Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 784 The key factors of box office success

In its second week, "Swagger" went on to top No. 5700 at the box office.The weekend average single-house ticket only dipped slightly to $[-].

And "Leap to the Peak", directed by Minahan himself, has fallen to an average price of less than 2000 US dollars per theater.

"Sly, it's a pleasure to talk about movies with you again." Bobby Wygant, a well-known film critic in Texas and TV show host, began to broadcast the clips of interviewing Stallone on TV.

"Now there is some controversy about too much violence and fighting in the movie. Is that why you starred in a movie without any violence?"

"Ah... this is one of the main reasons. There are violent scenes in movies, and it depends on what causes them. The world we live in is full of violence. If we have the ability to stop the violence of bad guys, then That's good..."

Stallone, looking tired on TV, saw his box office plummet in the second week, and he once again fell behind Schwarzenegger in the race for the No. [-] action star.

Although the salary for one movie for Cannonball is as high as three to five movies in the past, but if you make too many bad movies, you may not have the opportunity to act in those good scripts in the future.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Ronald was in the hotel, sitting comfortably on the sofa watching the TV interview, feeling very happy.

Barbie Wygant is very old-fashioned, with seemingly innocuous questions, leading Stallone everywhere.The audience still likes to watch action stars fight. Although this kind of boring arm wrestling is not violent, no one watches it.

She then asked Stallone what he thought of the box office, "Sly, your movie is number three on the box office charts, ahead of you is 'Platoon', which reflects the Vietnam War, and there is a romantic movie 'Spirit'." , now some people think that movies that profoundly reflect major social issues do not do well at the box office, what do you think?"

"Huh? Actually, the box office of the movie... I hope more audiences will watch this movie, um, after all, single-parent families are very common in America now." Stallone sometimes looked at the lights, and sometimes scratched his forehead with his hands. The eyes are getting more and more dull.

This kind of question made Stallone very annoyed.The other party asks the question with a gesture of flattering you, but the answer is frustrating.

A big star received a salary of more than 1000 million yuan, but the budget of the whole movie was less than 800 million yuan. Only half of your movie was released in theaters, and the box office was still ahead of you.

"Fuck, this Ronald, why is the movie he produced so popular, does this kid have some kind of magic?"

After the interview, Stallone still stayed where he was, and he had to conduct the same interview many times.

"Hey, I bet Stallone hasn't found it yet. Why isn't this movie a blockbuster?" Ronald turned off the TV and said to his manager, Nisita, who came to chat with him.

"Oh why? Do you know the answer? I can sell it to Stallone's agent for a premium."

"Don't forget to give me a share," Ronald also joked. He knew that Stallone's agent was the president of CAA, Michael Ovitz, and another shareholder, Ronald Meyer.This is the first popular star signed by CAA in the early days.

But Stallone was very conceited, he refused to listen to Ovitz's arrangement, and he refused to make the action comedy "Beverly Hills Cop". The black movie star Eddie Murphy, who was promoted to his leading role, took the opportunity to take the position, and now he is in a mess Hollywood's momentum is very strong, faintly surpassing Stallone.

"Actually, I went to the cinema to watch the film Leaping to the Peak. Stallone's performance was very good, but every arm-wrestling scene was ridiculous. When the audience saw the arm-wrestling scene, they all started eating popcorn, drinking Coke, and chatting with friends.

Every time the audience immersed in the plot is interrupted, only about half of them can re-immerse themselves.There were ridiculous arm wrestlings over and over again, and at the end of the show, everyone lost their energy on watching the movie. "

"This is a very interesting discovery." Nisita herself didn't understand these things, but felt that what Ronald said made sense.

When I usually watch movies or videotapes, I will be interrupted by various things. As expected, the level of investment is worse than going to the cinema with Paula.

"If they haven't read the story, how can there be emotional resonance? So when they get home, they won't recommend it to their friends." Ronald concluded.

