Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The week before the Veterans Day weekend, the usual number of theaters with over 1,000 theaters achieved a box office of 9 million. This result made everyone on the crew look forward to the Memorial Day weekend next week.

According to Niceta, sometimes it’s the schedule that makes a movie, just like many commercial films released in the summer. Sometimes it is the movie that determines the schedule. A successful movie can turn an originally mediocre schedule into a good one. From now on, similar movies will be the focus of competition at the annual Las Vegas booking fair.

The most typical example is Spielberg's "Jaws." In the mid-1970s, the summer box office was a relatively slow period of the year.

His "Jaws" attracted a large number of teenagers on summer vacation to watch in theaters, creating a North American box office of 260 million, which directly changed the landscape of Hollywood. From now on, the summer movie has become a competition for the seven major studios, and every year Best schedule.

Memorial Day is a short holiday, the last Monday in May, and the weekend of the previous week. It was originally an inconspicuous small time in the film industry. But Ronald's "Top Gun" was released a week ahead of schedule, creating pre-existing hype.

When word of mouth spreads during the Veterans Day weekend, there will be a terrifying situation where the box office will increase abnormally in the second week compared to the first week. This virtuous cycle will continue to ferment, keeping the box office hot in the next few weeks. Paramount will also increase copies as appropriate and continue to expand the scale of screenings.

"Thunderbolt 5", which was released at the same time, only had one-third of its box office, and other movies also failed.

A series of operations can stretch a weekend's small schedule into a three to four-week large schedule, creating a schedule before the summer vacation that is almost exclusive to "Top Gun" , when the summer season arrives, a second and third wave of movie viewing peaks will be formed.

This is the risky plan led by Paramount's distribution manager, Sid Ganis. If successful, it would be equivalent to giving "Top Gun" two summer slots to enjoy alone for five weeks longer than others in the summer of 1986.

Two Chicago film critics, bespectacled Roger Ebert and bald Gene Sisko, indeed unblocked their previously written reviews after the release and published them as quickly as possible in the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune in the film review column of the newspaper.

The two of them also spoke favorably of "Top Gun" during their film review program on PBS.

"In the opening moments of 'Top Gun,' an ace Navy pilot flies upside down about 18 inches above a Russian-made MiG and takes a Polaroid snapshot of an enemy pilot. He then gives the opponent a Middle finger.

This is a stunt as cheap as a hot dog,

But it made the pilot (Tom Cruise) famous among a small circle of Navy personnel who could receive information about close encounters with enemy aircraft. The pilot, codenamed the Lone Ranger, was selected to attend the Navy's elite flight school, dedicated to the dying art of aerial combat. "

The reviewer first talked about the plot and gave Ronald's special effects a sensational rating. But Ronald didn't care. Over the years, he had long understood that film critics always preferred dramatic and story-telling films, but the films they preferred were not as box office as the exploitation films he made.

“Aerial scenes always present special challenges in movies.

There is a danger that the audience will become spatially disoriented.

We're used to seeing things within a framework that respects left and right, up and down, but fighter pilots live in a world of 360-degree turns. The remarkable achievement of 'Top Gun' is that it presents seven or eight aerial encounters that are so well choreographed that we actually follow them most of the time, and the film gives us a good sense of the aerial combat What it might be like. "

A lot of effort was put into Ronald's carefully edited aerial combat sequences. Both Sisko and Albert had nice things to say. This is where Ronald's advantage lies. He combines the fast-paced techniques of shooting music videos and commercials with the techniques of predicting the audience's psychology taught by Walter Murch, into these short air combat scenes.

Ronald is very confident that no other director can do better than himself. Although the aerial combat scenes are not long, with cuts lasting three to five seconds, only a few minutes in total, the time and energy spent here account for almost one-third of all editing time.

At the premiere at Miramar Naval Base, those real fighter pilots, even though they were not satisfied with the combat action, recognized the rhythm of the air combat and the real sense of pursuit.

This is probably why teenagers are very satisfied with the two big air battles at the beginning and end. Some military magazines and even "Scientific American" have published articles discussing combat maneuvers in air combat and the unique tricks of each model of America's fighter jets.

According to Niceta, in addition to Ray-Ban glasses and flight jackets, Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, licensed aircraft model and toy manufacturers have also received large orders.

"With the chemistry between Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay in 'The Witness' and Kelly McGillis and Harrison Ford in 'The Witness' Cruise and McGillis' chemistry pales in comparison and is unconvincing. Kelly McGillis is obviously more emotional when she looks into the camera..."

"Cruise and McGillis spend a lot of time squinting uncomfortably at each other, communicating like air-to-air missiles, and when they finally get passionate, the two leads look like one of those sexy newbie stars. Perfume advertising.

There is no flesh and blood, no emotion, director Ronald Lee is amazing, completely wiped out McGillis' top emotional performance in "Witness"..."

"Hey, hey, you movie critics don't understand at all. McGillis is looking at me behind the camera..." Ronald read the 2.5 and 3-star movie reviews with a smile.

Ronald is no longer easily angry about film reviews. He remembers his teacher Scorsese saying that film critics are like cavalry. When directors and actors are exhausted from fighting in the battlefield, they come over lightly to reap the fruits of victory.

But Ronald's favorite comment came from a book by Richard Feynman, an expert on the Commission of Inquiry into the Space Shuttle Challenger crash. He bought a copy of the newly published autobiography "Stop It, Mr. Feynman" and read it. It is rare for a physicist to write so well.

Feynman quoted a passage from Einstein in his book, and all creators should not take the critics' words too seriously.

