Chapter 504: Useless work

American Film Institute, Encino, California.
Just after reading "The Enemy of the People" submitted by Shahai Entertainment for rating, Matt Mendes rubbed his forehead and walked out of the drawing room, entered the rest area next to the office area, took two cups of coffee from the coffee machine, and sat down to rest. Clement at the table walked over.
Put a cup of coffee on the table in front of Clement, and Matt Mendes sat opposite.
"Thank you." Clement smiled.
Matt Mendes took his glass, took a sip first, and asked, "Has the trial of "The Enemy of the People" finished?"
Clement picked up the coffee paper cup, and before drinking, said: "I just finished watching, Will Smith played really well."
Those who can be engaged in this profession are certainly important to support their families, but to a certain extent, they are people who prefer movies.
Matt Mendes was not concerned about these, and asked: "Do you recommend rating this film?"
Clement said directly: "The PG-13 level that Shahai Entertainment applied for is completely fine, and even the PG level is not impossible."
The MPAA has its own rules, and it is okay to hit the sideball, but blatantly classifying small-scale films into R-rated films, even if the rating committee is a private institution, there will be a lot of trouble.
"My opinion is the same as you." Matt Mendes shrugged: "If this kind of film is rated as R, who will bear the doubts from the outside world?"
It's true that there are six companies behind them, but if sensitive issues are really involved, they must be a shield from the six companies.
Matt Mendes has the oldest qualifications on the rating committee. He knows that this job is not difficult to say, but it is definitely not easy. You must grasp the degree.
Clement has a very good personal relationship with Matt Mendes. He looked around and saw no one else. He whispered: "Shahai Entertainment is moving very fast and immediately adjusted its strategy. This movie will be in December. It’s only released and the rating is ahead of schedule. Even if the rating is delayed to the final deadline, it will not affect them.
Matt Mendes smiled and said: "Sandhai Entertainment is affiliated with Relativity Entertainment. This is not an ordinary small company, but a large company that can rival DreamWorks."
What does this mean? Clement can hear it naturally. Although they are members of the rating committee and their identities are kept secret, this so-called secrecy is incomparable to the CIA and the like. In the past few years, having a family is not counted. The big entertainment media announced the identities of several judges just after a few days of investigation.
Having said that, even a small entertainment reporter can find out what the identities of these people are in the face of huge financial power?
Again, with the backing of the six major companies, the sideball can be played without any major problems, but things that violate industry regulations may bring serious consequences that they cannot bear.
Clement thought of one thing and said, "Matt, have you noticed? "Saw Cry" was released in North America last Friday.
"I know, I also read the relevant news specially." Matt Mendes sighed: "The box office of the opening weekend was as high as 23 million US dollars."
Clement did not pay attention to the box office, and was surprised to hear this number: "I got 23 million US dollars in three days? This is too exaggerated? I remember hearing that the production cost of this film seems to be only 1.5 million US dollars. ."
Matt Mendes nodded: "I have read some related materials. It seems that even the promotion and distribution are included, and the total investment is not 10 million US dollars."
"Heh..." Clement laughed suddenly, but his smile was somewhat bitter, and said: "Small production, high box office, typical case."
Stuck in the final period of the rating, and then increased the rating to disrupt the release rhythm of "Chain Saw", the result? The film has not been affected in any way, instead it has become a model of small production gaining high box office.
In the future, when others mention "Chain Saw", they might think of being NC-17 by the rating committee when they were first rated.
This method of flicking the sideball, once used, will definitely attract the attention of the production company and the distribution company, and it will be difficult to use in the future.
It can be seen from "The Enemy of the People".
Clement shook his head: "What we do is useless."
Matt Mendes raised his fingers and shook: "What did you do? We didn't do anything. We are grading according to MPAA regulations."
Clement reacted immediately: "Yes! We are just performing our duties."
They serve on the MPAA rating committee, and it is the most basic professional requirement to block inappropriate movies for the audience of the right age.
As for the others, they didn't say anything and did nothing.
"Saw Cry" received a enthusiastic response and became the hottest film in North America since September.
"Although this film does not have big-name actors and dazzling special effects, it has got rid of the same vulgar routines and opened fire to the audience visually, intellectually and emotionally. Shahai Entertainment has pushed the art of horror films to a whole new level!"
"The New York Times" gave the film a very high evaluation.
The fans' evaluation is also very high.
