Pulling the telephoto camera, the scene maintained a relaxed atmosphere, and Zhang Ran was responsible for bringing the young actors into the prescribed situation. The whole strategy was very effective, and the shooting went very smoothly in the next few days.

However, because Zhang Ran was playing with two children all day long, the two little guys liked him very much, so there were two small tails behind Zhang Ran.

On March 22, Zhang Ran had to board a plane to Las Vegas to attend the Film Industry Expo.

The North American publisher of "Space-Time Warriors" hopes that Zhang Ran will attend the meeting because the distribution strategy of "Space-Time Warriors" was formulated by Zhang Ran, and the most important publicity was conducted in Cannes, not Zhang Ran was operating, and it was more appropriate to make statements from Zhang Ran to the theater buyer.

There are nearly 40,000 screens in the United States, of which 10 largest theater companies have nearly two-thirds of the total screens in the United States. These large theater companies are centrally purchased by the central government, and their choice determines what kind of films most Americans can see. These theater companies covering the country actually control 80% of Hollywood films' box office revenue in the United States, and most of the purchases of these films were completed at the Film Industry Expo.

The Film Industry Expo is held in Las Vegas in late March every year, where movie publishers and theater managers gather here for four days. During these four days, the distribution company will hold a promotion meeting similar to the annual meeting, introduce the company's movies, and then hold talks with theater buyers to finalize, such as how many screens each theater can give to the film, how long the screen period is, the free delivery of trailers before the theater's interior and the theater's outfield lobby advertising films, and the final box office share ratio, etc.

After getting off the plane, what came towards me was a big card "Zhang from Peiping".

Under the cards is a familiar face, Lionsgate's distribution manager Tom Odenberg.

"Hello, Tom!" Zhang Ran was very familiar with Odenberg and discussed the release issue of "Time and Space Warriors" together. Before he could even arrive at Odenberg, Zhang Ran greeted him loudly.

"Man, you're finally here!" Aldenberg laughed and hugged Zhang Ran fiercely.

Get into Odenberg's car and the two drove towards the brightly lit Las Vegas.

"The hotel has been booked for you. Mr. Gusta asked me to apologize to you. He wants to meet the theater manager. There is no way to pick you up." Aldenberg explained to Zhang Ran while driving.

"It's okay, business is important. I heard about the Film Industry Expo when I was studying, but now I finally have the opportunity to see it. But hasn't the Expo started tomorrow? Why did we start negotiating with theaters today?" Zhang Ran was looking at the scenery outside, and when he heard Odenberg's words, he turned his head and smiled.

"There is no way, Lions Gate's distribution ability is relatively weak. There are no particularly successful movies at the box office so far; and our opponents in the same period are particularly strong, all of which are the top six movies. We have no advantage at all. We must contact theaters in advance and invite them to attend our meeting. If the theater buyers are not in the market, then our distribution scale will not increase!" Odenberg explained.

"So that's how it is." Zhang Ran understood a little.

The car soon arrived at Bailey Hotel, and the conference was held in this hotel.

After Zhang Ran settled down, Audenberg took Zhang Ran to Gusta's room.

A middle-aged man with a low figure and short hair sat on the sofa. It was Frank Gusta, the owner of the Lions Gate. He saw Zhang Ran standing and greet him with a smile.

"Hello, Mr. Gusta, we're meeting again." Zhang Ran took the initiative to stretch out his hand and held it with Gusta.

"Zhang, I'm very happy to see you." Gusta had a smile on his face, and the strength of shaking hands was very powerful. Zhang Ran knew that he must be a very decisive person.

Frank Gusta is a Canadian banker, but he has always been interested in movies. In 1996, he left the investment bank and founded Lionsgate Entertainment with the company executives he used to work with and several private equity bankers. This background allowed Lionsgate Entertainment to establish a good relationship with many financial institutions from the beginning, and quickly put Lionsgate Entertainment on the market.

In the three years since its inception, Lionsgate Entertainment focused on low-cost art films and started steadily. It also acquired distribution companies. In the following years, Lionsgate Entertainment was a company that "specialized in horror films". Lionsgate's distribution ability is very weak. There are only 5 movies with a box office of over 10 million. The highest of them is "Dance of the Death Prisoner", which has a box office of 30 million, and the other four movies are all just over 10 million.

However, last year, Lions Gate acquired Artisan Company for US$220 million, which has released the famous "Witch Blair". Lions Gate acquired Artisan Company, not only obtained 8,000 film libraries, but more importantly, it obtained Artisan's distribution channels, greatly improving their distribution capabilities. This year, Lions Gate is preparing to make great efforts in the distribution field, and "Time and Space Warrior" is the most important part of the entire release plan of Lion Gate.

After Zhang Ran sat down, Gusta's secretary brought coffee to Zhang Ran.

"Zhang, you are really a person who can't rest. I heard that you are making movies again recently. I wonder what type it is?" Gusta asked with a smile.

"I originally planned to wait until "Time and Space Warrior" was released before filming a new film, but suddenly I got inspiration and filmed it. It was a feature film with a somewhat alternative style and a bit literary." Zhang Ran knew that Lion Gate rarely posted foreign language films, and has rarely posted art films recently. They would not be interested in "The Aviator".

