In February, "Spiritual" was finally released in more than 930 theaters across the United States.

Due to extremely low ratings from magazine film critics across the country, 20th Century Fox adjusted its marketing strategy.

They did not hold a formal premiere, nor did they allow the leading actors and director who had just returned from Portugal to participate in TV interviews to promote the film, or accept exclusive interviews with newspapers and magazines.

Quietly, the movie was released quietly during the off-season in the second week of February.

"The few months after the New Year are the off-season for the film industry every year. However, this week in February, because of President's Day, is considered a small peak season in the off-season."

The speaker was Michelle Cannold, Ronald's vice president of distribution at Daydream.

He came to Los Angeles this time to report to Ronald on the progress of the release of "Dirty Dancing". He happened to accompany his boss to a movie theater to watch the movies currently being released.

“Every February, the birthday of President George Washington is celebrated, and it is a public holiday in many states, connected with the weekend.

Such a three-day weekend is very conducive to box office fermentation and word-of-mouth spread, so many movies are released at this time."

After half a year of hard work, Michel Cannold has mastered the distribution of theatrical movies and mastered many of the key points of the work. He has also figured out the best schedules every year.

The two of them were sitting on the restaurant floor of the department store, watching the ticket sales at the movie theater box office.

"Among the old movies that are still in theaters, Platoon is the only one. They are using the same old trick that United Artists Pictures used back then, which is to release it in the last two weeks of each year, first in a small number of dozens of theaters.

scale, and qualified for the Oscars that year.

During the Christmas and New Year periods, the scale of screenings was slightly expanded in several major cities, but overall it was still limited to about 100 theaters.

Because December every year is the hot stage of the Oscar nomination competition, film critics from all walks of life are not shy about writing about the popular award-winning films released at this time.

"Platoon" received very good reviews, with many critics praising it as the best response to the Vietnam War since "The Deer Hunter" and "Apocalypse Now."

Ronald listened to the other party's report and nodded in agreement. He was actually familiar with this technique.

Controlling the scale of the screening in the early stage can not only attract the curiosity of the audience when it is well received. Because it is impossible to buy tickets, it can also attract more popularity and word-of-mouth.

At the same time, the average box office of a single venue has been pushed to a very high position. This in turn further stimulates word-of-mouth and attracts more viewers to grab tickets.

"After the New Year last month, the film industry began to expand, from 100 to more than 200. Oscar nominations are coming soon. Depending on the situation, 'Platoon' will be nominated for several important awards. When the time comes, they will also

Expand the scale of screenings.”

"There will be about seven or eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and other important awards, as well as Woody Allen's 'Hannah and Her Sisters' and the British film 'A Room with a View'.

He is the favorite to win this year.”

Ronald told Michelle about the situation he had learned. This year's Oscars, the nominees for the main awards, are probably these three movies that are the most lucrative.

Each film is expected to receive seven or eight nominations.

From here on, it’s the sequel to Ronald’s friend Cameron’s Alien. With a lot of small awards for special effects, makeup, etc., his heroine Sigourney Weaver is expected to win a Best Actress

nomination.

Ronald's commercial film "Top Gun" was even worse. It didn't even receive nominations for special effects and makeup, but only minor awards for editing, original music, sound effects, etc.

Of course, the worst thing is for Tom Cruise. Although he tried his best to work with famous directors, his two movies in 1986, "Top Gun" and "The Color of Money," were not nominated for acting awards.

On the other hand, Paul Newman, who also starred in "The Color of Money", is very hopeful that he will be nominated for Best Actor again for "The Color of Money".

Michelle Cannold continued to report, "This 'Plattoon' is very powerful. It was released in more than 200 theaters and received a weekend box office of over 3 million. Last week, it expanded to 600 theaters.

The weekend box office has exceeded 8 million."

"For a niche movie like this, it is indeed better to use this kind of word-of-mouth fermentation method, but to be successful, the condition is that the movie itself must be good enough."

Ronald knew that it was no longer ten years ago, and the subject of the Vietnam War had actually become a subject that did not have a mass market. If normal publicity was used, it might be difficult to find those missing middle-aged viewers.

On the contrary, by slowly increasing the scale of screenings, word-of-mouth will spread among those who are interested in watching the Vietnam War theme. As long as people who have watched the movie tell more than one friend to watch it, the movie's box office growth will be very scary.

Director and screenwriter Oliver Stone, while filming, also asked Ronald about the acting skills of Charlie Sheen and his brother Emilio. Ronald remembered that it was a small production with a production cost of less than 6 million

, now the movie has just been released for its eighth week, and it is showing in less than 800 cinemas.

As a result, it has already earned 38 million at the box office purely relying on word of mouth and recommendations from film critics. Judging from the trend of this movie, it will make a lot of money when it is released.

Apart from this popular movie, it has received very good reviews from critics and audiences.

This weekend, there are two more movies to be released in this small peak season.

"Stallone is still very popular, and Cannon is "over the top" and was released in about 1,750 theaters in the first weekend.

Reviews from critics were also very good. I heard Roger Ebert gave it a recommendation on the TV show, although his castmate Gene Sisko disagreed."

"So many families?" Ronald was a little surprised, "It seems like Minahan doesn't want me to win."

