The weekend is Thanksgiving, and Ronald's family gathers with Aunt Karen and Donna to eat turkey again. This is a three-day long weekend, and it is also 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 Americans 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 at the same time there was a sequel to Emile Adolino's 'Three Dads and a Baby'. The last one was a huge hit. Dances with Wolves actually has a relatively narrow audience base.
Movies, and most viewers, are not particularly interested in this particular type of Western movie."
Ronald explained to his family. The reason why audiences liked Western movies so much a few decades ago was because of the intertwining of blockbuster elements such as battle, love, and the mystery of Indians. Western movies combined some love
The battle sequences have advantages over other genre films.
"Dances with Wolves" is a Western film with anti-traditional elements. Only audiences with a relatively high educational background will be interested in this kind of subject matter. This is why the film Daydream adds Disney,
In total, it was only 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 still good for the target audience.
Said that the magnificent scenery in this movie and the revival of western movies can satisfy them.
America's film market has experienced a significant recovery in the entire decade of the 1980s. From more than a hundred films in the 1980s, there are now more than two hundred films distributed nationwide each year. The box office has also increased from less than ten years ago.
It has reached US$2 billion, and now it is more than US$4 billion per year. It has become common for a blockbuster movie to exceed US$100 million at the box office in the domestic market, and there are also a few movies that will reach the box office of US$200 million.
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, you can also make profits through overseas distribution and video tapes.
Diane recovered well after 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, asking her to 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 smiled and told him the good news about little Bud.
"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. "Is Dances with Wolves not good 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 in the weekend box office list have all seen major adjustments. "The Love of Ghosts" has lost momentum and slipped to seventh place.
The box office of "Dances with Wolves" has jumped tenfold from the on-demand screening. The name of the movie 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. It was released in 1,200 theaters and grossed more than 13 million 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.
The box office was over 10,000 US dollars. 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 it was a family-friendly movie, this box office figure... the pinnacle of family-friendly movies at that time, "ET Extraterrestrial"
The box office of "People" is only 60% of his.
Although due to inflation and rising movie tickets, the performance of Home Alone will be somewhat compromised. But considering that this movie has neither expensive special effects nor a large number of troublesome child actors that will prolong the filming time, the return on investment of Home Alone is certain.
amazing.
Looking at this super strong box office trend, "The Love of Ghosts" may not be able to retain its annual box office championship.
Ronald rubbed his nose. Box office statistics generally use the date of release to calculate the year. Even if you released it during the Christmas period at the end of December, the box office will still be attributed to 1990. Why is it almost the end of the year, and there is this
Kind of a freak?
There are many blockbuster movies centered around children. The distant ones include ET, the closer ones include "Look Who's Talking", and "Three Dads and One Baby". After watching them, Ronald understood their potential.
.
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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 like it very much.
They envy the little protagonist for creating a "masterpiece" that they could never 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 child's devilish imagination.
Movies like this suddenly became a hot spot in the market. Ronald didn't know why. If he had known earlier, he would have been deeply involved in the production of this movie, instead of just being a small investor like he is now.
After entering the 1990s, Ronald gradually discovered that his keen sense of the box office seemed to have faded a bit. If a movie was terrible and failed to achieve good box office results, he could still basically feel it. After watching it, he would know that it was a bad movie.
.
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 films are a hot topic, Ronald is not too depressed. He also has a sequel to "Look Who's Talking" waiting for him, which is also a children's film, although children may not like it very much.
.
Maybe that's why? No matter how much mothers hate it, kids are calling each other to tell them what a great movie they saw, and 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 recalled countless past events. After entering the 1990s, it seemed that the types of blockbuster movies in the past were changing rapidly.
One of the top three movies last week suffered a terrible decline. The "Rocky" series, which once represented the American people's fighting spirit in the late 1970s, has released its fifth film.
Stallone, who had announced the end of the Rocky series early, came up with the idea of this series again due to financial constraints due to divorce. He personally came to the door and apologized to John Ivison, the director of the first and third parts, and got back his love for the series.
After being fired due to poor box office performance, he came 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 was released. They were impressed by Rocky's reliance on it in this environment.
The story of a "successful loser" with a fighting spirit is very recognized (Rocky was actually defeated by the boxing champion in the first film and did not win the championship).
But now, ten years after the rapid economic development in America, Rocky V is once again full of criticism of society. After Rocky regained the boxing championship, he returned home and found that his property had been defrauded by his agent.
The house was not saved either.
Such a plot did not arouse the audience's sympathy and recognition for Rocky. 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 a piece of garbage. The director and Stallone have excessively pursued recreating the spiritual core of the first film, but times have changed, and America is no longer Jimmy's commander.
It was a decadent country full of defeatism.
Therefore, Rocky V received rave reviews and became the opposite of the American spirit he once represented. The box office dropped by 50% in the second week, falling directly from the top to the fifth place. More than 2,000
After it was released in theaters, the box office of a single theater has dropped to the same level as "The Love of Ghosts", which is US$3,000. It is estimated that it will be finished after struggling 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 film decided to maintain the small-to-medium budget of the first film
budget, so we did not hire Schwarzenegger, whose salary already exceeded 12 million, which was equivalent to enlarging the special effects of the first film and doing it again.
Maybe it’s because this kind of movie really has little to do with stars. The sequel, which lacks the number one star Schwarzenegger, actually had a good box office. With a scale of slightly less than 2,000 theaters, it ranked just before Stallone, and it received more than 8 million.
house.
But this is good news for the production company, but 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 first
When it comes to production, if you replace it with a second-tier star, the box office won't be much worse, and the return on investment will increase exponentially.
These two action superstars in the 1980s, who were the first and second to cross the $10 million pay line, will probably face a very embarrassing situation after these two movies.
Maybe Schwarzenegger has Cameron's "Terminator 2" and can still support it for a while. Stallone is probably about to slip into the bottom of his career. He holds two major blockbuster series, 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 such that people are caught off guard. Two years ago, he was still a hot star. After the stock market crash and divorce, everyone thought that as long as he started printing money, he would be able to return to the top, but he might soon fall into a situation where he could not pay his ex-wife.
The status of alimony is over.
"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.
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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 didn't expect that the first competition would collect submissions from all Chinese people from across the Taiwan Strait, three places and overseas. It was only 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 with joy. 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 also match it for you. If there is not enough, you can contact the Chinese filmmakers on the east and west coasts. Who do you want to use? I will 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 behind the scenes, and not many creative directors. Ang Lee gave him a surprise. There are basically Chinatowns in big cities, and those theaters themselves
I have long wanted to gradually become familiar with Chinese-language films and get them into my own distribution line.
"Let's take pictures of promoters first. The film company over there gave us 4 million in tutoring funds, and the budget does not exceed 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 my own bonus of US$20,000, gives me a full US$400,000 in filming funds.
The film company uses this price to cover the filming for itself, which means that all expenses are decided by itself, and 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...why 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 first give you an additional investment of 800,000 yuan, and I will collect 1.2 million yuan. You must 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 have seen what professional Hollywood productions are like."
Ronald waved his hand and handed over a check for 800,000 yuan. Ang Lee was elated beside him and could only agree 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 here..." Ronald handed him the car phone.
"James, I talked with Ronald from Daydream, and he promised to match $800,000. What? Yes, that's right, that Daydream, that Ronald... What, you come 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 back until the weekend.
"What about New York? You 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 exterior scenes 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.