Exploitation Hollywood 1980

Ronald contacted the production director of Fox's film department the next day, and jointly went to the Die Hard 2 crew to check the accounts. If you didn't check, you wouldn't know that the production cost of this movie has exceeded 55 million US dollars, and is still going.

It keeps rising.

"What is this? I thought a large part of the airport scene was made of frosted glass mattes and then left to the computer visual effects team?"

Ronald held the financial statements with a look of disbelief on his face. He handed over the production to Joel Silver, and he was given a "surprise". The various expenditure figures were blown up like balloons.

Bruce Willis's bill for taking a business jet to New York to visit Demi Moore was also included. That's fine. It's normal for a star to be in bad shape and reunite with his wife to regain his status. But the set, the rental of the filming location, and

The aircraft rental bill cannot escape the eyes of Ronald, a veteran of the crew.

Ronald has recruited two IT wizards and possibly the last experienced matte painter in Hollywood to use the computer software Photoshop to innovate the technology with the aim of reducing the cost of filming the film and the difficulty of the actors' performances.

However, the report still showed a huge advance payment for runway leasing fees at Denver International Airport and a long-term lease of a Boeing 747 passenger aircraft called Evergreen International Airlines.

"Ronald, you are also an expert. We still need to take some panoramic shots of the movie. We can't put all the hijacking scenes in the studio and use the scenery to shoot. The most important thing now is the Christmas snow scene, and we also

We searched all over the country for a long time before we found Denver International Airport. The runway there is long and wide, and it will snow next month, and it will snow heavily."

Joel Silver, wearing pajamas and a cigar in his mouth, defended himself.

"Don't talk nonsense. If you just take a panoramic view of the snow scene, do you need to rent the Denver International Market for two weeks? And this Evergreen Air Boeing 747 passenger plane, why do you rent it for a short period?"

"What can I say? What are the filming requirements? The interior of this aircraft is often used in the filming scenes. It's still an old problem. We can't simulate everything in the cabin in the studio. Today's audience needs to see the real thing.

Things, you can’t fool them with a few sofas, you must see a scene that matches their experience of flying before they buy it.”

"You are not honest with me, Joel..." Ronald closed the ledger, was silent for half a minute, and then stared into Silver's eyes and said.

"Hey, you're filming your new movie. I'm staring at you every day when you go to the set. How dare you say this? Are we still on the same team? Ronald, now it's that bastard Tom Sherak from Twentieth Century Fox.

, are looking for trouble for us." Joel Silver shouted dissatisfied.

"Do you think that since Evergreen International Airlines is a cargo aircraft company with a military background, I can't check the flight records?" Ronald stared at Silver calmly, but what he said made Silver a little scared.

.

"what do you mean?"

"Humph..." Ronald threw the flight records of the rented plane on the table. There were records of several trips to and from the Caribbean island. Fox's Tom Sherak couldn't find it, which doesn't mean Ronald couldn't find it.

Arrive. He called Little George last night, and the fax was sent to the office early this morning.

"Ronald, I'm doing this because of Bruce Willis's condition. His condition during the filming of the sequel was very poor, and I had to take him to the Caribbean often on weekends."

As soon as Joel Silver saw Ronald taking out the flight records, he immediately changed his face and came over to beg for mercy...

"Hey... this is too blatant." Ronald sighed. It is almost a default rule in the industry for producers to steal the production budgets of large companies. Ronald had no intention of doing so.

I plan to dig deeper, because the tiring work of going to the set to supervise every day still needs to be done by Joel Silver.

As a hands-off shopkeeper, he just coordinated the relationships between several parties, and then with some of the production rights for the first Die Hard movie, he was able to sit back and divide the accounts. In fact, he couldn't make things too big.

clear.

But this time 20th Century Fox made a statement and was dissatisfied with this, and Ronald had to give them an explanation. So he said to Joel Silver, "Tell me the truth, this movie still needs

How much additional investment is required?”

