Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 411 The Valley Girl Released
The box office of "Lightning Dance" in the first weekend took 400 million US dollars, surpassing "Gandhi" and "My Fair Man", which had a sharp rise in the box office because of the Oscar, and rushed to the top of the box office list.

It was released simultaneously in more than 100 theaters, and the average weekend box office reached [-] US dollars. In this weak box office in April, it gave Paramount a huge surprise.

At the bottom of the list is Coppola's "The Urchin". In the third weekend of its release, the box office was only just over US$200 million, a drop of 30.00% compared to last week.The audience for original novel readers is dwindling rapidly, and Warner Bros. is already scaling back its screenings.

Ronald's eyes continued to move down, and the eighth place was the new film "Girls of the Valley" released by Atlantic Ocean, with a total box office of 180 million at the weekend, just above this year's re-screening of "ET Aliens".

Ronald is very happy. This achievement is especially rare for the small production "Valley Girl".This movie with a production cost of only 70 US dollars can't even hold the premiere.Basically, the box office in the first week can get back the cost of production.

Drove to the Atlantic Ocean, the whole office was busy.In the big office, people from the distribution department were busy making calls one by one, trying to get the movie theater to arrange more shows for "Girls of the Valley".

President Tom Coleman is in talks with "Girls of the Valley" director Martha Coolidge.Ronald was sitting outside in the lounge drinking tea.

"Hi, Martha." The office door opened, and Martha Coolidge walked out with a serious face, nodded with Ronald, and walked out without speaking.

"Ronald, please come in." Tom Coleman invited Ronald in. A small company treats a big-selling or possibly big-selling film director with respect.

Probably because of the look on Ronald’s face, the president, Tom Coleman, took the initiative to explain, “We won nearly [-] theaters for Valley Girl, but Martha thinks there should be more.”

"Oh?"

"You know, the box office for a single hall on weekends is [-] US dollars." Mr. President took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a slow puff.

"Higher than Lightning Dance?" Ronald's first reaction was disbelief. He had also seen "Valley Girl", and he could only say that it was a slightly funny and warm romantic comedy, above the passing line. But not too much.

"We're only showing in big cities in California and the East Coast, so it makes sense that the average box office should be higher."

"Oh", Ronald also wanted to understand. The audience of this movie is urban teenagers, and it is those areas with open values ​​on the east and west coasts. There are some weird content in the plot that audiences in inland areas may not understand. There is no development.

However, with such a high single-house box office, it seems that Atlantic's distribution strategy is too conservative, which is probably the reason why director Coolidge was dissatisfied.

"Can't we add some distribution theaters?"

"It's hard. We are a small distribution company. Generally speaking, theaters have signed distribution agreements with big companies, unless our movie's box office far exceeds other competitors. But now the list is either a big hit or an Oscar. , the theater chain is not easy to adjust, you see our total box office is only ranked eighth."

Ronald nodded. He came to discuss the release arrangement of "Night of the Comet" with the other party. He hoped that they would make money from "Valley Girl" this time. When it was his turn, he could sign more theaters.

"Actually, we are not a conservative company." Mr. President took a breath, he was afraid that Ronald would not be satisfied, "The main reason why we didn't roll out on a large scale was because Martha Coolidge was sued, she The sticking title is 'Valley Girl', which happens to be the same as last year's top three hit.

The creator of the song sued us, and the court ruled that we did not violate the rules last month because we did not use that song as an interlude, and the court believed that the audience would not be confused about the name of the song and the movie.

However, the lawsuit has been delayed for a long time, and many theaters were not very optimistic about us before, fearing that the judgment would be unfavorable to us. "

"Tom, what about My Night of the Comet? When are we going to release it, and how many theaters are open?" Ronald asked.

Tom Coleman pointed at Ronald, "I want to discuss this plan with you today", and he took out a release schedule and explained it to Ronald.

"Our expected income will be good. With this single-house income, it is expected that many movie theaters will have additional screenings, so that we estimate that the box office income can exceed [-] million. With this income, we can apply for a preferential loan from the bank, so book We can find at least [-] theaters with opening times."

"That's great", Ronald smiled happily, this number is much better than he imagined.

"We give Valley Girl a month, and then the third weekend in May will be your 'Night of the Comet', and by the end of May, Star Wars Episode VI in the summer, and 007 in mid-June will start to preempt At the box office, we just found a slot to plug in."

"In four weeks, looking at the trend of Valley Girls, it seems that they can still occupy a place on the box office list." Ronald thought to himself, it would be impossible to withdraw them all at once.

