Chapter 909： The Da Vinci Code

Although it will take some time for Pixar Studios to integrate into the system of Relativity Entertainment, Relativity Entertainment has begun to operate all products related to Pixar Studios from the moment the two parties signed the acquisition agreement.

For example, the latest two "Toy Story" animated short films quickly landed on Netflix streaming media, and the derivative short film "Big Eye Boy's New Car" of "Monsters Electric Company" will also be broadcast on Netflix streaming media after it is revised.

Also, notify the major broadcasting channels that after Walt Disney’s license for Pixar animated films expires, if they want to continue broadcasting, they need to negotiate a contract with Pixar Studios.

Then there are the vital peripheral products. According to the copyright return agreement, Disney has a one-year buffer period for peripheral products, and after one year, it needs to pay for authorization or remove it.

Since the beginning of 2006, Relativity Entertainment has placed a large number of orders with distributors on the other side of the Pacific. In the next few months, related products of Pixar Studio’s animation films will be continuously distributed through the marketing channels of Embassy Pictures. Distribute goods to the global market.

In addition, the Blu-ray DVD versions of these animated films are also being suppressed and will soon be available online.

Animated films like Pixar Studios have long-term operations through peripheral channels, and each one means more than one billion dollars in profits.

In the first month of 2006, the entire Relativity entertainment was quiet.

On the one hand, it is digesting the gains of the "Disney Project", such as Pixar Animation Studio, the live-action copyright of classic animation films, and the establishment of Princess Animation Studio.

On the other hand, external publicity and public relations resources are all tilted towards Brokeback Mountain.

With the help of the general trend of the society, and the unique culture and values ​​of a small number of special groups in the United States, "Brokeback Mountain" has become the top favorite of this year's Oscars.

In January, after Ang Lee ate fifty "plastic chickens", "Brokeback Mountain" won a lot of major outpost awards.

At the American TV Film Golden Globe Awards, "Brokeback Mountain" won a big win. Although it did not get any performance awards, it won the two most important awards for Best Film Director and Best Feature Film.

In the two most important weather vane awards, Ang Lee won the Best Film Director at the Directors Guild Award, and Brokeback Mountain won the Best Film at the Producers League Award.

The winning of these two weather vane awards also made "Brokeback Mountain" the number one favorite at this year's Oscars.

At the beginning of February, the 78th Academy Awards nominees luncheon was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Beverly Hills. "Brokeback Mountain" won Best Photography, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress A total of eight Oscar nominations including Best Actor and Best Picture.

The publicity and public relations work of Embassy Pictures is very well done.

However, there are also some strange voices constantly. After all, there are also a lot of conservative steel straight men, and some of them call the film "Brokeback Mountain" very disgusting through the media or online social media.

This is normal. A **** movie will inevitably bring about huge controversy.

After all, this is not ten years from now.

Fortunately, "Brokeback Mountain" filmed by Ang Lee is very subtle, and most of the centrists will not dislike it, and even arouse emotional resonance.

In this regard, it has to be said that Ang Lee’s oriental background has played an extremely important role.

If you change to a European director to shoot, you might have a spicy eye style such as male, male-on-male, and male-female. Artists like Lars von Trier may have old-fashioned enthusiasm. The direct lens show.

Ang Lee made a film with extremely sensitive subjects, which is very rare to be accepted by most people.

In this regard, the box office data of the film is the best proof.

Before the Oscar nomination was announced, "Brokeback Mountain" had been in the state of being shown in more than a dozen theaters, and the total box office in North America was only $1.73 million.

With eight Oscar nominations and becoming the most popular Oscar, Embassy Pictures began to expand its screenings on a large scale. The number of North American screening theaters for the film soared to 2,189, with a box office of $18.8 million that weekend.

Due to the outstanding reputation of the film, coupled with the Oscar effect, if the Oscars can be harvested later, the North American box office is expected to hit 100 million US dollars.

It is difficult to say overseas, but judging by the current equal rights situation of **** groups in Western society, the overseas box office should not be lower than the North American box office.

Ang Lee still has a certain appeal in the European market.

Embassy Pictures is still stepping up its PR for Brokeback Mountain, striving for the two important awards.

In early February, some statistical data of Relativity Entertainment was released. After years of copyright accumulation, channel development, and mergers and acquisitions, Relativity Entertainment's profits increased rapidly in 2005.

After Netflix went public, as the most money-burning subsidiary, Netflix’s financial accounting has been officially separated from Relativity Entertainment.

