After the 2001 Oscars, Duke finished editing the footage of "The Fellowship of the Ring", but the post-production was not yet over. Xiao's soundtrack needs to be added, and then the sound effects will be edited.

Overall, Howard? Shaw's soundtrack was exactly what Duke wanted, but he didn't immediately move on to the last two jobs.

In the soundtrack, Howard? Combining symphonic and operatic techniques, Xiao extensively extracted African, Indian, Gult and other world music materials to carefully brew the magical epic tunes of the new century, releasing sensational and regrettable grandeur, stirring wave after wave of majestic frenzy.

There was no problem with the piece, Duke was not satisfied with the version played.

"Howard, I don't have any problem with your tune."

In the conference room of the Lord of the Rings, Duke sat at the top of the conference table, and the project was necessarily subject to his opinion, "but the level of the performers was a little weaker." ”

It's an obvious question, and even a layman like Duke can hear it.

This is also related to the fact that as a fan of "The Lord of the Rings", he was too impressed by the soundtrack and performance in the past.

"Duke, our time." Doug? Walter reminded him, "There is less than a month left before the audition." ”

Duke frowned and thought for a moment, "Let's see if it's going to be a soundtrackless version." ”

It's a regular practice in Hollywood, Doug? Walter thought for a moment and nodded slowly.

"Charles ......," Duke turned to his production manager, "and you're in charge of contacting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and getting them done." ”

In Charles? After Rowan nodded, Duke added, "Howard, once Charles and the Philharmonic agree to play. I need you to communicate with them in a timely manner. ”

"No problem." Howard? Shaw nodded as well.

Finally, Duke looked at Doug? Walter, who is likely to be the next CEO of Warner Bros., is quite necessary to build a good relationship," said Doug, Howard's composition is excellent. I think it has the potential to become a classic, and playing it with a better orchestra will be helpful for future soundtrack albums......"

"If the film is as successful as I expected, we can also collaborate with the Philharmonic Orchestra to hold a concert of The Lord of the Rings in the future!" ”

Doug? Walt's eyes lit up immediately, which undoubtedly added another channel for the film to make money.

At present, the film's various peripheral products are also under development and production. Chain, Elven Shortbow, Elven Headgear, Twilight Star Pendant...... and many other accessories, as well as the image of the character's dolls, etc., are also about to enter the distribution stage.

The revenue source of this series is not only from the box office, DVD and TV rights, but also from various merchandise.

The meeting is over, the soundtrack is added and the sound effects clip is paused, Charles? Rowan and Doug? Walter was busy with his own negotiations and publicity work according to Duke's proposals.

Charles? Rowan's negotiations with the Philharmonic were the first to bear fruit. The Los Angeles Philharmonic is really famous, and it's big enough. This also meant a huge overhead, and it wasn't the first time they had played for a film soundtrack, and in the face of enough bids, the two sides quickly reached an agreement, Howard? Xiao also entered the Philharmonic Orchestra's residency to assist the other party in the scoremaking and performance of the music.

Besides. In Howard? Under the construction of Xiao and the Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lord of the Rings Studio invited the famous soprano Renee? Fleming, the legendary singer Annie? Lennix, flutist James? Galway touches up the soundtrack.

This directly leads to the final cost of The Fellowship of the Ring Expedition exceeding Duke's projected $115 million.

And during this time, Duke was also not idle, and together with Weta Studios, he continued to refine the special effects of the film. Now that he has overspended, he simply raised the total production cost of the film to $120 million!

At the same time, the publicity work of the film is still being carried out in an orderly manner.

In mid-April, on the eve of the preview meeting, all Trump-related industries in the United States were replaced with large posters of "Fellowship of the Ring" on the most eye-catching billboards, attracting the attention of passers-by.

Admittedly, Donald? Trump's show-style marketing is indeed easy to arouse people's disgust, but his vision is still good, all kinds of buildings under Trump's industry are basically located in the most prosperous areas of major cities in the United States, maybe he became more famous after the super show, or maybe because he participated in this movie, he did not violate the paper contract at all, and after Duke made a phone call, he actively cooperated with the promotion of "The Lord of the Rings".

