Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 710 The Three Elements of a Movie Hit

   "It is better to be a living dog than a dead lion."

   This line in "Shot Lulu" is also a true portrayal of Jonathan Demme since he was in the movie.

  Nisita told Ronald some industry rumors when he and Ronald drove away.

   Jonathan Demme's debut "Mavin and Howard" was well done. The reason why Universal did not release the film on a large scale is likely to be the protagonist of the story, the former Hollywood tycoon Howard Hughes's relatives and friends, who used a lot of power to prevent the release.

  This movie is based on the real events after the death of Howard Hughes. There is really a poor man named Mavin, who took out a will after Hughes' death, claiming to get a part of Hughes' inheritance.

   He lost his case and didn't get a penny. Hughes' relatives and friends were afraid that after the film was released, more people would doubt whether the will was really, so they snuffed out the release of the film.

   After learning about what happened to his brother Jonathan, Ronald had to admit that the box office of a movie, the director's skills, and even the quality of the movie were not necessarily directly proportional.

   The film I directed, from a purely technical point of view, is actually far behind Jonathan. Many details, especially the turning points of the plot, are not as good as the other side.

   For example, in the plot of "Shot Lulu", at the Lulu class reunion, I met my husband who escaped from prison. In fact, the types of movies before and after are different. The front is more of an **** film, and the back is a very authentic suspense film. Jonathan Demme made the movie very Hitchcock's "mental" feeling.

   In order to imply this change in the audience, Demi changed the lights at the class dance, turning the warm and splendid colors of the original warm tones into cool and gloomy tones.

   This technique of hinting at the viewer's next major shift in color works well and is highly skilled. Ronald's films don't have this particularly elaborate design.

   But, from a box office perspective, Ronald's films are way above.

  Many unknown factors will determine the box office of a movie. Not to mention, if the distribution company doesn't let the copies go to theaters, no matter how good a movie is, there's no chance of it getting a high box office.

   Jonathan Demme's bad luck didn't stop there. His second film was completely overthrown by female star Goldie Hahn on the set, and finally found a new screenwriter to rewrite the script. It turned the original sisterhood story about American women entering the factory for the first time in the late World War II into a romantic love story of the heroine.

  Jonathan was forced to reshoot all the scenes, and he was made to lose his temper. After two consecutive film failures, he went to make a concert documentary.

If it weren't for this shot of Lulu, Orion Films, adhering to the tradition of United Arts and not interfering with the artist's creation, gave him the de facto final editing rights and restored his self-confidence, maybe this potential director Say goodbye to the big screen.

   With a movie like "Scattered Lulu", even if the box office is still not good, but with this skill and level, I don't worry that no one will find him to direct it in the future.

   In the director's career, the success or failure of the first few movies is still very important. If you use stars in your first few movies, and then you are disturbed and fail at the box office...

  …

   Early the next morning, Weintraub called Ronald. He learned from Susan that Ronald had signed Cher.

   "I heard that Cher has a schedule for the new year? That's okay, I expect MGM/United Artists to resume operations in October, and then you can start preparing for shooting.

  You need to prevent Cher from playing big names on the set? Just do it, Ronald, I don't think anyone can challenge you on set. "

   With the promise of MGM's future small boss and president, Ronald was relieved. At least Cher couldn't challenge her authority the way Goldie Hawn challenged Jonathan Demme.

   The various struggles in the crew are intricate, but in the end, the key to deciding who can win in the end is who the top executives of the studio support in the end.

   "There is also good news. The theme song of the second part of Longwei Kid, 'Glory of Love', sung by Peter Settra, topped the charts."

   "This is really very good news." Ronald was overjoyed, and the episode's top performance was very helpful to the movie's box office performance. The theme song for "Top Gun" topped the charts just two months ago.

   This time, "Glory of Love" just reached the top in the second week of the movie's release, and the timing will be even bigger than "Take My Breath" to the box office of "Top Gun".

   "No, this is great news. In my experience, this song will stay in the top ten for a long time if it sits in the No. 1 spot for two or three weeks."

