v2 Chapter 936： Movies are always a business

On Christmas Day, Duke did not rest and relax. He spent Christmas Eve with his mother and Scarlett Johansson. He and other members of the crew left North America on a plane to start the film’s overseas promotional journey. Force Awakening is still advancing in the North American market.

On Christmas Day, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" earned $59.34 million in box office in North America, breaking the Christmas box office record of $24.6 million created by "Detective Sherlock Holmes" on Christmas Day 2009 when it premiered.

The dazzling performance of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" also took the North American market to a new high. The North American film market received more than 100 million US dollars on Christmas this year, breaking the 2009 year when "Detective Sherlock Holmes" and "Avatar" were co-hosted. Box office record on Christmas Day was $86 million.

The box office on the three days of Christmas and weekends in 2015 is also likely to break the box office record of $260 million in the same period in 2009, becoming the highest in North American film history.

On this overseas publicity trip, Duke specially invited George Lucas, he is not the former Walt Disney after all, George Lucas also readily agreed.

George Lucas's colleagues also added a lot of attention to this overseas publicity trip.

Although media reports always refer to the Star Wars Prequel trilogy, in Duke’s mind, George Lucas’s status far surpasses Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola. .

This has nothing to do with the relationship between the two, but because George Lucas can be said to be the founder of the modern film industry.

The Star Wars series, or George Lucas, fundamentally pioneered the modern series of movies.

Hollywood and even the world film industry recognized that Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" in 1975 opened the era of summer blockbusters, and the "Star Wars" series took Hollywood blockbusters to a whole new level.

At the end of the 1970s, the series of films were not popular in Hollywood. The "Planet of the Apes" series and the "007" series are the only remaining successful examples. The emergence of the Star Wars series and its brilliant achievements have changed all of this. Hollywood has begun to seriously think about and explore a series of film product projects.

To a large extent, the success of "Harry Potter" series, Duke's "Lord of the Rings" series and Marvel series are inseparable from George Lucas's 1977 groundbreaking initiative.

Duke's phrase "George Lucas is the Edison of the film industry" is not just to say, because he has also found an extremely important aspect of profitability and even survival for Hollywood movies.

George Lucas is outside of creating a popular series of movies. It also created a business model for film derivatives.

Before that, the movie surroundings were generally limited to T-shirts and some small souvenirs, and the number was not large; while the "Star Wars" series surroundings were large in quantity and high in quality.

Lucas has successively cooperated with toy giants Mattel, Hasbro, and Lego to develop many Star Wars series toys, including characters, scenes, and spaceships.

This was also the forerunner of the "soldier boom" in the early 1980s and cultivated a large number of "collection control" fans. It also gave hot-blooded teenagers the first opportunity to buy a "Luke Skywalker" after leaving the theater. Or "Han Solo" set up and restore his favorite scene at home.

You should know that there was no home theater in the late 1970s and early 1980s. By deriving peripherals, George Lucas also cultivated future fans in the new generation who had not watched movies.

A lot of people. Especially children, they often fall in love with its derivatives before watching a movie.

This trick has since been used by countless movies and manufacturers, and has also established a fan base for the American "Saturday Morning Cartoon" in the 1980s, such as "Transformers", "Universe Giant Seaman", and "Special Forces". , Are all examples of selling toys better than making films.

Even now, Duke still remembers that when he was studying in the 1980s, the popular games on American campuses suddenly changed from "police and thieves" to "rebels and empire soldiers", with lightsabers and laser pistols brandishing everywhere. Child. With the rise of game consoles, the Star Wars series has also developed related games. An interstellar adventure for street teenagers to immerse themselves in human-computer interaction.

In fact, as of today, the entire Star Wars series of products, including movies, video games, toys, etc., have already earned more than 30 billion U.S. dollars in global revenue.

There is a process for fans to grasp the Star Wars culture and integrate it into their own lives, but this special skill of Lucasfilm has existed from the beginning. This is also a big difference between it and other companies that do not let people do this or let people do it all the time in accordance with legal regulations.

So the Star Wars fan base has been growing secretly. When the children grow up, they will become fans. There are now three generations of Star Wars fans. If you think about it carefully. It will feel quite scary.

In London, the first stop of the crew's overseas publicity trip, a reporter asked Duke what he thought of the huge business system established by George Lucas through the first episode of Star Wars.

