Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1477 Oscar Awards Ceremony

Ronald called Jack Valenti, the president of MPAA. The head office responsible for distribution had some unexpected problems. It turned out that in China, the company that seemed to have a monopoly on the entire distribution system did not have complete control over the second- and third-tier subsidiaries.

Many places can indeed ignore the orders of the head office and do what they want. Especially compared to ten years ago, the current Chinese film market has fallen to the bottom, with annual box office revenue falling to 13 billion yuan and the number of moviegoers falling to less than one-tenth of the peak period.

Subsidiaries in many places try to get old copies of films that have been screened in Hong Kong and rely on these films to make money and maintain operations.

This made it difficult for the head office to guarantee the release of Hollywood's commercial films that year. After all, only six major cities with a large number of moviegoers could really follow orders, and the habit of many places to withhold box office revenue could not be supervised. As a result, Hollywood didn't know how many copies to make and send.

Jack Valenti had a radical idea. He knew that it was not that there were no audiences in China who could afford Hollywood commercial films, but that the old cinemas were not capable of commercial distribution. Therefore, he proposed to build wholly-owned cinemas in the six major cities to show Hollywood films. In this way, the box office results could be monitored without fear of fraud or old copies flowing in from Hong Kong.

However, such a radical idea was of course strongly opposed by the other party, and for a while everyone was in a stalemate.

Ronald was a person who understood the Chinese way of doing things better than Jack Valenti. He first persuaded Jack Valenti to postpone radical measures. At the same time, he sent a long letter to the other side of the Pacific Ocean, indicating that Hollywood was willing to contribute to the cultural exchange between the Chinese and American people, and also released some films produced in China. As a friendly exchange, it was necessary to create favorable conditions for Hollywood films to enter China.

Finally, it was decided that the first batch of Hollywood commercial films that were to be distributed in China would first be distributed on a trial basis in large cities where the head office had full control and the business environment was relatively good...

Ronald himself was quite confident about this, because he had seen the so-called internal movie tickets when he was in Xujiahui Film Studio. At that time, if the employees of the film studio could send a few internally issued tickets to their girlfriend's family, the obstacles to marriage would be much smaller, and many young workers won the favor of their mother-in-law.

From this, it can be seen that the audiences in the six major cities are very interested in and have the ability to watch Hollywood movies, but they can only see very few of them on a normal day. Because of the copyright buyout, they can only afford old films that are at least five years old.

As long as the first batch of movies can achieve good box office results, the rest of the things will be sorted out. No one, whether in Hollywood or the head office, will have a problem with money.

After dealing with all these messy things, the 66th Academy Awards ceremony will be held.

This year's ceremony was moved to the smaller Dorothy Chandler Hall, so tickets to attend the ceremony were in short supply. When Ronald and Diane arrived at the drop-off point opposite, led by their bodyguards, many celebrities had already entered the hall.

Ronald and his friends happened to meet an old lady in a green dress who was talking to Elton John, a British singer who had returned to Hollywood.

Ronald and Diane also went up to greet them. Elton John wanted to introduce the old lady to Ronald, but he refused with a smile, "Ms. Kerr needs no introduction..."

"Oh, Darling, you are really cute. Is this your wife?"

The old lady is the recipient of this year's Oscar Honorary Award, the famous British star Deborah Kerr. Her most famous Hollywood movie, "The Golden Circle" co-starring with Cary Grant, is also the source of inspiration for the movie "Sleepless in Seattle".

This year, the Oscars invited Glenn Gross to present her the award. I don't know who did it. Deborah Kerr was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress six times, but never won. Glenn Gross had been nominated five times but returned empty-handed. For a moment, Ronald didn't know whether this arrangement was humorous or a curse.

"We'll talk after it's over..." Elton John was mainly accompanying Deborah Kerr at the awards ceremony today. After the ceremony, he will attend a party co-organized by Ronald and Spielberg, which is a treatment that many Hollywood stars do not have.

As they walked in, Ronald and Diane received countless greetings from people. It was different now. It used to be just a family of a famous director and a female star. If they didn't want to cooperate with them, they could just ignore them.

But now he is one of the richest people in Hollywood, and like Spielberg, Ronald still maintains his identity as a creator. The reason why he can talk to the couple now is because others give him the convenience because they are both artists.

