Chapter 107 A big move that set off the entertainment industry
"Director Li, thank you." Liu Dehua expressed his sincere thanks on the phone.
"You're welcome, Brother Hua, if you can win the award, it's not too late to thank me." Li Chen smiled.
“Haha, thank you no matter what, I’m already very happy to be shortlisted.”
“I haven’t congratulated Brother Hua yet. I didn’t expect that there was another film participating in the exhibition, Brother Hua. Or an investor?" Li Chen said again.
After hanging up the phone, Rongchen Pictures and Andy Lau's Yingyi Entertainment confirmed the authenticity of the news to the media.
Yang Siwei responded to the media on behalf of Rongchen Pictures.
""Buried Alive" is a suspense thriller jointly produced by Chiyou Pictures and Yingyi Entertainment with an investment of US$2.6 million, starring Mr. Liu Dehua for zero salary."
This is the circle The wife was completely confused.
When was it taken? Such a small investment? Only one starring role? Not even a supporting role? One-man show?
If Andy Lau can win the Silver Bear Award again this time, then Li Chen will be really awesome.
At the same time, Andy Lau also announced the details of being buried alive through his blog and Yingyi Entertainment.
“When I met Director Li in Hong Kong before, I told him that if he had a good book, he would be fine with zero pay. I didn’t expect that Director Li would always take it to heart.”
“Venice Films During the holiday season, Director Li called me and sent me an invitation, which I gladly accepted."
"The film was filmed in Hollywood for thirteen days, and I slept in a coffin for ten days. , it’s hard to describe in a word.”
"At the premiere of "Child's Dream", I was in a bad state. When reporters asked about it, I explained that I had just crawled out of the coffin, but in fact, I had just finished filming and was buried alive."
"Later, I accepted half of it. Yue's psychological counseling."
"But now it seems that everything is worth it, thank you Director Li."
"I hope Buried Alive will have a chance to be released in China. This film is really worth it. It’s worth reading.”
As soon as the blog post was posted, people immediately left comments.
"I feel sorry for Brother Hua. Now I have no resentment towards Director Li. When I was filming the painting, I had to soak in the cold water in February for a long time! But like Brother Hua said: everything is worth it, congratulations."
< br>"Congratulations to Andy! My husband and I have always admired Andy's character and acting skills the most!"
"Congratulations!"
The media sought confirmation from all sources.
Finally, it was confirmed that there was indeed only one actor in "Buried Alive" from beginning to end, and that was Andy Lau.
The most conspicuous prop is just a coffin.
This is simply amazing!
The most shocking thing is that this film, which was shot for only thirteen days and has only one actor, was shortlisted for the main competition of the Berlin Film Festival.
That only shows that this film does have its own merits.
At the same time over there in Hollywood.
"The Hollywood Reporter" and "Variety", two newspapers and magazines that mainly target people in the film industry, also reported on "Buried Alive" produced by Chi You Pictures.
“Boss, you are amazing! It only took thirteen days of filming, thirteen days!”
“You were actually shortlisted for Berlin. Who doesn’t know that those guys in Berlin are the most stubborn? , Haha!”
Tim laughed happily on the phone.
Because Chiyou Pictures has produced a total of two works.
A horror movie that does amazing business at the box office.
A thriller and suspense shortlisted for Berlin.
It is simply a huge advertising effect.
He can imagine that in the next week, he will definitely become the focus of Hollywood.
"Tim, stop flattering and tell us about the progress of "Thieves"."
"Okay, boss." Tim looked straight and opened the budget plan for "Thieves" on his desk.
“Boss, although Charlize Theron is indeed cheaper than Jolie, it’s not much lower. You know, she is the best actress at the Oscar after all.”
“Don’t Enough nonsense, let’s talk about the final budget result.”
“Okay, boss, based on the salary estimate for the Chinese actors you provided, the final calculation is that the budget cost is 85 million US dollars.”
Li Chen nodded secretly, it was almost as he expected.
Charlize Theron is undoubtedly the highest paid actor.
Even the things she eats, drinks, poops, and sleeps must be kept to the highest standards.
“Okay, let’s strike while the iron is hot, announce the project, and start casting.”
“No problem, boss, I can’t wait for a long time. I can just take advantage of the casting of Julie and Theron. "Hmm, this is a good idea. I remember that the movie "The Da Vinci Code" that will be released soon seems to have used something similar. way." Li Chen smiled.
