Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 826 Box office champion for three consecutive weeks

  Michael Jackson's travel permit, which is short-term temporary, soon expires. He took some of the pictures Ronald took of him and returned to Hong Kong contentedly to continue his album tour in Asia.

  Ronald's visa is a special permit to continue traveling in China. In addition to his long-standing friendly relationship with China and his contribution to foreign exchange earnings, Ronald's reputation in China's film circle has now reached its highest point.

   The reason is very simple. After his "break dance" was officially introduced, a dance craze was set off from south to north.

   "I don't understand why my film can get such praise here? I didn't even think that this film would be introduced by you."

   Ronald went to Xujiahui again and had a small gathering with Director Huang and Gong Yan. He brought some photos of Xiao Yan at Stanton Community University in New York, which made Engineer Yan very happy.

   Having eaten Xiaolongbao and Sanhuang Chicken with Di An, Ronald finally expressed his doubts to Director Huang.

  Although he did not get any financial benefits from the release of "Break Dance" in China, what this reputation brought him was to walk anywhere in China without hindrance. As long as others know that he is the director of "breakdance", they will be more enthusiastic to help him with various procedures that were difficult to do.

   It is no exaggeration to say that Ronald was the most famous Hollywood director in China in 1987. Whether it's George Lucas for Star Wars or Richard Donner for Superman, none of them have the reputation of Ronald.

   And because of his surname Lee (Lee), there are still many more and more outrageous rumors, saying that Ronald's ancestors are Chinese and descended from America, but they did not forget their roots and came back to invest and set up factories.

   "Probably because your ancestors are Chinese!"

One of    Director Huang's best friend, an actress in the Actors Troupe of Xujiahui Film Studio, Xiao Pan made a joke about Ronald.

   "Hahaha..." Ronald laughed and declined to comment on this rumor. He also explained it to Di An, who was so happy eating xiaolongbao, so happy that she almost squirted out the juice.

"Seriously, your breakdance filming is really enjoyable. 'Popular Movies' are all introduced with a big picture of the middle seam." Xiao Pan has Western blood, looks with a high nose and deep eyes, and has the soft beauty of a Chinese woman. Perfect for being a movie actor.

Ronald made a new issue of the popular movie magazine that she handed over, and cut out "Break Dance" in the middle seam of Ma, Whirlwind, and Cindy in yoga clothes, leg warmers, dancing poses, and in them On the side of the dance, the plot of the movie and the popularity of breakdance in the 1984 Olympics were introduced in Chinese.

Finally, the editor also has a small note, introducing director Ronald, and talking about writing tidbits, specifically about director Ronald, who is friendly to China. He was moved by the performance of the women's volleyball team at the 1984 Olympic Games and became a woman's volleyball team. Loyal fans so much.

   "Can I keep this magazine for me?" Ronald asked. Seeing Xiao Pan nod, he put the magazine into his bag. The film magazine, with a monthly circulation of more than 2 million copies, is the largest circulation among similar magazines in the world. It can be used on the middle seam version, and it is also of commemorative value to collect it.

   "Actually, in addition to the good-looking movie, you have to thank the studio. It wasn't their job. This movie couldn't have been seen by the national audience." Director Huang reminded Ronald seriously.

"Then I'll invite them to dinner. All the colleagues of the translation studio, can you help me arrange it?" Ronald said in his heart, not only the movie audience in China couldn't see it, but also if he didn't have the dubbed version of his dream, Audiences in other parts of the world may see another version.

  In the Huating Hotel next to the film studio, Ronald entertained the employees of the translation studio. Anyone who participated in the dubbing of "Breakdance" was given the opportunity to eat in a box with Ronald. Two round tables full of voice actors from these translation studios were invited to dinner for the first time by the director of the original film dubbed by them.

   "You are in Hollywood, will you be targeted by the capitalists when you make such a proletarian movie?" The voice of the heroine Lucinda Dickie is Xiao Ding, a woman with short hair.

   "What?" Ronald didn't understand and pretended to ask the translator.

   "This, in fact, I didn't think about these when I was shooting. This is just a story of a street dancer in Los Angeles who worked hard to participate in dance competitions."

   "Actually, Director Luo's story was not written from this angle, right?" The role of the agent for the three protagonists was dubbed by a talking old boy. His voice was very young and had a dashing taste.

   Laotong ate sausages and jellyfish on his own, "But Director Luo, your movie was able to be imported into China, thanks to the movie about the poor people who were targeted by the upper-class exploiting class."

   "Although the streets are now full of children learning to break dance, there are still many scenes in the movie that reflect the poor people of America. Director Luo must be on their side, don't you think, Director Luo?"

   Xiaoding has a relatively high consciousness. Her interpretation of the film, dance is completely a carrier, and the story itself is about the ubiquitous exploitation of America. The poor had no place to sleep, and blacks and Latinos practiced dancing in wooden houses.

   "The poor people in America have a tape recorder, and they can eat that kind of Kentucky hometown chicken." The old boy still said a couple of strange words from time to time, and most of the time he cared about eating.

