Exploiting Hollywood 1980

By February, "Spiritual" was finally released in more than 930 theaters across the United States.

Due to extremely low ratings from magazine film critics across the country, 20th Century Fox adjusted its marketing strategy.

They did not hold a formal premiere, nor did they allow the leading actors and director, who had just returned from Portugal, to participate in TV interviews to promote the film, or to accept exclusive interviews with newspapers and magazines.

Quietly, the movie was released quietly in the second week of February.

"The few months after the New Year are the slow season for the film industry every year. However, this week in February, because of President's Day, is considered a small peak season during the slow season."

The speaker was Michelle Cannold, Ronald's vice president of distribution at Daydream.

He came to Los Angeles this time to report to Ronald on the progress of the release of "Dirty Dancing". He happened to accompany his boss to a cinema to see the movies currently being released.

“Every February, the birthday of Commander-in-Chief George Washington is celebrated, which is a public holiday in many states and is connected with the weekend.

Such a three-day weekend is very conducive to box office fermentation and word-of-mouth spread, so many movies are released at this time. "

After half a year of hard work, Michelle Cannold has mastered the distribution of theatrical movies and mastered many of the key points of the work. He has also figured out the best times every year.

The two were sitting on the restaurant floor of the department store, watching the ticket sales at the movie theater box office.

"Among the old movies that are still in theaters, Platoon is the only one. They are using the same old trick that United Artists Pictures used back then, which is to release it in the last two weeks of each year, first in a small number of dozens of theaters. scale, and qualified for the Oscars that year.

During the Christmas and New Year periods, the scale of screenings was slightly expanded in several major cities, but the overall number was still limited to about 100 theaters.

Because December every year is the heated stage of the Oscar nomination competition, film critics from all walks of life are generous in writing about the popular award-winning films released at this time.

"Platoon" received very good reviews, with many critics praising it as the best response to the Vietnam War since "The Deer Hunter" and "Apocalypse Now." "

Ronald listened to the other party's report and nodded in agreement. He was actually familiar with this technique.

Controlling the scale of screening in the early stage,

Not only can it attract the curiosity of the audience while being well received. Because you can't buy tickets, it attracts more popularity and reputation.

At the same time, the average box office of a single venue has been pushed to a very high position. In turn, it further stimulated word-of-mouth and attracted more viewers to grab tickets.

"After the New Year last month, the scale of the movie began to expand, from 100 to more than 200. Oscar nominations are coming soon. Depending on the situation, 'Platoon' will be nominated for several important awards. When the time comes, they will also Expand screenings.”

"There will be about seven or eight nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and other important awards, and Woody Allen's 'Hannah and Her Sisters' and the British film 'A Room with a View' are all He is the favorite to win this year.”

Ronald told Michelle what he had learned. This year's Oscars, the nominees for the main awards, are probably these three movies that have the most wealth.

Each film is expected to receive seven or eight nominations.

From now on, it’s the sequel to Ronald’s friend Cameron’s Alien. With a lot of small awards for special effects, makeup, etc., his heroine Sigourney Weaver is expected to win a Best Actress nomination.

Ronald's commercial film "Top Gun" was even worse. It didn't even receive nominations for special effects and makeup, but only minor awards for editing, original music, sound effects, etc.

Of course, the worst thing is Tom Cruise. Although he tried his best to work with famous directors, his two films in 1986, "Top Gun" and "The Color of Money," were not nominated for acting awards.

On the other hand, Paul Newman, who also starred in "The Color of Money", is very hopeful that he will be nominated for Best Actor again for "The Color of Money".

Michelle Cannold continued to report, "'Plattoon' is very strong. It was released in more than 200 theaters and received a weekend box office of over 3 million. Last week, it expanded to 600 theaters. The weekend box office has exceeded 8 million."

"It is indeed better to use this kind of word-of-mouth fermentation method for such a niche movie, but to be successful, the condition is that the movie itself must be good enough."

Ronald knew that this was no longer ten years ago, and the subject of the Vietnam War had actually become a subject that did not have a mass market. If normal publicity is used, it may be difficult to find those missing middle-aged viewers.

On the contrary, it slowly increased the scale of screenings in this way, allowing word of mouth to spread among viewers who were interested in watching the Vietnam War theme. As long as people who have watched the movie tell more than one friend to watch it, the movie's box office growth will be terrifying.

Director and screenwriter Oliver Stone, while filming, asked Ronald about the acting skills of Charlie Sheen and his brother Emilio. Ronald remembered that it was a small production with a production cost of less than 6 million. The film is now in its eighth week and is showing in less than 800 cinemas.

As a result, it has grossed 38 million at the box office purely relying on word of mouth and recommendations from film critics. Judging from the trend of this movie, it will make a lot of money when it is released.

Apart from this popular movie, it has received very good reviews from critics and audiences.

This weekend, there are two more movies to be released in this small peak season.

“Stallone is still very popular, Cannon is ‘over the top’, and it was released in about 1,750 theaters in the first weekend.

Reviews from film critics were also very good. I heard Roger Ebert gave it a recommended rating on the TV show, although his castmate Gene Sisko disagreed. "

"So many families?" Ronald was a little surprised. "It seems that Minahan doesn't want me to win."

