In its second week, "Spiritual" continued to rank second on the box office charts. The average weekend box office per theater dropped only slightly to $5,700.
As for "Over the Top," directed by Minahan himself, the average price per museum has fallen to less than $2,000.
"Sly, it's great to be able to talk about movies with you again." Barbie Wygant, a famous Texas film critic and TV movie host, interviewed Stallone and began to play on TV.
"Now there is some controversy over too much violence and fighting in the movie. Is it because of this that you starred in a movie without any violent scenes?"
"Ah...this is one of the main reasons. There are violent scenes in movies, but it also depends on what causes them. The world we live in is full of violence. If we have the ability to stop the violence of bad people, then
This is good..."
Stallone looked tired on TV, and the box office plummeted in the second week. He once again fell behind in the competition with Schwarzenegger for the number one action star.
Although the pay for one movie for Cannon is more than the previous three to five movies, if you make too many bad movies, you won't have the chance to act in those good scripts in the future.
"Ha ha ha ha……"
Ronald was in the hotel, sitting on the sofa and watching the TV interview comfortably, feeling very happy.
Bobbi Wygant is very seasoned and guides Stallone with seemingly harmless questions. The audience still likes to watch action stars fight. This kind of boring arm-wrestling, although there is no violence, no one watches it.
She then asked Stallone about his views on the box office, "Sly, your movie ranks third on the box office list. In front of you, in addition to 'Platoon', which reflects the Vietnam War, there is also a romantic film 'Swagger'"
"Now some people think that movies that profoundly reflect major social issues do not do well at the box office. What do you think?"
"Huh? In fact, the movie box office... I hope more viewers will watch this movie. Well, after all, single-parent families are now a very common phenomenon in America." Stallone sometimes looked at the lights, sometimes scratched his forehead with his hands, and
My eyes are getting duller and duller.
This kind of question made Stallone very angry. The other person asked the question in a flattering manner, but the answer was frustrating.
A big star gets a salary of more than 10 million, but the budget of the whole movie is less than 8 million, and it is released in only half of your theaters, and the box office is still ahead of you.
"Damn it, this Ronald, why are the movies he produces so popular? Does this guy have some kind of magic?"
After the interview, Stallone still stayed where he was. He would conduct the same interview many times.
"Hey, I bet Stallone hasn't found it yet. Why isn't this movie a hit?" Ronald turned off the TV and said to his agent Niceta who came over to chat with him.
"Oh, why? Do you know the answer? I can sell it to Stallone's agent at a high price."
"Don't forget to give me a share," Ronald also joked. He knew that Stallone's agent was personally served by CAA president Michael Ovitz and another shareholder Ronald Meyer. This is
In the early days of CAA, he was the first big star he signed.
However, Stallone was very conceited and refused to listen to Ovitz's arrangements. He refused to make the action comedy "Beverly Hills Cop". The black movie star Eddie Murphy, who had been passed over for the leading role, took the opportunity to take over. Now he is doing well in the film industry.
Hollywood is very powerful, and has already surpassed Stallone.
"Actually, I went to the cinema to watch Over the Top. Stallone's performance was very good, but every arm-wrestling scene was very ridiculous. When the arm-wrestling scene came, the audience started eating popcorn, drinking Coke, and chatting with friends.
Every time the audience was immersed in the plot, only half of them could get back into it after being interrupted. There were ridiculous arm-wrestlings over and over again, and when the show finally ended, everyone was no longer focused on watching the movie.
"
"This is a very interesting discovery." Niceta didn't understand this herself, but she just felt that what Ronald said made sense.
When I usually watch movies or videos, there are all kinds of things to interrupt me. As expected, the level of immersion is not as good as going to the cinema with Paula.
"If they didn't take the story into consideration, how could they have any emotional resonance? So when they get home, they won't recommend it to their friends." Ronald concluded.
"I have already released the news about the low-budget movie you asked me to help find. Nowadays, there are very few people making small productions like Roger Corman did in the past. I guess I will be interested in joining your "Dirty Dancing" movie.
