"The Cinema Score has been given, and it is the highest A. This is unique among action movies. Congratulations!"
The day after the premiere, Leonard Goldberg, the president of 20th Century Fox, personally called to congratulate him. Cinema Score has always been a barometer of the film's box office, and there are basically no mistakes in predicting the domestic box office of the film.
, major film studios are now paying more and more attention to this evaluation method through random surveys of live audiences.
Many film companies also want to use this method to evaluate movies themselves, but internal researchers are always influenced by different forces within the company. In the end, everyone still feels that the most objective way to score is by the neutral Cinema Score.
Since the establishment of this research company, only ten movies have received an A rating in the past five years. No action-suspense movie has ever received such a high score before. For 20th Century Fox, this rating is like being hit by a Powerball.
Just like the lottery.
All marketing actions can only attract the first batch of viewers into the cinema. After that, the quality of the movie has been spread by many viewers. After the first week, the stamina of the movie depends entirely on the audience's word-of-mouth.
Because later audiences may no longer believe the propaganda in the media. They will ask their friends who have watched it how the movie was.
In essence, Cinema Score is to score the audience's reputation. And because they randomly sampled theaters in ten different regions across the country, the authenticity of the reputation is very high.
Generally speaking, a movie that gets an A- can basically satisfy the multiplier effect of the chain reaction. In other words, if ten viewers go to see the movie, their reputation can influence more than ten new viewers to go see the movie.
Comparatively speaking, for action movies, horror movies, and other movies without profound connotations, the Cinema Score will be slightly lower than the real reputation.
This may be because the audience is embarrassed to say that they like such thrilling movies and tend to lower their scores. And for movies adapted from famous works or famous Broadway plays, they want to appear to be very cultured and tend to
To overestimate the score.
"Die Hard" is an action movie that received the highest rating of A, with an average of less than two movies a year. Now everyone knows that the movies produced by Ronald are as good at selling as those directed by him.
Movie.
"Honestly, I don't understand why the audience likes you so much? You seem to have a magical power. No action movie has ever gotten an A score before." Goldberg was very emotional. With this rare ability, Hollywood is willing to
Call it "talent", "favour", or "luck".
Because in addition to those indicators that can be quantified, there are always some people who have mastered something that is difficult to express in words, and can always see advantages that others cannot see. The films they make that are directed by directors always break the boundaries of genre films.
Routine and achieve results beyond expectations.
Ronald is the favored one now, and because of this, 20th Century Fox must step up its cooperation with him.
"This is indeed beyond some of my expectations, Mr. Goldberg. Sometimes, we don't know why some movies are so good. Bruce (Willis)'s dedication, Alan (Rickman)
)’s drama skills, action scene design, photography director De Bont’s skills, and the screenwriter’s rather imaginative way of integrating elements of multiple genre films into one, these may all be the reasons for its success.”
In front of the president of Twentieth Century Fox, Ronald listed all the meritorious officials and gave credit to most of the creative staff. Only the blind director John McTiernan, who was often out of control during filming, was not listed by him.
factors for success.
"Very good, you can give me the list of heroes, and I will invite them all to the celebration party. If you have any other requests for the movie, just ask..." Goldberg was in a happy mood. This movie
He will create history and add great credit to the years he has been in charge of the film industry.
"I think there should be more movie theaters for Die Hard. Also, can film critics increase their public relations efforts? Some reviews are unfair to Bruce Willis."
"The copy has been sent to the technical field for urgent printing. As for the film critics, Ronald, you don't have to worry about them too much. We can't force them to say anything. We can't do anything about the protection of the First Amendment. We can influence the film reviews
People, like Ebert in Chicago, will write some movie reviews that will satisfy you."
After hanging up the phone, Ronald picked up the freshly released film reviews from the Los Angeles and New York media that Richard personally sent early in the morning, and slowly began to read them.
Now Richard has several assistant agents who specialize in serving Ronald. The film review sent this time has been cut and pasted with scissors and glue, divided into several comments, and neatly arranged for Ronald
Good viewing and saves a lot of time.
For example, regarding the overall look and feel of the movie, film critics from all over the world have generally praised it. They said that Die Hard is "logical" and creates a sense of scale in the movie, making the viewing experience seem better than its story.
more important.
The scene in which the terrorists occupied the building was also praised as "textbook camera work", and De Bont's cinematography was highly recognized. Degovia's set design was also praised as "clever", which is a sight to behold
It cuts right into the emotions brought about by the story.
Others praised the stunts and special effects, especially the final scenes of the villain played by Alan Rickman falling off a skyscraper and Bruce Willis being entangled in a fire hose and escaping from an explosion. They were both phenomenal.
As for Bruce Willis's performance, film critics' opinions are very divided. Everyone believes that Willis's participation in the performance gave him a breakthrough role in his acting career, turning him from a shaky TV star to
Transformed into a movie star.
Some people think that the role of John McClain is a changed version of the male protagonist in the TV series Blue Moonlight, with less comedy and more male hormones. Some people think it is a waste that he did not fully express his comedy talents.
