It was Thanksgiving weekend, and Ronald's family got together with Aunt Karen and Donna to eat turkey again. This is a three-day long weekend and the beginning of the strong winter movie schedule in America.
Because the Indian Business Act was being hyped by the media, and documentaries about native Indians were shown on television, the family felt that "Dances with Wolves" produced by Ronald would win the box office championship.
"It's actually unlikely to happen, because there is also a sequel to Emile Adolino's 'Three Dads and a Baby' at the same time. The last one was a blockbuster movie. Dances with Wolves actually has a relatively narrow audience base. Movies, most viewers are not particularly interested in this particular type of Western movie.”
Ronald explained to his family. The reason why audiences particularly liked Western movies a few decades ago was because of the intertwining of blockbuster elements such as battle, love, and the mystery of the Indians. Western movies have some advantages over other genre movies by combining some love and fighting scenes.
"Dances with Wolves" is a Western film with anti-traditional genre elements. Only viewers with a relatively high educational background will be interested in this subject matter. This is why the movie Daydream, including Disney, has only been released in less than 1,100 theaters.
If this Ronald-led movie had elements that most audiences would like to see, it would certainly not be difficult to find a major studio willing to take over domestic distribution to proactively approach it.
"Hahaha, I really like the movie Three Nurses and One Baby. Children are so cute, aren't they little Roger?" Aunt Karen teased Roger with a smile.
"Is what you told your aunt true?" Diane asked Ronald on the way back to Manhattan. She knew that Ronald had invested a lot of money in "Dances with Wolves".
"It's true, but American movies are a big market, and there should be a way out for good art films." Ronald is not worried about losing money on "Dances with Wolves". Although the audience base is small, it is important to the target audience. Said that the magnificent scenery in this movie and the revival of western movies can satisfy them.
The American film market experienced a significant recovery in the entire decade of the 1980s. From more than 100 films in the 1980s, there are now more than 200 films distributed nationwide every year. The box office has also increased from less than 2 billion US dollars ten years ago to more than 4 billion US dollars per year now. It has become common for a blockbuster movie to have a box office of over 100 million US dollars in the domestic market, and there are also a few movies that will reach a box office of 200 million US dollars.
The actual marketing expenditure of "Dances with Wolves" is not too much, and a large part of the production cost is to use dividends instead of salary. As long as the box office in the first weekend can exceed 8 million US dollars, it is entirely possible to stay in the theater. Two months. In addition to repaying the capital, profits can also be made through overseas distribution and video tapes.
Diane recovered well from the weekend's family fun, and on Monday the crew moved to Seymour, Connecticut, to shoot scenes at the factory.
Diane got up early in the morning, settled little Roger, and reluctantly handed him over to the nanny Wang Ma. When he went out, he met the driver Bud.
Bud quickly told his wife next to him to let her rest and open the door for Diane.
"Little Bud's wife is pregnant, that's why he is so happy today." Ronald was talking to Richard in the back seat of the car. When he heard Diane's voice, he told him the good news about Little Bud with a smile.
"Congratulations, Bud." Diane said to Bud in the driver's seat.
Richard packed up the documents, automatically gave up his seat, said hello and went to the car behind.
After Diane sat down, the car started to leave. She saw Ronald's frown and thought about it before asking. “Dances with Wolves didn’t do well at the box office?”
"On the contrary, the box office exceeded my expectations. It exceeded 10 million and ranked third. I'm just a little surprised why these two movies became the top two at the box office." Ronald rubbed his forehead and explained. road.
The top three on the weekend box office list all saw major adjustments. "The Love Between Humans and Ghosts" has lost momentum and jumped to seventh place.
"Dances with Wolves" jumped tenfold at the box office from its on-demand release. The movie's name has been well exposed on major news networks, and the box office of a single theater has remained above 10,000 US dollars.
The second place is the sequel to "Three Dads and a Baby" directed by Adolino. The film was shown in 1,200 theaters and grossed more than 13 million yuan at the box office.
The first place is the surprising "Home Alone". This movie about children's pranks directed by Chris Columbus and starring Macaulay Culkin actually attracted more than 2,000 theaters with a similar number of screenings. million box office. The weekend box office for a single theater was as high as 16,000 US dollars. If you didn’t look at other movies, you would have thought it was a small-scale movie.
"Why did this movie win the box office championship?" Ronald really couldn't figure it out. Although this is a family-friendly movie, the box office figures... The box office of "ET", the pinnacle of family-friendly movies at that time, was only 60% of his.
Although coupled with inflation and rising movie tickets, the performance of Home Alone will be somewhat compromised. But considering that the film has neither expensive special effects nor a large number of troublesome child actors that would drag out the filming time, the return on investment for Home Alone must be staggering.
Looking at this super strong box office trend, "The Love of Ghosts" may not be able to retain its annual box office championship.
Ronald touched his nose. Box office statistics generally use the release date to calculate the year attribution. Even if It was released during the Christmas period at the end of December, the box office would still be that of 1990. Why is it that it’s almost the end of the year and there are still such weirdos?
