Chapter 97 Lu Chuan disses Zhang Chen
“There is no need to think about 30% of the box office share, DVD, and the copyright must be shared.”
The words spoken by the executive carried an unquestionable momentum , after saying that, he looked at Zhang Chen.
Zhang Chen and Dai An looked at each other, and the other party actually increased their share. Zhang Chen secretly made a calculation in his heart.
According to the current trend, the final North American box office of "Dark Invasion" will be around 50 million. "Eden Lake" is estimated to be slightly lower, even at 30-40 million US dollars.
So 30% is about 10-13 million, which is quite a lot according to the 55% account sharing ratio in North America. This is US dollars.
Then I saw Diane shaking her head slightly next to her, then leaning over and whispering: "The box office share can be reduced, but the DVD copyright income must be earned."
Diane did not give a reason. But Zhang Chen knew that she was definitely right, she was a native of Hollywood.
Zhang Chen spoke again: "We only need 20% of the box office share, but we must enjoy the same proportion of the DVD share. I agree to share the copyright, but I must decide who will star."
When Peter heard this, he thought it was Diane's idea for Zhang. He couldn't help but think highly of this woman. Such conditions were almost the limit they could accept.
But he still made a habitual counteroffer: "The proportion is still too high. In addition, you are not familiar with white actors, so it is better for us to decide..."
Zhang Chen insisted: "The proportion cannot be Change..."
After thinking for a while, he said: "As for the actors, I will make one more concession. I will give up on the choice of the male lead, but I must decide on the choice of the female lead. This is the director's basic right. "
Pete thought to himself, "Do you think I haven't read the script? The male protagonist is not the leading role, at best he is a supporting role. Strictly speaking, this film has only one female protagonist."
Just when he was about to say something, Zhang Chen said first: "Sorry, this is my final offer. If it cannot be reached, then I have to say sorry. Diane, help me make an appointment with Lions Gate and People from Dengfeng Pictures will meet tomorrow.”
Zhang Chen's words are obviously forcing the palace.
If you don’t agree, I won’t play with you anymore.
The executive looked at Zhang Chen's expression, as if trying to distinguish whether he was telling the truth or a lie. There was only suffocating silence in the office.
Zhang Chen didn’t speak, and Diane didn’t speak either. The executives seemed to be thinking, leaving Pete looking here and there at a loss.
Finally the executive stopped tapping his fingers on the table. It was time for him to make the final decision.
Sure enough, the other party looked at Zhang Chen, then stood up and stretched out his hand: "Zhang, I have to say that you do have something to be proud of. I wish us a happy cooperation. When can we sign the contract?"
" Anytime."
"Then let's make it tomorrow. I'll leave first, and Pete will take care of the rest."
The executive left the room after saying that. The atmosphere became relaxed again, no longer tense as before.
“I thought you were going to break up just now.”
"I thought so too."
"But the result is pretty good, isn't it?"
Zhang Chen's words successfully made the other two smile.
"Is there an actress you want to recommend for the role of the heroine?"
Zhang Chen nodded, "That's right."
"Chinese?"
"Yes."
......
Di An was very excited after coming out of New Line.
“Boss, do I have another bonus to be credited?”
"Yes, congratulations. In addition, I would like to ask, what happened to the DVD copyright you reminded me just now?"
"Boss, you are a foreigner, you may not understand this very well. Film projects in North America Among them, the profit ratio of the box office is not the largest, or even less than half. The real majority is DVD and peripherals.
New Line is a small company, and its peripheral development capabilities are slightly worse, but DVD still accounts for a large proportion. . And this is a steady flow of money. As long as someone rents the DVD, the money will continue to be generated. In contrast, the box office is only one-time and disappears after the release."
"So. New Line would rather give in at the box office than share his DVD profits."
"Yes"
Zhang Chen sighed: "Thanks to you today, I might have agreed without you."
"Isn't this the value of my existence, haha, next we just need to find a good lawyer , just avoid falling into the contract trap.”
“You’re right”
……
In China, on October 8th, "Kekexili." 》The picture is drawn.
During the National Day holiday, "Kekexili" received a total box office of 6.08 million.
Even if there is news during this period that "Kekexili" won the Grand Jury Prize at the Tokyo Film Festival, it will be useless and it will have no effect on the box office.
This thing may have some effect on overseas copyrights, but overseas copyrights already belong to Colombia before filming starts.
It’s okay, what Director Lu wants is personal expression.
Then, a question from a reporter made him very unhappy.
""2046" was canceled and the final box office was 30 million. I would like to ask Director Lu, why did "Kekexili" of the same type only have a box office of 6.08 million. What do you have to say to the audience about this?"
What? Are you talking about your sister?
Director Lu Chuan wants to hit someone.
How could anyone be so considerate and open-minded?
Lu Chuan was incompetent and furious: "Why are "Kekexili" and "2046" the same genre? They are not the same at all, okay? One is a documentary and the other is a literary film, how come they are the same? Do you understand? ?”
"For the audience, they are all non-commercial films."
"Uh..."
The reporter was not used to Director Lu, so he choked him so much that he left with a dark face.
Although he left, Director Lu actually had some grudges in his heart.
At present, "New Police Story" has been in theaters for more than ten days, with a box office of close to 30 million.
It's okay if the commercial film is higher than "Kekexili". After all, it is a commercial film and it is Cheng Long, so it is normal for the box office to be high.
But "2046"...