"It takes about 60 million..."

"Um?"

"About 65 million... to 70 million..."

"God, how do you spend your money?" Ronald covered his face. If the sequel to Die Hard cannot be a hit, this movie will be a waterloo for his production career.

"There's no way around it. Bruce Willis is the leading actor. If he's not in good condition, the whole crew has to wait for him.

So the production budget keeps going up, and then I also have to add the cost of post-production visual effects and sound design, which are the most expensive parts of this kind of special effects action film."

Ronald knew that this time Joel Silver's estimate was not too outrageous, whether it was the real-shot explosion scene or the visual effects done using computers in the later stage, plus this action movie requires Dolby sound effects.

Six-channel sound effects are very expensive.

Ronald's budget estimates were always generous. He knew that even 70 million might not be enough to survive.

He roped in Joel Silver and prepared to present to 20th Century Fox to persuade them to invest more.

…

"Ronald, I don't mean to make things difficult on purpose. The cost of film production has skyrocketed recently, and I understand that. But we still have to be tighter, otherwise subsequent distribution will be difficult."

Tom Sherak, the director in charge of releasing the sequel at 20th Century Fox, was polite to Ronald, but not so nice to Joel Silver.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Now Hollywood has reached a consensus that the high-tech visual effects version of Heaven's Gate will soon arrive. We are now betting on who is so unlucky,

Becoming the second Michael Cimino. Now the odds are the best for McLean Gate.”

Tom Sherak compared "Die Hard 2" with "Heaven's Gate" which was the main culprit in ending the New Hollywood movement of independent filmmaking in the 1980s.

However, there is no reason why he said this. The production costs of blockbusters shot this year and released next summer have all exceeded US$60 million. High-cost large-scale productions require box office miracles to pay off. If you are not careful,

If a studio loses tens of millions, it will enter a situation of no return.

"Top Gun" written by Tom Cruise himself, some people call it the racing version of "Top Gun", and the production cost exceeded US$60 million.

Eddie Murphy's "The Other 48" cost $50 million to produce.

Director Paul Verhoeven's "Total Recall" had a budget of $60 million.

Warren Beatty directed and starred in a comic book adaptation movie that followed suit. The production cost of "Dick Tracy" was also more than 55 million.

In addition, the production cost of the two giant sequels Die Hard has steadily exceeded 70 million. The production cost of the sequel Back to the Future has soared, and the cost of co-production of the two movies has reached more than 90 million.

Superstars and visual effects are so expensive. Executives at all the big Hollywood studios know that one of these movies will do poorly at the box office, leaving the stars, directors, producers and executives

Their careers plummeted.

Tom Sherak speaks more bluntly, and he also has a relatively good reason. Because it is also guaranteed by Ronald, "The Abyss" directed by James Cameron, after its first week of box office experience and a weekend box office of more than 10 million,

The box office decline is above 25% every week

According to the derivation of the empirical formula, the US box office is around the end, it should be 16 to 18 weeks after the release, and the total box office will be around 65 million.

And this "Abyss" does not have a particularly famous international star starring, so the overseas box office is not expected to be particularly high.

Of course, the total global box office of Abyss should exceed 100 million. Coupled with the distribution of video tapes, recovering the cost is not a big problem. But in terms of profitability, that is another story.

"You are really very straightforward..." Ronald had not met someone who talked to him like this for a long time, so he made a comment about Tom Sherak, whether it was praise or criticism.

"I'm sorry if what I said was offensive... I just think that the most respectful way for a very busy and successful director and producer like you is to save your time and energy, to be honest.

The best strategy.”

"You are very good. In the future, whether it is related to the sequel to Die Hard or anything else, you can come to me directly..." Ronald actually admired Tom Sherak's professionalism.

He is only responsible for the distribution work, and the overrun of production costs is not his responsibility. If he is not particularly ambitious, he will not do this.

