Chapter 187 186. Transformers Conquer the World

Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.

This is the city’s celebrity street, home to a variety of commercial facilities. It is a must-pass place for anyone visiting Los Angeles, with a huge flow of people every day.

As the new week arrives, Ecker Park next to Sunset Boulevard is crowded with people, gathering to take pictures and exclaim in amazement.

In the center of the crowd, a silver-white robot more than two meters tall was standing in the middle. It was Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons and the boss of the Decepticons.

This robot was carefully crafted by MGM's props department and has various built-in mechanisms, although it cannot move.

But through remote control, Megatron's hands and feet can already make small movements, and with professional voice actors speaking in the dark, the effect is definitely much different from the later Universal Studios version.

However, in this era, it has exceeded people's imagination.

"Foolish human, I come from the planet Cybertron, which is 30 billion light years away from Earth. You can call me Lord Megatron."

"My Allspark was stolen by a despicable thief. Now I have to find a pair of glasses with the coordinates of the Allspark engraved on the lenses."

Megatron's eyes suddenly glowed blue as he spoke in a mechanical voice.

Some people suddenly screamed and stepped back, and it was unclear whether they were cooperating on purpose or were really scared.

After all, the latter is not absolutely impossible to happen, because happy education has really produced many idiots.

The blue light is naturally not a weapon, but a holographic projection built into Megatron's head.

The camera projects a pair of glasses in the air through the eyes, which are exactly the glasses Sam wears in the movie.

A website address was clearly displayed on the lens. It was a Transformers promotional website specially established by MGM. If they were to put on a show, they would do it in full so that everyone could feel involved.

"You tiny bugs, write down this URL and leave a message on the website after you find the clues."

"Everyone who leaves a message will be considered a slave of the Decepticons. When I conquer the Earth, I will spare your lives!"

The two mechanical arms danced, and Megatron looked even more awesome as he spoke in a domineering voice.

A young man came out and asked, "Megatron, I'm a fan of Transformers. Can I take a photo with you?"

Megatron waved his hands and said with some disdain: "No, humans are low-level carbon-based creatures. There is a natural gap between us and advanced mechanical life forms like me. You are not worthy of taking a photo with me."

The young man was a little disappointed, and couldn't decide whether he should get closer. After all, he had never seen such a large and moving robot before, and he felt a mixture of uncertainty and fear.

His girlfriend stepped forward and said, "Mr. Megatron, I've written down the website address and will help you find the glasses. Can we take a photo now?"

Megatron nodded slightly: "Okay, since you are so sensible, I will allow you to get within one meter of me."

When the young man finished taking the photo, another little boy with snot bubbles jumped out and shouted, "Mr. Megatron, I want to take a photo with you too, can I?"

"Well, come here, but don't rub your snot on my skin, it will rust."

Hahahaha The onlookers burst into laughter.

"And you have to take the medicine and get the injections obediently, so that your cold can be cured, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

After a few questions and answers, everyone realized that this was the promotion of the movie, and such a unique promotional method was indeed very eye-catching.

Not long after, reporters who received the news rushed over and captured the lively scene in their cameras.

"Megatron, I hate Decepticons, I'm a fan of Optimus Prime."

"Hmph! Then you should go to Boston. The damn red truck landed in that city."

"Megatron, how many times has Starscream betrayed you?"

"Countless times."

"Then why don't you kill him, and let him rejoin the Decepticons over and over again?"

"Because the manufacturers want to sell toys, there's nothing I can do!"

Hahahaha Two more young men approached and bowed to Megatron.

"Lord Megatron, we are willing to be your loyal servants."

"Hehe! Very good, then do you know the Decepticon slogan?"

"Of course I know."

"Shout it out loud and open the eyes of these ignorant humans."

One of the young men raised his arm and said, "Decepticon!"

The one next to him shouted loudly: "Retreat!"

After shouting, the two of them immediately ran away, and the crowd around them burst into laughter.

Megatron shook his head speechlessly, and after a while he managed to utter, "Very good, loud voice, very energetic!"

The funny reaction made the laughter that had originally subsided burst out again.