There are many blockbuster movies centered around children. The distant ET aliens, the closer "look who's talking", "three dads and one baby", Ronald understood their potential after watching them.
Cute children, adults can also experience the childlike fun while watching movies with children. Coupled with the fact that it promotes positive values, the whole family enjoyed watching it.
But the movie Home Alone may not necessarily be liked by parents, especially mothers. The protagonist in the movie uses various toys and facilities at home to create various mechanisms to make the robbers fail many times. Children will definitely love it very much and envy the little protagonist for creating a "masterpiece" that they could not have imagined in their dreams.
But these children will definitely imitate it when they go home after watching it. Ronald can already foresee how the angry mother who is cleaning up the messy living room will complain about this movie and release the devilish imagination of her children.
Movies like this have suddenly become a hot spot in the market. Ronald didn't know why. If I had known earlier, I would have been deeply involved in the production of this movie, instead of just being a small investor like now.
After entering the 1990s, Ronald gradually found that his keen sense of box office seemed to have faded a bit. Even if a movie is terrible and doesn't achieve any good box office results, he can still basically feel it and know it's a bad movie after watching it.
But for a new blockbuster genre movie like this that suddenly appeared, Ronald would be confused and couldn't find the biggest reason for the movie's success.
In any case, since children's movies are a hot topic, Ronald is not too depressed. He also has a sequel to "Look Who's Talking" waiting in the wings, which is also a children's film, although children may not like it very much.
Maybe that's the reason? No matter how much mothers hate it when their kids call each other and tell them what a great movie they saw, there's no way parents can stop them from going to the theater to see a PG-rated movie.
Ronald looked at the rankings and remembered countless past events. After entering the 1990s, it seems that the types of blockbuster movies in the past are changing rapidly.
Last week one of the top three movies took a terrible turn. The "Rocky" series, which once represented the struggling spirit of Americans in the late 1970s, has released its fifth installment.
Stallone, who had announced the end of the Rocky series early, decided to start the series again due to financial constraints due to divorce. He personally came to the house and apologized to John Iveson, the director of the first and third films, and brought him back, who had been fired due to poor box office performance, to film the fifth film. It is said that John Ivison personally polished the script to regain the fighting spirit of the first film.
But after it was released, the audience was in an uproar. The real reaction to the negative social situation in America in the late 1970s was recognized by the audience when the first Rocky film was released. They were convinced that Rocky relied on his fighting spirit to become a "successful loser" in this environment. "The story is very recognized (Rocky was actually defeated by the boxing champion in the first part and did not win the championship).
But now, ten years after the rapid economic development in America, Rocky V is once again filled with various criticisms of society. After Rocky regained the boxing championship, he returned home and found that his property had been defrauded by his agent, and he didn't even save his house.
Such a plot cannot arouse the audience's sympathy and recognition for Rocky at all. In the end, Rocky was unable to return to the boxing ring due to a concussion, so he had to fight a few punches with the boxing champion on the street due to an escalating quarrel, and was knocked down.
The audience cannot accept that the hero they recognize and love has turned into such garbage. The director and Stallone overly pursued recreating the spiritual core of the first film, but times have changed, and America is no longer the decadent, defeatist country it was during Jimmy's reign.
Therefore, Rocky Five's negative reviews have become the opposite of the American spirit he once represented. The box office dropped by 50% in the second week, falling directly from the top spot to the fifth place. It was released in more than 2,000 theaters, and the box office of a single theater has dropped to the same level as "The Last Days", which is 3,000 US dollars. I think it will be over if I struggle for another week.
This movie is full of the opposite of America's dream, completely opposite to the original Rocky's spiritual power. I don't know why this idiot would make such a movie.
Between him and "Dances with Wolves" is this week's new film, the sequel to "Predator" starring Stallone's biggest enemy, Schwarzenegger. The producers of the second part decided to maintain the small to medium-cost budget of the first part, so they did not hire Schwarzenegger, whose salary already exceeded 12 million, which was equivalent to enlarging the special effects of the first part and doing it again.
Perhaps this kind of movie really has little to do with stars. There is no sequel to the number one star Schwarzenegger, but it actually did well at the box office. With a scale of slightly less than 2,000 theaters, it ranked just ahead of Stallone, with more than 8 million theaters.
But that's good news for the studios, not good news for Schwarzenegger. This will definitely be interpreted by Hollywood as Schwarzenegger is not the most important reason for the success of "Predator". Maybe in the first film, if a second-tier star was replaced, the box office would not be much worse, and the return on investment would be doubled.
These two action superstars in the 1980s, the first and second to cross the $10 million pay line, will probably face very embarrassing situations after these two movies.
Maybe Schwarzenegger has Cameron's "Terminator 2" and can still support it for a while. Stallone may have slipped into the bottom of his career. The two major blockbuster series he holds, the third part of "First Blood" was released the year before last. The domestic box office is not as high as the production cost, and today another money printing machine "Rocky" also announced its demise.
