Global Film Emperor

Chapter 451, "Exile," is now available!
One day at the end of December.

The sound of running water came from the bathroom. The lame man finally got out of bed and wandered around the room. Occasionally, he would jump onto a stool and lie on the table, but then he would seem to feel uncomfortable and jump down, looking for a suitable place to nap besides the bar.

In the months since Lu Ze returned, it has lost a lot of weight. By controlling its diet and engaging in strict exercise, its weight has gradually returned to a healthy level, and its steps have become much lighter.

It jumped onto the guest table where Lu Ze often sat again, still feeling it was inappropriate. But this time, its clumsy right hind leg happened to bump into the coffee cup that Lu Ze had just finished drinking and hadn't remembered to clean up.

"Snapped……"

The sound of water in the bathroom suddenly stopped, then resumed after a few seconds. About two minutes later, Lu Ze came out from the back room, gently wiping the water from his head with a towel.

The coffee cup had been reduced to shards, scattered on the ground. Perhaps due to the special material, the shards were very uniform in size and contained a considerable amount of powder.

This cup was brought back from Italy. It's a handmade master cup, and its firing process is quite different from other coffee cups. It's much lighter in the hand, and the cup maker has since passed away. As one of the last three cups made by the master, this cup is quite expensive.

It seemed to know it had gotten into trouble. After a moment of staring at each other, the cat looked away, glanced down at the broken pieces on the ground, got up, and prepared to run away.

"Come, come, look at the mess you've made."

In the end, it was caught and picked up by Lu Ze, who brought it close to the shards. It didn't want to look, but Lu Ze kept pressing its head down. It started to struggle, but Lu Ze wouldn't bother with a cripple over a cup.

He scolded it briefly, then let it go. He picked up a broom and swept up the pieces, but didn't intend to throw them away. It was something he had bought for several thousand euros and had such sentimental value, so how could he bear to throw it away? He planned to keep the pieces and see if he could find a craftsman to glue the cup back together. Even if he no longer used it, it would be nice to display it as a decoration.

Just as he finished putting the fragments into a sealed bag, his phone rang. He walked to the bar, glanced at the caller ID, and saw it was Mickey calling. After estimating the time, Lu Ze roughly knew the purpose of the call.

"Hey?"

"Lu Ze, the finished product of 'Exile' is out. The special effects team has completed their work ahead of schedule, so we edited the film overnight and have already sent it to your email. The rest of the work is up to you."

The work Mickey was referring to was submitting the film for review. As a foreign film, the review process was bound to be more complicated. Not only were there many documents required, but approval from the provincial radio and television department was also needed to obtain a number. However, for Lu Ze, the process would be simpler and not as cumbersome as that of a typical production company.

This is not quite the same as imported films, since Lu Ze is not only the scriptwriter and lead actor, but also an investor and a shareholder. To be precise, "Exile" is a Sino-foreign co-production.

"Okay, I'll handle the rest."

"By the way, when is the release date? We have three plans: either a simultaneous global release in January, missing the peak screening period for Chinese New Year films, or a Chinese premiere in January, followed by official promotion in other countries and release in February or March, or a global release in February or March."

For a genre film like "Exile," participating in the Lunar New Year film battle would be a huge loss. Only a fool would let a genre film and a comedy film compete on the most important national holiday. Even if the quality of the Lunar New Year films is not as good as "Exile," they will still be completely suppressed by "Exile" during this period.

Movie box office is definitely most related to word of mouth, but that doesn't mean you can ignore everything just because your film is of high quality. You have to consider the holiday seasons in different countries, the competitiveness of other films released at the same time, and many other factors. Otherwise, try releasing "Chainsaw Mania" on Christmas Day.

Lu Ze rejected the idea of ​​releasing the film at different times, as it would affect the emotions of moviegoers in other countries. They are all audience members, and no one can be offended. Why should your film be released first, while we have to wait for the film to be released after reading spoilers?

This will likely face resistance from local moviegoers to some extent (assuming Lu Ze didn't mention the big IP), which is unfair to them. As a Chinese person, Lu Ze will certainly offer some preferential treatment to Chinese moviegoers on certain levels, but the fundamental rules absolutely cannot be broken.

Of course, there are some exceptions. For example, many imported films in the Chinese film market are released later than those abroad. However, the country has always been strict in its review of imported films. After all, it is easy to be invaded by foreign cultures if we are not careful. Therefore, we should indeed carefully consider certain profound films.

Now that it's confirmed to be a global release, the only remaining issue is choosing the month, which requires considering who the competitors will be.

What movies are being released in the same period in January, February, and March?