"It's hard to make a breakthrough. The market in big cities is limited, and the single-house box office of juvenile funny comedies generally drops very quickly. Of course, we will adjust according to the situation. I will use [-] to show your movie."

Ronald was happy that Atlantic had the money and could immediately expand the screening and make copies.After working hard for a long time, it's time to finally meet the audience and decide the outcome with a flop.

After finishing his work here, Ronald went to see Cameron again.

Gail is not the housewife type woman, and the house is a bit of a mess.Cameron sat alone at the desk, typing away.The Commodore computer that Ronald gave him is displaying lines of text.

On the other side of the table, there is a typewriter with a stack of typewritten paper on it.

"What is this?" Ronald saw Cameron stop, picked up the paper curiously and asked him.

"It was a job that Gail found for me, you know 'Terminator' was delayed and I was broke, so I had to write scripts for the studios."

"Hehe, me too." Ronald saw that the title above was "Aliens (Aliens)", "Is this the sequel to Aliens? Directed by Ridley Scott?"

"Yeah, they think it's time to start a sequel." Cameron saw Ronald looking seriously. "What do you think? I purposely typed in two places so that the two projects can be separated."

"I don't know, but the alien lens is disgusting and terrifying. It's not easy for you to surpass it."

"It's exactly the same as my idea, so the title I gave to the sequel is Aliens, so that it can focus on battle scenes, just like a hero who keeps killing multiple aliens and rescues humans."

"Fighting plus horror?" Ronald thought well. "It's really difficult to write a sequel, and we have to take care of the characters of the original and create new ideas."

"What? You're also writing a sequel?"

"Yes, the sequel to First Blood. I plan to let Rambo's prison term expire, and then go to Vietnam to rescue the prisoners of war abandoned by America. But Rambo has PTSD in the original work, and he has a very negative view of the government and the motherland. How? Let him produce this transformation, I am still thinking of a way."

"Use love. Love heals wounds."

"That's right, I'm trying to find a Vietnamese girlfriend for him. Let's exchange and see after we finish writing."

"OK", Cameron is going to write again after taking a break.

"By the way, how is your heroine looking?"

"Debra Wenger has intentions and is talking."

"Oh, she's not bad, she's a good actress with a gentle touch."

After bidding farewell to Cameron and returning home, Ronald finished writing the script outline of "First Blood 2" and submitted it to Stallone for approval through Nisita. If he agrees, Ronald can get the first payment, and then continue.

Unexpectedly, on the second day, Nisita told him that the outline of the script had been rejected.

"Why? What's wrong?" Ronald expanded completely according to the story given by Stallone.

"Sly said you spent too much time on Rambo's transformation, leaving not enough time for him to fight in Vietnam."

"It's nonsense. In the beginning, Rambo was released from prison, and then he went to Vietnam to kill the Quartet? Then why didn't you change the name and finish the filming? How can the audience who have watched the first movie turn around?"

Nisita glanced at Ronald, got up and closed the door tightly, "I don't know, is it the reason for that incident?"

"Shxt! No way?" Ronald was shocked, and he blamed himself for his younger brother's attempt to rape Cynthia Rhodes?
"I protested to Mr. Ovitz, but he was also very tough."

"Then forget it." If Stallone was dissatisfied with himself, then it would be useless to modify it. "At worst, I will sell some stocks, and it's not that I can't survive."

"Don't say that, I got you a new screenwriting job." Nisita breathed a sigh of relief. When he went to Ovitz's office to protest in the morning, Ovitz scolded him and told him to go back and think about Stallone. And Ronald, who can bring more profit to CAA.If Ronald insisted, it would be difficult.

"I didn't offend anyone this time, did I?" Ronald joked.

"Of course not," Nisita laughed, "On the contrary, it's your benefactor."

"It's Columbia's president, Frank Price, who paid 35 to buy your first screenplay 'My Brother's Protector'. Recently, he gave Universal a bargain because he let 'ET Alien' go, and was hired by the new The boss of Coca-Cola has stepped down.

However, he will be able to stay in Colombia for another six months before officially leaving the job.No, another owner of a record company wanted to enter the film industry and asked him to recommend candidates.Frank Price thinks of you, thinking of your musical scripts for Stallone and RSO Records.

'My Brother's Protector' didn't end up filming, and he wanted to get things sorted out before he left. "

"What's the price?"

"For $20, adapt a news story, would you do it?"

"Go on, why not? Frank Price is still very reliable in his payment." Ronald rubbed his hands excitedly.

(End of this chapter)