Chapter 155

Malibu.

Unlike New York, which is still cold in spring, Los Angeles in March, even the early morning temperature seems to be just right.

A cliff mansion on the west side of Cape Dume Park.

In the seaside bedroom, the soft wind accompanied by the sound of the waves blew into the room through the floor-to-ceiling windows leading to the terrace, and on the large bed, Catherine opened her eyes and felt the cool air across her face, so she reached out and touched it, and finally grabbed another pillow and silently covered her face.

With a chuckle, Catherine paused as she covered her face, and then she poked her elbow a few times with her hatred as if she were pounding garlic on the man next to her.

It's all this little bastard.

Bastard.

How will I face Jenny next, and, in case the matter gets out......

Simon took a few elbow blows from Catherine, and woke up as well, and the confusion of last night quickly flooded into his mind, and looking left and right, Janet was looking at herself with one hand on her chin and smiling. On the other side, Catherine covered her face with a cushion like an ostrich.

"Morning, Jenny, and Catherine. ”

Saying hello, Simon got up slightly, kissed Janet on the cheek, and leaned over to the other side. It's just that, sensing his approach, Catherine raised her hand and hammered him a few times in fright.

Janet chuckled again and said, "Alright, little bastard, get out of here, help me and Kate prepare breakfast." ”

Simon put on his clothes in twos and twos, and when he got out of bed, he asked Janet, "Baby, I said I was going to New York today." Tomorrow is your birthday, aren't you really going to celebrate it?"

Janet waved her hand in disgust: "I said I was not interested in my birthday a long time ago." ”

Simon saw Janet's little expression of letting herself go out quickly, with a smile on her face, leaned over and kissed the woman on the cheek again, before leaving the bedroom, changing to a bathroom and starting to wash. But I still can't help but think of the beautiful scene of last night.

Yesterday Simon still got off work very late, and in the evening he had dinner with the director selected by the company for "Steel Magnolia", talked about some opinions on filmmaking, and returned to Malibu, the time was already more than eight o'clock.

After returning home, she was alone in her study to work on the script of "Batman", when Janet suddenly called Simon to pick her up, but it was Janet and Catherine who picked her up.

And then.

Something just happened.

After making breakfast, Catherine was dragged into the dining room by Jenny, but her eyes still didn't dare to touch Simon.

A bowl of milk cereal was handed to Catherine, Simon looked at Janet, who had already picked up the bread and started to spread the jam, and asked, "So, why did you suddenly come back last night?"

Janet took a small bite of bread and said, "I went to see the screening of When Harry Met Sally with Kate, and then I thought of some little bastard. ”

"Oh," Simon smiled and nodded, "How does the movie feel?"

"It's even better than the original script, and besides, the graphics are beautiful, I didn't even know Manhattan could be so beautiful," Janet thought for a moment and said, "Also, those interviews are interesting, are they a real couple?"

"It's all actors, but the interviews are true, the crew collected dozens of interviews with old couples and picked out these materials," Simon explained, and looked at Catherine again, seeing that the woman was dodging her gaze, she still found a topic, and said, "Catherine, tomorrow is Jenny's birthday, or let's go to Palm Springs these two days?"

Catherine shook her head a little flustered: "No, I'll go back to New York later, ...... Movie thing. ”

Simon had to hold back a few more words, noticing that Janet was winking at him, and changed the subject knowingly. After breakfast, even though it was the weekend, Simon was driven to the company by Janet, and he would continue to work on weekends as long as there was nothing special on weekdays.

As soon as he arrived at Daenerys Pictures' headquarters, Simon received a call from ICM, and Julia Roberts agreed to his five-film contract yesterday.

Then came "When Harry Met Sally".

Yesterday, the film was screened in 33 theaters across North America, and as soon as Simon hung up the phone with ICM, Amy Pascal came to Simon's office with a document on her face.

"Simon, this is the first day of media feedback that Disney just sent over, and the media overall score reached 9," Amy said, and couldn't help but shake her head, "It's a pity that this is the Easter schedule, and many critics feel that this movie will not be too popular with young people." ”

"As long as you do it right, you can always attract audiences to the cinema. Moreover, the proportion of young viewers in the summer season is also very large, and the competition is more fierce, and it is impossible for us to push the schedule until the end of the year. In comparison, I think the Easter schedule is more suitable for this movie. ”

Simon said, flipping through the documents that Amy handed over, and the first thing that appeared in front of him was some excerpts from the media evaluation.

"A very clever romantic comedy, Robert Reiner makes us see ourselves in the characters through bold innovations. —Chicago Tribune.

"A film that is definitely not to be missed this Easter. - The Hollywood Reporter

"I prefer the freshness and warmth of When Harry Met Sally to the cunning of Woody Allen-esque little intellectuals. —Los Angeles Times

"Meg Ryan's performance is memorable, and the strong chemistry between the male and female protagonists makes up for all of the film's shortcomings. - "Variety"

"Witty and heartwarming, 'When Harry Meets Sally' is destined to be a masterpiece of the romantic comedy genre. —San Francisco Chronicle

“......”

“......”

Quickly skimming through the transcript of the media evaluation on the document, Simon's thoughts did not stop, and said, "Amy, you just said that young people may not be interested in this movie?"

"Yes," Amy nodded, and said: "Look at the back, the age distribution of the moviegoers at yesterday's screenings according to Disney's statistics, the proportion of audiences under the age of 25 is only 32%, and the Easter schedule, if it is a movie specifically for young audiences, this proportion is usually more than 50%. For example, last year's Michael Fox's "The Road to Development", the proportion of young viewers under the age of 25 was 63%. And, despite Disney's best efforts, "When Harry Met Sally" still received an R rating, which would further limit the film's younger audience. ”

Because there are a lot of sex-related topics in "When Harry Met Sally", the heroine also staged a blushing 'bed scene' in the restaurant, so it was finally rated R.

