Chapter 302: The audience is not interested in repeated themes?
Understanding Ronald's concerns, Mike Medavoy made arrangements to have the best of both worlds. The premieres were held in the two most famous theaters in New York and Los Angeles.
On the first night at the Alice Theater of Lincoln Center in New York, Meg Tilly and her boyfriend Colin Firth, as well as Firouza Bowker and other starring actors attended the premiere in New York.
The next day, it was moved to the Samuel Goldwyn Cinema in Beverly Hills for the Los Angeles premiere, so that Ronald could help support it without any psychological burden.
Hollywood is a big stage, and it is very important for everyone to praise each other. Ronald made a round of phone calls and found people like Melanie Griffiths and Alec Baldwin to support him. The marketing investment for this movie
It's not as good as a big production, so it can only be matched with such stars whose careers have just started to take off.
"Our premiere in New York was very good. Many famous Hollywood stars came." Lead actor Colin Firth was the only one of the main actors to attend both premieres. He needs more
Exposure and the opportunity to network with the powers that be in Hollywood.
So he came to chat with Ronald. Colin Firth, who was wearing a black crew-neck shirt and a suit jacket, was a little put on. It seemed that his life with Meg Tilly was going very well.
"Who is there?" Ronald chatted casually.
"Jessica Tandy, her new movie will be released next month, just make an exchange with us." Colin Firth was talking about the famous actress who acted in the 1940s, who is 80 years old this year.
"Oh?" Ronald also had to admire him. This person was not just a guest star. She also played the heroine in "Cocoon" in 1985 and performed well in this science fiction film about aliens who rejuvenate the elderly.
, was nominated for the Best Actress in the Saturn Award, which is specially designed for science fiction movies.
This movie was also a box office success. In a movie market where teenagers are the main audience, a movie with the main characters being elderly people can still be successful at the box office. I have to say that her acting skills are really superb. Moreover,
Her body is also very strong and can withstand high-intensity film shooting...
"And you American girls, Brooke Shields is here too..." Colin Firth tried his best to name some celebrities, otherwise he wouldn't know how to chat with a Hollywood person like Ronald.
"Hmm...", Ronald didn't know what to say. The promotion route of "Valmont" seemed to be a bit unusual. The New York premiere was full of outdated stars.
"Hi, Ronald..." At this time, some celebrities living near Beverly Hills were also invited to walk over to watch the premiere.
"Mr. Parker..." Ronald greeted him. This was an old friend who went to the other side of the Pacific with him. "Nice to meet you... Do you have any new movie projects recently?"
It just so happened that the movie I dreamed about on the transoceanic flight was starring Parker, so I took the opportunity to find out his schedule.
"Hey, it seems that you haven't seen the movie I released last month..." Gregory Peck sighed helplessly.
"Um..." Ronald thought for a long time, but he really had no impression.
"It's a pleasure to work with Jane Fonda...but the audience no longer likes to see my old face..." Gregory Peck laughed at himself.
"Where? I really want to have the opportunity to work with you in a movie. It's mainly a matter of luck. I heard that Ms. Jessica Tandy will also have a movie released next month. Hollywood stars are all treasures...
…”
"Hahaha, you make me very happy, little Ronald. When we have the opportunity, we can travel to the other side of the Pacific together..."
Gregory Peck was very happy that Ronald still respected him, but he also knew in his heart that the current audience had already forgotten them, and the most he could do was act in TV series and just have some drama... He didn't care about Ronald.
Nader’s invitation is serious…”
Ronald sent Gregory Peck in and found that Colin Firth had hooked up with the middle-aged actress Jacqueline Bisset. This bold British actress was very interested in Colin Firth.
A fellow countryman was also very interested and ignored his boyfriend, Swiss actor Vincent Perez, who came with him.
Looking at Fiers, who still didn't quite understand what Bisset meant, Ronald pushed Mike Medavoy, who was standing next to him chatting with director Milos Forman. Mike Medavoy took a look and wanted to
If something goes wrong, go and pull Colin Firth away.
"You Americans always make a fuss and take romantic encounters between men and women too seriously..." Milos Forman had no one to chat with, so he grabbed Ronald and complained.
"So, the quality of Dangerous Liaisons produced by us in Hollywood is not as good as the works of European directors on the same subject. The depth of the feelings between men and women is much more profound than this Valmont..." Ronald complimented Milos.
·Forman.
This is not a flattery. The unprovoked love between men and women in this movie is definitely more realistic than last year's Dangerous Liaison. That movie basically simplified it into good women, bad women, and girls.
A story about meeting true love.
