Rebirth In Hollywood

"Hey Drew, Chen, Darren..."

After walking the short red carpet alone, Ryan came to the theater and greeted Drew, Chen Jiazheng, Darren Bousman and others one by one, "Hello everyone."

The crowd and the cast lined up in front of the huge poster, leaving the few reporters to take pictures.

"I don't know how many of these reporters are here for Ryan." They are all old friends, and Darren Bousman is welcome.

"Don't forget, there's Drew." Ryan waved to the audience around the red carpet and walked into the theater with the crew.

This is just a not too big theater in Los Angeles, where the investment and genre of the film are placed, and it is impossible to have a large-scale premiere.

Like all low-budget, big-budget films, the promotional costs of this film far outweighed the production costs, and as of today, the film's promotional and distribution costs have reached $15 million. .

A movie with a small cost and no stars to join wants to sell well, without spending a lot of effort on publicity, how is that possible?

Not many people came to the premiere. Most of them were friends invited by Drew. The premiere was somewhat deserted, but for a niche movie, this is normal.

"Didn't expect our first film in the true sense of the word..."

David looked at Chen Jiazheng and seemed to sigh with emotion, "This is the last cooperation."

After a simple entertainment with the people who came to cheer, Ryan and others greeted them and walked into the main hall together. Compared with the premieres of those blockbusters, it was indeed simpler.

"Maybe you will cooperate internationally in the future."

There is still some time before the movie starts. After sitting down, Ryan continued the topic of David, "To make a new type of horror film that combines China and the United States."

"I heard from Chen that he still has a long way to go before he takes over a movie." Darren Bousman seemed a little pity for his friend, "Chen. You really should stay in Hollywood."

"Chen has his own ideals." Ryan patted him on the shoulder and whispered, "It's like your ideal is to shoot the most disgusting plasma film."

"Hey, Ryan." Darren Bousman waved in protest. "It's also a kind of art, and the most important thing is that this type of film can make money."

"So you have confidence in the box office?" Chen Jiazheng looked over with a smile.

"Of course." Darren Bousman nodded heavily, "We're... um, I'm afraid the talented foursome in the film."

"It should be..." Drew, who was sitting in the back row, suddenly came over, "Idiot group of four, right?"

"Miss Barrymore..."

Reese posed as a serious gentleman. "You should have our dividend check ready in advance."

Several people laughed. Although it was a niche movie and it looked ordinary, it was destined to be not an ordinary niche movie at the end.

The end comes from Ryan's proposal, and other plot changes are conceived by Darren Bousman and others. Compared with the previous life of the same name, there has been a huge change in the plot.

The location of the two protagonists is not a toilet, but a small closed warehouse in an abandoned factory, where the killing mechanism and method are used. Most of them are from Darren Bosman, a crazy plasma film lover. Although they are different from their previous lives, they have not changed the essence of traditional American horror films, which is just a killing show.

in the film. No matter how many reasons the protagonist has to kill, it still can't change the essence of him being just a perverted murderer.

In fact, although the first half of the movie is suspenseful, it is definitely not outstanding. The investment of millions of dollars is just there, and it is inevitable that there are some shortcomings in the processing of pictures and some props.

The first half is all about attracting people with bloody and terrifying scenes. The distance from gorgeous is about as far as California to New Jersey, no matter how you look at it, it is just a retro B-movie similar to Hollywood's heavy taste in the 1970s.

As in The Bodyguard, a classic shot can save a cheesy film.

When the male protagonist chooses to amputate his own leg, and the corpse lying in the middle stands up with dripping blood, the movie is instantly raised to a new level, and it can even become a classic picture in American horror movies.

Similarly, in the silent theater, many audience members made low voices of surprise.

This low-level surprise is enough for such a movie, and it cannot become a popular movie. Even in North America, the taste of the movie is too heavy, although it will be praised by those who like it.

However, those who can come to watch this kind of movie are not serious fans. Judging from the warm applause at the end, this movie will at least not lack audiences in this specific movie-watching group.

Such genre films will naturally not be well received by critics.

Perhaps it was Ryan's name hanging in the producer's column, and many well-known film critics actually made relevant comments for the first time.

Roger Ebert only gave the film a five out of five, for the reason that it was thrilling and creepy as a thriller, but it wasn't worth the disgusting ordeal it boiled down to.