"Hahaha, boss, is this the same idea as the heroes you Chinese talk about? My inspiration does come from "The Da Vinci Code"!"
Hang up the phone, although Tim felt that Li Chen's 60% share of the cake was a bit too much.
But he also understands that this is a safer way.
The risk is shared, after all, this is Chiyou Pictures’ first attempt at a Category A production.
After it is released, it is difficult to predict what will happen.
Moreover, this drama does not have a Hollywood actor who can carry the box office as the lead, which adds to the uncertainty.
Online fans of Andy Lau left messages one after another.
“For the sake of our Andy being shortlisted for Berlin, we won’t argue with Director Li! How dare we let Andy sleep in the coffin! This is too much!”
“I feel sorry for Andy, just say Why did Director Li look so pale on the day of the premiere of "Children's Adventures"!"
"Yes, it's outrageous. I've never heard of anyone having to sleep in a coffin during a coffin scene!"
"Also, zero pay? Is Li Chen still shameless? Is he after money?"
Seeing this, Liu Dehua hurriedly explained.
“Thank you for your concern, but I don’t blame Director Li for this matter, it was my own choice.”
“On the contrary, I think what Director Li said is right. If you don’t experience sleeping in person, The feeling of the coffin is that you can't perform the real feeling of suffocation!"
"I also asked for zero pay, but Director Li did not agree. Later, Director Li insisted on fulfilling his promise. I offered to co-produce it with Yingyi Entertainment because I wanted to make up for my salary.”
"So, I hope fans will not misunderstand, and Director Li arranged for a psychological counselor from beginning to end, and the crew also bought insurance for me."
Liu Dehua's confession cleared Li Chen's grievances.
Nortel’s official website also has a congratulatory title.
"Congratulations to Li Chen, a senior student in the directing department of our school, for his "Buried Alive" being shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival. I look forward to Li Chen achieving great results again!"
At the same time, the box office of "Painted Skin" It also exceeded 250 million.
Beyond "Hero"!
Become the box office champion in film history!
The major portal websites immediately put "Painted Skin" on the headlines.
"Painted Skin surpassed "Hero" to become the box office champion in film history!"
"Director Li Chen's four works have a total box office of over 500 million, becoming the first mainland Chinese to have a box office of over 500 million Director! ”
A reporter immediately contacted Lao Mouzi.
Lao Mouzi has already lost sight of the elephant: "Congratulations to Li Chen, your painting is good, keep up the good work!"
The congratulatory calls are endless.
"Brother, we are going to have a big celebration party for "Painted Skin"! Hahaha!"
This is the first big-budget movie independently announced, surpassing "Heroes" 》, broke many records, how could Wang Changtian not be excited.
"Let's do it, it must be done, but we still have to wait until the schedule is over, and we have to ask Director Han for his opinion. After all, there is still "The Promise" there!"
"Well, still I'm very thoughtful, I'm afraid Director Han will have a hard time these two days."
"A Thousand Miles Alone" and "The Great Sage" were released on the same day, and "The Promise" also exceeded 100 million at the box office. Big pass!
The comparison with "Painted Skin" is clear at a glance. "Painted Skin" exceeded 100 million in four days! And "The Promise" took a full eight days!
Moreover, the daily box office has dropped to just over 10 million.
Today, Lao Mouzi's "Riding Alone, Thousands of Miles" is coming again.
Industry insiders predict that the final box office of "The Promise" will be around 150 million.
When meeting Gu Yongkeng, Li Chen brought along investment consultant Zhang Qin.
It was later proven that Li Chen’s concerns were prescient.
It’s no problem for Gu Yongkeng to have the right to speak in the newly established company.
But only giving Li Chen 18% of the shares was unacceptable to Li Chen.
It turns out that Gu Yongkeng has not been idle in the past six months.
Part of the start-up capital has been raised through search funds.
The reason why Li Chen's previous plan failed was because Li Chen underestimated Gu Yongkeng.
Think about it, how can such a person allow a single shareholder to dominate the family, no matter how rich Li Chen is.
After several days of pushing and pulling, Zhang Qin finally secured 35% of the shares for him.
There are two additional conditions.