"Well, I just think that people in China are very talented, your kids who break dance on the street, go to New York and Los Angeles are also first-class and very creative, which is completely different from Dongying. Ronald made no comment on this, smiling and asking everyone to eat more food.

  Ronald also understands that his film reflects the very difficult plot of the poorest blacks, Latinos, and disabled people in Los Angeles, who are despised by mainstream whites when they are climbing upwards. This is probably the most important reason why "Break Dance" will be introduced and screened by Hua Guo.

   However, the unexpected popularity of the film among the audiences in the north and south of China has little to do with this. It is completely the explosive dance form of breakdance, which conquers the audience.

   Even Huaguo, who was criticized for disco a few years ago, was shocked and speechless when he saw this epoch-making dance. So much so that young people across the country, whether urban or rural, are practicing.

"Director Luo, I heard that there is a sequel to breakdance, is it your director? I think the response is good, maybe we will continue to introduce it, or put it in our factory for dubbing." Xiao Liu, wearing a turtleneck sweater, spoke more gently. , asked Ronald.

"The sequel is not directed by me, and it doesn't have much connotation. You can ask the American Film Society or the Cannon Company." Ronald thought, there are many scenes of nurses dancing in **** short skirts in the sequel, I guess you are will not be imported.

Just like his new film "Dancing Hot", Patrick Schwytz and Jennifer Gray also have sensual dance and bed scenes, and Ronald, who was originally planning to release it to the mainland, understood the inside story of the introduction of breakdance , completely lost his mind.

  …

   "How's the movie market here?" After quieting down, Ronald had the opportunity to chat with Director Huang about the recent Chinese movie market.

   "The distribution of popular movies is on the decline, falling by almost half from the peak. Now some families with financial ability are buying TV sets, which has a relatively large impact on the box office of movies.

   However, our distribution system is also being reformed. Recently, many commercial films have been released, and many viewers like to watch them. "

"America also had a moment when TV had an impact on movies." Ronald thought to himself, it seems that the film association's idea of ​​making money in China depends on the box office growth brought about by economic development, and Which of the two is faster than the TV set grabbing the movie market?

   "Are there any good movies now?" Ronald was a little curious about the commercialization of Chinese movies and the phenomenon of genre films, and he also wanted to see what commercial films were like here.

   "Recently there is a 'Last Crazy', which is very good. If you want to watch it, I will accompany you."

   Ronald found a tour guide for Diane to travel to the Bund, and he and Director Huang bought two movie tickets to go to Daguang to watch the recent hit "The Last Madness".

   "Can this police and gangster film be filmed like this?"

   After watching this movie, Ronald's face was full of incredible looks.

  It is different from the basically solidified police and bandit routines of Hollywood genre films. All the films here have a kind of vitality, and the imagination of the creators is very unexpected, which makes Ronald gnashing his teeth.

  The role of the detective in Hollywood movies, even if the marriage fails and is suppressed by the superiors, but they all appear as a hero. And the scout in the northern coastal city in this movie is actually troubled by many trivial things in life, like an ordinary person.

   They hunted down fugitives, and they had to buy their own train tickets and crowded the trains. When they arrived in the big cities in the south, they were exhausted.

   And they came to the south from the northern city, because the country is too big and the culture is different, they also made a lot of jokes.

  Ronald feels that, just like the east and west coasts of America, the north and south here, there are also jokes that laugh at each other's stereotypes.

  In any case, it is unprecedented to make the detectives into ordinary office workers, and at a critical moment, let them show their extraordinary reasoning ability and the spirit of heroic fighting against criminals. This kind of plot arrangement is unprecedented and very interesting.

   "Who directed this? Who is the screenwriter?" Ronald asked Director Huang.

   "This is a new film from the Northwest Factory, and their director Wu will give newcomers a chance."

   "Director Wu? I know, I still have his phone number." Ronald thought, it turned out to be Director Wu who won the grand prize in Tokyo.

   When he arrived at the Huating Hotel, Ronald enjoyed the privileges of a foreign guest hotel. He could use the program-controlled telephone to make long-distance calls directly.

   "Hello, Director Wu? I'm Ronald."

   "Ah, Director Luo, why did the operator say you were calling from Xu Jiahui?"

"I'm here, it's a private visit. I just watched your 'Final Madness', it's very interesting, can I ask who wrote and directed? And, if possible, can Can't give me a script, I study it."

   "What's wrong with that? We happened to have someone on a business trip to bring you the script. The director is newcomer ZhouXiaoWen, and the screenwriter is also newly transferred by us, called LuWei."

   "Thank you, thank you."

   "When will Director Luo come to us, I will arrange for you to see the Terracotta Warriors."

   "This time is in a hurry, next time must go."

   A colleague from the Northwest Factory on a business trip brought Ronald the script of "The Last Madness". Ronald said that he would find someone to translate it into English to communicate with his Hollywood counterparts. This made the colleague in the Northwest factory straighten his waist a lot.

   said he was looking for someone to translate, but Ronald started to read it on the flight back to Los Angeles.

  Speaking of which, this young screenwriter is very good. Although the plot is very immature and there are some small problems in the rhythm, the imagination and the overall structure actually have the thinking of a typical Hollywood commercial screenwriter.