  Ronald is very excited, both films are going well, it seems that the top five have their own days with two films, and they will continue.

  Because he was going to attend the New York premiere of "Monsters in Chinatown" next, Ronald stayed at his New York home and began to decompose the script of "Moonlight Sultry".

   Combining several scenes in the dream, Ronald is still looking for any familiar actors. He also called Coppola and said he wanted his nephew Cage to star in the lead role.

   "Peggy Sue is getting married" will not be released for several months. During the filming, Cage and the heroine Katherine Turner had many conflicts. Coppola is of course very happy that there is such a big production that wants to play Cage. He will inform Cage and let him prepare for the schedule.

   "There is good news for the villain, CinemaScore gives the villain an A-", the manager of the publicity department of Disney's Touchstone Pictures, reported the latest results to Ronald.

   "I remember the audience's average rating at the premiere was B to B+, why is the latest rating higher?" Ronald was delighted, but also puzzled.

   "It may be that the towns that CinemaScore sampled are in the Midwest, and maybe audiences in smaller towns there liked the movie more and rated him higher than audiences in big cities."

   "Oh", Ronald remembered the "Footloose" from a few years ago, which is a bit like the situation in this "Family Husband".

   is a classic story of bad people and good people, and the plot is relatively simple, so that those small town teenagers who have not seen much entertainment can understand the movie without any problem.

The producers of "Top Gun", Don Simpson and Bruckheimer, often say "Oklahoma moms and dads understand", but also for a larger audience, those who hide in One by one moviegoers in small Midwestern and Deep South towns.

   It seems that maybe they still like to see "the family has a bad husband".

  Those dense words may not be understood by the audience in the small town. But this kind of slow-paced comedy that relies on the plot to make it comedy slowly, maybe it just fits their aesthetic?

   Thinking of Helen Slater's slightly dull and simple acting skills in the movie, maybe those young people in small towns prefer this kind of beauty with simple acting skills.

  Speaking of which, the director who was "full of energy" was the director of the "Secret of Success" that Helen failed to audition for, Herbert Ross.

   The films he directed are actually relatively old in rhythm and techniques. The story of "Full of Strength" is also not in line with the aesthetics of young people in big cities, but it still won the domestic box office of 80 million US dollars.

  The more Ronald thought about it, the more he was right, this might be a rule of box office success.

   He took out a piece of paper and wrote down what he thought was the secret to box office success.

   First, the story itself should be smooth and beautiful, and there should be no particularly dramatic and distracting parts. Sophisticated directing skills and exceptional performances by actors are not necessary conditions for a blockbuster. Many viewers don't actually see it.

   As long as the audience thinks it looks good within one and a half to two hours, and then recommends it to relatives and friends, it can meet the requirements.

   Second, the bigger the audience, the better. If you are facing groups such as teenagers who often go to the cinema to watch movies, make some content that they like. If you're dealing with a disappearing audience like The Sound of Music, give them a reason to go back to the cinema.

third……

   Ronald thought for a while, and it seemed that there was no third place. Movies that can do these two things generally won't have a big problem at the box office.

   By the way, it would be even better if the movie interlude could be a pop song at the same time. This is the third element.

  Ronald took stock of the movies he made, and it seemed that there was a song that topped the charts when it was released.

   Now, the cost of publicity and distribution to invite movie audiences back to the cinema is too high. Pop music is a good carrier, which can make people who have listened to the song also want to go to the cinema to see how the film is made.

In an era where television occupies most of the entertainment time of adults, if a movie is to be a hit, it is as important, if not more important, to let the audience know where the movie is good, and whether the movie itself is good. important words.

   "Bell bell bell..."

   The phone rang, and Ronald was still mulling over his conclusion, as if he hadn't heard the bell. After four rings, the call was automatically transferred to the answering machine.

   "Well, this is Ronald's house. I'm not at home right now. If you have anything to do, please leave a message after the beep, or call my agent."

   "Ronald, it's me, Eddie. Answering the phone, the producer over at 'Dancing Hot', I'd like to ask you to talk about production."

   (end of this chapter)