In early February 1998, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held a luncheon for Oscar nominees at the Regent Hotel, and as most of the media and industry insiders expected, "Titanic" became the biggest winner.

Ren is Miramax, who tasted the sweetness of the Oscars last year, has the double insurance of "Soul Catcher" and "Life is Beautiful", but this qiē is a floating cloud in front of the unprecedented box office figures of "Titanic", and this is not a non-realistic film, and the academy's conservative judges simply cannot ignore it, giving the film a total of fourteen Oscar nominations.

When an epic masterpiece based on real historical events drove into the Oscars with more than $1 billion at the global box office, conservatives finally lowered their heads.

Yes, at the beginning of February, the North American box office of "Titanic" reached $462.15 million, and the global box office accumulated $1.0621 billion, which has firmly established the first position in film history!

The fourteen Oscar nominations undoubtedly added a boost to the big ship, and the North American box office rose sharply that weekend, with a reverse increase of 79%! And many countries that did not originally plan to introduce "Titanic" also set their sights on this masterpiece, such as some countries on the other side of the Pacific Ocean......

The peripheral development of the film, with the momentum of the Oscar nomination, is also in full swing.

Postcards, cultural shirts, kaleidoscopes, stationery boxes, tote bags, and models of Jack and Ruth's dolls reached a series of licensing agreements in early February, earning $70 million in licensing revenue in the North American market alone.

Including the soundtrack album that has topped the Billboard record sales chart for nine consecutive weeks -- 6.43 million copies -- the film's North American peripheral profit has reached $120 million, excluding the cost of labor and account sharing!

After more than two months of screening and promotion, "Titanic" also ushered in the first revenue sharing, and Twentieth Century Fox, which has always been very tight in this regard, is far more enthusiastic and active than Duke, and has been urging Paramount Pictures, the North American marketer of "Titanic".

After the Oscar nominees' luncheon, the North American Theater Alliance has already made two box office splits with Paramount Pictures, totaling $400 million. Since this is the distributor's advantageous upfront account, according to the distribution agreement signed by the two parties, the distribution company has a relatively high proportion of the account, and Paramount Pictures received more than $224 million from it.

After deducting the $40 million in North American distribution costs corresponding to the film's 10 percent, as well as the North American marketing expenses that Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox have already invested, the share of funds in front of the three major investments is still as high as $160 million.

As a result of the signing of a clear agreement between the three parties. Moreover, their respective accountants and Vito's professional institutions have always participated in the announcement, and the amount and proportion of the share are clear at a glance, and Duke has received $40 million from the investment with a quarter of the investment of $50 million.

Although this is a pre-tax profit, he has recouped most of his investment just by sharing the pre-tax share of the North American box office.

The North American peripheral profits, on the books of the studio specially established for the film, also made the first share between the three parties, and Duke received a quarter of the $120 million peripheral profits - $30 million.

Two and a half months after the release of "Titanic". Investors, including him, finally made the most favorable response with actual numbers, and the "big ship" that was ridiculed as "doomed to sink" has brought profits to the three major investors!

And the pre-tax income of 70 million US dollars is only part of the profit, and now the overseas income of Hollywood commercial masterpieces has exceeded the income of North America, and when the overseas income of the film is released in the future, it is enough to surprise many people's eyes.

Don't forget, films like "Titanic" are not only box office revenue, its peripherals are indeed weaker than "Jurassic Park". But it can't be ignored.

Duke is well aware, though. If you want to get back your overseas income, you have to wait slowly.

For more than a month after Christmas, Duke was busy with the post-stages of The Matrix on weekdays, and on weekends he flew to New Zealand to help regulate the pre-production of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, even if he was strong-willed. I am energetic and in good health, but I gradually feel tired, and I even feel that my whole person is about to be split in two.

"I finally understood that even Spielberg, Hollywood's most famous fast gunner. Why has there only been one case of two films produced in the same year, and "Schindler's List" has been preparing for ten years. ”

Sitting at the rest table in the editing room, Duke and Tina? Fei chatted, with the post-production work left only special effects production zuò, two assistant directors Zack? Schneider and Anna? Prinz had left and was on his way to New Zealand to work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

In the editing room of the Duke's studio, only Duke and Mike are left? Dawson and his assistants.

"It's time for yourself to take a vacation." Tina? Faye poured a cup of strong coffee, handed it to Duke, and reminded, "You haven't officially taken a break since Christmas." ”

"You're tired too?" Duke asked.

