Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1243 Record-breaking movie production costs

"Hey? Where's that beauty?" The Italian actor who just went in didn't see Cameron Diaz when he came out. He regretfully made a gesture on his chest, as if he wanted to find the beautiful figure from the depths of his soul. Let’s think about it again.

"Hey, I even forgot to ask for my name." He regretfully walked to the phone booth next to him and called his agent to announce the good news, "Hey, front desk? I'm Matt, looking for my agent Hannah, who Matt? Matt LeBlanc... Hey, Hannah, yes, the person who auditioned asked me to wait for notification. She said not to change my hairstyle. It seems that I will definitely have a chance to get into the final interview. I have to tell me Mother……"

"Well, at least I don't have to pick up offers from the San Fernando Valley. If I can't help it, I won't go. It's just a last resort when I'm desperate." After a while, Cameron Diaz also came out, and she also entered the final round. With the audition list, I can temporarily have money to live on for a few months.

"Hey, where's that handsome Italian guy?" Diaz also forgot to ask for the handsome guy's name. He clicked his tongue, turned on the accelerator of his second-hand car and accelerated to go to the party first..."

Ronald not only invited Scorsese and Coppola, but also asked directors from his own company to direct Coca-Cola commercials, just as a way to practice his skills and make some extra money.

Of course, Emile Adolino didn't do this commercial to make money, he just wanted to increase his influence. Shooting commercials for a major company like Coca-Cola and with a director of Scorsese's caliber is a good opportunity for him to improve his status in the industry.

As for monetary income, Adolino's "Firebird" is starting to make money. Ronald will not mistreat people who bring profits to his company, and the money must always be provided.

The box office of Firebird, which fell much weaker than expected, actually improved by one place, mainly due to the support of Brooke Shields fans.

The story of Brooke Shields going to the front line to work in the army was told by a news reporter as the reason for the high morale of the young men when they were interviewing the US military press officer on the front line. Although he did not reveal the name of the female star, many people guessed it based on the cheers of soldiers in the background.

Brooke Shields negotiated with Ronald and did not admit or deny it. She just came out and said that she hoped that the soldiers would complete their mission safely and return victoriously.

She is also very bitter. In Hollywood and big cities on the east and west coasts, anti-war sentiment has always been very high. Labor is one thing, but openly supporting the war would damage her support in the big cities (which are also important movie ticket markets).

Of course, this blurring method is the best. In the southern states and some central states, in small towns with high patriotic enthusiasm, young men also flocked to movie theaters because of this incident to see what charm Brooke Shields had that could make soldiers so excited.

In addition to the box office of Firebird, even the video rental performance of Brooke's previous movies has also increased significantly.

At the same time, in the box office rankings, after 29 weeks and more than half a year of being in theaters, "The Love of Ghosts" has finally withdrawn from the series of large-scale releases and moved to the second round and in some theaters. long run.

That's because over the long Martin Luther King Day weekend, the film finally exhausted its last bit of potential, with weekend box office numbers starting to drop below $1,000 per venue. The number of theaters showing the film has also dropped to less than 500.

After reluctantly bidding farewell to the audience and giving up its position as the box office king in 1990 to "Home Alone", "The Love of Ghosts" has grossed a total of 211 million at the domestic box office.

Paramount and Ronaldinho were making a lot of money. If "Home Alone" hadn't come out, this movie would have become the most discussed movie in the 1990s.

Unlike now, even at the celebration party, the vice president of Paramount who replaced Lindsay Dolan and Ronald were still discussing the potential of family movies and possible cooperation.

Although Chris Columbus was recommended by Ronald as the director of Home Alone, as an aspiring director, Ronald still felt unhappy by praising other directors in front of him.

If it hadn't been for the success of this movie, the other person would have congratulated him on his vision and discussed the possibility of a new romantic movie.

"Three people still have a higher box office than two people..."

Ronald, who interrupted the celebration party early and went home alone, said to Diane.

"My dear, I still like the movies you made." Diane thought Ronald was unhappy and immediately came over to comfort her husband.

"I also think my filming is better, but that's not the quality of the movie, but the size of the movie's audience."

Nowadays, movies have become a special consumer product, and audiences need a reason to go to the cinema. And the market capacity of a romantic movie that two young lovers watch together is one-third smaller than that of "Home Alone" that a whole family can watch.

