"Karate should be a philosophy, not a skill." Ronald copied some text descriptions about karate that he had excerpted from the library, and then he stared at the monitor for a long time, unable to write a single word.
"Hey," he slapped the keyboard, "I can't write without inspiration."
There was no karate instructor like Vidal to discuss it carefully, so many things were superficial. In addition, "Night of the Comet" was released, which made Ronald restless and unintentional to write a script.
"Night of the Comet" did not invite film critics to watch the special screening first, but only held a special preview screening for the audience. This is also because there is no money to develop a complete version, and there are still copies with editing marks. If film critics are invited to watch,
It will make them laugh and not be able to write anything nice.
Just don't invite anyone, and let them freely enter the cinema after the movie is released and write about their true feelings.
In a low-budget film, everything is out of his control. Without professional people and a lot of investment, Ronald began to miss the benefits of a big studio again.
"Ronald, a review of your new movie is out." His agent Richard called, "This is the only one available today."
"Oh, what newspaper?" Ronald heard that there were movie reviews, and Ronald was full of expectations.
"The Valley Daily, the entertainment section of a newspaper in the San Fernando Valley."
"How do you rate it?"
"Valley Girl Triumph!" Richard cleared his throat, "That's the title."
"With the song Valley Girl, after reaching the top of the charts, Hollywood will never let go of this subject. Following last month's 'Valley Girls' directed by Martha Coolidge, Atlantic Pictures released another Valley Girl
An exploitation film based on the theme.
The story takes place after a comet destroyed most of the people in Southern California. With their innocence and romance, two valley girls became addicted to shopping and dating in the apocalypse. This further deepened people's stereotype of valley girls.
.
…
The director seems to have a special fetish for the legs of young girls. The characters often start with a close-up of the girl's feet and calves. Even Samantha, one of the heroines, has to step out of the cheerleading uniform when she walks out of the elevator.
Start with the exposed legs.
…”
"Okay, don't read any more." Ronald sighed, "I don't have a fetish for calves and feet. Kelly Maroney happened to be auditioning for other projects in that scene, so I had no choice but to use it.
Photographed by a body double."
"Hahahaha..." A burst of laughter came from the other end of the phone.
"I knew you were there, Niceta!"
"Don't be angry, this is just a tabloid in a town in the San Fernando Valley. Your movie reviews won't be available on a large scale until Sunday or even Monday. We are just joking with you." Niceta grabbed the receiver and said to Ronald
said.
"Just laugh at me." Ronald also laughed, and his nervous mood relaxed a little.
"The box office statistics will still take some time, and I've asked Richard to keep his eyes on the other side of the Atlantic. But I went to see it with Paula last night, and the attendance was still very good. I didn't lose focus during the whole movie, a lot.
The audience loved it too.”
"Go on, I love hearing this." Ronald also made a joke with him, and now he was feeling nervous.
On Sunday, movie reviews from all over the country were also published.
"Variety" Weekend Edition wrote: "After 'Fast-paced Richmond High,' young director Ronald Lee once again tried teen themes. But this time he did not repeat the coming-of-age story of school themes, but filmed
A science fiction theme.
He's created a visually striking B-movie, with the "Liquid Sky" color scheme in it, and we can also see him in "The Day of the Trilobite," "The Living Dead."
Plot content borrowed from "The Dawn of Time" and "The Last Woman on Earth".
I would describe the film as "a successful imitation of so many sci-fi movies, making up for its lack of originality with a funny, tongue-in-cheek flair."
"Except for 'Dawn of the Dead,' I haven't seen those two fucking movies," Ronald said in CAA's office when he saw the review of his movie in the weekend edition of "Variety" and couldn't help but jump to his feet.
“Is this accusing me of plagiarism?”
"No, if all the plots are not similar to the previous movies, then there will be no movie." Niceta patted Ronald on the shoulder and handed him a cup of coffee.
"Then why do they say that?"
"It's still a discrimination against low-budget B-level movies. But don't worry, writing like this will not affect your box office results, but will attract the interest of those who are interested in small-scale B-level movies. These reporters are very experienced and scold some.
, I should also praise a part of it.”
Ronald shook his head, forget it, for the sake of box office, it doesn't matter if he gets scolded.
Next is the film review column of The New York Times.
Film critic Vincent Canby wrote,
"Night of the Comet is a well-intentioned B-level movie about the end of the world. Its unique sense of humor adds to the unpredictability of the plot. It is a highly recommended movie for science fiction fans.
From the opening narration, it’s easy to tell that Night of the Comet is a homage to the B-type science fiction movies of the fifties and sixties. Many people call it a comedy, but that’s a bit misleading. It certainly has some funny moments, and a whole
There's a sense of ease in the orientation, but much of the film is also pretty straightforward.
Where this movie succeeds is in its two female protagonists and their very believable reactions to being the last people on Earth. Faced with the end of humanity, what do they do? They go shopping for free! Be honest with yourself…
Isn't it?"
"Is this a good word?" Ronald asked.
"You can't expect reviews of this kind of small-production film to be all good, like the last time Universal put a lot of effort into public relations for you." Niceta pointed out.
Then there's Interview magazine film critic Neil Gaiman.
