Chapter 76

Foxtar and Dream Vision had begun the promotion of the [Sherlock Holmes] movie.

Making a great use of the media, they had focused on creating a buzz for the movie, and have even released two different posters of the movie by now.

One of the posters had Robert standing at the front, donning a embroidered Black frost coat, high pants, leather belt and standing with his hands in his pocket, messy hairstyle and a slight smirk, showing great confidence.

Behind him, stood Levi Richards, with his chin and one eyebrow raised, he wore a black bowler hat, a gentleman's suit, and brown leather gloves. He had his walking stick on his shoulder and his lips pursed a little. It gave off a more calm and dependable vibe.

The poster alone showed a lot of chemistry among the two.

Another thing was the faces of Rachel as Irene Adler and Ewan as Blackwood in the background.

When the movie posters were released, they also released individual posters of most of the actors, and unexpectedly, more than the movie poster, the individual posters created much more buzz.

Especially the one of Robert's.

He had a titled black hat, small black glasses lowered on his nose, his head was leaned a bit forward, so his eyes were staring at the front above the glasses, his expression was much more serious, with close to his mouth was the iconic smoke pipe with light smoke enveloped around it, and the addition of the overcoat added an even more mysterious charm to Robert.

On the posters were big words - Sherlock Holmes

And below it, were - Micheal Robert Elrod

To keep the buzz on, they soon released a mini clip of Robert and Watson's chemistry. The clip raised the expectations of the viewers by a lot, and it had enough to make everyone interested in the movie, without revealing much about the plot.

***

"...next we will prepare the trailer and release it to the public. The movie will be released in the first week of June. We will release the trailer next week, and start with the talk show visits by the actors."

The marketing head of the Foxstar Studios, Denice Smith, explained the plan to the others in a dimly lit meeting room.

In the room were Will, James, and a few other members of the marketing team who were responsible for the marketing and advertisements of the [Sherlock Holmes] movie.

"We need to show Robert as the main lead." Will said, "He has the least amount of fame in the whole cast, that's why I want to put a bit more focus on him."

"But don't we want to get audience by using the name of the others like Richard or Rachel?" Someone suggested.

Will nodded, "Of course, we want that, but what I am trying to say is, we must not undermine the role of Robert in this. Don't forget, he's the main character, and he's the focus of this whole film. At the end of the day, he's the one who has the potential to attract most of the viewers."

Denice thought for a moment and added, "We can reveal more behind the scene clips?"

James leaned forward and spoke, "Um, that has a chance of revealing too much of the plot, we can't do that. And we can't use the same scenes in the clips either. What we need is something which will be much more relatable to the audience, and something we can do without risking the revelation of too much scenes."

As he said, something clicked in Will's mind.

"I have an idea," He said, attracting everyone's attention, "Let's call the police."

"...What?" Everyone was confused.

"Why the police?" James asked in confusion, sounding out everyone's thoughts.

Will cleared his throat and said, "Haven't you heard of the campaign that the government is planning to make? We can contact them and collaborate with them."

For record, the government was trying to do a campaign to promote security among the public amidst increasing crime rates. Will's idea was basically to use the government to promote their movies.

After all, a character like Sherlock Holmes would surely attract attention. And was perfect for this type of campaign.

"How so? Oh wait, a promo based on Sherlock Holmes?" Denice asked with a thoughtful expression.

"Exactly." Will nodded, "We can have it like this: due to the sudden rise in crime, the police contacts Sherlock Holmes. And we can add, coming to the cinemas, and promote a bit."

"Hm…" Denice lightly nodded, "We can do something like this, but this one needs to have a very clever script."

Will nodded, "A simple one will do too, what we need is attention, and this promo will be enough to bring it up."

James nodded, "Alright, let's get in contact with the authorities. Let's hope we get something out of this. But how much do you think it will cost?"

"It's a cooperation, not an advertisement." At James' remark, Will replied, "And if things really came to that, then we can pay a bit of an amount for that."

After brainstorming for a while, everyone came to a conclusion that it was a good idea and it would be worth a try.

The meeting finally concluded after some discussions with everyone regarding their opinions on this idea and if anyone had anything better to do to promote the movie. As no one was able to come with anything worthwhile, Will's idea was taken as the one they would go with.