He's a little better, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave only the briefest comment - utterly disgusting!

At the same time, gave the film a pitiful four.

None of this is anything, and Miami Herald critic Rene Rodriguez gave the film a three out of three, saying, 'There is no diabolical evil in the movie, just idiots like radiation. ’

Of course, there's even less than that. A younger Jonathan Jones from Chicago, who has recently been raved about by film critics, gave the film just one point.

"In addition to sadism, the film is full of absurdity, and one point is only given to the film's slightly innovative ending. Such a perverted film is disgusting purely for the sake of disgust."

Here are his comments.

Although many criticisms are excessive, it is an inevitable situation for this type of film. A niche genre movie is a niche genre movie, and it is too difficult to get mainstream recognition.

Similarly, the groups who like this type of movies are also very fixed, and this time of year is their carnival time.

Among the genre films released this season, "Saw" is clearly more attractive than the other films, just that ending. It's enough to attract audiences who like this genre into the theater.

It is obviously impossible for "Chainsaw" to win a large-scale theater without testing the water. As the distributor, Huahua Films has done a lot of work to win the film in the first week. 2300 theaters.

Even in these 2,300 theaters, the attendance rate of the audience is not particularly high.

The film grossed $19.24 million at the North American box office in its first weekend, with less than $8,000 in a single venue.

But the result also exceeded the expectations of the likes of Darren Bousman and Drew Barrymore, and the following second weekend saw more than 100 more theaters, but the box office slipped to $12.11 million.

For a horror film, watchability is always the biggest problem it faces.

in the following period. The box office of the movie has plummeted like a roller coaster that has crossed the apex. It has never won a box office of more than 10 million US dollars in a single week, and after only staying in the theater for 8 weeks, it has to be due to the low attendance rate. Completely withdrew from North American theaters.

There is nothing unexpected about these, which is the case with most horror movies. Ryan vaguely remembers that the work of the same name in the previous life did not stay in the theater for long. Also down for lack of audience.

Although the film is a veritable small production, the total cost after the downgrade is as high as 20 million US dollars. Fortunately, this film took more than 58 million US dollars from North America. Add in the TV and DVD videotape rights that were sold after negotiation, and it's not a problem to make a profit.

There are also overseas markets. Huahua Pictures chose to sell off the screening rights and sold the overseas copyright of the film to Paramount Pictures for $15 million. After all, this film has too many uncomfortable and disgusting scenes for most audiences, and it takes a lot of work to enter certain overseas markets.

Of course Disney wouldn't release such a movie. Even its subsidiary Bowei Pictures will not release it. For a company like Disney, this type of film is simply a sign-breaking thing.

It has nothing to do with the quality of the movie, it's the genre of the movie that doesn't fit.

So far, excluding other subsidiaries, Disney Studios itself has not released any films above the PG rating.

After North America went down, including the sold jigsaw puppets and various peripheral copyrights, the pre-tax profit probably exceeded 20 million US dollars. Darren Bousman and others got a lot of money. He has also become a well-known genre director.

"How much did you get?"

At the oak dining table, Nicole was eating breakfast and asked Ryan, "You seem to have invested a lot of money in this movie, right?"

"About one-third." Ryan drank a glass of hot milk, wiped his mouth, and put down the spoon, "There will be more later, and the discs and video tapes will be divided."

"I heard that Drew is planning a second episode?"

Probably not very busy recently, Nicole is more concerned about these things, "I met her when I went to a party the day before yesterday."

"These types of films are the easiest to fix the audience." Ryan stood up and packed his utensils. "Since it can make money, I will definitely shoot a sequel."

"I'll be ready."

Nicole also finished breakfast, took the china plate from Ryan's hand, and walked towards the kitchen, "Go and prepare, don't forget that we are going to the hospital next."

Hearing the hospital, Ryan couldn't help but stop, "That... Nicole, can I do it another day?".

"Why not today?" Nicole also stopped, her golden-red eyebrows gradually wrinkled, and her pale blue eyes stared at Ryan, "I remember when I called a few days ago, you said that there was no work to deal with today. , I've already made an appointment with someone."

"Okay." Ryan sighed softly.

Anyway, he went to the private hospital of his family doctor, and he invited experts who signed a strict confidentiality contract, so there was nothing to worry about. (To be continued...) ()