Knoxville, Tennessee, a small waterside town where Imperial Entertainment Group is headquartered.

After getting the first-hand test screening materials, Jossman took a plane overnight to the group headquarters, and the huge motivation that money could bring made him have no intention of resting, and got off the plane and went directly to the office floor of the theater company in the headquarters building.

Not long after Jossman arrived at the company, several executives of the cinema company quickly got together.

"The special effects are outstanding! The explosion scene at Duke Rosenberg is as exciting as ever! ”

At the long conference table, Jossman motioned for a secretary to distribute the materials he had brought, "This is the evaluation made by the team as a whole, and the twelve people we watched the film agreed that this is a super * commercial system!" ”

His words attracted the attention of many people, and they opened the information in front of them and read it.

"Joe ......," asked Mandino, the CEO who sat at the front, "Let's talk about the specific numbers." ”

"Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox did not invite film critics to the preview screening, and there is no professional reputation."

Having said that, even now, Jossman can't understand why the producers would break the convention, but this has nothing to do with the theater, "In terms of audience word-of-mouth, 367 viewers participated in the survey, with a * rating of 314 people, and 49 people with a score below C. ”

"The bad rating seems to be a bit high." Someone answered.

"The story of the film can only be described as average, and the selling point is the special effects and sensationalism." Jossman didn't think it was strange, and said unhurriedly, "I think everyone should understand that there is often a situation in such films, where people who like it are very fond of it, and those who don't like it are very annoying. ”

Without waiting for anyone else to say anything, Jossman continued, "According to the statistics of the preview screenings and the statistics of the survey company's immediate survey, the number of people who want to see this film far outnumber those who don't like it, and the statistical feedback from the preview screening proves it! ”

Many people are nodding their heads, and films with special effects as their selling point, such as "Jurassic Park" and "Terminator 2", actually have such a situation.

As the only person in the room who had seen the film, Jossman knew the potential of the film and knew that if it was a big hit, he might get a big bonus, and he had no intention of stopping.

"I think 'Independence Day' should be given more theaters." He continued, "And each multi-cinema chain invests at least 3 screens......

Looking at the information signed by all the experts on the statistics, CEO Mandino fell into thought, and after a long time said, "Duke Rosenberg's first two films exceeded our expectations, and "Independence Day" is the genre he is best at, and I think Joe's proposal is feasible." ”

Several other people have expressed similar opinions, and after some discussion, Mandino made a preliminary decision, "Keep the screen count of "The Lion King" and "Forrest Gump" decreasing in an orderly manner, and other non-popular films will be lowered below the bottom line and immediately downgraded!" By July 1, there will be enough multi-theater theaters for "Independence Day", each theater will open on two or three screens, and then the results will increase or decrease depending on the first day of release. ”

"Columbia Pictures has been in touch with us lately." Someone suddenly reminded, "I want to fight for enough theaters for "The Shawshank Redemption". ”

"No, no, ......no," Jossman immediately objected, "I think the number of theaters in "The Shawshank Redemption" should be controlled, I attended the media, fans and theater preview last month, this film is indeed very interesting, but I don't think it is suitable for the theater market." ”

"The professional score of the preview screening of "The Shawshank Redemption" is as high as 9.8 points!" The man just said.

"Actually, the fans' test screening reputation is also good, although there are some problems with the prison theme, but the praise rate is far more than 80%, but it is ......"

Jossman frowned, frankly speaking, he thinks this will be a classic film, but a classic film does not mean that it will be a big hit, and years of experience in the first-line market always make him have an indescribable feeling about this film, feeling that it is not suitable for commercial operation at all.

You must know that in the history of Hollywood, there are countless films that are worth recalling and being recognized as classics, and there are countless box office fiascos that vomit blood.

"I don't think 'The Shawshank Redemption' is suitable for the theatrical market."

As the chief film expert on the West Coast, Jossman's words still carry a lot of weight, Mandino synthesized everyone's opinions and said, "The screen vacated in early July first meets the requirements of "Independence Day", if the box office of this film does not meet expectations, its screening scale will be reduced in the second week, and the vacant theaters will be put into "The Shawshank Redemption", as well as the theaters of "The Lion King" and "Forrest Gump", if the first week of "The Shawshank Redemption" is excellent, the theaters after their downsizing can also be voted for "" The Shawshank Redemption. ”

This is a very safe approach, even if the top management of Sony Colombia is here, they can't say anything.

