Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Latest URL: "Congratulations, Ronald."

The Los Angeles premiere of "When Harry Met Sally" took place quietly on Thursday, the third week of "The Batman" release.

At the foot of Beverly Hills, the cinema affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Technology and Arts became the venue for the premiere.

It was a byproduct of a meeting between Ronald and Billy Crystal, who visited the Academy to secure the rights to host next year's Oscars.

The directors were pleased with Ronald's detailed plan, and more importantly, they all remembered that during the writers' strike, during the writers' strike, comedians were allowed to express themselves freely at the awards show. Billy Crystal single-handedly, free Perform a rescue feat.

Although Ronald has not been officially notified of the result, the college has sent a clear signal. After they learned that Ronald's new film would be distributed in a small-scale release, they offered to rent the Academy's Beverly Cinema to Ronald for the premiere.

Here, it is walking distance from the Beverly Hills mansion area where old stars live. It is very convenient for celebrities to attend, and it is also a disguised help for the marketing of Ronald's new movie.

Therefore, although the premiere was relatively low-key, there were still many celebrities present who made entertainment reporters very happy.

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore also came to support them. Demi Moore has beautiful long black hair, paired with a white shirt and jeans. The image of a sexy blue-collar mom has murdered a lot of film.

"Bruce, Demi, what do you think of Ronald's new movie?" The reporter was not to be outdone and asked the celebrity couple questions in a loud voice from a distance.

"I haven't watched it yet, man! I'll tell you after I finish it." Bruce Willis was wearing a black shirt, sunglasses, and a blue-collar look. His current characters all have this kind of temperament, so his own temperament is also deliberately leaning towards that of a blue-collar macho, gradually getting rid of the urban yuppie image he had when filming TV series.

"We never miss any of Ronald's romance movies. Every time I am so moved that I cry to death." Demi Moore quickly went back to make up for it, otherwise reporters will not know how Willis's words will be distorted tomorrow.

"Bruce Willis doesn't know if Ronald's new movie is good or not" is putting it lightly.

"I haven't seen Ronald Lee's new movie yet. I won't comment until I have time to watch it." Just add "Watch it when I have time", and the whole meaning can be distorted into Willis vs. Ronald Lee. Nader’s new film is not a cold one, so don’t be in a hurry to watch it.

"Hey, I remember you, the variety show reporter, right? You have to say something nice for me tomorrow, man." Ronald came over to welcome the two of them, and happened to see this scene, and he pointed at the reporter , said to him half-jokingly, half-threateningly.

"Then let's see how the movie goes, Ronald." Not to be outdone, the reporter replied.

"Remember to come to the reception later. There will be coupons for journalists." Ronald said, then turned around to welcome Willis and Demi in. The photographer was so anxious that he started shouting again, "Ronald, give it to us." Let’s take a photo, Ronald!”

"Brother, you are so brave, you dare to talk to Ronald like this." Another lower-level reporter from Variety Weekend Edition admired the old reporter who had a distant confrontation with Ronald. Rumors are circulating among Hollywood entertainment reporters that Ronald has great hands and eyes, so don’t offend him.

The previous eavesdropping case on Hollywood stars was allegedly handled by Ronald. Not only did it alert the FBI, but the person involved was so frightened that he "committed suicide" overnight.

"When dealing with these big shots, you have to be neither humble nor arrogant. You have to be valuable, and they will give you some sweet things in exchange for your use. Do you understand? If he can only say nice things, why would he want to talk to you?" The old reporter began to brag. own experience.

"Arnold, Arnold!"

Just after sending off the Willis couple, another family of a heavyweight star came to the scene. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a young woman, supporting an old lady with white hair, walked slowly together.

"That's Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver." The young "Variety Show" reporter didn't know much about this young woman who, strictly speaking, was not in the entertainment industry.

"Of course, she is JFK's niece. Didn't you watch last year's Olympics? She is the host of NBC." The old reporter taught by words and deeds that as an entertainment reporter, recognizing people is a very important basic skill, and it cannot be limited to Hollywood.

"Who is that old lady?" The young reporter nodded in an educated manner, and then pointed to the older woman, who looked similar to Maria Shriver's face and had a wide chin.

"Oh, Shxt! That's Eunice Mary Kennedy..." The old reporter immediately pulled the photographer and rushed forward, "Eunice, Eunice, did you come to Los Angeles to visit your daughter? What do you think of Ronald?" What can you expect from the new movie?”

None of the young reporters working in the entertainment industry knew her, but the old reporters used to work in the news in New York and were familiar with Kennedy's sister and the founder of the Special Olympics.

