An original story about an unknown alien life without a big star, and not a sequel to any movie, with a price tag of $550 million - can such a movie make money?

Even with the success of "Titanic" in the past, the industry and the media are skeptical about whether such a large investment can be rewarded in the market.

Maybe looking at Hollywood, the only people who really have confidence are Ryan and James? Cameron, as well as Disney management.

It's not for nothing that Disney management is confident.

Long before the start of filming, James? Cameron signed a cost-and-share agreement with Disney, under which Cameron would have to give up most of his profit share if the cost of production exceeded $280 billion. If the film doesn't reach $1 billion at the global box office, he will only get a basic directorial pay of $20 million.

James? Cameron and Disney have also developed a new digital camera system for the film, and the patent for this camera system is jointly owned by both parties, and many crews have already targeted this equipment, from the summer to the present, this set of equipment has brought 14 million US dollars to both sides in revenue.

The post-production of "Avatar" was completed by New Zealand's famous Weta Digital Studios, so it was also eligible for New Zealand's tax refund, and Disney saved a lot of money from it.

In addition to the $250 million production cost, Disney's main investment in the film was in marketing - $300 million!

Of course, this figure is just a plan and external publicity, and in fact it must be discounted.

First, the global economic downturn has reduced the cost of advertising.

SECOND, DISNEY IS USING ITS INTERNAL RESOURCES TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THE LEAST AMOUNT OF MONEY — MORE RECENTLY, ABC, ESPN, DISNEY CHANNEL AND THE A+E NETWORK ALL AIRED AVATAR TRAILERS BEFORE PRIMETIME SPECIAL SHOWS, AND SITES LIKE YOUTUBE, TWITTER AND FACEBOOK HAVE SET UP PAGES PROMOTING AVATAR.

Most of this advertising spend flows within Disney, and the actual consumption figures are much smaller than planned.

Furthermore. Disney also teamed up with James? Cameron partnered with Panasonic to develop a Panasonic 3D home theater system, and they provided free technical support for the film and bundled Avatar in the company's home theater marketing.

That alone saved Disney $25 million in promotional dollars.

Therefore, Disney's spending on publicity will most likely not exceed $200 million in the end.

Speaking of which, these are not overly secretive things, and industry insiders can come to similar conclusions as long as they analyze them carefully. But for film critics in the twilight of the sunset, none of this matters at all, as long as they see the figure of a total investment of $550 million, these guys feel as if they have been robbed by Disney, gritting their teeth with hatred.

Of course, they do have a reason to hate, after all, of all the big Hollywood companies, Disney is the first company that really touches the interests of the film critics industry.

$550 million, even if it's a little discounted. Even for a large group like Disney with a market value of nearly $90 billion, if it really loses, it will vomit blood, and even trigger a series of chain reactions.

Don't say anything else. The volatility in the stock market alone would have caused Disney huge losses.

After so many years of hard work, and after so long of hard life, North American film critics finally saw the answer to Ryan? Jenkins' chance to fight back. The one who took their cake, took their gloom, and smashed it completely. Definitely the person they hate the most.

"Supposedly this project is Ryan? Jenkins pushed hard for the results. ”

Sitting on the phone, Roger? Albert was writing and drawing on paper, and his assistant was on the phone, just in time to ask his colleague David Brown, who lives in New York. Denby conveyed his opinion, "If Avatar fails, he is bound to take responsibility for the project, and may even lose his position as chairman and creative director of Disney." ”

"This is our chance!"

Roger? Albert's pen almost cut through the paper, and he now regrets the praise given to that teenager in the early to mid-nineties, and if he had known that there would be today, he would have united all the critics to ruin the emaciated teenager at the beginning!

Even if he knew that this was not a big possibility, after all, after entering the 90s, their influence on commercial films was very small, and Hollywood producers were not allowed to destroy their gold machines, but he still wanted to go back in time and try it, because the other party gave him a cold reception that he had never tasted before.

Assistant hung up with David? Denby's phone, and according to Roger? Albert's instructions were dialed one by one by JR. Jones, Dave? Edelstein, Joe? Morgenstern, Rene? Rodrigo, Kenneth? Calls from well-known film critics such as Turran.

