Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 415 First Weekend

"Karate should be a philosophy, not a skill." Ronald copied some textual explanations about karate that he had extracted from the library, and then stared at the monitor for a long time, unable to write a word.

"Hey," he slapped the keyboard, "I can't write without inspiration."

I didn't find a karate coach like Vidal to discuss it carefully, and many things are superficial.Coupled with the release of "Night of the Comet", Ronald was restless and had no intention of writing the script.

"Night of the Comet" did not invite film critics to watch the special screening first, but only opened a special screening for the audience.This is also because there is no money to print a complete version, and there are still edited copies. If you ask film critics to read it, they will read a joke and not write anything good.

Simply refuse to invite them, and let them enter the movie theater freely after the release, and write about their true feelings.

For a low-cost movie, everything is beyond my control.Without professional people and a lot of investment, Ronald began to miss the benefits of big studios again.

"Ronald, there's a review for your new film." Richard, the agent, called. "Today, there's only this one."

"Oh, what newspaper?" Ronald was full of anticipation when he heard that there were film reviews.

"Valley Daily, an entertainment edition of a newspaper in the San Fernando Valley."

"How do you rate it?"

"Victory for the Valley Girls!" Richard cleared his throat. "That's the title."

"With Valley Girls, after reaching the top of the charts, Hollywood is definitely not letting go of this genre. Atlantic Pictures has released a Valley Girl, following Martha Coolidge's 'Valley Girls' last month. Exploitation films for the theme.

Set in the aftermath of a comet that wiped out most of Southern California, two valley girls indulge in shopping, and dating in a post-apocalyptic world with all their naiveté.It further reinforces people's stereotype of valley girls.

……

The director seems to have a special fondness for the legs of young girls, and most of the appearances of the characters start with close-ups of the girls' feet and calves, without exception.Even Samantha, one of the heroines, stepped out of the elevator from the exposed legs of the cheerleading uniform.

......"

"Okay, don't read any more." Ronald sighed "Hey", "I'm not obsessed with calves and feet, that shot Kelly Maroney happened to be going to audition for other projects, so I had to use It was taken by a stand-in."

"Hahahaha..." There was a burst of laughter from the other end of the phone.

"I knew you were there, Nisita!"

"Don't be angry, this is just a tabloid in the town of San Fernando Valley, and your movie reviews won't be listed on a large scale until Sunday or even Monday. We're just joking with you." Nisita grabbed the receiver and said to Ronald Said.

"Just laugh at me." Ronald also laughed, and his nervous mood relaxed a little.

"It will take some time for the box office to be counted. I have Richard staring at the Atlantic side. But I went to see it with Paula last night, and the attendance rate was still very good. I didn't lose my mind throughout the movie, a lot The audience loves it too."

"Go on, I love hearing this." Ronald also joked with him, and now he is nervous.

By Sunday, film reviews from all over the world were also published.

Variety's weekend edition wrote: "Young director Ronald Lee makes another foray into the teen genre after 'fast-paced Richmond High.' A sci-fi theme.

He's visually created a compelling B-movie that plays to its strengths.I saw the "Liquid Sky" use of color in it, and we can also see the plot content he borrowed from "Day of the Trilobite", "Dawn of the Dead" and "The Last Woman on Earth".

I would describe the film as "a successful imitation of so many sci-fi films, what it lacks in originality it makes up for with a funny, tongue-in-cheek flair."

"Except for 'Dawn of the Dead', I haven't seen the fuckin' two of those movies," Ronald jumped to his feet when he saw Variety's weekend edition of his film in the CAA office. "Are you accusing me of plagiarism?"

"No, if all the plots are not similar to the previous movies, then there will be no movies." Nisita patted Ronald on the shoulder and handed him a cup of coffee.

"Then why do they say that?"

"It's better to discriminate against low-budget B-grade movies. But don't worry, writing like this will not affect your box office results, but will attract the interest of those B-grade movies with small production hobbies. These reporters are very experienced. , but also to praise a part."

Ronald shook his head, forget it, for the sake of box office, it's okay to be scolded a few times.

Next came the New York Times film review column.

Film critic Vincent Canby wrote,
"Night of the Comet is a well-intentioned, post-apocalyptic B-movie, with a unique sense of humor that adds to the unpredictability of the film's plot, and is a recommended film for sci-fi fans.

From the opening narrative, it is not difficult to see that "Night of the Comet" is a tribute to the B-class science fiction movies of the 60s.Many are calling it a comedy, but that's a bit misleading.It certainly has some funny moments, and an all-around lightheartedness, but most of the film is also pretty straightforward.

What makes this movie work is its two female leads and their very believable reactions to being the last people on Earth.Facing the end of mankind, what will they do?They go shopping for free!Be honest with yourself... no? "

"Is this a good word?" Ronald asked.

"You can't expect the film reviews of this small production to be full of good things like last time when Universal put a lot of effort into public relations." Nisita pointed out.

Then there's Neil Gaiman, film critic for Interview magazine.

