Chapter 300 Break free from the bondage of the earth
"Ronald, we have to use all the means at our disposal. The audience rating of the export is also very problematic."
Bruckheimer came over, secretly pulled Ronald's arm, and motioned for him to come aside and chat.
"What's wrong? Bad rating?"
"The rating is okay, with an A, but more than two-thirds of the audience refused to rate it, which is unprecedented."
"Oh, shxt!"
Ronald's worst fear seems to be coming. Does the movie he can only dream about have to be the best-selling movie of the year?
Just like "It's a Wonderful Life" that is shown on TV every Christmas Eve, it has now become one of the symbols of America. But when it was released that year, although it starred Jimmy Stewart and was directed by Frank Capra,
It was a box office failure.
It can be seen that the fact that a movie can be circulated for decades is not necessarily directly proportional to the box office performance at that time.
"In this way," Ronald thought for a while, "my first few movies all had a good interaction with the interludes. This time I took the initiative to shoot a music video for a Berlin band, and before the movie is released, I will try to play it on MTV.
time."
Bruckheimer patted Ronald on the shoulder, "Very good, Tang and I have the same idea. We will urge Paramount to release the video tape as soon as possible. If the box office fails, we can recover part of the cost from the video tape market."
"Um...can it be cheaper?" Ronald thought of his encounter at the video store on the street. "The price is close to one hundred dollars, and few families can afford it. If we buy it from a rental store, we will have to pay for it."
Cannot receive rent from those who rented out repeatedly."
"You're right, we'll go back and get a discounted price of $79.99. Also, the premiere..."
"I invited Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and his wife. Now, let's mobilize all our friends in the industry to support us."
Saying goodbye to everyone, McGillis got into the cab and drove Ronald back to the hotel.
"Is there anything annoying?" McGillis made him a cup of coffee.
Ronald took it and put it on the coffee table, pretending to be calm.
"It's nothing. The audience's reaction today was a bit unfavorable. I discussed with the producer to arrange another test screening to see if there is anything that can be modified." Ronald pressed his temples with his hands, feeling huge worry.
It made the veins pop out.
"Don't worry, it's just a popcorn commercial." McGillis thought Ronald really had a headache, so she stood behind, held Ronald's head in her arms, and gently rubbed it with her hands.
"Oh..." Ronald felt comfortable and couldn't help shouting.
McGillis's hand pressed very comfortably, and Ronald's gradually relaxed. The worries in his heart were temporarily put aside, and he enjoyed the beauty's service. Gradually... his eyelids began to become heavy, and he lay down on the sofa to sleep.
It’s on.
McGillis sighed and brought a blanket to cover Ronald.
The actors are still comfortable, but the director has too many things to bear.
Ronald, who was sleeping comfortably, saw another screen in front of him, with the title of Twentieth Century Fox on it.
"What kind of movie are you dreaming about again?" Ronald curled his lips comfortably.
Suddenly, the stereo sounds around me reminded me of the rhythm of "dang, dang, dang..." bells.
"This looks a lot like the title sequence of Top Gun." Ronald thought to himself, except that the Paramount logo was changed to 20th Century Fox. Is it a sequel? Has the distributor been changed?
No, although this theme song is very similar to a variation of the "Top Gun" theme song, it is less solemn and elegant and more funny.
On the black screen, a white title also appeared. The style of the font clearly imitated "Top Gun".
"Hot shot! (Anti-Fighting Condor)"
After the title appeared, the theme song became more and more like "Top Gun".
"Is this a spoof of my movie?" Ronald pouted. Does this mean that "Top Gun" did not fail at the box office?
It doesn't seem to be necessarily the case. Jerry Zucker's "The Greatest Hits" spoofed many movies of the time. There were blockbusters like "Airport" in it, and some were poorly shot, but some of the scenes in it were not filmed properly.
It is a notoriously bad and extremely viral street movie.
The screen lit up, and Ronald discovered that it was indeed a spoof of "Top Gun". Even the fighter jets on the aircraft carrier sliding into the screen and the busy scene management of the deck sergeants were completely imitated. Even the background under the rising sun was imitated.
It just doesn’t have the beauty of my own photography, but a dusty, cottage-like feeling.
"state……"
Two sergeants on the deck were even carrying bombs on their shoulders to install on the aircraft. The two men collided and the bomb fell on the deck.
"Hahaha……"
At first glance, it is a typical parody, deconstructing the real drama to achieve a comedy effect.
Then, the movie began to imitate the effect of turning on the afterburner engine of the Tomcat fighter jet in "Top Gun", but the flame was very small, and it was also used by the deck staff to barbecue. With the weak flame, a sergeant threaded a sausage through a wire.
Grilled on the fire behind the engine.
"Hahaha……"
Ronald's worried mood was relieved by this deconstructed comedy.
Don't worry too much, who can guarantee that all of his movies will be hits? You won't be able to escape being pranked after a long time.
Then, like a car, the fighter jet was reversed by the pilot and parked on the edge of the deck. A few sergeants were playing rugby on the deck and fell into the sea.
Just as Ronald was laughing and laughing, the hero and heroine appeared on the screen.
The leading actor turned out to be Emilio Estevez's younger brother, Charlie Sheen. Unexpectedly, he also had good comedy talents.
The heroine also looks a bit familiar. Or to be more precise, she looks a bit like an acquaintance of Ronald's. The heroine who played "Flashdance" back then, Jennifer Beals.
It must be a parody of her, the hairstyle and face are similar. Charlie Sheen actually looks a bit like Tom Cruise.
