Exploiting Hollywood 1980

By its second week, "Swagger" continued to hold the No. 2 spot on the box office charts. The average weekend box office per theater dropped only slightly to $5,700.

As for "Over the Top," directed by Minahan himself, the average price per museum has fallen to less than $2,000.

"Sy, it's great to be able to talk about movies with you again." Barbie Wygant, a famous Texas film critic and TV movie host, interviewed Stallone and began to play on TV.

"Now there is some controversy over too much violence and fighting in the movie. Is it because of this that you starred in a movie without any violent scenes?"

"Ah, this is one of the main reasons. There are violent scenes in movies, and it also depends on the cause. The world we live in is full of violence. If we have the ability to stop the violence of bad people, then this is OK"

Stallone looked tired on TV, and the box office plummeted in the second week. He once again fell behind in the competition with Schwarzenegger for the number one action star.

Although the pay for one movie for Cannon is more than the previous three to five movies, but if too many bad movies are made, there will be no chance to act in those good scripts in the future.

"Ha ha ha ha"

Ronald was in the hotel, sitting comfortably on the sofa and watching the TV interview, feeling very happy.

Bobbi Wygant is very sophisticated and guides Stallone in every possible way with seemingly harmless questions. Audiences still like to watch action stars fight. Although this kind of boring arm wrestling is not violent, no one watches it.

She then asked Stallone his opinion on the box office, "Sy, your movie ranks third on the box office list. In front of you, in addition to Platoon, which reflects the Vietnam War, there is also a romantic movie that is very impressive. Now some people I think movies that profoundly reflect major social issues do not do well at the box office. What do you think?”

"Huh? Actually, I hope more viewers will watch this movie at the box office. After all, single-parent families are now a very common phenomenon in America." Stallone sometimes looked at the lights, sometimes scratched his forehead with his hands, and opened his eyes. More and more godless.

This kind of question made Stallone very angry. The other person asks the question in a flattering manner, but the answer is frustrating.

A big star gets a salary of more than 10 million, but the budget of the whole movie is less than 8 million, and it is released in only half of your theaters, and the box office is still ahead of you.

"Damn it, this Ronald, why are the movies he produces so popular? Does this guy have some magic?"

After the interview, Stallone stayed where he was. He would conduct the same interview many times.

"Hey, I bet Stallone hasn't found it yet. Why isn't this movie a hit?" Ronald turned off the TV and said to his agent Niceta who came over to chat with him.

"Oh, why? Do you know the answer? I can sell it to Stallone's agent at a high price."

"Don't forget to give me a share," Ronald also joked. He knew that Stallone's agent was personally served by CAA president Michael Ovitz and another shareholder Ronald Meyer. This is the first popular star signed by CAA in its early days.

But Stallone was very conceited and refused to listen to Ovitz's arrangements. He refused to make the action comedy "Beverly Hills Cop". The black movie star Eddie Murphy, who was passed over for the leading role, took the opportunity to take over. Now he is doing well. The momentum of Laiwu is huge, and it has already surpassed that of Stallone.

"Actually, I went to the cinema to watch Over the Top. Stallone's performance was very good, but every arm-wrestling scene was very ridiculous. When the arm-wrestling scene came, the audience started eating popcorn, drinking Coke, and chatting with friends.

Every time the audience is immersed in the plot, only half of them can get back into it after being interrupted. After repeated arm-wrestling, when the show finally ended, everyone was no longer focused on watching the movie. "

"This is a very interesting discovery." Niceta didn't understand this herself, but she only felt that what Ronald said made sense.

When I usually watch movies or videos, there are all kinds of things that interrupt me. As expected, I am so involved that it would be better to go to the cinema with Paula to watch it.

"If they don't understand the story, how can they have emotional resonance? So when they get home, they won't recommend it to their friends." Ronald concluded.

"I have already released the news about the low-budget movie you asked me to help find. Nowadays, few people make small productions like Roger Corman did in the past. I guess I will be interested in releasing Dirty Dancing in the summer with you. Not many.

In addition, many people have already obtained issuance contracts from large companies and used financing. To find a distributor after filming requires a strong sense of adventure, or a lot of confidence in the script.

Wait until next week, there will probably be a lot of news. "

Niceta clapped her hands and told her about helping Ronald find a low-budget movie.

"The theory you mentioned is that if the audience gets distracted from the plot, it will be difficult to go back. Is it true? Why do I find it interesting?"

"I'm not 100% sure, but based on my experience, this is what happens in many movies." Ronald added a few wolfberry berries to the cup, which Xiao Yan specially carried on his back.

"Look at that high-spirited movie, which was said by film critics to be worthless. The story is actually very funny, but the only good thing is that the supporting characters are as dedicated as the protagonist and they acted very well. Although the audience came back to their senses after watching it When you come, you will find that many plots in the movie are far-fetched.

For example, how the puppet played by Kim Cattrall has survived from ancient Egypt to today. There's also that plot device where if a man other than the male protagonist played by Andrew McCarthy sees Sarah, she turns back into a puppet. But it was obvious that he was taking Sara out on a motorcycle, didn’t many people see her?

