Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 529 The audience responded overwhelmingly

   "There aren't many tickets for Longwei Kid." Producer Weintraub looked at the crowd at the ticket office worriedly.

  Ronald and Weintraub watched the box-office performance of the first-day screening of "Long Wei Kid" outside the cinema on the fourth floor of the Sherman Oaks department store in Los Angeles. The department store, where Ronald has made two movies, has become a standard sampling point for his reaction to the scene.

   Weintraub's money was spent on on-site marketing and on expanding the scale of the show. After the two discussed it, there was no more insignificant premiere. Anyway, this movie has no stars, and it is difficult to attract reporters to make headlines.

   "Ghostbusters", "Gremlins", and "Ghostbusters" are still the three most popular movies. Ronald counted secretly next to him, and the number of people who watched the three films was probably even. And the number of people who choose to watch "Longwei Kid" is almost half of them.

   "It's okay, I said it earlier, the box office on the first day of the movie depends on marketing, and then on word of mouth." Ronald was beside him, cheering Weintraub and himself.

   "You're right, our reputation is better than..." Weintraub wanted to say that his movie was better than those three, but he was a bit self-deceiving when he thought about it, so he swallowed it and didn't say it.

  This summer is very strange, with two super dark horses, "Ghostbusters" and "Little Monsters". The reason why people can run out of the box office battle is because of their good reputation, otherwise they should not be called dark horses. I really have no confidence in defeating them with word of mouth.

  Especially for "Ghostbusters", the average box office of a single hall did not drop in the second week of its release, but instead increased, and the number of screening theaters was immediately added by 200 to 1,500. Everyone knows that this is the posture of a super dark horse.

   Weintraub would like to say that the two of them are deceiving themselves when they imagine that "Dragon Power Boy" can get good grades under the attack of the three masterpieces. As long as they can get a good grade, they can explain it.

   But seeing Ronald so confident, he also held back his bad judgment. After all, he himself is the first real producer.

  The movie starts right away, and Weintraub finishes his Pepsi and throws the glass in the trash. He gave Ronald a wink, and the two went into the screening room together without discussing the box office forecast.

  The movie began to play, because it was a drama, the audience was immersed in the plot, and no one exclaimed like when the "Break Dance" was shown.

  Daniel and his mother started from New Jersey and drove all the way to Los Angeles. They moved into an apartment and met with Master Miyagi and asked him to fix the faucet.

  The audience still didn't speak, Weintraub didn't know whether they were fascinated or not interested in the plot. He got a little nervous and started clenching his hands and looking around.

  Daniel met the beautiful Ali on the beach, and the two fell in love at first sight. Ali took the initiative to ask Daniel to teach him to play football.

   Then Ali's ex-boyfriend Johnny taught Daniel a lesson. Daniel practiced karate by himself in the apartment and wanted to take revenge. Master Miyagi was noncommittal after seeing it.

   On the day of Halloween, Daniel dressed up as a shower ring to attend the masquerade party, Ali recognized him by heart, and the two embraced in the shower curtain.

   Didn't hear the reaction he expected from the audience, Weintraub's hands were turning white with force. He couldn't help it, he picked up the drink that was placed next to it and drank it.

   "Hey, Jerry, that's my Coke." Ronald also went to get a drink, took an empty one, and couldn't help complaining.

   The audience in front turned back and glared, thinking they were too noisy.

   "Sorry", Ronald winked, and the two slipped out of their seats quietly to the lounge at the door.

"You're so nervous, Jerry." Ronald went to the snack counter and bought a pack of cigarettes, pulled one out and handed it to Weintraub, then lit it for him with a disposable plastic lighter and took it himself Pick up one.

   "I'm inside, my heart is beating, why isn't the audience responding?"

   Weintraub spit out a large mouthful of cheap cigarettes he usually dismisses.

   "They were so fascinated by it, I think it's a good sign, it shows that the plot of the movie affects their curiosity. Didn't you see the disgusted look that the audience cast after being disturbed by us?"

   Ronald also exhaled. He never smoked at ordinary times, he only smoked when he was writing a script to relieve the pressure.

  "You're right", Weintraub hurriedly finished smoking his cigarettes, went to the counter to buy two packs of chocolate chips, and gave one pack to Ronald.

   "Don't worry, it's too late to modify the copy anyway." Ronald joked.

"Hey!"

   Obviously, the joke was on the wrong occasion, and this time Weintraub was even more worried.

   "Did we fail?" he asked suddenly.

   "Where did this come from?" Ronald opened the package and ate two chocolates.

   "No, it's not your fault, I'm not complaining about you." Weintraub tore the packaging of MM chocolate nervously. "It's Columbia's mistake in scheduling the show."

"They don't know that the Ghostbusters and the little monsters can be so popular. We have tried our best to avoid the magic palace and Star Trek." Ronald persuaded, in fact, the worst is "Hot Street Boys", their box office It was the one who was hit hard. It is expected to be taken offline in three weeks.

   "Hey..." Weintraub didn't listen to Ronald's advice. He had completely fallen into a cycle of self-denial.

   "Maybe we're spending too much time on useless plots. Are we moving the story too slowly?"

   "Nothing like that. I think the audience is very engaged, but you didn't realize that we've been out for so long, in Hall 4 of 'Longwei Kid', hasn't anyone come out to the bathroom yet?"

   "Yeah...that's a good sign." Weintraub relaxed a little.

   "Well, did these two audience members come out of Hall 4? They're going to the toilet." Weintraub pointed to a young couple before he finished speaking, and the two walked quickly to the bathroom.