At the beginning, the jury said that as long as Daenerys Films minus Meg Ryan's scene in the restaurant and make some other adjustments to the film, it can basically get a PG-13 rating, but both the main creators of the film and Simon and Amy did not hesitate to refuse.

Everyone thinks that if that scene is preserved, it will definitely become the finishing touch of the film.

At this point, Simon thought for a moment and said, "Amy, do you know the story of going to Africa to sell shoes?"

Amy shook her head in confusion.

Simon thought about it, and he couldn't remember where the story came from, so he had to explain it briefly to Amy, and then said, "We're in the same situation as that salesman." Many young people are not interested in "When Harry Met Sally", which just means that we still have a lot of market potential to tap. If you think about it, young people may not be interested in this kind of love theme involving love and marriage, but I'm sure they will be very interested in some of the other elements of this film. ”

Amy thought for a moment and then said, "Sex." ”

"That's right," Simon said, "There's no bed scene in When Harry Meets Sally, but Meg Ryan's scene is more suggestive. In the next two weeks, in addition to maintaining the normal marketing process, what we have to do is to use the media to hype this scene as a topic. Young audiences are one of the most curious and sexually interested groups, and if we stir up this topic, we will definitely be able to attract young audiences to the cinema. ”

This method of gaining attention by releasing controversial plots in advance to trigger discussion has been used in many films in Simon's memory, such as the outflow clip of "Lust and Caution", such as a famous "Ma Zhen". Although there is no Internet in this era, the concept of media operation is actually the same, and as long as it is properly guided, it is still easy to copy this topic through thousands of newspapers in the United States.

Amy sorted out her thoughts for a moment and quickly said, "Simon, I'll call Disney right now to arrange an impromptu meeting, do you want to come over together?"

"I'm going to Fox later, and Goldberg wants to talk to me about The Butterfly Effect and the sequel to Death Come. ”

completed the first "Death is Coming", and the copyright of this film went to Fox, and even more so for "Butterfly Effect". Although Simon also considered the sequel at the beginning, it was already very rare to get the share terms of "The Grim Reaper" from Fox, and Daenerys Films naturally had no way to ask for more.

But.

Although neither series will have much contact with Simon in the future, it is impossible for him to completely shake it off. A little bit of help Fox with ideas for the sequel, and it was also a favor investment at that time.

After talking about these things, Simon and Amy went their separate ways.

Catherine at breakfast was claiming to be rushing back to New York, Simon came home from work, and the woman still did not leave. It wasn't until after Janet's birthday that Simon sent the two women together on a private jet to New York.

On the other hand, after a few meetings, Disney also followed the advice of Daenerys Pictures and began to make appropriate adjustments to its distribution strategy.

With the help of Disney's publicity network, Meg Ryan's restaurant scene in "When Harry Meets Sally" quickly became the focus of some media discussions and even controversy, and attracted more and more people's attention.

As the popularity of the film "When Harry Met Sally" continued to rise, the first week of screenings ended quickly.

In the new week starting on March 11, a total of six new films have been released in North American theaters, but except for "When Harry Meets Sally", the other new films have not made too many waves, but "Good Morning Vietnam", which has entered the 12th week, once again won the single-week box office championship with a box office of $5.9 million, and the cumulative box office of this film has exceeded $90 million.

In addition, "When Harry Met Sally" was the first week of the box office, which ended up at $1.68 million, ranking 11th on the single-week box office charts.

On the surface, the film doesn't seem to be so impressive in terms of box office data or list rankings, but if you count the scale of the film's 33-screen movie, this data is very staggering.

You must know that "Good Morning Vietnam", which topped the single-week box office list this week, has 1,579 screens, and the average number of pavilions in a single week is only $3,700, compared to the average pavilion of "When Harry Meets Sally", which is more than $51,000, more than ten times that of "Good Morning Vietnam".

If there may still be too many human factors in the box office data in the first week, such as advertising and marketing or special media screenings, entering the second week of the film's release, Disney appropriately expanded the scale of "When Harry Meets Sally" to 37 films, and this time, the average champion of the film not only did not fall, but rose again under the word of mouth and heated discussion.

In the end, from March 18th to March 24th, "When Harry Met Sally" earned $2.07 million again with only 37 screens, and the weekly box office exceeded $56,000. With this $2.07 million box office, "When Harry Met Sally" jumped to No. 9 in the single-week box office chart of the new week.

Moreover, on the entire list, the other films next to "When Harry Met Sally" are almost dozens of times the size of this movie.

In two weeks, just through the movie, the total box office of "When Harry Meets Sally" has reached $375, which has exceeded the total North American box office of many small-budget solo films.

In the end, from March 18th to March 24th, "When Harry Met Sally" earned $2.07 million again with only 37 screens, and the weekly box office exceeded $56,000. With this $2.07 million box office, "When Harry Met Sally" jumped to No. 9 in the single-week box office chart of the new week.

Moreover, on the entire list, the other films next to "When Harry Met Sally" are almost dozens of times the size of this movie.

In two weeks, just through the movie, the total box office of "When Harry Meets Sally" has reached $375, which has exceeded the total North American box office of many small-budget solo films.

In the end, from March 18th to March 24th, "When Harry Met Sally" earned $2.07 million again with only 37 screens, and the weekly box office exceeded $56,000. With this $2.07 million box office, "When Harry Met Sally" jumped to No. 9 in the single-week box office chart of the new week.

Moreover, on the entire list, the other films next to "When Harry Met Sally" are almost dozens of times the size of this movie.