It was also in early May that Duke completed all post-production of Transforrs, after adding the the song sung by Taylor Swift and the opening logos of Hasbro and Warner Bros. This also ant that Warner Bros.’ distribution could officially move into full operation.
The film would be released simultaneously in nearly a hundred markets worldwide. Although the screening tis would vary due to ti zone differences, for Warner Bros., it was still an extrely large-scale project.
Nowadays, international co-productions are becoming more common, which also ans that both parties must not only recognize each other’s business data, but also establish stronger mutual trust between buyers and sellers.
There is no doubt that, backed by dia conglorates and with a long enough history, the six major Hollywood studios have unparalleled advantages in this regard.
From presales to copy production, confidentiality, transportation, and garnering support from local dia, distributors, and theater chains in each market, Warner Bros. is a leader. These advantages, built up over decades of developnt, are absolutely beyond the reach of newcors like Lionsgate.
With the dia launching a bombardnt-style promotional campaign for Transforrs, copies of the film were also shipped around the world. Warner assigned specialized personnel to handle confidentiality, in order to prevent premature leaks.
Thousands of standard copies and nearly twenty IMAX copies were delivered to China by professional teams. Since the China Film Group participated in the investnt, Transforrs encountered significantly fewer obstacles so much so that not even a single cut was made by the notorious scissors.
This was also related to Duke’s production. While the film certainly included displays of the U.S. military’s bravery and world-saving actions, it contained no content that could be seen as a veiled criticism of this side.
Chinese moviegoers have deep resentnt toward those scissors, blaming them almost entirely for the slow developnt of Chinese cinema even though, in so cases, it wasn’t actually the scissors’ fault.
"Not a single cut." In this market, that alone was an excellent promotional gimmick.
Headlines like "Transforrs Passes Mainland Film Bureau Review at Lightning Speed, Confird for Release with Not a Single Cut" naturally began appearing across dia platforms.
"The market across the Pacific represents the future, but the North Arican market is the present."
In an IMAX theater in Washington, D.C., Duke sat near the front row and said to Tina Fey, "And for the next several decades, the North Arican market will continue to be our foundation."
Tina Fey withdrew her gaze from the crowd of uniford soldiers behind them. "So that’s why we’re having this advance screening?"
Duke would never neglect the North Arican market, and Warner Bros.’ promotional spending here was the highest. To build hype, they had even organized this special ’military screening.’ Apart from a few crew and dia mbers, most of the attendees were U.S. military personnel, especially soldiers and officers who had participated in the on-location shoots.
Approximately 600 active-duty soldiers and their families attended this secret premiere of Transforrs.
"Let’s hope they all give it a good review," Tina Fey said, sowhat concerned.
Military personnel are different from the average viewer, and PR work is comparatively more challenging.
Duke gently patted her arm. "Don’t forget—Arican soldiers in the movie can’t find any worthy opponents on Earth anymore, so they have to fight aliens."
Hearing this, Tina Fey couldn’t help but laugh. This was a film that portrayed the military and soldiers in a positive light. Even if so soldiers didn’t like this kind of film, they likely wouldn’t harshly criticize it.
Just like Captain Arica, which had premiered earlier in May. Because it had to show Steve Rogers’ transformation into Captain Arica and his interactions with Natasha Romanoff, the plot and effects weren’t particularly dazzling. Still, the dia and critics were generally favorable.
The Arican spirit promoted by the film aligned perfectly with what mainstream society had always advocated. It fit the public’s aesthetic values. In today’s post-comic-book-boom era, a relatively plain film like this still managed to pull in over $82 million in its opening weekend in North Arica. This clearly showed that both the film’s ssage and the ideals represented by Captain Arica had strong support.
Movies have never existed solely as audiovisual products they are always closely tied to the social environnt.
The U.S. military needs an excellent comrcial to boost recruitnt. The Pentagon needs a widely distributed film to reshape the military’s image globally. Duke needs the military’s professional skills and access to various advanced weapons and equipnt.
Thus, this tightly coordinated collaboration between Hollywood and the Pentagon produced Transforrs.
When the film reached the part where the Autobots and U.S. soldiers united to fight the evil Decepticons, the audience in the theater burst into enthusiastic applause.
On screen, good and evil clashed in fierce battles, action scenes dazzled the eyes, and the audio effects were spectacular and overwhelming.