The first is the subsequent financing. Rongchen Pictures can invest first, and 35% of the equity must not be diluted in subsequent financing.
The second is that if the company wants to be sold, more than 70% of the votes must be cast.
Gu Yongkeng actually agreed with these two points. He couldn't understand why Li Chen put forward the second condition.
Will he sell the company he founded?
"Mr. Gu, it's a pleasure to cooperate." After the two parties signed the contract, Li Chen smiled and extended his hand.
"Happy cooperation, Director Li."
Both of them got what they wanted.
Gu Yongkeng probably wouldn’t have thought of it anyway.
The future money-burning battle for copyright will face the strong financial support of Tencent Video and Baidu iQiyi.
In addition to getting close to Rongchen Pictures, the copyright king, he could only be slowly cannibalized by another big crocodile. The former only wants to own more equity and does not care about the dominance of the company.
What the latter wants is that Youku will belong to Alibaba from now on!
On the first day of its release, "Ride Alone, Thousands of Miles" did not do well at the box office, but its reputation exploded.
90% of the viewers who have watched it said yes, which is in sharp contrast to the crumbling reputation of "The Promise".
Even what Lao Mouzi said during the interview slapped another person in the face.
“I definitely don’t dare to think of myself as a symbol, don’t take myself too seriously, as long as I can contribute silently to the movie, that’s enough!”
“Actually, I’m like a carpenter, or My job is no different from that of a carpenter.”
“It’s better to be a down-to-earth person. This will help produce better movies.”
Lao Mouzi deserves to be called Lao Mouzi, and only he can say this.
If it were another person, even Li Chen, I'm afraid he would be bombarded by another Palme d'Or immediately.
Industry insiders and netizens and movie fans also praised Lao Mouzi.
"Zhang Yimou is still Zhang Yimou, and he did not disappoint everyone!"
"It makes people cry and laugh at the same time. This is a good movie."
In response to Lao Mouzi's low profile, Li Chen and Ms. Liu also went together to contribute to the box office of "Riding Alone, Thousands of Miles".
The scene of the child chasing the car while blowing the whistle made Ms. Liu burst into tears.
I left the cinema and got in the car.
Miss Liu, who was sitting in the passenger seat with her eyes still red, muttered softly: "I wish I could be in Director Zhang's play sometime."
Li Chen was really drunk. Okay, this scene seems a bit familiar.
"Qianxi, you really treat Director Li as a cadre!"
"You said in front of Director Li that you want to be in Director Zhang's show! How do you think I should punish you?"
Miss Liu is naughty. With a smile: "It's up to you. As long as I can get into Director Zhang's play, I can punish you as you please!"
Li Chen is really not sure about this, unless he stuffs Zhang Dapao with money or takes Lao Mouzi into custody someday. Become under the banner!
Li Chen changed the topic and said: "After watching "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", you envy Julie. After watching "A Thousand Miles Alone", you want to be in director Zhang's play!"
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"I won't dare watch a movie with you next time. If I want to watch it, I'll just watch Director Li's play!"
Ms. Liu smiled cheerfully: "If you don't watch it with me, I'll find someone else to do it with you!"
"Riding Alone, Thousands of Miles" won word-of-mouth, but lost at the box office.
This seems to be a portrayal of Lao Mouzi in recent years.
Either it will sell well but not be popular, or it will be popular but not popular!
The box office on the first day of release was only over 1 million, ranking second to last among the five Lunar New Year films, only higher than "If Love".
"The Great Sage" has 2 million.
Of course Lao Mouzi didn’t care, but Lao Mouzi’s partner jumped the gun!
The premiere cost 20 million. Although today is only Thursday, but according to the situation, I am afraid I will have to pay to my death!
Seeing "Painted Skin" and "The Promise" were like grabbing money, not to mention how heartbroken Zhang Dapao was!
I shouldn't have listened to my brother in the first place. When it comes to art, money, money is the most practical thing!
After Christmas, "The Promise" ranked first at the box office this weekend, with a box office of nearly 30 million.
The total box office has also reached 130 million, but "Painted Skin" has exceeded 275 million, which is a slap in the face!
Although "The Promise" is still on schedule for nearly half a month.
But the industry is looking down on Wuji.
In the study room, Chen Kaige's face was ashen. "Ride Alone, Thousands of Miles" had won word of mouth, and "Painted Skin" had won the box office.