He doesn't rest, as a personal assistant Tina? Of course, Fei couldn't rest.

Tina? Fei also did not deny it, "If it were when I first came here a few years ago, I would have hid in my room and cried." ”

"I'm done with the commercial for this film, so I can take a break for a while." Duke also felt the exhaustion of his body.

With the expansion of the Duke Studio, there are more and more things to deal with, and after Christmas, he specially hired an executive from his mother's side with a high salary, who had worked hard in Hollywood and could handle the administrative affairs of the Duke Studio with relative ease, but the final decision still had to be summarized to Tina? Here, it's up to him to make the decision.

Moreover, Warner Bros. also has senior executives stationed in the company, which is inevitable after the exchange, and the other party has rich work experience, as long as the necessary supervision is done, it can actually bring a lot of help.

Now that he and Warner Bros. are in their honeymoon period, the interests of the two companies are closely linked, and the contradictions are not impossible, but they will be controlled within a very small range.

It took a whole afternoon, Duke, Mike? Dawson and ILM's special effects team added the few remaining special effects to the commercial, and the next 30-second commercial to be played at halftime in the Super Bowl was completed.

"Tina ......"

As he drove out of the studio, Duke asked his assistant in the passenger seat, "I'll have a few days off next week, would you like to take a vacation alone or come with me to the Super Bowl?" ”

Tina? Fei thought for a moment, "Let's go to the Super Bowl together, if there is any emergency, I don't want to rush over from the vacation." ”

"The Matrix" is set to be released at the beginning of the summer, and Duke Studios and Warner Bros. naturally will not miss the Super Bowl halftime as a promotional position, since Duke made "Death Island" appear on the Super Bowl commercial after the box office hit, but now more films are focused on this event, and Super Bowl advertising has gradually become the traditional promotional front of Hollywood blockbusters.

In fact, the promotion of "The Matrix" has long been planned under the instigation of Warner, as in the past, a summer commercial blockbuster will not rely solely on any kind of publicity, Duke has been busy with the work of the two films, except for interviews or participating in promotional activities held by Warner, basically did not put forward too many opinions on publicity.

However, there is only one exception, the film frequently mentions the computer network, and now that the Internet in North America is very developed in 1998, how could he ignore this propaganda front that has a huge impact on teenagers.

The film has been continuously advertised on high-click-through websites, including Yahoo, and has also hired trolls to post on some film and television forums in accordance with Duke's advice, which has attracted the attention of online groups.

Especially Duke Jeanpani? Kelis found someone to build a personal website, and after completion, the way of direct links to guò was hung on many film and television forums, and now the main content on it is to promote "The Matrix".

…………

In the dim light, Alan sat down in front of the computer, exited the explosive maniac chat room, and habitually clicked on a link on this board, and a strange website then opened.

The website is dominated by gloomy dark tones, and there are some green sliders on it, Alan knows a lot about computers, and knows that this is something similar to program code, but the website is generally very simple, except for the conspicuous message board, it is a more conspicuous person wearing black sunglasses and a black trench coat, that person is very familiar to a veteran fan like him, the famous explosion maniac and Duke Duke? Rosenberg.

The young director in the picture is an image he has never seen before, but it is unusually cool - cool!

It's so cool!

The director holds an extremely evil-looking mechanical squid in his right hand and a pistol in the same color as a trench coat in his left hand, and the muzzle of the gun shoots out not bullets, but a very strange thing - is this world real? Do you think what you see, smell, and hear is real? That's what the real world looks like!

This is obviously a link, Alan clicked to open it, and a lot of pictures were displayed, including some machinery farming, but not food growing in the field......

And the most conspicuous one in the middle - don't be confused, the mother body is confusing you, follow Duke to find the truth of this world, you are the only savior!

Moving the mouse, Alan opened the link again, and the images that appeared were shocking, the sky covered by dark clouds, Manhattan turned into black ruins, and a sleeping human lying in an unknown capsule......

What kind of world is this?

Despite seeing it many times, Alan is still very curious, what is the mother? The only savior?

Of course, there are a few stupid people in this world who don't turn their heads at all, and Allen quickly thought that this was related to Duke's new film, and looked at the cool shapes, quiet life scenes and apocalyptic environment, and countless expectations were born in his heart. (To be continued......)