One had to admit, that the West's brainwashing techniques were quite impressive.
If Laila knew what was going through their minds, she would probably laugh herself silly on the spot.
But she knew that even in the future she came from, many Westerners still imagined the East to be stuck in the 60s or 70s. That's why, on certain foreign websites, you could often find ridiculous questions like "Are there roads in the East?", "Are there cars in the East?", "Do they have refrigerators in the East?" and so on.
The worst part was that such questions had an audience. Groups of people who had never set foot in the East would talk at length about how oppressed, poor, and struggling people there were.
While not enough to radically change Western perceptions, her existence could at least slowly shift views — like boiling a frog in warm water — allowing the West to see what the real East looked like gradually. For example, when she filmed movies in the East, the audience could see the beautiful landscapes. When she invited Eastern actors to join her productions, movie fans would realize that the East also had talented performers.
However, her most significant influence was undoubtedly the theater chains she built in the East.
The Western world hadn't yet paid much attention to developments over there, but when Laila first started expanding her cinema chain in the East, it caused a major stir locally. Back then, people weren't that into movies.
Most people's memories of going to the movies were limited to school-organized screenings or free movie tickets handed out as company perks. Few were willing to pay to watch a film. That's why people would throw huge celebrations if a movie managed to cross 100 million at the box office.
But after Laila's theaters opened, people realized that cinemas could be something entirely different — an exhilarating, comfortable experience.
Because of this, people in cities with her theaters suddenly had a new form of leisure. For a while, going to Laila's cinemas became a fashionable trend. Even celebrities enjoyed visiting to watch new releases.
Later, some Eastern investors saw the business opportunity and entered the movie market as well. But by then, they were too late. Matching Laila's scale would require several times more investment. More importantly, consumer habits had already solidified: going to Laila's theaters was seen as a "trendy" leisure activity. Other cinemas could only compete by offering steep discounts.
With more young people choosing movies as a way to relax or go on dates, box office revenue inevitably began to rise. At first, the growth wasn't obvious, but as her theater chain expanded, the box office numbers started skyrocketing at an exhilarating pace.
Even Hollywood took notice, seeing the region as a new and massive box office goldmine. Under these circumstances, Laila's theater chain became a lucrative prize everyone wanted a piece of.
Of course, acquiring it was impossible. Even buying a stake was difficult. The Moran family was too rich — financial tricks wouldn't work against her. It's more accurate to say they definitely wouldn't work. After all, not only did she have her own company, but also a massive conglomerate backing her.
Director Cameron was extremely confident about his new film, but confidence alone wouldn't guarantee box office success — he needed more support. When he heard from his distribution team that Laila was building IMAX theaters in the East, he immediately came knocking.
Why had he used IMAX during filming? Because he believed only that format could fully showcase the spectacle of Avatar. Naturally, he also believed IMAX was the best way to present his masterpiece.
Laila understood his reasoning. If she were in his shoes, she'd do the same.
After being pestered endlessly, she finally relented. "Alright, I got it. I'll make sure they work overtime and finish the IMAX theaters before the movie premieres."
Satisfied with her answer, Director Cameron finally left, taking the group he had brought with him.
Laila was speechless. She couldn't understand why he even brought those people — they didn't say a word and looked absolutely terrified the whole time.
She hadn't realized she could scare people that badly. The thought was oddly exhilarating.
Originally, those hundreds of IMAX theaters in the East were already on a tight schedule to be completed before Avatar's release. After Cameron's visit, she reacted immediately by sending more technical staff over ahead of time.
Building the theaters wasn't enough — they still needed debugging and troubleshooting.
Currently, even combined, the rest of the world didn't have as many IMAX screens as Laila was installing in the East. Every major city had at least one; second and third-tier cities were each guaranteed one as well. With so many locations, relying on just a few technicians to fine-tune everything in a short period was unrealistic. She had to send personnel early to help the locals build up their technical expertise to handle the massive workload later.
Think about it: if you had hundreds of IMAX screens nationwide but not a single repair technician, and had to fly someone in from abroad every time something broke — wouldn't that be a nightmare?
Laila always preferred to plan. Of course, she had already considered all these issues.
As Avatar's release date approached, the media and advertisements went into overdrive, bombarding audiences with trailers and posters.
And it wasn't just North America. In any country where the movie would be shown, the same insane level of advertising took place. "Carpet bombing" wouldn't even begin to describe it.
At home, whether watching TV, reading newspapers, flipping through magazines, or browsing online, you'd see something related to Avatar within three minutes.
If you got sick of it and decided to go out for a walk — congratulations! No matter where you turned, you'd see Avatar posters on billboards, ad spaces, and even walls on the street.
If you tried escaping overseas — well, congratulations again! Over 60 countries would be releasing the film simultaneously, ensuring that every corner of the globe was saturated with news about the movie.
The marketing was insane. Laila estimated that Cameron had spent at least $150 to $200 million just on promotion.
Keep in mind — that was purely for advertising! You could make a blockbuster film with that kind of budget. If he didn't have immense confidence in both himself and the film, no one would dare pull off such a ludicrous campaign.
Even Laila's company had only spent tens of millions promoting Blood Diamond to avoid breaking her boss's box office record. This made her reflect on her own "frugality." Maybe when the time came for her to chase the all-time box office record, she'd go all out with a campaign like this too.