Chapter 177 Source Code Explosion and Unexpected Invitation

Thursday, August 20th.

"Source Code" premiered at a luxury cinema in Los Angeles.

Lionsgate had not planned to hold a premiere for this movie before, but because of Bale, Lionsgate made up its mind and held a premiere ceremony.

In fact, not only the premiere ceremony, but before that, Lionsgate also increased its publicity budget and has invested nearly five million US dollars.

Including this premiere and subsequent publicity, the total publicity and promotion of this film is as high as 8 million US dollars.

Liu Zhou had reviewed this publicity budget before. In order to avoid being cheated, Liu Zhou also specially contacted a Hollywood consulting company to see if there were any problems.

Lionsgate still has a bottom line, and the budget is not too big of a hole. As for some minor details, Liu Zhou also tolerated them.

This money will be paid by Lionsgate first and then deducted from the film's profits.

In fact, Liu Zhou did not have a very good supervision method for the publicity funds, so it was too easy for them to cheat some money.

But as long as they don't go too far, Liu Zhou will turn a blind eye. However, if they cooperate next time, Liu Zhou will not be so careless.

Lionsgate has now established a firm foothold in Hollywood and has also made a name for itself.

So Lionsgate made this premiere quite large in scale.

Lionsgate Films invited James Wan, the Chinese director who became famous for the movie Saw, and his good partner Ray Wollner;
"Fahrenheit 911/" director Michael Moore, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are good friends.

In addition to these people, there is also a group of actors or directors who have had good cooperation with Lionsgate before.

What Liu Zhou didn't expect was that Christian Bale actually invited Christopher Nolan as well.

This made Liu Zhou somewhat happy, as Nolan could be said to be his favorite director in Hollywood.

Except for the Batman series, all his works are original and he likes to shoot on location.

At a time when various adaptations and special effects are popular in Hollywood, Nolan's works are unique and have attracted a large number of movie fans.

After "Interstellar", his number of fans is no less than that of Spielberg and Cameron.

Liu Zhou rarely let go of his reserve and went to say hello to Nolan.

Nolan is also a little curious about the Chinese director Liu Zhou.

Bell had previously strongly recommended the movie "Source Code" to him, thinking it was very imaginative.

So at this movie premiere, in addition to giving Bale face, Nolan also wanted to come and see if the movie is really as imaginative as Bale said.

So naturally, Nolan became curious about the director of this film.

What's more, Liu Zhou is a Chinese. It is very rare for Chinese people to direct mainstream commercial films in Hollywood.

After Nolan had a brief chat with Liu Zhou, he sat down and waited quietly for the movie to begin.

At this time, Liu Zhou also led Jackie Chan and Jet Li, whom he had invited, to their seats.

Liu Zhou has no connections in Hollywood, and the only two people he knows who are well-known in Hollywood are Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

Coincidentally, both of them were in Hollywood at the time.

Jackie Chan was discussing the investment and filming of "Rush Hour 3" with New Line, while Jet Li came to Hollywood to promote his "Huo Yuanjia".

The movie "Huo Yuanjia" achieved a good box office result of over 100 million yuan in the United States, and it achieved this result when it was released at the same time as "King Kong".

Of course, the two of them gladly accepted Liu Zhou's invitation. Not to mention Liu Zhou's status, even in Hollywood, as fellow Chinese, they also needed to help each other.

Including these two Chinese superstars, there were nearly a hundred celebrities, big and small, attending the premiere.

After some procedures were completed, the movie officially began to be screened.

After the Lionsgate logo, the feature film begins.

The sky is blue and the sun is shining brightly outside in the wilderness.

On both sides of the railway tracks are endless farmlands, with golden rice dancing in the breeze, creating a beautiful and harmonious scene.

The not-so-harsh roar of the train reaches everyone's ears through the top-notch speakers.

The next moment, a high-tech train that no one had ever seen came speeding towards them.

It seemed to appear at the same time as the roar, as if the speed of the train was almost catching up with the speed of sound.

The scene changes and we see the carriage, which is also full of modern feel.

As the narration went on, Bell, who had been resting peacefully against the window, frowned, shook his head slightly, and slowly opened his eyes.

What caught my eye was a one-dollar coin standing in a small space near the window.

After looking at the coin and seeing the situation outside the window clearly, Bell suddenly sat up straight and looked at the unfamiliar scene around him, his eyes full of confusion and vigilance.

