Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Congratulations, Ronald."

The Los Angeles premiere of "When Harry Met Sally" was quietly held on Thursday, the third week after "Batman" was released.

At the foot of Beverly Hills, the cinema owned by the Academy of Motion Picture Technology and Arts became the venue for the premiere.

This was a byproduct of the meeting between Ronald and Billy Crystal, who visited the Academy to fight for the right to host the Oscars next year.

The directors were very satisfied with Ronald's detailed plan. More importantly, they all remembered that during the writers' strike, when comedians were free to perform at the awards ceremony, Billy Crystal saved the scene by himself.

Although the results have not been officially notified to Ronald, the Academy has sent a clear signal. After they learned that Ronald's new film would be released in a small-scale release, they took the initiative to rent the Academy's Beverly Cinema to Ronald for the premiere.

Here, it is within walking distance of the Beverly Hills luxury residential area where old stars live, which is very convenient for stars to attend and also helps Ronald's new film marketing in disguise.

Therefore, although the premiere was relatively low-key, many stars still came to make entertainment reporters very happy.

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore also came to show their support. Demi Moore has long black hair, a white shirt and jeans, and her image of a sexy blue-collar mom murdered a lot of film.

"Bruce, Demi, what do you think of Ronald's new film?" The text reporter was not to be outdone, and asked the celebrity couple questions from a distance.

"I haven't seen it yet, man! I'll tell you after I finish watching it." Bruce Willis wore a black shirt and sunglasses, and was also dressed like a blue-collar worker. His current roles all have this temperament, so his temperament is also deliberately leaning towards the direction of a blue-collar macho, gradually getting rid of the image of an urban hipster when he was filming TV series before.

"We have never missed Ronald's love movies, and I am moved to tears every time." Demi Moore quickly made up for it, otherwise the reporters would not know how Willis' words would be distorted tomorrow.

"Bruce Willis doesn't know if Ronald's new movie is good or not." This is a light sentence.

"I haven't seen Ronald Lee's new movie yet. I'll comment on it when I have time to watch it." This adds a "when I have time to watch it", and the whole meaning can be distorted into Willis not interested in Ronald's new movie and not in a hurry to watch it.

"Hey, I remember you, the reporter from Variety, right? You have to say something nice to me tomorrow, man." Ronald came over to welcome the two and saw this scene. He pointed at the reporter and said to him half-jokingly and half-threateningly.

"Then how about watching the movie, Ronald." The reporter was not to be outdone and replied.

"Remember to come to the reception later. There are coupons for entertaining reporters." Ronald said, and then turned to welcome Willis and Demi in. The anxious photographer started shouting again, "Ronald, take a photo with us, Ronald!"

"Brother, you are really brave to talk to Ronald like this." Another lower-level reporter from Variety Weekend Edition admired the old reporter who had a long-distance confrontation with Ronald. It is said in the entertainment journalist circle of Hollywood that Ronald has great connections, so don't offend him.

The case of wiretapping Hollywood stars some time ago was said to be handled by Ronald. Not only did it alarm the FBI, but even the person involved was scared to "commit suicide" overnight.

"To deal with these big shots, you must be neither humble nor arrogant. You must be valuable, and they will give you some sweet things in exchange for your use. Do you understand? If you can only say nice things, why would they talk to you?" The old reporter began to brag about his experience.

"Arnold, Arnold!"

Just after sending off the Willis couple, a family of a heavyweight star came to the scene. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a young woman, supporting an old lady with white hair, walked slowly together.

"That's Schwarzenegger's wife Maria Shriver." The young "Variety" reporter didn't know much about this young woman who was not in the entertainment industry in a strict sense.

"Of course, she is JFK's niece. Didn't you watch the Olympics last year? She was a host on NBC." The old reporter taught by example that as an entertainment reporter, recognizing people is an important basic skill, and it cannot be limited to Hollywood.

"Who is that old lady?" The young reporter nodded in agreement, and he pointed to the old woman who looked a bit like Maria Shriver with a wide chin and asked.

"Oh, Shxt! That's Eunice Mary Kennedy..." The old reporter immediately rushed over with the photographer, "Eunice, Eunice, are you in Los Angeles to visit your daughter? What are your expectations for Ronald's new movie?"

Those young reporters who covered the entertainment line didn't know her, but the old reporter used to be a news reporter in New York, and was familiar with Kennedy's sister, the founder of the Special Olympics.

