Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

The audience at the premiere of "Die Hard 2" was packed.When they saw the opening scene at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., where New York Detective John McClain received a phone call from his wife from the plane, they all burst into cheers and began to applaud.

"They seem to like this movie very much?" Diane asked Ronald quietly.

"They loved the characters in the movie..." Ronald laughed and shook his head.The first Die Hard movie is a masterpiece and the audience's love for its leading man is palpable.John McClain seemed to represent the crisis that any middle-class American could encounter.

His wife earns more than he does, and the marriage in two places is in crisis.The children go to school with their mothers and are not as close to themselves as they used to be.Bosses and colleagues, as well as service personnel in society as a whole, are always at odds with themselves.

There are also various emerging high technologies, especially computers and mobile phones, which have given these middle-aged white-collar workers who have just become accustomed to answering machines another learning crisis.The experience they have accumulated seems to be rapidly depreciating with the advancement of technology. The old experience is no longer useful. The 35-year-old middle-level people are not as good as the young people who have just graduated and can play with computers...

Therefore, at the beginning of "Die Hard 2", when Mike even got a parking ticket and was given a ticket, the audience was worried that his struggle in the first film would be fruitless in the end.

When Holly, played by Bonnie Bedelia, called Mike Lian with love on her face, the audience was relieved and put down their worries.Although McClain still doesn't understand faxes or satellite phones on airplanes, his old experience can still defeat terrorists and win back his wife's love.

However, gradually, the audience began to become quiet, and then some people began to whisper to each other, and some even went to the toilet.

Ronald sighed, the sequel was far less attractive to the audience than the first one.

The most important reason for this is probably that John McClane in the sequel is no longer in danger of his life like in the first film, and every time he successfully gains some upper hand over terrorists, he will be praised. Move back in for Hans (starring Alan Rickman), the smartest villain ever.

McClain in this sequel is more like a Rambo-style lone hero. He is omnipotent and has no disadvantages, so the audience is not so worried about him.

The reasons for this are complicated, including the rising star status of Bruce Willis and his stronger bargaining power for scripts.There are also factors in which the new director does not have enough authority and cannot control the overall situation.

But the most important reason is undoubtedly the collusion between producers Joel Silver and Bruce Willis, plus the indulgence caused by Ronald not keeping a close eye on the crew. Fox makes money.

How to film big scenes so that you can make money, and how to film product placements conveniently.

For example, at Dulles Airport, when Bruce Willis answered the phone, he deliberately revealed the trademark on the pay phone, which belonged to Pacific Bell.

But this connection was too rough. Pacific Bell was a branch that focused on California business on the West Coast after Bell was split. How could it go to Washington, D.C., on the East Coast to develop business?
And when John McClane was tracking the whereabouts of terrorists with the help of a degenerate ex-engineer and a homeless man, in order to advertise a cordless drill, he even arranged a special event to use it to remove the grille of the exhaust channel. play.

"Huh? Where's the cordless drill?" I saw that one second Bruce Willis was taking off his sweater to start a big fight, and the next second he took off the grille of the exhaust channel and threw it aside.

"Did you cut out the electric drill?" Ronald was sweating. Although they only paid $15 for a few seconds of footage, you couldn't just cut out the electric drill?Do you still have the spirit of contract?
Ronald raised his wrist and looked at his watch. The first act had been delayed to 43 minutes. It seemed that in order to keep up with the schedule, the film was poorly completed.

The movie was delayed because Bruce Willis was getting special treatment, going on vacation with his family, and Joel Silver was doing a lot of big scenes just to make money.The premiere, originally scheduled for late June, has been postponed to Independence Day.

Even so, time was still very tight, so the editing was rushed and many things were not considered thoroughly.

After the show ended, Ronald still noticed that many people didn't stay in the cinema for long and walked out quickly.

But the movie, which opened ahead of the Independence Day holiday on Wednesday, did much better at the box office than Ronald expected.

Originally, movies were generally released on Friday, but with Independence Day, they were released early during the holiday. For this early release, the distribution department of [-]th Century Fox did a lot of work.

They broke the original distribution rule of releasing on Friday, contacted various theaters, and grabbed more than 600 theaters from those sequel movies that were disappointing at the box office. On Wednesday and Thursday, they grabbed 960 million box office results.

