In mid-April, Nanaya once again came to the conference room on the top floor of Washimine to attend the promotion and marketing meeting for the Fate project.
As the project progressed and the 2005 summer season approached, promotional meetings for the Fate movie became more and more frequent.
"Gen Urobuchi has submitted the first draft of the Fate novel. Please take a look at it after the meeting."
As soon as the meeting started, Shion handed Nanaya a novel with a white cover.
"Is it done already? I see."
Nanaya did not expect that Kyon would be so fast. He originally thought that Kyon would not submit the first draft until at least mid-May.
You have to know that in his previous life, Gen Urobuchi finished writing FZ novels at the rate of one book a year.
But when Nanaya thought about it carefully, he didn't find it strange. After all, at that time, Gen still had a job as a scriptwriter, and writing FZ novels was just a side job.
And now, as a cooperative project with Washimine, Kyon will naturally work hard to complete it.
I'm afraid even Urobuchi's own company, NITRO, thinks so.
This is a great opportunity to get close to Washimine.
"The Japanese version of Fate's manga has already been published to the third chapter, while the European and American version has just released the second volume."
The conference host released a PPT table which recorded the distribution data of the Fate comic version.
The serialization of the Japanese version of Fate manga was handed over to Kodansha, which has always had a cooperative relationship with Washimine.
Like "The Solitary Gourmet", it was serialized in the monthly magazine "AFTERNOON".
As for the choice of the painter, since Nanaya had been slow to give any suggestions, Washimine launched a large-scale call for submissions.
In the end, among hundreds of submissions, Nanaya chose the one that he liked the most.
Because it was delayed for too long, the comic version of "Fate Stay Night", which was originally scheduled to start serialization in January, was delayed to February.
By the way, Nanaya didn't remember it until afterwards.
The guy whose pen name I chose is [Sasaki Shonen], isn't he the manga artist of "Moon Coral" and "FGO1.5 Shinjuku Phantom Incident"?
As for the European and American version of "Fate", it was outsourced to Marvel by Washimine for creation.
The reason why Eagle Summit chose Marvel instead of DC is very simple: Marvel's asking price is a little cheaper.
Unlike the monthly serialization of Japanese comics, European and American comics are published in the form of single volumes.
However, although it is called a single volume, due to the publishing and sales habits of European and American comics, the volume of a single volume is only about the same as two episodes of the Japanese version.
Therefore, even though Marvel has released two single volumes, it is not much ahead in terms of plot.
As for the promotion of comics, it can only be said to be average.
Although Washimine promoted the comics on a large scale in Europe and the United States, the results were not particularly good.
In terms of popularity, the effects in Europe and the United States are not as good as those in Japan.
Faced with such results, Nanaya personally felt the shrinkage of the European and American comics industry.
[No wonder the voice of Marvel's comics department was directly overshadowed by the film and television department in the future. Given the scale of the industry, it is a problem whether there is even one ten-thousandth of the film and television industry.]
"How do readers react to the comics?" Nanaya asked the host.
"So far, the response has been pretty good. Everyone thinks the story of Fate is very novel and interesting."
The host looked at the materials and said.
"What about the popularity ranking?"
"No matter which version, the highest one is Saber." The host replied, "But the second one is Tohsaka Rin in Japan, and Emiya Shirou in Europe and the United States."
"Why?"
"Shirou's heroism is more popular in Europe and the United States. After all, Europe and the United States generally like this kind of character now."
It has not been five years since the plane crashed into the building. Affected by this terrorist attack, North America now prefers characters like Spider-Man who are brave enough to take responsibility and can selflessly save others.
This is determined by the current social atmosphere in North America.
"Should we add more scenes featuring Saber and Shirou Emiya in the movie?"
One of the Washimine executives offered his own suggestion.
Nanaya recalled his version 3.0, then shook his head and said, "In the current version, the roles of several protagonists have been balanced. If we rashly increase the role of a certain character, it will disrupt the narrative rhythm."
"So, are you sure it's the current version?"
Shion confirmed with Nanaya.
"Well, judging from the audience feedback from the test screenings so far, no further changes are necessary."
Nanaya nodded and replied, "The next step is to submit it to the MPAA for review and finalize the scale of the picture."
"Really? Then it means we can start the next round of planning."
Shion nodded and handed a document to Nanaya.
"This is the feedback given by the North American Theater Alliance."
Nanaya took a quick glance and saw that most of the reviews on Fate were from major North American theaters.
Most of it is a lack of trust in movies.
Only some theaters that own IMAX theaters have stated that they will guarantee the screening of Fate in IMAX theaters.
However, in Nanaya's opinion, the more likely possibility is that if IMAX does not show Fate during this time period, the film will be left empty.
It is always better to have movies playing than to close the theater. After all, the maintenance cost of IMAX playback equipment is not cheap.