Compared to the other party, which exceeded expectations in terms of the number of theaters it was released in, 20th Century Fox was more on track, arranging just over 900 theaters for "Arrogant".

"Although there are no lively movie reviews, the theme song MV, 'Nothing Can Stop Us Now', which was broadcast on the TV station, is very popular. This movie is mainly aimed at young audiences. I think the box office on the first weekend, You won’t necessarily lose to Leap to the Top.”

Michelle Cannold looked at Ronald's face and expressed his judgment.

"In this case, is it possible that the impressive single-house box office will be twice as high as Over the Top in order to achieve overtake?" Ronald didn't want to listen to flattery and wanted to know Michelle Cannold's opinion on the distribution work. What is the judgment?

"I personally think there is hope. Anything can happen at the movie box office. Of course, to make a reliable judgment, you still have to look at EMA's professional audience ratings."

Ronald nodded, this is the judgment method of a professional distribution manager. It seems that Michelle has learned a lot in the past six months.

"Look..." Michelle Cannold pointed to the audience queuing up to buy tickets in front of the box office and pulled Ronald's arm.

"It seems like it's really possible to win the bet, right?"

Ronald watched it carefully for a while. The people who came to buy tickets for the show were all specially coming to watch this movie. The TV station's promotion power was quite powerful.

Those who watched Stallone's "To the Top" were more attracted by his posters, and many people saw the arm-wrestling competition described in the introduction, and temporarily bought tickets for the show.

The number of people lining up on both sides was almost two to one. If this ratio can represent the preferences of viewers across the country, Ronald may not lose to Minahan.

"Okay, your judgment seems to be very accurate. I'm very satisfied. Let's go to the office to chat later." Ronald was very satisfied with the manager who was in charge of the video tape distribution business. Cannold has excellent learning ability, pays attention to details and the scene, and has good business intuition.

"The distribution of Dirty Dancing went relatively smoothly, especially in some southern states. To our surprise, they were very interested in the clips we showed them. Their enthusiasm for ordering was even higher than that of some communities on the east and west coasts. .”

Michelle Cannold arrived at Ronald's office and began to report on the issuance.

"Very good, how many theaters do you think you can open at scale?"

"At least compared with the average small and medium-sized production scale, 800-900 theaters will be opened, and the contract will be completed in the next month. It is not a big problem."

"Very good, I'll ask Eddie to work with you to allocate the budget and produce marketing materials, including posters and website boards.

In addition, Roger Ebert can actually be accommodating. I asked Eddie to prepare a budget, and we also learned how to let film critics "really" understand the depth of our film. "

"Hahaha, cheers." Michelle Cannold took the champagne that Ronald gave him. He completely understood the correct meaning of "depth" and "real".

“It looks like the Chicago Film Critics Association will have a good resort and conference host hotel this year.”

"Not only Chicago, I also invested money in New York and Los Angeles, especially New York, which is the headquarters of America's national media. If it can get some good reviews, it will be more effective."

Michelle Cannold agrees that a big problem for small and medium-sized film productions is that it is difficult to find cheap channels to advertise to target audiences.

"Dirty Dancing" is a story and dance from the 1950s and 1960s, with more adult and serious content. After doing research, they found that the effect of advertising on TV stations may not be as good as that of the show, which is most suitable for teenagers.

Being able to learn the strategy of "Platoon" and let the word-of-mouth from film critics and early audiences bring some popularity to the movie is a marketing strategy that they have high hopes for.

"What about the Cannes premiere?" Michelle Cannold asked again about Ronald's arrangements.

"It depends on whether your judgment is accurate. If Guo Guo is as impressive as you expected and beats the theater at the box office and doubles the number of theaters, then I can get a free Cannes premiere." qualifications."

Ronald told Cannold about the bet he made with Minahan Golan after the Ballon d'Or.

"Then I wish your new film success at the box office."

"I wish our new film will be more successful." Ronald clinked glasses with him and they both drank.

"Also, I have a suggestion..." Cannold put down the cup, and while Ronald was in a good mood, he said a suggestion that he had been thinking about for a long time.

"Dirty Dancing is scheduled to be released in the second half of the summer season. Many theaters do not have good movies to take over during that period. They are worried about the several blockbusters originally prepared for the summer season, the latest 007 Daybreak Suicide Squad, the latest fourth installment of Jaws - The Revenge, and Cannon's two special effects blockbusters, 'Superman' and 'Superman Part 4' lack the staying power, so Dirty Dancing is more than welcome to us.

I think there is still room in their schedule. If we can add a movie distribution business, we can share the marketing and distribution costs. "

"Why, they don't think highly of Cannon's two movies?"

"Not really. The box office performance of Superman III has made theaters less confident in the Superman series. They are still waiting for Cannon to be released. And Roger Moore, who was originally very popular as James Bond, no longer Filming 007.

Dead by Daylight is the first movie of the latest Bond, Timothy Dalton. Many theater buyers and theater managers who have watched the finished film said that they don't like the new Bond very much. He is not as omnipotent as the previous two predecessors, but he is very inferior.

