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Chapter 44: Everything About WTF
🕑 Added 2024-09-07 17:04:53 +0000 UTCThe party quickly faded from Gilbert's mind, and not long after, Naomi indeed invited him for afternoon tea.
The British have a particular fondness for afternoon tea, although Gilbert wasn't a fan of how they drank it.
Of course, the two of them only had a simple tea and chat, nothing more, at least nothing as quickly progressed as with Cameron.
Following the requests of TouchStone Studios, Gilbert quickly edited two trailers.
Disney soon aired the trailers on its TV channels, while also continuing to roll out extensive offline advertising.
Ads for "Final Destination" could be seen at stations, airports, commercial squares, and luxury shopping districts.
While the scale of promotion didn't match that of major productions, for a B-movie, this level of advertising was already quite high.
Michael approved millions of dollars in marketing funds for the film's promotion.
For Disney, the success of its live-action movie business hinged on this single film, so the company placed great emphasis on it.
The release date was set for Friday, August 28, just at the tail end of the summer season.
All promotional efforts were centered around this time frame.
In early August, Disney arranged two preview screenings for media critics and fans. The media and critics praised the film highly, and fans' word-of-mouth was also overwhelmingly positive.
With the excellent preview buzz, and drawing comparisons to "The Shallows," Disney became even more confident about the film.
During a Disney executive meeting,Touch Stone Studios CEO Robert suggested canceling the limited release phase and instead working with theaters to open on a large scale directly.
"At this point, I don't think there's a need for further limited releases or other promotional tactics; the film's quality is good enough," Robert confidently stated at the meeting.
"I believe starting in 1,800 to 2,000 theaters is an appropriate number."
The higher-ups naturally had no objections to the growth of the live-action movie business.
However, John suggested, "Shouldn't we be more cautious? Maybe a limited release would be safer."
This suggestion made some executives frown; some even shook their heads, thinking that the Disney family had clearly declined over generations.
The seemingly cautious proposal annoyed the executives because it was overly cautious.
Now, "Final Destination" was gaining momentum, much like its director's personality, and needed to strike hard and fast.
The limited release strategy might seem safe, but it actually carried significant risks.
Seeing that none of the executives supported him, John quickly realized he'd made a foolish suggestion and fell silent.
As a result, a wide release became the consensus among Disney executives, and the work with theaters was soon handled by the distribution department.
Meanwhile, the cast wasn't idle either. After finishing the filming of "School Ties," Matt, Gilbert, Cameron, and Jared joined a Disney-arranged talk show.
Looking at the film's cast, apart from Gilbert, the rest were nobodies yet to make a name for themselves.
So the discussion focused mainly on Gilbert and his rumored relationship with Cameron.
The conversation revolved around the film's concept, ideas, and some amusing behind-the-scenes stories.
When discussing the film's concept, Gilbert said, "After my mother passed away, I started thinking about the meaning of death. I began to wonder if death is something predestined, if it's God's way of taking away my mother..."
As he spoke, Gilbert put on a sad expression. In truth, he was indeed sad, as he could no longer see his family from his previous life.
The original Gilbert's mother had passed away long before he arrived...
Cameron, looking as if she shared his sadness, held Gilbert close and shed tears with him, her expression perfectly suited for the camera.
When the topic shifted to amusing stories from the set, the actors took the stage.
Matt shared a story about Gilbert's use of Chinese curse words on set: "Every time Gilbert started cursing, we had to guess what he was saying."
"Right," Jared chimed in, "I remember one word in particular, 'wocao...'"
"Hahaha, Jared, I remember 'wocao' too, it's so catchy," Matt laughed. "Later, I asked Gilbert what 'wocao' meant. He said it was an interjection in Chinese, expressing shock, like saying 'awesome' or 'cool'."
The host quickly picked up on it, adjusting his tie and imitating, "This... 'wocao, wocao...'"
"Hey, that painting, 'wocao...'"
Soon, the studio was filled with the word 'wocao,' with a sophisticated, cultural vibe in the air.
The instigator, Gilbert, had a strange expression—was this considered cultural export? It probably was, right?
The show aired soon after, and many viewers picked up on the word 'wocao.'
At that moment, if there were a ranking of trending words online, 'wocao' would definitely be the most popular in North America.
The people back in the homeland would never have guessed that the land many viewed as paradise was now an ocean of 'wocao.'
Even Disney's media outlets, when reporting on "Final Destination," said things like, "Wocao, this movie is really cool."
These days, many students from across the ocean came to study abroad. After experiencing the wonders of America, they never wanted to go back.
This place was paradise; the air was so sweet that once you arrived, you never wanted to leave.
Xiaoyi was one such student, studying at the University of California
When she first arrived, she had the mindset of studying hard and returning home to contribute to her country.
But after some time, she became confused.
The cities here were so prosperous, the neon lights so mesmerizing that they felt like an invisible hand gripping her tightly.
The campus life was so wonderful, apart from the food, which took some getting used to; everything was perfect.
So Xiaoyi decided to abandon everything back home and stay here to enjoy this wonderful life.
There's nothing wrong with pursuing a better life, and as long as she didn't go back, she could just repay the costs of studying abroad, and no one could say anything.
But recently, Xiaoyi, who had been diligently studying, noticed something strange: after returning to school, her roommate Megan kept saying something odd—occasionally blurting out "wocao."
As a Chinese person, Xiaoyi knew exactly what "wocao" meant—it was a vulgar term, out of place in civilized society.
But she had already severed ties with everything back home and distanced herself from these vulgar words long ago.
Now, hearing this word from an American's mouth made Xiaoyi feel like her worldview was collapsing, leaving her confused.
Perhaps thinking of her overseas roommate, Megan soon came to Xiaoyi's room and asked her what "wocao" meant.
"Megan, where did you learn this word?" Xiaoyi asked.
She assumed it was another fellow student from back home who had taught Megan, who had then picked it up.
These bumpkins—couldn't they be more civilized even after coming abroad? Such poor manners.
To her surprise, that wasn't the case.
Megan replied, "I learned it from a talk show. Director Gilbert often says it."
"Director Gilbert?" Xiaoyi was puzzled. "Is he of Chinese descent?"
Megan, with a look of condescension, replied, "How could he be? Gilbert is Jewish, from California."
At this time, the Jewish mythos was still very much alive.
Xiaoyi was even more confused. She thought she had come to a civilized land free of vulgarities, but here, a famous director was openly using the slang from her hometown. And from Megan's description, it was clear that Gilbert knew exactly what the word meant, yet still used it so freely.
Now, the world seemed much more complicated.
