January 20, 1994. This was probably the day that the people of the United States paid the most attention to in the history of Hua Xia. At the same time, it was also the day with the most United States reporters in the entire Shanghai.
After various kinds of early publicity, the departure of the replica Titanic had now become the biggest news in the United States, attracting the attention of countless viewers.
The reporters from the United States, no, to be precise, the reporters from the West all flew to Shanghai and crowded on the small dock of the Jiangnan Shipyard, waiting for the moment when the replica Titanic set sail.
Because the Titanic was actually a cruise ship made in the United Kingdom, and most of the passengers who died on it were British citizens, the British paid a lot of attention to the Titanic.
Moreover, 20th Century Fox did not add fuel to the fire, it was completely the British media and people who spontaneously hyped it up. With the popularity of the news in the United Kingdom, the whole of Europe began to pay attention to this news, so it was not only the reporters from the United States who came, but also the entire Western world, about 20 countries and Europe sent reporters to report on this matter.
Such a grand scale was completely unexpected by the Jiangnan Shipyard, especially when they saw that more than 500 reporters had applied to the Jiangnan Shipyard to broadcast the departure of the Titanic live. The director of the Jiangnan Shipyard could not make a decision, he could only report this situation to the higher-ups and ask them to make a decision.
There was also a debate among the higher-ups because the Jiangnan Shipyard itself was involved in some military products. If the reporters were allowed to enter at this time, they might attract some spies, which was very dangerous.
However, after repeated discussions, the higher-ups finally decided to allow all the reporters to enter the live broadcast, because this was an excellent opportunity to show the industrial achievements of Hua Xia. It would greatly promote the international reputation and economic development of Hua Xia.
As for some military secrets, they could be transferred away in advance, and there would be no possibility of leakage.
Therefore, the Jiangnan Shipyard was officially opened to the public on the 20th. More than 500 reporters from various countries poured into the dock, looking up at the ship from a close distance, as if it was a super ghost that had returned from 82 years ago.
According to the post-event statistics, there were about 40 million viewers in the US who watched the live broadcast. If all of Europe was included, the total number of people who watched the live broadcast reached 70 million, which was a very shocking number.
The Titanic was scheduled to set sail at 10: 10 AM. Before that, the reporters could only interview the senior executives of 20th Century Fox and director James Cameron, listening to them talk about the preparation of the Titanic that had already been prepared.
For example, Jon Landau complained to the reporters that when the Titanic was being filmed, the initial investment was 80 million dollars. Later, the investment had increased to 140 million dollars. Now, the investment had soared to 240 million dollars.
Jon Landau even said that when he found out that the investment had increased to 240 million USD, and that he needed to find the missing one dollar of investment, Jon Landau went to the top of the Empire State Building that night, intending to jump down from the top and end it all.
However, before he died, he had to be pulled down by James Cameron!
"Fortunately, I met a generous gentleman at that time. He was willing to pay the extra 100 million dollars, so I survived in the end." Jon Landau sighed.
"Hua Xia is really a great country. Their technology is superb, and I admire them very much!" When James Cameron was interviewed, he also had a flattering expression on his face as he said, "When the movie was first being prepared for shooting, I planned to build a real Titanic, but the prices offered by the domestic companies were unacceptable. The cheapest offer was 380 million US dollars, which exceeded all the budget of our movie."
"So, I could only give up. I planned to only build 14 Titanics, which are the ones in the range that your camera is filming now. That way, at least the audience could be fooled!"
"Later, I was lucky enough to contact the Jiangnan Shipyard. They gave me an unimaginable price. Due to the principle of confidentiality, I can't tell you, but I can say that the price was more than double the price of 14 Titanics. Otherwise, our filming cost wouldn't be 240 million dollars, but 540 million dollars!"
James Cameron praised Hua Xia to the sky. Of course, this didn't mean that James Cameron liked Hua Xia very much. He just knew that the investors of the movie were watching him not far away. If he said something wrong, the investment money might be gone!
Before all the investment funds were in place, James Cameron had to desperately praise those damn investors and make them happy.
Moreover, James Cameron wasn't lying. After all, he really admired Hua Xia's industrial strength and speed.
However, what James Cameron didn't expect was that his words were deeply remembered by many Hua Xia officials present, as well as the people of Hua Xia who were also watching the live broadcast on TV.
"Mr. Cameron is a good friend of the people of Hua Xia!" A big boss commented in front of the media.
So, James Cameron changed and became a good friend and old friend of the people of Hua Xia. He had a very high reputation in Hua Xia. With this, he gained great popularity in Hua Xia and many invisible benefits.
Well, the most obvious benefit was that whenever James Cameron proposed to make a movie, Hua Xia's investment would always be in place immediately. At the same time, his movies could always be approved at the fastest speed and enter the Hua Xia movie market. This was a super treatment that even Spielberg didn't have.
After various interviews lasted for more than an hour, Jon Landau, James Cameron, and the captain of the Jiangnan Shipyard, who was also the leader of Shanghai, stood together on the high deck. In front of them was the steel butt of the Titanic.
The four of them each picked up a bottle of champagne, looked at each other and smiled. Then, they knocked hard on the butt of the Titanic. Then, the tugboat in the distance roared. The Titanic, which was originally parked on the shore, began to move forward. Finally, it rushed into the water like a bomb, completing the ceremony of entering the water.
In the next 60 days, the tugboat would drag the Titanic toward the distant Hawaii.
[PS: There is a problem here because the ship will not start sailing immediately after entering the water. It still needs to be outfitted on the water surface. However, because the Titanic doesn't need to be equipped with a power system, the outfitting is completed directly on land. Here is a special explanation!]
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