Unlike his two brothers and one sister, this sister did not participate in politics, but in the eyes of the older generation of Americans, she was no less outstanding than other members of the Kennedy family. In 1984, she was awarded the President's Medal of Freedom for creating the Special Olympics.

"Wow, I didn't expect someone in Los Angeles would recognize me." Old lady Eunice was very happy to be recognized. "I really like Ronald's Working Girl, the kind of free and independent woman. I like it very much. This is the idol woman in our minds when we were young. This time I came to see my granddaughter. I am very happy to have the opportunity to attend Ronald's premiere."

Just then Ronald came out again and asked old lady Eunice to take his arm and send her in.

"How can he invite even the big shots in New York?" The young reporter didn't understand again and hurriedly asked the old reporter.

"Ronald is not as simple as a famous Hollywood director. You will understand after you stay in this industry for a long time."

"OJ, OJ! Look here."

I didn't expect so many celebrities to come to this premiere, including former football players and commentators, actors, OJ Simpson and his wife Nicole Brown. Anyway, they all live near Beverly Hills, so the reporters took pictures again.

"I'm a fan of Ronald..." OJ's wife talked about the reason for coming to the premiere. The minor unpleasantness between her and her husband OJ had passed, and the lawsuit for domestic violence filed in court was withdrawn, and the two reconciled.

However, Ronald did not come out to greet these non-Hollywood celebrities or less famous guests every time.

Once he and Diane did not come out, the enthusiasm of the reporters also dropped significantly, so that John Cusack, the male lead who had just filmed "The Depth of Love" with Helen Slater, could only walk into the cinema alone with his new girlfriend Susannah Melvin.

"Dear, why are there so few reporters? Did we come at the wrong time?" Susannah Melvin came from a musical family. She was the girlfriend of pop singer Prce before, and now she is dating Cusack in the hope of appearing on the headlines of the entertainment page again. The scene disappointed her.

In addition to being a singer, Susannah Melvin is also an accomplished songwriter. She feels that the music industry does not pay enough attention to her, so she can only rely on various gossips to increase her exposure.

"Maybe they have already gone in. I'll take you in and introduce Ronald to you." John Cusack stood at the door for a while, and after he had collected enough photos, he pulled his new girlfriend in.

John Cusack didn't find a chance to meet Ronald after he came in, so he had to wait until the movie was over before he went up to say hello.

But after the one-and-a-half-hour movie was over, he and his girlfriend forgot about it. The two hugged each other and were intoxicated by the happy ending of the hero and heroine on the screen.

In the cinema, whether it was the stars, the ordinary audience, or Ronald and Diane, they were all very moved by this ending.

Harry, played by Billy Crystal, finally said the line of marriage proposal. After deciding who he wanted to spend his life with, he hoped that the second half of his life would start as soon as possible.

As this line landed, not only did Meg Ryan, who played Sally on the screen, burst into tears and laugh, but her resentment towards Harry's avoidance of the changes in their relationship after they went to bed, turned into tenderness and sweetness on the spot.

There was also a very neat "Oh..." sound in the audience. The female audience couldn't stand this kind of sweet talk, and they all held the hands of their lovers next to them.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone."

After the movie was over, the leading actors Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan came on stage to interact with the audience.

Unlike the female audience who were intoxicated by the ten-year sweet love from strangers to ordinary friends, to confidants, and finally to lovers, the male audience felt the same way about Billy's confusion. Perhaps many men have such a woman around them who doesn't know whether to be friends or lovers.

However, the most interesting thing was Meg Ryan's live demonstration in the restaurant, how women can pretend to orgasm. All the male audiences were breathing nervously at that moment, and they dared not breathe, for fear that they would accidentally show some surprised expressions and be laughed at by their female friends, saying, "How can you not even understand this?"

In fact, they were all deeply shocked, and their understanding of women was completely overturned from then on.

Unlike Ronald's other movies, where everyone went crazy after the screening, the audience of this movie remained rational, but everyone was definitely moved by the movie and quietly changed something in their hearts.

"Being able to make a movie like this really makes people feel good inside."

After the fan meeting, Meg Ryan was talking to Diane. She was about to fly to Hawaii to shoot director Shanley's movie and would no longer participate in the subsequent marketing and promotion activities.

"Yes, I think it's so sweet," Diane was a little excited. She felt that she could see the details of her and Ronnie's emotional experience in several places in the movie. Is this a re-creation of their relationship by Ronnie?

"Meg, thank you for attending the premiere. See you next time in London." Ronald came to see Meg Ryan off. Because of the filming schedule, Meg Ryan had to wait until the filming in Hawaii was finished and waited until the premiere in London before attending.

