Chapter 285 Youzu Three-Body Problem and China Film Wandering
"Three-Body Problem" is undoubtedly a very good IP, but Zhang Fanfan can't do it with it in his hands.
Those who understand the industry see a deadlock, and intruders who don’t understand break it!
The company that is willing to co-develop "Three-Body" with Zhang Fanfan is called "Youzu Networks". The founder, Lin Qi, is a post-80s generation.
At that time, Youzu was listed on the Small and Medium Enterprise Board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, with a market value of nearly 20 billion.
Going public gives the company more room to pursue new directions.
In a consulting company, Lin Qi saw a PPT that analyzed in detail the entire development process of the two IPs of Star Wars and Marvel. One of the data gave him a "very big stimulus": the entire Star Wars A total of nearly 100 billion US dollars were sold during its life cycle.
At that time, Youzu earned ‘only’ more than a billion yuan a year from its mobile game business.
Lin Qi’s ambition was inspired in this way.
At a wine party, Lin Qi met the writer Kong Ergou.
Kong Ergou is famous for writing gangster novels and was the special assistant to Li Ming, the president of Galloping Pony Pictures.
After Xiao Ma resigned, Kong Ergou wanted to lead a team of his own to manage movies, and Lin Qi also had the idea of trying out film and television.
It hit it off right away!
Lin Qizhao had read "The Three-Body Problem", and he said to Kong Ergou: "Go and buy back the copyright in two weeks. We will set up a company, and you will be the CEO."
It’s not your own money, so you don’t feel bad about spending it.
Kong Ergou offered a sky-high price that shocked the industry and won the rights to adapt Three-Body Problem.
In this way, Youzu Pictures was officially established, and Lin Qi fulfilled his promise and appointed Kong Ergou as CEO.
On the third day after the company was founded, they announced their participation in the filming of the movie "The Three-Body Problem".
The "Three-Body" movie has an investment of 200 million yuan per film, and a total of six films are planned to be filmed, with a total investment of 1.2 billion yuan!
This was definitely a super-large production in the industry at that time!
However...the series of problems that emerged later proved the foresight of the film and television giants...
The start of the filming of the Three-Body movie was extremely sensational, causing many big names in the world to pay attention, and some paid silent attention.
Some big bosses took advantage of the research period to meet with Lin Qi and Liu Cixin, and said to the media: "Make this movie a business card that will elevate domestic films to the top level in the world."
< br>The boss is very concerned,
Lin Qi is also very willing. He originally invested 200 million yuan in the first part of the "Three-Body" movie, but increased the investment to 400 million yuan, doubling it directly.
However... the results were disastrous.
Kong Ergou, who came from a film and television company, did not have complete experience in producing a movie, and Zhang Fanfan did not.
Due to the lack of grasp of the overall macro situation, the movie "The Three-Body Problem" had countless minefields during its creation!
The first is content. Zhang Fanfan built a team of 50 screenwriters.
This number of people is extremely unreasonable. Normally, two or three screenwriters are enough for a movie.
The director with the most screenwriters in the industry is Jiang Wen, and there are only five or six, and that's because it's Jiang Wen.
Jiang Wen is the main controller of the script, and others just polish his inspiration.
The photography is not professional. There was a green screen scene. All the staff and actors were present. When everything was ready, the director team suddenly discovered that the prepared curtain was not long enough.
I didn’t change it in the end and just took the shot.
Let’s talk about the special effects that Zhang Fanfan spent a lot of time thinking about.
The first special effects company invited by the film crew was the Hollywood team VHQ, which has participated in movies such as "Life of Pi" and "Avatar".
Looking at the capabilities, there seemed to be no problem, but the key point was that when the special effects team was found, the film had already been shot - a complete anti-process.
When the crew took the preliminary materials and asked them to optimize it, people in Hollywood were confused and couldn't do it.
So, they changed VHQ and cooperated with a domestic media company called "Mindy".
Mindy is not a well-known special effects company in China. Later, the company was ruined and entered the list of dishonest people.
If Hollywood can't handle it, Mindy certainly can't handle it either.
After a year of hard work, Youzu Pictures only got a rough cut of the movie with incomplete special effects.
When the post-production process was almost complete, the film was finally finished and sent for review.
At that time, everyone at Yoozoo Pictures had the same attitude. As long as it could pass the review, they would immediately make a second film.
However, the film was taken away by the General Administration before it could be reviewed.
In the end... he was killed directly.
In 2016, there was still no news about "The Three-Body Problem", which was originally planned to be released in the summer, and there were repeated doubts on the Internet.
Someone broke the news on Weibo that The Three-Body Problem has been postponed indefinitely, Kong Ergou has resigned, and all the materials shot by Zhang Fanfan have been scrapped.
Things quickly turned into a public relations crisis. Eleven hours after the revelation was posted on Weibo, Zhang Fanfan responded: "Rumors will be dispelled by themselves, and you are welcome to continue to increase the popularity."
This Weibo became his last public Weibo.
It has been posted on his Weibo.
Every year, people go to 'sweep the grave'.
After that, Youzu Pictures entered a turbulent three years.