But there are also those who praise Willis's acting skills, although some people are sarcastic and say that the closer Bruce Willis comes to his own working-class background, his performance has been greatly improved. However, there are also people who say that he did things that other action stars couldn't.
The performance I received was a flesh-and-blood detective who spoke like an NYPD detective.
Before Bruce Willis, whether it was Stallone or Schwarzenegger, or anyone else, the most important thing was to have muscles that exploded on the screen and decent boxing skills.
However, there are more or less problems with the performances of these people. Stallone's face is disabled, half of his face has no expression, Schwarzenegger's English is not very good, and the speed of his lines is very slow, which all impose restrictions on the role.
After all, Bruce Willis was born in TV dramas. He plays a police detective, and his lines and temperament are both passable, making people feel that he is really an NYPD. And the so-called short version in terms of muscles and boxing skills was also used by this film.
In the movie, his struggle with luck, elevators, buildings, etc. is not only a clever alleviation of the negative factors of the villain. For example, at the beginning, because he listened to the passengers on the plane, he took off his socks and injured his feet during the fight. The audience was also very surprised.
Worry about him.
On the other hand, most of the fights in "Die Hard" use firearms, which can hide Willis's weakness of not being good at shooting hand-to-hand combat scenes.
In contrast to Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman's performance was universally praised. Some said he gave the best performance in the film, profoundly portraying a "perfect viper".
Others compared him to Laurence Olivier's performance in the classic Shakespeare-changing film "Richard III," a vicious performance that left people shuddering.
Roger Ebert was also particularly fond of Rickman, saying he was the best villain Hollywood has seen in ten years. Ebert also cast Bonnie Bedelia, who played John McClane's wife
I feel that her performance is very realistic and worthy of more time. The director should reduce some violent scenes and give this wife who works for Japanese people and does not take her husband's surname more room to play.
Ebert generally agreed with the movie, but he didn't like the deliberate shaping of the genre. He particularly focused on the stupidity of the police captain, which was "deliberately useless and stupid" set by the screenwriter to give him a sense of humor.
The protagonist sets up unnecessary obstacles, wasting screen time and weakening the plot.
Ronald almost laughed out loud when he saw this. This is a damn genre film, an action film. Are you still evaluating it according to the requirements of a big production adaptation of a famous novel? I'm not filming Shakespeare. Do the villains have to be profound?
?
Although Ebert criticized the movie, he still recommended it to the audience on the whole. However, some of the few film critics rejected "Die Hard" as a whole and criticized it fiercely.
Especially for the Chicago Tribune, because Sisko was on annual leave, Cole, a film critic who was filling in for him, began to make wild remarks, attacking "Die Hard" for being too violent.
"Die Hard presents a glorification of violence, which not only intensifies the proliferation of violence on the screen, but is also uncreative. His director wanted to perfect the action movie's fights through a humorous and sad design.
type.
We can definitely see from this that the director borrowed from previous classic movies "Poseidon", "Alien", or "RoboCop", but in doing so he lacked his own personality and made the whole movie full of unnecessary unnecessary elements.
Violence……"
"America is full of unnecessary film critics..." Ronald drew a big cross next to the substitute film critic's name to express his anger.
"This is an R-rated movie. If it's not violent, who will watch it? It's just nonsense." Ronald criticized while drawing, "And the fighting with humor, what does it have to do with RoboCop and Alien? Yes.
I borrowed it from Jackie Chan’s action comedy. This bunch of unlearned and unskilled film critics.”
Next, let’s see if Fox’s public relations can get Sisko and Abbott to say something nice in next week’s TV movie review program to offset the impact. The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, in the Midwest and South, are still
Very influential. Audiences there still believe in the film reviews of these newspapers and the film review program of the two on PBS.
In particular, these two people write their own scripts, so they can continue to broadcast film reviews on the TV station. Compared with other programs, it is no fun without writers, and the audience's ratings of their weekly film reviews are also rising.
…
"I like this movie very much, and I give him a thumbs up recommendation." Albert was indeed well publicized. He extended a thumbs up and said to the audience, "Of course this is an R-rated movie. If you have children,
, I suggest trying a Cocktail movie instead. That movie explores the life choices of college students while working. It is worth watching for fathers and children. What do you think, Gene?"
At the end of the second week, Albert finally started commenting on last week's new film on TV.
"I'm hesitating, should I recommend it to him or not?" Sisko just came back from vacation and was caught on TV. "I still decided not to recommend it. For action movie lovers, especially those like Stallone.
For audiences who don't like action movies, this is a good movie that definitely meets their expectations.
But if it is a general audience, I think what I said above is all the advantages of the movie, it is a classic, 100%, action movie. Other than that, there is nothing."
"This is an action movie, what else do you want?" Ronald adjusted his coat. Sisko was very cunning, saying that he didn't recommend it, but he seemed to be recommending it. This not only maintained the dignity of the newspaper, but also did not recommend it.
As for the feud with Fox.
Ronald turned off the TV and went out and got into Little Bud's car. Today was the premiere of "Cocktail" starring Tom Cruise. In return, Ronald also brought some people to support Cruise.
