Chapter 354 The reason for the box-office miracle of the unresolved love between man and ghost
The box office of "The Love of Ghosts" continues to remain strong. The box office drop in the fifth week was only about 10%. Moreover, the box office has experienced unexpected situations. Except for the box office in big cities, it has always been strong.
The box office in many regions in the Midwest and Deep South has increased rapidly, which has abruptly slowed down the decline in box office.
People within Hollywood began to circulate a theory that was said to have leaked from within Warner Bros.
As Warner Bros. has always paid great attention to investment returns, they hired some management consulting companies to analyze the impact of important genres, directors, stars, etc. on the box office.
This year they concluded that it was the return of romantic movies, and the rapid increase in the influence of female stars on the box office. Male stars of "Pretty Woman" and "Ghost Story" all scored in the popularity Q analysis
It's not high, and the story and directing ability didn't get high marks in the internal evaluation.
So after eliminating all possible options, the "reasonable" conclusion is that romantic comedies have returned to the mainstream market after many years and have won the love of the audience. Female stars have gradually returned to the center of attracting audiences, no longer
The male star's foil.
The most important evidence for this analysis is Cinema Scores' theater export market survey. When answering the question of what is the biggest reason to watch these two movies, most viewers chose Julia Roberts and Demi Moore.
an actress.
In Ronald's hand was the detailed report produced by Cinema Scores for "The Love of Ghosts".
After the movie was released in its fifth week, it has already earned close to 90 million at the box office. To be honest, not only others can't understand it, but even Ronald himself can't understand it.
In Hollywood movies, only in the original era of silent films and black-and-white films, female stars had the greatest appeal at the box office. The reason why female stars like Greta Garbo are famous is because she is one of the few male stars who have greater box office appeal and future success.
Celebrities can be compared to women.
At that time, Garbo's first talkie had the slogan "Garbo Speaks." And later the romance film "Ninochka" in which she starred also had the slogan "Garbo Smiled" (Garbo had always
She is a cold beauty) as the promotional slogan, which suppressed all the male actors who acted with her at that time.
However, since genre films matured in the late 1930s, male stars have gradually replaced female stars in box office appeal. Starting from Clark Gable, the names of male stars have gradually climbed to the front row of movie posters.
From now on, even the font size will be one size larger than that of female celebrities.
Audiences are no longer satisfied with seeing close-ups of beauties and feel happy. They demand more plot twists and exciting scenes to gain pleasure. The screen has also begun to include more and more scenes involving fists, bullets, and pillows.
This has led to men becoming the protagonists of the most popular genre films.
Has it reached a turning point in history? Female stars have begun to gain a large number of movie fans again. And the new genre films led by Ronald and Cameron (such as prominent female characters in business wars and action genres) have also made the film industry more popular.
Female stars have gained more important positions.
"This report is very reasonable..." Diane also took the consulting report and was very excited to read it. It praised Ronald a lot for his role in the creation and development of new women's films.
"I don't know, I didn't think so when I was making those movies." Ronald took a sip of coffee, this time switching to Japanese coffee. The Japanese products are made very carefully, not only the coffee beans are selected
It also comes with a variety of special coffee pots and other supplies, as well as detailed diagrams of the brewing process, so that any ordinary housewife can make delicious coffee according to the diagrams.
Although there were still flaws, Ronald was able to drink it. "Richard, try this coffee too..."
This consulting report analyzed various factors in great detail, and the answer that really interested Ronald was the second-ranked answer - "special effects".
Many viewers also filled in the supplementary plot in the underline at the end. Many people said that the special effects in the movie made them feel good, and it was more touching than many movies that deliberately use special effects as their selling point.
Especially in the end, the evil spirits dragged Carl, played by Tony Goldwyn, into hell by the god of death holding a scythe, and Sam, played by Patrick Schwytz, finally ascended to heaven in the milky white holy light descending from heaven.
For most American viewers, there is content about heaven and hell in their family education. Many people were scared by their parents when they were young, that if they did bad things, they would go to hell.
The sections about heaven and hell in "The Love Between Ghosts and Ghosts" brought many viewers' childhood memories out of forgotten corners, so many people mentioned these two sections in particular.
"Hey, it's these two special effects that touch people the most. I didn't expect it." Ronald felt that this was the most enlightening thing in this consultation report. The three "love between ghosts and humans"
The special effects team spent the most energy and time not on these two plots, but on the scene where Sam's soul left the body and came back to see his body lying in Molly's arms.
Because there were two Sams, it took a lot of time to align the two shots. Because the early shooting was not done well, we had to reshoot it again.