There aren't many summer releases either.
In addition, many people have already obtained distribution contracts from large companies and used financing. This kind of job of finding a distributor after filming requires a strong sense of risk-taking, or a lot of confidence in the script.
There will probably be a lot of news next week."
Niceta clapped her hands and told her about helping Ronald find a low-budget movie.
"The theory you mentioned is that if the audience gets distracted from the plot, it will be difficult to go back. Is it true? Why do I find it interesting?"
"I'm not 100% sure, but based on my experience, this is what happens in many movies." Ronald added a few wolfberry berries to the cup, which Xiao Yan specially carried on his back.
"Look at that high-spirited movie, which was said by film critics to be worthless. The story is actually quite ridiculous, but the only good thing is that the supporting characters are as devoted as the protagonists and acted very well. Although the audience came back to their senses after watching it
When you come, you will find that many plots in the movie are far-fetched.
For example, how did the puppet played by Kim Cattrall survive from ancient Egypt to today? There is also the plot design that if a man other than the male protagonist played by Andrew McCarthy sees Sarah, she will turn back into a puppet.
. But it was obvious that he was taking Sara out on a motorcycle, didn’t many people see her?
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In the end, the male protagonist rescued the puppet from the crusher. Why was the curse broken? What is explained here is also very unclear.
But will these flaws make the audience laugh while watching it?
No way? When they watch the movie, they don't know the overall story, and they don't have time to dwell on some flaws. They are all immersed in Kim Cattrall's beauty and her constant costume changes.
In the end, the love story of the two people broke through many obstacles and finally got married. The bad guys were punished. From the beginning to the end, the audience had no chance to lose focus. This is probably what makes this movie better than Over the Top."
"Then, how can we achieve this?"
Niceta nodded frequently. What Ronald said was common sense, but common sense is indeed what people in Hollywood lack the most.
"Then I don't know. This is just a result. The director may have a hundred ways to keep the audience in the plot. As long as this effect is achieved, the audience's reputation will basically be good."
…
"So I decided to use Dean Martin's 'That's Love' as the opening music. I thought about opening with an opera aria from 'La Bohème', a famous song that most audiences have never heard of.
It is not conducive for the audience to immerse themselves in the plot as quickly as possible.
On the contrary, this song by Dean Martin can be said to be a household name in America. As soon as the audience hears it, they know that it is a love and romance story.
In this way, they quickly resonated with the beautiful middle-aged widow played by Cher, and began to look forward to who she would fall in love with..."
After understanding the key factors that produced a good reputation for a movie, Ronald immediately applied what he had learned and shared his views with Walter Murch in the editing room.
"It's a very common sense perspective, very good. I have always felt that there is something wrong with your cold little hands and the picture of Cher working. I understood it as soon as you said it. My two editing assistants have never heard of this.
This opera piece is an aria from the famous love tragedy 'La Bohème'."
"Okay, since you agree, then I will ask Jimmy Lehner to stop contacting Pavarotti."
After another busy week in the editing room, Ronald basically completed his part of the work. The remaining sound design was not his strong point, so he simply entrusted it to Walter Murch, who was capable of both sound design and image editing.
I started my vacation early and only waited for the final mixing of the movie to see the overall effect.
On the third week of the weekend, "Spiritual" continued to sweep the box office charts with its powerful appeal that kept the audience immersed from beginning to end.
On the third weekend, the box office of a single theater was still US$4,200, and the total weekend box office remained above 4 million.
It seems that this small production that no one is optimistic about has the potential to stay in theaters for more than two months.
Ronald learned a lot from the box office analysis of "Top Gun". In fact, movies with the same theme have a relatively certain audience. The final determining factor of the box office is actually how long you can stay in the cinema.
There are many disadvantages to releasing films in the off-season, but there is also a big advantage, that is, there is very little competition.
There are only some old films that have been in theaters for more than ten weeks, including the top-ranked "Platoon".
