Chapter 72: The Demonic Dance of the Ten Thousand Saints

  After Easy Fly and Paramount representatives negotiated the contract, the subsequent film review and rating before release were all handled by Paramount's people.

  After all, the theaters are theirs, and they can arrange whatever rating they want, which means they can attract as much audience and box office as they want. In this regard, Paramount should be more anxious than DreamWorks.

  In the United States, there is a very strict film rating system. When a movie is about to be released, it will be arranged for review, and the place of review belongs to the "Rating Board" of the Motion Picture Association of America.

  In fact, in the early 20th century, the censorship system in the United States was also unstandardized and purely "wild". At that time, the US authorities believed that movies were purely commercial and did not fall under the protection of the Constitution's "freedom of speech". As a result, films from that era had to undergo local government censorship, while the federal government washed its hands of these matters. Each state and municipal government came up with its own regulations for film censorship, resulting in all sorts of chaos, violence, and pornography running rampant, with predictable results for the film market...

  In 1952, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that films also deserved protection under the "freedom of speech" provision of the Constitution. As a result, local governments lost their legal basis for film censorship. However, the court left room for the regulation of "obscene" content in films. This moral-based regulatory power led to American films being more strict about sex and more lenient towards violence and other content.

  After the disappearance of the US government's film censorship system, in the face of social criticism of film content, film censorship mainly became a self-regulatory behavior within the film industry. Until 1968, the American Film Association began to develop a film rating system, which clearly standardized film censorship. To date, this film rating system has been implemented for nearly 40 years.

  This time, Yi Fei Yang's fantasy film company shot three films "Buried Alive", "Horror Cruise" and "Ghost Record", which were arranged in different levels according to the "Film Rating Review Requirements" of the American Film Association.

  "Buried Alive" and "Cruise of Terror" are both rated PG-13: Parental Guidance, suitable for children over 13 years old.

  The new "Paranormal Activity" with the content of "Ju-On: The Grudge" altered by Yee Fai Yang, wrapped in the skin of "Paranormal Activity", was rated R for Restricted: suitable for 17 and above.

  The film was originally going to be rated NC-17 for its intense horror content, which would have prohibited anyone 17 and under from seeing it. However, Paramount is a longtime member of the Motion Picture Association of America and has considerable influence, so the MPAA relaxed the guidelines.

  In fact, "review through the back door" is very common in the US film review process.

  It is worth noting that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is a private organization with close ties to the government, and its main members include Warner Bros., Universal, Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Sony, etc. These major film companies control over 95% of the American movie business, while their parent companies or conglomerates own more than 90% of all media in the United States. As a result, the MPAA's rating system often results in losses for independent filmmakers outside of these major studios. In other words, independent films are easily hurt by the rating system. An unfavorable rating can lead to an independent film losing money, and the monopoly of big companies goes unchallenged.

  Of course, independent films can also choose not to be rated, as ratings are voluntary. However, if they do not participate in the rating system, they will only be shown in very few cinemas. Surveys show that more than 80% of cinemas have formed alliances with the American Film Association and follow the rating system, refusing unrated films. The reason is simple: the main income of the chain cinema system relies on big film companies.

  In the US, someone once compared footage from independent films with that of major studio films and found that virtually identical scenes would be rated NC-17 if they came from an indie film but R if they came from a major studio.

  However, there is one exception, which is "Lust, Caution" directed by Ang Lee.

  The producer of Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution" is the president of Focus Features, a company founded in 2004 with little experience. Therefore, whether an NC-17 rating would be a warning to this "junior" company is uncertain. However, Focus Features belongs to Universal Pictures, which is a major member of the Motion Picture Association of America. Would the ratings system cut down one of its own?

  "Lust, Caution" was rated after the release side quickly expressed acceptance of this result, and even did not ask for modification after re-rating, a little strange, inside the cat is quite "clear": Who let Ang Lee is not blond hair blue-eyed American guy, but black hair black eyes Chinese!

  Compared to the previous generation of Chinese directors like Ang Lee, Yee Chung-man's three films as producer and director were quite lucky. At least that film "The Blair Witch Project" was rated R by Paramount, rather than being cut to NC-17.

  Of course, this is also because YeeFeng Yang, although Chinese, does not yet have enough popularity. Although he has managed to churn out a $200 million film like "Blair Witch", it belongs to the category of "sequels" and his own true filmmaking abilities have yet to be seen, so he himself will not be viewed as a "threat" to American cinema.