Sure enough, Gusta smiled when he heard the literary and artistic voice: "I thought you would continue to make science fiction films?"

"This movie is a kind of expression of my emotions, and I really want to shoot it. In fact, every director has this kind of thing he wants to shoot it. Now I have something to do, so I filmed it." Zhang Ran asked with a sip of coffee, "I don't know what the theaters are like?"

"The situation is not very good. Jacobson has been secretly talking about "Time Warrior" to theaters, saying that it is a bad movie. A movie with an investment of 120 million yuan does not cooperate with the six majors, but chooses a new company like ours. The theaters have some doubts about the quality." Gusta shook his head, looking a little helpless. "Cinemas that have had cooperative relationships with us will attend tomorrow, and other large companies have also called, but the top five theaters, Regal and Amc, clearly stated that they will not come. Although cinemark and Car fans said they will come, they are not very interested in our movies; only cineple is really interested!"

Zhang Ran was stunned. It seemed that the situation was really not very good. It would be normal for the top two companies to be uninterested. At that time, they were being released in "Harry Potter" and "Monster Shrek 2", and it was impossible to split too many screens for other movies. Unexpectedly, the third and fourth companies were not very interested, while the fifth-ranked cineple company only had 140 theaters and 1,400 screens. Other companies were smaller in scale. It seems that the release of "Time Warrior" can only count on small theaters!

In the American film industry, the market is divided according to the region, and the population covered by each regional market ranges from thousands to tens of thousands, and many areas are exclusive. Distributors will only choose one theater in each region to authorize the screening of the films it has distributed, and other theaters cannot be displayed.

The distribution of small theaters is very troublesome, unlike large theaters, which are unified in allocation and publicity, forming a scale effect. However, there is no choice for this matter. Large theaters are not interested in "Space and Space Warriors", and they are unwilling to purchase them, so it is useless even if they kneel down.

Zhang Ran asked: "In this case, how many screens can we win in the first week?"

Gusta said: "Our goal is to get 2,500 screens. But this is difficult. Although we acquired Artists and our distribution capabilities have been improved, in the eyes of the theaters, we are still little ants and cannot compare with the Six majors. Even if our movies are of higher quality, the theaters still tend to be the Six majors. Stephenson, the owner of the theatre theaters, told me that they are more willing to cooperate with the Six majors. The Six majors have their own promotional channels and can invest in large-scale marketing activities for films, which is something small companies do not have!"

Zhang Ran nodded. The movies that were released on June 11 like "Space Warrior" include Warner's "Star Legend 2", Fox's "Garfield" and Paramount's "Copy Wife". Both the cost and the cast of these three movies are above "Space Warrior". There are six major releases, so theaters will naturally tend to be these three movies.

The success of the movie is very important. Take "The Legend of the Ghost" for example. Many people know that the movie's $15,000 cost more than $100 million in North America. But if the movie is handed over to the Lionsgate for distribution, it will definitely not have such a high box office, because Paramount spent $20 million in publicity for the release of "The Legend of the Ghost", and the careful Lionsgate cannot spend $20 million in publicity for a small-cost movie of $15,000.

However, Zhang Ran has confidence in "Space-Time Warriors" and also in Gusta. Ten years later, the ability of the Lions Gate to surpass Paramount and Gusta is separated. He is an ambitious person: "We have enough funds and there is no problem with the plan, so there is no need to worry."

"Several companies that have cooperated with us recommend that they come up with marketing plans first, and after they have a comprehensive understanding of our marketing plan, they will conduct a trial screening. What is the quality of the movie they want to watch? Our company will conduct a promotion tomorrow afternoon, and we will arrange a trial screening of "Time and Space Warrior" in the evening. The entire marketing plan is formulated by you, and you need to introduce these movie buyers!"

"Don't worry, leave it to me! There is no problem with our publicity plan!" Zhang Ran said firmly.

"I believe in your ability, otherwise I wouldn't have asked you to make a statement to the film buyer." Gusta was very confident about Zhang Ran's persuasion. He originally thought that "Space-Time Warrior" was not a good choice to be released on June 11, and his opponent was too strong, but after listening to Zhang Ran's analysis, he was convinced. Now he needs Zhang Ran to convince those film buyers to win the best release conditions for "Space-Time Warrior".

After chatting for a while, Gusta looked at Zhang Ran and smiled and said, "Zhang, let Audenberg take you around. The nightlife in Las Vegas is very rich and suitable for young people like you!"

Zhang Ran has no intention of having fun? He is important to him in "Time Warriors" and he doesn't want to make any mistakes. Besides, he is also a person with a girlfriend, and he waves his hand with a smile: "I'm a little tired of filming recently, and I don't have the intention to play, and I have to prepare for tomorrow's speech!"

Back in his room, Zhang Ran turned on the computer and began to organize the outline of his speech tomorrow. His opponent is the top six films, and it is not easy to convince the buyers of theaters. If he wins a screen worth more than 2,500 yuan in the first week, "Time and Space Warrior" will only end in this crowded summer season!

Zhang Ran had no choice and had to convince the buyers of theaters! (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!