"You are the most powerful producer and director in Hollywood. I have great respect for any of your projects." Tom Sherak's smile seemed a little weird to Ronald.

"Do you mean?"

Tom Sherak was a little dissatisfied, thinking: How can we expect this kind of thing to be hidden from us? By us, we mean Jews, and Tom Sherak is also one of the most common Jewish executives in Hollywood.

However, he was still very polite, "What I mean is that with you in charge, our expectations for Die Hard 2 at 20th Century Fox will be much higher. I hope you can come to the filming site more..."

As he said that, he glanced at Joel Silver next to him. The subtext was completely unspoken. He couldn't trust this playboy at all.

"I will..." Ronald glanced at Joel Silver. Not to mention Tom Sherak, he himself didn't trust Joel very much and planned to let Joel Silver continue to go to the set every day.

While staring, he also had to suddenly airborne several times.

…

"What did he mean?" Ronald couldn't figure it out on the car ride home. What did the last few words Tom Sherak said to him mean? This man seemed to respect him professionally.

At the same time, he is also a bit hostile.

But it’s not the kind of malicious hostility, but the kind of hostility towards a visible competitor in the market. As an executive of a production company, he is neither a producer nor a director. How can he compete with himself?

Woolen cloth?

With doubts, Ronald was always a little uneasy. It had been a long time since he had felt this kind of warning from his intuition.

When he was a small person in the past, because he had many opponents, he could feel more clearly any slightest bit of malice and hostility when communicating with others face-to-face.

But the continued box office success of his movies, and Ronald's own financial success, made those around him careful to hide their jealousy and hatred.

He had not "enjoyed" such direct competitive tone and eyes for many years.

For a moment, Ronald was a little confused whether he really felt something, or whether it was because this executive had a straightforward personality and was able to contradict him head-on.

"What's wrong with you? You seem to have something on your mind?"

Dane watched Ronald tossing and turning on the bed, so he simply turned on the light and started chatting with Ronald.

Ronald briefly told Diane all the things that happened on the set of Die Hard Part II.

"There must be a problem. When I was auditioning on the crew, when I was chatting with other actresses, their expressions and tone of voice were wrong, and I knew there would be a problem." Diane spent a long time traveling between major production crews for auditions.

, the early warning generated by this intuition is very superstitious.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Really? I'll call Niceta and Richard, you go to bed first..."

This attracted Ronald's attention. He got up and called two agents, asking them to come to his home tomorrow morning to discuss the matter.

As a result, this incident caused great shock to the two agents. They came to Ronald's place overnight.

"I think we need to pay attention to it. Let's see if there are other places where you can test it by making some insinuations?" Niceta paid great attention to what Ronald said. In the entertainment industry, the beginning of a storm is often the end of a young girl.

An inconspicuous omen. If you don't pay attention to it, it will suddenly turn into a big thing.

In this industry, no matter you are a star, a director, or a producer, one movie can take you to heaven or send you to hell. Unlike Ronald, the two of them have other investments.

His income mainly depends on Ronald's acting career, which is even more stressful than Ronald's.

"I'm going to call Barry Diller and Mr. Rupert."

The result was very worrying. Rupert did not answer his call. His secretary told him that Rupert had traveled back to Australia.

Barry Diller's secretary also said that he was very busy and just agreed to tell him. But he didn't tell Ronald where Barry Diller went.

"Is there really something going on?" Ronald felt something unusual. If everyone is unwilling to talk to you, in this industry, it means there is a big problem with you.

To confirm his idea, he called Eisner at Disney to give it a try.

"Ronald, you are really good. When I was your age, I was a senior vice president of Paramount."

Eisner did not avoid Ronald's call, but chatted with him happily.

"What did you say? What's wrong with me at my age?"

"Don't keep it a secret from me. Several of our CEOs and presidents in Hollywood know where you will go next."

"Huh? Why don't I know where you are going?" Ronald heard the question.

"What? Are you kidding? Are you saying that my information is wrong? This is... what the hell..."