"You asked me to help you find a small-budget movie. I have already released the news. Now few people make small-scale productions like Roger Coleman before. I guess I am interested in coming to 'Dirty Dancing' with you There are not many summer files released.

In addition, many people have already obtained distribution contracts from large companies and have adopted financing.Finding a distributor after filming requires a strong sense of adventure or confidence in the script.

Waiting for next week, it is estimated that there will be a lot of news. "

Nisita clapped her hands and talked about how she helped Ronald find a low-budget movie.

"The theory you said, if the audience is distracted from the plot, it will be difficult to go back. Is it true? Why do I find it interesting?"

"I'm not 100% sure, but in my experience, this is the case in many movies." Ronald added a few goji berries to the cup, which Xiao Yan specially recited.

"Look at that movie, which is so cocky, it was said to be worthless by film critics. The story is actually very ridiculous, but one thing is good, that is, the supporting characters are as devoted as the protagonist, and the performance is very good. Although the audience regained their senses after watching When you come here, you will find that many plots in the movie are far-fetched.

For example, how did the puppet played by Kim Cattrall live from ancient Egypt to today.And that plot device that turns Sara back into a puppet if a man other than Andrew McCarthy's hero sees her.But obviously he took Sarah out on a motorcycle, didn't many people see her?

In the end, the hero rescued the puppet from the crusher, so why did he break the spell?What is explained here is also very unclear.

But will these flaws make the audience play when they watch it?

Nope?When they watched the movie, they didn't know the overall story, and they didn't have time to think about some flaws. They were all immersed in Kim Cattrall's beauty and her non-stop changing clothes.

In the end, the love story of the two broke through many obstacles, and finally got married, the bad guys were punished, and the audience did not have any chance to be distracted from the beginning to the end.That's probably where the film can outshine Over the Top. "

"Then, how can we do this?"

Nisita nodded frequently. What Ronald said was common sense, but common sense is indeed what people in Hollywood lack the most.

"Then I don't know. This is just a result. The director may have a hundred ways to keep the audience in the plot. As long as this effect is achieved, the audience's reputation is basically not bad."

……

"So I still use Dean Martin's 'That's Love' as the opening music. I thought about it, and started with a 'La Boheme' opera excerpt, which is a famous song that most audiences have never heard. It is not conducive to the audience's immersion in the plot as soon as possible.

On the contrary, this song by Dean Martin can be said to be a household name in America. As soon as the audience hears it, they know it is a love and romance story.

In this way, they quickly resonated with the middle-aged beautiful widow played by Xueer, and began to look forward to who she would fall in love with..."

After figuring out the key factors that lead to a good movie reputation, Ronald immediately applied what he had learned, and shared his views with Walter Murch in the editing room.

"It's very common sense, very good. I've always felt that there's something wrong with your cold little hands paired with the picture of Cher working. As soon as you said it, I understood. My two editing assistants have never heard of this. An opera, I don't know if it's an aria from the famous love tragedy 'La Bohème'."

"Okay, since you agree, then I will ask Jimmy Reiner to stop contacting Pavarotti."

After another busy week in the editing room, Ronald was basically done with his part.The rest of the sound design, which is not his forte, was entrusted to Walter Murch, who is capable of both sound design and video editing.

I started my vacation early, and only waited for the final sound mixing of the movie to go to see the overall effect.

By the weekend of the third week, "Spirit" continued to sweep the box office charts with a powerful appeal that immerses the audience from beginning to end.

In the third weekend, the box office of a single hall was still US$4200, and the total weekend box office remained above 4 million.

It seems that this small production, which no one is optimistic about, has the potential to last more than two months in theaters.

Ronald learned a lot from the box office analysis of "Top Gun."In fact, movies with the same theme have a relatively certain audience.The final determining factor for the box office is actually how long you can stay in the cinema.

There are many disadvantages of releases in the off-season, but there is also a big advantage, that is, there is very little competition.