Ronald also went to watch that movie. Oliver Stone is very capable. Not to mention that the audience in this movie was all focused on the story. Even the number of people going to the bathroom was much less than in ordinary movies.
As for "Over the Top", its reputation is getting worse and worse. Judging from the audience, it can only influence three new viewers through word of mouth. The box office of a single theater has fallen to 1,200 US dollars, and will soon fall below the cost line. It is estimated that next week
Screened.
Cannon paid a huge price to recruit Stallone, and the boss personally directed it. It opened in 1,700 theaters and released it simultaneously. With such a huge momentum, the film was about to get out of business.
Movies are really a very cruel industry. If you can't do it, you can't do it. No matter how famous you were in the past, no one will watch an unsightly movie because of the star's reputation.
…
However, another of Ronald's films that has done some good work, this week's newly released "Beautiful" starring Leigh Thompson and Eric Stoltz, has a "very bad" box office performance.
status.
Sitting in the screening room of Paramount Company, director Howard Deutch and Vice President Ned Tanning were all sitting in their seats, not daring to express their opinions, just waiting for Ronald to express his opinion.
"snort……"
Ronald, who was sitting in the seat, was originally going to Palm Springs to relax, but he was dragged here to analyze the movie's problems and see if there was any way to remedy it.
Ronald, who was not very happy, made a sound of dissatisfaction when he saw it for twenty minutes.
"What, is there something wrong here?"
Regardless of the pale-faced director Howard Deutch, Ned Tanin has great trust in Ronald's vision, and any sound he makes is very important!
"Is there a section cut out here?" Ronald asked.
"Yes, there was originally a conversation here where the male protagonist Keith promised to send the neighbor girl Watts home. Later, Keith was attracted by his crush Amanda Jones and promised to send her home, letting Watts go.
” director Howard Deutch explained to Ronald.
"Why is it cut like this? Isn't there a plot in the back where Watts is angry? The audience will be very surprised when they see this!"
Ronald asked the director, pointing to the furious look of Mary Stuart Masterson, who played Watts, on the screen.
"I...this..." Dutch glanced at Ned Tanin.
"It was my request. Because the movie ran over time by a few minutes, I asked Dutch to cut it a little."
"But why was it cut here? I'm very confused. Especially Mary Stuart Masterson's performance is very good. Where did her angry mood come from? There was no plot where Keith angered him. Now she
He and Keith are not a couple, so why would Watts be so angry when he dated Amanda?
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Even if Watts likes Keith, they are good friends, and they will not be so frustrated just because a good friend is dating the man of his dreams. And Watts later drove him to and from him, helping him.
With Keith chasing Amanda, the emotions here are so entertaining for the audience.”
"You still haven't written it down?" Tanin quickly asked Dutch to record Ronald's opinion.
"Because...because I showed the finished film to John Hughes, and he said that this section is relatively bland and can be deleted to make up the required length."
"Two minutes are overdue. You might as well cut out a complete plot. Although this scene is bland, it explains the key factors. Why Watts was angry and why he later helped drive Keith and Amanda to go on a date.
...Because the car Watts lent to Keith broke down, Keith failed to send Amanda home."
Howard Deutch jotted down quickly in a small notebook.
"By the way, this old car is quite fun. It's small, but has big headlights. Girls will like it. What kind of car is this? I've never seen it." Ronald stopped criticizing and changed to another one.
topic.
"This is a European mini Cooper. America only introduced more than a thousand of them more than ten years ago. We got this from a car repair shop."
Howard Deutch was distracted by Ronald and almost failed to follow Ronald's train of thought.
Ronald actually saw this and already knew that the movie would not be good.
Later, there were two or three times where key background plot points that were not impressive were cut out like this.
For example, Keith invited Amanda to a restaurant for dinner. Amanda's rich ex-boyfriend was originally going to beat him up there, but in order to be perfect, Keith temporarily changed the restaurant so that they could miss out.