Unlike his two brothers and one sister, this sister has not participated in politics. However, in the eyes of the older generation of Americans, she is no less inferior than other members of the Kennedy family. In 1984, he was awarded the Grand Commander's Medal of Freedom for creating the Special Olympics.

"Wow, I didn't expect anyone in Los Angeles would know me." The old lady Eunice was very happy to be recognized. "I really like the Working Girl directed by Ronald, that kind of free and independent woman. I liked it very much. This is the idol woman in our minds when we were young. This time I came to see my granddaughter, and I am very happy to have the opportunity to attend Ronald's premiere."

Just as Ronald came out again, he stepped forward and asked old Mrs. Eunice to hold his arm and send her in.

"How come he can even invite big shots in New York?" The young reporter didn't understand again and quickly asked the old reporter.

"Ronald is not just a famous Hollywood director. You will understand after you stay in this industry for a long time."

"OJ, OJ! Look over here."

Unexpectedly, so many celebrities came to the premiere. Former football players and commentators, actors, O.J. Simpson and his wife Nicole Brown also came to attend the premiere. Anyway, they all live near Beverly Hills, so reporters took photos again.

"I'm a fan of Ronald..." OJ's wife told the reason why she came to the premiere. The little unpleasantness between her and her husband OJ has passed, and she withdrew the domestic violence lawsuit filed in the court. Getting back together again.

However, Ronald did not come out to greet these non-Hollywood celebrities or less famous guests every time.

As soon as he and Diane didn't come out, the reporters' enthusiasm dropped drastically, so much so that the leading actor John Cusack, who had just filmed "In Love" with Helen Slater, could only spend time with his new girlfriend Suzanne ·Melvin walked into the movie theater alone.

"Honey, why are there so few reporters? Did we come at the wrong time?" Susanna Melvin was born in a music family. She was previously the girlfriend of pop singer Prince. Now she is dating Cusack and hopes to appear in the entertainment pages again. headlines. The appearance of the scene disappointed her.

In addition to being a singer, Suzanne Melvin is also an accomplished songwriter. She feels that the music industry does not pay enough attention to her, so she can only use various gossips to increase her exposure.

"Maybe they have already gone in. I will take you in and introduce Ronald to you." John Cusack still stood at the door for a while, and after he estimated that he had collected enough photos, he pulled his new girlfriend in.

After John Cusack came in, he didn't find a chance to meet Ronald. He had to wait until the movie was over before he came up to say hello.

But after the one-and-a-half-hour movie ended, he and his girlfriend forgot about the incident. The two hugged each other and were intoxicated by the happy ending of the hero and heroine on the screen.

In the cinema, both the celebrities and the general audience, as well as Ronald and Diane, were all very moved by the ending.

Harry, played by Billy Crystal, finally said the proposal line. After deciding who he wanted to spend his life with, he hoped that the second half of his life would start as early as possible.

As soon as this line came out, not only did Meg Ryan, who played Sally, burst into tears on the screen, but her inner resentment towards Harry for avoiding the change in their relationship after they went to bed was transformed into tenderness and sweetness.

There was also a chorus of "Oh..." in the audience. The female audience members couldn't stand such sweet words, and they all held the hands of their lovers next to them.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you all."

After the movie screening, starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan took the stage to interact with the audience.

Unlike the female viewers who were intoxicated by the ten years of sweet love that transformed from strangers, to ordinary friends, to confidants, and finally to lovers, the male viewers all felt the same way about Billy's confusion. Maybe many men have such a different person around them. A woman who knows whether to be friends or lovers.

But the most interesting thing was the scene where Meg Ryan demonstrated live in a restaurant how women can fake orgasms. All the male audience members were breathing nervously at that moment, not daring to breathe for fear of accidentally exposing themselves to some surprise. The expression on your face was laughed at by your female friends. Why don’t you even understand this?

In fact, they were all deeply shocked, and their understanding of women was completely subverted from then on.

Unlike Ronald's other movies, where everyone went crazy after the screening, the audience of this movie remained rational, but everyone was definitely moved by the movie and quietly changed something in their hearts.

"Being able to make a movie like this really makes people feel good inside."

After the fan meeting, Meg Ryan was talking to Diane. She will soon fly to Hawaii to film a movie directed by Shanley and will no longer participate in subsequent marketing activities.

"Yeah, I think it's so sweet." Diane was very excited. She felt that the details of her and Ronnie's emotional experiences could be seen in several places in the movie. This was considered Ronnie's reflection on their relationship. Recreate it?