The changes in Hollywood are so unexpected. Two years ago, he was still a hot star. After the stock market crash and divorce, everyone felt that as long as he started printing money, he would be able to return to the top, and he might soon be in a situation where he could not pay the alimony to his ex-wife.
"Didi..." The car arrived at the gathering place of the crew. Many buses and trucks were loaded with all the stalls of the crew. The first assistant director personally directed the convoy. Seeing that Ronald had arrived, the packed convoy all honked to signal that Ronald had arrived. Getting ready to head to Connecticut to continue filming.
"Ronald, Ronald..."
Suddenly, a Chinese man wearing a down jacket ran towards Ronald.
Everyone took a closer look, and it turned out to be Ang Lee, the screenwriter of Daydream. He was also carrying a luggage bag in his hand, which looked very ancient.
"What's the matter? Let's talk in the car." Ronald opened the car door and let him in.
"My script won an award, and I also received a tutoring grant from the Information Bureau. I just came back..."
Ang Lee's script participated in the Information Bureau competition in his hometown at the beginning of the year. I did not expect that the first competition would collect submissions from all Chinese across the Taiwan Strait, three places and overseas. It was not until recently that the winning script was selected.
"Ah? Good thing, which book won the award? I didn't tell you, I will match the investment for you and try to make a good movie." Ronald was very happy. He knew Ang Lee's talent. Because of the language, he If you want to make a Chinese-language film, and with an award-winning reputation, attracting Chinese actors will not be a problem.
"Both films won awards. The pusher won the first prize, and the wedding banquet won the second prize." Ang Lee was beaming. The first prize was 400,000 yuan, and the second prize was 200,000 yuan, which is equivalent to 20,000 US dollars.
"Then which movie are you going to make? How much investment will the Information Bureau over there give you? I will match it for you. If you don't have enough, you can contact the Chinese filmmakers on the east and west coasts. Who do you want to use? I'll ask Richard to give it to you. Go get in touch.”
Ronald has long wanted to support Chinese-language films, but there are many Chinese actors and actresses in Hollywood and not many directors behind the scenes. Ang Lee gave him a surprise. Chinatowns are basically found in big cities. Those theaters have long wanted to gradually become familiar with Chinese-language films and integrate them into their own distribution lines.
"Let's take pictures of promoters first. The film company over there gave us 4 million in tutoring fees, and the budget will be no more than 12 million." Ang Lee said happily. This time he returned to his hometown and got the equivalent of 380,000 US dollars. The budget, plus his own bonus of 20,000 US dollars, means a full 400,000 US dollars in filming funds.
The film company uses this price to cover the filming for itself, which means that all expenditures are decided by itself. The film company is only responsible for paying the money and collecting the copies when the time comes.
"What?" Ronald was shocked.
"Ahem... If the company can't match 400,000 yuan, less is okay. I discussed it with an independent producer and he made a budget. The film will take about four weeks to shoot. Let's rush it. Three weeks is not impossible. , you can start shooting for 600,000 yuan.”
"No...how do you think I won't invest a mere 400,000 yuan in you?" Ronald couldn't laugh or cry. Now he was not in college in the early 1980s. With a budget of 800,000 yuan, he could only find some second-hand surplus film and low wages. Staff, what the hell are you taking a picture of?
"I will give you an additional investment of 800,000 yuan first. I will raise 1.2 million yuan. You should prepare well. If you want to shoot, you must shoot better. Don't let people think that Hollywood's production is mediocre. Let your hometown's production be better." Those people saw what professional Hollywood productions were like.”
Ronald waved his hand and brought a check for 800,000 yuan. Ang Lee was elated beside him and could only agree with him happily.
"By the way, your independent producer, come and talk to me. If his ability is really good, I will let him be the producer. If you say you can make a movie with 800,000 yuan, you don't really have some real talent. To be honest, he is a liar."
"Okay, I'll get off the car and give him a call..." Ang Lee put the check away solemnly.
"Call right here..." Ronald handed him the car phone.
"James, I talked to Ronald from Daydreaming, and he promised to match eight hundred thousand dollars. What? Yes, that's right, that Daydream, that Ronald... What, you're coming over right away? Okay... …”
Ang Lee covered the microphone and said to Ronald, "When should I ask him to come to New York to meet you?" He knew that Ronald was going to another state to shoot a location, and it looked like he wouldn't be able to come back until the weekend.
"What about New York? Ask him to drive immediately to the cable factory in Seymour, Connecticut, and we can take some time to chat there." Ronald took out a Coke from the refrigerator and threw a can to Ang Lee.
"Oh, Ronald wants you to go to Seymour, Connecticut, to find a cable factory and shoot the exteriors there."
Ang Lee hung up the phone and suddenly realized something was wrong, "Should I go too?"
"Of course. I happen to be short of an assistant artistic director. Can you help me make a cameo?"
"Um..." Ang Lee suddenly realized that he was still carrying a luggage bag in his hand. Fortunately, he had a shower and a change of clothes. He should give his wife a call when he arrived.
(End of chapter)
