Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 700 Longwei Kid 2 Premiere

   "Why are you lying to me?"

  In his new house in Staten Island, New York, Ronald's aunt Karen laughed and cursed at her boyfriend Eric.

The relationship between the two was developing very well. Eric relaxed his vigilance. When preparing to attend the premiere of Karen's nephew Ronald's new film "Longwei Kid 2", he leaked his mouth and said that he had no experience in the military. , Worked in a restaurant since childhood and dreamed of becoming a chef.

"I... As soon as I saw you, I felt that you were the one I spent the rest of my life with. I heard from my neighbors that your husband is a Vietnam War veteran, and you usually go to the Veterans Service to do volunteer work, so I wanted to pretend to be a veteran. Will spend time with you." Eric was nervous.

   "You don't have to do this at all, Eric. It's also my dream to be a chef. When I was a waiter in an Italian cafe, I was envious of the chef's salary being higher than ours... Hahaha"

   Aunt patted her boyfriend's arm and laughed, took the handbag handed over by the other party, and the two drove to the Siegfried Cinema in Manhattan.

  Although the center of the film industry is in Hollywood, the center of the media is in Manhattan, New York. Not only are most serious newspapers of national influence here, but a growing number of TV stations are moving their studios from Los Angeles to New York.

  America divides the time zone, and many times in New York on the east coast, breaking news can be grabbed earlier. While public television broadcasts nationally, the advantage of doing news programming in New York is growing, and the Midwest and West Coast television media have a tendency to rapidly slide into local programming.

   Therefore, the sequel to the martial arts movie that the children had been looking forward to for two years, the premiere of "Longwei Kid 2", was also placed in the largest cinema in Manhattan, the Siegfried Cinema.

   "Hi Susan!"

   Ronald found Weintraub's lover and assistant, Susan Eakins, in the hall by the entrance. She was also named the producer of the film and went to Oahu, Hawaii, to experience the shooting together.

  "Ronald", Susan came up and gave Ronald a face-to-face salute, "I'm so nervous, this is my first time as a de facto producer, and I hope it will be a big hit at the box office."

   "You should have confidence in me."

"Of course, of course, I mean...I mean if there is a problem with the box office, you shouldn't be blamed, after all, you've made a phenomenal film other than Top Gun. No...I don't mean to say that the box office will fail... "

   Susan became more and more nervous as she spoke, and her face turned red.

   "Ronnie, you're messing with Susan again." Weintraub saw Ronald coming and pretended to relieve his lover Susan.

   "There's a lot of media here today." Ronald looked around. Although it wasn't as good as a blockbuster starring stars, there were also quite a few reporters.

"The sequel to the big-selling movie should have reporters. If it was me, it would be twice as much." Weintraub pointed to Jiangshan and talked about what would happen if he was in charge of the announcement. Improve the work of publisher Columbia.

After all, he has already entered the high-level sequence of MGM/United Artists. The casino tycoon owner Kerkorian gave him a promise to first manage the United Artists label part. If the performance is good, he can also become the two labels. general manager.

"I heard you're preparing a romantic comedy? After filming teenagers, you're finally going to get involved in a more important part of your life?" Weintraub pulled Ronald into the VIP lounge and asked Ronald bluntly. 's new film.

   "Nisita told you? We're old friends, I'll be honest. MGM/United Arts suspended production a while ago, and you guys have resumed now?"

   "I'm working on it and will be back soon."

   "I am interested in Paramount and Disney now. I gave them two weeks to consider. If they say give up, we can talk. As for which label to put under..."

  The current MGM and United Arts have become a joint venture. Both labels have been acquired by Kerkorian, and in fact share a distribution channel. Many of the publishers who were axed in the middle were picked up by Fatty Minahan, who reorganized Cannon's distribution channels.

"It depends on which label you want, and you can put any one you want. I've been involved in the past two weeks, and the merger is still a bit unfinished. It turned out that MGM's executives were reluctant to give up their power, and it took me a lot of energy to negotiate. I will discuss the abolition and the merger one by one.

   The boss's energy is still mainly on the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas, so now the two companies have become de facto feudal lords, and I have to spend energy to deal with them.