In the past three years, the company has had 4 consecutive CEOs.
The popularity of "The Three-Body Problem" is growing, its commercial value continues to rise, and more and more people want to get a piece of the pie.
In 2015, Enlight Media participated in this project through "investment + distribution".
The division of copyright rights between Youzu and Zhang Fanfan has also undergone several changes. At the beginning, Zhang Fanfan's condition was that all projects in "The Three-Body Problem" must be directed by him.
Later, the treaty changed to: All other derivative rights of "Three-Body" were handed over to Youzu, but he had to be the director of the movie.
After Enlight joined, Lin Qi couldn't handle Zhang Fanfan, so he often invited Zhang Fanfan to have tea with him in the office of Enlight President Wang Changtian.
The three parties jointly communicated how to cooperate on this IP in the future.
From the perspective of Youzu and Guangguang, all cooperation that cannot be carried out is because it is stuck with Zhang Fanfan.
Because he had to be the director, they had almost no way to communicate anything with other companies.
Zhang Fanfan refused to give up the copyright. From a commercial compliance perspective, there was no problem, but his personal strength delayed this good project.
Especially after "The Three-Body Problem" won the Hugo Award, it is no longer someone's own project.
However, Zhang Fanfan insisted that he be the director, causing the project to fall into a deeper impasse.
Who dared to let him be the director after he was directly killed by the big shots in the ladder.
Zhang Fanfan’s “spokesperson” Song Chunyu dominated Zhang Fang’s opinions.
Song Chunyu trusts her husband very much and sincerely believes that her husband is the most talented director in the world and only lacks an opportunity.
She has almost the same meaning as Bao Bao’s wife. His husband is the most handsome in the world!
After many rounds of negotiations between the three parties, Zhang Fanfan finally relented and said they could negotiate.
A long and tortuous negotiation started, and Zhang Fanfan asked for 100 million.
It was a good opportunity at that time, but Lin Qi did not seize it.
He thought: After two days, let it dry for a while, and you can still make a counter-offer.
Unexpectedly, two days later, Zhang Fanfan said first: Brother, I think 100 million is still too little, can you add 20 million more.
After repeated efforts, in January 2018, Youzu finally obtained the copyright of "The Three-Body Problem" for a sky-high price of 120 million, and acquired Baixing Club under the name of Zhang Fanfan and his wife.
At this point, Zhang Fanfan and his wife are officially out.
Youzu has begun a new round of development layout for "Three Body".
In December 2018, Youzu established the Trisolaris Universe Cultural Development Company, determined to build its own Trisolaris universe.
Lin Qi’s total equity is 65%, Bilibili holds 5%, and Liu Cixin holds 5% of its holding company.
Tencent, Netflix, Bilibili, Yihua Kaitian and other companies later obtained the rights to adapt "The Three-Body Problem" from Youzu.
Why Li Mingyang knows so much is because he participated in the filming of the Three-Body movie and worked as a stage manager in it.
Not only does he know the inside story of The Three-Body Problem, he has also seen the finished film of The Three-Body Problem.
Although Zhang Fan's version of "The Three-Body Problem" did not make random changes to the original work, the filming was uneventful and was too bland to be a movie.
It’s a bit like a PPT, introducing this story...
Later, after becoming a senior executive of Penguin Video, he learned more.
Three-Body Problem did not become a hot IP in the industry only after winning the Hugo Award.
In 10 years, it has become a major IP in the film and television industry.
Because the boss likes it...
In order to cater to Shang's wishes, China Film Group also tried hard to obtain the copyright of The Three-Body Problem. However, between the couple, one wants to be a screenwriter and the other wants to be a director. It's a big deal.
Later, China Film simply stopped using Three-Body Problem.
Around 2012, China Film purchased Liu's three other science fiction short stories "The Wandering Earth", "Micro Era" and "Supernova Era" and conducted director auditions.
This is also the reason why Wandering Earth was born.
China Film failed to obtain the rights to the Three-Body Problem, so it started working on The Wandering Earth!
In the end, The Wandering Earth exploded in box office and word-of-mouth, opening the door to domestic science fiction movies.
And Zhang Fanfan's three bodies were lost in the sea, including himself...retired early and enjoyed life.
The three-body problem is too difficult... The most important thing is that no one has photographed it!
Li Mingyang has nothing to copy, and the castle is in a vacuum!
He has no confidence...
But Wandering Earth is different!
He has watched The Wandering Earth Part 1 and Part 2, especially The Wandering Earth 2, more than ten times!
Although he can't remember everything, he has an impression of the plot, characters, conflicts, and storyboards.
With the main frame.
Also Guo Fan, Liu Cixin, Wu Jing!
You only need to wait two more years and spend money to smash the wandering earth out.
Now, engaging in small breaking balls is simply seeking death.
The small breaking ball relies on crowd tactics, which cannot be produced by domestic cheap special effects artists.
You can only find it abroad...
And it is impossible for foreign countries to allow his little breaking ball to appear!
The Hollywood film industry is the crown jewel of European and American industries!
It touches on their most fundamental interests.
……
(End of this chapter)