Regarding this aspect, Duke and Warner Bros. had also formulated a targeted strategy. On many media platforms and websites, there appeared articles resembling an "Inception Viewing Guide": "First, the film is truly brilliant. Second, it’s not as hard to understand as you imagine believe in yourself. Third, there will definitely be a scene you’ll remember for a lifetime. Fourth, lower your expectations. Fifth, use the bathroom in advance. Sixth, remember to turn off your phone. Seventh, you must watch it in a theater because the cinema is also a dream-making machine. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⁂𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⁂𝙣𝙚𝙩 Eighth, listen to the ending music it helps wake you up. Ninth, it’s quite possibly the most amazing film you’ll see in theaters in recent years. Lastly, go on this journey through dreams with the movie!" No matter how you looked at it, the early word-of-mouth marketing for this film was admittedly over-the-top. Duke and Warner Bros. were well aware of this, which is why they made timely strategy adjustments. "If not managed properly, it could affect the film’s later box office performance." On the private beach in Malibu, Duke was sitting at the edge of the dock on a small pier, holding a fishing rod in hand. He said to Scarlett, who was fishing with him, "That’s why the promotional strategy is shifting toward guiding the audience into discussions about Inception’s storyline." As she sprinkled the bait into the water bit by bit, Scarlett said to Duke, "Forget regular viewers even I wanted to decipher it after watching the film..." Saying that, she shook her head. As someone who shared a bed with him, Scarlett knew very well that the film’s seemingly cryptic plot design wasn’t really about depth or meaning. Most of it was a deliberate move for marketing purposes. Duke reeled in the rod only to find the hook empty and baited it again before casting it back into the sea. He continued, "The more interpretations the film generates, the more heated the debates become, and the more favorable it is for the film’s continued box office momentum." Having been by Duke’s side for several years, Scarlett Johansson had naturally developed sharp insight and kept nodding lightly in agreement. Because preparations for the new film would begin soon, Duke and Scarlett didn’t plan to be heavily involved in Inception’s post-release promotion. They would participate in select promotional events as appropriate. Besides, with a star-studded cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, the film was already drawing enough attention from the media and public. Leo was also very cooperative with Duke and the crew. His breakup with Bar Refaeli, which had been ongoing for a while, was only officially concluded now. Their rumored relationship had been sensationalized by tabloids recently, drawing in a lot of attention. Footsteps in high heels echoed across the dock. Tina Fey, holding a file folder, walked over unhurriedly. She sat under the sun umbrella, poured herself a glass of water, and finally said, "The Saturday box office report just came in." Scarlett immediately asked, "Did it go up or down?" Duke also turned to look. If Saturday’s box office dropped compared to Friday’s, Inception’s chance at a $100 million opening weekend would definitely be in jeopardy. "It went up by thirteen percent compared to Friday," Tina Fey said quickly. "Saturday brought in $36.78 million!" "Not bad," Duke nodded slightly. "Looks like we have a shot at $100 million." As long as Sunday’s box office didn’t take a sharp dive, Inception was very likely to achieve a breakthrough. Of course, the opening weekend’s box office was important, but the film’s long-term performance was equally crucial. Regardless of the means, Inception had already built a solid word-of-mouth reputation. How to make the film even more appealing and maintain its strong box office run was something that needed to be considered in the next phase of promotion. Moreover, Inception hadn’t adopted a simultaneous global release, so expanding its impact into the overseas market was also an essential task. As early as the preparation and filming phases, Duke had already devised a strategy to encourage audience participation in the film. Now was the perfect time to put that strategy into play getting viewers to actively interpret the movie and spreading that wave of discussion into international territories. As long as a portion of fans remained highly enthusiastic, Inception could generate impressive box office numbers. Today’s internet, while not linking the entire world, could certainly connect the entire Western world and major markets like Japan and South Korea. Plus, Warner Bros. had established marketing networks in major markets across the globe. Pushing a wave of Inception interpretations worldwide wasn’t all that difficult. Online and in real life, both spontaneous and orchestrated discussions were gradually turning the interpretation of Inception into a trending craze. Inception continued its strong theatrical run, becoming a must-talk-about topic among the North American public. As for the "dream architect" Duke, no matter how journalists tried to press him, he remained tight-lipped about public opinions, only offering one cryptic response: "Even I can’t explain the ending," which served as his only