This part of the episode was also deleted, causing Keith to say he was too timid to go to a restaurant later when he was about to quarrel with his ex-boyfriend, which also left the audience confused.
"Hey..." Ronald lamented. This episode made people laugh again.
"What's wrong? Isn't it good here? Write it down, write it down." Ned Tanning glared at Howard Deutch.
"Is this John again?"
"Yes, John Hughes's opinion, he said that this episode is too long, a bland transitional episode, and not interesting."
Ronald glanced at Dutch and said nonchalantly, "You really listen to John Hughes."
"I……"
Dutch blushed with embarrassment. He was an assistant director to Hughes, and Hughes was kind to him, so it was natural that he went to discuss it with Hughes first because of the overtime.
But who's to blame for the movie's poor box office? There are more than 1,080 theaters, but the first weekend box office is less than 3.5 million, and the box office of a single theater is less than 3,500.
I was also confused for a moment. Ronald was the one who helped me regain the director position, and he also helped me deal with technical accidents. I should have invited him to come and take a look.
At that time, I felt that Ronald was too busy, and maybe there was some jealousy that he was too young. On the contrary, Hughes was nearly forty years old, and he was the teacher who helped him debut, so he didn't feel too burdened to ask for advice.
Alas, I deserve to be scolded by Ronald.
Ronald actually admires Dutch's directorial skills, and he handles some small places very thoughtfully.
At the end of the movie, Amanda began to appreciate Keith, but after discovering Watts' love for Keith, she returned the expensive ruby earrings to Keith.
Keith caught up with Watts who was crying alone, and the two hugged each other on the empty road at night. The camera slowly rose behind them, and the close-up shot gradually faded away, turning into an overhead shot, which was very beautiful.
The subtitles began to rise to the beautiful singing of the children's chorus "I Can't Stop Falling in Love with You."
Finally, Watts asked for the earrings that Keith bought for Amanda and put them on himself. The two of them chatted about when they went shopping for earrings together, and whether Watts thought they would be his when he tried them on.
Ronald liked how this section was handled very much. Amanda's kindness, Keith's sudden understanding of the person he truly loved, and the close-up of Watts who was bursting with tears on the screen all made the audience emotionally excited.
.
Normally the box office wouldn't be so bad.
The subtitles continued to rise, and Keith and Watts walked into the distance. The singing began to drown out the voices of the two people talking.
"Huh?" Ronald held back a question in his throat.
"What's wrong, is there something wrong with the ending?" Tanin started to get angry again.
"I want to ask, why didn't Watts return the ruby earrings to Keith? Keith bought them with his own college tuition, and Watts is his best friend. I believe the audience saw this,
Everyone thinks that the kind-hearted Watts will let Keith take off the earrings so that he will not delay his important life event, going to college, right?"
Ronald asked, pointing to the two people walking away on the screen.
"This... was originally taken, but..."
"Hughes said it's not important, right? Doesn't my opinion matter? Why don't you come and ask me?"
Ronald was a little angry. Judging from the scene at the end. If these small links were edited well, the box office of this movie might even double. It's a pity that the three leading actors performed exceptionally well.
A few key points and plots are missing, and only more than a minute of footage is missing, but it has already made the audience laugh two or three times.
And the final ending, the key finishing touch, was cut by Dutch. The emotions of the audience were brought here step by step, just like a football wide receiver who had already got the ball in front of the end zone, and it was about to happen.
He was about to score a touchdown, but the ball was thrown out of bounds for no apparent reason.
"I..." Director Da Qi was speechless.
Ronald felt deeply regretful about this movie because several small details were not handled well. Now it is impossible to recall all the copies and revise them again.
"Take it all down. If the company still has plans to make video tapes, change them." Ned Tanin ordered Dutch, and then sent Ronald out of the screening room.
"What, you want to make a videotape of this movie?" Ronald asked Tanin.
"Yes, the video pre-sales of Top Gun were very popular, and the company decided to use the new pricing strategy and try it on other movies."