Compared to the other party, which exceeded expectations in terms of the number of theaters it would be released in, 20th Century Fox was more on track, arranging just over 900 theaters for "Arrogant".

"Although there are no lively movie reviews, the theme song MV aired on MTV, 'Nothing Can Stop Us Now,' is very popular. This movie is mainly aimed at young audiences. I think the box office on the first weekend

, will not necessarily lose to Feiyue Peak.”

Michelle Cannold looked at Ronald's face and expressed his judgment.

"In this case, is it possible that the impressive single-venue box office must be twice as high as Over the Top to achieve overtake?" Ronald didn't want to listen to flattery and wanted to know Michelle Cannold's opinion on the distribution work.

What is the judgment?

"I personally think there is hope. Anything can happen at the movie box office. Of course, to make a reliable judgment, you still have to look at Cinema Score's professional audience ratings."

Ronald nodded, this is the judgment method of a professional distribution manager. It seems that Michelle has learned a lot in the past six months.

"Look..." Michelle Cannold pointed to the audience queuing up to buy tickets in front of the box office and pulled Ronald's arm.

"It seems like it's really possible to win the bet, right?"

Ronald watched it carefully for a while. The people who came to buy tickets for the show were all specially made to watch this movie. MTV's promotional power was quite powerful.

Those who watched Stallone's "To the Top" were more attracted by his posters, and many people saw the arm-wrestling competition described in the introduction, and temporarily bought tickets for the show.

The number of people lining up on both sides was almost two to one. If this ratio could represent the preferences of viewers across the country, Ronald might not lose to Minahan.

"Okay, your judgment seems to be very accurate. I'm very satisfied. Let's go to the office to chat later." Ronald was very satisfied with the manager who used to be in charge of the video tape distribution business. Cannold's learning ability is excellent, and he

Pays attention to details and on-site, and has good business intuition.

"The distribution of Dirty Dancing went relatively smoothly, especially in some southern states. To our surprise, they were very interested in the clips we showed them. Their enthusiasm for ordering was even higher than that of some communities on the east and west coasts.

.”

Michelle Cannold arrived at Ronald's office and began to report on the issuance.

"Very good. How many theaters do you think we can open?"

"At least compared with the average small and medium-sized production scale, 800-900 theaters will open the show, and the contract will be completed in the next month. It is not a big problem."

"Very good, I'll ask Eddie to work with you to allocate the budget and produce marketing materials, including posters and website boards.

In addition, Roger Ebert can actually be accommodating. I asked Eddie to prepare a budget, and we will also learn how to let film critics 'really' understand the depth of our film."

"Hahaha, cheers." Michelle Cannold took the champagne that Ronald gave him. He completely understood the correct meaning of "depth" and "real".

"It seems that the Chicago Film Critics Association will have a good resort and conference hotel this year."

"Not only Chicago, I have also invested money in New York and Los Angeles, especially New York, which is the headquarters of America's national media. If it can get some good reviews, it will be more effective."

Michelle Cannold agrees that a big problem for small and medium-sized film productions is that it is difficult to find cheap channels to advertise to target audiences.

"Dirty Dancing" is a story and dance from the 1950s and 1960s, and it also has more adult and serious content. After doing research, they found that the effect of advertising on MTV may not be as good as the lively one that is most suitable for teenagers.

plot.

Being able to learn the "Platoon" strategy and let the word-of-mouth from film critics and early audiences bring some popularity to the movie is a marketing strategy they have high hopes for.

"What about the Cannes premiere?" Michelle Cannold asked again about Ronald's arrangements.

"It depends on whether your judgment is accurate. If Guo Guo is as impressive as you expected and beats the box office and doubles the number of theaters it was released in, then I can get a free Cannes premiere."

qualifications."

Ronald told Cannold about the bet he made with Minahan Golan after the Ballon d'Or.

"Then I wish your new film success at the box office."

"I wish our new film will be more successful." Ronald clinked glasses with him and they both drank.

"Also, I have a suggestion..." Cannold put down the cup, and while Ronald was in a good mood, he said a suggestion that he had been thinking about for a long time.

"Dirty Dancing is scheduled to be released in the second half of the summer season. Many theaters do not have good movies to take over during that period. They are worried about the several blockbusters originally prepared for the summer season, the latest 007 Daybreak

Danger, the latest fourth installment of Jaws - Revenge, and the two special effects blockbusters shot by Cannon, 'Superman' and 'Superman Part 4' lack stamina, so Dirty Dancing is very welcome to us.

I think they still have room in their schedule, and if they can add a movie distribution business, we can share the marketing and distribution costs."

"Why, they don't think highly of Cannon's two movies?"

"Not really. The box office performance of Superman III has made theaters less confident in the Superman series. They are still waiting for Cannon to be released. And Roger Moore, who was originally very popular as James Bond, no longer

Filming 007.

Dead by Daylight is the latest Bond, Timothy Dalton's first film. Many theater buyers and theater managers who have watched the finished film said that they don't like the new Bond very much. He doesn't look like him.

The first two terms were so omnipotent, but so inferior.

Ronald nodded, indicating that he understood Cannold's plan.
To be continued...