Although this and cruel plasma horror film has a large audience in North America, its reputation has never been good.
Three days after "Chain Saw" was officially released, the IMDB score of ordinary fans was as high as 8.1 points, and the average score of CinemaScore theater audiences was A.
This is unimaginable for plasma horror movies.
"It is precisely because of movies like "Chain Saw" that we like to watch horror movies. Let me tell you, after watching it, I want to buy a ticket and watch it again! Because for a long time, what I saw was a Really gripping story. This movie is very exciting and has a lot of goose bumps. If you are a timid person please do not watch this movie, it has violence and horror scenes that make you jump out of your seat, now I am looking forward to the DVD or video tape coming out, I really want to buy it."
Perhaps the comments made by fans on IMDB best represent the views of fans who like "Chain Saw".
Although some people also left comments such as "perverted movie, disgusting", but the audience's praise occupies an overwhelming advantage, such as "the best horror film in years", "the smartest horror film", and "a unique Comments such as "films that can create terrible memories" are endless.
A good audience reputation is the best support for a film at the box office.
The next weekend box office of "Chain Saw" was only 40% lower than the first weekend, far exceeding the general level of plasma horror movies.
North America took another 13.92 million US dollars the next weekend, plus a total of 43.21 million US dollars at the box office on weekdays.
"Based on box office trends and various market feedback data."
When the crew of "When Happiness Knocks the Door" was in a studio leased by Warner Studios, Ronan told Will Smith: "The North American box office is about $70 million."
Will Smith pinched his waist, watched the workers busy setting up the interior, and asked, "Isn't there any hope of over 100 million?"
Ronan shook his head directly: "It is impossible to exceed 100 million. This type of horror film is said to be a lot less and not too much. Most people crowded into the theater in the first two weeks. From the next week, the box office trend It won’t be so stable anymore, and the projection life will be very short. It is estimated that it will be released within ten weeks."
"But 100 million is a big victory." Will Smith's dark face is somewhat envy: "How can you get 30 million US dollars overseas? Plus your estimated North American US$70 million, the production cost 1.5 million dollars in exchange for 100 million dollars at the box office."
He patted Ronan's arm: "I don't know what to say. Others say that big-selling movies make money. You don't generally make money."
Ronan smiled and said, "Small-cost horror movies, it's similar to gambling."
Will Smith shook his head: "But your chances of winning the bet are a little too high."
Ronan didn't answer him again, looked at his watch, and said, "There is nothing wrong here, accompany me to the crew of "Dawn of the Living Dead" next to him.
Will Smith is also one of the producers of "When Happiness is Knocking on the Door", but he is more of a name to ensure his power and status in the crew. In fact, he does not need him to do the work, so he nodded and agreed. Ronan went into another studio nearby.
The crew of "Dawn of the Living Dead" is in intensive preparations. Since the crew has contacted a shopping mall to be demolished in Ottawa, Canada, as a filming location, the small studio of Warner Studios is just a temporary location for the crew in the preliminary preparations.
There is also a function as a training venue for actors.
Ronan and Will Smith stood by and watched for a while. The actor training was mainly divided into two parts.
In one part, the protagonists headed by Scarlett Johansson conduct firearms and movement training. The movement training focuses on running and zombie headshots.
The other part is the extras that the crew finds in advance, they will be responsible for playing the villain in the film-zombies!
These actors need to follow the design of the crew ~EbookFREE.me~ to imitate the various behaviors of zombies in order to achieve a better shooting effect.
In order to cooperate with this, the makeup team of the crew also studied the specific performance of the dead in each stage in detail according to Ronan's request.
After conducting a lot of investigations, the makeup team divided the decay of the zombies into three stages.
The first stage is very pale, with a lot of fresh blood; the second stage is the wound is moist, the skin begins to rupture, there are many ecchymosis, mostly blue and green; the third stage is the most serious, the bones begin to be exposed, and the wound has dried up , The skin is completely peeled off and becomes oily black.
According to these three stages, blood also has corresponding differences. For example, the blood in the first stage has a standard red color and fluidity, while the blood in the second stage tends to be brown and very viscous, and in the third stage it becomes black oily.
A movie with excellent visual effects is inseparable from the rigorous design and pursuit of every detail by these technicians.
After watching the training, Ronan took Will Smith to Zach Schneider's director's office and found that Warner Bros' senior producer Charles Rowan was also here.