California, Encino, Motion Picture Association of America.

Just finished watching "The Enemy of Love" submitted by Shahai Entertainment, Matt Mendes rubbed his forehead and walked out of the pull-tab room, entered the lounge area next to the office area, picked up two cups of coffee from the coffee machine, and walked towards Clement, who was sitting next to the rest table.

A cup of coffee was placed on the table in front of Clement, and Matt Mendes sat opposite.

"Thank you. Clement smiled.

Matt Mendes picked up his cup, took a sip first, and asked, "Have you finished reviewing "Enemy of Love?"

Clement picked up the coffee paper cup, and before drinking, he said: "I just watched it, Will Smith played really well." ”

It is important for people who can work in this profession to support their families, but to a certain extent, they are people who like movies more.

Matt Mendes didn't care about that, and asked, "Do you recommend a rating for this film?"

Clement said directly: "There is no problem with the PG-13 level applied for by Shahai Entertainment, and even the PG level is not impossible. ”

The MPAA has its own rules, and it's okay to play the side ball, but blatantly classifying films with small scales into R-rated films, even if the rating committee is an organization whose identity is not disclosed, there will be a lot of trouble.

"I see the same thing as you. Matt Mendes shrugged: "If this kind of film is rated R, who will bear the doubts from the outside world?"

It is true that there are six major companies standing behind them, but if it really involves sensitive issues, they must be the shields pushed by the six major companies.

Matt Mendes is the oldest on the rating committee and knows that this job is not difficult to say, but it is definitely not easy, and it must be mastered.

Clement has a good personal relationship with Matt Mendes, looked around, saw that there was no one else, and said in a low voice: "Shahai Entertainment acted very quickly, and immediately adjusted its strategy, this movie will not be released until December, and the rating will be advanced, even if the rating is delayed to the deadline, it will not affect them." ”

Matt Mendes smiled and said, "Shahai Entertainment is affiliated with Relativity Entertainment, which is not an ordinary small company, but a large company that can compete with DreamWorks. ”

What does this mean, Clement can naturally hear it, although they are members of the rating committee, and their identities are also kept secret, but this so-called secrecy cannot be compared with the CIA or the like, a few years ago, there was a small entertainment media, just after a few days of investigation, the identities of several judges were announced.

Having said that, even a small entertainment reporter can find out, what are the identities of these people in the face of huge money power?

Again, with the six major companies as the backing, the side ball can be played, and it won't be much of a problem, but things that violate the rules of the industry may bring serious consequences that they can't bear.

Clement thought of one thing and said, "Matt, have you noticed? Saw was released in North America last Friday. ”

"I know, and I took a special look at the relevant news. Matt Mendes sighed: "The opening weekend box office was more than $23 million." ”

Clement hadn't paid much attention to the box office, and was surprised to hear the figures: "$23 million in three days? That's too much of an exaggeration, right? I remember hearing people mention that the film seemed to cost $1.5 million to make." ”

Matt Mendes nodded: "I've seen some relevant materials, it seems that even the publicity and distribution are counted, and the total investment is not 10 million US dollars." ”

"Heh......" Clement suddenly smiled, but his smile was a little bitter, and said: "Small production, high box office, typical case." ”

Stuck in the final period of the rating, and then raising the rating to disrupt the pace of the release of "Saw Horror", the result is that the film has not been affected in any way, but has become a typical example of a small production to win high box office.

In the future, when others mention Chainsaw, they may think of being classified as NC-17 by the rating committee when they were first graded.

This kind of method of playing the side ball, after being used once, will definitely attract the attention of production companies and distribution companies, and it will not be easy to use in the future.

It can be seen from "The Enemy of Love".

Clement shook his head: "What we do is useless." ”

Matt Mendes shook his finger and said, "What are we doing? We're not doing anything, we're grading according to the MPAA." ”

Clement reacted immediately: "Yes! We're just doing our duty." ”

They serve on the MPAA Rating Committee, and it is a basic professional requirement to block unsuitable films for the appropriate age group.

As for the rest, they didn't say anything, they didn't do anything.

"Saw" received an overwhelming 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 gets rid of the same vulgar routines and opens fire on 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 rating.