"Ah, hahaha...didn't you see the movie review?" Milos Forman was also very happy. Yesterday, Roger Ebert's film review from the Chicago Sun-Times was released:
He gave the film three and a half stars and compared it to Warner's version of "Dangerous Liaisons," which was adapted from a play rather than a novel. Ebert believes that "Valmont" is completely different from its predecessor. "Dangerous Liaisons" is
"Intellectual and closed, an exercise in sexual psychological games", Forman's version is more "physical" and the temptation is more exciting.
These European directors are indeed much better than Hollywood directors in using lens language instead of lines to express people's desires.
"Diane and I watched the test screening, and it was really good. It's hard for a director in Hollywood to shoot such a picture..."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Ronald thought to himself, this is strange, the European Adrian Lane clearly shows nothing, but he can make the audience passionate and lustful.
Soaring, this Valmont is the same, European directors have this sense of power that is not directly revealed.
While they were chatting, Melanie Griffith came with her remarried ex-husband Don Johnson.
"Melanie... I heard it's a girl?" Ronald stepped forward to greet her and then introduced her to Milos Forman.
"Ah, yes, Don and I named her Dakota. It is an Indian name, which means friendship. It is also unisex. We decided on the name very early..."
Melanie Griffiths is the kind of expressive and explosive actress that European directors like very much. She had a great time chatting with Ronald and Milos Forman.
Wearing a white trousers suit and short hair, Melanie Griffiths looks obviously more haggard than when she was photographed working girl. She just gave birth to a daughter last month and is still recovering.
Don Johnson seemed a little impatient. The actor of the TV series Miami Vice was in constant trouble because of his daughter. First, it was revealed that Melanie Griffith was pregnant, and he had a falling out with his live-in girlfriend Barbra Streisand.
Then she lived with Uma Thurman, the supporting actress in "Dangerous Liaisons", but the actress, who was only 18 years old, could not accept the fact that her boyfriend had another woman's child, and the two broke up.
It just so happened that the ratings of "Miami Vice" also dropped due to the writers' strike, and NBC decided not to renew it next year. Don Johnson saw Melanie Griffith's career rejuvenation because of "Working Girl", plus she had a daughter
, Don Johnson reconciled with the mother of his child, Melanie...but after the child was born, he went through the remarriage procedures.
Ronald doesn't like such a relationship that is very profit-oriented and realistic, but Melanie loves her deeply and keeps promoting her husband...
…
"I came back before I finished reading, so as not to be caught by them and have to promote myself..." Ronald sneaked home to talk to Diane after he saw half of it.
"The main thing is that I met Mr. Parker this time. I agreed with him that if there is a suitable script, I will recruit him to be the leading actor..."
"Do you really want to cooperate with him? He is a rare decent man in Hollywood..." Diane was surprised. Gregory Peck is already seventy-three.
"Well, I'm searching for a script to make a movie that reflects real business competition..." Ronald thought of the movie clip in his dream, and the more he thought about it, the more he thought it was a big deal, so he started searching for a script.
"Melanie gave birth to a daughter? Do you like boys or girls?" Diane touched her belly...
"I like them all. By the way, Melanie said she decided on the name before she knew the gender of her child. What do you think?" Ronald asked her.
"I don't know. My name was given to me right after I was born. My parents had a big fight and got divorced. What do you think?"
"Then we will be named after we are born, but the middle name must be Vaille..." Ronald remembered the tradition of his great-great-grandfather Li Enfu, who used the name of his sojourn family in Connecticut, Mrs. Vaille, as his own
A middle name passed down through the generations in the family.
"Is this a girl's name? Why did you choose this?" Diane didn't understand.
"This is a family tradition. My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all use this middle name..."
"Hey? Are you too? So this is what the abbreviation V in your name means?"
"Yes, it is said that she is a lady who has been very kind to my family, so she has been named like this."
"Oh..." Diane also went to check Ronald's director's union card, and it turned out that it was Ronald V. Lee's name.
…
"Valmont is finished in America..."
Who knows, at the weekend, news came from Orion that the movie was a big failure at the box office.
This movie adopts a release strategy to prepare for the Oscars. It will be released for a week first to meet the minimum requirements for Oscar awards, and then it will control the number of theaters it will be released in, allowing word-of-mouth to slowly ferment, which is believed to cause a phenomenon where it is difficult to get a ticket.
.
Slowly expand the number of screenings in this way, wait until it is nominated for an Oscar, and then expand the screenings on a large scale. If you are lucky enough to win a statuette, it will be released in the mainstream for the second time next year.
However, the necessary condition for this strategy is that the audience's reputation is really good and people are really recommending this movie to their friends.
Regardless of the quality of the movie "Valmont", it clearly has no reputation among the audience.