"Hey, are they really relying on this big weekend?"

Ronald saw this box office statistics on a weekend morning.During the screening period that officially started on Friday night, 500th Century Fox booked more than [-] theaters, squeezing Tom Cruise's "Thunder and Thunder" into non-prime time slots.

"But it seems that the movie reviews are not very good..." Richard pointed to the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, two of America's most famous film critic columns.

Both Roger Ebert and Gene Sisco were heavily publicized, pinching their noses and giving the film a three-and-a-half-star rating (out of four stars).

Ebert gave the movie a category called "bruised forearm movies," because by the time the movie is over, your forearm will be bruised and bruised from your date's constant clutching of it during tense moments.

After praising some of the movie's big scenes, especially the final duel on the plane, Albert couldn't help but start complaining.It is said that the plot lacks logic, and Holly is deliberately placed on the plane to create suspense.

He also said that the terrorists were exaggerated too much at the beginning, but after being attacked by Mac Company, they collapsed too quickly, which is illogical.

"I think there will be problems with word-of-mouth..." Ronald expressed his worries. Everyone in the cinema was not paying attention, and many viewers talked and went to the toilet during the movie. What percentage of the audience would watch a movie like this? What about recommending it to their relatives and friends?

……

By Monday, the box office statistics were in. The box office of "Die Hard 2" this weekend is over 2000 million, which seems to be much higher than the over 1000 million of "Thunderbolt".But if you subtract the 900 million that was screened two days in advance, then the opening weekend of "Die Hard" is just ordinary, not much higher than the opening weekend of "Thunderbolt."

This can also be clearly seen by examining the single-theater box office of the two movies. "Die Hard 2" took in $600 in its first weekend, while "Thunderbolt" took in $[-] million.

If the box office decline of "Die Hard 2" in the second week is the same as that of "Thunderbolt", which exceeds 30%, then it will be difficult for this sequel with a production cost of more than 8000 million to make back its money at the domestic box office. .

"The production cost of the sequel to Die Hard was 200 million. Any claim exceeding this figure is nonsense!"

Faced with such box office pressure, [-]th Century Fox executives came out to put out the fire.

The production costs of a movie do not need to be fully and transparently disclosed like the quarterly reports of listed companies.Nowadays, a large number of major Hollywood commercial productions will set up an independent project company. The biggest advantage of this is that it can control risks. Even if the movie loses a lot, it will not affect the operations of the parent company.

Another big benefit is that in financial accounting, some costs can be hidden or exaggerated. In this way, the listed parent company can use the "creatively adjusted" accounting figures and integrate them into the listed company's statements.

The most famous recent example of this is Warner Bros., whose "Batman" revenue is not enough to cover production costs.Such a world-famous box-office success was made, but after a long period of trouble, it still lost money in the end.However, there is "Batman" that adjusted the production cost upward, and there is also "Die Hard 2" that adjusted the production cost downward.

Unlike Warner Bros., where Terry Tramel has a stable position, [-]th Century Fox does not have such a strong president.The princes from all over the world show their talents and seek favors from the chairman, Australian Rupert.

Then, the return on investment of a major production is the most important KPI assessment indicator.

Whether the production cost of a movie is 6000 or 8000 million, or more than [-] million, in terms of assessment, it is the difference between profit and loss, that is, the difference between whether the person in charge should be promoted or fired.

You must know that this "Die Hard 2" is a sequel to a successful work with a high probability of making money...

……

Ronald doesn't care about this. The stars who went to the premiere of "Die Hard 2" last week will come back this week to support the premiere of "The Last Days" directed by Ronald.

Especially Bruce Willis, it was the first time for him to attend the premiere of a commercial film starring his wife after marrying Demi Moore.

Although the two are very loving, Demi Moore always feels that she is inferior at home.After all, before "Die Hard 2" was released, Bruce Willis had already received script offers with a salary of more than [-] million US dollars.

And what about her?I am still earning a pitiful salary of 200 million US dollars. In comparison, I can't even speak loudly at home.

"Ronald, how is the attendance today?" At the premiere, Demi Moore came over to ask Ronald secretly after dealing with reporters.

