Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1376 Mortal Kombat
"I feel like I'm being targeted in Hollywood. There aren't many real artists here. Everyone is thinking about the box office and return on investment. If you want to make real art, you have to go to Europe..."

Steve Siegel accepted an interview with reporters while he was "busy", saying that his film production plans continued to be disrupted, so he would go to Europe, the United States and the emerging country of swans to look for investment and cooperation opportunities.

His previous plan to seek investment in Japan to shoot an Aikido movie was interfered with by his ex-wife and his former father-in-law who granted him the Aikido qualification. Many scandals were exposed, including that he had cheated on his wife in Japan and abused his authorization to falsely claim that he was qualified to open a school and teach disciples.

Steve Siegel's fall was quite big this time. In addition to the lawsuit filed by George and his wife, and Ronald's statement that he didn't want to see the "Hidden Dragon" series continue to appear in Hollywood, everyone was also a little stunned by the sudden Ion Milchan case.

Using powerful departments to blatantly target the boss of a film company, no one knows whether you are really close to the former president and want him to be his son-in-law, or just taking advantage of the situation to get revenge. So the best response is to stay out of it and watch the show. After all, as a second-rate action actor, all other projects except this movie will lose money...

"Laura and I will accompany Dad to Kuwait. This is a complete victory..."

Little George specially visited Ronald again later. Not only did he receive rare praise from his mother Barbara, but also after Steve Siegel was boycotted, the film and television investment fund in which he participated opened up the market for two stars, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren.

B-grade action movies only have so many stars. If Siegel can't shoot, then the remaining Jean-Claude Van Damme and Lundgren can occupy the attention of this part of the audience. Lundgren will soon start preparing a movie about the former East German Olympic champion, and Jean-Claude Van Damme will start preparing a new movie with his old friends in Hong Kong.

"Thank you for your help. Don't forget to bring me some dates. Hahaha..." After this incident, the relationship between the two became closer and they visited each other more often.

"Hehehe, even if I forgot, Laura would remind me. Tell them to take a long-term view and not let the teacher keep his eyes on you..."

The person George was talking about was Deputy Director Fei who came to him for lobbying last time. He used to be a little indifferent to Ronald, but now he is in a state of panic. The new President William has already announced that he will implement a stricter policy on dialogue trade.

They originally thought that they could accomplish the same plan by simply repeating the lobbying route used by George Jr., but suddenly they discovered that William seemed difficult to bribe. No matter how they tried to contact him through their connections, they were always rejected.

This of course surprised the other side. As everyone knows, William is a commander without any foundation. Originally, they thought they could follow suit, but such a firm refusal made people wonder whether America had reached a strategic consensus to target that side as the next imaginary enemy.

For a moment, Deputy Director Fei was so anxious that he even came to Ronald to discuss with him, hoping to get in touch with the lobbying group outside the hospital again. They were so anxious that they even took a fancy to the connection between Korean Americans in America and the Southern Evangelical Church, desperately advocating friendship, taking advantage of the friendly relationship that had just been established between the two sides, hoping to use their relationship to ease the situation for themselves.

Although Ronald was not sure why William was so tough, he had a general understanding of it. William had promised too many benefits at the time, and all the policy space had been sold in advance, which meant that he was now locked in the policy futures market.

If he implements any policy now, he will face counterattacks from other conflicting stakeholders. He is a weak leader and it is impossible for him to promote friendship with China at this critical moment.

You have been targeted for a long time, so burning incense now will inevitably seem like a last-minute effort. Mrs. Rodham's dining table is already full of gifts, and she has no room left to accept yours.

But Ronald would not say that, the truth is still very hurtful. He just told George what he said, saying that he still had to listen to Confucius' teachings and that he had to play the long game in America.

Deputy Director Fei was deeply moved by these words. He immediately praised Ronald for his "profound" understanding of Chinese culture and went back to report.

……

"I am very satisfied with Director Whedon's creation. Nicole Kidman's performance and the appearance of those world-famous models received very good responses in Tokyo. The president asked me to tell you that our next Street Fighter game will add the character played by Nicole Kidman as a selectable protagonist."

The senior representative of Capcom came to Los Angeles again. This time he came to express his gratitude with the president's commission.

Street Fighter has been a huge hit around the world, thanks to the movie. In Japan, America, and Europe, it was the number one arcade game in terms of coin-operated sales in 1992. It is also the number one home game console in all major markets.

