Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 151 Berlin, Cannes or Venice? The Pirates of the Caribbean release date

"Berlin?"

On the other side, Wu Chen was talking to Jason Blum.

Of course, it’s about Get Out.

The post-production of the film is not complicated. Jason Blum took a look at the progress of the film's post-production and thought that if they work hard, they might be able to catch up with the Berlin International Film Festival.

According to Jason Blum's idea, it would be more advantageous to go to the Big Three first to build momentum, and then come back to talk to the Big Seven in Hollywood, including Warner and Universal, about distribution and Oscar competition.

Wu Chen thought the same.

It was just a rush job, but after thinking about it, Wu Chen still felt something was wrong.

"We still need to give more time to the later stage. The schedule in Berlin is too tight, in February." Wu Chen thought for a moment and said slowly.

"Get Out" does have an advantage in going to Berlin, as Berlin attracts politically conscious audiences, critics, and distributors, making it suitable for exploring racial issues in the United States, and a global perspective can amplify the film's influence.

But there are disadvantages as well. Because Berlin prefers realism and documentaries, "Get Out" is already a bit biased towards horror and may be considered "not serious enough", and its satirical humor may be misunderstood.

This is also the reason why "Buried" did not win the Golden Bear.

In addition, the time in Berlin is so tight that if the quality of post-production is sacrificed, it will not be worth it.

Jason Blum nodded and suggested:
"OK, then let's go to Cannes and challenge the world's number one film festival?

Cannes likes to blend art and commerce, and likes bold, real films, often with political overtones, which suits our goal of creating momentum, but the downside is that the competition in Cannes can be a bit more brutal.

But I heard that the president of this year's Cannes jury seems to be planning to invite your country's director Wong Kar-wai, which is good news for us.

As for Venice, I don’t recommend it; it’s not suitable for our film.”

Wong Kar-wai?
The corners of Wu Chen's mouth twitched slightly.

If he remembered correctly, Wong Kar-wai had a "splendid performance" at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Fortunately, the "Best Performance" award has little to do with "Get Out", after all, his role in the movie does not meet the award requirements.

"Then let's go to Cannes." Wu Chen nodded.

"OK, then there's no need to be so tight on time for post-production. You need to come over next month to check out the editing results.

By the way, Lionsgate’s promotional plan for Now You See Me is almost ready, so keep an eye on your email in the next few days.”

"it is good!"

These days, the "Mantou Blood Case" continues to ferment, and the media can be said to have really eaten the blood mantou. Both Chen Kai and Hu Ge have become traffic in the hands of the media, and even some relevant personnel in the film and television industry cannot avoid interviews from reporters.

However, Lu Xun took the opportunity to show up.

"Brother Chen Kai's outburst this time was extremely unwise and unbelievable. I can't guess his motives.

However, regardless of the motivation, it is not a smart move. In this day and age, suppressing other people's comments will definitely lead to being scolded to death."

It’s hard to say whether Lu Xun’s reply offended Brother Chen Kai, but when he returned home, he was severely scolded by Lu Tianming.

"Why are you saying this when you can't just say something? Is your brain rusty?" Lu Tianming said angrily, "Did anyone else say anything?

Even the Film Bureau and the Copyright Bureau are still discussing the nature of this matter. Why are you talking nonsense?

Did Zhang Yimou and Wu Chen say anything? You're the only one showing off, right? You're the only one who can say that.

Wu Chen also saw Lu Xun's reply and pursed his lips.

Damn, he’s really good at talking, but when it’s really his turn, he’s even more fragile than Brother Chen Kai.

I ignored it and opened the email from Lionsgate, which contained the global promotion and marketing plan for Now You See Me.

First of all, the release date. The post-production of "The Martian", which was filmed in November, was completed in April this year. Currently, the release date options given by Lionsgate are mainly summer vacation and Christmas.

For an A-grade production, these two periods are the best. However, because "The Thieves" is only at the lower end of the A-grade productions, these two periods are the prime time for top IPs to gather.

For example, this year's summer schedule includes "X-Men 3" at the end of May, Pixar's "Cars" at the beginning of June, and "Superman Returns" at the end of June.