Ronald stopped to talk to everyone along the way, and only moved forward after everyone had given him face. Only Ronald did not speak to one person. It was not because he didn't give him face, but because he felt bad for the other person.

That person is Barry Diller, who lost in the acquisition war. Barry Diller lost miserably in this bidding, and was challenged by shareholders in the end. What's more infuriating is that some financial reporters who didn't know the truth said that he lost in the acquisition because he was tricked by Redstone and didn't expect it. It was obviously because he gave up because it was not cost-effective.

Diller was feeling a bit depressed, and his position at QVC was boring. He was considering selling his shares and running away. At this time, he met Ronald, who was full of energy and had a greater influence in Hollywood than he did by virtue of the IPO. He lost his composure and just nodded and walked away.

Ronald burst out laughing. He didn't expect Barry Diller to be shy. He ignored him and walked into the hall.

This year, his seat was between several nominees for Philadelphia and Sleepless in Seattle. The organizers attached great importance to him and arranged his seat carefully. In front of him sat the nominees for Spielberg and Schindler's List, and behind him to the right were some nominees for the special effects award for Jurassic Park.

This was also a deliberate arrangement to put Ronald and his friends together so that when receiving the award, it would be convenient to capture the scene of Ronald celebrating with them.

"Tom, Nicole..."

Sitting next to Ronald and Diane were, of course, several nominees from the "The Trap". Tom Cruise still kept his Interview with the Vampire look, with long flowing hair and a beard. Nicole Kidman wore a black low-cut dress with cross-straps.

In order to get a chance to be photographed at the Oscars, the female stars are all competing to be gorgeous. Diane, who is next to Ronald, is also wearing a black evening dress. It looks ordinary, but in fact, a series of diamonds are inlaid on her chest, which makes her look noble. With a slightly exposed back design, she is as sexy and gorgeous as Nicole Kidman. Moreover, under the camera, the big diamonds on her dress and necklace will reflect colorful light, grabbing all attention...

As soon as Ronald sat down, Nicole Kidman was so angry that she switched seats with Tom Cruise to stay away from the bitch covered in jewels...

"Good evening, and welcome to the 66th Academy Awards..."

The awards show opened with Whoopi Goldberg, who replaced Billy Crystal as the host tonight, wearing a dress.

Ronald clapped with the crowd, grinning widely. Having worked with Whoopi Goldberg before, he was amused to see her in a long dress and a well-coiffed look, rather than jeans, sunglasses and dreadlocks.

Moreover, Ubbe is full of sense of humor. Who knows what explosive joke she will tell next. The organizers who invited her should be prepared to sweat.

“So, they gave me three hours…”

Sure enough, Whoopi Goldberg complained at the beginning that one of the conditions set by the organizers this year was that the broadcast must be completed within three hours and not drag on like in the past.

"I guess the executives in the film and television industry will be sweating with nervousness tonight. Not since Heidi Fleiss has a woman made them so nervous..."

"Hahahaha..." Ronald laughed out loud. Whoopi started by making fun of these people. Heidi Fleiss was a "lady" who was recently found by the FBI to be running an underground escort network in Hollywood. It was said that many Hollywood executives were involved.

"This year, as usual, there aren't many nominations for powerful female roles, as the best ones have gone to Holly Hunter and Emma Thompson..."

This is a joke that both actresses were nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress this year.

"But... they all didn't have the chance to participate in a super production, yes, it's The Fugitive, a handsome doctor, constantly on the run, constantly on the run, always one step ahead of the prosecutor who came to catch him... just like Tonya Harding..."

"puff……"

Ronald couldn't help it. Whoopi Goldberg's jokes were as sharp as Billy Crystal's. Before this year's Winter Olympics, the husband of Tonya Harding of the American Figure Skating Team hired someone to attack teammate Nancy Kerrigan.

Because Tonya Harding is the only female athlete in the world who can do a triple axel jump, she is very competitive. The court did not make a ruling now, but let Harding and Kerrigan participate in the Winter Olympics first, which caused dissatisfaction among many people in the United States, who believed that the government was protecting Harding for the gold medal.

"We are here to present the first award. The first presenter today is also a nominee. He can make the audience laugh, but what's even more difficult is that he can also make the audience cry. Please welcome Tom Hanks..."