In fact, after evaluation by the three special effects directors, the two sections of going to hell and going to heaven were not very suitable for the current computer-generated special effects. In the end, they found an animator and used traditional painting techniques to draw the Grim Reaper with black smoke and
That milky white holy light.
If Industrial Light & Magic's models and computer special effects are both high-tech, then the two special effects in "The End of the World" that moved the audience the most are truly "low-tech".
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "I called three special effects directors. It would be a shame for such a team to be disbanded."
…
Richard Edlund, Katherine Keane, and John Van Fleet, the three directors who jointly completed the special effects work for "The Ghost Story", were invited to Ronald's home.
The three of them had not seen each other for a long time, and they chatted with each other for a while. Richard Edlund is good at light effects, Katherine Keane is good at keying and alignment, and John Van Fleet is good at making objects or human bodies move.
.
After "The Last Love" ended, they all started to work on other movies. But none of the movies was as satisfying as "The Last Love".
First, Ronald trusted them and fully authorized them, discussing the technical route and nodes in detail beforehand. Later, he also understood that they could not complete some shots due to technical difficulties and would rather reshoot the scenes to match the special effects.
Second, such a movie requires the close cooperation of three parties. The subsequent small businesses are just a link in the assembly line. Compared with the nominal special effects director, and produced the final scene that moved the audience, "The love between humans and ghosts is not over."
The sense of accomplishment it brings is much greater.
"Everyone, I have brought you good news..."
Ronald walked into the study room, saw three special effects directors, rubbed his hands and sat down.
The three of them looked at each other. Could it be that Ronald had a new project for them to participate in? This would be a pleasure. Ronald paid generously and the transfer time was within one day. He was a very good boss.
"Does Mr. Li have any new projects that require our services?" Van Fleet, the one with the closest relationship to Ronald among the three, spoke on behalf of the other two.
"Haha, there are no projects for the time being. I invite you here for a fee." Ronald took out three checks and handed them to the three of them respectively.
"this?"
The three directors took the check and looked at the numbers on it. They all suspected that they had read it wrong. They quickly counted the numbers secretly and found that there were indeed five zeros after the single digit. The special effects industry is not about star actors, and there is no such thing as dividends afterwards.
?
Everyone paid and delivered the goods, raising the asking price, relying on the special effects blockbusters they participated in to obtain high box office. The biggest help to them was Ronald's "The Love Between Humans and Ghosts" in the subtitles after the end.
's signature.
"Isn't this against the rules?" Van Fleet was an honest man and didn't know how to express his gratitude.
"What he means is, Ronald, you are really an outstanding producer and director in the industry. In this industry for so long, this is the first time we have seen someone who can so recognize the value of special effects..." Catherine Keane quickly kicked out
Take a look at Van Fleet...
"Well, thank you boss. But do you have any other considerations for inviting us to come together this time?" Richard Edlund has been in the industry for the longest time. He understands that if he just gives bonuses, he will not treat the three of them.
They were all called.
"Haha, you are right." Ronald nodded to him. "First of all, I am a person who recognizes the value of special effects. There is a problem with the current Hollywood system. Originally, if a movie is a hit, it should be given to people who have made important contributions.
Give them financial recognition instead of asking them to go and charge a lot of money for the next movie and ruin that movie."
Ronald explained his reasons. It takes three years for a star to win an Oscar. This is largely because the asking price has increased, and only those bad films that cost a lot of money to hire a star but are poor in other aspects are screened out.
The same is true for special effects companies. Except for Industrial Light and Magic founded by George Lucas, other successful special effects teams are easy to go bankrupt immediately. This is because after a special effects blockbuster film, they are immediately hired to produce these things at a high price.
Copy it from a bad movie. If you go back and forth like this, the movies that use a lot of special effects will be bad movies, which will not do well at the box office, and the value of special effects will not be widely recognized by the industry.
Therefore, Ronald felt that due to the box office success, the special effects team should be given due recognition. Don't let them accept a large number of bad movies in order to update equipment and retain talents.
Everyone nodded loudly. This director knew the pain of the special effects company very well.
"Secondly, do you think the special effects for a movie like the one between ghosts and ghosts are very fulfilling?" Ronald continued to promote his idea.
All three of them nodded. Ronald is really one of the few directors in Hollywood who knows how to produce special effects.
"So, I plan to retain this team for a long time and provide overall special effects solutions for more movies."
"Huh?" The three of them all raised their eyebrows when they heard this. Van Fleet was willing. As long as he had film projects to work on, the rest didn't matter. Catherine was a little worried. She mainly did detailed film restoration work and film special effects.