***

By the time Will was busy in the editing and promotion of [Sherlock Holmes], It was already the third day after the release of [17 Again] - 12th May.

Just at the first day of its release, [17 Again] earned $5 million and it picked up even more from the second day onwards.

Professional critics wrote articles about it while people started commenting their thoughts on forums. Everyone had different opinions yet, the movie just got more popular.

Some reviews got so popular that the critics got their own fan following. A review by Erwin Marshal was as follows.

| The characters learn lesson about appreciating family and making smart decisions. But to get there, they nevigate some tricky situations (for instance, a high school senior gets his girlfriend pregnant and gives up college to marry her and find a job, leaving him frustrated and resentful). The direction is just right as a teen rom-com. |

Another famous review was by Lisa Hudson.

| Even tho it's more references than actual sex/action. It's still unnecessary, considering it's a PG13 movie. A teen girl makes out with her boyfriend frequently. In one scene, a teen girl tries to seduce a guy with animal role-play. Conversations sometimes include sexual innuendoes; one guy hoards condoms because he says he has "needs."

Discussion of abstinence and why it works (or not) for teens. A teen boy kisses a woman old enough to be his mother. A teenage girl gets pregnant, and her high school boyfriend offers to marry her. Girls throw themselves at a guy, essentially offering sex. Adult couple show in bed together. A boy wearing nothing but a shield (nudity implied) walks out of a party.

This is basically a story filled with nonsensical and unrealistic plots. |

Apart from the critics themselves, there were many people on the many different websites making comments about the movie.

– I love Drake Redcliff in this movie. He stayed charming throughout his every scene and even got slapped by girls and Ned several times! Haha! I also like the way he stood up in court pretending to read a letter for Scarlet and yet the words came from his heart with teary eyed saying, " ...for I love you, I should let you move on." ♡ So touching!

– Excellent movie. I would recommend it 10/10 times. Funny, inspirational, message oriented. (Spoiler alert about plot)There is a reason for everything that god gives you. We just have to recognise it. If something had been taken away from your life then it was not meant to be in your life in the first place.

– The only reason I watched the movie was Will Evans. Although he played the bully, I'm sooooo in love with him <3.

***

On a famous talk show, 2 famous critics were invited and they talked with the host regarding various new movies and stars.

Eventually, the talk about [17 Again] came here too, which the host has been saving up as the cream for the show.

"What do you guys think about the new movie [17 Again]? The movie had received a positive reception from the people and has been raking in money ever since it's release."

The host directed his question towards Addison Atonal and Alice Atonal.

These were a husband wife duo critics who mostly had a different opinion about everything and their critics were on point. They were quite famous as Mr and Mrs Atonal.

The two of them again fought, with the husband being in favor of the movie and the wife being against it.

Soon as the talk show progressed, the topic shifted from the movie, to the director and actors, and eventually came to that one person who was trying to spread himself like a net in Hollywood.

"From screenwriting to directing and even acting. It seems Mr Evans doesn't plan on leaving anything untapped in Hollywood. Haha. I heard about his new movie [Sherlock Holmes]. What do you guys think about that?"

The host asked again. To which Addison replied.

"Of course, it won't be anything much. I agree that he made a fortune out of almost nothing by cleverly using a homemade camera, but that's that.

He nearly can't be enough to direct a franchise that has already failed in the past by big studios. He's being way too overconfident by throwing all the money he had earned in a fool's errand.

Not to mention he made some no name actor as the main lead. It's already a sunken ship I would say. "

Alice frowned at that and immediately retorted.

"Will is a talented young man and he has always delivered the best ever since his debut. I never thought he would be good at acting but see his acting in [17 Again], even seasoned veterans would have trouble delivering such a performance.

And if a movie has made actors like Levi Richards and Ewan Rees into side characters, do you think the main character would be someone who can easily be downplayed? Knowing Ewan Rees, he would never play as a side character when the main lead is worse than him.

We can safely assume that [Sherlock Holmes] is going to be an absolute masterpiece."

Alice completed her point as the camera rolled towards the host.

"Just like them, there is a clear division between the audience who thinks that the movie will be good and the audience that thinks the movie will be bad. In all this, one thing we all can agree on is that all of us are excited as to how things would turn out to be."

The host said as the camera shifted towards the show banner and signaled for a break.

...

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