answer. Thus, those "inquisitive" moviegoers decided to take up the mantle and decipher the dreams themselves. Naturally, this wave of discussion included bold guesses and unexpected interpretations of the film’s "dream" themes. The open-ended finale, in particular, left plenty of room for imagination. At the end of the film, the "inception" mission is successfully completed. The dream team awakens on the plane, and Saito fulfills his promise by making a phone call to clear the protagonist’s legal charges, allowing him to re-enter the U.S. The protagonist finally returns home and sees his two children. As he spins the top that distinguishes dreams from reality, the film cuts to black. Whether the top spins or falls is never revealed. As the most hotly debated part of the film, did Cobb the protagonist truly return to reality, or is he still trapped in a dream? Duke would never be foolish enough to provide a definitive answer. Many fans fully unleashed their imaginations, crafting the ending they personally desired. Many fans believed that Cobb had returned to reality in the end. Some even pointed out that Cobb’s children were played by different-aged child actors and noted subtle changes in the kids’ voices and physiques at the end signs that time had passed and thus, evidence that the ending was real and not a dream. But many others dismissed the above theory, insisting, "There is no reality this entire movie is just one big dream." Many firmly believed this. They argued that the concept of dream invasion and inception was merely a construct within Cobb’s own dream a recursive dream loop. To prove their own theories, viewers with different interpretations flocked back into theaters to watch Inception again, hoping to find more evidence to support their point of view. However, the more they watched, the more interpretations surfaced for each part of the plot. As the discussions grew deeper, this craze showed no signs of slowing down. For instance, the spinning top is a totem used by Cobb to determine whether he is in a dream or in reality. If it keeps spinning endlessly without falling, he’s still in a dream; if it topples naturally after spinning, then he’s in the real world. "What if someone designed a dream where the spinning top would fall over?" Clearly, the audience doesn’t fully trust this "totem." Every dream thief has their own totem Arthur’s "die," Ariadne’s "chess piece" yet we never actually see them use them. Moreover, some pointed out that throughout the film, only the protagonist Cobb repeatedly uses the top to distinguish between reality and dreams and the top originally belonged to his wife. As a result, an interpretation that appeared in the IMDB reviews section received quite a bit of recognition. "In dreams, Cobb wears a wedding ring, but not in reality. That’s because in dreams he refuses to accept his wife is dead, while in reality Cobb has come to terms with it." "On the plane, we can clearly see the protagonist is not wearing a ring. In the first, second, and third layers of dreams, he always wears the wedding ring." However, some argued that if the ring merely represents Cobb’s emotional knot surfacing in dreams, then in the fourth dream layer, Cobb has already accepted his wife’s death, so the knot would be resolved, and the ring would naturally disappear. If so, then both Cobb and the audience lose the standard for distinguishing dream from reality. These disputes each gained their own supporters. Using the internet as a medium, they continuously cited various pieces of evidence to support their views. And these interpretations and debates, under the manipulation of Duke and Warner Bros., quickly escaped the bounds of the web and became the focus of major media discussion. The media never fears controversy they fear the absence of it. The more controversial a topic is, the more the media welcomes it. Only controversy can generate enough attention. Many traditional media outlets voluntarily picked sides, supporting one viewpoint or another, using it as a basis to argue with other media. Just three days after its release, the interpretive wave triggered by Inception had already become one of the most hotly discussed public topics in North America. Even the fact that Inception became the first original, non-sequel, non-adapted film to break the $100 million mark in North American weekend box office in just three days didn’t draw much media attention. All the media and public passion had shifted to the various interpretations and controversies surrounding Inception. From this angle, the publicity campaign orchestrated by Duke and Warner Bros. achieved tremendous success. Even though Inception earned $100.99 million in North America during its opening three-day weekend, Duke was not content with that. Since the film was about to be released overseas, the hype created in North America had to be pushed globally. As the focus of these interpretations and controversies, Duke was inevitably questioned by many media outlets about Inception, and he timely dropped a few statements, pushing the buzz to an even higher level. Hi For access to additional Chapters of Director in Hollywood (40 chpaters) Made In Hollywood (60 Chapters) Pokemon:Bounty Hunter(30 Chapters) Douluo Dalu: Reincarnated as Yan(40 Chapters) Hollywood:From Razzie to Legend(40 Chapters) The Great Ruler (30 Chapters) Join pateron.com/Translaterappu