"Spirited" ranks high and low, and there are only some old films that have stayed in theaters for more than ten weeks, including the top of the list "Field Platoon".

Ronald also went to see that movie.Oliver Stone is very capable. The audience of this movie is not only focused on the story, but even the number of people going to the bathroom is much less than that of ordinary movies.

As for "Leap to the Peak", word of mouth is getting worse and worse. From the perspective of an audience, it can only influence three new audiences through word of mouth.The single-house box office has fallen to 1200 US dollars, and it will soon fall below the cost line. It is estimated that it will be released next week.

Cannonball paid a lot of money to recruit Stallone, the boss directed it himself, and found 1700 theaters to release the film simultaneously. With such a big momentum, he was about to go away.

Movies are really a very cruel industry, if you can’t do it, you can’t do it. No matter how famous you used to be, no one will watch a bad movie because of the star’s reputation.

……

However, another of Ronald's flicks, Lea Thompson's new Lea Thompson and Eric Stoltz's "Wonderful," was "very bad" at the box office. status.

Sitting in the screening room of Paramount, director Howard Deutch and vice president Ned Tanning sat in their seats, not daring to show their atmosphere, just waiting for Ronald to express his opinion.

"Humph……"

Ronald, who was sitting on the seat, was going to Palm Springs to relax, but was pulled here to analyze the film's problems and see if there was any way to remedy them.

Ronald, who was not very happy in his heart, made a dissatisfied voice when he saw 10 minutes.

"What, is there a problem here?"

Regardless of the pale-faced director Howard Deutch, Ned Tannen trusts Ronald's vision very much, and any voice he makes is very important!
"Is there a cut here?" Ronald asked.

"Yes, originally there was a dialogue in which Keith, the protagonist, promised to send the neighbor girl Watts home. Later, Keith was attracted by his crush Amanda Jones, agreed to send her home, and released Watts' pigeons. ’ Director Howard Deutch explained to Ronald.

"Why did you cut it like this? Isn't there a scene where Watts is angry? The audience saw this, it's a good show!"

Ronald asked the director, pointing to the enraged Mary Stuart Masterson who played Watts on screen.

"I... this..." Dutch glanced at Ned Tanin.

"It was my request, because the movie was a few minutes overtime, and I asked Dutch to cut a little bit of time."

"But why cut it here? I'm very puzzled. Especially Mary Stuart Masterson played very well. Where did her angry mood come from? There was no plot where Keith angered him before, and now she He and Keith are not a couple, so why would Watts be so angry about dating Amanda?
Even if Watts liked Keith, they were good friends and wouldn't be so upset that a good friend dated the man of his dreams.Moreover, Watts later drove to pick up and help Keith chase Amanda. The emotions here are too much for the audience to play. "

"You haven't written it down yet?" Tanin hurriedly asked Dutch to record Ronald's opinion.

"Because... because I showed the finished film to John Hughes, and he said that this part is rather dull and can be deleted to make up the required duration."

"2 minutes overtime, you might as well cut out a complete plot. Although this scene is flat, it explained the key factors. Why Watts was angry, and why did he help as a driver to pick up Keith and Amanda on a date ... Keith failed to get Amanda home because the car Watts loaned to Keith broke down."

Howard Dutch jotted down quickly in a small notebook.

"By the way, this old car is very interesting. It's small, but the headlights are big. Girls will like it. What kind of car is this? I haven't seen it before." Ronald stopped criticizing and changed to another topic.

"This is a mini Cooper from Europe. America only introduced more than 1000 cars a dozen years ago. We got it from a garage."

Howard Deutch was interrupted by Ronald, and almost didn't keep up with Ronald's train of thought.

Ronald actually saw this and already knew that the movie would not be good.

There are two or three more times to cut out the key background plots that are not brilliant in this way.

For example, Keith invited Amanda to a restaurant for dinner. Originally, Amanda's rich ex-boyfriend was going to beat him up there, but Keith changed the restaurant temporarily for the sake of perfection and let them rush into nothing.