The second place in coin-operated volume and sales volume was the Street Fighter Turbo version that was released later.

In the American market alone, the average coin-input volume of an arcade machine per week is more than $1300. This has not only saved many coffee shops and bars that have arcade machines, but also revived the coin exchange industry that was almost eliminated.

The best games selected by game magazines were all Street Fighter II, and they praised it as the second game that was known to everyone of all ages after the first arcade game "Space Invaders" in 1978.

According to Capcom's statistics, over 3000 million people in the United States have played all versions of Street Fighter on all game consoles in the past year. The astonishing sales have pushed Capcom into the ranks of giants in the gaming industry.

"I wonder if Ronald Sang can invite Ms. Kidman's husband, Mr. Tom Cruise, to star in the next version of the movie?"

"That depends on how your next generation of games sells?" Ronald thought to himself, you are so bold.

"As long as Ronald Sang can continue to keep the gate, money is not a problem, please."

Capcom has felt the benefits of the linkage between movies and games, and now wants to rely on Ronald to continue replicating this model.

"It's not a matter of money. The main reason is that movies and games are different. Games can have a new version released every year, and fans of the original game can continue to play the new version. But movies are different. A healthy movie will have a sequel at least every two years. The sales of videotapes, the return of box office, and the cooling-off period of the audience are important. Movies released in less than two years are more likely to fail in production and box office..."

Ronald found an excuse to decline, mainly because director Joss Whedon was busy with other projects. Several leading actors, such as Jean-Claude Van Damme, who had the highest salary, were also busy with their own Hong Kong martial arts films. The actor who played the final big boss Vega, Raú Julio, was also actively receiving treatment at the Los Angeles Memorial Hospital because he was diagnosed with stomach problems during the physical examination organized by the crew for them. How could a sequel be filmed in a short period of time?
"Can you recommend a suitable director for this type of action movie? Please help me find one, either in Hollywood or somewhere else."

After sending the Capcom people away, Ronald went to discuss with Richard.

"It's really hard to find a director of this style. He must have made successful B-grade movies, and he must have some interest in games and understand the psychology of those game fans. Most importantly, he must be willing to make this kind of movie and not feel looked down upon for it..."

Richard also scratched his head. Directors like Joss Whedon who are capable, hardworking, and willing to shoot B-level commercial films that are despised by artists are actually quite rare.

Fortunately, the sequel to Street Fighter may not be filmed until two years later, and Whedon will definitely be free by then.

"Oh, you don't understand. I'm not going to make a Street Fighter movie. It's an American game company that came to us after seeing the success of Street Fighter."

Ronald was talking about Midway Games. They released a fighting game called Mortal Kombat around the same time as Street Fighter II.

This game is actually much worse than Street Fighter II. The characters are stiff, the moves often freeze, and the soundtrack and combat are much worse.

The only thing that is better than Street Fighter is that this game has a lot more bloody scenes. There are often scenes of people's limbs and heads being knocked off, and blood spurting out.

This is also the first restricted fighting game in the United States. You must be an adult to buy it. Midway Game also deliberately changed the C in the word Combat to K, which means "Kill". After successfully defeating the opponent, you can also use a big move to make a kill action.

For a time, in many blue-collar communities, this game was even more popular than Street Fighter, meaning that computer game fighting would often be upgraded to real-life fighting...

However, once the Street Fighter movie was released, and Street Fighter Turbo was released, it surpassed Mortal Kombat by a large margin. The sales and coin-operated volume of Mortal Kombat games both dropped significantly.

Zhongtu Games has become a new star in the local gaming industry thanks to this restricted-level fighting game, and now it has to find a way to recover its declining revenue.

In addition to speeding up the development of the second generation, they also thought about shooting a movie to link with the game.

Of course, they didn't have the success of Capcom's previous games, so the production budget they could come up with was not as lavish as Street Fighter.

But after Ronald played two games of this crude Mortal Kombat on the game console sent by their people, he began to think about adapting this game.

Because the background of this game is much easier to adapt into a movie than Street Fighter, and the market is not limited to the group of game fans.

The reason is very simple, because this game is not based on reality, but on a magical background. Some characters in it can perform various magic moves.

The background of the story is much more reasonable than the mysterious organization in Street Fighter who relies on fighting to rule the world. A group of monks like Shaolin Temple worship a world guardian named Raiden, who has been protecting the world from the invasion of magic conquerors from other planes.