.
"Lisa..." Ronald saw the heroine Elizabeth Sue at a glance. She was wearing something similar to the rich girl in the movie today, a light blue shirt and blond messy hair.
"Hi, Ronald." Su was still very excited when she saw Ronald. On the set, she almost got caught in the tail of a helicopter, but Ronald saved her.
"How do you feel about the movie with Tom being released?" Ronald asked her.
"It's like a dream, I may be the American girl's favorite object now." Elizabeth Sue laughed. Who doesn't want to fall in love with Tom Cruise? Even if he is just a bartender.
"Tom, Mimi..." Soon Tom Cruise and his wife also saw Ronald and came over to hug him and say hello.
"Congratulations. When will your new Vietnam War movie start shooting?"
"It starts next month. There are no nasty Writers Guild pickets over there in the Philippines. Oliver (Stone) has applied for an exemption." Tom Cruise talked about the movie very enthusiastically and pulled Ronald to talk.
a few minutes.
At that time, he did not listen to Ronald's seemingly ridiculous suggestion to play the fool in "Rain Man". Now after watching some clips, he regretted it. If he had joined forces with Ronald to put pressure on him, he would have had a chance to win.
to the role, ousting Dustin Hoffman's.
It's a pity that Ovitz said at that time that this was an opportunity to work with the actor and learn...
"We have to take photos with the fans." Mimi Rogers came over with a crooked mouth and pulled her husband away. After the efforts of their agents, the two finally appeared in public together. Tom Cruise smiled at Ronald
, seemed to say that I have to listen to my wife, turned around and left with Rogers.
"Getting back together?" Ronald asked Paula Wagner in the back.
"..." Paula Wagner curled her lips and said nothing. Mimi Rogers is not an easy celebrity wife to deal with. She is also well-informed. When she was an "audit" girl for Scientology,
But I have worked with many popular celebrities.
Even Sonny Bono, whom Ronald worked with, was once her VIP client. She used a Scientology Dianetics meter like a multimeter to do a lot of alien exiles, leaving behind toxins
"audit".
…
"Cocktail's Cinema Score is B? Hahaha, it seems our Die Hard has no rival."
The second week of Die Hard coincided with the opening weekend of Cocktail. Ronald and Joel Silver communicated on the phone the next day, waiting for the rating of their biggest competitor.
come out.
Generally speaking, movie A is twice as long as movie B in terms of screening length, and the box office in a single theater is about 20% higher. The fluctuation will not be too big.
Hollywood's most accurate box office forecasts are not just for nothing.
With the box office guaranteed, Ronald relaxed and went to Palm Springs to enjoy himself.
"Mr. Ronald, your phone number." Ronald, who was sleeping soundly, was woken up by the waiter at the hot spring. This call had been made three times.
"Ronald, why don't you answer the phone? You have to come back soon."
Joel Silver looked anxious on the phone.
"What's wrong?"
"The box office was overtaken by cocktails. Our box office in the second week was 8.5 million, and the box office of a single restaurant was more than 6,000. Who knew that the number of cocktails in a single restaurant was 8,000, and it broke our record in the first week. It ranked first."
"Huh? Didn't you say they only have B?"
Ronald jumped up and woke up from the lazy state of vacation.
After hurriedly driving back to Los Angeles, Ronald ran to Joel Silver. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Silver arguing with a Cinema Score manager.
"Your rating disrupted our marketing plan. This rating is definitely your mistake. I don't know whether you overestimated our movie or underestimated Cruise's movie. In short, it is a very serious mistake. I
We will consider withdrawing our cooperation with you."
"Mr. Silver, you can't blame us. Since the establishment of our company, we have evaluated hundreds of movies every year. Except for this movie, none of them have made mistakes. The reason why this cocktail has an inaccurate box office is that it is special.
caused by circumstances.”
"What special situation?" Ronald interjected, nodding to Joel Silver.
"Mr. Li, you are the director, so of course you know the status of Tom Cruise in the hearts of American girls."
"Yes, I'm asking you what the reason is..." Ronald was a little irritated. He wanted to know why the box office was overshadowed by B's cocktail. What did this manager say about Tom Cruise's status? Nonsense, this status, most of
Or was it because of the consequences of him filming Top Gun?
"We have a guess... that is, Tom Cruise has too many fans, more than all other male stars. They go to the cinema not to watch movies, but to see him."
"Isn't it possible? Half of the audience comes to see Tom?" Ronald calculated the box office gap between normal B movies and this cocktail, "There were many male stars in the past? Harrison Ford, for example, did not
This situation..."
"It's different. Tom Cruise is Superman, the only one among all Hollywood stars. This is what we added to the questionnaire for cocktail viewers. There is an additional question in it. What if Tom Cruise didn't star in this movie?
Will you still come to watch the movie? This is the result."
"Um..." Ronald took the new questionnaire results. The numbers above made him and Joel Silver look at each other. More than 40% of the audience, and more than 70% of the female audience, all came to see Tom.