Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 702

The box office results of the first weekend were sent to Ronald immediately. "Longwei Boy Part II" topped the box office rankings.With 300 theaters, the weekend earned [-] million box office. This is the best result of all Ronald's films in the first weekend.

Happiness comes suddenly.

On Sunday night, Ronald celebrated at his new home on Staten Island with his aunt and her boyfriend, along with his childhood friend on the island, Douglas Hanson Jr.My aunt's boyfriend Eric made a big dinner, and we all had a good meal.

After dinner, Ronald received a call from Weintraub, informing him that "Dragon Boy Part [-]" was about to top the box office chart.Douglas Jr. fetched a large bottle of champagne from home and opened it to celebrate.

"Hope our new film goes as well, Cheers!"

Little Doug's annuity in the family fund has been enlarged five times by his grandfather.He has more money to pour into Hollywood.

The "Moonlight Sultry" led by Ronald asked him to make a capital allocation, and the two agreed to invest together after signing the distribution contract.

"Is your Top Gun still in the top three?" asked Douglas Jr.

"Fourth, the two new films are still very strong. But I am already quite satisfied. The box office of the film 'Top Gun' is amazing, and now the weekly box office decay rate is less than 5%"

After hearing the news, Ronald said to everyone.

The box office stamina of "Top Gun" is very good. By the sixth week, it still has close to 600 million weekend box office.The total box office will soon exceed 7000 million.

This phenomenon is actually a good omen. The last movie with such a strong box office was Spielberg's "ET Alien".

What might be wrong with these two movies, Ronald couldn't figure it out for a while, he could only wait for the box office analysis data to come out, and then make a conclusion.

"Is that the Debra Winger movie with Robert Redford?" asked Douglas Jr.

"Yes, that's right."

The second box office is "French Open Condor". They won almost the same number of theaters as "Longwei Boy Part II", but their single-house box office is only about two-thirds of Longwei's, and the final income is 800 million. box office.

No.3 is the comedy movie "Back to School". In the second week of its release, the weekend box office of [-] companies was not as many as the French Open Condor. Like most neurological comedies, the box office decay rate is not bad.

No.4 is "Top Gun", which has been released for six weeks.
In addition to the fifth-ranked "Spring is Not a Book Day" directed by John Hughes, Ronald alone accounted for two of the top five weekend box office rankings.

"When was the last time there was such a grand occasion?" Douglas Jr. was very satisfied with his friend Ronald, and he didn't forget to bring himself to participate in the investment when he became famous.There are some compliments between the words.

"Spielberg, there are many cases like this with Lucas. Don't do this." Ronald smiled and gave Fa Xiao's shoulder a slap.

Douglas Jr. made an exaggerated fall, and the two laughed.

"I watched the French Open Condor, and I always felt that the stars were a bit redundant, and the case was also very complicated. I didn't understand it when I watched it for the first time, and I only figured it out when I watched it for the second time."

Douglas Jr. is also very concerned about Hollywood movies now, and always wants to see new movies when they are released.In this way, chatting in the circle also has some resources.

"I don't know you yet, you just want to get a second look at Debra Winger and Darryl Hannah."

"Why do you think of me so badly?" Douglas Jr. made a hurt look, "Actually, I have watched a lot of movies now, and I know some basic plots. This movie always makes me guess what will happen next.

When you see Redford, you know that he will be a prosecutor who upholds justice, and there is no shortage of humor, and all the beauties fall into his arms.When you see Wenger, you know she is a smart beauty..."

"There is indeed this problem, and I have also discovered it. But this movie is only relying on stars to star in, so it can get financing."

"Wouldn't Moonlight Sultry also change the role to match the star's image in order to win the star's role?"

"I don't think so, because this movie is centered on the heroine. There is still a gap in the influence of female stars compared with male stars, and I don't want to find a famous star to play the male lead."

Douglas Jr. took another bottle of whiskey, and the two continued drinking.He ended up sleeping in the guest room at Ronald's house.

……

"Ronnie, your phone number seems to be your agent looking for you." Aunt's boyfriend made him a hearty breakfast the next day.

"Thank you, Eric." Ronald answered the phone.

The call was from agent Nisita.He received numerous congratulatory calls to Ronald in the morning, and the two picked out some that had to be answered in person, and asked Ronald to call back.

Ronald didn't want his private life in New York to be disturbed, so Nisita and the others temporarily acted as Ronald's manual operator.

"Ned Tannen from Paramount congratulates you and asks you when you will be back in Los Angeles this week to speak with you about the new release.

Katzenberg, Disney's production director, also called. Are you interested in attending the premiere of 'The Wicked Husband', which you are the producer of, will premiere in Los Angeles this weekend.

There are several male stars who have a personal relationship with him and Eisner want to cooperate with you, and want to meet you at the premiere and chat with you. "

"Who?"

"Michael Douglas, and Australia's Mel Gibson."

"That's fine, I'll go back in the middle of the week." Ronald and the two male stars are nodding acquaintances. Since they want to see themselves, it seems that "Top Gun" played a role in Tom Cruise's star status. Let them be very interested in chatting with their own director who can make popular male stars.

Besides, Helen will definitely attend the premiere, the box office of this movie may not be very good, so I have to comfort myself.

"John Hughes also called to congratulate you. After Molly Ringwald left him, he planned to switch to adult comedy. One of his previous plays was a gender-reversed version of 'Pretty in Pink'. Now looking for If I can't find the director, I'll ask if you have anyone to recommend."