Don't even think about July, because "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" and "Miami Vice" are scheduled to be released in this month.

With the super IP of Caribbean, most movies would not consider being released in July, otherwise they would face the situation of being overturned by pirate ships.

Therefore, Lionsgate recommends a release date of June 16th, focusing on the middle of the summer season, avoiding super IPs, and steadily taking its own share.

This period is the time when "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is re-released and some mid-budget films are released. Without any blockbuster new films, "Now You See Me" can monopolize the "adult" audience market.

If the June schedule is chosen, the promotional plan will start warming up directly from February.

At the same time, Han Sanping was also looking at the publicity and promotion plan sent by Lionsgate. Overall, there was no problem, so he called Gao Chengsheng.

"Which of the quotas for imported films this year have preliminary release dates?"

Gao Chengsheng quickly took the document and showed it to Han Sanping.

"Well, June and July of this year have to be cleared out. We have our own things to do, and we can't let them clash with each other." Han Sanping drew a line with his pen and marked out a vacuum period in June and July.

"Mr. Han, is it Director Wu's 'Now You See Me'?" Gao Chengsheng took a look and was surprised to see that two imported films had been directly marked off.

"These should either be put aside for April and May or later."

Han Sanping didn't even look at it. What level was it? Could it be compared with the movie "Now You See Me" which he invested in?

Gao Chengsheng nodded silently and put the document away.

Everyone agreed, and Now You See Me was officially confirmed to be released on June 16th.

Lionsgate immediately released the news to the public, and at the same time, China Film also announced that the magic crime film "Now You See Me" directed by Wu Chen will be released simultaneously with North America.

As soon as the news came out, the industry was in an uproar.

Many people in the industry are quietly following this movie.

As the only director from mainland China and Hong Kong who can direct A-level productions in Hollywood in recent years, Wu Chen's performance in this work is crucial and is even regarded as a key benchmark for measuring the international level of domestic directors.

Some producers can only quietly adjust their schedules, as no one wants to compete with this big production.

There is also investment from Wu Chen and China Film Group. It is no exaggeration to say that China Film Group will promote the film in China so that it will be known to everyone before it is released.

At Huayi, in the conference room, Feng Xiaogang had just finished filming "Night Banquet" and was discussing the film's release schedule.

"'The Banquet' is going to Cannes, so please speed up the post-production as much as possible. I want to cut a long trailer." Feng Xiaogang said bluntly.

This movie is the result of his hard work, and it would be a shame if he didn't take it to an international film festival.

Wang Zhonglei felt that this operation seemed familiar. After thinking about it carefully, he thought, damn, isn’t this the same operation that Brother Chen Kai used in "The Promise"?

"No problem, let's get the post-production team up. Let's see which month is suitable for the release date. Zhang Weiping has already called for the Lunar New Year release, so Zhang Yimou's new film will be shown there. As for the summer release..."

At this point, Wang Zhongjun's mouth twitched slightly, but he continued, "Han Sanping has announced that Wu Chen's 'Now You See Me' will be released in mid-June."

"Mr. Wang, Director Feng, if "Night Banquet" is scheduled for the Lunar New Year holiday, we suggest that it be released before Zhang Yimou's new film. Moreover, if the release dates of the two costume blockbusters are too close, it may lead to audience diversion and seriously affect the box office performance." The vice president of Huayi Distribution immediately suggested.

This time Feng Xiaogang had no objection.

After all, it is definitely problematic for two major costume dramas to be released at the same time during the New Year holiday, and both sides might suffer losses.

"Zhang Weiping is not that easy to deal with. He won't let us line up in front. We should just give it a summer vacation and not be too close to "Now You See Me"!" Wang Zhongjun made the final decision and then turned to look at Feng Xiaogang.

"Xiaogang, you should take that Yahoo ad. You don't have anything else to do lately. I heard Brother Chen Kai agreed. It's a pity that Wu Chen and Zhang Yimou turned it down. Otherwise, if we could have gotten our artists in there, we could have gotten some publicity."

Feng Xiaogang was a little surprised, then nodded in agreement.

(End of this chapter)