Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Well, thank you, Auntie." Ronald started collecting passports and other documents after breakfast.

Aunt Karen packed his luggage and put it aside.

"The Soviet Union suddenly announced a boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics and would not send a delegation to participate. The reason was that America was experiencing great power chauvinism and hysterical anti-Soviet syndrome.

Bulgaria announced a boycott, and the attitude of other Eastern Bloc countries is unclear. "

"Huh? Didn't you say you're here to participate this time?" Ronald looked at the "Good Morning America" ​​program on TV, and another big news broke.

"This is the newspaper I bought for you, brother!" Donna happily drove out in a red car early in the morning and bought various major entertainment newspapers for Ronald, focusing on the box office performance in the second week.

"Um, thank you."

Ronald turned out the "Daily Variety Show" and turned to the weekly box office column.

"Break Dance" still ranks first in the weekend box office list with a box office of 63 million, and the cumulative total box office is as high as 16.3 million..."

"Haha...", Ronald was very satisfied with this number.

In second place was a new film, Robert Redford's "The Handsome," with just over $5 million.

The third place is another new film "Arsonist", adapted from Stephen King's film of the same name, with 4.7 million.

"Sixteen Candles" has dropped to fourth place, with only 3.2 million.

The box-office takedown that many expected for "Breakdance" plummeted in its second week, and it wasn't there.

Richard kept calling Ronald to report the summarized news. Universal expected the box office of "Break Dance" to decline rapidly this week, while "Sixteen Candles" relied on word-of-mouth to win. The decline in the second week would be Much smaller.

They have many reasons why "Break Dance" is a fan film that only Latinos and black people watch. The box office of "Break Dance" was driven by MJ's fans, who stopped going after they found out it was a guest appearance.

All are fallacies!

"It seems like your long-term box office performance isn't that good either?" Ronald calculated. Compared with the first week, the box office of "Sixteen Candles" dropped by nearly 30%, while "Break Dance" dropped by nearly 30%. , only 18 percent.

"No one can stop us

No one does it better than us

Even the red light can't stop us

No no no no,……"

Ronald hummed "No One Can Stop Us" from the beginning of "Break Dance" and was in a great mood.

"Can I take you to the airport? My driving skills are good. Coach Smith, who taught me to drive, said that my driving level is better than that of many experienced drivers." Aunt Karen is busy with things in the factory. Donna's driver's license is to find a coach. Learned.

"Okay." Ronald took down the suitcase. Although Donna's red car was very compact, it had a lot of space. At over six feet tall, Ronald was not cramped at all.

Meeting Minahan at the airport, the two boarded an Air France flight to Paris. This time they did not choose the Concorde, but took an ordinary passenger plane, slept on the plane for seven and a half hours, and landed at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Then, without stopping, we transferred to Cannes, a small seaside town in the southeastern part of the country.

"It's such a beautiful place." Ronald took out his sunglasses and put them on. His clothes were blown up by the sea breeze, and the sun felt very comfortable on his body.

The climate in Cannes is pleasant, with the average temperature in May being around 20 degrees, making it a good place for vacation. Apart from the fact that the house prices are soaring because of the film festival, everything else is great.

Yoram, who came in advance, picked up the two of them and stayed in the room reserved in advance.

He has been living here for three or four days, and a large number of leaflets are piled in Yoram's room. Minahan was very polite. He and his cousin squeezed into a large room and gave Ronald the smaller single room.

"Here's your pass," Yoram handed Ronald a pass.

Ronald took it and looked at it. It said "Marbsp;du Fil Badge". Not knowing French, he looked up at Yoram.

"The meaning of the market pass is that this pass has the highest authority. You can go anywhere in the film festival. If you want to see the Cannes market, I will help you apply for it. Originally, you could apply for a film practitioner pass. That kind of comparison It’s cheap and can be found anywhere except the market.”

"Oh, thank you." Ronald hung it carefully around his neck so that he could look around at will.

