Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1414: People who break the rules
"What's the grade? B? Oh, thank you."

Ronald received a call from Richard, and Cinema Score sent preliminary scores to Daydream and Paramount based on the exit polls of the preview.

This is the lowest score that Ronald has ever received for a movie that he has made with great care since he became famous. Musicals and romantic comedies usually get a score one level lower than ordinary genre films, but it is still higher than a B score that is neither good nor bad.

Richard noticed Ronald's silence, and he immediately said on the phone that he would contact Cinema Score and come over to discuss how to deal with the matter.

"Oh well……"

Ronald put down the phone without saying anything else, then sat alone in a chair, thinking absentmindedly.

I am not the kind of director who pursues certain artistic expressions and has always relied on box office success as my reputation. But this B...

Generally speaking, the Cinema Score is the direct reaction of the audience. It is highly correlated with the total box office. Usually, if a movie gets an A+, the total box office is about 4.8 times the first weekend. If a movie gets an A, it is 3.6 times, and if it gets a C, it is only 2.5 times.

This number is called the box office multiplier in the industry. Generally speaking, a score of B is about 3 times, and the difference before and after will not be very big.

What's the problem? Or is the rating inaccurate?

Ronald felt like he was back in high school, doing his homework and waiting for the teacher to grade it. He was in a bad mood. The only trump card he had was that the leading actor of this movie was Tom Cruise.

Tom Cruise is the only star who can reverse Cinema Score ratings now, but he can't do it every time.

The previous film "Cocktail" with Elisabeth Shue received a box office multiplier of more than 5 points, with a B+ rating. However, "Far from Home", which he co-starred with Nicole Kidman, received a box office multiplier slightly lower than normal, with an A rating.

……

"Ronnie, why are you sitting here? Richard is here to see you..."

After a long time, Diane found Ronald sitting in the aisle, lost in thought.

"Hmm? Ah, nothing, I was thinking about something." Ronald seemed to have not yet come back to his senses from his trance, his eyes a little blank.

"Ah, are you okay, Ronnie?" Diane quickly touched Ronald's forehead. Could he be sick?
"It's okay, I'm just thinking about something and I need to concentrate..." Ronald came back to his senses and drank a sip of the mineral water that Diane brought him.

"Hi, Richard..."

"I have communicated with Cinema Score, and they said that Paramount has also expressed concerns. The score itself will have a 6% error range. After the sampling results of multiple locations after the official release come out, considering Tom Cruise's popularity in some southern regions, the score may rise to B+."

Ronald knew immediately that this was an attempt by the big companies to exert some pressure to mitigate the impact of this score on the box office. Although Cinema Score is very fair and objective, there is still room for compromise. There is actually room for negotiation if the score fluctuates up or down by one level.

"Thank you for your hard work, but this is not important."

Ronald thought clearly that the key to this matter lies in the audience's opinion of the movie. Audience word of mouth itself is an objective fact, and the score is just an intuitive reaction. An overly distorted score can no longer objectively reflect the audience's response. The final box office will not be affected by cheating to get a better score.

Richard didn't say much. Everyone thought that Ronald was in a bad mood because the box office rating had hit a new low, so they chatted with him about a lot of meaningless things.

"I have to go out and find a movie theater to watch it and hear what the audience says. You don't have to wait for me."

Ronald simply turned a deaf ear to what Richard and the others said. He thought of many reasons that might have caused the audience to have a bad impression, but he could not find any evidence for any of them.

As the afternoon drew to a close, Ronald decided that he had to go to the event to hear the real audience feedback. He stood up, put on his sunglasses, and prepared to go out, ignoring the opinions of his subordinates.

"If you come back late, give me a call and I'll leave you some food..." Diane felt that Ronald's words and actions were very manly, which brought back her memories of the past. Back then, Ronnie was also like this, full of courage to face everything. You know, for a practitioner, it takes a lot of courage to watch the movies he created. She never wants to watch the movies she made now.

……

Ronald would go to the cinema and specifically find a show that had already started for a few minutes, then go in and sit in the seat with the largest number of audience members, listening carefully to what they said and reading their feedback.

