Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 702 The top five in the box office rankings account for two

   The box office results of the first weekend were immediately sent to Ronald. "Longwei Kid Part II" topped the box office charts. With 1,300 theaters, the weekend grossed 13 million, the best opening weekend for any of Ronald's films.

  Happiness comes suddenly.

   On Sunday night at his new home on Staten Island, Ronald celebrated with his aunt and her boyfriend, along with the island's teen, Douglas Hansen Jr. Aunt's boyfriend, Eric, cooked a great dinner, and everyone enjoyed it.

  After dinner, Ronald received a call from Weintraub, informing him that "Longwei Kid Part 2" was about to top the box office charts. Little Douglas took a large bottle of champagne from home and opened it to celebrate.

   "Hope our new movie goes as well, cheers!"

   Little Doug's annuity in the family fund has been expanded five times by his grandfather. He has more money to put into Hollywood.

  Ronal led the "moonlight sultry", so he asked him to do financing, and the two agreed to invest together after signing the issuance contract.

   "Your Top Gun is still in the top three, right?" Little Douglas asked.

   "Fourth, the two new films are still very strong. But I am quite satisfied. The box office of the movie "Top Gun" is very amazing, and now the weekly box office decline rate is less than 5%"

   Ronald said to everyone after hearing the news.

   "Top Gun" has a very good box office stamina, and in the sixth week, there is still a weekend box office of nearly 6 million. The total box office will soon exceed 70 million.

   This phenomenon is actually a good omen. The last movie with such a strong box office was Spielberg's "ET Alien".

   Maybe what the two films did right, Ronald couldn't figure it out for a while, so he could only make a summary after the box office analysis data came out.

   "Is that the Deborah Winger and Robert Redford movie?" asked Douglas Jr.

"Yes, that's right."

The second box office is "French Open Condor". They got about the same number of theaters as "Longwei Kid Part II", but their single-house box office is only about two-thirds of Longwei's, and the final revenue is 800 million box office.

  The third place is the comedy movie "Back to School". In the second week of its release, the weekend box office of 1600 homes is not as high as that of the French Open Condor. Like most neurocomedies, the rate of box office decline is not bad.

   The fourth place is "Top Gun", which has been released for six weeks,

   In addition to the fifth place, John Hughes's "Spring is not a day for reading", Ronald alone accounted for two of the top five in the weekend box office charts.

   "When was the last time such a grand event happened?" Little Douglas was very satisfied with Ronald, his friend, and he did not forget to take himself to invest when he became famous. There are some compliments between the words.

   "Spielberg, Lucas is in a lot of situations. Don't do this." Ronald smiled and gave his small shoulder.

   Little Douglas made an exaggerated gesture of falling, and then the two laughed.

   "I watched the condor of the French Open, and I always felt that the stars were a bit redundant, and the case was also very complicated. I didn't understand it the first time I watched it, and only wanted to understand it the second time I watched it."

   Little Douglas is also very concerned about Hollywood movies now, and he always has to watch new movies when they are released. In this way, there is also some talk in the circle chat.

   "I don't know you yet, but to see Deborah Wenger and Daryl Hannah more."

   "Why do you think of me so badly", Douglas Jr. made a look of injury, "Actually, I've watched a lot of movies now and know some basic plots. This movie always makes me guess what's going to happen next.

   When I saw Redford, I knew that he would be a justice prosecutor, and there was no lack of humor, and beautiful women were all in their arms. When I saw Wenger, I knew she was a smart beauty..."

   "There is indeed this problem, and I found it too. But this movie was funded by starring stars."

   "Will the sultry moonlight also change the role to match the image of the star in order to win the star?"

   "I don't think so, because this movie is centered on the heroine. Now there is still a gap between the influence of female stars and male stars, and I don't want to find a famous star to play the male lead."

   Little Douglas took another bottle of whiskey, and the two continued to drink. He ended up sleeping in the guest room of Ronald's house.

  …

   "Ronnie, your phone number seems to be your manager looking for you." Aunt's boyfriend made him a hearty breakfast the next day.

   "Thank you, Eric." Ronald took the call.

  The call was from the agent, Nisita. He received numerous calls to congratulate Ronald in the morning, and then the two picked out some that had to be answered in person and asked Ronald to call back.

   Ronald didn’t want his private life in New York to be disturbed, so Nisita and the others also temporarily served as Ronald’s manual operator.

   "Congratulations from Paramount's Ned Tanin, asking when you're back in LA this week to talk to you about a new release.

  Disney's production director Katzenberg is also calling, are you interested in attending the premiere of The Wicked Man, which you are producing this weekend, in Los Angeles.

   There are several male stars who have personal relationships with him and Eisner who want to work with you, and want to meet you at the premiere and have a chat. "

   "Who?"

   "Michael Douglas, and Australia's Mel Gibson."

"Okay, I'll go back in the middle of the week." Ronald and the two male stars are both nodding acquaintances. Since they want to see themselves, it seems that "Top Gun" played a role in Tom Cruise's star status, Make them very interested in chatting with their director who can hold a popular male star.

   Besides, Helen must also attend the premiere. The box office of this movie may not be very good, so I have to console myself.

"John Hughes also called to congratulate you. After Molly Ringwald leaves him, he plans to transform into adult comedy, and a script he wrote before was a gender-reversed version of 'Beautiful Pink', now looking for If you don’t see the director, I will ask you if you have a candidate to recommend.”

   "Where's his friend?"