……

"So you also think you need to continue to increase marketing expenses?"

"It's better to watch three people than two."

The next day, Ronald repeated this sentence on the phone.

"What do you mean?"

"Your movie is R-rated, and your competitor's movie may be PG-13, unless your marketing is better than others..."

"Hey, what you said makes sense..."

James Cameron sighed heavily on the phone. He is now under great pressure.

Filming for the Terminator sequel has not yet been completed, but Carloco has already scheduled a release date for this summer.

Now Weinstein and his special effects team have begun to sprint towards the special effects shots of the T-1000 liquid metal robot. Carloco invested a total of about million in special effects funds, which is enough to make a medium-investment movie.

On Cameron's side, there are still many live-action special effects shots of gun battles, chases, and machine gun fires that have not been completed, and he is also under a lot of pressure now.

But Carloco is obviously very gambling. Not only did it not back down, but it also wanted to increase marketing expenses. It is necessary to bring Ronald and other shareholders to a meeting to discuss additional investment. Cameron first communicated with Ronald. Is he going to make such a desperate investment?

Taking into account Schwarzenegger's previous record-breaking salary, two additional investments, and additional marketing budgets, the film may cost more than $100 million, making it the largest film in history. Expensive movie.

It's like a paradox. If the production cost is relatively low, then the box office can make back the money without much effort. But now the production cost has soared to 70 million. If the marketing investment is not enough, it will definitely lose money.

And if there is a large increase in marketing investment, it will cause a further surge in investment, and more box office will be needed to recover the capital. In short, Carloco was like getting on a train without a braking system and trying to cross a bridge that was about to collapse.

People on the train could only continue to add coal to the boiler, betting that they could rush across the bridge at high speed before it collapsed.

"Terminator 2" can only be rated R (restricted) due to plot issues, and depreciation has further pushed up marketing costs. In short, once Ronald agrees with Carloco's gambling strategy, the road will really go dark.

"Really need to add so much budget?" Daydream's top management was first summoned by Ronald for a meeting. They were also a little scared by this kind of courage that could only be seen in Las Vegas. After all, this is Hollywood, and when they think of MGM, they think of studios, not casinos and hotels.

"I think it's worth a try. Anyway, Schwarzenegger has to participate in all the marketing roadshows for that huge salary. With this move, I estimate that I can almost help Carloco save tens of millions of budget. It's still worth a try." Consultant Michael Gray is confident in this crazy plan, "The key is, can the quality of the movie match his marketing?"

"I have confidence in my friend Cameron..." Ronald stopped the other executives who wanted to continue raising questions, "It doesn't matter, anyway, according to the proportion, even if we lose money, we won't lose a lot. If this investment has If there is any problem, I will be responsible for this part." No one immediately stopped questioning it. Anyway, with Ronald's personal support and his always bright vision, it seems that the pictures produced by Terminator 2 must be very good.

……

"Want to add more?"

On the day of the meeting, as soon as Mario Casal, the founder and president of Carocco, proposed additional investment, all the small and medium-sized shareholders immediately turned pale. Why should we invest more? Hollywood has never made such an expensive movie...

Many people have begun to whisper and talk about the past of "Cleopatra". The epic blockbusters that cost tens of millions to shoot in that era almost bankrupted 20th Century Fox. If it weren't for the romantic gossip about the starring actors Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, it would invisibly promote the movie. Audiences flocked to the cinema to see what Taylor would look like so that Burton could divorce her and marry her...

But this kind of thing cannot be replicated. Everyone was talking about it for a while, and the voices gradually grew louder.

"We want to take a look at the special effects that have been completed..." Finally, those small and medium-sized investors reached a consensus. Whether the movie can make back the money must depend on the quality of the movie, so their proposal is also very "reasonable"... …

Forced to have no choice, Mario Casal had no choice but to ask Winston, the special effects director, to take out the semi-finished special effects work he was currently working on and show it to investors. Before watching, everyone has to sign a confidentiality agreement.

"This? That's it?..."

As soon as those scenes were shown, investors went crazy. To be honest, some of the traditional special effects, explosions and other scenes that have been shot are not much improved compared to the first film. The shot of Schwarzenegger firing a Gatling gun is interesting, but it's not particularly outstanding in an action movie.

At least, it's not convincing enough for the audience to come to the cinema for this shot.

