Chapter 127: Death is not easy

Compared with the last time "Human Removal Project", the trial screening of "Reaper Is Coming" went very smoothly. After the trial screening, Embassy Pictures did not spend much tongue, and won 500 more from the major theater companies in North America. In addition to the 2,000 or so theaters previously identified, "Death Is Coming" will be opened in North America on a super large scale of more than 2,500 theaters.
In addition, many chain theater companies have guaranteed that the rate of filming will not be less than 15% during the opening day.
North America is the most mature commercial film market in the world. Major theater companies have long established standards for the quality of screening films. The creepy feeling of "Reaper is Coming" can be experienced even if you are not a horror film fan.
If "Blair the Witch" is purely a "deceptive" promotion and marketing, then the horror film "Reaper is Coming", in addition to marketing, its own quality is also sufficient to attract audiences.
After confirming the screening theater, Ronan signed a loan agreement, and the large sum of funds from Relativity Entertainment was transferred to Embassy Pictures again, ready to print 3,500 copies at a time.
"Ace Agent" and "Reaper Is Coming" will be released one after another, and the post-screening promotion of the two films has reached the most critical stage.
The former has limited capital investment, and outdoor advertisements can only be seen near minority communities. Almost all media advertisements are put on newspapers and television stations that target ethnic minorities.
With the Arab male protagonist as the core, this film brings together African, Asian and Latino and other positive supporting roles to defeat white terrorists.
Although extremely politically correct, the main audience must be ethnic minorities.
In this era, there are not many ethnic minority stars like Will Smith who have real market appeal.
In the next ten years, Ronan dared to continuously invest in the production of black movies, and the risk is much smaller than using white men as the male lead.
The pre-screening publicity budget of "Ace Agent" is only 2 million U.S. dollars. In addition to the distribution expenses, Ronan plans to control the publicity and distribution costs of this film within 5 million U.S. dollars.
Regarding "Reaper Is Coming", the media and theaters have received great response from the screening. Ronan temporarily increased the total propaganda budget to 10 million US dollars.
After a large sum of money went down, the pre-screening promotion momentum was very strong. In newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, and outdoor billboards, it was easy to find posters and advertisements for "Death is Coming", and two different trailers were also entered NBC/ABC and several popular cable TV stations’ evening commercials.
At stores such as Blockbuster and Wal-Mart that sell rental discs and videotapes, posters have been posted in prominent locations early on.
The advertising effect is directly proportional to the investment. Even the opportunistic propaganda method of "Blair the Witch" caused a sensational effect with tens of millions of dollars.
The trial screening effect is good and the investment is high. If this is not an R-rated film, but a PG or PG-13 rating, the Embassy Pictures may win more theaters.
Since the editing was done by Jessica Felton, this film was also influenced by Ronan, the producer. The most typical example is the increase in blood scale. If measured by Ronan’s standards, it is probably the same as "Reaper Coming 3 is about the same level.
This is taking into account the needs of mainstream audiences in North American horror films.
It is only at the end of the nineties. Horror films without enough plasma are not scary enough in the eyes of many traditional horror movie viewers.
After the release of "007: Black Sun Crisis", the response of "Ace Agent", which was also posted as an advertisement, was mediocre. Perhaps most viewers are not used to an Arab face frequently appearing in front of the camera.
In contrast, "Reaper is Coming" has attracted widespread attention.
The media comments of the trial screening have been suppressed by the Embassy Pictures. Now that the time comes, the media who participated in the trial screening have released relevant comments, and the media reputation is generally good.
"The highlight of "Reaper is coming" lies in its creativity, the inevitable death doom, the ubiquitous death crisis, the new and weird ways of death, and the exquisite but close-to-life layout of death. Many plot designs seem ingenious. Say. The layers of the story make the viewer’s curiosity always mobilized to a certain height, and this kind of emotional tension runs through the film."
"Premier" magazine gave this horror film an excellent review.
The influential entertainment magazine "Variety Show" also gave a very good review of the screening, with a score of four stars out of five stars.
"The story of "Reaper Is Coming" is simple, the title is enough to explain the whole story of the movie, but it is so different from the traditional horror film, in this movie there is no monster that will roar, and There is no sudden appearance of grievances and ghosts, some are just the fear of death that is pressing for death after a group of students have escaped by mistake. This kind of death is not terrible, but the terrible thing is the process of waiting for death. The unknown fear of the movie has become the most outstanding conception of the film, and the horror created by this can be so exciting and breathless."
In the office, Ronan put down the newspaper, found another statistical report and read it.
