Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Hey? Where's that beauty?" The Italian actor who had just gone in did not see Cameron Diaz after he came out. He made a gesture in front of his chest with regret, as if he wanted to find the beautiful figure from the depths of his soul and savor it again.

"Hey, I even forgot to ask her name." He walked to the phone booth next to him with regret and called his agent to report the good news, "Hello, is this the front desk? This is Matt, looking for agent Hannah, which Matt? Matt LeBlanc... Hello, Hannah, yes, the person who auditioned asked me to wait for notification. She said not to modify my hairstyle. It seems that I will definitely have a chance to enter the final interview. I have to tell my mother..."

"Well, at least I don't have to accept the offer from San Fernando Valley. If I can avoid it, I won't go there. It's just the last choice when I'm desperate." After a while, Cameron Diaz also came out. She was also on the final audition list and could have money to support her life for a few months.

"Hey, where's that handsome Italian guy?" Diaz forgot to ask for the handsome guy's name, and he snorted, then drove his second-hand car and stepped on the accelerator to go to the party first..."

Ronald not only invited Scorsese and Coppola, but also asked all the directors in his company to direct the Coca-Cola commercial, just to practice and make some extra money.

Of course, Emil Adolino didn't have to shoot this commercial to make money. He wanted to increase his influence. Shooting commercials for a big company like Coca-Cola and with a director of Scorsese's level is a good opportunity for him to improve his position in the industry.

As for the income in terms of money, Adolino's "Firebird" has started to make money. Ronald will not treat people who bring profits to his company unfairly, and the money must be paid.

The box office of Firebird, The decline was much weaker than expected, and it actually moved up one place, mainly because of the support of Brooke Shields' fans.

The story of Brooke Shields's visit to the front line to entertain the troops was told by a journalist to the US military press officer at the front as the reason for the high morale of the young men. Although he did not specify the name of the female star, many people guessed it based on the cheers of the soldiers in the background.

Brooke Shields negotiated with Ronald, neither admitting nor denying, but just saying that she hoped the soldiers would complete their missions safely and return victoriously.

She also had her own difficulties. In Hollywood and the big cities on the east and west coasts, anti-war sentiment has always been very high. Entertaining the troops is one thing, but publicly supporting the war will undermine her support in big cities (which are also important movie ticket bases).

Of course, this vague approach is the best. In the southern states and some states in the middle, in small towns with high patriotic enthusiasm, young men also flocked to the cinema to see what charm Brooke Shields had that could make the soldiers so excited.

In addition to the box office of Firebird, even the video rental results of Brooke's previous movies have also seen a significant increase.

At the same time, on the box office rankings, "Ghost" has finally withdrawn from the sequence of large-scale releases after 29 weeks and more than half a year of hot screenings, and turned to

This is because during the long weekend of Martin Luther King Day, the film finally exhausted its last bit of potential, and the weekend single-theater box office began to drop below one thousand dollars. The number of theaters showing the film also fell below 500.

Reluctantly bid farewell to the audience, giving up the position of the box office champion in 1990 to After "Home Alone", "Ghost" earned a total of 211 million domestic box office.

Paramount and Ronald's daytimers made a lot of money. If it weren't for the sudden appearance of "Home Alone", this movie would have become the most discussed movie in the 1990s.

Unlike now, even at the celebration party, the vice president of Paramount who replaced Lindsay Dolan and Ronald were still discussing the potential and cooperation of family movies.

Although the director of "Home Alone" was Chris Columbus recommended by Ronald, as a director with aspirations, Ronald was still unhappy about the act of praising other directors in front of him.

If it weren't for the big sales of this movie, the other party should have congratulated his vision and discussed the possibility of a new romantic love movie.

"Three people still have a higher box office than two people..."

Ronald, who interrupted the celebration party in advance and went home alone, said to Diane.

"Honey, I still like the movies you made." Diane thought Ronald was unhappy and immediately came to comfort her husband.

"I also think that I shoot better, but that's not about the quality of the film, but the size of the audience."

Nowadays, movies have become a special consumer product, and the audience needs a reason to go to the cinema. The natural market capacity of a romantic film watched by two young lovers is one-third smaller than that of "Home Alone" watched by a family.