The Demon King was unwilling to not be able to annex our world, so he held a martial arts tournament and invited all martial artists to compete. If all of them lost to his warriors, he would break the agreement with Raiden and invade this world...

This kind of setting is easier to adapt and more easily accepted by American audiences. Anyway, movies like Schwarzenegger's "Conan the Barbarian" ten years ago were based on this style.

Michelle Cannold and others were brought in to do the evaluation, and the project was officially approved. They also began to release news that they were looking for a suitable director to direct the film.

John Milius, the director of "Conan the Barbarian," certainly had no interest in repeating what he had done a decade earlier, but for a suitable price he agreed to revise the script as one of the unsigned screenwriters.

John Milius is, after all, a very good film screenwriter, although he has been proven to have some flaws as a director by Hollywood.

"Ronald, you won the Golden Bear Award..."

After finishing his business, Ronald was about to go back to complete the final editing of "Sugar-Coated Trap". Suddenly, Richard, who had just left, ran in quickly and handed him a telegram.

"The Wedding Banquet" and another Chinese-language film, "Scent of Life" directed by Xie Fei, jointly won the Golden Bear Award at this year's Berlin Film Festival.

"Is it that great?"

Ronald also felt that the film "The Wedding Banquet" directed by Ang Lee was just average. It was an improvement over the first "Pushing Hands", but the audio-visual language was not necessarily that great, reaching the first-class level of Hollywood commercial film directors.

Most shots, because of low-cost production, still rely on fixed shots, with the actors entering the room, speaking their lines, and then leaving the camera in a quick shooting routine.

It's just that Ang Lee's overall level is very high, and he knows how to allocate his energy and resources. Several important scenes are shot very coolly. For example, the heroine's pregnancy, the suspicion and understanding between the two male protagonists, the male protagonist's test of his father's breathing, and the ending where Lang Xiong, who plays the father, raises his hands to surrender and leaves America, are all very innovative in an oriental way.

I didn’t expect that such a film would be praised by the judges, and the second film won the Berlin Golden Bear Award. This is very similar to Yimou’s experience.

"Yimou is a member of the jury this time. Another winning film, The Scented Soul, was produced in mainland China... It is also a film about traditional Chinese culture."

"Oh, no wonder..." Ronald understood a little bit. The Chinese culture in Europe now is a bit like it was in America a few years ago. It is welcomed because there has been no exposure to it before.

Yimou not only won the Golden Bear, but also the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. He must have a lot of say in the Golden Bear Awards. The Golden Bear Awards invited him to be a judge this year, which must also be a way of commending Chinese culture.

As for whether he was favored by Berlinale, so that the "Wedding Banquet" he invested in and produced won both awards and "Scent of Soul", it is hard to say. Directors from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, both films tell about traditional Chinese culture, and it is fair to say that they both won awards.

"If there's a chance, we'll look for it and see if there's a chance to distribute it in America." Ronald was also quite interested in the gimmick of the Berlin Double Yolk Egg. Perhaps it could be distributed at a low cost in art theaters or Chinese theaters in Canada.

"Director Luo, this is the copy we got as quickly as possible."

Unexpectedly, as soon as this message was conveyed, Deputy Director Fei was immediately transferred from Japan to attend the Berlin Film Festival, and brought with him a copy of the German subtitles.

"Well, I'll watch it during my break after I finish my editing work."

"Then you go ahead and call me if you have anything." The new cultural counselor was very respectful to Ronald.

After Ronald finished editing, he specially played it for himself in the evening.

This movie is similar to Ju Dou a few years ago, both of which denounced the humiliation and destruction of women by the patriarchy of the past. In comparison, Ronald prefers "The Wedding Banquet", which can add some modernity while retaining the core of the traditional Chinese culture of harmony and diversity.

This movie has some similar themes to Ju Dou, and American audiences may also experience aesthetic fatigue.

After returning the copy to the consul, Ronald said that more research was needed before the release. The consul immediately became anxious and said, "Director Luo, if you have any opinions on this film, we can provide more films for you to choose from."

"Hey, why did his attitude become so good?" Ronald was a little surprised.

"After discussions with the mainland government and the strong support of our superiors, we have agreed in principle to the panda co-production story you proposed last time. You can start the project at any time and send people to the Wolong Nature Reserve for investigation..."

"Well, I know. It's the hometown of giant pandas, and Moutai liquor is very delicious..." Ronald was happy and felt respected.

"Ah, that's not from the same province, but it doesn't matter, I'll contact them and send you a few boxes..."