"What about his friend?"

"It is said that he said that he could not find a leading actress like Molly Ringwald, so he would not start filming, and Hughes fired him."

"Where can I find a director who specializes in youth films?" Ronald replied.Hughes is a bit similar to himself. They are both outsiders who broke into Hollywood and are relatively productive, so they have not formed their own team for the time being, and they are in the state of the project and others.

"Finally your ex-boss, Roger Corman, called to congratulate you."

"Hey? Why did he think of me? Could it be that he was unhappy that he didn't make a cameo in the second part? I'll call him back."

Ronald put down the phone and called Coleman first.

"Ronald, congratulations, you must invite me to be a guest star in the third part. I feel that I played the host of the karate championship, and I did a good job. My wife likes my performance very much."

Sure enough, Roger Coleman talked about his cameo at the beginning.

"Hahaha, definitely. I haven't started thinking about a sequel yet. Producer Weintraub's energy is now more focused on his business as an MGM/United Artists executive. The third part looks like Not so soon."

"As long as you remember me, I'll be a guest star in the next movie."

"I'm going to do an Italian story next time, Roger, you're Jewish."

"What's the matter? When people reach a certain age, they will look more and more like Italians. Don't forget that I also had a cameo in the second part of The Godfather."

"Okay, okay, I'll leave you with a fun character then."

Ronald and Coleman teased a few words and asked him what else he needed to do.

It was a little strange that Coleman called in such a hurry.Except for the release of his debut film, Coleman specially invited him to dinner and congratulations. For the next few films, Coleman did not choose to call immediately after the results of the first weekend came out.

"I want to congratulate you. You have found the knack for making commercial films that sell well. Before, I saw that you often chose different themes, and I was a little worried. Now that your sequel is so good, I feel that you will be a director in the future. It has a great future.”

Ronald snorted, why is Roger Coleman's request so strict?Even Top Gun didn't see him satisfied, but after filming the second part of Longwei Boy, he seemed even more satisfied.

Roger Corman explained what he meant.

This is Ronald's first sequel, and it follows the same formula as the original.Daniel is in love with a girl, and a rival wants to stop him and humiliate him for some reason.After special training by Master Miyagi, starting from an inconspicuous little place, he introduced the tricks of philosophical thinking, and finally defeated his opponent and embraced the beauty.

This shows that Ronald has proficiently mastered the successful formula of a certain type of film.Roger Corman has seen a lot of short-lived directors who fade into obscurity after their natural talent is exhausted.And Ronald has jumped out of the method of making movies based on talent, and now he can eat movies for a lifetime.

"Well, thanks, Roger. Yours must be my happiest thing."

Ronald was very happy to hear Coleman say that, and he didn't feel underestimated at all.This is the way to consider whether to green-light a movie project from the perspective of the audience and from the perspective of the producer.Roger Corman's experience may be a bit dated, but his methods are worth studying.

"Am I one of the best graduates of Coleman Film University, Roger? Am I number one among the youngest?"

"Your box office is number one, artistic achievement is not."

"Huh? This makes me so sad. Is there anyone who has achieved more than me? Who? Is it Jim? I'm surprised that I'm not number one in your mind?"

Ronald chatted happily and joked with his former boss.

"Your business acumen and imagination are of course number one. Even Jim is no match for you at the box office." Roger Coleman was chatting with Ronald, just like he used to treat the script assistant in the company, Neither did he disdain to communicate because of Ronald's low status back then, nor did he compliment Ronald because of his success now.

"However, from the point of view of the pinnacle of film art and your perfect director skills, I still prefer the other person.

You know, Ronald.The movies I make myself are completely different from the movies I enjoy.

I shoot low-budget plasma horror films, but I like to watch films by masters like Bergman from Sweden and Akira Kurosawa from Japan, who are skilled and capable.Among the American directors who have worked in the New World, Coppola and Scorsese have more control over the film than you. "

"Hahaha, you are really merciless to me." Ronald laughed, and Coleman compared him with a master, which was actually a compliment.

"By the way, who is that Coleman University graduate who is better than me? Does he have any works?"

"Hey... he is not as lucky as you, Ronald. Jonathan has his own ideas in making movies, and the movies he made are very good, but the first big Hollywood commercial production messed up with the star. In the end, the heroine song Ty Hawn gave the studio a choice, and he was kicked out.

It's been several years since a movie was made.

By the way, do you know the biggest difference between you and him?The works he directed are actually very good, but why did you succeed while he failed. "

"why?"

"Because his movies don't make money! Hollywood can tolerate many shortcomings of directors, such as lust, moral corruption, love to manipulate others, and love to make money from projects, all of which can be tolerated. Only one thing that doesn't make money is a capital offense.

Hold on, don't make unprofitable movies in the future. "

"Thank you for your advice, Roger."

Ronald put down the phone, he understood something, and Coleman was a little worried that after his success in business, he would start to learn from other directors and wanted to make some art films to promote his ideas.

"Actually, when I chose the director project, I didn't consider any artistic value and sales philosophy. I didn't choose it in a dream."

Ronald smiled and picked up the phone again, calling the next one on the call back list.

"Oh, I forgot to ask Roger, what is the name of that Jonathan. If there is a chance, brothers and sisters can share resources.

Hmm, but it sounds like he likes to make art films, which may not be suitable for me. I'll ask Coleman next time I have a chance. "

(End of this chapter)