Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Not many people are buying tickets for The Karate Kid." Producer Weintraub looked at the crowd at the ticket office worriedly.

Ronald and Weintraub were together outside the movie theater on the fourth floor of the Sherman Oaks Department Store in Los Angeles, watching the box office of The Karate Kid on its first day of screening. This department store, where Ronald shot two movies, has become his standard sampling point for watching on-site reactions.

Weintraub's money was spent on on-site marketing and expanding the scale of screenings. After the two discussed, they did not hold any more insignificant premieres. Anyway, this movie has no stars, and it is difficult to attract reporters to make headlines.

"Ghostbusters", "Gremlins", and "The House of Mortals" are still the three most popular movies. Ronald counted secretly on the side, and the number of people who watched these three movies was about the same. The number of people who chose to watch The Karate Kid was almost half of them.

"It's okay, I said it before, the first-day box office of a movie depends on marketing, and the rest depends on word of mouth." Ronald was on the side, cheering Weintraub and himself.

"You're right, our reputation is better than..." Weintraub wanted to say that his movie was better than those three, but then he thought it was a bit self-deception, so he swallowed it and didn't say it.

This year's summer season is very strange, with two super dark horses, "Ghostbusters" and "Gremlins". The reason why they were able to stand out in the box office war is also because of their good reputation, otherwise they shouldn't be called dark horses. I really don't have the confidence to defeat them with word of mouth.

Especially "Ghostbusters", the average box office of a single theater did not decline in the second week of its release, but increased, and the theater chain was immediately added with 200 to 1,500. Everyone knows that this is the posture of a super dark horse.

Weintraub really wanted to say that they were self-deceiving in imagining that "The Karate Kid" could get good results under the pressure of three masterpieces, as long as they could get a good result, they would be able to explain it.

But seeing Ronald so confident, he also held back and didn't say the bad judgment. After all, it was his first time to be a real producer.

The movie was about to start. Weintraub finished his Pepsi and threw the cup into the trash. He winked at Ronald, and the two of them kept silent about the box office forecast and went into the screening room together.

The movie started playing. Because it was a drama, the audience was immersed in the plot, and no one made an exclamation like when "Break Dance" was shown.

Daniel and his mother drove all the way from New Jersey to Los Angeles. They moved into the apartment and met Master Miyagi, asking him to fix the faucet.

The audience still didn't say anything. Weintraub didn't know whether they were fascinated by the movie or not interested in the plot. He was a little nervous and began to clench his hands and look around.

Daniel met the beautiful Ali on the beach. The two fell in love at first sight. Ali took the initiative to let Daniel teach him how to play football.

Then Ali's ex-boyfriend Johnny taught Daniel a lesson. Daniel practiced karate in the apartment to get revenge. Master Miyagi saw it and didn't comment.

On Halloween, Daniel dressed up as a shower ring to attend the masquerade. Ali recognized him and they embraced in the shower curtain.

Weintraub's hands had turned pale from exertion when he didn't hear the expected audience reaction. He couldn't help it and picked up the drink next to him and drank it.

"Hey, Jerry, that's my Coke." Ronald also went to get a drink, but got nothing and couldn't help complaining.

The audience in front turned back and glared at them, saying they were too noisy.

"Sorry," Ronald winked, and the two quietly slipped out of their seats and went to the lounge at the door.

"You're too nervous, Jerry." Ronald went to the snack counter and bought a pack of cigarettes, took out one and handed it to Weintraub, then lit it for him with a disposable plastic lighter, and took one himself and smoked it.

"I'm in there, my heart is about to jump out, why doesn't the audience react?"

Weintraub smoked the cheap cigarettes that he usually disdained, and exhaled heavily.

"They were so absorbed in watching the movie, I think it's a good sign, it shows that the plot of the movie aroused their curiosity. Didn't you see the disgusted look in the audience's eyes after we disturbed them?"

Ronald also exhaled a puff of smoke. He never smoked at ordinary times, only when writing scripts to relieve stress.

"You're right," Weintraub quickly finished his cigarette, went to the counter to buy two bags of chocolate beans, and gave one bag to Ronald.

"Don't worry, it's too late to modify the copy now anyway." Ronald made a joke.

"Hey!"

Obviously, the joke was made in the wrong place, and Weintraub was even more worried.

"Did we fail?" he suddenly asked.

"What's the point of this?" Ronald opened the package and ate two chocolates.

"No, it's not your fault. I'm not complaining about you." Weintraub nervously tore the packaging of MM chocolate. "This is Columbia's mistake in scheduling the release date."

"They didn't know that Ghostbusters and Gremlins would be so popular. We have tried our best to avoid Raiders of the Palace and Star Trek," Ronald advised. In fact, the worst hit was "Hot Street Kids". Their box office was hit hard. It is expected to be offline in three weeks.

"Ah..." Weintraub was a little reluctant to listen to Ronald's advice. He had completely fallen into a cycle of self-denial.

"Maybe we spent too much time on useless plots. Are we slowing down the story?"

"No, I see the audience is very engaged. Didn't you notice that we have been out for such a long time, and no one has come out to use the restroom in Hall 4 where "The Karate Kid" is playing?"

"Yes... this is a good sign." Weintraub relaxed a little.

"Hey, are these two audience members from Hall 4? They are going to the restroom." Before he finished speaking, Weintraub pointed at a young couple, who walked quickly to the restroom.