The premieres and fan meetings in New York and other places were mainly handled by Billy Crystal and Carrie Fisher.

"See you in London." Meg Ryan said goodbye to Diane with a smile. Both of them were married and had a lot to talk about.

"Honey, let's go home first. The film review will be out tomorrow." Diane pulled Ronald and asked him to go home first.

"Oh, OK, I'm a little nervous. The audience's reaction today is not very enthusiastic..." Ronald felt that Diane's eyes were particularly gentle today, which diluted his slightly uneasy mood.

"The rating of Cea Sre is out, it's A+"

The next morning, Ronald heard good news from Richard.

"It seems that it's not that the audience is not enthusiastic, but that they are enthusiastic in another way." Ronald breathed a sigh of relief. Cea Sre's ratings have always been very accurate, and the audience's reaction is beyond expectations.

After the premiere, this movie was not released on a large scale nationwide, but only screened in 50 theaters on a small scale.

This is the marketing strategy set by Michael Gray. The target audience of this movie, like "Working Girls", is not the traditional teenage audience in the summer season.

And this time it is a romantic love story of middle-aged people, and there is no way to find successful secretaries from all over the country to do marketing like "Working Girls".

So Gray moved the routines of those Oscar-winning movies to the summer season. First, release the film on a small scale, control the number of theaters showing the film, and use a more accurate audience composition to exchange for better word of mouth and better ratings from film critics.

These audiences are fans of the two male and female protagonists, or lovers of romantic love stories, selected from the members of the theaters by Daydream and the theaters participating in the preview.

Although the cost of this kind of precision marketing is very high, the marketing cost spent on each person is several times more than their movie tickets.

But movies are actually a kind of commodity spread by word of mouth. Ronald is willing to spend money on it and let the audience's word of mouth ferment first.

"Oh oh..." Ronald saw the box office statistics again, and his brows opened up.

The scale of the release in 45 theaters exceeded 28,000 US dollars for each theater. Although this number is only controlled by artificial means on a small scale, it is also impressive.

In recent years, through similar means to rush for awards, art films released in the Christmas season at the end of the year rarely have such a strong box office momentum.

"It seems that we don't have to worry about the audience's reputation," Ronald smiled and ate breakfast with Diane at the dining table, "Auntie Wang, give me some more steamed dumplings and barbecued pork buns."

In a good mood, he ate a lot more than usual. Ronald even finished his coffee, and Diane quickly used the coffee pot to add a cup for Ronnie. Could it be that her coffee-making skills have improved?

When the box office results came out on Monday afternoon, the total box office of 45 theaters over the weekend had exceeded 1.1 million. This made Daydream and Columbia's distribution department feel very excited. They were eager to call theater managers everywhere to try to schedule the film for the second week.

"It seems that this is the first time that I have received collective praise from all film critics, and the praise rate has exceeded 90%..."

During dinner, the reviews of major film critics also began to turn to Ronald, and the uniform praise made him flattered.

"Ronald Lee is already one of the best directors of romantic comedies in Hollywood, and this movie is the most traditional in terms of structure and meeting our expectations. Hats off to him.

In addition to Nora Efron's script, the chemistry between Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan makes it even more special."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times also praised Ronald hard, which Ronald himself couldn't believe.

The most shameless praise for Ronald came from the New York media. This has a lot to do with Ronald himself being a New Yorker and the script telling a story about New York.

Karin James, a film critic for the New York Times, said that "When Harry Met Sally" is an "often funny but surprising movie" that "romanticizes the lives of smart, successful, neurotic New Yorkers."

James also described it as "a sitcom version of a Woody Allen movie, full of funny lines and scenes, and various familiar scenes, each with an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu, reminding us of our own emotional lives."

Rita Campley, a film critic for the Washington Post, was different from her New York counterparts. She focused on praising Meg Ryan and screenwriter Nora Ephron.

Meg Ryan is the "Summer version of Melanie Griffith"!

Sally is a blonde beauty who finally found a stage to show her pure passion. She is neither naive nor coquettish. She is a female character created by a female screenwriter, not the Cinderella under the scrutiny of the male screenwriter in "Working Girl."

"Is this a compliment to me?" Ronald asked Diane in confusion after reading the film review in the Washington Post.

"It must be a compliment to the movie." Diane suppressed her laughter, "When you go to New York, ask her."

"Okay, I'll just take it as a compliment to the movie."