She was most unsure about this movie. Not to mention Ronald's historical achievements, the male lead Patrick Schwytz also had many blockbuster movies under his belt, and this was her first promising movie with a female protagonist after giving birth. .

"How do I know? Do you think I can count the ticket sales of all movie theaters in America in real time?" Ronald felt that Demi Moore was also a little crazy. What she wanted most was to be a first-class female star. Seeing such a With the opportunity in front of me, those who are mentally unbalanced don’t know what to think.

"Relax, come and say hello to the guests." Ronald pointed to the luxury car he had just arrived. On top of it were Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.The latter also competed with Demi Moore for the role of Molly.

"Demi...I heard you did a good job in this movie..." Sure enough, Nicole Kidman would not let go of this opportunity, and she and her boyfriend Tom Cruise also acted in "Thunderbolt". Released by Paramount.

However, there is a relatively large gap in the treatment received by Paramount for the two movies.On the one hand, there is a star like Tom Cruise who has absolute box office appeal. According to Cinema Score’s survey, he is a man who can make audiences enter the cinema just for him.

As for the two male and female protagonists of "The Last Days", one is a well-known star of B-movies, and the other, although well received, has no history of being a heroine in movies that are box office hits. Although Ronald is the director, he is When it comes to things like film arrangement, we don’t get much initiative.

Movie scheduling is a very uncontroversial matter.No matter how famous you are or how well the critics evaluate your acting skills, the biggest influence on the box office and audience attendance is the star.

Moreover, "Thunderbolt" is a successful copy of the formula (Tom Cruise + blond professional beauty + dangerous big machine), and "The Last Day" is another pure love film that has not been seen in many years.Due to the insistence of theater chains and theater managers, Paramount could not give Ronald more preferential treatment.

"Yeah...it's all Ronald's training...I listen to him on everything on the set..."

"Ahem, let's go in..." When Ronald saw the two female stars, they started to fight again. Demi Moore clearly said that she was the winner chosen by Ronald, but you and Nicole Kidman were not. He is a defeated general.

"Hahaha, is racing so interesting? I also want to find one or two to drive." The two boyfriends (husbands) over there were having a pleasant chat.

"I tell you, the most important thing about driving a racing car is not to listen to the stunt directors and coaches. They all said that I can't do those car stunts by myself..." Tom Cruise absolutely loves racing and speed.

"Then what did you do?"

"I changed to a stunt coordinator..."

"Hahaha……"

After the two chatted, they happily took their female companion away and walked into the Beverly Hills Cinema where the premiere was held.Ronald took a deep breath and looked at Diane, "I didn't expect them to be dissatisfied with each other..."

"Hahaha, what you said is really interesting, Ronnie." Star Diane tightened Ronald and pressed his whole body against him.

……

"Woooooooo..."

During the movie, no one in the audience went to the toilet.In the end, Sam kissed Molly goodbye, turned around and walked into the light from heaven. After entering the place where he should go, the audience burst into tears.Many female viewers cried out.

This director is so annoying. Such a touching boyfriend, even turning into a ghost and going to heaven, doesn't want to protect his girlfriend from being targeted by bad guys in the world.Why can't there be a happy ending in the end?
After the post-screening sharing session, Ronald and Diane slipped out of the premiere hall and went to other theaters to see the effects of other screenings.

What is incredible is that the long queue outside the bathroom door is unprecedented for Ronald in all his years of working.

Especially the women's restroom, where the average time for each person to enter is more than double that of a normal movie.The pacing of this movie is very good, and the one who comes out to use the bathroom in the middle is unique.

Moreover, almost all the female audience members did not talk to their friends like the audience members who had just left the venue. They all covered their faces and remained silent.

In addition to going to the restroom normally, they have to touch up their makeup in front of the big mirror inside.This damn movie is so uncomfortable that it breaks people's defenses in the end.And why is that damn song so tear-jerking?
"Ha ha ha ha……"

Only Ronald laughed in the crowd. He was glared at by the audience who were still sad that the hero and heroine missed their true love. He quickly pulled Diane and ran away.

As soon as he got in the car, Ronald called the head of Paramount's distribution department, "I'm Ronald, should I give up the theaters of 'Thunderbolt' and 'Another 48 Hours'?" Already?"