Ronald recognized that it was the magazine of that weird New York artist Andy Warhol.
"This is one of the funniest, wittiest, most imaginative and thought-provoking films I've ever seen, and what's even more remarkable is that it was made with no budget ($1.2 million)
Budget, for a science fiction film, means no budget, you know what I mean).
Katherine Mary Stewart, and Kelly Maroney, both did a great job in their roles. They were Valley Girls, but they weren't cartoonish, as in Frank Zappa's chart-topping song
That version of valley girl.
In a movie where a comet destroys the world and zombies stumble around, these girls actually have a foothold in the real world...
Another highlight of the cast is the always great Mary Woronov. This veteran of Roger Corman films, is perfect for this film.
We note that director Ronald Lee is also a graduate of the Corman School of Cinematic Arts, and this film owes much to Corman's filmmaking training."
"It seems that Mary Woronov's old friends are still very powerful." Ronald felt good in his heart. "Interview" magazine is still very influential among teenagers on the East Coast. Many high school students regard this
This magazine is a popular guide. With such a high rating, it should be able to attract some viewers.
The Atlantic arranged for "Night of the Comet" to be screened in nearly 900 theaters during the first weekend. These reviews helped attract some viewers to the theaters. The rest will depend on the film's reputation.
If the reputation is good, then more viewers will hear from relatives and friends and go to the cinema, which will continue to push up the box office. If the reputation is not good, then it will just be like this, and then it will quickly decline.
"Then there's the Sisko and Albert movie review show." Niceta found a remote control and pressed a few times on the TV and VCR.
"Welcome to the Sisko and Ebert Film Review Show."
The two men, glasses and bald, started a weekly TV movie review again.
The bald Sisko liked the movie even more, "I think if the comet destroyed most of the adults and turned them into ashes, then teenagers would be very happy. They can go to department stores for free clothes-changing shows and have sex with boys.
A friend went out on a date and came home past twelve o'clock.
Most science fiction movies make the catastrophe of mankind in the future too heavy-handed. A movie like this that tells the story of extinction events in a relaxed manner is a very good attempt in science fiction movies.
For those adults who were exterminated by comets or turned into zombies, it is of course very tragic. But the audience was substituted into the two sisters, thinking that they could wear good clothes that they could not afford before, and drive cars that they could not buy before.
sports car.
This is literally a teenager’s dream.”
Glasses Albert continued, "I also think the direction of the movie is very interesting. Half of the apocalyptic movies will leave adults, men, women, old people and children behind, but in this movie only teenagers survived, maybe they were playing
I was so excited that I forgot about time."
"This guy must still hold a grudge against me. I exposed him during the last road show." Ronald said bitterly, while Albert was criticizing himself angrily.
Sisko took up the topic again, "I think this movie deserves more screen time. Although the latest episode of Star Wars will be released in two weeks, I still appeal to movie theaters to give them more screenings.
Audiences who haven’t seen it should hurry up and watch it.”
"Bald man, you still like my movies." Ronald lamented.
Albert added, "I think this movie is lackluster in terms of science fiction. The director just cleverly combined science fiction, youth, romantic comedy, zombie horror, Valley Girl and other popular elements to steal a popular trend. I watch it.
It's not going to be a long-remembered movie."
Cisco disagreed, "No, that's not it. I know you love science fiction more than I do, but I have to say a nice word for Ronald Lee.
The point here is that many directors of science fiction films are keen to educate the audience. They always have a mentality that you don’t know what the future will be like. I am smarter, so I made a movie to show it to you.
Ronald Lee does not have this burden. He does not make the audience feel that the future must be gloomy, but allows you to explore by yourself. The audience has a sense of mystery rather than pessimism about the ending of the film. The future may be
It's good. Just like the end of the movie."
"Okay, I reserve my opinion, let's watch another new film."
"Pa", Niceta pressed the pause button.
"That's it."
"Are they going to say that in the paper?"
"No, Atlantic doesn't have a publicist. So your movie is just used as a new film review in the weekly film review. However, they often have different opinions, and generally movies with different opinions have better box office attendance."
After waiting restlessly for another day, on Monday night, I received a phone call from Tom Coleman, the president of Atlantic Distribution.
"The box office statistics are out. The total box office for the three days of the weekend is 3.58 million. There are 898 theaters. The average box office per theater is close to 4,000. We have won again!"
"Huh!" After Ronald answered the phone, he fell down on the sofa relaxedly. His whole body seemed to be soaked in a bathtub and taking a hot bath.
The weekend single theater box office of 4,000 is not as good as Atlantic's previous film "Valley Girl." However, this "Night of the Comet" was released in nearly 900 theaters nationwide, unlike "Valley Girl".
It was only shown in less than 300 theaters in big cities on the east and west coasts.
Considering that his movies were scheduled more in multiplex theaters, the attendance rate must be higher than that of his opponent. In this way, Martha Coolidge was convinced that she lost and could not complain that she had robbed her of the box office.
The weekend box office of the whole film was 3.58 million, ranking fourth among all movies, behind only two new films, "Blue Thunder" and "Breathless", and "Breathless", which has already sold out at the box office in its fifth week of release.