How many people need her? Is the business volume enough? Edlund wants to hear Ronald's proposal. Many successful directors have the idea of setting up their own special effects company, but only Industrial Light and Magic has succeeded.
"That's what I planned..."
Ronald expressed his thoughts. He did not want to acquire three companies. Daydream’s special effects business could not support a large company. His idea was to invest in three companies. Daydream and his friends would make some mid- to low-cost films.
Production, this special effects company can provide high-quality and low-priced special effects services to fill the usual business.
When there is a big production that requires a lot of special effects work, let the three companies give priority to the best special effects engineers to join the big production.
With this flexibility, the three companies can be divided or combined, just like a group of sparrows. They usually look for food separately, but when big projects come up, they can join together to fight together.
This relieved the concerns of the three special effects directors. After discussing with their partners, the three agreed to Ronald's request to become a shareholder. Engineers from the three companies formed a "Ronald Team" and their first cooperation
The project is to synthesize some air combat shots of armed helicopters for the "Firebird".
…
In its sixth week, the box office decline of "The Love of Ghosts" has narrowed to less than 10%. What is even more exciting is that the domestic box office exceeded 100 million US dollars.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Paramount was very excited about this new record, and the celebration party was very grand. Ronald received numerous proactive chats from actresses there.
In the consulting report that circulated, the reason for ranking third was "super directors" like Ronald. This is the X factor of Hollywood movies. No matter how you arrange and combine other factors, there is a kind of director who can break through
The inherent formula is to create a new box office formula in a genre that others would not think of, using actors that others do not want to use.
Who wouldn’t want to have a relationship with such a director?
Of course, not everyone has the chance to strike up a conversation. Ronald was surrounded by several sexy female stars he knew, such as Kim Basinger, Annette Bening... These bitches relied on Ronald
I knew De, and no matter what he said, he would immediately intervene without giving other people a chance to interrupt.
"I have to leave first. I'm sorry, I miss my son..." Ronald was surrounded by a group of beautiful women with different characteristics. It felt very good, but this kind of celebration party was crowded with people and he couldn't be too exposed.
many.
"My child, loving your family is a good quality..."
The speaker was Father Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest. The suburb where he lived was the poorest and least secure suburb in Los Angeles. He had done a lot of charity for young men and women there, and was also the leader of major Hollywood charities.
A regular at the party, he often goes to beg for alms.
"Ah, thank you, Father Boyle. I donated money to your project." Ronald took out his checkbook.
"No, my child, your movie has helped us a lot." Father Boyle stopped with a smile. This is not a charity party.
"Really? I'm very happy." Ronald wrote down that he wanted to donate money to such a truly charitable person. He thought the priest was speaking politely.
"What I said is true. Your movie has done a good job of bringing those young men and women closer to God. More young people come to my weekly sermons, and they have become more pious."
…
"Why did Father Boyle say that unrequited love between ghosts and ghosts makes people more religious? Is it because the special effects of heaven and hell are so good?"
Ronald returned home and wrote a check to the priest while chatting with Diane.
"Look, I saw the Christian Science Monitor today, and there are your movie reviews on it."
"Do newspapers like this also have film reviews?" Ronald smiled and took the newspaper. The more he read, the happier he became. It seemed that the church really liked his movies.
The above is an evangelical priest's interpretation of "The Love of Ghosts". First, he gently let go of the inconsistencies between the movie and the Bible. "Compared with the orthodox understanding of what happens after the soul leaves the body, there are some elements in the movie.
are accurate, and some are wrong. Those elements themselves don't pose a big problem to a believer. The problem lies in the overall slant of the movie."
Then he started bragging about the movie’s accurate interpretation of the spirit of the Bible.
For example: there are good guys and bad guys in the movie. When the bad guys die, such as murderers and embezzlers, their souls come out of their bodies. Within a few seconds, terrifying black angels emerge from the ground and make a low sound.
Roaring and roaring, the poor guy was led screaming to hell. In fact, this is an accurate and completely orthodox view. In the stories of the Desert Fathers and the lives of various saints, there are dozens of
Records support this view.
For another example, he commented that the representation of the Holy Light and Heaven in the movie was very accurate and very consistent with the Bible. Any devout believer would feel happy for such a picture.
His biggest criticism of the film is that Sam and Molly are not married. In fact, having the couple happily married only strengthens their loving bond and makes the film's emotional power even greater.
"Hahaha, no wonder the box office in the South is rising rapidly this week. I wonder why. I don't understand why small towns in the South suddenly like New York love stories."