"Did our break dance participate in any competition? What number is the booth?" Ronald asked about the arrangements of the Cannon Company.

"Ahem, our 'Break Dance' was shot on a rush. We didn't have time to send it to the film festival. Even the place in the market was taken away. I'm now thinking of ways to buy a booth from other people and sell it. Our movie.”

Yoram was actually a little worried. This "Break Dance" was an impromptu idea in early 1984, and it had just been filmed not long ago. It was too late to screen or sell the film, so we had to go to Cannes and figure out a last-minute solution.

"Oh?" Ronald thought to himself, and he fell into the trap of these two brothers again. They said that something had been done, but what they actually meant was that we might not have just had an idea.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine, Ronald."

Minahan saw that Ronald looked a little strange, so he stood up and gave Ronald a few massages on his shoulders. "We two brothers came to America from Israel that year. Because of foreign exchange controls, each of us came with 500 US dollars. We were successful, right?

It's the same in Cannes this time. With your movie, everything will go smoothly."

"What are you going to do then?"

"Every year in Cannes, there are many lucky people who sell their movie copies and withdraw their booths early. We will always have a place." Yoram said, "If it doesn't work, we will take business cards and posters and promote them outside the exhibition hall."

The two began to pick up the phone and take turns to call all the acquaintances to find a solution.

Ronald saw that they were working so hard, and he didn't know if they could get a booth at the film trade market.

He picked up a list of this year's participating films and screenings, and a list of manufacturers at the film trade market, and read them himself.

"Huh?" Ronald discovered that on May 22, the film "Beat\u0026" produced by Orion Pictures would premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

"Minahan, is Beat\u0026 a participating film?" Ronald asked with a frown.

"No, they are Hors\u0026ion," Yoram answered with a French term.

"It means non-competitive screening unit. Orion does not participate in any award selection in Cannes, but only screens here. You know, showing a movie here will always attract some film buyers who come to the trading market. "

"The two movies have the same subject matter. Can we really sell the movies like this? Do we still have to find a way to screen it in Cannes?"

"Relax, Ronald. I can't make movies better than you, but I still know a thing or two about selling movies, ha ha ha. "Minahan's duck voice sounded again, reassuring Ronald.

Ronald was a little nervous, but the brothers' Cannon Pictures had been selling copies in Europe and attracting investment. If they hadn't achieved some results in the past few years, they would have collapsed long ago, right?

Thinking of this, Ronald decided to go out for a walk. He changed into a primary cotton and linen shirt, put on sunglasses, and slowly forgot his worries.

After a while, Ronald walked along the main road to the main venue of the Cannes Film Festival, the Palais des Festivals (Pais des\u0026ivals), a large poster was hung at the entrance, which was the opening film of this year's Cannes, "Fort Sagan".

Above the name of the movie, there were portraits of two French movie stars, which meant that they were big-name stars and enjoyed online treatment.

Fortunately, Ronald still knew them.

The male star had a very big nose, and it was Gerard Depardieu.

Ronald was more familiar with the female star, a beautiful face with a very French woman's temperament, with blonde hair, it was the national treasure actress of France, Catherine Deneuve.

Behind the two stars was a desert, and a row of people were riding camels and carrying guns.

"Why does it seem like another "Sahara"?" Ronald complained.

Below the movie poster, there were also portraits of several supporting roles, one of the female stars also had a baby face, and looked a bit like Diane.

"Sophie... Marceau, Marceau? "Ronald spelled out the name, which he had never heard of in Hollywood.

"I wonder when Diane will be able to regain the figure she had in "Streets of Rage"?" Ronald muttered.

"êtes vo un acteur?" a girl's voice asked.

"What did you say?" Ronald turned around and saw a girl wearing a white vest and a miniskirt, with a bulging chest.

"Did I say you were an actor?" The girl pointed at the pass on Ronald's chest. She had spotted the tall handsome guy and came up to chat with him.

"Oh, I'm not, I'm a film director."

"Director? Hehehe..."