"Hahaha..." Ronald laughed out loud. This director is a genius, and he looks like a god in casting.
"Ronald, Ronald"
McGillis saw Ronald laughing in his sleep and came over to shake him awake.
"Oh Kelly, what time is it now?"
Ronald rubbed his eyes. He was no longer worried. Anyway, there is a movie spoofing "Top Gun". Even if the box office is not good, it seems that it will be remembered in the future. He should not make a bad movie that no one cares about.
piece.
"It's already evening. I'm going to call a service and have them deliver the food."
"Okay, honey," Ronald kissed McGillis and turned on the TV with the remote control.
"Unexpectedly, the White House broadcast live, and the President canceled the annual State of the Union address. Instead, he will give a televised speech on the issue of greatest concern to the people on the Challenger space shuttle crash."
"The Space Shuttle Challenger crashed?"
Ronald was stunned and asked McGillis if he knew.
"I don't know. I haven't been there in the past two days, so I've been with you all the time?" McGillis came over and sat in Ronald's arms.
Since the Apollo moon landing, NASA in America has never crashed during a launch mission, resulting in casualties. Before this, only the ground experiments of the Apollo project had killed three astronauts due to fire.
"My dear people of America, I originally planned to address you today on this year's State of the Union address, but events earlier caused me to cancel my original plan."
The commander-in-chief sat at his desk in the Oval Office of the White House and delivered a televised speech to the nation.
"Today is a day of mourning and remembrance. Nancy and I are deeply saddened by the loss of Challenger..."
Ronald held McGillis' hand tightly. It seemed that there was a big problem with the Challenger. The space shuttle was not like the Apollo moon landing spacecraft with only three astronauts. A space shuttle took seven people on board.
personal.
"It really crashed." McGillis ran to the newspaper bag at the door and took out the newspaper. The headline was "Challenger disintegrated in the air 73 seconds after liftoff. All seven astronauts may have died."
"
"Primary and middle school students across the country saw this tragedy on live television. They were scheduled to have a phone call with Krista McAuliffe, the first civilian astronaut and middle school social studies teacher, to give a lecture on the development of women in America.
courses.”
"Oh my God."
Ronald flipped through the newspaper that McGillis had brought. This was not only a space accident, but also an accident in front of all the TV viewers across the country and even the world. The photo in the newspaper was of the Challenger disintegrating into pieces in the sky.
A snapshot of a piece of debris, the white trajectory suddenly stopped in the sky, and a big fireball formed in the sky.
I saw that all the astronauts would not survive.
What's even more pitiful are the children in middle schools across the country. The students who were originally organized to watch the live TV broadcast in the school, waiting for the call between heaven and earth, and following Teacher McAuliffe in class, did not expect to see the tragic scene of the teacher exploding in the air.
"So, maybe the reaction of the audience at today's test screening was because of the Challenger crash? That's why they were so devastated that they didn't react to all the air combat scenes and romantic love scenes? They only had a strong reaction to the plot of the goose dying in the plane crash?
"
Ronald thought to himself, I wonder what impact this incident will have on the box office? If people across the country are still in shock and grief by then, "Top Gun" will still be affected.
Only by bringing this incident to an end and everyone moving on can we start to like aerial combat films again at the scheduled premiere in May.
"...The seven astronauts on Challenger are all heroes. I want to say a few words to the students who watched this tragedy on live television. I know it may be difficult for you to understand, but sometimes tragedies happen,
It’s all part of the great exploration and discovery…
The future does not belong to those who are weak, but to the brave. The seven heroes of the Challenger are the brave heroes. They pull us and expand the boundaries of mankind..."
"What a great communicator." Ronald admired that the commander's speech directly taught millions of children who were overwhelmed by watching the big explosion on live TV that human exploration of the universe is
A brave, fearless adventure, punctuated by failures and losses, as in all great undertakings.
These children will definitely remember this scene in their childhood, and it may change something in their future.
"...The seven warriors of Challenger will be remembered forever by us. We will always remember the last time we saw them before launch and waved goodbye to us...
Then……
Break free from the shackles of the earth and touch the face of God...
thank you all."
Ronald held McGillis tightly, both of them in tears.
The TV began to show the footage of the Challenger crash again, and then it flashed across the faces of the audience watching at the Space Launch Center in Florida in shock and tears, then the tears of NASA staff, and finally the faces of thousands of people waiting in front of the TV.
The tears of the children watching their dear Teacher McAuliffe teach.
"Ring ring ring ring..."
The phone rang, Ronald wiped his tears and answered it.
"Ronald, I am Bruckheimer..."
"Jerry, have you seen the Commander-in-Chief's..."
"Ronald, have you read the Commander-in-Chief's..."
The two asked each other at the same time.
Like Ronald, the two Hollywood producers usually don't care about NASA's space missions. They have been either having fun and drinking in the past two days or busy arranging test screenings. The three of them didn't even know that such a big accident had happened.
.
"Now it depends on how the people view this disaster and whether they will still be hurt in their hearts a few months later," Ronald said.
"Yeah, it's hard to imagine how something like this could happen in front of the whole world. Our international reputation will also be greatly affected." Bruckheimer also agreed.
"It is best if this accident can have a satisfactory investigation result, so that we can sort out the pain and start again."
"Hopefully, I heard that the commander-in-chief is going to appoint an investigation committee and will ask Richard Feynman, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, to participate. He will definitely be able to give a satisfactory answer to the accident."
The two encouraged each other, and all the additional measures remained unchanged and increased. Everyone hoped that by May, the people would have put an end to this matter.