   Actually, just bring me your script. You can use any label you want, and if you want an investment of less than 10 million yuan, I will do it in one sentence. "

   Ronald didn't expect Weintraub to have such high confidence in himself. Both Paramount and Disney needed to make an evaluation before making a decision. Weintraub looked very wealthy.

Looking at Ronald's expression, "Have you made a fortune?", Weintraub put his head close, "The matter of your screen fund inspired me. I also found a relationship with Wall Street and pulled a fund, It's called the Star Fund. They can contribute to any project that I give the green light to..."

   "Oh, they are willing to pay more than 10 million?"

That's where    Ronald's problem at Disney. Eisner specifically came to explain to Ronald. Screen funds have done market research before investing, and Hollywood has the highest average return on investment for small-cost productions, so they prefer low-cost (under $8 million by 1986 standards) investment projects.

   "As long as I invest, they can follow suit one-to-one, or even one-to-two."

   Oh, Ronald looked at Weintraub. It turns out that his gameplay and screen funds are not the same as Disney. Weintraub also has to invest his own real money, and the Star Fund is willing to play with him.

   Eisner’s game of financing all screen funds is based on his successful resume in the past ten years. Weintraub has stepped on the big prize in the past two years, and Wall Street still has some doubts about him.

   "Okay, thank you for your trust, Jerry. I'll hear back from them next week, and we'll talk later."

   "Okay, let's go out."

  …

   "Director! You're here!" Actress Tomita Tan Ling was participating in the premiere for the first time. She was very happy and nervous. She was wearing a kimono from the movie, and when she saw Ronald, she came over to say hello.

Ralph Mazio next to    is much more skilled. He and Morita Noriyuki dressed up as the characters in the movie, sang and chatted with reporters in the same tone as the characters in the movie.

   "Director Ronald, can you talk about the content of the sequel? Which parts are you most satisfied with?"

   "Will the audience like the sequel? What trick did you have for Ralph?"

  The reporter saw Ronald, left the two protagonists behind, and came to interview the director.

   "I think it's better for you to see for yourself instead of me answering. I won't give any spoilers.

   Actually a month after the release of the original film, the producer Mr. Weintraub and I started planning. I guarantee that this trick will also be very exciting, Master Miyagi will also be very powerful in Ryukyu, and Daniel will go further in karate practice. "

"Ronald, now Top Gun is still No. 2 at the box office, surpassing the new film 'Spring is not a school day' and only after Orion's 'Back to School', your sequel to 'Long Wei Kid' is released, will Are you worried about the box office conflict between the two?"

"I'm not worried, it's a great honor for the audience to like our movies. I think both movies are what they like, so that they can achieve good results. Besides, watching movies will not conflict at all, and audiences can watch Longwei Kid first. , and watch Top Gun again. Hahaha... This is the premiere of the second part of Longwei Kid, and it seems that other movies are not very good."

   "Hahaha..." The reporters also cooperated, laughing at Ronald's not so funny jokes.

   Everyone cooperated and entered the screening room. Ronald stayed to receive Aunt Karen and her boyfriend. The family sat together and watched the premiere happily.

  The movie is in the middle, and Kumiko is asked by Daniel where her dream is. The two were outside the electrical store and saw the scene of Antonia dancing alone in "Famous in the World".

  "Antonia", Aunt Karen recognized the ballerina and gave Ronald a deep look. Boyfriend Eric found out and asked, "What's wrong?"

   "It's okay", my aunt turned her head, the scene has passed.

  Daniel and Kumiko were sitting opposite each other in the log cabin, drinking green tea from Dongying. Daniel was obviously amazed by the kimono that Kumiko was wearing, and the two slowly approached for a kiss.

   "Ronald, doesn't Daniel have another Ali in Los Angeles? Are you going to arrange that girl to be his girlfriend?"

   Aunt Karen couldn't help it, she pulled Ronald's arm and asked her nephew to give her an answer.

   "This is a movie, and each movie must have a separate heroine, otherwise it's hard to write a script." Ronald explained.

   "Then what about your third part? Daniel will always return to China. I think Kumiko will also come to America to pursue her ballet dream. Which one do you think will be with Daniel?"

