In a theater called Arena Cinema near the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Li Qian and his group ate snacks and drank Coke openly, without having to be secretive like in China.
"Mi Lijian's cinema is not much different from that in China. It just feels like a store. They sell a lot of things, and the counter where they sell things is in the middle of the hall."
Deng Chao glanced around, grabbed the popcorn in his hand and threw it into his mouth. He couldn't help but look embarrassed, "The only bad thing is that the popcorn here is disgusting!"
Zhang Wei nodded in agreement, "I really can't get used to salty popcorn. Don't all Mi Lijian people like to eat sweet food? Why do they always eat salty popcorn?"
"It's okay, it's crunchy and salty, and it has a unique flavor. Like rice grains, most of the crunchy things are salty, while sweets generally have a soft and glutinous texture." Li Qian said with a smile.
"It's just a little weird." Tong Liya couldn't get used to it either.
"There are a lot of sweets for sale here, and there are also candy vending machines. Candies should always be sweet."
To be honest, there are quite a lot of food sold in this cinema. There is an "island" selling food in the middle, which is not against the wall like in China.
However, there are some stalls in the four corners, selling all kinds of food, as well as freshly baked pizza, and it has almost become a restaurant.
There are also peripheral products for sale, including Iron Man, Minion figures, and Captain Milician’s shield.
Like other ordinary viewers of Mi Lijian, Li Qian and the others were eating and chatting there.
Slowly, there are more and more people in the cinema. Although the most popular Christmas period of the year has passed and Milijian people are not celebrating the Spring Festival, there are no blockbusters released. However, it is the awards season and the Milijian Film Market is also very busy.
Increased customer flow to the cinema.
The movie started in three minutes, and Li Qian and the others entered the scene.
When I entered, I found that there were already twenty or thirty spectators who had already prepared the meal.
Li Qian looked at it and found a seat in the middle and back, and several people formed a row.
As soon as she sat down, Tong Liya couldn't help complaining, "This Mi Lijian movie theater is too outrageous. It doesn't even have fixed seats. It's first come, first served."
"Perhaps an online seat selection ticketing platform can be developed in Milijian. The market has great potential." Deng Chao suggested.
Li Qian shook his head, "It doesn't work. Consumption habits are different. It's not like Mi Lijian doesn't have a ticket buying website, but people here rarely buy tickets online. Buying tickets online is more expensive than offline. Their consumption habits have continued.
It's been decades.
Moreover, some cinemas have now begun to have fixed seats. Even if the seats are fixed, most audiences are still accustomed to sitting wherever they want, and the online seat selection business is like a virtual reality."
"Is this also a kind of freedom?" Zhang Wei asked with a curious smile, freedom is not as good as its grain.
"It's mainly because of habit, and maybe there are also commercial considerations. If you want good seats, you have to come in early and watch ten minutes of commercials. This guarantees the viewing time and number of people watching the commercials. The cinema can charge more advertising fees. If you don't want to watch commercials,
Yes, I can only sit in the corner."
Li Qian guessed that this was the reason why everyone came in early to get a good seat and then watched the advertisement.
"Isn't there anyone who has a bag to occupy a seat?" Zhang Wei complained.
...
The movie screening started on time. Li Qian and the others came to watch "The Truman Show" to see the audience's reaction.
There were not many people in the cinema, less than forty people.
It was released on December 6th, and it is now mid-February. It has been released for two full months. Even during prime time in the evening, the number of 40 viewers is still very high.
Thanks to winning the Golden Globe Award, although the gold content is not high and it is becoming less and less authoritative, it is highly entertaining and the ratings are rising year by year, so it is still very popular among the audience.
One month after winning the Golden Globe Award, it also successively won 8 million U.S. dollars at the box office.
Mainly because of the increase in the first half of the month after winning the award. Recently, because the Oscar selection has begun, public relations and publicity have also increased their efforts, and the audience has gradually increased.
Moreover, this cinema is next to the Avenue of Stars, and the location is quite good. It is normal to have close to forty viewers at night.
However, in other parts of the United States, there are actually not many states where the film is released, and it is mainly screened in a small number of states such as New York and California.
If it can win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, given the entertainment value of the film itself, it is very likely that the scale of screenings will continue to expand.
The movie started to be shown. Unlike domestic movie theaters, Mi Lijian said the movie would be shown at what time and the main movie would be shown on time.
Domestic screening time is calculated from the previous commercial. Everyone has to watch a few minutes of commercials, and Mi Lijian's time is the time for the main film.
The movie has been redubbed in North America, and most of Milijian's movies do not have subtitles. Subtitles will affect the viewing experience. Usually only people with hearing impairments will watch movies with subtitles.
However, Li Qian was not paying attention to the movie. He was watching the movie while observing the audience's reaction.
After all, online audience reviews are not as intuitive as watching them in person.
It was nothing at first, the cinema was relatively quiet.
However, when the truth of the movie was revealed halfway through the movie, the calm atmosphere of the scene was broken.
Words like "OMG" sound really true.
At the end, when Truman fought against the storm at sea, the audience's reaction was even greater.
There were exclamations and curses one after another. Although there were only more than thirty people, the movement was almost louder than when the country was full.
Tong Liya couldn't help but come over and complain softly, "It seems that Mi Lijian people are not so polite."
Li Qian smiled and said, "It seems that Mi Lijian is like this, especially when it comes to popular movies, he likes to yell and scream, just like opening an artificial barrage."
In China, shouting in a movie theater would be considered rude by some people, but in Milijian, this is the norm.