After Anne Hathaway appeared, Bale went to the bathroom to look in the mirror, and the person in the mirror was another man.

I rely on!

Most of the audience were shocked at once, and didn't care that the toilet on this train was so luxurious.

One person has two faces, and countless speculations flash through everyone's mind in an instant.

But then there was a loud bang, the train exploded violently, and the flames engulfed Bale and Anne Hathaway.

"Wow!"

Someone in the audience exclaimed.

At this time, Christopher Nolan also frowned slightly, staring at the big screen intently, wanting to see what the subsequent plot would be like.

After that, the plot of "Source Code" began to slowly unfold.

Only after Bell died twice in a row did the audience understand.

It turned out that a high-speed train bound for Chicago exploded in Rockford, near Chicago, killing hundreds of people.

The terrorists also announced online that they would carry out a larger-scale terrorist attack in Chicago six hours later.

The so-called source code project is to construct an eight-minute virtual world through data from the memories of dead people, restore the scene at that time, and then put the protagonist's consciousness into a victim in the virtual world who matches the protagonist in height and appearance.

Seeing this, Nolan couldn't help but nodded.

He was becoming more and more interested. Although there were no scenes like the expected sci-fi blockbusters, this story was more interesting than the average sci-fi movie.

The movie has a fast pace, and after Bell dies again and again, the plot finally comes to an end.

As Vera Farmiga pressed the power button, Bell in the real world died, but Bell in the source code world was walking along the river with Anne Hathaway.

The long river nearby reflected the shadows of the two people.

But the reflection in the water is another man!
What the hell, the source code world still exists?
The audience in the audience didn't react for a moment. This is a virtual world made up of data!

But what happened next made them even more stunned. Bell sent a text message and Vera Farmiga in the laboratory actually received it.

“You thought you had just created an eight-minute source code world, but in fact, you had created a whole new world.”

Vera Farmiga slowly turned her head and looked at the nutrition warehouse not far away in disbelief.

In the cabin, Bell was lying there.

The big screen went black and subtitles began to appear.

……

"Fuck!"

After the movie was over, the audience who hadn't reacted yet could no longer remain calm.

"Is this a parallel world?"

“Can the virtual world send text messages to the real world?”

“I thought I understood it, but what happened in the end?

"It's not virtual, it's a time machine." "In reality, the train didn't explode, and it changed the past?"

Looking at the audience below talking about everything, Liu Zhou finally felt relieved.

Later, when the audience left in twos and threes, they were still excitedly discussing the plot.

At this time, Cheng Long and Li Lianjie came to Liu Zhou together. Cheng Long raised his thumb and said:
“Director Liu, you have this brain, you can actually come up with such a creative science fiction story.

Seriously, there is a chance that we could really work together in Hollywood.”

"No problem. I will definitely work with you if there is a chance."

"Director Liu, don't forget me. Your movie is so unexpected. I also want to work with you."

"Then I'll try to make a script so that you two can join forces and work together, haha."

In fact, it’s not like someone hasn’t thought about this before, but because both of them have strong personal styles, it has never been realized.

However, Liu Zhou did have a vague idea that he could try to bring the two together.

Uh, this idea is not "The Forbidden Kingdom"!
Although "The Forbidden Kingdom" was the first time the two of them worked together, the effect was not very good. In the eyes of mainland audiences, this movie was just a bad movie.

Liu Zhou would not pick up other people's bad movies to make.

The two also knew that Liu Zhou was quite busy, so after exchanging a few words of greeting, they left.

Afterwards, Nuoran actually came over and greeted Liu Zhou.

This time his tone was more enthusiastic than before, and he even exchanged business cards with Liu Zhou.

Liu Zhou looked at the business card in his hand and couldn't help but sigh:
Everywhere, everything depends on strength.

Nuoran obviously saw Liu Zhou's ability and that he met his standards for making an acquaintance, so he gave him the business card.

However, although Nolan is a director that Liu Zhou admires very much, they probably won't have much interaction in the future.

He is not just a director, so there is no need for him to curry favor with others.

So Liu Zhou casually put Nolan's business card into the pile of business cards he received tonight, and then thanked the guests who attended the event with the main creators.

After the premiere, only the main creators and some people from Lionsgate were left.