Last year, the entire group company achieved a net profit of US$2.1768 million.

This data is mainly composed of box office, copyright peripheral operations, and stock market investment.

Including several small-scale overseas films purchased, Relativity Entertainment released 21 films last year, with a gross box office profit of US$712.12 million.

The movies that contributed the most to the box office profit were "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", "The Bournemouth 3" and "Despicable Me".

The global box office of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" is as high as 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, and the latter two have both exceeded 600 million U.S. dollars. The three films contributed nearly half of the total box office profits.

Once a big investment and big production film is successful, it will create more profits.

Except for the profit on Disney's equity, the remaining profit mainly comes from TV series and various peripheral channels.

The single most profitable project comes from "Little Pig Page". Last year's annual revenue reached more than $600 million, but its production costs and publicity and distribution costs were quite low.

As more major production movie projects go online and many popular TV series are produced, Relativity Entertainment's profits will only get higher and higher.

Compared with profits, Relativity Entertainment’s debt is always under control. Even if the acquisition of Pixar Studios mobilizes a large amount of cash, the group’s capital chain is still running freely and maintains a considerable cash reserve.

In 2006, Relativity Entertainment is not considered an outsourcing film, and will still maintain more than 15 films, including many heavyweight works.

On the weekend after the Super Bowl, Embassy Pictures released the first film of Relativity Entertainment in 2006.

The movie "The Da Vinci Code" of the same name was filmed by Hai Entertainment and Tom Hanks's Pretone Pictures and adapted from a popular religious theme.

Compared with the relatively faster production speed of Relativity Entertainment, Tom Hanks is the producer and the film directed by Ron Howard can be said to be a typical Hollywood medium and large-scale production mode of operation.

One year of preparation, one year of shooting and production, and then another year of publicity and distribution.

According to the agreement reached by Shahai Entertainment and Pretone Pictures on the cross-investment of "Mamma Mia" and "The Da Vinci Code", Ronan basically did not participate in the production of "The Da Vinci Code". The whole film is basically It was all done under the control of Tom Hanks and Ron Howard.

The special religious themes, coupled with the content of the original content that is almost blasphemous for religious people, this film has caused countless controversies since its preparation.

"The Da Vinci Code" has been turbulent since the beginning of the filming. The Catholic League and the Ministry of Trade Union groups sent protests and opposition letters, making the film the most controversial film from 2005 to 2006.

The Union of God’s Affairs had hoped that the name of the organization could be hidden when the film was adapted and filmed. After this request was rejected, the Union of God’s Affairs launched a campaign to rectify its own name, through various media, and used various methods to explain the mistakes. Way to describe its organization.

There are even bishops who have launched their own blog to refute the "untrue words" of "The Da Vinci Code".

The level of protest has also intensified as the movie's release approaches.

But movies are always a very special commodity, and controversies that may be fatal when placed on other commodities are often a booster for movies.

Just like "The Passion of the Christ", the controversy has brought widespread attention to "The Da Vinci Code".

A film can cause widespread controversy, which often means that the film can be commercially successful.

Relativity Entertainment and Embassy Pictures are also experienced in this area.

For example, on the eve of the release of "The Da Vinci Code", many religious experts called on all Catholics to watch this fallacy movie. Only in this way can we discover the errors.

This call has also been responded to by some religious groups.

It is undeniable that most experts are high-end elites.

But there are also some experts who are veritable "bricks"!

However, no matter how much the film argues, the crew will not directly participate in it. Tom Hanks and Ron Howard are also smart people.

At the premiere, in the face of interviews from many media reporters, Ron Howard wisely raised the banner of "fiction": "The film will not be overly entangled in religious issues Dan Brown is a successful writer. Rather than religious and historians, we made this movie because I like this story."

Tom Hanks also stated clearly: "The focus of the film is the horror and suspenseful plot. All we want to do is make a good film that is not too religious."

Ronan did not go to the media to join in the excitement. Religion is too sensitive. Relativity Entertainment stays behind Tom Hanks' Pretone Pictures and makes as much money as possible.

Just like what Embassy Pictures did when Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" was released.

Ronan just greeted the guests in the VIP room, and went straight into the theater, waiting for the movie to be shown.

Frankly speaking, as a non-believer, who has never studied the Bible or the like, it is somewhat rare to understand the "Da Vinci Code".

Some of the organizations and allusions that appear in it are not well understood by the audience in the East.

This will cause some viewers to look confused.