"Wait, let me check."

While Mickey was reviewing the documents, Lu Ze wasn't idle either. He turned on his computer from sleep mode and browsed the movie trailers on Maoyan. The movies in March hadn't gone on pre-sale yet, so Lu Ze also opened Douban and carefully looked through them.

There are relatively few movies released in China in January, as everyone is busy preparing for the Lunar New Year films, hoping to rake in a fortune. In previous years, few highly competitive films were released in January, a slow season before the Spring Festival, and this year is no exception, with a lull in big-budget productions. Lu Ze had never heard of the creative team behind the films being released, and judging from the titles, they didn't seem like big-budget films. There shouldn't be any competitors that could rival Lu Ze's team. And since the Lunar New Year is on February 15th this year, a quick glance at the February release list revealed an incredibly strong lineup, so Lu Ze quickly scrolled up.

"Um... the information I've received is that there aren't many movies being released in January, only Glenn Peter Pan's 'This Is Sparta' and Kiel Wiggins' 'Death in the Amazons.' Damn, that's such a lame name, they should just call it 'Bastard Amazons.' They're always trying to squeeze every last drop of money out of me, constantly recommending me things that look very appealing but turn out to be completely useless after I buy them..."

"Can you get to the point? Hmm?"

"Um...and Disney's 'Maleficent 4'."

"Hmm, what about February?"

Lu Ze had heard of both Glenn Peter Pan and Geer Wiggins, who were mid-level directors in Europe. They were well-known in the country, but not very famous or influential among film fans. Lu Ze was confident in their work, as he had a certain understanding of their abilities and they were not a cause for concern. However, when he heard the words "Maleficent," Lu Ze suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

"We have Marvel's *Spider-Man 4*, which is in the Chinese New Year film season this year. Fox has *Alien 10*, and there's also Ang Lee's new movie. Want to hear about March? March is even more exciting, with *Star Wars* and *King Kong*, and DC has *Aquaman 3*..."

"January."

Know when to back down. Going against these big IPs is like waiting to get completely crushed. Hollywood is already more competitive, and their marketing is definitely not as good. Releasing at the same time is just asking to lose money.

Especially for behemoths like Marvel and DC, Lu Ze doesn't personally dislike these two giant film companies, but when it comes to commercial competition, he really finds their superheroes incredibly annoying.

The IP is already huge, and they release a ton of movies, including solo films and big-budget compilations. They dominate the film market for several months of the year. Going against these guys is basically hopeless. Original films like Lu Ze's can only run as far away as possible and pray they don't run into these films, otherwise they could lose a quarter or even half of their box office revenue.

"You think the same way I do..."

"Nonsense, those who don't want to are just waiting to die anyway, right? Has the first draft of the trailer been cut out yet?"

"Ah."

"Chinese version?"

"must have."

"Send them all over. I'll talk to Zhejiang TV and start the pre-release promotion. Let's set a compromise release date, mid-January, around the time it clashes with the Lunar New Year films. We don't care about the box office revenue, since it's the last few days of the release window anyway, so it won't make much money. Around the 15th should be enough."

"Okay, then you'll have to negotiate the premiere venue too. We'll buy plane tickets and wait to fly to China."

"Row."

After hanging up the phone, Lu Ze immediately called Zhejiang TV. When the contract was signed, it was agreed that they would handle the domestic promotion. In fact, the preliminary promotion had already started more than a month ago, but because the release date had not yet been set, there had been no official mass promotion. Now it could begin.

After glancing at his email and downloading the original quality movie—a movie of over 20 gigabytes that would take about half an hour—Lu Ze organized the data sheets he had received from the Beijing General Bureau a few days earlier. He first burned the script onto a disc, and the full movie would be burned onto it later as well.

The review approval form, the main creative personnel registration form, the translation report, and Universal Brothers' qualifications were all prepared long ago. This is why it was able to be released in January. As for being rejected and having to be returned for revisions? That's impossible. After all, the film doesn't contain any excessive content. Lu Ze had already taken care of this aspect before Mickey cut the film.

When the disc was recorded, Lu Ze didn't dare to watch it first, fearing that the source material would be leaked. Transferring it to his personal computer was already very dangerous. After the recording was completed, Lu Ze immediately deleted all the files on his computer.

He had already bought a train ticket to the capital, packed his luggage, and prepared to drive to the station. Even if the film could be reviewed by the local broadcasting department, Lu Ze would still have to negotiate the premiere venue. Going to the capital for review wouldn't hurt.

And so, "Exile" was officially put on the agenda.

"..."

(End of this chapter)