The T-1000 liquid robot, which had high hopes, was even more outrageously crude. The computer software developed by Weston's team currently only has some rough low-quality renderings available for people to see. The crude gray textures on them and the boxy models like Transformers are all disgusting.

“Are you just going to let the audience watch Lego?”

One investor began to mock the special effects, which sparked a chorus of approval.

"Director Ronald, what do you think?" Amid the commotion, a shrewd Wall Street investor asked Ronald in an unmoved voice.

"This is an epoch-making special effects picture, something you have never seen before..." Ronald, who has always had full confidence in Cameron, said that he had dreamed of the picture. It corresponds to Winston's special effects production scenes one by one. I have figured out a lot of the production process and techniques. I am nodding in admiration. When asked, I immediately blurt out the answer.

"Ok?"

Suddenly, many investors stopped talking when they heard the news, and the conference room suddenly became quiet. Everyone looked at Ronald, waiting for what he had to say next.

"Why are you looking at me? Look at this picture. This is the amazing innovation of Winston's special effects team and director Cameron. Look here, and here, tsk tsk tsk, what a clever editing, combining real shots The combination with computer special effects is so seamless that I think Hollywood movies may change something after this movie."

Ronald ignored these people and kept making tut-tsk sounds while looking at the screen.

"What will change?" the Wall Street investor boldly asked.

"Perhaps future movies, without such computer-generated special effects scenes, will not be able to become box office blockbusters of the year. At least some of the movies will be like this. I can't wait to see it."

"Oh..." With a bang, the investors started discussing again. Some shrewd ones even ran to Ronald's side, hoping to find out some new information from his conversations with the special effects team that would help them grow. A few words of faith.

"Thank you. Your speech today is a very good education for those ignorant investors. They dare to question the quality of the movie and the carefulness of the marketing plan. They really overestimate their capabilities. A layman comes to teach an expert. We are stuck. Rocco's plan, like the movie itself, is also epoch-making..."

Mario Casal came over to express his gratitude to Ronald after everyone voted for additional investment.

"You'd better be..."

Ronald didn't take too kindly to Carloco's big talk, but he only gave him a platform for Cameron. The so-called marketing plan, I don’t know how much money will actually be spent on effective marketing.

"Why do you think so? Of course it is very good marketing. You will know when the time comes..." Mario Casal was still boasting there, and Cameron came over and hugged Ronald.

"Thanks for your trust……"

"I never doubted..."

"I have to go to the studio. It has to be released in July. I can't waste a day now." Cameron looked at his watch and said that he would go back to filming soon.

"take care……"

Ronald thought to himself that making a movie like this would be much harder than commuting on time for his recent filming of "Other People's Money." Looking at Cameron's long beard, he is probably so busy that he doesn't even have time to reunite with his wife. Kathryn Bigelow is also working on her own new movie...

It is better to find an actress as his wife, otherwise the two of them may not see each other for half a year since they are on two crews.

……

"The marketing plan for Terminator 2 is very huge. It is still more than half a year before its release. A trailer has been filmed to hide all the plots and not to spoil the important plot of the second part (Terminator in the second part) The second part is a good robot that protects John Conrad). There are only scenes of the T-800 being assembled and produced in the robot factory of the future. It will be broadcast continuously on the TV station from now on, which is really generous."

Ronald told Michael Gray about the marketing plan he learned from Terminator 2.

"We are also increasing some marketing investment. The Silence of the Lambs needs more momentum. Otherwise, I would be embarrassed for these creators who have performed so well. We will first add an additional five million, hold one more large-scale premiere, and then add additional publicity in the big Screening of the city, meeting with the audience..."

Ronald didn't include this thriller in last year's awards season, and he felt a little sorry for Jonathan Demme. Now that he sees Carloco's trust and investment in Cameron, he feels that he must also be worthy of the artist who trusts him. them.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements. But...it's the end of January now. Even if we try a lot, this movie may not be able to get many nominations by the end of the year."

"I don't care so much. This movie is indeed good. I think Hollywood may not be able to see a movie like this come out in three to five years. Regardless of the awards, I must do my best at the box office and let as many people see it as possible. It would be a shame not to watch a movie like this.

Anyway, those film critics are in their off-season right now, so if we spend more money, we must manage it well and try our best to get them to give more praise..."

(End of this chapter)