It's so disrespectful of martial ethics. Why do you, a literary film, have such a high box office?
In his opinion, "2046" is simply a defective product with exquisite disguise, a sequel to "In the Mood for Love", and an out-and-out bad movie.
The whole film is filled with the word 'pretentious', the story is weak and pretentious, the actors are pretentious, the soundtrack is forced and pretentious, and the pictures are pretentious and show off.
But for such a bad movie, the box office actually reached 30 million.
Why?
Is it just because he was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes?
It’s just a nomination, not a real award.
Is it still the Tokyo Film Festival Jury Prize? It is a well-deserved grand prize winner.
But the reality is such a slap in the face, "Kekexili" just can't beat "2046".
Wong Kar-wai has taken some magic medicine. "In the Mood for Love" only had a box office of 10 million, but "2046" actually reached 30 million.
This is unscientific.
I should have reported him earlier.
Lu Chuan was indignant.
At this moment, knowing the final box office of "2046", Cheng Long was even more aggrieved than him.
Although "New Police Story" hasn't been released yet, the box office can already be predicted. It will not exceed 50 million, but it is estimated to be in the early 40 million.
The budget of this film was 100 million. In the end, due to overruns, the cost reached 120 million, but the box office was only 10 million more than "2046".
Cheng Long didn’t know what went wrong.
This film needs a story and a scene.
"New Police Story" was not originally called this. The script was originally written for Leslie Cheung, but he didn't expect his brother to jump into it.
Finally, the script came to the hands of the Emperor.
The King of Kings collaborated with Cheng Long. In order to commemorate his brother, the protagonist's name was set to Chen Guorong.
This is enough of a story, but it’s more than that.
Cheng Long returned to Hong Kong from Hollywood. In order to make his first splash after returning to Hong Kong, he deliberately changed the title of the film to "New Police Story".
Actually, it’s just a hooliganism. He wants to borrow the power of “Police Story” but doesn’t want to pay royalties.
The entire four-movie series of "Police Story" has been a huge success in Hong Kong, but the copyright is in the hands of Golden Harvest.
Golden Harvest and Emperor are competitors. Emperor also worked with China Star, TVB and other companies to plot against Golden Harvest. In the end, Golden Harvest even lost its studio, which directly led to Golden Harvest's decline.
So Jiahe will definitely not cooperate with Emperor.
So Cheng Long took this sideways approach.
Unfortunately, his first collaboration with Emperor did not get off to a successful start as expected.
Cheng Long really can't figure out why. If you want to talk about big scenes, there is no shortage of them.
In the film, Cheng Long is chasing a gangster, who is so angry that he hits the bus driver, causing the bus to run rampant on the street.
This scene was shot in real life. The whole street was built on a real scene. Three big buses were crashed one after another. Isn’t this a big scene?
There is also the scene at the beginning where Cheng Long's team is completely wiped out and they rush out while pushing the bodies of their brothers in the explosion. That was also shot in real time.
From the footage at the end of the film, you can see that there was an explosion behind Cheng Long during the filming. The nervousness and fear were not staged, they were real fears.
In the end, the crew used two groups of people to put out the fire.
The crew went over budget because of these big scenes. It is said that Chen Ziqiang was so angry that he ignored Cheng Long for a week.
In this way, Cheng Long's movie looked like one in every aspect, but the box office did not meet his expectations.
Originally he thought he could break 100 million.
But in the end it may not even be half.
......
The next day, Zhang Chen and others came to the New Line headquarters to sign the contract as scheduled.
Pete has been through Qi before, and the media will be invited to attend this signing to promote it.
"Dark Invasion" is currently in theaters, and of course they will not miss such a good opportunity to gain popularity.
The person in charge of New Line said: "Director Zhang Chen won the Saturn Award for Best Director. He wrote and directed the hit "Dark Invasion". He will use the directing fee of "Eden Lake" , screenwriting fees and copyrights are used as investments, accounting for 20% of all proceeds from this film, and will establish a long-term cooperative relationship with New Line..."
The person in charge was talking, and flashing lights continued.
Zhang Chen is a new star in horror films, and his second self-written and directed film will definitely attract the attention of horror film lovers.
New Line found another treasure this time.
The lawyer Zhang Chen spent a huge sum of money to hire was not just a freeloader. The elite-looking lawyer browsed the contract prepared by New Line in detail and found several possible disputes in it.
Of course, it was just a show when signing the contract. The real contract was signed long before the reporter took pictures.
After signing the contract, New Line also prepared a celebration dinner, at which the latter met many Hollywood independent producers, film companies, and actors.
Dian knew many people and introduced Zhang Chen to everyone one by one.
“This is my new boss, Steve Chang, the director of “Into Darkness.”
Steve is Zhang Chen’s new English name for himself. It’s really inconvenient to have no English name here.
After a cocktail party, Zhang Chen received a lot of contact information and business cards.
Then, Dong Jianqiang’s phone call came.
Zhang Chen is still wondering how the news spread so fast. Isn't there jet lag?
“Brother Dong, how did you know I signed the contract?”
"Huh? Have you signed a contract? I don't know. I'm calling you to tell you that Lu Chuan has been crazy these past two days. He is dissing you like crazy."
He learned dissing from Zhang Chen. It’s a new term that’s quite easy to use.
Zhang Chen was confused.
Lu Chuan? diss me?
Why?
I didn't provoke him.
……
Please give me a monthly pass
(End of this chapter)