...

"So you also think that you should continue to increase the cost of marketing?"

"Three people are always better than two people."

"What do you mean?"

"Your movie is R-rated, and your competitor's may be PG-13, unless your marketing is better than theirs..."

"Hey, you make sense..."

James Cameron sighed on the phone, he is under a lot of pressure now.

The filming of the Terminator sequel has not been completed yet, but Carloco has already set it for this summer's release.

Now Weinstein and his special effects team have begun to sprint towards the special effects shots of the T-1000 liquid metal robot. Carloco invested a total of about 15 million in special effects funds, which is enough to make a medium-investment movie.

On Cameron's side, there are still many live-action special effects shots of gun battles, chases, and machine gun fires that have not been completed, and he is also under a lot of pressure now.

But Carloco is obviously very gambling. Not only did it not back down, but it also wanted to increase marketing expenses. It is necessary to bring Ronald and other shareholders to a meeting to discuss additional investment. Cameron first communicated with Ronald. Is he going to make such a desperate investment?

Taking into account Schwarzenegger's previous record-breaking salary, two additional investments, and additional marketing budgets, the film may cost more than $100 million, making it the largest film in history. Expensive movie.

It's like a paradox. If the production cost is relatively low, then the box office can make back the money without much effort. But now the production cost has soared to 70 million. If the marketing investment is not enough, it will definitely lose money.

And if there is a large increase in marketing investment, it will cause a further surge in investment, and more box office will be needed to recover the capital. In short, Carloco was like getting on a train without a braking system and trying to cross a bridge that was about to collapse.

People on the train could only continue to add coal to the boiler, betting that they could rush across the bridge at high speed before it collapsed.

"Terminator 2" can only be rated R (restricted) due to plot issues, and depreciation has further pushed up marketing costs. In short, once Ronald agrees with Carloco's gambling strategy, the road will really go dark.

"Really need to add so much budget?" Daydream's top management was first called to a meeting by Ronald. They were also a little scared by this kind of courage that could only be seen in Las Vegas. After all, this is Hollywood, and when they think of MGM, they think of studios, not casinos and hotels.

"I think it's worth a try. Anyway, Schwarzenegger has to participate in all the marketing roadshows for that huge salary. With this move, I estimate that I can almost help Carloco save tens of millions of budget. It’s still worth a try.” Consultant Michael Gray is confident in this crazy plan, “The key is whether the quality of the movie can match his marketing.”

"I have confidence in my friend Cameron..." Ronald stopped other executives who wanted to continue raising questions, "It doesn't matter, anyway, according to the proportion, even if we lose money, we won't lose a lot. If this investment has Any problems, I will be responsible for this.”

Everyone immediately stopped questioning. Anyway, with Ronald's personal support and his always brilliant vision, it seems that the images that have been produced for Terminator 2 must be very good.

…

"Want to add more?"

On the day of the meeting, as soon as Mario Casal, the founder and president of Carocco, proposed additional investment, all the small and medium-sized shareholders immediately turned pale. Why should we invest more? Hollywood has never made such an expensive movie...

Many people have begun to whisper and talk about the past of "Cleopatra". The epic blockbusters that cost tens of millions to shoot in that era almost bankrupted 20th Century Fox. If it weren't for the romantic gossip about the starring actors Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, it would invisibly promote the movie. Audiences flocked to the cinema to see what Taylor would look like so that Burton could divorce her and marry her...

But this kind of thing cannot be replicated. Everyone was talking about it for a while, and the voices gradually grew louder.

"We want to take a look at the special effects that have been completed..." Finally, those small and medium-sized investors reached a consensus. Whether the movie can make back the money must depend on the quality of the movie, so their proposal is also very "reasonable"... …

Forced to have no choice, Mario Casal had no choice but to ask Winston, the special effects director, to take out the semi-finished special effects work he was currently working on and show it to investors. Before watching, everyone has to sign a confidentiality agreement.

"This? That's it?..."

As soon as those scenes were shown, investors went crazy. Some of the traditional special effects, explosions and other scenes that were shot, to be honest,

At least, it's not convincing enough for the audience to come to the cinema for this shot.