"Why isn't he afraid of the gangs coming to trouble him?"

"Because Mitch left evidence? Didn't he say that he would prevent them from coming to hunt him down?"

In the second half, two audience members started discussing the plot in a low voice in front of Ronald.

During the entire movie, the audience made some noises from time to time. This was different from Ronald's other movies, where the audience seemed to be pulled out of the immersive experience from time to time, and then be attracted by the plot and immersed again.

However, once someone escapes the magic of that plot, there will be some who may no longer

"Then why didn't he hand it over to the FBI?"

"Because the FBI can't guarantee his safety..."

"How do you know? Is it just your imagination?"

"You are imagining things. This is the conclusion that the director deliberately left for you to think about."

"I do not believe……"

"Shh..."

Finally, an audience member in front couldn't stand it anymore and turned around to stare at the two of them.

But not long after, the two began to whisper again. It seemed that their understanding of some parts of the plot had deviated, and they needed to discuss and confirm with each other before they could figure out some of the plot's direction.

"Tell me, why did Mitch's wife Abby go back to him? Didn't she already know that Mitch had betrayed her and had an affair with another woman? And she went back to seduce Mitch's boss to get evidence to prove Mitch's innocence?"

After the show was over, Ronald went to the bathroom and continued to listen to the audience's comments.

"I don't know. If my wife finds out that I'm out with other women... she'll either kill me or hire a lawyer to empty my bank account and then ask for a large sum of my salary as child support every month..."

"I think maybe Abby has admiration for Mitch besides love, and she can't bear to see such a promising lawyer become a criminal..."

"You're dreaming. Could your wife treat you like this?"

Ronald listened silently and lined up to wash his hands.

All these discussions point to one problem, that is, the plot and performance have not lost their appeal to the audience, and they still like to watch it. This kind of suspense film with some professional details, plus handsome men and beautiful women like Tom Cruise and Bridget Fonda, many powerful supporting roles, and many very beautiful vases, is still a weapon to attract audiences.

But this time the audience had a problem, that is, the plot was a bit too complicated, so many viewers did not understand it, which led to the scene where they had to discuss it after watching it.

If you are not interested, you won’t discuss the plot. If you enjoy watching it, you won’t discuss some of the twists and turns in the plot.

After all, this "sugar-coated trap" still let the audience's attention wander halfway through, and they were not fully immersed in it from the beginning to the end.

This is probably because the audience did not understand some parts of the plot, which caused problems. Fortunately, the subsequent plot was also exciting enough, and a considerable proportion of the audience still watched it again without being distracted and unable to immerse themselves in it. This is the most common phenomenon of movie box office failures.

"Bridget Fonda is really beautiful, and she's a good match for Tom."

In the hand-washing area, some female audience members' comments drifted over intermittently. Ronald pricked up his ears and listened carefully.

"I think the secretary (Holly Hunter) is very pretty. The way she walks is very flirtatious."

"You... can't walk when you see a tight skirt. I think that black beauty flirting with my Tom on the beach is beautiful (Halle Berry)"

"Your Tom? Tell me, you bitch, who is your Tom?"

"Well, my Tom, if I could spend the night with him, I would give up ten years of my life..."

"Uh..." Ronald wiped his hands and walked out quickly. It seems that the God of Movies is still on his side, and the female audience is still crazy about Tom Cruise.

……

"The first weekend box office was 25 million, and with the extended Independence Day holiday, this movie will be a big hit in China."

By Monday morning, the box office results for the first weekend were in. "The Trap" was released in 2 theaters, with an average box office of $393 per theater, rushing to the top of the box office charts.

Jurassic Park had a very low drop, still ranking second with 18 million.

Sleepless in Seattle, maintaining the unique resilience of a romantic film, ranked third. However, considering that this film was only shown in more than 1,300 theaters, the box office per theater is not much different from that of Sugar Coated Trap.

"Nora Ephron's performance is still convincing." Ronald looked at the box office statistics and knew that this time the top spot on the box office list was largely due to the help of Tom Cruise.

