Chapter 405 Laying out the future
On the eve of the Oscars, there is another thing worth paying attention to.
The global theater tour of "The Return of the King" has come to an end. Only a few countries and markets are still showing it, and it has harvested very little box office.
When the time came in February 2003, Disney and Warner decided to release "The Return of the King" on DVD.
There is no trailer for the "Lord of the Rings" series in this DVD, but it does add a lot of new tidbits, including what little Gilbert revealed about "The Hobbit".
Similarly, the DVD version has nearly an hour more feature content than the theatrical version, which will definitely satisfy the audience at once.
In addition, the deluxe version of the DVD also includes a live concert performance of "The Lord of the Rings" performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, which can make up for the regrets of those movie fans who cannot go to the concert.
In Peter Jackson's version of "The Return of the King" in his previous life, the whereabouts of everyone in the expedition team was also explained.
But in Little Gilbert's theatrical version, these explanations were not made, and the story ended when Frodo returned to the Shire.
This treatment method is undoubtedly successful in terms of box office and word-of-mouth, but it also leaves fans of the series with a bit of regret.
They eagerly want to know the fate of the protagonist team after the expedition to Mount Doom.
Where did the elves go? What was life like for Frodo back in the Shire, and what was life like for Aragorn and Arwen? These have strongly aroused discussion among movie fans.
Now, the DVD extended version has an extra hour of content, which is just enough to satisfy fans' fantasies about the follow-up story.
It may be that the large amount of content has satisfied movie fans enough, and they are willing to pay for it. The DVD of "Return of the King" generated US$152 million in sales in the first week of its release, which is considered a huge explosion.
Subsequent sales are also quite good, with sales estimated to exceed US$300 million in the first month.
However, this is not the end. According to the plan, the follow-up "Lord of the Rings" series will also release a trilogy of hardcover DVDs. It also includes the development of animations, dramas and other resources.
Warner's game department also plans to join forces with Banana's game studio. The two parties plan to jointly develop the "Lord of the Rings" game, which is also the focus of profitability.
By the way, after a discussion at Banana’s creative team, they believed that online video would have great potential in the future, so they established a new department to build an online video website.
However, due to the sharpness of today's online video playback, the picture quality is barely even 270P, which is really ugly, so it is in the verification stage.
But little Gilbert is very concerned about this project. He told Banana that in the future, online video will be an important part of the entire industry's ecological chain.
Little Gilbert gave this video website, which was still in the verification stage, a name, YouTube.
However, YouTube is still quite immature, and it will take at least one to two years before it can go public. At the very least, the picture quality and picture transmission speed need to be improved.
The reason why I mention this is because video websites are closely related to the future film and video copyright industry.
Just as DVDs replaced video tapes and VCDs, video websites will sooner or later replace DVDs and become an important part of movie peripheral profitability.
In previous lives, some people have made predictions like this, saying that sooner or later, video websites will replace the function of movie theaters, bringing about earth-shaking changes in the way that art like movies exists.
Little Gilbert had felt it in his previous life. After all, he was a director of major online movies in his previous life, and his movies had never been released in theaters.
The reason for the layout of the online video industry is also very simple. Gilbert Jr. believes that the online video industry has the ability to subvert the structure of Hollywood, such as Netflix in the previous life.
Knowing the context of the development of the times, Little Gilbert might as well make arrangements in advance so as to occupy a favorable position in the new era.
But few people can see through this. After all, not everyone is little Gilbert and has that special experience.
The release of the DVD of "The Return of the King" is another huge commercial success for the "Lord of the Rings" series. People have become accustomed to it and are numb to it.
In the past, the media used dedicated space to report on it, but now it is just mentioned and ignored. No one cares about this issue.
The most concerning thing now is who the final Oscar winner will be.
On the eve of the Oscars, several Las Vegas markets have already opened. I don’t know who did it, but there is now an online handicap website that allows netizens to participate in handicap online.
Every year after the Oscar nominations are announced, the most fascinating thing is guessing the final winner.
However, this year's winner seems to be particularly easy to guess. From media critics to ordinary movie fans, everyone agrees that "The Return of the King" will win.
So how can we predict accurately? At this time, professional film critics play a huge role, because they still have influence during the awards season.
It is during this time that professional film critics can make waves and influence Hollywood.
However, among professional film critics, except for a few, such as Kenneth Turan, who makes a living from the black little Gilbert, most film critics are working hard to cheer for "The Return of the King".
Kenneth Turan agrees with most of the media's views on this year's Oscar for Best Actor and Actor.
He believes that Adrien Brody in "The Pianist" and Charlize Theron in "The Devil Wears Prada" can get what they want.
In fact, in the competition for best actress, there are also Nicole Kidman of "The Hours", Julianne Moore of "Far from Heaven" and others.
But in this time and space, Nicole Kidman has not divorced Tom Cruise and has not won sympathy points from the Academy, so the hope is not very high.