Ronald nodded. Said that he knew about Cannold's plan.

Publishing business is inherently very expensive. Only large companies can maintain a distribution team all year round, and maintain the expensive expenses of distribution offices everywhere.

Roger Corman once told himself that in order to maintain his distribution business without losing money, he was too busy to produce and direct his own movies. This was also the main reason why he sold New World.

So Ronald also set up a temporary distribution team at the beginning. The first distribution business was mainly to train the team.

However, Michelle Cannold's level is unexpectedly excellent, and the distribution work is done very well. In this way, if a movie can also hitch a ride and be released at this time, it can greatly share the distribution costs of "Dirty Dancing."

Of course, the premise is that the movie is also a hit, at least, without losing money.

"I will pay attention to find suitable movies." Ronald said that he has taken note of Cannold's suggestions and will use his contacts to see if there are any suitable ones.

"Ronald, it's very good. EMA gave it a B+ rating, which is pretty good among romantic comedies."

On Saturday morning, Ronald received a good news call from Joseph Farrow, vice president of 20th Century Fox.

"Really? This rating is very good." Ronald was very happy when he received the call. "I thought the rating would not be so good. Why do the film critics dislike this movie so much? After converting their ratings, it's just impressive. Can get a C”

"Some movies just don't please them. Especially romantic comedies, which often rely on the chemical reaction between the male and female protagonists. In many aspects of this movie, it is completely opposite to the evaluation routines that film critics like.

In fact, the director didn't have any deep meaning. He just wanted to make a funny, interesting, fairy tale-like love story. "

"Tsk", Ronald felt that this evaluation was very accurate.

Film critics always want to read more deeper meanings from movies, but sometimes, what the audience needs is just a good-looking story. Even if it doesn't have any deep meaning, it doesn't stop them from watching it.

After all, it is very rare for a movie like "Platoon" to be both well-received and well-received, and to receive high marks from both critics and audiences.

"Can our weekend box office be in the top three?" Ronald thought of the bet with Minahan.

"It's very close, very close. About Friday, we and Stallone's film reached the top, and the difference was only about 100,000.

Maybe, by the end of the Grand Commandery Day weekend, we can reach 6 million. "

"Is there any hope of surpassing Over the Top?" Ronald didn't expect that with such arrogance, he could really beat Over the Top, which has twice the number of theaters, at the box office.

"Well, our single theater box office is up to US$6,400, and Over the Top is about just over US$3,000. So... it's possible."

"Awesome." Ronald laughed, unable to wait to see the expression on Minahan's face.

This guy, when he made the bet, must have wanted to overwhelm himself with an extra-regular number of theaters, but he didn't expect that it would still be inferior to the movie he produced.

"I'm quite satisfied. Although Platoon is really great, the box office of a single theater has exceeded 10,000 US dollars. It is expected to earn 12 million US dollars during the weekend."

"That's really awesome." Ronald thought to himself. Now Oliver Stone has become a box-office successful director and is about to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Director. Both the film reviews and the box office took both sides, this is really a great success.

…

"Minahan, I'm here to collect the bet."

Sure enough, the Grand Commander's Day has passed. Awesome took in $6 million, while Minahan's The Greatest Hit only took in $5.1 million despite playing in twice as many theaters.

Moreover, the EMA score of Flying Over the Top was only a pitiful C+, and the single-venue box office dropped further, to just over 2,900. The poor box office performance prompted some New York film critics, whom Minahan had not contacted, to give the film a negative review. Others accused Stallone of just lamely repeating Rocky. Ronald, who was reading the newspaper, was happy for a while.

"I'm willing to admit defeat. You are still very good as a producer, and your movies are so good." Minahan said that there was no denying it.

"But you will also go to the premiere in Cannes, right? Will you also attend the premiere of my movie Superman IV?"

"Uh... okay..." Ronald didn't expect that Minahan was waiting for him here.

"This time at the Oscars, we, Cannon, were nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film. It was 'The Assault' that we jointly shot in the Netherlands. Can I count on your vote?"

Minahan would not suffer any loss, and then asked Ronald to vote for his film in the Best Foreign Language Film.

"No problem at all."

Ronald had no idea about this kind of small prize, so he just voted for him. In addition to the best actress, I voted for my friend Cameron's Alien Part 2. The best actor will be given to Scorsese's The Color of Money. In addition, the best director award will be given to Woody Allen, who is kind to me. ticket. For other awards, I actually asked my agent Niceta to see if anyone is willing to exchange them.

"Quack, quack, we are best friends." Minahan was very happy that Ronald was so straightforward.

"Do you have any nominations for the Oscars? I can ask all Cannon's contracted actors and directors who are eligible to vote to vote for you."

"Why……"

Top Gun was not nominated for any major awards, as CAA expected.

"It's the best original song for a movie. Please help me."

Among the four nominations for Best Editing, Best Score, Best Original Film Song, and Best Sound Design, only Best Original Song was nominated. Because I was the star of "Take My Breath Away" and shot the MV, it has something to do with it.

Ronald then gave the favor to the Berlin band.

"In a word, we'll see you at the Oscars then."

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :