Chapter 350: Unresolved Love between Man and Ghost - Special Audience Reaction
The audience who attended the premiere of "Die Hard 2" was full. Seeing the opening scene at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., where New York Detective John McClane received a call from his wife on the plane, they were all captivated.
Cheers broke out and applause began.
"They seem to like this movie very much?" Diane asked Ronald quietly.
"They like the characters in this movie..." Ronald smiled and shook his head. The first Die Hard movie is a masterpiece, and the audience's love for the leading actor is beyond words. John McClane is like representing any Ami.
The crisis that Liga's middle class can encounter.
His wife earns more than he does, and his marriage, which he lives in two places, is in crisis. His children, who go to school with their mother, are no longer as close to him as they used to be. His bosses, colleagues, and service staff in society are always at odds with him.
There are also various emerging high technologies, especially computers and mobile phones, which have given these middle-aged white-collar workers who have just become accustomed to answering machines a learning crisis. The experience they have accumulated seems to be in the technology
With the progress of the economy, it is rapidly depreciating, and the old experience is no longer useful. The thirty-five-year-old middle-level people are not as good as the young people who have just graduated and can play with computers...
Therefore, at the opening of "Die Hard 2", when Mike even got a parking ticket and was given a ticket, the audience was worried that his struggle in the first film would be fruitless in the end.
When Holly, played by Bonnie Bedelia, called McClain with love on her face, the audience was relieved and put down their worries. Although McClain still didn't understand faxes or satellites on airplanes,
Although he has a phone call, his old experience can still defeat terrorists and win back his wife's love.
However, gradually, the audience began to become quiet, and then some people began to whisper to each other, and some even went to the toilet.
Ronald sighed, the sequel was far less attractive to the audience than the first one.
The most important reason for this is probably that John McClane in the sequel is no longer in danger of his life like in the first film, and every time he successfully gains some upper hand over terrorists, he will be praised.
Move back for the smartest villain ever, Hans (starring Alan Rickman).
McClane in this sequel is more like a Rambo-style lone hero, he is omnipotent and can do anything to his detriment, so the audience is not so worried about him.
The reasons for this are very complicated. There are factors such as Bruce Willis's rising star status and his stronger bargaining power on scripts. There are also factors such as the new director's lack of prestige and his inability to control the overall situation.
But the most important reason is undoubtedly the collusion between producers Joel Silver and Bruce Willis, coupled with the indulgence caused by Ronald not keeping a close eye on the crew. Everyone tacitly believed that from the twentieth century
Fox makes money.
How to create a big scene so that you can make money, how to shoot it, and how to make it easy to create product placement ads.
For example, when Bruce Willis answered the phone at Dulles Airport, he deliberately revealed the trademark on the pay phone, which was that of Pacific Bell.
But the connection was too rough. Pacific Bell was a branch that focused on California business on the West Coast after Bell was split. How could it go to Washington, D.C., on the East Coast to develop business?
And when John McClane was tracking the whereabouts of terrorists with the help of a degenerate ex-engineer and a homeless man, in order to advertise a cordless drill, he even arranged a special event to use it to remove the grille of the exhaust channel.
play.
"Hey? Where's the cordless drill?" I saw that one second Bruce Willis was taking off his sweater to do something, and the next second he took off the exhaust grille and threw it aside.
"Did the electric drill be edited out?" Ronald was sweating. Although they only paid 150,000 US dollars to buy a few seconds of footage, you can't just cut out the electric drill.
?Do we still have the spirit of contract?
Ronald raised his wrist and looked at his watch. The first act had been delayed to forty-three minutes. It seemed that in order to keep up with the schedule, the film was poorly completed.
Because Bruce Willis wanted special treatment and went on vacation with his family, and Joel Silver made a lot of big scenes in order to make money, the movie was postponed. It was originally scheduled to premiere in late June.
It has been postponed to Independence Day.
Even so, time was still very tight, so the editing was rushed and many things were not considered thoroughly.
After the show ended, Ronald still noticed that many people didn't stay in the cinema for long and walked out quickly.
However, the movie, which was released ahead of the Independence Day holiday on Wednesday, did much better at the box office than Ronald expected.
Originally, movies were generally released on Fridays, but with Independence Day, they were released ahead of schedule during the holiday. For this early release, the distribution department of 20th Century Fox did a lot of work.