.....
After watching the movie, Tong Liya and the others went to play. This trip was purely for tourism.
And Li Qian still has to show up at various events.
Although no one knows me, now that the voting for the winners list has begun, public relations have reached the most important moment, and they still have to show their faces frequently at events where the Oscar judges appear.
Warner will also hold various activities. The DVD, online, and TV rights of "The Truman Show" will be sold to them after the Oscars. If they win the award, they will also have more income, although the copyright fee for winning the award will definitely be higher than
It would be much higher if I didn’t win the prize.
Besides, "Pacific Rim" will probably be released in the summer vacation, and they still need Li Qian to help promote it.
However, at an event tonight, Li Qian saw a kid.
A competitor in the previous bankruptcy auction in the digital field was Sony Vice President Ichiro Takagi.
As soon as they met, Takagi started to mock arrogantly.
"I have watched "The Truman Show". Academic judges have always disliked this kind of entertainment film. The best foreign language film this time is "Love"."
"???"
Li Qian was stunned, this little devil was really incomprehensible.
But this short, fat little devil raised his head slightly and said disdainful words, why was he so funny?
Li Qian even wanted to laugh a little.
"Why are you laughing!" Takagi asked Li Qian with a cold face.
The digital field that was in his hands last time was robbed by Li Qian. His plan to merge with Sony Graphics and create the world's largest special effects company was also shattered.
In addition, Li Qian is a Chinese, and he is a right-winger through and through, which goes without saying.
This time, Sony also participated in the competition for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The Odile film "Love" was released by Sony and is also the most popular foreign language film at the Oscars.
It happened that Li Qian's movie was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, so he came over to laugh at it.
"It's nothing, I remembered something happy." Li Qian shook his head.
"What happy thing?" Takagi felt that Li Qiancai was laughing at him.
"It's nothing, just..."
Li Qian waved his hand and said with a smile, "Your company will not be able to get the quota for China's sub-account films in the next three years, including the obviously released "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"."
"you!"
Takagi's eyes narrowed before he realized what he was doing, and his face looked extremely ugly.
However, before he could say anything, Li Qian had already turned around and left, no longer talking to him.
...
"Li, are you telling the truth?" Thomas asked curiously from the side.
Li Qian smiled and said, "It's only been three years. I can still do this. Besides, this is also a good thing for other companies, right?"
"Of course." Thomas also laughed. Every year, there are only 20 quotas for ordinary films, and some are divided by other countries. Although the share is only 25%, major companies still have to fight for it.
One less competitor means that other companies will get more and more places.
As for whether Li Qian could do it or not, Thomas had no doubts.
Although I don't know much about Li Qian's status in China, I can see that Li Qian is not stupid. People who are not stupid will not say such things when they can't do it.
This has further strengthened Thomas and Li Qian's determination to cooperate. They are just waiting for "Bad Pacific" to be released. If it goes as expected, Warner will become the only company to enter the Chinese mainland film market in a big way.
"However." Thomas is still a little worried, "The "Love" released by Sony is indeed the biggest hit now. Although "The Truman Show" is also highly rated, those serious academics are more willing to award the award to "The Truman Show".
"Love" was not only nominated for best foreign language film, but also nominated for best director, which is a very important signal."
"I understand." Li Qian nodded.
It's not like he hasn't studied it before. The movie "Love" is about thinking about love and illness in old age, and is full of moral and conscience torture.
The director is a German, and the film also vividly and exquisitely displays the German characteristics of rigor, pragmatism, seriousness, seriousness, and neatness.
The director is serious and every frame of the movie reveals the truth, which is exactly what Hollywood academics like.
Therefore, Li Qian did not have much confidence.
However, his advantage is that he has better public relations than his opponent. Generally, the public relations efforts for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar are not particularly strong. Li Qian spent a total of three million US dollars on it.
The rest is up to the sky.
However, at this moment, someone in the banquet hall suddenly exclaimed.
"Look, someone is climbing up the Statue of Liberty!"
"What's all the fuss about? I made an appointment last month to take my daughter up to play."
"Now, at night, someone secretly climbed up the Statue of Liberty!"
"Walter? What happened?"
"OMG, what happened?"
"Turn on the TV!"
...
Soon, the big screen in the banquet hall lit up, and sirens sounded.
On the screen, in a square, there were more than a dozen police cars with flashing police lights, as well as news vehicles. The police had cordoned off the square, and a huge statue stood in front of it.
Even if Li Qian has never seen it, he can tell that it is the Statue of Liberty.
A female host was live broadcasting to the camera with an excited face. It turned out that there was a suspected mental patient who secretly climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty at night.
Li Qian was stunned and looked at Thomas. Thomas was also stunned.
The Statue of Liberty is one of Milejan's symbols, the Milejan National Monument.
It seems that once someone just climbed up the pedestal to demonstrate during the day, and was arrested and imprisoned for five years.
Everyone climbed to the top this night. For Mi Lijian, it was undoubtedly a major social event.
He didn't expect to see such a grand show. Li Qian became interested and wanted to see what caused the man to climb up at night.
Before he was caught, he was labeled as a mental patient. This policeman was smart and promising.
On the TV, the reporter was still reporting excitedly.
"It is understood that he climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty because he watched the movie "The Truman Show" and became suspicious of the world, thinking that it was the exit from the false world..."
Damn it!
Li Qian was confused again, what on earth is going on?
...
PS: It is said that this happened, I don’t know whether it is true or not, but the pen is in my hand anyway.