Through discussions with several director friends and my own two consecutive days in the cinema, I heard first-hand feedback from audiences. I learned that the biggest problem with this film is the editing. In order to meet the two and a half hour running time of the cinema, some details and transitions are not handled coherently enough.

Many critics have said that if the script had been more clear about the story, the film could have been much better, rather than just a good movie with a few scattered great performances.

In other words, there is a high probability that if you follow the creative rules, ignore the requirements of theaters, and leave the market a little longer, the results may be much better.

In other words, if I could allocate more time in the editing room and work more with editing masters like Walter Murch, perhaps the film's twists and turns would feel more natural and smooth to the audience, and there would be no question of sudden interruptions.

"Yeah, okay, I'll go. This movie is also a good education for me, and after the videotape, I want to make a director's cut."

Paramount CEO Shirley Lansing called to congratulate her with great satisfaction. The first big production she led after taking office had achieved very impressive box office results.

If the Independence Day long weekend is included, the movie's first weekend box office will easily exceed 32 million. If we use a conservative estimate of 30 million for the first weekend, plus a Cinema Score of B+ (a re-sampling was done at the invitation and the score was revised), the domestic box office of the entire movie will almost certainly exceed 120 million.

With this movie as a foundation, plus the three-movie deal Tom Cruise signed with Paramount, his tenure will be very smooth. Isn't it said that being an executive in Hollywood is sometimes easier than being a producer? As long as you know how to be one.

As Shirley Lansing thought, she had seen her partner produce a movie from beginning to end. After becoming the CEO, she could not hide the childish lies of the people below her. As long as she got the big stars, big directors, and big budgets, it was impossible for her to not make money. At most, she would pay the stars and directors more money. How much she made actually had little to do with her KPI. As long as she could continue to produce blockbuster movies, her position would be secure.

Sure enough, by the end of the Independence Day long weekend, the box office of this sugar-coated trap had exceeded 32 million, achieving the highest expectations.

Shirley Lansing held a grand celebration party, and the main creators were very happy, and many bottles of champagne were opened. Now Shirley Lansing regards Tom Cruise as her savior. Throughout the celebration, she was very considerate of Cruise and Ronald's feelings, and she praised them in her words.

"Your predictions are really accurate, Ronald. When I premiered the other day, I was a little skeptical when you said it would top the box office. Now it's proven that meeting you is my greatest luck..."

Even Tom Cruise was very excited and confided in Ronald. He had gone from being a nobody who was looked down upon by dentists to becoming a Hollywood A-list star, and Ronald's support was indispensable at every step.

"Oh, God, if you keep being so sentimental, Nicole and Diane will be worried..." Ronald couldn't stand such cheesy flattery and pointed at the wives of the two men. If someone heard this, wouldn't people doubt his and Cruise's sexual orientation?

"Honey, what are you talking about?" Nicole Kidman's fighting spirit was indeed more tense than anyone else. The number and quality of women who approached her were a level higher than what Diane had to face.

"We are congratulating ourselves, me and Ronald, our collaborations are all super hits, hahahaha..." Cruise turned and hugged Ronald, which was actually true. Both of them made a lot of money from their collaboration.

"Huh..." Ronald smiled. To be honest, his reputation was saved this time by Tom Cruise.

He should also learn from his mistakes. Now his own directorial works have big investments, first-line stars, and the scripts are also of the highest level in Hollywood. Naturally, there will be many audiences who want to watch them. At this time, the plot and fluency of the film should be put first. As for those rules and regulations used to restrain vulgar people, they are not important to him.

Most audiences are attracted by reputation. What they expect is a wonderful, special-effect, touching, and fully engaging movie. Other things are not very important. Even if your show lasts three hours and the ticket price is 25% more expensive than others, it doesn’t matter.

As long as the distributor's marketing budget is in place, they can still recover their costs and make money, and they can also endorse their own directing abilities.

Look at any great director who doesn’t have one or two movies that break all the conventions, and the audiences support them and help him achieve an extraordinary status?
Anyway, for the next "Forrest Gump", I will only consider the expressiveness and the immersion of the plot, and other factors should not be used as constraints.

(End of this chapter)