   There are also characters such as detectives, jumping out of the old ways of Hollywood roles for many years, and innovating a new kind of character image exploration. Ronald felt that he was also inspired a lot by watching it.

  …

   Back home in Los Angeles, Ronald took a day off of jet lag and called a meeting with the top executives of Daydream Pictures.

   Just as he went to sell copies in East Asia, Michelle Cannold took copies to sell in Europe.

"The country and Spain, Italy, have overbooked the original agreement. The film's box office performance in America really surprised them. All the distributors that have signed an intentional agreement with us are overbooked by 150%. copy.

The best is West Germany, except for the studios in Munich, Dortmund, Born, etc., one city in West Berlin, has ordered more copies than all other places combined, I don't know how they can digest so much copy. It is indeed a showcase for the Western camp. "

   Ronald smiled, Cannold obviously didn't understand the tricks inside. The copies ordered in West Berlin will be smuggled to East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and other countries of the Eastern bloc through the channels below.

Except for Yugoslavia and other Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain, apart from the 10 or so official films introduced every year (and half of them are cheap old films from ten years ago), they basically buy the latest films from the underground film wholesale market in East Berlin. Make copies and play them in movie theaters there. In recent years, Mikhail, the general secretary of the Solvay Union, has begun to develop new ideas, and these Hollywood movies are not played as carefully as before. Many movie theaters are starting to show unintroduced films semi-openly at good times.

   "Latin America is also doing well, with Brazil, Chile, and Argentina copy buying exceeding expectations."

  Cannold's deputy, women's release manager Dolly Burnsteen, also just returned from Latin America.

  The response to "Spicy Dance" there was very good, and many people were very happy that the American Conners were able to film Latin dance so well.

   But they liked the movie, a little bit different from the American audience. They thought it was too rudimentary for Jennifer Grey's Baby's dancing. And more like Patrick Schwytz, and Cynthia Rhodes this professional duo scene.

   Even the film dealers in Latin America requested that the dance image of the two be used as the protagonist on the poster. They like this type of women who can dance and dance well.

   "We still ranked first at the box office on Labor Day weekend, and the cumulative box office has exceeded 30 million." General Manager Eddie Cohen began to introduce the domestic box office situation.

"We're expected to be No. 1 next week until next week when 'Well Known Attraction' starring Michael Douglas and 'The Pickup Girl' with Molly Ringwald and Robert Downey Jr. threaten."

   Ronald looked at the box office report and was very satisfied.

   "What am I saying, in this business, we can make a lot of money!"

   "Hahaha", whether it's a distribution manager who just returned from Europe or South America, or a general manager who runs marketing in China, everyone laughed happily regardless of exhaustion after hearing this.

   Ronald was also very happy, he called the meeting closed, and gave you the address of the evening celebration party. These guys have been working so hard lately that Ronald called in Eddie's former magazine model clients to let them relax.

   "Eddie, you stay." Ronald called Eddie Cohen. He still has something to discuss with him.

   "How is our video tape business?"

"The factory is producing stock, and by December, it can be released in one fell swoop, taking advantage of the film's popularity. Coca-Cola has decided to follow Pepsi's way of sponsoring Top Gun, subsidizing us $6 per cassette. It's their ad, and I need you to take care of it."

   "Very good, how is the production capacity of the factory now? Is there any spare capacity?"

"Of course, our orders only occupy one-third of their production capacity. If we have other orders, or a new video tape business, they can double the production capacity. In fact, I think if our If the business can maintain uninterrupted videotape production, it would be better to acquire a videotape factory of its own.”

   "That's why I'm looking for you, Eddie."

Ronald said in a low voice to his general manager, "I went to Dongying, where Diane's filming of Angry Streets is still very popular. In Hong Kong, there are still some theaters that put pirated versions of 'ET Aliens'. …”

   "Oh yeah?" Eddie gave a serious flash, and the Jewish instinct was aroused.

"In addition, the two films I found, 'Ecstasy' and 'Hairspray', I think are also very suitable for renting in video rental stores. This kind of film relies on dance, plot, and makeup to win. What you watch on screen, like 'Top Gun', seems more suitable for the videotape market. What do you think?"

"I think you're right. The reason why many movies in recent years have not released video tapes is that they have no confidence in the video tape market. If ours can produce and distribute video tapes on a large scale at a suitable price, the factory will continue to operate. , the cost can continue to fall.

   And the labor cost over there in Hong Kong…”

   "This is our next strategy..."

   "Don't forget those old movies you made!" Eddie reminds Ronald that whether it's "Fast-Paced Richmond High School" or "Night of the Comet", it's a good fit for a video release.

   "This matter is going on quietly, don't tell anyone in the circle." Ronald warned. The videotape market, and profits, is still a rapidly changing and rising market. Whether it is the Big Seven or small and medium-sized studios, they have only heard about the profits of this segment. How should it be carried out? Everyone is still at the stage of waiting and seeing and testing the water. As long as there is a suitable distribution channel, and there are Only with the guaranteed production capacity can we cut a piece of this big cake.

   (end of this chapter)