The ratings from fans are also very high.

This kind of bloody and cruel plasma horror film, although it has a lot of audiences in North America, has always had a bad reputation.

Three days after the official release of "Saw Horror", the IMDB score of ordinary movie fan users was as high as 8.1 points, and the average score of the Cinema Score theater audience was A.

This is simply unimaginable for a plasma horror movie.

"It's because of movies like Saw that we love watching horror movies. Let me tell you, after reading it, I wanted to buy a ticket and watch it again! Because for a long time, what I saw was a truly gripping story. The movie is very exciting and has a lot of goosebumps. If you're a timid person please don't watch this movie, it has bloody violence and horror scenes that make you jump out of your seat, and now I'm looking forward to the DVD or video coming out, I really want to buy it. ”

Perhaps the comments of fans on IMDB are the most representative of the views of fans who like "Saw Horror".

Although some people also left comments such as "perverted movie, disgusting", the audience's praise dominated overwhelmingly, and comments such as "the best horror film in years", "the smartest horror film", and "a unique film that can create terrible memories" are endless.

A good audience reputation is the best support for a film's box office.

The box office of "Saw" dropped its second weekend by only 40 percent from its opening weekend, far exceeding the general standard of plasma horror films.

North America took another $13.92 million the following weekend, plus a total of $43.21 million at the weekday box office.

"According to box office trends and various market feedback data. ”

In the studio rented by the crew of "When Happiness Knocks" at Warner Studios, Ronan said to Will Smith: "The North American box office drop is about $70 million. ”

Will Smith clasped his hands around his waist, watched the workers busy arranging the interior, and asked, "Don't hope for more than 100 million?"

Ronan shook his head directly: "It's impossible to exceed 100 million, this type of horror film, the audience says a lot less, and it doesn't say much, most people are crowded into the theater in the first two weeks, and from the next week, the box office trend will not be so stable, and the screening life will be very short, and it is estimated that it will be released within ten weeks." ”

"But 100 million is also a big win. Will Smith's swarthy face was somewhat envious: "How can you get $30 million overseas, right? plus your estimate of $70 million in North America, the production cost of $1.5 million in exchange for $100 million at the box office." ”

He patted Ronan on the arm: "I don't even know what to say." Others say that blockbuster movies make money, but you don't make money in general. ”

Ronan smiled and said, "A low-budget horror movie, it's similar to gambling." ”

Will Smith shook his head: "But your odds of winning are a little too high." ”

Ronan didn't answer his words again, looked at his watch, and said, "There's nothing to do here for the time being, accompany me to the "Dawn of the Living Dead" crew next to me." ”

Will Smith is also one of the producers of "When Happiness Knocks", but more of a nominal name, guaranteeing his power and status on the set, and he doesn't need to do the actual work, nodding his head and entering another nearby studio with Ronan.

The crew of "Dawn of the Living Dead" is in intense preparations, because the crew has contacted a shopping mall in Ottawa, Canada, which is about to be demolished, as a filming location, and the small studio of Warner Studios is just a temporary station for the crew's preliminary preparations.

There is also a function that serves as a training ground for actors.

Ronan and Will Smith stood by and watched for a while, and the actor training was mainly divided into two parts.

Part of it is the main characters led by Scarlett Johansson who conduct gun and action training, and the action training is mainly based on running and zombie headshots.

The other part is the extras that the crew has selected in advance, and they will be responsible for playing the villain in the film - zombies!

These actors need to imitate the various behaviors of zombies according to the design of the crew in order to achieve better shooting results.

In order to cooperate with this, the makeup team of the crew also studied the specific performance of the dead man at each stage in detail according to Ronan's requirements.

After a lot of investigation, 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 when the wound is moist and the skin begins to break down with a lot of ecchymosis, mostly blue and green, and the third stage is the most severe when the bones begin to show up, the wound has dried up, and the skin is completely peeled off and turns oily black.

According to these three stages, the blood also has corresponding differences, for example, in the first stage the blood has a standard red color and fluidity, while in the second stage the blood tends to be brown and very viscous, and in the third stage it becomes black and oily.

A film 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 Zack Snyder's director's office and found that Warner Bros. senior producer Charles Rowan was also there.