At this time, Anthony Edwards came over and said to Liu Zhou excitedly:
"Liu, I just saw that the audience in the audience responded very enthusiastically to this movie. I think this movie should be a success."

"I saw it too, but whether this movie will be a success or not, it's up to you from now on."

"Don't worry, I have a lot of experience in publicity and promotion, and I will definitely squeeze out the box office potential of this movie."

"Then I'll wait and see."

After the premiere, Liu Zhou didn't have much to do.

The film will be released nationwide tomorrow, and Lionsgate will be responsible for subsequent promotion.

Liu Zhou just needs to wait for the box office.

Edwards was still busy with the release of the movie tomorrow, while Liu Zhou left with Anne Hathaway.

The next day, Lionsgate invited some media who attended the premiere to start reporting on the movie Source Code.

At the same time, Lionsgate also secured an opening scale of nearly 800 theaters for "Source Code".

Anne Hathaway went to promote the film, while Liu Zhou stayed in her house waiting for the first day's box office results.

The box office statistics in the United States are more advanced than those in China. Before two o'clock in the morning, the results were summarized in Edwards' hands.

After he released the data to the company, he immediately called Liu Zhou.

"Liu, are you anxiously waiting for the box office results of the movie?"

Liu Zhou, who was originally a little anxious, calmed down immediately when he heard Edwards' teasing words on the phone.

If his grades were poor, he would definitely not be in the mood for joking.

"Don't keep us in suspense. Tell us the result."

"You are really patient and still so calm. However, Liu, you have succeeded this time. The box office on the first day was 7.3 million, and the box office in a single theater was nearly 10,000.

Moreover, the cinema chain has responded that the response to Source Code has been very good, and the box office should continue to rise tomorrow.

Based on my years of experience, the final box office of the movie will not be less than 80 million. If we are lucky, it can even exceed 100 million!"

Only after hearing Edwards' words did Liu Zhou finally feel relieved.

"I hope your prediction is accurate. If nothing else, I'll hang up now."

After hanging up the phone, Liu Zhou immediately went to the bedroom.

At this time, Anne Hathaway was leaning on the bed reading the script of "The Devil Wears Prada".

When she saw Liu Zhou coming in excitedly with a smile on his face, she couldn't help but smile and said:

"The movie is doing well at the box office?"

"That's right, $7.3 million on the first day!"

"Wow, that's really good. It looks like you're going to be famous in Hollywood."

"So I think we need to celebrate."

"How can we celebrate so late?"

Then, Anne Hathaway noticed the fire burning in Liu Zhou's eyes and immediately understood what he meant by celebration.

She put down the script and said with a sweet laugh:

"Then come here!"

At this moment, Liu Zhou couldn't bear it any longer and pounced on him immediately.

……

The next two days were the weekend, and "Source Code" did indeed see a significant increase in box office as Edwards had said.

On the second day of its release, it grossed $9.2 million, and on Sunday, it grossed $10.3 million.

In the first three days of the weekend, it earned a total of 26.8 million US dollars, and also won the box office championship of the week.

In the United States, the end of August is no longer the summer vacation season, and all the blockbuster movies have already been released.

There were not many movies released at that time, so "Source Code" won the weekly box office championship with less than 30 million US dollars.

Although this is not an honor, it is a very good gimmick for publicity.

Due to the excellent box office performance in the first week, Lionsgate expanded the scale of the film's release in the second week, increasing it to 1,200 theaters.

Coupled with the growing word-of-mouth of "Source Code", the film grossed a total of 42 million in the second week.

After ten days of release, the film has grossed a total of 69 million at the box office. It seems that it is not impossible to break 100 million.

At this time, the bosses of major Hollywood film companies finally turned their attention to Liu Zhou, a Chinese.

Any successful director will come into the sight of major studios and will be widely sought after.
Recently, due to the box office explosion of "Source Code", Bale and Anne Hathaway have become the focus of Hollywood media reports.

Especially Bale, who just had a successful "Batman" and now another successful "Source Code", and he is the absolute protagonist, which makes his popularity reach a new level.

In addition to the two, Liu Zhou was also the focus of media reports.

After all, his Chinese identity is a good news selling point.

However, Liu Zhou did not take the outside disturbance seriously and temporarily turned down invitations from major film studios.

At this time, he came to a cafe and an unexpected person asked him to meet.

(End of this chapter)