This year's awards ceremony was indeed not delayed at all. In order to meet the requirements and money of the broadcaster, Whoopi Goldberg had strictly adhered to the schedule so far. Tom Hanks presented the first award of the night, Best Art Direction.

"The Oscar goes to...Adam Starsky, Schindler's List"

Today might really be Spielberg's night.

Ronald applauded with everyone. Originally, the period drama "The Age of Innocence" was the favorite for the Best Art Direction award in the major predictions before the award ceremony. Usually, such period dramas are more likely to win this award. After all, there are a lot of set and color management to let the audience smoothly enter the period of period costumes.

Schindler's List is a black-and-white film that tells a story about a concentration camp during World War II. Giving him the award was a bit of a dark horse, but it also reflects how popular Spielberg is this year.

The second award was for Best Visual Effects, and the award was presented by Elijah Wood, a young actor who had appeared in Back to the Future 2. This year's award ceremony had quite a few gimmicks, with a Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park delivering the result envelope to the young actor.

Of course, the final result was no surprise, Jurassic Park won the inevitable award with an overwhelming advantage.

"I'm here to present the Best Supporting Actor Award. This year's nominees are very diverse, both domestic and foreign, young and old..."

Last year's Best Supporting Actress, Melissa Tomei, wore a silver sleeveless dress to present the award. "The winner of Best Supporting Actor is Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive..."

Ronald nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. Roger Ebert's prediction was right again. Plus, The Fugitive won an important award, so the head office and their leaders finally got a response to the question from the US side, "Why don't you find some Oscar-winning films to distribute?"

There is such an Oscar-winning film that reflects the legal corruption in America. The plot is tense and exciting, and the good guys defeat the bad guys in the end. Both the leaders and the audience will probably be very satisfied. With a good start, the commercial films that I and Cameron will be working on next year can also enter smoothly...

"Hey...Puchi..."

Diane suddenly let out a strange laugh and almost couldn't hold it back. She quickly grabbed Ronald's arm to dispel her instinctive reaction.

"What's wrong? Huh?"

Ronald almost laughed out loud. Tommy Lee Jones shaved the top of his head for some movie, leaving a half-bald hairstyle. His whole romantic image was gone, leaving only the image of a funny old man.

Tommy Lee Jones also looked a little nervous. This was his second nomination and his first win. He searched in several pockets for a while and finally took out his acceptance speech.

"Thank you to the Academy for giving out an award that all actors can win through outstanding performances. As a recipient, I have only one thing to say...

I’m not really bald!”

"Hahaha……"

After the humorous remarks, Tommy Lee Jones thanked everyone.

"The next award to be presented is the Best Makeup Award..."

The award presenters were a pair of outdated male and female stars, Val Kilmer, the former second male lead in Top Gun, and Joan Chen, the former female lead in The Last Emperor.

Val Kilmer has not been able to find any big-budget commercial films to give him a chance since Top Gun. He recently changed his agent and is starting over. It is an opportunity for him to make another appearance at the Oscars.

Joan Chen, on the other hand, worked very hard. She had performed in David Lynch's TV series Twin Peaks and also joined the last part of Oliver Stone's Vietnam War trilogy, Heaven and Earth, but unfortunately, none of them received any particularly big response.

Instead, she missed several films directed by Ronald that reflected Chinese society, such as The Joy Luck Club. Although the film was not nominated for an Oscar, the Asian actors who starred in it did gain some fame and received good reviews from critics.

"The winner of the Best Makeup Award is, Mrs. Doubtfire... Greg Cannon..."

Ronald was a little unhappy when he heard about the award-winning movie. The makeup artist did an outstanding job on Tom Hanks' performance at the end of Philadelphia. Didn't a film critic say that half of Hanks' acting skills depended on makeup after the movie was released?
How could it be awarded to the movie Mrs Doubtfire? This movie starring Robin Williams, a man playing a woman, is exactly the same as Dustin Hoffman's Tots and Tots many years ago. Besides, Robin Williams played a middle-aged nanny, which is very different from Hoffman's feminine role.

This award made Ronald feel a little uneasy. He turned around and looked around to see if there were any malicious eyes staring at him.