The T-1000 liquid robot, which had high hopes, was even more outrageously crude. The computer software developed by Weston's team currently only has some rough low-quality renderings available for people to see. The crude gray textures on them and the boxy models like Transformers are all disgusting.

“Are you just going to let the audience watch Lego?”

One investor began to mock the special effects, which sparked a chorus of approval.

"Director Ronald, what do you think?" Amidst the noise, a shrewd Wall Street investor asked Ronald in an unmoved voice.

"This is an epoch-making special effects picture, something you have never seen before..." Ronald, who has always been confident in Cameron, said that he had dreamed of the picture. It corresponded to Winston's special effects production scenes one by one. I figured out a lot of the production process and techniques. I was nodding in admiration. When asked, I immediately blurted out.

"Um?"

Suddenly, many investors heard the news and stopped talking, and the conference room suddenly became quiet. Everyone looked at Ronald, waiting for what he had to say next.

"Why are you looking at me? Look at this picture. This is the amazing innovation of Winston's special effects team and director Cameron. Look here, and here, tsk tsk tsk, what a clever editing, combining real shots The combination with computer special effects is perfect, and I think this movie may change something in Hollywood movies.”

Ronald ignored these people and kept making tut-tsk sounds while looking at the screen.

"What will change?" the Wall Street investor boldly asked.

"Perhaps future movies, without such computer-generated special effects scenes, will not be able to become box office blockbusters of the year. At least some of the movies will be like this. I can't wait to see it."

"Oh..." With a bang, the investors started discussing again. Some shrewd ones even ran to Ronald's side, hoping to find out some new information from his conversations with the special effects team that would help them grow. A few words of faith.

"Thank you. Your speech today is a very good education for those ignorant investors. They dare to question the quality of the movie and the carefulness of the marketing plan. They really overestimate their capabilities. A layman comes to teach an expert. We are stuck. Rocco's plan, like the movie itself, is also epoch-making..."

Mario Casal came over to express his gratitude to Ronald after everyone voted for additional investment.

"You'd better be..."

Ronald wasn't too interested in Carloco's big talk, but he only supported him for Cameron's sake. The so-called marketing plan, I don’t know how much money will actually be spent on effective marketing.

"Why do you think so? Of course it is very good marketing. You will know when the time comes..." Mario Casal was still boasting there, and Cameron came over and hugged Ronald.

"Thanks for your trust……"

"I never doubted..."

"I have to go to the studio. It has to be released in July. I can't waste a day now." Cameron looked at his watch and said that he would go back to filming soon.

"take care……"

Ronald thought to himself that making a movie like this would be much harder than commuting on time for his recent filming of "Other People's Money." Looking at Cameron's long beard, he is probably so busy that he doesn't even have time to reunite with his wife. Kathryn Bigelow is also working on her own new movie...

It is better to find an actress as his wife, otherwise the two of them may not see each other for half a year since they are on two crews.

…

"The marketing plan for Terminator 2 is very huge. It is still more than half a year before its release. A trailer has been filmed to hide all the plot without spoiling it.

Ronald told Michael Gray about the marketing plan he learned from Terminator 2.

"We are also increasing some marketing investment. The Silence of the Lambs needs more momentum. Otherwise, I would be embarrassed for these creators who have performed so well. We will first add an additional five million, hold one more large-scale premiere, and then increase Screening of the city, meeting with the audience..."

Ronald didn't include this thriller in last year's awards season, and he felt a little sorry for Jonathan Demme. Now that he sees Carloco's trust and investment in Cameron, he feels that he must also be worthy of the artist who trusts him. them.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements. But...it's the end of January now. Even if we try a lot, this movie may not be able to get many nominations by the end of the year."

"I don't care so much. This movie is indeed good. I think Hollywood may not be able to see a movie like this come out in three to five years. Regardless of the awards, I must do my best at the box office and let as many people see it as possible. It would be a shame not to watch a movie like this.

Anyway, those film critics are in the off-season right now. If we have more money, we must manage it well and try to get them to do more to praise..."