As if there was a tacit understanding, in addition to Emperor Entertainment Group, the largest cinema chain in North America, AMG Cinemas, which ranked second and third, and the National Artist Cinema Line also made similar decisions.

Even if the number of theaters is different, there are also single theater results to compare, if the box office performance of "Independence Day" is not up to par, even if Duke begs hard, the theater company will not give one more screen.

In the same way, as long as the follow-up "The Shawshank Redemption" has an excellent first week schedule, not only can the original release scale be maintained, but it is not difficult to expand the number of theaters again.

With the end of the preview screening, the pre-screening promotion of "Independence Day" has entered the final sprint stage, and the leading actors not only appear frequently, but even Duke, the director, has accepted several interviews, and also cooperated with Fox's public relations staff to engage in street photography.

The so-called 'street photography' is like what is often seen in newspapers and magazines, if someone thinks that those beautiful bubbling pictures are really street photos and not posed photos, they can only be said to be fooled by the stars and the companies behind them.

Generally, for these street shoots, the public relations will contact the reporter and the cameraman in advance, and the two parties will show the spirit of professionalism at the agreed place to create the best shooting effect, and before the finished pictures are reported, they must also be reviewed by the agency or public relations personnel to select the most suitable ones.

Of course, the street photographer will definitely have to pay a public relations fee.

Newspapers, magazines, posters, outdoor advertisements, and television and radio are the most conventional means of publicity, and the scandals of the leading actors are also hyped up by News Corp. and Time Warner's tabloids, and even they don't want to let go of Duke, the director.

Probably because Fox tasted the sweetness of pretending to be a couple in "Life and Death", plus in the past year, many tabloids have hyped up the scandal between Duke and Naomi Watts, I don't know what they said that moved Nancy Josephson and wanted Duke and Naomi Watts to play a couple.

Duke refused without even thinking about it, what are you kidding, pretending to be a couple or something, it's okay to watch others play, let yourself come, forget it.

There are many means of propaganda, and this one is not bad.

And Duke also took this opportunity to warn Nancy Josephson, reaffirming that she must not interfere in his private life!

As the release time approached, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox's promotional campaign became more and more violent, with promotional posters for the film visible in almost larger communities and billboards across the United States, and the trailer was released on Fox Family and NBC TV for ten consecutive days in late June, and even Good Morning America aired a special version of "Independence Day" the weekend before its release.

A copy was also sent to the White House by the producer, Bill Clinton's family enjoyed priority viewing treatment, and the media of Warner and Fox continued to talk about Clinton, and reports such as 'praise from the president' emerged one after another.

It is no exaggeration to say that almost all the film publicity channels and publicity techniques that can be used in this era are used in "Independence Day".

Liaising with theaters, preparing copies, determining premiere theaters, contacting premiere guests, etc., these tasks will naturally be the responsibility of the producer and distributor, and it is not difficult for Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox to be powerful.

Duke still adheres to the terms of the contract, and with the exception of minimal construction, he basically does not interfere with the publicity plan, and most of the time he cooperates with the strategy developed by the public relations staff.

Not to mention that he doesn't have maverick capital now, even if he does, he must follow certain rules, and those who don't take into account the reality and think that they can turn the world upside down in Hollywood are destined to just die.

Hollywood is not only the entertainment industry, even if it is only the nineties, just the output value of the film and its surrounding industries is close to 100 billion yuan every year, such a huge industry is closely watched by countless giants, if a person wants to break the rules, the consequences can be imagined.

Although the actual production of the film is only 90 million US dollars, the cost of books and publicity is still 100 million US dollars, such a super commercial masterpiece, naturally there must be a matching premiere theater, "Independence Day" premiere theater is now one of the standing theaters of the Oscars, the Temple Theater!

It was also the biggest premiere of Duke's directorial career, and of course he has only had two premieres so far.

"Speed of Life and Death" opened with a screening, and there was no premiere at all; In order to meet the occasion and save money, "Brave Death Island" chose Alcatraz Island Entertainment Plaza for premiere; Not only was the premiere of "Independence Day" held in one of the most famous theaters in the United States, but Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox also sent invitations to hundreds of media outlets around the world, which was bound to make the premiere a big hit.

Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox are targeting not only the North American market, but also overseas regions with growing manufacturing interests.

On June 30, 1994, the last Thursday of June, the sci-fi action blockbuster "Independence Day", which cost $100 million, kicked off its premiere at the Temple Theater in Los Angeles! R1152