Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The initial filming situation of "The Love Between Ghosts" was really not good.

Paramount's internal turmoil, coupled with the departure of Ronald's film maker Lindsay Dolan, resulted in the company losing out to the Eddie Murphy-led "The Other 48" in the internal competition to schedule the film. ”, and “ Days of Thunder ” starring Tom Cruise.

When Ronald first entered the industry, his

Although the movie "The Love of Ghosts" has Ronald's blessing, the director has no chance of winning against top male stars in terms of grabbing the audience's attention. In addition to the subject matter, romance films have always had a smaller box office base, especially before "Pretty Woman" came out this year and swept the box office...

But this only represents the number of theaters open. With the

At noon on Monday, the weekend box office statistics were out. Data from major theater chains are now aggregated to the distribution company and processed and analyzed through Microsoft Office software at a rate that is ten times faster than the previous manual process.

Opening in just over 1100 theaters, "The Love of Ghosts" has reached the top of the box office rankings with an opening weekend score of more than 12 million.

At this time, Paramount could not sit still, and they quickly sent out senior officials to visit Ronald. The manager of the distribution department admitted his mistake and greatly underestimated the box office potential of "The Last Days". He said that he would urgently add additional copies and quickly allocate 300 theaters from "Another 48 Hours".

Ronald politely thanked him. In fact, if Paramount does not increase its film schedule, the pressure from theater managers will overwhelm them. In theaters in Los Angeles on Saturday and Sunday, so many people came to see "The Last Day" that friends recommended it, so many that some theaters were full.

It is unrealistic to temporarily change the film schedule, because tickets for other movies have also been sold. If the audience finds that they have been moved to "The Love of Ghosts", there will definitely be a lot of dissatisfaction. At this time, the only thing the theater managers in Los Angeles can do is to change the screening hall.

Modern multiplex theaters actually come in different sizes. The large hall can accommodate hundreds of spectators, while the small one can only accommodate dozens of people. This weekend, in Los Angeles theaters, all the halls were used for "The Love of Ghosts". Many staff were shouting, apologizing to the audiences who were watching other movies, and leading them to the temporarily changed small hall.

Unlike most theaters in small towns and medium-sized cities, the current multiplex theaters in Los Angeles have gradually caught up with and surpassed the old-fashioned single-room theaters. Thanks to the investment of Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar, many multiplexes in Los Angeles and New York are mainly showing Ronald's movies.

And those theaters with only one old-fashioned single hall can't do anything about it. They can either simply cancel movies with low attendance and lose money, or they can change them to "love between ghosts" shows. Or manually change the next scheduled show, apologize to the audience who haven't started yet, and refund their tickets.

Paramount's distribution department left in a mixture of regret and excitement, and Ronald also expressed his gratitude to Prince Bandar. The two largest cities on the east and west coasts, and the most high-end theaters, gave Ronald preferential treatment for his film schedule, which also played a role in promoting other theaters.

Ronald's additional theater screenings this week are mainly from Eddie Murphy's "Another 48 Hours." The reason behind this embarrassing practice still comes from an embarrassing fact.

The single-venue box office of Ronald's "The Last Day" far exceeded all competitors.

The overall box office of "Die Hard 2" was more than 2 million higher than that of "The Last Days", but that was obtained from more than twice as many theaters as the latter.

Several other movies, such as "Thunderbolt" and the newly released "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane," did not earn more than half of "The Last Days" at the box office in a single theater. "Another 48 Hours" dropped to less than one-fifth of the level of "The Love Between Humans and Ghosts".

…

"Is your movie "The Ghost Story" going to break the box office of Pretty Woman?" Diane finished her lunch and put little Roger to sleep. When she saw Ronald sorting out the box office figures, he came over and asked question.

"It's possible, but looking at this trend, the box office of "The End of the World" is declining very fast, and it will be released until next year. If it really wants to break the box office of Pretty Woman, it may have to wait until next year."

Ronald frowned and answered while reading the newspaper in his hand.

"Then why do you seem unhappy?" Dianchi asked, forgetting his secret envy that Demi Moore had stepped into this movie again.

"There are happy things, and there are also unhappy things." Ronald handed the newspaper to Diane. On it were the reviews of the movie by two film critics in Chicago.

Roger Ebert and Gene Sisko, two film critics in Chicago, gave the film a negative review, which also affected the box office there, more so than in New York and Los Angeles. The gap, and the gap opened by "Die Hard 2", is the smallest.

"The disadvantage of movies about ghosts is that they often have limited imagination. If a ghost can indeed exist in two realms at once: in the spirit world while participating in the design of our physical universe...then that ghost must be quite "bad"

Diane looked at Albert's film review and gave it only two and a half stars (out of four stars). It also drove Demi Moore's triumphant expression out of my mind. Even if it was a success at the box office, Demi was definitely not liked by the critics.

The film review focused on criticizing Demi Moore's performance, saying that her Molly was too stupid and repeatedly refused to believe that the words brought by Whoopi Goldberg's psychic were true, even though Patrick Schwitz's Sam had repeatedly told the details of life that only the two of them knew.

Albert also criticized these as "idiotic plots" that forced the heroine to become mentally retarded for the sake of the plot. The only scene where Demi Moore performed well was the scene where she kissed the ghost played by Patrick Schwitz at the end.

"The best scene in the movie, which touches people's deep belief in life after death, is when Schwitz is able to take over Goldberg's body and use her presence to touch the woman he loves. However, if we strictly follow logic, this should let us see Goldberg kissing Moore, but of course the movie compromised and only let us see Schwitz holding her - what a pity, because the logical version is actually more spiritual and touching."

Diane finished reading this paragraph and couldn't help laughing out loud. Does this Albert have a grudge against Demi Moore?