They broke the original distribution rule of releasing on Friday, contacted various theaters, and grabbed more than 1,600 theaters from those sequel movies that were disappointing at the box office. On Wednesday and Thursday, they grabbed
It achieved a box office score of 9.6 million.
"Hey, are they really relying on this big weekend?"
Ronald saw this box office statistics on the morning of the weekend. During the screening period that officially started on Friday night, 20th Century Fox had booked more than 2,500 theaters to play Tom Cruise's "Thunderbolt".
It was squeezed into non-prime time.
"But it seems that the movie reviews are not very good..." Richard pointed to the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, which are the two most famous film critic columns in America.
Roger Ebert and Gene Sisko both had a lot of public relations efforts, and they pinched their noses and gave it a three-and-a-half-star rating (out of four stars).
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Ebert gave the movie a classification called "bruised forearm movies" because when the movie is over, your forearms will be because of your date's tense moments
If I keep scratching it, it will turn blue and purple.
After praising some of the big scenes in the movie, especially the final duel on the plane, Albert couldn't help but start to complain. He said that the plot lacked logic and deliberately placed Holly on the plane to create suspense.
He also said that the terrorists were exaggerated too much at the beginning, but after being attacked by Mike Company, they collapsed too quickly, which is illogical.
"I think there will be problems with word-of-mouth..." Ronald expressed his worries. Everyone in the cinema was not paying attention, and many viewers talked and went to the toilet during the movie. What percentage of the audience would watch such a movie?
What about recommending it to their relatives and friends?
…
By Monday, the box office statistics have come out. The box office of "Die Hard 2" this weekend is more than 20 million, which seems to be much higher than the early 10 million of "Thunderbolt". But if you take into account the box office that was screened two days in advance
Subtracting nine million, then the opening weekend of "Die Hard" is just average, not much higher than the opening weekend of "Thunderbolt."
It can also be clearly seen when examining the single-theater box office of the two movies. "Die Hard 2" had US$8,600 in its opening weekend, while "Thunderbolt" had US$66 million.
If the box office decline of "Die Hard 2" in the second week is the same as that of "Thunderbolt", exceeding 30%, then it will be difficult for this sequel with a production cost of more than 80 million to make back its money at the domestic box office.
Already.
"The production cost of the sequel to Die Hard was 62 million. Any claim exceeding this figure is nonsense!"
Faced with such box office pressure, 20th Century Fox executives stepped out to put out the fire.
The production cost of a movie does not need to be fully and transparently disclosed like the quarterly report of a listed company. Nowadays, a large number of Hollywood commercial productions will set up an independent project company. The biggest advantage of this is that it can control risks. Even if the movie is large
Compensation will not affect the operations of the parent company.
Another big benefit is that in financial accounting, some costs can be hidden or exaggerated. In this way, the listed parent company can use the "creatively adjusted" accounting numbers and integrate them into the listed company's statements.
The most famous recent example of this is Warner Bros., whose revenue from "Batman" was not enough to cover the production costs. Such a successful production that has taken the world by storm, despite a long period of trouble, still lost money in the end.
However, there is "Batman" which adjusted the production cost upward, and there is also "Die Hard 2" which adjusted the production cost downward.
Unlike Warner Bros., where Terry Tramel has a stable position, Twentieth Century Fox does not have such a strong president. All princes show their talents and seek favors from the chairman, Australian Rupert.
Then, the return on investment of a major production is the most important KPI assessment indicator.
Whether the production cost of a movie is 62 million or more than 80 million, in terms of assessment, it is the difference between making a profit and losing money, and also the difference between whether the person in charge should be promoted or fired.
You must know that this "Die Hard 2" is a sequel to a successful work with a high probability of making money...
…
Ronald doesn't care about this. The stars who went to the premiere of "Die Hard 2" last week will come back this week to support the premiere of "The Last Days" directed by Ronald.
Especially Bruce Willis, it was the first time for him to attend the premiere of a commercial film starring his wife after he married Demi Moore.
Although the two are very affectionate, Demi Moore always feels that she is inferior at home. After all, before the release of "Die Hard 2", Bruce Willis had already received a script offer with a salary of more than 10 million US dollars.
And what about her? She is still earning a pitiful salary of one to two million US dollars. In contrast, she can't even speak loudly at home.
"Ronald, how's the attendance today?" At the premiere, Demi Moore came over to ask Ronald secretly after dealing with reporters.
She was most unsure about this movie. Not to mention Ronald's historical achievements, the male lead, Patrick Schwytz, also had many blockbuster movies under his belt, and this was her first promising female lead movie after giving birth.
.
"How do I know? Do you think I can count the ticket sales of all movie theaters in America in real time?" Ronald felt that Demi Moore was also a little crazy. What she wanted most was to be a first-class female star. Seeing such a
With the opportunity in front of me, those who are mentally unbalanced don’t know what to think.
"Relax, come and say hello to the guests." Ronald pointed to the luxury car he had just arrived. On top of it were Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The latter was also chatting with Daisy.
Mi Moore vied for the role of Molly.
"Demi...I heard you did a good job in this movie..." Sure enough, Nicole Kidman would not let go of this opportunity, and the same goes for her and her boyfriend Tom Cruise's "Thunder"
Released by Paramount.
However, there is a relatively large gap in the treatment received by Paramount between the two movies. On the one hand, there is a star like Tom Cruise who has absolute box office appeal. According to Cinema Score's survey, he can make the audience just want to
The man he entered the cinema.
As for the two male and female protagonists of "The Last Days", one is a famous star of B-movies, and the other, although well-received, has no history of being a heroine in movies that are box office hits. Although Ronald is the director, he is
When it comes to things like film arrangement, you don't get much initiative.
Movie scheduling is a very uncontroversial matter. No matter how famous you are or how well the critics evaluate your acting skills, the biggest influence on the box office and audience attendance is the star.
Moreover, "Thunderbolt" is a successful copy of the formula (Tom Cruise's blond professional beauty is a dangerous big machine), and "The Last Day" is another pure love film that has not been seen in many years. In theaters
Despite the insistence of the theater manager, Paramount could not give Ronald any more preferential treatment.
"Yeah...it's all Ronald's training...I listen to him on everything on the set..."
"Ahem, let's go in..." When Ronald saw the two female stars, they started to fight again. Demi Moore clearly said that she was the winner chosen by Ronald, but you, Nicole Kidman,
He is a defeated general.
"Hahaha, is racing so interesting? I also want to find one or two to drive." The two boyfriends (husbands) over there were having a pleasant chat.
"Let me tell you, the most important thing about driving a racing car is not to listen to the stunt instructors and coaches. They all said that I can't do those car stunts by myself..." Tom Cruise absolutely loves racing and speed.
"Then what did you do?"
"I changed to a stunt coordinator..."
"Hahaha……"
After the two chatted, they happily took their female companion away and walked into the Beverly Hills Cinema where the premiere was held. Ronald took a breath and looked at Diane, "I didn't expect that they were still dissatisfied with each other.
…”
"Hahaha, what you said is really interesting, Ronnie." Star Diane tightened Ronald's body and pressed his whole body against him.
…
"Woooooooo..."
During the movie, no one in the audience went to the toilet. In the end, Sam kissed Molly goodbye, turned around and walked into the light from heaven. After entering the place where he should go, the audience burst into tears. There were also many women.
The audience burst into tears.
This director is so annoying. Such a touching boyfriend, even if he becomes a ghost and can go to heaven, he doesn't have to protect his girlfriend from being targeted by bad guys in the world. Why can't there be a happy ending in the end?
After the post-screening sharing session ended, Ronald and Diane slipped out of the premiere hall and went to other cinemas to see the effects of other screenings.
What is incredible is that the long queue outside the bathroom door is something Ronald has never seen before in all his years of working.
Especially the women's restroom, where the average time for each person to enter is more than double that of a normal movie. The rhythm of this movie is very good, and it is unique that people come out to use the restroom in the middle.
Moreover, almost all the female audience members did not talk to their friends like the audience members who had just left the venue. They all covered their faces and remained silent.
In addition to going to the bathroom normally, they had to touch up their makeup in front of the big mirror. This damn movie was so uncomfortable that it finally broke my guard. And that damn song, why was it so tear-jerking?
"Ha ha ha ha……"
Only Ronald laughed in the crowd, and he was glared at by the audience who were still sad that the hero and heroine missed their true love, and quickly pulled Diane and ran away.
As soon as he got in the car, Ronald called the head of Paramount's distribution department, "I'm Ronald, should I give up the theaters of 'Thunderbolt' and 'The Other 48'?"