In the end, the hero rescued the puppet from the crusher. Why was the curse broken? What is explained here is also very unclear.

But will these flaws make the audience laugh while watching it?

Nope? When they watch the movie, they don't know the overall story, and they don't have time to dwell on some of the flaws. They are all immersed in Kim Cattrall's beauty and her constant costume changes.

In the end, the love story of the two people broke through many obstacles and finally came to fruition. The bad guys were punished and the audience had no chance to lose focus from the beginning to the end. This is probably what makes this movie better than Over the Top. "

"Then, how can we achieve this?"

Niceta nodded frequently. Ronald was talking about common sense, but common sense is indeed what people in Hollywood lack the most.

"Then I don't know. This is just a result. The director may have a hundred ways to keep the audience in the plot. As long as this effect is achieved, the audience's reputation will basically be good."

"So I still used Dean Martin's Love as the opening music. I thought about it. Opening with an opera aria from La Boheme. This kind of famous song that most audiences have never heard is not conducive to the audience's immersion as quickly as possible. into the plot.

On the contrary, this song by Dean Martin can be said to be a household name in America. As soon as the audience hears it, they know that it is a love and romance story.

In this way, they quickly resonated with the beautiful middle-aged widow played by Cher, and began to look forward to who she would fall in love with."

Having figured out the key factors that produced a good reputation for a movie, Ronald immediately applied what he learned and shared his views with Walter Murch in the editing room.

"It's a very common sense perspective, very good. I have always felt that there is something wrong with your cold little hands and the scene of Cher working. I understood it as soon as you said it. My two editing assistants have never heard of this. This opera is an aria from the famous love tragedy La Boheme."

"Okay, since you agree, then I will ask Jiminer to stop contacting Pavarotti."

After another busy week in the editing room, Ronald basically completed his part of the work. The remaining sound design was not his forte, so he simply entrusted it to Walter Murch, who was capable of both sound design and image editing.

I started my vacation early and only waited for the final mixing of the movie to see the overall effect.

By the third weekend, "Spiritual" continued to sweep the box office charts with its powerful appeal that kept the audience immersed from beginning to end.

On the third weekend, the box office of a single theater was still US$4,200, and the total weekend box office remained above 4 million.

It seems that this small production that no one is optimistic about has the potential to stay in theaters for more than two months.

Ronald learned a lot from analyzing the box office of "Top Gun." In fact, movies with the same theme have a relatively certain audience. The final determining factor of the box office is actually how long you can stay in the cinema.

There are many shortcomings in the release of Dan Ji now, but it also has a big advantage, that is, there is very little competition.

There are only some old films that have been in theaters for more than ten weeks, including "Platoon" at the top of the list.

Ronald also went to watch that movie. Oliver Stone is very capable. Not to mention that the audience in this movie focused on the story, and even the number of people going to the bathroom was much less than in ordinary movies.

As for "Leaping to the Top", its reputation is getting worse and worse. Judging from the audience, it can probably only influence three new viewers through word of mouth. The box office of a single theater has dropped to US$1,200, and will soon fall below the cost line. It is expected to be released next week.

Cannon paid a huge price to recruit Stallone, and the boss personally directed it. It opened in 1,700 theaters and released it simultaneously. With such a huge momentum, the film was about to get out of business.

Movies are really a very cruel industry. If you can't do it, you can't do it. No matter how famous you were in the past, no one will watch an unsightly movie because of the star's reputation.

However, another of Ronald's films that has done some good work, this week's newly released Leigh Thompson and Eric Stoltz's "Brilliant", has a "very bad" situation at the box office. .

Sitting in the screening room of Paramount Company, director Howard Deutch and Vice President Ned Tanin were all sitting in their seats, not daring to express their opinions, just waiting for Ronald to express his opinion.

"snort"

Ronald, who was sitting in the seat, was originally going to Palm Springs to relax, but he was dragged here to analyze the film's problems and see if there was any way to remedy it.

Ronald, who was not very happy, made a sound of dissatisfaction when he saw it for twenty minutes.

"What, is there something wrong here?"

Regardless of the pale-faced director Howard Deutch, Nedtanen has great trust in Ronald's vision, and any sound he makes is very important!

"Is there a section cut here?" Ronald asked.

"Yes, originally there was a conversation between the male protagonist Keith and his neighbor girl Watts. Later, Keith was attracted by his crush Amanda Jones and promised to take her home, but stood up Watts." Director Howard Deutch explained to Ronald.

"Why did you cut it like this? Isn't there a plot later where Watts gets angry? It's very distracting for the audience to see this!"

Ronald pointed at the furious look of Mary Stuart Masterson, who played Watts on the screen, and asked the director.

"This is me..." Deutch glanced at Ned Tanin.

"It was my request. Because the movie went overtime by a few minutes, I asked Dutch to cut some of the time."

"But why cut it here? I'm confused. Especially Mary Stuart Masterson played very well. Where did her anger come from? There was no plot in the previous part where Keith angered her. Now she and Keith are not lovers. Why is Watts so angry about dating Amanda?