"That's it, they are out to use the restroom." Weintraub put the cigarette into his mouth with trembling hands, and the cigarette tip glowed bright red from the strong smoke.

"It doesn't matter, there are not many people, and they are all eager to go back." Ronald explained. The boy waited for the girl, held her hand and hurried inside.

Seeing that the other party was so nervous, Ronald led Weintraub to the pizza shop opposite and ordered two cups of Coke, a small pizza, and a poke of chicken wings from the waiter wearing a red and white arrow striped shirt.

"Eat something first, don't be nervous, I think the audience's reaction is very positive."

"Just because few people go to the bathroom?" Weintraub picked up the Pepsi and drank it in big gulps.

"Yes, I usually use this to measure the appeal of the plot to the audience. Obviously, they don't want to miss any plot."

"Thank you," Ronald took the chicken wings from the waitress and ate them himself.

"Maybe we should listen to Columbia and cut the scene where Mr. Miyagi recalls the 442nd Infantry Regiment. This will compress 30 minutes and allow the cinema to schedule more shows."

Ronald was defeated by Weintraub. This man was very nagging while waiting for the bottom card to be turned over at the gambling table.

It's not that bad, actually. He thought to himself that even if he competed with the three major films, he was confident that he could stand out.

Ronald didn't say anything and handed Weintraub another cigarette.

"I might be too nervous. We haven't lost yet." Weintraub was finally blocked by the cigarette, took the pizza, and started to chew it.

"How much do you think we can get at the box office in the end? If the movie is released for six to eight weeks, the average is 4 million. Is it possible to break 30 million?" Weintraub began to worry again.

However, this time his worry was not random. The box office in the first week of release is generally the highest. According to today's attendance and publicity, it is about 5 million, and then it decreases every week. After six to eight weeks of release, it is already above the industry average.

"Like I said, the opening of the movie determines the box office on the first day, and then it depends on word of mouth." Ronald knocked on the table. He was not sure. "I think we should be able to stay in the theater for more than eight weeks."

Weintraub also knew that asking more questions would be disrespectful to Ronald. The two of them looked at each other silently and ate pizza silently.

"How do your wife Jane and Susan get along?" Ronald broke the silence. He was very curious and admired that Weintraub could live with one wife and one concubine.

"I am living a split life now. Although Jane asked Susan to come to her house on holidays, they still don't talk to each other on weekdays. I can only take care of both ends and it's hard for me."

Weintraub shook his head, "Who made me fall in love with them, Ronald, you must not repeat my mistakes in the future."

The two sat in the pizza shop for a long time. Weintraub didn't dare to go back to see the real reaction of the audience, so he could only wait here.

"Ahh..." A faint cry came from the cinema opposite.

"Where is it? Is it our Hall 4?" Weintraub stood up with a bang, holding the railing with both hands and looking across. His joy was beyond words, and his head had already stuck out from the railing.

"It seems so," Ronald also stood up. He raised his wrist to check the newly bought electronic watch. The numbers showed that this show of "The Karate Kid" had been running for an hour and fifty-five minutes.

"It might be the last crane kick." Ronald guessed.

"Let's go and take a look," Weintraub hurriedly took out a handful of banknotes and put them on the table. He dragged Ronald along the aisle to the door of the opposite screening room, waiting for the audience to leave.

With the ending music of "You're the Best" by Joe Esposito, the audience began to walk out in twos and threes.

The young men at the beginning began to imitate the karate moves in the movie while walking.

"Wow!" A boy in a T-shirt raised his hand and hit his companion with a "wall-brushing" move.

"Sweep the hall!" Another young man was not to be outdone, squatting down and kicking back with a despicable move of the Cobra Dojo, "Prepare the body bag!"

"These are all lines from the movie, all lines from the movie," Weintraub was excited, he grabbed Ronald's sleeve tightly and shook it.

"Karate is here, not on the belt," another older man began to imitate Master Miyagi's lines and taught his two companions a lesson.

"Waxing style! Floor style!" The two were not convinced and started to fight around him.

Ronald also breathed a sigh of relief, it seems that the effect is really good, and young people also like to watch it.

"Uncle, uncle!"

A voice started to scream behind him, and Ronald turned around to see a man in a suit and tie, who looked like a senior office worker, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

He stood on one foot and began to imitate Daniel's trick to defeat Johnny in the end, the "Crane Kick."

"Uncle," he didn't know how to use his strength, and imitated it poorly, but he still enjoyed it.

"We are saved." Ronald pulled Weintraub and pointed to the white-collar worker.

"What did you say?"

"I said our box office is guaranteed," Ronald pointed to the white-collar worker who was bumping all the way. There were several people beside him imitating the crane kick.

"Why?" Weintraub looked at them blankly.

Ronald smiled slightly. This was not the target customer of the movie, but those senior white-collar workers who were very particular about clothing and demeanor.

Even such audiences began to imitate the crane kick, which showed that the whole story was very convincing. Not only teenagers, but also adults would be moved and think of the past in high school, right?

Unlike "breakdance", it was an epoch-making dance that no one had seen before. Most of the audience's craze was brought about by that dance.

Audiences have seen many martial arts movies like "The Karate Kid".

Starting from Bruce Lee's earliest "Enter the Dragon", martial arts movies have been released continuously in recent years. The audience has seen much more exciting fights than this "Crane Kick".

This time, their craze for this action was obviously not due to their admiration for the martial arts action itself, but because the story really touched them.

"I think your box office target can be greatly increased. We will not fail."