"It's true, I want to sell the film I made at Cannes, it's called Break'"

"Break?" The girl made a gesture of hammering something with her hand.

"Breakg? Break Dance, a kind of dance, breakdance." Ronald simply posed two poses.

"Where is your film being shown? Can you take me to see it? "The girl's eyes lit up and she immediately extended an invitation.

"We haven't found a place to show the film yet." Ronald looked at the girl, who had a graceful figure and good looks, "Are you here with your friends?"

"Yes, they are there," the girl pointed to the beach in the distance, which is where the density of beauties in Cannes is the highest during the film festival.

In mid-May every year, it seems that all the beauties in Europe who aspire to be movie stars come to this small coastal town in the country, hoping that a miracle will happen to them.

"Leave me your contact information, and I'll call you when I confirm the time and place of the screening." Ronald made a phone gesture.

"Okay," the girl left her phone number and left with a smile.

Ronald put on his sunglasses again. He understood that Europeans nowadays don't know anything about breakdancing. If you only say the English title "Break", many people will not understand it.

Ronald continued to walk around the Palace of Films. Posters of the films participating in the "Golden Palm" Award were posted.

"Huh? Isn't this Natasha Kinski? "Ronald discovered that a photo of an acquaintance was also on a movie poster.

"Paris, Texas"

On the poster, Natasha Kinski is wearing a magenta coat, looking back and smiling, looking very charming.

Ronald stared at her for a long time and felt that this German actress looked really good for a movie. Unexpectedly, the movie she starred in also participated in this Cannes.

I just don’t know how the “Maria’s Lovers” she invested in is selling? Did you make a deal with Minahan?

After going around in a circle, Ronald returned to the hotel.

"Damn it, it looks like we are really going to hand out flyers on the streets." Before he entered the door, Ronald heard Minahan and Yoram shouting curses next door.

"What happened?" Ronald came in and saw Minahan's face turned red from holding back.

It turned out that the staff at the Cannes Film Market rejected Minahan's idea of ​​buying a stall at a high price.

"Why don't they sell it even if they pay a high price?" Ronald felt strange. Our country is still a capitalist society.

"They said that Cannes is an orderly place and that relevant procedures must be completed in advance." Yoram came over to explain, "But I think the real reason may be that Orion is exerting his strength."

Yoram continued, "I have a friend who works on the organizing committee. She told me that Orion protested, slandering our film as a preemptive release and piracy. Because the themes of the two films are indeed similar, and they are officially Screening movies…

So Cannes was unwilling to arrange theaters for us to show the film, nor did it sell us suitable booths. "

"Then what do we do?"

"We have found our partner EMI Pictures in China. They will support an open-air screening equipment, and we will screen it on the beach." Minahan slapped the table, "Now we are going to play a big one. During the opening ceremony, we handed out flyers at the entrance of the Film Palace!”

"What's that?" Ronald took out a pen. "I just discovered a situation. Our English title creates a cultural barrier in China. The audience can't understand that this movie is about a kind of dance. We have to Change your name."

"What?" Minahan's eyes widened, "You're right, Europeans don't understand that the word Break is the name of a dance."

"But we only have two days, Cannes will officially open the day after tomorrow."

Ronald took out the contact information left by the girl again, "Since we are handing out flyers, we might as well find some pretty girls. We can make a few clothes at short notice and embroider new names on them. As for the flyers, we can find some people. Change it by hand.”

"How quickly did you meet the beautiful local girls?" Minahan gave her a look that said, "You can do it."

"This is a good idea. Don't look for anyone else. Just me and Yoram will change it." Minahan picked up a marker and brought a stack of flyers over. "What name should we change?"

"Break Dance (Break Dance)?" Ronald suggested, adding dance after it, it makes sense.

"Why not call it Beat Dance?" Yoram began to hold back his bad idea again, "If it looks similar to Beat \u0026, many movie buyers will think that the Orion movie was made by us."

"Quack... I knew you had a really evil idea."