Most people responded to his call, except for the Los Angeles Times' Kenneth? Turan refused.

This is not too surprising, and now that film critics have been kicked out by their respective signing media, Kenneth? Turan can also cooperate with the Los Angeles Times, and maybe he has the support of someone behind it.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, Roger? Albert's new agent strode in and said to him, "The other party has already remitted $2.5 million to the account." ”

Nodding slightly, Roger? Albert writes again - sue them, and we will soon make a critical comment!

Disney's promotion of "Avatar" has been very smooth, although many media are questioning whether the film can recover the huge investment, but the sixteen-minute clip released is really good, and not many people doubt the quality of the film, Ryan and James? Cameron is almost a guarantee of quality, but there are many media commenting that if the film can guarantee the quality of those sixteen minutes, maybe "Avatar" can really create a zào miracle.

After entering mid-December, it is getting closer and closer to the global simultaneous release of "Avatar" on December 19, and many traditional media and large websites have suddenly appeared the voices of some former well-known film critics.

Disney has a huge presence in the media industry, but it has no control over the media, and no other media group in North America can do that.

The voice of singing "Avatar" suddenly became louder.

"Judging from the pictures that have been shown, "Avatar" is not new except for technology."

"It's a typical movie hoax, Avatar will bust Ryan? Jenkins-esque cinematic mythology. ”

"Too ambitious, too excited, we have a work like "The Shawshank Redemption" is enough, why should "Avatar" be 3D? It's not about making audience money! ”

"Ryan? Jenkins and James? The 3D film advocated by Cameron is for the sake of red. Naked commercial interests, they only care about the audience's pockets, never care about the audience's feelings! ”

An industry seems to be struggling to make its loudest voice before it bursts.

Their industry leader, the convener of this operation on the surface, the most famous film critic in the United States - Roger? Albert is no exception.

"I ask everyone to seriously think about it, is 3D cinema really necessary? How do you feel after watching the 3D movie? What kind of realizations will it bring you? 3D movies actually only bring exhaustion and over-fatigue your brain and glasses, because every square of the 3D movie shows us something that is simply not necessary! ”

Although he has not paid much attention to the group of professional film critics for a long time, the other party seems to have a lot of momentum this time, Ryan still saw some related comments, he was a little strange, Disney really can't influence all the media, but because it can't bring enough attention, most of the slightly larger media have almost canceled their cooperation with film critics.

What's going on with their voices being so loud these days?

"George......" Ryan subconsciously felt that things would not be so simple, and dialed the phone on his desk, "Recently, the film critics have reacted a little strangely, so let people check it." ”

Within minutes of him buttoning the phone, George's call came back, "Ryan, Kenneth from the Los Angeles Times?" Turan just called Robert and he said this is Roger? Albert convened for unified action. ”

Roger? Albert? Ryan couldn't help but frown.

This film critic used to have a very high status, but for a behemoth like Walt Disney, it is not worth mentioning at all, and Disney also taught him enough lessons when attacking "Transformers", hasn't he learned to be smarter, or is he really confused?

Even if the other party has no mouth, Ryan doesn't think he will become confused, since he dares to stand up and call out Disney again, he must have a certain amount of confidence, and where does this confidence come from?

Dialing the secretary's phone, Ryan asked her to quickly compile a list of media outlets that speak for film critics, including print media and websites, but without a unified mark, scattered under various media companies across the United States, and even several websites, as well as shares in his foundation.

These media are basically the type of people who take people's money and do things for others in the industry.

Film critics will attack "Avatar", Ryan is not surprised at all, he and Disney not only moved their cake, but even smashed the glamour of the industry, directly leading to the decline of their group, if placed on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, it is simply a deep hatred of killing his father and wife.

But the other party's voice is so loud, there will inevitably be someone behind it.

Who are those people? Ryan thought of this for the first time, then shook his head.

The other five major film companies in Hollywood can be the object of suspicion, if "Avatar" is a super hit, the films released at the same time will inevitably hit the rocks, who is the biggest producer of "Avatar" who is most directly confronted?

Twentieth Century Fox's "Alvin and the Chipmunk 2"! (To be continued......)