Even, in the latest episode of "Walking with Billionaires" that he recorded for NBC, he specifically mentioned "The Lord of the Rings" and invited Elijah? Wood and Sean? Austin and other crew members appeared on his show after the film was released.

The ratings for this show are very good, Donald? As a businessman, Trump is not without reason, the first is that he is optimistic that the film will be a big hit, and inviting the crew of "The Lord of the Rings" can continue to expand the influence of the show......

Besides, this is an invitation after the release, and if the film hits the streets, he can cancel the invitation.

In short, as in the past, Warner Bros. has used all the propaganda tools available now, with the slight difference that they have increased their online propaganda efforts.

The success of The Matrix and Blair the Witch, network marketing played an important role in it, especially the latter.

Hollywood companies are not fools, so how can they not see the value of the Internet to the film industry?

However, compared with the major Hollywood companies that started late, Duke's online water army is already strong enough, and even in the voting score of the most anticipated films in the summer file launched by Rotten Tomatoes, "The Fellowship of the Ring" received 99% of the expectations and 9.9 points with the participation of more than 100,000 people.

Although the film is highly anticipated by the audience, the role played by the online water army cannot be ignored.

Duke knows very well that both Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB can be influenced by the trolls, after all, a certain director's brain-dead whitewash farce was too famous.

To put it bluntly, Duke and Warner Bros. are using various means and methods to promote the film.

Throughout the history of Hollywood films, films with excellent quality and even classics are not good enough, because the publicity and distribution are not good enough, and there are countless directors who hit the streets.

Yes, Duke has relevant memories of the past, but making movies is not as simple as copying and pasting, without the accumulation of the past and the hard work of more than ten years before coming to this world, even if he has seen or even studied those films?

Directing is a highly specialized job!

And then there is publicity, if a film does not have the support of publicity, can it be a big hit? There is only one "Titanic" in this world.

And the former big ship, although the early publicity and distribution were relatively average, but after the film showed the trend of big sales, the publicity was almost overwhelming!

Speaking of distribution, this is even more important for the film, the film does not have the support of the distributor, which means that there are not enough theaters, where can the box office come without theaters? If there are not enough moviegoers, where is the high peripheral income?

The film has been a big hit, and Duke knows this, but the question is will others know? Hollywood produces so many films a year, if it is not enough confidence now, but in previous years, why should distributors and theaters go all out to support his films?

There is also the release time, and the average director has no say at all in this regard, if "The Matrix" crashes into a big ship? What are the consequences?

Whether a film can sell well at the box office and in terms of peripherals, the quality of the film itself is only the most basic condition, and there are too many factors that can affect it in the future.

For example, the former "Spider-Man", if it didn't cut Peter when it was released? What kind of consequences can the footage of Parker crawling on the World Trade Towers trigger?

Any successful film does not rely on the film itself.

Duke never thought that "The Fellowship of the Ring" does not do publicity and distribution work, and when facing the competition of "Pearl Harbor", "Shrek" and "Tomb Raider", which are all large-scale films, as long as they are thrown casually, they can kill all enemies in seconds and easily stand at the top of the North American box office charts.

That's just a pipe dream!

Success never comes to the door, it always requires effort from people.

To this end, Duke prepared a $80 million promotional budget for "The Fellowship of the Ring", bringing the total investment of the first part to $200 million!

The success or failure of the first part is self-evident for the importance of a series, as long as "The Fellowship of the Ring" is a big hit, the subsequent two parts can save a lot of money in terms of publicity.

Counting the fees that the film had to pay to Tolkien's copyright agency and the original rights holders, the global box office of "The Fellowship of the Ring" would have to reach at least $600 million to $650 million after its release, before it can recover its costs through the box office.

This can be said to be a huge pressure, but every major production of Duke Zuò is carrying the pressure of a mountain, and no matter how heavy the pressure is, it cannot crush his rock-like shoulders.

On the last weekend of April, Warner Bros. convened three consecutive test screenings with theatrical representatives, media reporters and general audiences, and the various statistics of the test screenings will directly affect the release of "The Fellowship of the Ring".

If "The Fellowship of the Ring" has a poor reputation among theaters and ordinary audiences, even if it is Duke's work, it will not be able to open the painting on a super high scale. (To be continued......)