"I don't know if there is a grudge against Demi, but I know there is definitely no grudge against money." Ronald also laughed.

The reason why "Ghost" was given a B+ score is that Ronald did not do his best to publicize these famous film critics.

It's not that he is unwilling to pay, but there is a limit on the number of films that film critics can review in each issue. Ronald's main public relations resources are reserved for "Dances with Wolves" and "Silence of the Lambs" that he is preparing to release.

This "Ghost" is a film co-produced with Paramount, so there is no need for him to take on all the responsibilities and give it super-standard public relations treatment.

Of course, a film like "Ghost" is a romanticized film that is far away from real life. The evaluation of film critics is not as important to the box office as those two more realistic films.

If Ronald's company's films are given too many good reviews at one time, the film critics have to balance the good words and the quality of the film itself. If too many good words are said about a film produced by a company, it will actually be a loss to the credibility of the film critics.

If they insist on doing this, their asking price will be very high. Michael Gray also felt that it was unnecessary, so he left the opportunity to speak well of the two films that really needed it.

…

"First of all, congratulations, Patrick, Ghost has achieved great success." A local TV reporter asked the long-haired Patrick Schwitz.

Now that the box office has exploded in the first weekend, Paramount has also arranged more public relations interviews. The TV station lined up in a private room at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel to interview the leading actor and actress and the supporting actor Whoopi Goldberg.

"Thank you..." Patrick Schwitz had already sent away several reporters and looked a little tired, but he still gave a charming smile.

"When you took over this movie, did you think it would be such a box office explosion?"

"In fact, I didn't think of it at all. At that time, director Ronald contacted me..."

"He and you worked together in Dirty Dancing..." The reporter interrupted.

"Yes, yes, in Hollywood, you have to avoid playing a role just for the sake of box office. If you choose a script with such a goal, you will soon lose yourself and may not be able to really act well.

When I first heard that it was Ronald's script, I was very interested. He is a very tasteful director. After reading the script, I was moved by the great love in it."

"Demi... First of all, congratulations..." Another reporter was interviewing Demi Moore.

"Thank you..." Demi's short hair grew a little longer, and she permed it into big waves, looking very sexy and charming.

"You watched Ghost with the audience at the premiere. Which part of the audience's reaction moved you more? Was it the comedy that made them laugh, or the tragedy that made them cry?"

"Ah... I think it's both..." Demi Moore had already prepared her words. "If the director just treated this movie as a love drama, it would also be a very sweet movie.

But Ronald's treatment is the reason why the audience is so fascinated. Comedy and tragedy, laughter and tears, are like taking the audience on a roller coaster ride. This roller coaster-like emotional experience is the reason why the audience likes it so much.

Not to mention the action scenes

"Yes, the scene of dragging Tony Goldwyn's character Carl into hell really made me scream..."

"Hahaha, yes, I

"This is also you

"Yes, I am afraid to watch the movies I acted in. Patrick, Whoopi and I worked hard, and I was very nervous about how the audience would react to the finished film. Fortunately, the effect was really good this time. "

"Wubi, many people complained that Sam was not resurrected at the end of the film. It was really touching to see these two people who loved each other separate. "In another room, the audience's favorite supporting actor, Whoopi Goldberg, was being interviewed.

"Ha, I think this is the greatness of this movie. It is about love. It is not just the kind of love between men and women, but also a kind of great love.

Sam stayed in the world to protect Molly. This reminds me of the love that parents have for their children, which is a love that transcends the flesh..."

Whoopi Goldberg is not only talkative, but also seems to be affected by something, and his words are becoming increasingly unreliable. But the audience just likes to see this kind of nonsense that makes insiders laugh, but laypeople find it incomprehensible.

…

"cheers!"

The lead actor was interviewed repeatedly, and television programs also repeatedly mentioned the film, which gave the film an extra boost at the box office.

Originally, the mid-week box office was generally about half lower than the weekend box office, but the mid-week box office of "The Love of Ghosts" actually remained at 70% of the weekend's, which is a very surprising result.

To celebrate, Ronald held a small celebration party, and several leading actors and major supporting actors came to his home to participate. Ronald took out a large plate, which included fresh salami from Italy, sushi made by a chef airborne from Tokyo, and the new year's red wine from Coppola Estate.

"Ronald, how was my performance?" Whoopi Goldberg had already woken up and knew that the way he was interviewed on TV was really nonsense. He was also a little nervous. He wouldn't ruin Ronald's affairs. ?

"Actually, the effect is pretty good. Michael Gray told me that your interview may have the best ratings. I think the audience watching the interview, like the audience watching the movie, will like your outspoken style..."

Ronald won't be unhappy, anyway, the effect is good, whatever she says is fine. Moreover, Whoopi Goldberg’s interviews are just like acting, none of them are repeated. Unlike the two leading actors who basically gave the same answers to the same questions, she also had different answers to the same questions. Reporters liked interviewing her the most.

"cheers!"

Demi Moore was also very happy, pulling Diane to talk about her proud things. Every time, her husband, Bruce Willis, bossed her around, asking her to change the baby's diapers and so on. When she got impatient, he would throw a hundred dollars to Demi as a reward.

As soon as the weekend box office results came out, Demi's "Die Hard" beat Bruce's "Die Hard 2". That night, Demi gave Bruce a $100 ticket and asked him to change it. diaper.

And Patrick Schwytz was also overjoyed. This time the affectionate leading actor was a hit again, and updated paychecks and script invitations began to come in one after another. He has climbed from B-movies to a leading actor on the edge of the A-list, and he can add another thoroughbred horse to his family's stable.

After everyone was full of wine and food, we got in the car and headed to the airport. Ronald's special plane was waiting there, and the main crew members were going to New York to attend the premiere and promotional activities there.