The audiovisual experience provided by IMAX 3D was astounding. After the film ended, the adrenaline-filled soldiers praised Transforrs to the dia with no reservations.
"No doubt, this is the best movie I’ve ever seen," said Sergeant Mario Youngrod in full military uniform.
He had just stepped out of the theater and was visibly excited. "I watched the animated series as a kid—this movie blows the cartoon out of the water."
After the screening, Warner Bros. survey personnel stood outside the theater to ask soldiers for their thoughts on the film. The feedback they received was almost unanimously enthusiastic and positive. One soldier, when talking about how Hollywood portrayed the military, said, "Duke Rosenberg is the only director in Hollywood who can accurately portray the image of the military."
"The film’s visual effects are incredibly engaging audiences will finally understand what the Air Force is really about."
Speaking to Fox Television, Mike Gasparto, an officer working in the Air Force’s personnel departnt, said, "Audiences will get a chance to see so of the exciting things my departnt does."
Another Air Force officer walking with him was also interviewed, "There are a lot of Air Force officers in the movie, over a dozen military roles with speaking lines. I think it’s really important for young people to know that the Air Force does more than just fly people around in planes."
All the responses from the test screenings were imdiately reported by the dia under Warner Bros.’ direction and quickly beca a major focus for many entertainnt outlets and film magazines. Transforrs naturally beca the most anticipated super blockbuster of June and perhaps all of 2008.
During the period leading up to the film’s premiere in China, Duke, like the two lead actors of the cast, had a schedule packed to the brim, with non-stop publicity events entering his calendar one after another.
On Monday, Duke gave an exclusive interview to Entertainnt Weekly.
In response to the question, "Why are your movies always so successful?" he answered—"My mother once said that the only way to make money is to aim at the general public. Transforrs is the sa. Many of my films are about heroes, or about the stories of heroes growing up."
On Tuesday, Duke beca the cover figure of the new issue of Empire magazine.
On a prominent inner page of the magazine, he answered the question, "Why do Hasbro and Warner Bros. both think you’re the best director for Transforrs?"—"I have a very sharp sense for visual effects. Mr. George Lucas once said I have the best pair of eyes in Hollywood. I also like sharing ideas with others. In the editing room, Mike Dawson jokingly slapped my leg. Why? Because Transforrs brings out people’s inner child."
On Wednesday, Duke once again made headlines on Yahoo Entertainnt.
The Yahoo reporter asked him, "There was a ti when Transforrs received heavy criticism in the dia. Why was that?"
Duke replied—"When I had lunch with Sarah from the Los Angeles Tis, I asked her why I was being criticized so badly at the ti. She said, ’You beca famous too early. The point of building up celebrities in the dia is so one day they can be chopped down all at once.’"
On Thursday, one of Duke’s interviews appeared on a prominent page of The Hollywood Reporter.
The journalist focused on his new movie: "How did you create the action scenes in Transforrs?"
Duke gave a long response, "I film action scenes by focusing on the key points and rhythm of events. For instance, in a car chase scene what’s the rhythm of the events? When shooting, I use models to find the right feeling, replaying the entire sequence in my head scene by scene."
"I don’t use storyboards to string scenes together—that stuff is trash, and no one in the crew looks at it anyway. I usually explain the scene beside the set using a prop car. You might think that’s a bit silly. But I think it’s crucial because not everyone in the crew is sharp enough to do their part right you have to make sure they don’t ss things up."
"I draw the prop car on paper and tell them, ’You turn here, do a little action when the gun fires, then turn there, and do this and that.’ It would take a huge effort to explain a scene using storyboards. Explaining it on-site is much clearer."
On Friday, Duke appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show.
Facing the woman known as Hollywood’s top lady charr, who asked, "Do you enjoy making movies?"—he answered very seriously, "I love the feeling of the cara rolling. On the set of Transforrs, when the actors perform, I don’t film right away—I want to see their eyes first. There’s just so much the cara needs to capture. Actually, I started out in Hollywood as an actor... In so late ’80s films, you can see shots of as a background extra."
On Saturday, Duke wrapped up his intensive North Arican publicity schedule and boarded his private business jet to cross the Pacific Ocean and head to China for the global premiere of Transforrs.
Before him, Tina Fey had already led many staff mbers over there. Dozens of massive Autobot and Decepticon models had also arrived in Shanghai, just waiting for the premiere to begin.
....
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