With a crisp sound, the fine champagne was opened and the cork shot out.
"Congratulations, Ronald." Niceta raised the bottle and filled Ronald with champagne.
"Would you like one?" Niceta took out a cigar, cut it for Ronald, and lit it for him with a match.
"Thank you!" Ronald imitated the big man's approach, crossed his legs, sat at Niceta's desk, and took a comfortable sip.
On Monday night, the day after the first weekend of the release, CAA's agents held a small celebration party for Ronald.
"Two and a half million dollars in its opening weekend. Based on the projected opening weekend multiplier, your movie is expected to make between one thousand and fifteen million dollars. Plus the money from the sale to Universal Television. Congratulations! Ronald
you made it."
"Thanks!"
Ronald exhaled a puff of smoke. He squinted his eyes and looked at the celebration card opposite, which had the word "Congratulations" written on it. It was made by Niceta's assistant. The hand-painted letters on the white background looked a bit cheap.
.
"Don't dislike it. I asked Lucy to prepare this. When she was in high school, her handicraft class was definitely not good. Hahaha." Niceta was also a little regretful. If the movie had been released nationwide as planned, the box office figures would have been at least okay.
Multiply by two.
"No, in fact, I am very grateful. During this period, you are the only one who is fully supporting me." Ronald took a sip of champagne. The big bosses of Universal were at odds, and the box office performance of the movie was greatly affected.
.
Only Richard from CAA accompanied him, and Niceta also helped him contact Spielberg's Amberling Studio to find new projects. As expected, the only agent who makes money is the most reliable person at this moment.
"This is just a preview. Universal expects your movie to be screened on the West Coast for more than four to six weeks, but they will also hold a larger celebration party."
"By the way, do you have a girlfriend? If not, CAA can introduce you to one. At this time, many girls will take the initiative to seek opportunities because of your success."
"No need, I have my own arrangements."
"Very good, that's what I like about you, Ronald. Many directors forget about it after they become successful and cause a lot of troubles between men and women. Only when you wake up after success can you be successful in Hollywood for a long time."
After the movie was released, Niceta's attitude towards him also changed, and she began to flatter him without any trace.
"I heard Richard say that you predicted the box office success before it was released? How did you do it?"
"Like the new Super Bowl champion quarterback, Joe Montana, I see it. The ball is there, I just have to pass it."
"Hahaha! You are good." Nicita began to applaud regardless of whether she understood or not. Richard and several assistants also began to follow.
Ronald raised his glass to thank them.
"It's getting late, I'll go back first."
"Let Richard see you off."
"Didi" Richard's Corolla car stopped at the door of the CAA office, "Where are you going? Ronald?"
"When I go to a department store, I want to see the box office performance of "Fast Pace" again."
"Okay!" Richard started the car and drove to the Sherman Oaks Department Store where the shooting was located.
“Two photos of ‘Fast-paced Richmond High’.”
“Only tickets available after 8 o’clock”
"Okay, give us two."
The two of them sat at the All-American Burger opposite the cinema, eating and observing the flow of people watching the movie.
Most of the people who come to see "Fast Pace" are young people. There are many people who come together with buddies, best friends, and male and female friends.
"The Best Chicken Room in Texas" also attracted many adults to watch it because it starred Dolly Parton.
The rest were all family members who came out to see "et aliens".
"I feel like you're not very satisfied yet, Ronald." Richard has been with Ronald a lot during this time and got to know him better. He knew that Ronald didn't actually show it at the CAA celebration.
So happy.
"Nicita, of course, kept repeating Universal's estimates that Fast Pace had a four-to-six-week release date and that he hadn't yet discovered the film's potential."
"Oh, what do you mean?"
"Almost everyone underestimated the box office potential of this movie. How could this be a movie that was released in just four weeks? They were all blind."
"Honestly, Ronald. If it was a week ago, I would have thought you were disappointed with Universal's release schedule, so you were talking nonsense. But last weekend's box office proved everything, you are right. So this time I believe it too
Your judgment.”
Richard happily rolled up his shirt sleeves, grabbed a Pepsi and toasted to his client.
"Can you tell me how you figured it out? You said in Niceta's office that you saw the wide receiver like Joe Montana, and I don't think he got it. To be honest, I didn't get it either. Why do we
Didn’t you see it? Didn’t the distribution directors at Universal see it either?”
Ronald put down the cup. Of course, he couldn't talk about his dream about the fifteenth anniversary edition of "Fast Tempo". He could only pick up what he could and say a few words.
"Richard, what do you think is the most powerful marketing promotion for a movie?"
"A theater poster? Or a cardboard poster? A billboard at the ticket window?"
Ronald shook his head, "None of it, not these things."
"Is it a trailer before other movies? But this time we only have a few trailers. They are inserted in front of Dolly Parton's movie and have almost no effect."
"neither."
"What is that? I can't think of it."
"Let me ask you another question, how do you choose movies when you go to the cinema?"
"I listen to my friends, or my girlfriend helps me choose, or her friends tell her. By the way, we also look at the box office rankings in newspapers and TV."