Megatron is just one of many Transformers, and similar situations are happening in major cities around the world.

New York Times Square, San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge, Paris Arc de Triomphe, London Big Ben, Tokyo Tower, Moscow Red Square, Riyadh Kingdom Building, Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower As long as you pass by nearby, you will be attracted by the tall and domineering Transformers.

This kind of live interactive method is part of viral marketing.

The so-called viral marketing can be simply understood as utilizing all resources, fully mobilizing consumers' enthusiasm and relationship networks, in order to achieve the method of rapid replication and dissemination of information.

All the resources here are literal, including those on the Internet and in reality, so that consumers can see marketing information everywhere.

Whether it is active or passive, you have to accept it whether you like it or not.

So MGM also invested a lot of money in this promotion and gave it the treatment it deserves as a blockbuster. Eric directly approved a budget of 70 million US dollars, and if it was not enough, he would add more.

Including production costs, the total cost of a "Transformers" movie from filming to release has exceeded 220 million US dollars.

Not to mention in 2003, even if it were in 2023 it would be an A-level production.

However, this money is not actually spent, because you can ask the government for tax refund, and the preferential terms in different regions are also different.

After receiving the refunded money, the actual total cost was less than US$150 million.

However, when promoting the film to the outside world, they naturally had to use the slogan of a cost of 220 million yuan. This would sound impressive and would attract the audience.

So don’t believe in things like how high the official publicity costs for many movies are. Anyone who believes them is a fool.

The figures advertised all include water. After squeezing them out, cut off 30% first. If you have more channels, you can save 50%.

For example, in the later stages of Marvel's movies, the cost of a single movie often exceeded $200 million. In fact, this is all fake and not that high at all.

As costs are reduced, the corresponding pressure to recoup investment is much smaller.

Unlike China where the box office needs to reach 3 times the cost to make a profit, Hollywood can make a profit with 2 times or just over 2 times the cost.

Coupled with Hollywood's complete copyright protection and development system, as well as its ultimate peripheral development capabilities.

Even if a movie loses over 100 million US dollars at the box office, it can generally make back its investment within the five-year golden copyright period, and a good movie can even make a profit.

Big-name productions with great reviews like "The Lord of the Rings", "The Matrix" and "Titanic" can sell for more than 100 million US dollars in copyright fees each year.

So even if a large company seems to suffer huge losses from producing several blockbuster films a year, it is difficult for it to go bankrupt due to the protection of a series of systems.

After viral marketing was launched, it was applied to cinemas, stations, subways, shopping malls, supermarkets, restrooms, roadside billboards, and electronic screens.

In reality, wherever you look, you can always inadvertently notice the Autobots and Decepticons.

Some are large posters that say "On November 16, the Decepticons will attack the Earth."

Some are just Transformers head logos.

Hasbro also got into action, launching pre-sales of movie version toys, and also partnering with KFC, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola.

As long as you buy it, you will have a chance to win movie tickets. Whether you can win or not is a matter of personal luck.

Transformers cosplayers have also appeared in various comic conventions and COS exhibitions.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Cosplay in Europe and the United States has always been known for its props, and has also had a considerable influence in the circle.

The second trailer of Transformers began to play in a loop on the big screens in New York's Times Square and Nasdaq.

In addition to the many adrenaline-pumping robot fights, there are also battles between the human army and the Decepticons.

Various main combat aircraft, tanks, and ships appeared, and the extreme explosion turned the entire city into a sea of ​​fire and ruins.

At the end of the trailer, Megatron transformed into a huge silver-white alien fighter and slammed into two skyscrapers that were very close to each other.

There is no doubt that this shot is referring to the 9/11 incident, a scene that the whole world will never forget.

On the Internet, major portals, forums, and chat rooms are gradually being occupied by related topics.

In addition to purchasing space and resources, MGM's main publicity strategy is still to hire a large number of internet trolls.

Even the rhetoric that the internet water army will use is prepared in advance. As long as a few people flock into a social group, they can quickly steer the topic astray.

Facebook is an important platform for publicity, and the goals of the secondary school promotion plan have been achieved.