  The censorship and rating of the three films of Dream Factory have been quickly completed under Paramount's "supervision".

  Everything is ready, only waiting for the east wind.

  Just wait for Halloween to be released on time.

  The Dream Factory is sharpening its sword and polishing its armor, vowing to take action at dawn.

  After all, it's the company's first shot, if we can make a good start, that would be great.

  What's more, it's a three-pointer. If you can hit the bullseye with every shot, then you'll be rich, so how can people from Dream Factory not be excited?!

  In comparison, Paramount Pictures, which is scheduled for a theatrical release, seems very calm and even cold about it.

  In fact, as a big shot in the film industry, Paramount basically looks down on Yiyang's small movie company and will not put all its theaters on "Buried", "Cruise of Terror" and "Paranormal Activity".

  Paramount only allocated one-tenth of the total budget to these three films, while the rest went to Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, which had a bigger investment and a more prominent director, with an overall feeling that it would make a profit.

  "Midnight Light" is a well-known horror series on Halloween, with a fixed audience and low investment risk. The Emperor Film Company is also quite famous, so helping this film is an absolutely wise choice.

  That is to say, Yi Feiyang accidentally became "fellow disciples" with Emperor Motion Pictures, competing together for Paramount's film distribution volume.

  However, from the start, Dream Illusion's starting point was a bit lower, with three plays each having only one-tenth of the share; while Emperor Gate's "Moonlight" occupied seven-tenths.

  Although Paramount gave DreamWorks a small number of screens, it was enough for Yi Feiyang.

  All that glitters is not gold.

  Whether it's a mule or a horse, it will eventually be pulled out and exposed!

  Yi Feiyang was confident in the three films he had shot, believing that as soon as they were released, they would definitely change the minds of those Paramount executives... unless those guys were a bunch of fools who didn't want to make money.

  ……

  Ideals are beautiful, reality is cruel.

  It has to be said that Yi Fei overestimated the potential of his three plays, or rather, the reputation and box office performance of these three plays in their previous lives had too much influence on his judgment about the effect after they were released.

  November 1, 1998.

  Western Halloween.

  That night, on the big screen, demons danced wildly and ghosts howled.

  Almost all small film companies are concentrated in this ghostly crying period, what zombies, werewolves, vampires, and cold-faced killers wearing white masks, all jumped out, performing their killing skills on the screen, cutting open the belly, blood flying everywhere...

  "Phantasmagoria 7", "Scream 2", and "Child's Play 4", these films with a fixed audience, have attracted young people in droves.

  The Blair Witch, once created by Ye Yifeng, is now on the sequel, and with that still unextinguished mystery and horror, it has attracted many young audiences.

  In comparison, Yi Feiyang's three plays are more bitter and poignant.

  The box office of "Cruise of Terror" and "Buried Alive" was less than 20%!

  In other words, in a cinema with one hundred seats, only twenty or so people chose to watch these two plays.

  The movie's pace is slow, the scenes are not bloody enough, and there is no visual impact, which is the biggest criticism from the audience.

  "Damn it, tonight is Halloween, and they actually made us watch such a boring movie!"

  "We want blood, we want violence, we want flesh flying everywhere! No more of this dogshit buried alive and the same old cruise story repeated over and over!"

  "What's going on? Is this a horror movie too? I didn't find it scary at all! Although I've only seen the beginning, I can tell for sure that this is a terrible film!"

  ……

  "That Chinese movie is really hopeless, I thought it would be great but it turned out to be such a terrible film!"

  "Hah, Er Dao Fan Zi is indeed Er Dao Fan Zi! Look at this, what kind of crappy work from Meng Huan Ying Ye, it's simply trash!"

  "Chinese people were never suitable for making movies, that Chinese Yi is just a nouveau riche, look at him now, his true form has been exposed!"

  ……

  It can be said that many young people who have been fed with bloody films may find it difficult to accept Yi Fei Yang's "Buried Alive" and "Cruise of Terror" during the Halloween season, thinking that such a film is too depressing and monotonous.

  After the premiere ended, director Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, this pair of difficult brothers couldn't help but hold their heads in pain and cry.

  That's too much!

  It's their first time acting and they're already being scolded so badly!

  Waaah!

  In comparison, Yee Fai Yang personally directed "The Eye of Ghost", which incorporated elements from "Ju-On" and unexpectedly received a great response at its premiere.

  The reason for the infrequent updates is that an elderly family member has fallen ill and needs care, and there are also stored drafts, so please forgive me!