Even if Watts likes Keith, they are good friends. He won't be so depressed because his good friend is dating his dream lover. And Watts later drove to pick him up and helped Keith pursue Amanda. The emotions here are too distracting for the audience."

"Why don't you write it down?" Tanin quickly asked Dutch to record Ronald's opinions.

"Because I showed the finished film to John Hughes, and he said this part is rather dull and can be deleted to make up the required length."

"Two minutes overtime, you might as well cut out a complete plot. Although this part is dull, it explains the key factors. Why was Watts angry, and why did he later help as a driver to pick up Keith and Amanda for a date? Because the car Watts lent to Keith broke down, and Keith failed to take Amanda home."

Howard Deutch quickly wrote it down in a small notebook.

"By the way, this broken car is quite fun. It's small, but the headlights are big. Girls will like it. What model is this? I haven't seen it before." Ronald stopped criticizing and changed the subject.

"This is a European car i Cooper. America only introduced more than a thousand of them more than a decade ago. We found it from a repair shop."

Howard Deutch was interrupted by Ronald and almost didn't follow Ronald's train of thought.

In fact, Ronald knew that the movie would not be good when he saw this.

Later, the key background plots that were not outstanding were cut out two or three times.

For example, Keith invited Amanda to a restaurant for dinner. Amanda's rich ex-boyfriend was going to beat him up there, but Keith changed the restaurant temporarily for perfection, leaving them empty-handed.

This plot was also deleted, which led to Keith saying that he was too timid to go to the restaurant when he was about to quarrel with his ex-boyfriend, which also confused the audience.

"Ah," Ronald lamented. This plot was out of the play again.

"What's wrong? Isn't this place good? Write it down, write it down." Ned Tanin glared at Howard Deutch.

"Is this John again?"

"Yes, John Hughes's opinion. He said this plot was too long, and the transition plot was bland and meaningless."

Ronald glanced at Deutch and said indifferently, "You really listen to John Hughes."

"I"

Deutch blushed. He was Hughes' assistant director, and Hughes was very kind to him, so it was natural that he went to Hughes to discuss it because of the overtime.

But who can blame the movie for not doing well at the box office? There were more than 1,080 theaters, but the first weekend box office was less than 3.5 million, and the single theater box office was less than 3,500.

I was also confused for a while. Ronald was the one who helped me get back the director position, and he also helped me deal with the technical accident. I should have asked him to come and see.

At that time, I felt that Ronald was too busy, and there might be some jealousy that he was too young. On the contrary, Hughes was nearly 40 years old and was the teacher who brought me to my debut. I didn't have much psychological burden to ask for advice.

Alas, I deserved to be scolded by Ronald.

Ronald actually admired Dutch's directing level. He was very thoughtful in handling some small details.

At the end of the movie, Amanda began to appreciate Keith, but found out that Watts had a deep affection for Keith, so she returned the expensive ruby ​​earrings to Keith.

Keith caught up with Watts who was crying alone, and the two hugged each other on the empty road at night. The camera slowly rose behind them, and the close-up gradually faded away, turning into an overhead shot, which was very beautiful.

The subtitles began to rise amid the beautiful singing of "I Can't Stop Falling in Love with You" by the children's chorus.

Finally, Watts asked for the earrings Keith bought for Amanda and put them on himself. The two talked about when they went to buy earrings together, and whether Watts thought it would be his when he tried them on.

Ronald liked the treatment of this section very much. Amanda's kindness, Keith suddenly realized the person he really loved, and the close-up of Watts with tears on the screen. They all made the audience emotional.

The box office shouldn't be so bad.

The subtitles continued to rise, and Keith and Watts walked away. The singing began to drown out the voices of the two.

"Huh?" Ronald had a question in his throat.

"What's wrong, is there a problem with the ending here?" Tanin started to get angry again.

"I want to ask, why didn't Watts return the ruby ​​earrings to Keith? Keith bought them with his own college tuition, and Watts is his best friend. I believe the audience saw this, They all think that the kind-hearted Watts will let Keith take off the earrings so that he will not delay his important life event, going to college, right? "

Ronald asked, pointing to the two people walking away on the screen.

"This was originally filmed, but"

"Hughes said it's not important, right? Doesn't my opinion matter? Why don't you come and ask me?"

Ronald is a little angry, judging from this ending shot. If these few small steps and editing are good, the box office of this movie may even double. It's a pity that the three leading actors performed exceptionally well.

A few key points and plots are missing, only more than a minute of footage is missing, but it has already made the audience laugh two or three times.

And the final ending, the key finishing touch, was cut by Dutch. The emotions of the audience have been brought here step by step, just like a football wide receiver who has already got the ball in front of the end zone and is about to score a touchdown, but inexplicably throws the ball out of bounds.

"I" director Dutch was speechless.

Ronald felt deeply sorry for the film, which failed to handle several small details. Now it is impossible to recall all copies and modify them again.

"Write it all down. If the company still has plans to make video tapes, change them." Nedtanen ordered Dutch, and then walked Ronald out of the screening room.

"What, you want to make a videotape of this movie?" Ronald asked Tanin.

"Yes, the video pre-sales of Top Gun were very popular, and the company decided to use the new pricing strategy and try it on other movies."