   "It is said that he said he couldn't find a heroine like Molly Ringwald, so he wouldn't start filming, and Hughes fired him."

   "Where can I find a director who is good at making youth films?" Ronald replied. Hughes is a bit similar to himself. They are all outsiders who broke into Hollywood and are relatively productive, so they have not formed their own team for the time being, and are in the state of projects and others.

   "Finally your former boss, Roger Coleman, called to congratulate."

   "Hey? Why did he think of me? Could it be that the second part didn't make him unhappy with his cameo appearance? I'll call him back."

   Ronald put down the phone and dialed Coleman first.

   "Ronald, congratulations, you must invite me to make a cameo in the third part. I feel that I played the host of the karate tournament very well. My wife likes my performance very much."

   Sure enough, Roger Coleman started talking about his cameo appearance.

"Hahaha, definitely. The sequel has not yet started to be considered. The energy of producer Weintraub is now more focused on his business as an MGM/United Artists executive. The third part looks like Not so fast."

   "You just need to remember me, and you have to have a cameo with me in the next movie."

   "The next story I'll do is Italian, Roger, you're Jewish."

   "What's the matter, when people get to a certain age, they will look more and more like Italian. Don't forget that I also had a cameo in the second part of The Godfather."

   "Okay, okay, I'll leave you with a fun character then."

   Ronald joked with Coleman and asked him what else he was doing.

  It was odd that Coleman had called in such a hurry. In addition to the release of his debut film, Coleman specially invited him to dinner to congratulate him. For the following films, Coleman did not choose to call after the results of the first weekend were released.

"I just wanted to congratulate you, you have found the secret to making commercial movies that sell well. Before I saw that you often chose different themes, I was a little worried. Now that your sequel has been shot so well, I feel that you will be able to become a director in the future. Great future."

   Ronald sighed, why is Roger Coleman's requirements so strict? Even Top Gun didn't see him satisfied, but he filmed the second part of Longwei Kid, and he looked even more satisfied.

  Roger Coleman explained what he meant.

   This is Ronald's first sequel, and it uses the same formula as the first. Daniel is in a relationship with a girl, and a rival wants to stop him and humiliate him for some reason. After the special training of Master Miyagi, starting from an inconspicuous small place, introducing the unique trick of philosophical thinking, and finally defeated the opponent and returned as a beauty.

   This shows that Ronald has mastered the successful formula of certain types of films. Roger Coleman has seen a lot of short-lived directors who go into obscurity when their natural talent runs out. And Ronald has jumped out of the way to make movies by talent, and now he can eat movies for a lifetime.

   "Hey, thanks, Roger. Yours must be the happiest thing for me."

   Ronald was very happy to hear Coleman say that, and he didn't feel underestimated at all. That's the way to green-light a movie project from the audience's point of view, from the producer's point of view. Roger Coleman's experience may be a little out of date, but his methods are worth studying.

   "Am I one of the best graduates of Coleman Film University, Roger? Am I number one among the youngest graduates?"

   "Your box office number one, artistic achievement is not."

   "Huh? This makes me so sad. Is there anyone more accomplished than me? Who? Is that Jim? I'm surprised that I'm not number one in your mind?"

  Ronald was having a good time chatting and joking with his former boss.

"Your business acumen and imagination are of course number one, and even Jim is not your match at the box office." Roger Coleman chatted with Ronald, still treating the script assistant in the company the same way he used to. Neither disdain communication because of Ronald's low status back then, nor compliment because of the success of Ronald now.

   "However, in terms of the pinnacle of cinematography and the proficiency of your directing skills, I still prefer the other person.

   You know, Ronald. The films I make myself and the films I enjoy are two completely different things.

  I shoot low-budget horror films, but I like to watch films by Swedish Bergman and Toyo Akira Kurosawa, who are skilled and capable masters. Among the directors of America who have worked in the New World, Coppola and Scorsese have more control over movies than you. "

   "Hahaha, you are really showing no mercy to me." Ronald laughed, and Coleman compared him to the master, which was actually a compliment.

   "By the way, who is that Coleman University graduate who is better than me? Does he have any works?"

"Hey... he's not as lucky as you, Ronald. Jonathan has his own ideas for making movies, and the movies he made are all good, but the first big commercial Hollywood production, he screwed up with the stars. The final heroine song Dee Hahn gave the studio a choice, and he got kicked out.

   I haven’t made a movie for several years now.

   By the way, do you know the biggest difference between you and him? His directing work is actually very good, but why do you succeed and he fails. "

"why?"

   "Because his movies don't make money! Hollywood can tolerate a lot of faults in directors, lustful, morally corrupt, fond of manipulating others, and love to make money from projects, all of which can be tolerated. There is only one that does not make money, which is a capital offense.

  Hold on, don't make unprofitable movies in the future. "

   "Thank you for your advice, Roger."

  Ronald put down the phone, he understood one thing, Coleman was a little worried that after his continuous commercial success, he also began to learn the mistakes of other directors, and he wanted to make some art films to promote his ideas.

   "Actually, when I chose the director project, I didn't consider any artistic value and sales concept, so I didn't choose it in my dreams."

   Ronald smiled and picked up the phone again, calling the next person on the return list.

   "Oh, I forgot to ask Roger, what is that Jonathan's name. If there is a chance, brothers and sisters can share some resources.

  Well, but it sounds like he likes to make art films, which may not be suitable for him, so I’ll ask Coleman when I get a chance next time. "

   (end of this chapter)