Julianne Moore has been repaying the debt she made when she was young. Getting a nomination is pretty good, but she has no hope of winning. The rest are no match for Charlize Theron.
In terms of Best Director and Best Picture, Kenneth Turan believes that Gilbert Jr. will not win, and "The Return of the King" will not win either.
"The reason is simple," Kenneth Turan said on the show: "In the history of the Oscars, the Best Picture and Best Director have never been awarded to a non-realistic film."
"But," the guest on the show objected: "Didn't I also get a great win watching "Titanic"?"
"You don't know this," Kenneth Turan vowed: "'Titanic' is an adaptation of real events, but 'The Lord of the Rings' is not."
Looking at Kenneth Turan's words, many viewers of the show believed his words.
However, the only ones who know the results now are a few accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers who tallied the votes.
On the morning of the awards ceremony, four PwC accountant soldiers were escorted by security forces to the Kodak Theater, where the Oscars was held.
Because of the 9/11 incident, security has been strengthened at large-scale events. The Oscars are a grand event for Hollywood and even the film industry. They must be organized with great care, but it can also be easily mixed with unrest.
As early as a few days ago, the Los Angeles County police and Fobler worked together to investigate all unrest in Los Angeles.
The gangsters from several blocks near the Kodak Theater were driven to other blocks, and police officers and Agent Fabler patrolled the streets to ensure safety.
Of course, these people are not free. The Oscar organizers paid a large amount of money to these police and detectives.
The 600-meter-long red carpet has been laid out, and the red carpet shot also includes a five-meter-high enlarged model of the Academy Awards trophy, which looks magnificent.
Media areas and movie fan viewing areas were also arranged on both sides of the red carpet. Cameras, surveillance, etc. were all arranged. Police, detectives, and security personnel were also deployed to ensure the safety of everyone.
Because Los Angeles is unpredictable in March and may rain, a tent was set up at the starting point of the red carpet for celebrity guests walking on the red carpet to take a break.
Starting at two o'clock in the afternoon, the broadcast helicopter of ABC TV station, which broadcasts the Oscars ceremony live, has been hovering in the sky. The live broadcast site is also ready and ready for live TV broadcast at any time.
However, in order to prevent accidents, ABC TV's live broadcast will be delayed by thirty seconds.
Naomi Watts has a pregnant belly and it is not convenient for her to attend the Oscars. In addition, she was frightened by what happened last time. This time she watched the live broadcast at home.
Therefore, it is Scarlett who will accompany little Gilbert on the Oscar red carpet this time. Anne Hathaway will walk with the crew of "The Return of the King", and little Gilbert will walk Scarlett alone on the red carpet.
At 3:30 in the afternoon, little Gilbert brought Scarlett, who was wearing a yellow dress, to the tent at the starting point of the red carpet. At this time, there was a little drizzle in the sky, but it did not affect the enthusiasm of the fans at all.
Walking on the red carpet again, Scarlett has become quite mature. She hugged little Gilbert's arm and followed him gracefully to greet the celebrity guests who were already waiting in the tent.
"Hi, Sally!" Little Gilbert chatted with Steven Soderbergh, and happened to see Charlize Theron coming.
"Sister Sally," Scarlett greeted sweetly.
Charlize Theron touched Scarlett's head. She was taller and had longer legs, but Scarlett was indeed not tall. There was an inexplicable height contrast between the two.
"Are you confident about winning this award?" Gilbert Jr. asked Charlize Theron.
Charlize Theron expressed her confidence: "Don't worry, with your support, of course I am confident. How can I thank you?"
"Let's talk about it when we get back. We can't talk about this here." Little Gilbert looked around.
Charlize Theron rolled her eyes and said, "Humph, what's wrong? This is our family matter and no one else can control it."
While they were chatting, Tom Cruise and his wife came over to say hello and introduced someone to little Gilbert: "This is Heath Ledger, an Australian actor."
"Hi, little Director Gilbert."
Today's Heath Ledger can be considered a second-tier actor at best, and he seems a little frightened when he comes into contact with a big director like Gilbert Jr.
Little Gilbert briefly shook hands with Heath Ledger, then turned to Nicole Kidman and said, "It seems your Australian gang is getting stronger again."
After Gilbert Jr. got Mel Gibson into it, Nicole Kidman was undoubtedly the face of the Australian gang.
So when new Australian actors enter Hollywood, they will unite around Nicole Kidman.
In fact, Naomi Watts is also considered to be from Australia, and she is even better than Nicole Kidman in terms of qualifications. But she is pregnant after all and has rarely been seen in recent times.
Nicole Kidman smiled and said: "Thank you for taking care of me. I hope to find more of our Australian actors. They are all very good."
"Easy to say, easy to say..." Little Gilbert agreed casually, speaking for the occasion.
While chatting, the curtain of the award ceremony slowly opened.
(End of chapter)