Nanaya can understand the concerns of the theaters.
After all, theater chains are first and foremost commercial companies, not charitable organizations.
The ultimate goal of a commercial company is to make money, so commercial interests are what these people care about.
For a new IP without any fan base, theaters will certainly question its commercial value.
This is a very normal result.
Even if Nanaya has proven himself in the North American market, he will still be doubted.
When "Goblin Slayer" was released, the theaters cooperated with Washimine and Lin Bao's publicity and promotion plan because the distributor's hunger marketing strategy at the beginning did not require the theaters to bear too much risk.
But this time, Washimine requested a large-scale screening, which made the theaters a little hesitant.
You know, there are too many examples of famous directors failing. Let's not talk about anything else, just think about how MGM went bankrupt?
Due to the complete failure of "Windtalkers", North American theaters are now very conservative towards the works of Asian directors, and Nanaya has also been implicated.
This kind of thing is not just directed at Nanaya alone. Even if it is a major project, if there is a distribution risk, the theater chain will become extremely cautious.
For example, Batman Begins, which was scheduled to be released a month earlier than Fate, could not be compared with the Harry Potter series in terms of its scale of release due to the influence of the 1997 bad movie Batman & Robin.
You have to know that this is a movie released by Warner, the leader of the Big Six, and the protagonist is the most popular comic character in North America.
But the cinema chain refused to budge and refused to expand the scale of the first round of screenings.
This shows how conservative North American theaters are.
"So, the theater chain said that trial screenings are imperative."
Shion said to Nanaya, "At the same time, we also need to use the preview to accumulate audience reputation and build momentum for publicity."
Nanaya is confident in his film, but he is never an arrogant fool.
The fan base of fate is too low, and multiple previews are indeed conducive to word-of-mouth promotion.
"How many previews do you plan to hold?" Nanaya asked.
"At least two more times." Shion counted on her fingers, "One for North American theater representatives, one for media reviews. If necessary, we can have a few more previews with audiences."
As for Japan's cinema chains, there is absolutely no need for this because Washimine has already bought several small cinema chains and integrated them.
There is no need to worry about the number of screens Fate will open on in Japan for the first time.
This is probably the benefit of a distributor owning a cinema chain.
But from the perspective of the long-term development of the film industry, of course the better model is to completely separate the distributors and theaters in North America.
Because of the different interests, the distributor can only rely on the quality of the film to make a profit.
In any case, in Nanaya's memory, the Japanese film model was completely distorted in the end, and Toho actually became the Wang Feng of the Japanese film industry.
But the price was the stagnation of the Japanese film industry.
However, from the perspective of the producer, Nanaya does feel annoyed by the stubborn attitude of North American theaters.
So, humans are always animals that think with their butts.
"Nanaya, once the MPAA review results come out, I will immediately conduct a test screening." Shion reminded again, "You must not make changes to the editing at the last minute."
"Well, I have confidence in the current version." Nanaya said solemnly.
Nanaya's answer made Shion feel relieved.
As Washimine Entertainment's first major production, Shion absolutely does not want to see any accidents happen in the Fate project.
Nanaya also had the same idea. His own son, Fate, was the first step in his dream of a $50 billion krypton gold plan, and he had to make it succeed no matter what.
As for the remaining executives of Washimine, they could only watch as Shion and Nanaya, the adulterous couple, began to sing the same tune and assign tasks to everyone.
This has become the norm for Fate promotion meetings.
Shion and Nanaya were discussing while the others were watching the monkey show on the side.
Wait until the meeting is about to end, then take your assignment and leave.
It looks easy, but——
Don't we, the senior executives, have any face? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
The senior executives of Washimine felt very uncomfortable being ordered around by two dogs and bitches who were at most half their age.
It would be fine if it was just Washimine Shion, but what does it mean for an outsider like you, Kiryu Nanaya, to interfere?
If it weren't for Shion's supreme prestige in the group and her unconditional trust in Nanaya, these executives would have wanted to teach this ignorant brat a lesson a long time ago.
Now they can only hope that Kiryu Nanaya will one day fall out with Shion like Lin Bao did.
Once we lose Shion's protection, we can do whatever we want to Kiryu Nanaya.
With such depressing thoughts, Washimine's executives left the meeting room one after another.
"Nanaya, please stay for a while."
Nanaya, who was about to leave with the others, had to put down what he was holding after hearing Shion's words.
"Shion, do you have something to ask me?"
"It's a little personal matter. It has nothing to do with you. Go and complete your mission."
Seeing that others were also planning to stay where they were, Shion quickly waved her hand to drive them away.
When Shion and Nanaya were the only ones left in the conference room, Nanaya started to ask questions.
"Shion, what's going on?"
"I want to talk to you about something."
Shion's smile suddenly made Nanaya feel his heart tremble.
"Should you explain to me what happened between you and Rin?"