   "It's over, they're out to the toilet." Weintraub handed the cigarette to his mouth with trembling hands, and the cigarette head, which he smoked hard, glowed bright red.

   "It doesn't matter, there are not many people, and they are all eager to go back." Ronald explained. The boy waited for the girl, grabbed his hand and walked in hastily.

   Seeing that the other party was so nervous, Ronald led Weintraub to the pizza shop opposite, and ordered two cokes, a small pizza, and a poke of chicken wings from the clerk wearing a red and white arrow shirt.

   "Eat first, don't be nervous, I think the audience's reaction is very positive."

   "Just because few people go to the bathroom?" Weintraub picked up Pepsi and drank it again.

   "Yes, I usually use this to measure the appeal of the plot to the audience, and obviously they don't want to miss any episodes."

   "Thank you", Ronald took the chicken wings from the waitress and ate them himself.

   "Maybe I should listen to Columbia and cut the scene of Mr. Miyagi's recollection of the 442 Infantry Regiment, so that 30 minutes can be compressed so that the cinema can be lined up one more time."

  Ronald was defeated by Weintraub, who was very nagging as he waited for the flop at the table.

   Actually, it's not that bad. He thought to himself that even if he was in the ring with the three major films, he was confident that he could stand out.

   Ronald did not speak, and handed Weintraub another cigarette.

   "I may be too nervous, we haven't lost yet." Weintraub finally gagged his mouth with a cigarette, took the pizza, and began to chew.

   "How much box office do you think we can get in the end? The release is based on six to eight weeks, and the average is 4 million. Is it possible to break 30 million?" Weintraub began to worry again.

But this time, his worries are not random. The first week of the release is generally the highest at the box office. According to today's attendance and publicity, it is about 5 million, and then decreases every week, and it is released for six to eight weeks. , which is already above the industry average.

"Like I said, the opening of the movie determines the box office on the first day, and then it depends on the word of mouth." Ronald knocked on the table, he was not very sure, "I think we should be able to stay in the theater. more than eight weeks."

  Weintraub also knew that he would be disrespecting Ronald by asking any more. The two faced each other in silence, eating pizza silently.

   "How is your wife Jane and Susan getting along?" Ronald broke the silence. He was very curious and admired that Weintraub could live as a single wife.

   "I'm living a life of avatars now. Although Jane asked Susan to go home on festivals, they usually don't talk. I can only take care of both ends and work **** my own."

   Weintraub shook his head, "Who made me fall in love with the two of them, Ronald, you must not repeat my mistakes in the future."

   The two sat in the pizza shop for a long time, and Weintraub never dared to go back to see the real reaction of the audience, so he could only wait here.

   "Ow..." There was a faint cry from the theater opposite.

   "Where is it? Is it our Hall 4?" Weintraub stood up with a swipe and looked across the railing with both hands. His joy was beyond words, and his head was already sticking out of the railing.

   "It seems so", Ronald also stood up. He raised his wrist and looked at the newly bought electronic watch. The numbers showed that this "Longwei Kid" had been played for one hour and fifty-five minutes.

   "Probably the last crane kick." Ronald guessed.

   "Let's go and have a look." Weintraub hurriedly took out a handful of banknotes and put them on the table. Pulling Ronald, he ran along the aisle to the entrance of the opposite theater, waiting for the audience to finish.

   In Joe Esposito's "You're the Best" closing track, the audience starts walking out in twos and threes.

The young people at the beginning of    began to walk and gesture the karate movements in the movie.

   "Huh, ah!" A boy in a T-shirt raised his hand and hit his companion with a "wall brushing".

   "Sweep the legs!" Not to be outdone, another young man squatted down and returned to the cobra dojo's despicable move, "Prepare the body bag!"

   "It's all lines from the movie, it's all lines from the movie", Weintraub was excited, he grabbed Ronald's sleeve and shook it.

   "Karate is here, not on the belt", another older one began to learn the lines of Master Miyagi and taught his two companions a lesson.

   "Waxing style! Floor style!" The two were unconvinced and started fighting around him.

   Ronald also let out a heavy sigh of relief. It seems that the effect is really good, and young people like to watch it.

   "Uncle, Uncle!"

   A voice started screaming behind him, and Ronald looked back. It was a man in a suit and leather shoes, who looked like a senior white-collar worker in the office, and wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

  He became independent on one foot, and then began to imitate Daniel's final trick to defeat Johnny, the "crane kick."

   "Uncle", he didn't know how to use force and imitated it badly, but he still enjoyed it.

   "We are saved." Ronald pulled Raventraub and pointed the white-collar to him.

"What did you say?"

   "I said our box office is guaranteed", Ronald pointed to the white-collar worker who had been bumping all the way. There are several people next to him, imitating crane kicks with him.

   "Why?" Weintraub looked at them blankly.

   Ronald smiled, this is not the target audience of the movie, young people, but senior white-collar workers who are very particular about their dress and demeanor.

   Even this kind of audience began to imitate the crane kick, which means that the whole story is very convincing, not only teenagers, but also adults will be moved, remembering the past in high school, right?

   Unlike "break dancing", it is an epoch-making dance that no one has ever seen, and most of the madness of the audience is brought about by that kind of dance.

   Martial arts movies like "Longwei Kid", the audience has seen a lot.

   From the earliest Bruce Lee's "Dragon Fight", there have been martial arts movies constantly being released over the years. The audience has seen much more exciting fights than this "crane kick".

   This time their madness about this action was obviously not out of admiration for the martial arts action itself, but the story really moved them.

   "I think your box office target can be greatly improved, and we will not fail."

   (end of this chapter)