In order to slowly build up the reputation, "Valmont" was premiered on Tuesday and Wednesday, but by the weekend, no one was talking about this movie. All the audience's attention was attracted by the three movies released.
.
One is a Southern girl movie "Steel Magnolias" with the participation of Ronald, Julia Roberts, Diane, and some actresses. American audiences have always had a preference for this kind of Southern women's drama, whether it is Little Women
Human beings or Gone with the Wind are their preferred themes.
The other is a new animated feature film that Disney relaunched after many years, "The Little Mermaid". Needless to say, after giving up animation and mainly making live-action films for many years, Disney still touched the hearts of all children when it released it.
The last one is "Harlem Nightclub", a new work written, directed and starred by black comedy star Eddie Murphy. He has not produced a new drama for a long time, and the audience's expectations are high.
In this way, these three new films wiped out all the popularity of "Valmont". There was no popularity when it was released in the middle of the week, and the reputation did not pick up at the weekend. The major theaters showed one show at a loss, and the film studio has been notified that it will be released.
Movies that are more profitable can be screened online.
"Why?" Ronald was also confused. He asked many questions to Richard who brought the news, but unfortunately Richard had no answers.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "I don't know why, but this movie is not popular, and the audience didn't react much after watching it..."
"What does CinemaScore's survey say?" Ronald asked.
"They didn't ask CinemaScore to do a survey..." Richard flipped through the materials and replied.
"They should ask at least to know why it failed at the box office..."
The more Ronald thought about it, the weirder he became, so he invited daydreamer Michelle Cannold and David Simkins to come over to his home for a meeting to discuss.
Several experienced directors also couldn't figure it out. The direction, acting, and script of this movie are all top-notch, and it is more utilitarian. The erotic scenes in the movie are not as good as last year's "Dangerous Liaisons". What to watch
Much more.
Glenn Gross' figure is not as alluring as when she played a cheating woman with Michael Douglas.
How beautiful is Annette Bening's appearance? The scene of her bathing at home is much more alluring than last year's Warner version.
"What do you think, Dan? And you? Wang Ma? Wang Ma?"
Ronald couldn't find the reason, so he remembered Cinema Score's on-site investigation method, and also called a few ordinary viewers at home to ask them what they thought.
"I'm not very interested in costume dramas to begin with..." Dan was very responsible as a bodyguard when Ronald went out, but his home was very safe, so he wouldn't accompany Ronald to watch a movie that didn't interest him.
Movie.
"Didn't you watch it last year? Why is it still available this year? Did you show it again?" Wang Ma's English is not very good, and she can't understand the elegant lines of this kind of costume drama, so she is even less interested.
"Could this be the reason?" Ronald turned around and asked several generals.
"I guess that's it. Costume dramas, especially costume romance dramas from the Kingdom of Lao, don't have a large audience to begin with. However, the plot of Warner's version of Dangerous Liaisons has been simplified a lot, so it may not be difficult for the audience to understand."
"Well, I watched the same movie last year. Among friends and colleagues, there is no one to talk about..."
Several senior executives reacted and blamed the same story on last year's "Dangerous Liaisons".
"Does this have such a big impact on the box office? Has this kind of thing happened in Hollywood before?" Ronald still had doubts in his heart. No one would watch the subject he had filmed?
He called Gregory Peck and asked the veteran Hollywood actor for information.
"It wasn't like this before. Once a movie became a hit, there would be movies that followed suit. But Hollywood is a mystery. If I knew how to make money by making movies, I could have many more influential roles."
Ronald searched around and found no conclusion, so he could only accept this reason for the time being.
But Orion couldn't accept it. They invested 35 million US dollars in this movie and found Milos Forman. They wanted to recreate the grand occasion of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Mozart". As a result, it has not even been released yet.
The dilemma of not being able to find it in any theater...
Orion's vice president in charge of distribution has already flown to London urgently to do urgent public relations for the British and European copy sales. He will use the voluntary withdrawal of "Valmont" as an excuse to persuade the film studios there to continue ordering.
The film's failure caused greater unrest in Hollywood than Ronald imagined.
Such a lineup, such investment, such performances, such meticulous craftsmanship, yet suffered a rare fiasco in the history of Hollywood.
For a time, everyone in the Seventh Group felt insecure and began to take inventory of the projects they were currently filming or had completed. Any movies with similar plots that had been released before would be suspended or re-evaluated.
Ronald's two projects with Orion were particularly affected. "The Silence of the Lambs" had another adaptation of the same series of novels a few years ago, "Red Dragon," which did not do well at the box office.
The filming of "Dances with Wolves" has not yet been completed.
For a time, Mike Medavoy was also under great pressure and had to come to Ronald to discuss what to do.