   "I haven't thought about this yet. Maybe it's a new heroine? It depends on how the screenwriter writes it, and who has a schedule in the end."

   Ronald did not expect that Aunt Karen was a die-hard movie fan of the "Longwei Kid" series, so she cared so much about the love life of the protagonist Daniel Sang.

   "Woo..."

   There was a strong wind on the screen, and a typhoon was coming. The plot quickly entered the third act. Aunt Karen no longer entangled the protagonist's emotional entanglements, turned her head back and watched it with relish. There must be a battle soon, and in the end, Daniel defeated a powerful opponent with a unique trick.

  Miyagi-sensei reconciled with his childhood friend Sato, but his apprentice Nagase couldn't accept it and challenged Daniel. He also slapped Kumiko, who was in love with an American, on the stage.

   "Oh...why even beat girls." Aunt Karen exclaimed.

  Daniel accepts the challenge and fights Changshan.

  Daniel has only learned karate in the arena, and he is obviously inferior to Chang Shan, who is practicing karate for actual combat purposes.

   In order to defeat his opponent, Daniel also used the unique trick in the first part, "Crane Kick!"

   As a result, Changshan, who was prepared, caught Daniel's crane kick with his hand, put him on the ground with a throw, and kicked him twice.

  The embarrassed Daniel tumbled to his feet and looked at Miyagi-sensei. Every time Daniel has no confidence, Miyagi-sensei is his greatest source of confidence.

   Miyagi looked serious, once the opponent was prepared, he couldn't use it unexpectedly, so it wouldn't be a trick. He took out a rattle, held it with both hands, and shook it loudly.

  Sato, a childhood friend, also joined the group, took out a rattle from his clothes and shook it. Immediately everyone followed suit, and a group of people were shaking their rattles, making a neat thumping sound.

The sound of    reached Daniel's ears, and he remembered Miyagi's teachings. In yin-yang karate, like a rattle, the waist should be the axis, and the two arms are like the two drumsticks of a rattle, driven by the waist to defend and attack at the same time.

   With the unique trick of "Continuous elimination and attacking", Daniel can use one hand to defend Changshan's punch, while the other hand is driven by his waist to counterattack.

  Daniel was the first to break through Changshan's fierce attack, and finally knocked the angry and angry Changshan to the ground.

  Jangsun was beaten too weak to fight back and lay on the ground. Daniel was ready to attack, and a heavy punch opened in front of him.

   "Do you want to live or die?" Daniel asked.

   "You beat me to death." Chang Shan closed his eyes and waited to die.

   "Wrong, martial arts is not for bullying others." Daniel turned his fist into a finger and slapped Chang Shan's nose hard.

  Kumiko came up and hugged Daniel.

   "Oh oh oh..." The audience was moved by the ending of this climax, wonderful action scenes, exquisite exotic scenery and costumes, and finally a philosophical thought.

   They started to stand up and applaud.

   Peter Settra's song "Glory of Love", played in time.

   "The End" The end appeared on the screen, then went black, and the subtitles started to go up again.

   The lyrics and vocals of this theme song are the lead vocalist and bassist of the original "Chicago" band.

   Last year he started flying solo. This song was originally going to participate in the bidding for the theme song of Stallone's "Rocky 4". At the call of the film's music director Bill Conti, it was used as the theme song for "Dragon Power Boys Part 2".

The   Chicago band has been famous in America for a long time, and many parents who come to the movies are their fans.

   They even started singing together as they watched the subtitles slowly rise.

   "It seems to work well." It was the first time Ronald saw the audience so excited about the premiere, he said hello to Aunt Karen, or went to the bathroom to eavesdrop on the audience's reaction.

   "Please help us fill in the rating."

   "Please help us fill in the rating."

  The audience was blocked at the door. It turned out to be the “Cinemascore” company hired by Colombia to conduct an export score survey.

   "Did you also randomly sample the whole country this time? When will the results be available?" Ronald asked the staff member.

   "Hello, Director. Yes, this is also a random sample survey of cities across the country, and the results will be available tomorrow morning."

   (end of this chapter)