Ronald recognized it as the magazine of that eccentric artist in New York, Andy Warhol.

"This is one of the funniest, wittiest, most imaginative and thought-provoking films I've ever seen, and what's more, it was made on no budget ($120 million, for Sci-fi is no budget, you know what I mean).

Katherine Marie Stewart, and Kelly Maroney, both do a great job in their roles.They were the Valley Girls, but they weren't the cartoonish, Frank Zappa version of the Valley Girls on that chart-topping song.

In a movie where comets die and zombies stumble, these girls actually find their feet in the real world...  

Another highlight of the cast is the ever-great Mary Voronov.This Roger Corman movie veteran, is perfect for this movie.

We note that director Ronald Lee, also a graduate of the 'Coleman School of Cinematic Arts', owes much of this film to Coleman's filmmaking training. "

"It seems that Mary Voronov's old friends are still very powerful." Ronald felt good. "Interview" magazine is still very influential among teenagers on the East Coast. Many high school students use this This magazine is a popular guide, with such a high rating, it should be able to attract some viewers.

The Atlantic arranged for "Night of the Comet" to be screened in nearly [-] cinemas in the first weekend. These film reviews helped attract some audiences to the cinema. The next thing is to watch the movie's reputation.

If word of mouth is good, then more audiences will hear about it from relatives and friends and go to the cinema, which will continue to drive up the box office.If the word of mouth is not good, then there will be only such a wave, and then it will quickly fail.

"There is also Sisko and Albert's film review program." Nisita found a remote control, and pressed a few times on the TV and VCR.

"Welcome to the Sisko and Albert film review show."

The glasses and the bald head started the weekly TV movie review again.

Bald Sisko prefers this movie, "I think if the comet destroys most of the adults and turns them into ashes, then the teenagers must be very happy. They can go to the department store for free. Friends go out on a date and get home after twelve o'clock.

Most sci-fi movies take the catastrophe of future humans too seriously. It is a very good attempt in sci-fi movies to have such a movie tell the extinction event in a relaxed manner.

Sad, of course, for the adults who were wiped out by the comet, or turned into zombies.But the two sisters that the audience was substituted into thought that they could wear good clothes that they couldn't afford before, and they could drive sports cars that they couldn't afford before.

It's literally a teenage dream. "

Glasses Albert continued, "I also think the orientation of the movie is very interesting. Apocalyptic movies usually leave adults, men, women, old people and children, but in this movie only teenagers survived, maybe they played Hi, I forgot the time."

"This guy must still hate me. He exposed his old background during the road show last time." Ronald said bitterly, and Albert criticized himself in a weird way.

Sisko took up the conversation again, "I think this movie deserves more screen time. Although the latest episode of Star Wars will be released in two weeks, I still appeal to the cinema to give them more screen time. Viewers who haven’t seen it should go watch it now.”

"Bald man, you still like my movies." Ronald lamented.

Albert also said, "I think this movie is lackluster in sci-fi. The director just combined popular elements such as sci-fi, teens, romantic comedies, zombie horror, valley girls, etc. to steal a popular trend. I think It's not going to be a movie that will be remembered for a long time."

Sisko disagrees, "No, that's not it. I know you love sci-fi more than I do, but I have a good word for Ronald Lee.

The point here is that many sci-fi directors are keen to teach the audience, they always have a mentality, you don't know what the future holds, I'm smarter, so I made a movie to show you.

Ronald Lee did not have such a burden. He did not make the audience feel that the future must be gloomy, but let you explore by yourself. The audience has a sense of mystery about the ending of the film, rather than a sense of pessimism. It is good.Like at the end of the movie. "

"Okay, I reserve my opinion, let's watch another new movie."

"Crack", Nisita pressed the pause button.

"That's all."

"Will they say that in the papers?"

"No, the Atlantic doesn't have them. So your film is only used as a new film evaluation part of the weekly film review, but they often have different opinions, and generally, movies with different opinions have better box office attendance."

After another day of restless waiting, on Monday night, Tom Coleman, president of Atlantic Distribution, personally called.

"The box office statistics are out. The total box office for the three days of the weekend is 350 million, 890 eight theaters, and the average box office for a single theater is close to [-]. We won again!"

"Huh!" Ronald fell down on the sofa after answering the phone.His whole body seemed to be soaked in a bathtub and taking a hot bath.

[-] single-house weekend box office results, although not as good as the previous "Valley Girl" in the Atlantic.But my "Night of the Comet" was released in nearly [-] cinemas nationwide, unlike "Valley Girl", which was only shown in less than [-] theaters in big cities on the east and west coasts.

Considering that her own movie had more screenings in multiplex theaters, the attendance rate must be higher than that of the other party. In this way, Martha Coolidge was convinced of the loss and could not complain that she stole her box office.

The weekend box office of the entire film was 350 million, ranking fourth among all films, only in the two new films "Blue Thunder" and "Breathless", and "Lightning Dance" which has already been released for the fifth week at the box office. "under.

(End of this chapter)