"That's where I saw it. That time Universal arranged for retired stars and executives to watch the movie. I saw their grandchildren's reactions when they watched the movie, and I knew I would not fail."
"I do not understand……"
"Wow..."
The two people who were talking were interrupted by the sound, and the audience from the "fast-paced" performance began to disperse.
"That Spicoli-like is so handsome."
"Yeah, he was able to save Brooke Shields while surfing. He's really lucky."
"What's that girl's name? She like, the scene in her bikini is really great, the director like, must be a veteran of flowers."
"I think it's a shame that Stacey chose Mark. It's obvious that the audio salesman is good-looking."
"What do you know? This kind of nerd will make more money from work in the future."
"Then why don't you go out with that nerd in class and date the quarterback of the football team?"
"For me, dating is not the same thing as getting married."
…
Ronald and Richard stood nearby and eavesdropped on the audience's conversation for a long time.
"Do you understand? The biggest marketing for a movie is the word-of-mouth spread among the audience. If they watch it well and tell their friends and classmates back home, their friends and classmates will also come to watch it."
Richard nodded, then shook his head, "I know they talk about movies more than other movies, but I don't know how you do it."
"That's a million dollar question." Ronald smiled, of course because he had taken a lot of shots that were easy for people to spread word of mouth.
For example, the daydream of the swimming pool bikini, the revealing scene of Stacey and Mike, or Spicoli saving Brooke Shields, are all scenes that are very suitable for word-of-mouth communication.
"Do you know what brand of shoes Spicoli used to hit himself on the head after he got high? The checkerboard pattern is quite nice."
"I don't know. I just know that the store where Stacey works has the same uniform as the pizza store opposite. Their clerks are also very beautiful."
"Beep..." One of the young people whistled to the clerk opposite, "What's your name? Is it Stacey?"
"It's Stacey, what about you? Mike?" The beautiful shop assistant also saw the fast pace and joked with him.
"Hahaha……"
Ronald and Richard walked into the cinema. At eight o'clock in the evening, the attendance rate was still very high, with more than one-third of the audience filling the seats one after another.
Ronald's strong discomfort in watching his own director's work has gradually disappeared. He began to judge the various mishandlings of his own films from the perspective of an experienced director.
"Welcome to our show, The Late Late Show. Today we're featuring an American icon, Brooke Shields."
At the end of the movie, Brooke Shields and Spicoli, played by Sean Penn, appeared on a talk show together. Brooke Shields gave Spicoli a check for $20,000 on the spot.
Then he spent it immediately, invited Van Halen to sing at his birthday party, and soon became a pauper again.
"Hahaha, it's so funny." Most of the audience stayed in their seats and watched the endings of the protagonists.
"That Spicoli-like guy is so handsome that he didn't even attend any classes and ended up dating Brooke Shields."
There is also the unearned Spicoli, and the like-like valley accent when speaking. The audience has been talking about these characters and plots, which are signs that this movie will become popular.
Ronald's mouth was full of smiles...
"What are the box office statistics for that fast-paced movie from Monday to Thursday?"
The director of Universal Pictures' distribution department was asking his subordinates for statistics. It was almost a week since the film was released, and the box office figures from Monday to Thursday after the first weekend were also an important reference.
"Two million and four hundred thousand..." The subordinate checked for a long time and hesitated to say a number?
"How many?" The supervisor grabbed the statistical form.
"Four hundred and ninety-eight theaters, a total box office of 2.4 million, which is only 100,000 US dollars less than the three days of the opening weekend."
"Is there any mistake?"
"No, I checked it three times. The average daily box office for a single theater has dropped slightly, and is still over US$1,200."
"Hurry up and call the lab and ask them to print another copy. fxck! How come such a fierce film only prints so little."
Soon, calls from theaters in California and the West Coast came to Universal Pictures urging them to make copies.
"fxck! This is a fucking blockbuster movie that is as good as Xiao et's. Why not distribute it nationwide? It's too late to say anything now. Arrange media interviews for several leading actors, including newspapers and TV."
The director of the marketing department also began to curse, "We had made an overall marketing plan at the beginning, but some fool canceled it. Now we have made temporary arrangements. Where can I find space and interview time?"
"Keep your voice down, it was Tom Mount who canceled it." A colleague pulled him and signaled to several vice presidents who were passing by the media office.
"Huh!" Tom Mount, who was in the corridor, heard the complaints of his subordinates and returned to his office to start sulking.
"Ring ring ring ring..." He remembered the direct line phone.
"Hello, I'm Tom."
"Nicola." It was his wife's voice on the phone.
"Dear, what's wrong?" Mount changed his voice and spoke softly to the wife who had greatly helped his career.
"Why did the boss of HBO cancel my promotion plan? Did you do something that made the whole industry aware of it?"
"I..." Tom Mount finally coaxed his wife and began to call friends in the circle to find out the news.
A circle of friends were all making fun of themselves, but only my father-in-law told the truth.