Facebook's registered users are approaching 40 million, of which about 35 million are active users, with a very high retention rate.

This is mainly because under Eric's guidance, there is a major update every month and the version iteration speed is very fast.

Especially since the like function was just updated at the end of September, the Fitz team was originally confused and puzzled about this function.

They believe that the like function will distract users and make users become a tool that only knows how to like, which will weaken the sharing and social nature of Facebook.

But at Eric's strong request, the feature was launched.

As it turns out, after the like function was launched, although users began to seek likes, their desire to share also became stronger.

In just one week, the average number of updates posted by users per day increased by 2, because posting more can get more likes.

The next step is to launch a promotion plan targeting the working class. After attracting young people and children, it will be much easier to attract their parents.

Cooper's home in Beverly Hills.

After dinner, Eric sat on the sofa and watched the news.

On the NBC channel, the male host glanced at the manuscript and said, "Betty, on the way to work today, I found something very interesting."

“When I passed by Lincoln Street, I saw a large crowd, and because I was a reporter, I moved closer.”

"Then I saw a scene that I will never forget. Bumblebee was standing in the middle, calling on humans to fight against the Decepticon attack together."

"OMG! My favorite cartoon from childhood has come to life. Look, it looks like this."

As he was speaking, the TV screen switched to the footage shot on site, where Bumblebee was interacting with the onlookers, and his humorous remarks made everyone laugh from time to time.

The scene cuts back to the studio, and the female host says cheerfully, "This is really interesting. Is this a new promotional method launched by the mall? I want to take my son to have a look."

The male host waved his hands and explained to her: "No, it's an Autobot, its name is Bumblebee, haven't you seen Transformers?"

"No, I'm a girl." The hostess shrugged.

"Well, you must go and see them, you will love them."

"Oh my god, it's like my childhood dream has come true. It's such a happy day. It's the best day ever."

After watching for a while, Eric switched to other channels. Not only NBC was reporting it, but many TV stations could not ignore this hot topic.

What he didn't know was that not only American TV stations could not ignore it, but also countries such as Britain, France, Japan, China, Russia and others could not ignore it.

The living Transformers, although pseudo-alive, still bring great freshness to the society and are simply fucking interesting.

Media coverage is equivalent to advertising for the movie, and you don’t have to spend a penny.

With MGM investing huge sums of money, the intensive publicity lasted for nearly a month.

The Transformers in major cities have become gathering places for crowds, just like the internet celebrity check-in spots in later generations. You would be sorry if you didn’t go and see them.

The most popular one is naturally Megatron. His humorous chatter and the contrast between his character as the ultimate villain have made him loved by everyone.

"Legally Blonde 2" will be released in theaters in mid-October. With the success of the previous film as a foundation, the second film has attracted attention without any promotion.

MGM also held a premiere for it, and arranged for Gadot, Chris Evans, the British trio and others to attend the event, and also used this opportunity to continue promoting Transformers.

The movie has been released for half a month and has earned 60 million US dollars in North America. It has just been released overseas.

This data is not as impressive as the first one, and the reputation has also declined compared to the first one, but it is certain that it makes money.

However, when the producers offered Reese Witherspoon a contract for a third film, she refused.

The reason is very simple. I don’t want to continue consuming this IP. I hope to wait for a few years and then shoot again when everyone is more fully prepared.

The leading actress has gone on strike, and without the soul of the show, the sequel will definitely be shelved.

But now MGM has so many money-making projects that it doesn't matter if it has just one more, so Eric didn't even take it seriously.

"Happy Death Day" was completely withdrawn from theaters, with the final global box office of $152 million.

Although Gadot was a little disappointed, she didn't care about it and now devotes herself to the promotion of Transformers.

Amidst the hustle and bustle, time entered November and major companies began to make their efforts.

"The Matrix 3", "Elf", "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World", "Kill Bill", "Transformers". The most intense box office battle in 2003 is about to begin.

Thanks to Luciferhx for the 100-coin reward.

I wish you all a happy new year and good luck! 　　 　 (End of this chapter)