"The first thing I thought of was that when the first episode of Star Wars was released, there was no derivatives industry in Hollywood."

Indeed, there was no concept of an industrial chain in Hollywood at that time. What Duke said was the basic fact, "I think George's acquisition of the merchandise marketing rights for this series of movies is the most critical step in the history of the entire Star Wars industry. "

After thinking a little bit, he said, "Film is always a business, but few movies can achieve the ultimate in this respect like "Star Wars." When the first episode of Star Wars was released, there were no such routines in the world. Some of the billion-dollar derivative industries are just Star Wars stories. But these concepts, such as all hearts and lives are also maintained and connected by the Force; there is a struggle between justice and evil in the world; The peasant kid who popped out of an unknown place can also become a key figure in resisting the almost irresistible evil force. It is on these concepts that a huge Star Wars business empire has been constructed."

The fans who have chosen their career path under the influence of "Star Wars" are not only film directors like Duke, but many children who grew up watching the original Star Wars series have chosen to work in nasa and the aerospace industry.

For example, Nasa astronaut Jer? Lindgren also accepted the invitation of the crew to come to London to participate in this Star Wars propaganda event, and in an interview with reporters, said, "I think Star Wars alone is enough to inspire Imagination, and the high-tech, and the idea of ​​being able to work and live in outer space are also very exciting. Our generation of astronauts have seen "New Hope", "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" when they were children. ". Personally, Star Wars is one of the many reasons why I became interested in space navigation."

When making a show on Sky TV, Duke said, "Star Wars has been undiminished after 40 years of years. It should be summed up in one most appropriate word: legend. Like Greek myths, Western legends, Shakespeare Like books, these stories have withstood the test of time and are still appreciated by the new generation of audiences to this day. One of the attractions of "The Force Awakens" is that parents can take their children into the theater and put They lead into this unique universe, just like our parents did when we were children many years ago..."

Of course, not everyone will praise this movie, and Duke and the power of Star Wars will not be able to kill the whole world.

There are also people on the Internet who do not buy Duke and Star Wars accounts.

"There are two recognized liars in this world, one is fame, the other is profit, and there is another important liar-trend! There is no doubt that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" led the trend at the end of this year, but Such a giant system is often a film that has completely failed in art. It is a commercial film created by the completely vulgar Duke Rosenberg for money and profit!"

"Such films can occupy the box office and sweep the Christmas timetable, not by the artistic achievements that we are proud of, but by the stimulation of the senses, the stimulation of the eyeballs, and the stimulation of the endocrine."

"Our society can't be so vulgar forever. People will always need to exercise numbing and elegant art. Even if the completely vulgar Duke Rosenberg can now occupy the box office, it will definitely be in the near future. The audience discarded!"

"The film directors represented by Duke Rosenberg have forgotten the original function and mission of the film. They are increasingly betraying the definition of the film itself, and more and more have made the film far away from real life..."

Even so, the crew's overseas trips are still welcomed by various cities. Not to mention, the hundreds of reporters who flood in every event are an excellent tool for publicity.

In addition, there are a lot of wealthy and leisurely fans who follow the crew after the Los Angeles premiere day. They are all welcomed by merchants.

Everywhere I go, the crew of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is the focus of everyone. Every publicity can be called a war. Being surrounded by thousands of people has become the norm. Many people sometimes sign their right hands numb. , Had to change his left hand, fortunately it was just a signature, otherwise it would definitely make a fool of.

"On December x, the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" crew held an event in **** city. After Duke Rosenberg and crew members appeared, the whole city was boiling..."

This kind of news can attract the public's attention at the beginning, and then it has become the norm. In the eyes of everyone, it is normal for Duke's crew to be welcomed. The day they receive a cold reception is the big news.

The whole of Europe was a sensation because of the publicity tour led by Duke.

Those filmmakers who are full of literary and artistic styles, such as European directors who claim to be "pure art", of course will not be reconciled, claiming that movies are nothing more than vulgar stories, combined with cg images of computer technology, losing the original flavor of the movies charm.

Even European audiences will not believe this sour remark, and the North American media simply don't bother to take care of it.

For the film and ordinary fans, they have little influence at all. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" also won the box office champions in North America and the world for the next weekend without any suspense. (To be continued.)

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