosenberg's work!

"Godzilla", which Sony Entertainment once had high hopes for, was disgraced by his "Matrix", and Disney's "Pearl Harbor" last year specially avoided him for two weeks, but it was still washed away by "The Fellowship of the Ring", and the direct director zhì from the box office to the surrounding area was far from meeting expectations.

Peter? Can Parker talk to Duke? Does Rosenberg compete?

Thinking of this, Oga Shinobu quickly shook his head, the entire Sony Entertainment has great expectations for "Spider-Man", and has vetoed Sam several times for this? Several edited versions of Remy have also been specially reshot, deleting the more sensitive scene of Spider-Man crawling on the Petronas Twin Towers......

They have done so much work that they can't tolerate failure, and they don't allow the unexpected factors that lead to failure!

In fact, if it weren't for the influence of 911, if the pictures related to the World Trade Center were deleted, Sony Entertainment would have officially announced the release date to the outside world, and it would not have been so passive.

Waving his hand to the assistant, Oga Shinobu asked him to go out first, and he had to weigh the pros and cons himself.

But the assistant had just gone out and walked in with another person, that was Sam, the director of "Spider-Man"? Remy.

"I heard that Columbia Pictures is planning to change the release date of 'Spider-Man'?" Sam? When Remy came in, he asked directly, "Is that so?" ”

"That's the case!" Shinobu Oga nodded, "Duke? Rosenberg has joined us on a planned weekend, and it was a very unwise choice to let Spider-Man touch his movie. ”

"I don't see it that way!" Sam? Remy's personality is as extreme as his earliest cinematic style, "I think ......"

Sam? Before Remy finished speaking, the phone on the desk rang, and Shinobu Oga directly raised his hand to interrupt him, picked up the phone, and after saying a few words, his face became solemn.

The person who called was Howard, CEO of Sony Entertainment? Stringer, his words are very simple.

"Don't try to beat Duke in the summer? Rosenberg, Oga, "Spider-Man" must change schedules! The farther away from that summer maniac, the better! ”

"I know what to do!"

Shinobu Oga also made up his final mind, although Sam? Remy kept trying to persuade Spider-Man to touch the Towers, but he wasn't moved at all.

In the end, Oga was impatient and simply asked the assistant to put Sam? Remy was out of the office.

Ninety-nine percent of Hollywood's directors don't have any say in the release of films, and Shinobu Ohga doesn't care too much about Sam? Remy's thoughts.

Who made you not Duke? What about Rosenberg?

Looking at Sam? Remy's figure disappeared into the doorway of the office, Shinobu Ohga thought.

He dialed his assistant's phone and said, "Convene a meeting to discuss a new release date for Spider-Man!" ”

After making the call, Oga Shinobu gradually made up his mind in his heart, learned the lessons of the past, and decided to let "Spider-Man" hide far away and release it in June!

"This is the May schedule with the fewest releases of the big production zuò in the past!"

In the car heading to the Regent Hotel, Tina? Fei looked at a list of summer release dates and said, "Judging from the films that have been announced, we will not have strong competitors in the first half of May." ”

"What about Spider-Man?" Duke asked, retracting his gaze from the window.

Tina? Faye handed the form to Duke and said, "I got the news yesterday that Sony Columbia Pictures has decided to put 'Spider-Man' in June. ”

"Good news." Duke breathed a sigh of relief.

As the majority shareholder of Marvel, of course he knew that Sony Entertainment was originally scheduled to be released in early May, and he and Warner Bros. were forcing Sony to change the schedule.

Duke laughed at himself, "It seems that the name of the Explosive Maniac is still somewhat useful." ”

"It's not useful." Tina? Fei said honestly, "It directly scared off Sony Entertainment." ”

Originally, Duke also wanted to see what effect "Lord of the Rings" would have when it touched "Spider-Man", and even prepared how to hit each other, he planned to drum up Anime to release a new version of the comic on the eve of the release of "Spider-Man", and change the time and space of Peter? Parker will be transformed into a villain who does nothing evil......

But no sooner had the plan popped out of his mind than Duke realized something was wrong, Peter? Parker is one of Marvel's signatures, and although Marvel can't reclaim the film and TV rights, it enjoys a revenue share of nearly 10 percent of the film's box office profits, and can launch new versions of comics and other types of merchandise.

He himself is the majority shareholder of Marvel, and doing such a thing is completely detrimental to his own interests, and finally simply took advantage of the already hot momentum of "The Lord of the Rings" and his influence to force Sony Entertainment to give up the release in May.

Like Tina? As Fei said, this will be an unusually quiet May schedule, and all the big productions are hiding, not just because of "The Two Towers". (To be continued......)

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