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 the red car early in the morning and bought various major entertainment newspapers for Ronald, focusing on the box office performance in the second week.

"Well, 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 the 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 drop 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. Fans 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 to the first week, the box office of "Sixteen Candles" dropped by nearly 30%.

The decline of "Break Dance" was only 18%.

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

"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 we transferred without stopping 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 a smaller single room.

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

Ronald took it and looked at it. It said "marche du film badge". Not knowing French, he looked up at Yoram.

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

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

"Has our break dance participated 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 and we didn't have time to send it to the film festival. Even the place in the trading 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 was fooled by 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 noticed something was wrong with Ronald's expression, and stood up and massaged Ronald's shoulders a few times, "We two brothers came to America from Israel back then. Because of the foreign exchange controls, each of us had five hundred dollars in his arms. Here it comes. Haven’t you achieved success yet?

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

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Every year at Cannes, there are many lucky people who have sold copies of their movies and withdraw from the booth early. We will always have space." Yoram said, "If it doesn't work, we will take business cards and posters and sell them outside the exhibition hall. .”

The two began to pick up the phone and take turns calling, contacting all their acquaintances to find a solution.

Seeing how hard they worked, Ronald didn't know if they could get a stall at the film market.

He casually picked up a directory of this year's participating films and screenings on the table, as well as a directory of manufacturers from the film trading market, and started reading for himself.

"Huh?" Ronald discovered that on May 22, the film "Beat Street" shot by Orion Pictures was actually going to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

"Minahan, is 'Hot Street Kid' a film participating in the exhibition?" Ronald asked with a frown.

"No, they are hors", Yoram replied with a French noun.

"It means that it will not participate in the screening section. Orion will not participate in any award selection in Cannes, it will only be screened here. You know, showing a movie here will always attract some movie buyers who come to the market."

"The themes of the two films are the same. Is it really okay for us to sell the film like this? Do we still have to find a way to show it in Cannes?"

"Relax, Ronald. I can't shoot you in making movies, but I still know a thing or two about selling movies, quack quack." Minahan's drake voice sounded again, reassuring Ronald.

Ronald was a little worried, but the two brothers' Cannon Pictures had been selling copies and raising investment in Europe. If they didn't have any results in the past few years, they would have been unable to survive, right?

Thinking of this, Ronald decided to go out for a walk. He changed into a primary-color cotton and linen shirt, wore sunglasses, and white pants underneath. He walked out of the hotel and walked on the street. The sea breeze blew slowly, and he 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 (; des festivals). A large poster hung at the entrance, which was the opening film of this year's Cannes, "Sagan". Fort".

Above the name of the movie are the portraits of the two Chinese movie stars, which means that they are big-name leading actors and enjoy online treatment.

Fortunately, Ronald still knows everyone.

The male star with a very big nose is Gérard Depardieu.

Ronald was more familiar with the female star. She had a beautiful face with a French feminine temperament and blond hair. She was none other than the country's national treasure actress, Catherine Deneuve.

Behind the two stars is a desert, and a row of people are riding camels and advancing with guns on their backs.

"Why does it look like another 'Sahara'?" Ronald complained.

At the bottom of the movie poster, there are pictures of several supporting characters. One of the actresses also has baby fat on her face and looks a bit like Diane.

"Sophie...Maso, 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.

"Tes vous 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 bulging breasts.

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

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

"Director? Hehehe..."

“It’s true, I want to sell the movie I made in Cannes, it’s called breakin’”

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

"Breaking? Break dance, a kind of dance, break dance." Ronald simply made two poses.

"Where is your movie showing? Can you take me to see it?" The girl's eyes lit up and she immediately extended the invitation.

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

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

Every year in mid-May, beauties from all over Europe who aspire to be movie stars come to this small coastal town in the hope that a miracle will happen to them.

"Please leave your contact information and I will call you as soon as I confirm the time and place of the screening." Ronald made a phone call gesture.

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

Ronald put his sunglasses back on, and he understood that Europeans today don't understand break dancing at all. If you just say the English title "breakin", many people will not understand it.

Ronald walked around the Cinema Palace and put up posters for the films participating in the "Palme d'Or" award selection.

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

“Texas·Paris”

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 leaflets 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 big 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…

Therefore, Cannes is unwilling to arrange theaters for us to show the film, nor will 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. There is a cultural barrier in our country because of our English title. 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 breakin 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 get to know 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 to?"

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

"Why don't we call it beat dance?" Yoram started to hold back his bad idea again, "If it looks like beat street, many movie buyers will think that the Orion movie was shot by us. "

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

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