"Meg, thank you for coming to the premiere. We'll see you next time in London." Ronald came over to see Meg Ryan off. Due to the filming schedule, Meg Ryan has to wait for the filming in Hawaii to finish and go to the London premiere before attending.

The next premieres in New York and other places, as well as meetings with fans, were mainly handled by Billy Crystal and Carrie Fisher.

"See you in London then." Meg Ryan said goodbye to Diane with a smile. They were both married women and had a lot to talk about.

"My dear, let's go back first. The film review will come out tomorrow." Diane pulled Ronald and asked him to go home first.

"Oh, okay, I'm a little nervous. The audience's response today was not very enthusiastic..." Ronald felt that Diane's eyes were particularly gentle today, which diluted his slightly uneasy mood.

“Cinema’s rating is out, it’s A+”

Early the next morning, Ronald heard the good news from Richard.

"It seems it's not that the audience isn't enthusiastic, it's that they are enthusiastic in another way." Ronald let out a sigh of relief. Cinema's ratings have always been accurate, and the audience's response exceeded expectations.

After the film premiered, it was not released on a large scale across the country. It was only screened on a small scale in 50 theaters.

This is the marketing strategy set by Michael Gray. The target audience of this film, like "Working Girl", is not the traditional summer movie audience of teenagers.

But this time it is a romantic love story for middle-aged people, and there is no way to find successful female secretaries from all over the country to do marketing like "Working Girl".

So Gray moved those Oscar-winning film routines to the summer season. First release it on a small scale, control the number of theaters it is released in, and use a more accurate audience composition in exchange for better reputation and better ratings from film critics.

These audiences are all fans of the two male and female protagonists selected from the movie theater members by Daydream in cooperation with various theaters participating in the screening, or lovers of romantic love stories.

Although the cost of doing this kind of precision marketing is high, the marketing cost spent by each person is several times more than their movie tickets.

But movies are actually a commodity spread through word-of-mouth, and Ronald is willing to spend money on it to let the audience's word-of-mouth ferment first.

"Oh..." Ronald saw the box office statistics again, and his brows suddenly spread.

It was released in 45 theaters, and the box office of a single theater exceeded 28,000 US dollars. Although this number is only controlled on a small scale through artificial means, it is still impressive.

In recent years, through similar means to compete for awards, few literary films released during the Christmas season at the end of the year have such strong box office momentum.

"It seems you don't have to worry about the audience's reputation." Ronald smiled and ate breakfast with Diane at the dining table. "Wang Ma, give me some more steamed dumplings and barbecued pork buns."

I was in a good mood and ate a lot more than usual. Ronald even finished the coffee, and Diane quickly used the coffee pot to give Ronnie another cup. Could it be that his coffee-making skills have improved?

By Monday afternoon, the box office results came out. The total box office of 45 theaters over the weekend had exceeded 1.1 million. This made both Daydream and Columbia's publishing department very excited. I was gearing up to call theater managers everywhere to try to schedule the film for the second week.

"It seems like this is the first time that I have received collective praise from all film critics, and the praise rate has exceeded 90%..."

During dinner, the reviews from major film critics began to turn to Ronald, and he was flattered by the unanimous praise.

"Ronald Lee is already one of the best directors of romantic comedies in Hollywood, and hats off to him for being the most conventional in terms of structure and meeting our expectations.

In addition to Nora Efron's script, the chemistry between Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan makes it even more special. "

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times also uncharacteristically praised Ronald so much that Ronald himself couldn't believe it.

As for Ronald's praise, the most shameless ones are the New York media. This has a lot to do with the fact that Ronald himself is a New Yorker and the script tells the story of New York.

Caryn James, a film critic for The New York Times, said "When Harry Met Sally" is an "often funny and surprising movie" that "romanticizes the lives of smart, successful, neurotic New Yorkers." "

James also described it as "a sitcom version of a Woody Allen movie, full of funny lines and scenes, and various familiar scenes, each with an uncomfortable sense of deja vu. Reminds us of our own emotional lives”.

The Washington Post's film critic, Rita Kempley, differed from her New York counterpart in praising Meg Ryan and screenwriter Nora Ephron.

Meg Ryan is the "Melanie Griffith of summer"!

Sally is a blonde beauty who has finally found a stage to showcase her pure passion. She is neither naive nor voluptuous, she is a female character created by a female screenwriter, not the Cinderella under the scrutiny of male screenwriters in "Working Girl". "

"Are you complimenting me?" Ronald asked Diane doubtfully after reading the Washington Post film review. "

"She must be praising the movie." Diane suppressed a smile, "When you go to New York, ask her."

"Okay, I'll just take it as praising the movie."

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