This is a survey conducted by Embassy Pictures which hires a third-party market research company for the Internet and general fan groups. It can also be regarded as a market barometer so that the promotion of the film can be adjusted in time according to the actual situation.
Among the data in the report, "Reaper is Coming" has aroused social attention far worse than "Blair the Witch".
Randomly consulted young people under the age of 25 on the street. Less than 20% of the people who had heard of the name "Reaper Is Coming" were close to 50% before the screening of "Blair the Witch".
As for the discussion of the two films on the Internet, it is not at the same level.
Ronan made an estimate based on these data. The North American box office of "Reaper Is Coming" cannot be compared to "Blair the Witch."
How many box offices did "Reaper Coming" get in the previous life? He has no relevant memory, but he can be sure that he succeeded, otherwise he would not have shot so many sequels later.
Being a of death is not easy, you need to keep reaping people's lives on the screen in order to create profits for the film company.
There was a knock on the door, Ronan said please come in, Mary pushed the door and walked in, pulled the chair away and sat opposite him.
She put a document in front of Ronan and said: "The US$50 million that Sony Columbia Pictures purchased for the overseas copyright of "Blair the Witch" has arrived. You said that you would reserve 20% for the establishment of Embassy Pictures. For reserve funds for overseas distribution channels, I signed an agreement with them in the form of a commission from a broker. This is a contract and you need to sign on it."
Ronan flipped it through and signed it.
Mary handed over two more contracts: "This is the latest loan agreement for the two projects "Ace Agent" and "Reaper Is Coming". You also need to sign it."
Ronan read it once, signed and said: "Accounts must be done, and the accounts of these two projects must be sent to Abu Dhabi."
"Shall we go to Abu Dhabi?" Mary asked.
Ronan said: "I won't go for the time being. I will invite relevant people to Los Angeles. If they don't want to come, let the acting accountant do the settlement."
For some reason, Ronan has become more upset about Abu Dhabi since the last time I saw the Semir.
It has been two years since he came to Los Angeles. How much did he pay from the imminent bankruptcy to the current situation? He was busy with work, did not relax for a moment to study and recharge, etc. As a result, he hardly slept before twelve o'clock in the evening.
Strictly speaking, it means that I slept a little earlier in the dark nights with Carmen Cass.
With so much effort, the career is finally considered to be a start, but there are people watching from behind. How can you feel at ease?
Ronan used the investment of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to create a good situation today. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is not stupid, and Mansour has already had an idea.
But if you do it again, Ronan will go to Abu Dhabi to raise money.
It was too difficult to solve the funding problem for the first film.
If Ronan is really a good friend of the "Arab people", the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has a need and will definitely respond. With the wealth of the Arabs, he will definitely be satisfied with funds, but he knows that he is not a connection with the Arabs. There is only one channel-funds!
If the UAE has no money, will he go to Abu Dhabi?
Friendship with Arab brothers can only be measured by money.
Mary doesn't want to go to Abu Dhabi anymore. Although Abu Dhabi looks prosperous, even if she has been there several times, in her inherent impression, Arab countries are still barbaric, ignorant and backward.
When Ronan said that she did not need to go to Abu Dhabi as the financial director to settle the future earnings of the two films, Mary also changed the subject and said, "Isn’t "Reaper Coming" going to premiere in early December? Can I Bring some friends to attend?"
"Yes~EbookFREE.me~ Ronan agreed: "They are welcome to join us. "
Since there are no star actors, James Wong has just become famous, Ronan is somewhat worried that the premiere will be cold.
He even said hello to Robert in advance, specifically looking for some "movie fans" to come over.
Mary smiled and said, "I can bring four or five people to join in."
Ronan reminded: "You give Robert a call, he is in charge of the premiere."
The premiere was planned by an external company, and Robert was the head of Embassy Pictures.
Mary said "Yeah" and was about to leave. Suddenly she remembered that she still had a document in her hand and handed it to Ronan, and said: "Some time ago you asked me to send a recruitment notice to recruit professional gunners. Ten people submitted their resumes. I screened it. , Here are the resumes of three people who meet the requirements."
Ronan took it and flipped it briefly, and said, "Yes, I will let them arrange an interview."
After Mary left, Ronan called Eva, the front desk of the Embassy Pictures, and gave her her resume and asked her to call the candidates and ask them to come for an interview tomorrow.
These three people are all under the age of forty, and have previously published novels in newspapers and magazines. One of them is a screenwriter who works at the bottom of Hollywood, and they are all experienced people.
The front desk quickly made an appointment with these three people, and the interview was scheduled for tomorrow morning.