This episode was also deleted, which caused Keith and his ex-boyfriend to quarrel later, saying that he was too timid to go to the restaurant, which also left the audience confused.

"Hey..." Ronald lamented.This episode is entertaining again.

"What's the matter? Is it not good here? Write it down, write it down." Ned Tanin glared at Howard Dutch.

"Is this John again?"

"Yes, the opinion of John Hughes, he said that this episode is too long, flat transition plot, not interesting."

Ronald glanced at Dutch, and said in a neutral tone, "You really listen to John Hughes."

"I……"

Dach blushed.He was originally an assistant director of Hughes, and Hughes was kind to him, so it was natural that he would go to Hughes to discuss it first because of the overtime.

But who made the film's box office fail? There are more than 1080 theaters, only less than 350 million box office in the first weekend, and the box office of a single theater is less than 3500.
I also lost my head for a while, and Ronald was the one who helped me get back the director position, and he also helped me deal with technical accidents, so I should invite him to take a look.

At that time, I felt that Ronald was too busy, and there might be some jealousy that he thought he was too young. On the contrary, Hughes was already nearly forty years old, and he was a teacher who brought him to debut, so he didn't have too much burden in his heart to ask for advice.

Hey, I deserved to be scolded by Ronald.

Ronald actually admires Dutch's director level quite a bit, and he is very thoughtful in dealing with some small things.

At the end of the movie, Amanda began to appreciate Keith, but found Watts' love for Keith, and returned the expensive ruby ​​earrings to Keith.

Keith caught up with Watts who was crying alone. The two hugged each other on the empty road at night. The camera slowly rose behind them.

The subtitles began to rise amid the beautiful singing of the children's chorus "I Can't Stop Loving You".

In the end Watts had to come to the earrings that Keith had bought for Amanda and put them on for himself.The two chatted about when they went to buy earrings together, did Watts think it would be his own when he tried them on.

Ronald's handling of this passage is very fond of, Amanda's kindness, Keith's sudden understanding of who he really loves, and Watts in tears, the big close-ups on the screen.There's something for the audience to get emotional about.

It is said that the box office is not so bad.

The subtitles continued to rise, and Keith and Watts walked into the distance.The singing began to drown out the voices of the two of them.

"Huh?" Ronald choked out a question from his throat.

"What's the matter, is there a problem with the ending here?" Tanin became angry again.

"I want to ask, why doesn't Watts give Keith back the ruby ​​earrings here? Keith bought them with his college tuition, and Watts is his best friend. I believe the audience sees this, Everyone thinks that the kind-hearted Watts will let Keith return the earrings, so as not to delay his major events in life, go to college, right?"

Ronald pointed to the two people walking away on the screen and asked.

"This... was originally filmed, but..."

"Hughes said it's not important, right? Isn't my opinion important? Why don't you ask me?"

Ronald is a little pissed off, judging by this ending shot.If these few small links are edited well, the box office of this movie may even double.It's a pity that the three leading actors performed exceptionally well.

In a few key places, the plot is missing, and only a minute or so of footage is missing, but the audience has already played two or three times.

And the final ending, the key finishing touch, was cut by Dach.The emotions of the audience have been brought here step by step, just like a football wide receiver who has already got the request in front of the end zone and is about to score a touchdown, but throws the ball out of bounds inexplicably.

"I..." Director Dach was speechless.

Ronald deeply regrets the film, and several small details were not handled well.Now it is impossible to recall all the copies and revise them again.

"Write it all down. If the company still has plans to make videotapes, change them." Ned Tanin ordered Dutch, and then sent Ronald out of the screening room.

"Why, are you going to make a videotape for this movie?" Ronald asked Tanin.

"Yeah, Top Gun's videotape pre-sales are very popular, and the company decided to use a new pricing strategy to try on other movies."

(End of this chapter)