If they had the creative ability, they would definitely make movies themselves. Ronald still remembered that Roger Ebert worked as a screenwriter for exploitation films, and he became a film critic only after the films did not perform well at the box office.

As a New Yorker, Ronald pays more attention to the evaluation of his movies by New York film critics. I still remember that when my debut novel came out, I was also attacked by Albert. In the end, it was the film critics in his hometown of New York who vindicated his reputation.

Pauline Carr, a leading figure in the field of film criticism and a film critic writing for "The New Yorker" magazine, gave herself a notarized evaluation and praised her talent. This turned the situation around and allowed Universal to print a batch of copies and get rid of it. This eliminates the dilemma of no nationwide distribution.

Richard is very careful about himself and has a special pile of movie reviews from New York. He knows that he has the habit of reading movie reviews on the second day of the first weekend. I came to the apartment very early to put away the copies of the manuscript.

Ronald picked it up and read it one by one. Sure enough, the New York Times, New York Post, etc. all praised it. In the end, film critics strongly recommended that audiences go to the theater to watch "Top Gun" as the movie of choice for Memorial Day.

"Huh? The New Yorker film review came out so early?"

"Yes, Ms. Pauline Carr went to see it specially. She wrote the movie review overnight, which is unusual for her." Richard picked out one and handed it to Ronald.

Ronald took it over happily to see how the old lady praised him this time.

“The thing about Top Gun is that it’s super long.

I’m here, I’m posing, I’m a hero…

Burly Kelly McGillis is an astrophysicist employed at Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego to teach elite fighter pilots in training; she enters the room sideways, slouching so she doesn't overwhelm Her co-star, the relatively short Tom Cruise.

He was probably the boldest among her students, molesting the teacher in public.

But as soon as McGillis leaves the screen, the movie turns into a glossy gay commercial: pilots strutting around the dressing room, towels hanging precariously around their waists.

As if masculinity has been redefined as a young man taking off half his clothes, as if narcissism is what being a warrior is all about.

In between shirtless drills, shots of jets with ugly nostrils take off, whoosh through the sky, and then land, while a soundtrack conjures the end of the world and the Second Coming - even as we watch What arrived was a training exercise.

What is this movie selling? Just selling things, selling Ray-Ban sunglasses, selling leather flight jackets, selling Honda motorcycles, and Ferrari sports cars! Because that's what producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer would do.

That's something famed advertising director Ronald Lee knows how to do.

Selling is what they believe filmmaking is about. The result is a completely new "art" form: advertising disguised as film. "

"this?"

Ronald put down the New Yorker film review in a daze.

Then he picked him up again and said, "Are you mistaken? Are you sure this is written by Pauline Carr?"

"I'll go check it out." Richard didn't read this review either. He also thought that Pauline Carr would continue to favor Ronald, a fellow New Yorker.

"Ronald, this is Niceta. I have confirmed with the people in New York that it is indeed a film review written by Pauline Carr. She asked me to give it to you to take a look."

"Me? Hey!" Ronald sighed. He was just making some high-concept movies for popcorn. Why would Pauline Carr, who had promoted him in the first place, angrily criticize him?

"Did she say anything else?"

"She said she was very disappointed with you. You had lost the aura you had when you were filming 'Fast Richmond High' and had become a craftsman. She also said that when you go to New York, you can go to her to have a debate. She I wonder what you think about why you don’t continue to make films that are both artistic and commercial.”

Niceta repeated Pauline Carr's exact words.

"Okay, I'm going to Staten Island next week for Memorial Day. Please help me make arrangements. I'm going to visit Pauline."

Although Pauline Carr was cruel to Ronald and ridiculed him severely. But the young people in America apparently ignored the old lady's criticism.

In other words, even if they saw it, they didn't care. Instead, they would regard the shortcomings she pointed out as advantages. They must go and see what the so-called super-long MV of the large advertisement for air combat with goods is all about.

The box office continued to boom on Monday, with the average box office per theater rising to $11,000. Paramount's distribution department happily invited dancers to perform in the office. Marketing manager Sid Ganis climbed up on his desk and danced for everyone.

After opening a dozen large bottles of champagne, spraying everywhere, Sid Ganis pulled the two producers into the manager's private office. After "Top Gun" becomes a hit, I'm afraid he will be promoted to a larger office around the corner with two sides of glass.

"Ronald, come on, we need your help in this video tape." Don Simpson dragged Ronald in to discuss.

"Is it still my business?" Ronald was confused. The sales of video tapes have always been handled by distribution companies like Paramount, and the director had no room for comment.

"I made a plan. This time for Top Gun, we are going to change the video tape pricing model. I have done calculations. If we sell at a reduced price, we can increase sales by more than ten times. In this way, we can make small profits but quick turnover. , it can also reach several times the previous price of $99.”

"Oh, tell me more about it?" Ronald was very interested in the sales of video tapes, so he asked Sid Ganis to explain it in detail.

"$99 is more suitable for selling to video rental stores. There are thousands of such rental stores across the country. But what if we can lower the price to $49? I'm afraid tens of thousands of families will buy the video to take home and watch over and over again. Not paying a $3 per night rental fee.

What if it can be reduced to $39, $29? How much more can we sell? Even if only 50,000 copies are sold, the profit will be greatly increased. "

"This?" Ronald thought for a moment.

Indeed, there is a $3 nightly video rental fee, plus a fine for overtime. If it is a very good movie, collect one for $29, which is the price of watching it 10 times. Having such an explosive "Top Gun" movie at home is a very honorable thing to have friends over and drink beer while watching it.

What if the child’s classmates come to visit the home?

"But would Paramount be willing to sell it so cheaply?"

"It depends on our plan..."

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