Chapter 32: Finalized Release
The schedule was quickly sent to Duke's hands, and although he was dissatisfied with the conservative release strategy of 20th Century Fox, he knew that he had no capital to object to this.
The most prudent and advantageous method of release for Fox was also what Duke wantedfor the film to be shown in one thousand to three thousand theaters across North America. But that was an unrealistic pipe dream!
Without even mentioning the high promotional costs that are inevitably incurred for a wide release, the money spent on making copies alone is a huge sum of money.
A 35mm copy of a movie today costs around $600. If the movie is shown on 3,000 screens, that's $1.8 million. With the uncertain prospects of the movie market, 20th Century Fox is not going to be very generous.
Hollywood's big companies are full of deception and fraud, but they are never charitable organizations.
Fox can observe the response of the market in the twentieth century. If the audience and the single-hall box office is excellent. it is not difficult for them to print thousands of copies in a short time and expand the scale of the show quickly.
In the end, if the film does well, 20th Century Fox will make a killing in profits; if the film fails, 20th Century Fox wouldn't have lost much.
This is the simplest rule in Hollywood, people without capital have to obey it.
It was clear to Duke that "Speed" did not have enough potential in the market to warrant Fox investing too many resources in it and that a detailed promotional strategy was needed for the film. In addition to the clear selling points that can be seen in the film, Lucasfilm must have played a big role in it.
February is coming to an end, and there is still no sign of advertising or news about "Speed
" in the media. Duke's insomnia is getting worse. Even though he knows he should keep a calm mind and never show any anxiety, the dry weather in Los Angeles makes people very easily irritable. Fortunately, it has been raining in the past few days, which is rare and brings comfort.
Despite the uncertain future, Duke has already started writing the second script, which can also help him to disperse his attention slightly and not think about the success or failure of the film all day long, because no matter how much he thinks about it, he can't do much about it now.
The second script is still an action movie, which will be a story about soldiers full of explosions, gunfights, and betrayal.
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On the last day of February, Duke threw away all the work in his hands and rushed to Los Angeles International Airport to say goodbye to the only friend he had met on the set.
"This is my dad, this is my mom..."
In front of the boarding gate, Sofia introduced her family to Duke, and even though these big names were strangers to him, Duke definitely knew them.
The cappola's said hello to Duke and then walked away from the young people, leaving them space. It was clear they had misunderstood something.
"This is my cousin...."
Finally, Sophie brought him to a man who looked very strange. Immediately, Duke stretched out his hand and shook the man's hand. "Nice to meet you, Nicholas."
"I'm glad to meet you too."
Nowadays, Nicolas is barely a second-rate player, and his temper isn't as strange as his appearance.
"You and Nicolas may have a lot in common."
Sophia stood next to Duke and said, "Duke just made a movie and signed a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox."
"Director?" Nicolas asked.
"Yes." Duke smiled modestly and said, "An action movie."
"Oh."
Nicolas immediately lost interest; now he is a standard literary youth who is obviously uninterested to action movies.
The broadcast sounded the boarding announcement, Sofia hugged her parents one by one, and then walked to Duke's side, tilted her head and looked at him, "I hope your movie is a hit, big director!"
"I hope you get promoted soon." Duke said with the same tone, "Maybe the next time I see you, you will have become a top fashion designer."
"Of course!" Sophie said confidently.
"And if you get fired by Chanel, you can always come back and be my assistant!"
After saying this, he didn't give Sofia any opportunity to fight back, and turned around and left.
He said hello to the Copolas and politely declined their dinner invitation. Duke got into his Chevrolet and drove back to his house in Santa Monica. He parked in the garage and walked to the door of the courtyard. He opened the mailbox and took out a pile of mail.
Entering the living room, Duke put his mother's mail on the magazine rack, opened a few of his own, and sat on the long sofa.
One was a bank credit card statement. Duke had just received another $20,000 in director's fees from the $120,000 he was supposed to receive a while back, so paying off the credit card wasn't a problem. The financial burden was temporarily relieved.
The other was an invitation from 20th Century Fox, inviting him to a screening in early March.
If you find any Mistakes or Poorly Written Paragraphs in this chapter, pleas tell me in the comments below so I can fix them.