And he spent countless efforts, almost 60 years old, and led a whole family to spread the word that in the end all four majors were in vain!
Weinstein, the North American publisher of "The Promise", actually gave up the idea at this time.
"Please change the publisher! We are quitting!"
This is simply a great shame.
Chen Hong also fell silent. "The Promise" had a huge impact on the couple, especially her husband, and it was useless to say anything now.
All the couple hopes for is the Oscar, and they rush to Los Angeles together to make the final push for the upcoming screening of "The Promise"!
The news at the end of the year is always exciting.
Five New Year blockbusters are vying for the top spot, and "Painted Skin" has undisputedly won the throne.
Early the next morning, Sina reprinted a report from the Hollywood "Los Angeles Times" and "The New York Times".
It instantly detonated the entertainment industry at the end of the year.
“Chiyou Pictures may be making big moves!”
“It is reported that Chiyou Pictures, which has become famous in Hollywood recently, will invest US$85 million in the filming of the first Sino-US co-production film "The Thieves" ! ”
“There are currently two female leads, one is the Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron, and the other is the legendary Italian actress Monica Bellucci”
“There are rumors that Charlize Theron has edged out Angelina Jolie to become the Hollywood actress in this Sino-US co-production!”
"According to people familiar with the matter, the script of "Thieves" is based on the original script of the Chinese Palme d'Or director Li Chen, and the casting of the remaining eight characters will also be carried out simultaneously in the two countries in the near future."
In the circle and online It exploded immediately!
Media and reporters have called Rongchen Pictures to inquire about "Thieves".
Hollywood's script confidentiality is very good. Those who are not the contracted actors and producers cannot see the script at all.
At this moment, Li Chen, Yang Siwei and Wu Bin were all bombarded with phone calls.
Jolie suffered a dumb loss, and she couldn't jump out to defend Chi You Pictures' operation. At this moment, she had been secretly arranged to give birth by Pitt.
Inside the Huayi Building.
"Aren't you familiar with Yang Siwei? Hurry up and find out about the character."
"I'll fight now, Mr. Wang!"
Wang Zhonglei is here Brother's office.
"Brother, I didn't expect Li Chen to play so big and walk in front of us!"
"Yes, this young man is really brave! Go and ask if we can invest!"
"No problem, brother, I mean the same thing. We really need projects like this to show our strength now!"
At the same time, Wang Jinghao also called Yang Siwei.
"Sisi, I won't be polite to you anymore. Please tell me the truth. How many roles are there and how many have been pre-cast?"
"Sister Hua, did you ask for an idea? I won't hide it from you. There is no unofficial decision. There are indeed many suitable actors among your artists, but in the end it has to be finalized by my boss."
Yang Siwei That’s all I can say.
Decided? There must be one, the landlady is the one who made the decision!
But how could she tell Wang Jinghao that even if the casting was finally chosen, the boss lady would still have to go through the motions.
"Okay, with your words, I will feel relieved. Say hello to me during the audition, and go shopping with me if you have nothing to do. Don't be too busy all day long."
"Haha, no problem, Sister Hua!"
Li Chen's office also had a guest, Ye Ning, the vice president of Wanda Cinema Line.
"Director Li, I am Ye Ning. I have wanted to meet Director Li for a long time, and I got my wish today." Ye Ning smiled politely.
"Mr. Ye is too polite. Mr. Bao has already told me. I would like to thank you for your support in "Father's Love Like a Mountain"."
"Director Li is too polite. These are all Little things.”
"I know Mr. Ye's purpose. How about giving Wanda 15% of the share?"
"Haha, just do what Director Li said. Next time there is such a project, as long as Director Li doesn't forget Just go to Wanda."
After sending Ye Ning away, Li Chen took calls from Han Sanping, Ren Zhonglun, and Wang Changtian.
Finally, it was decided that China Film Group would account for 25%, Shanghai Film Group Corporation and Wanda Group would each have 15%, and Raytheon Film Group would account for 5%.
Li Chen asked Yang Siwei to contact people from China Film, Shanghai Film and Television to come to the company to sign contracts.
Wu Bin came to Li Chen to sign the rights to the TV series he bought this year.
Li Chen frowned and looked at it for a long time, the fee was a bit unusual.
Especially the dramas "Bright Sword", "Fairy Sword" and "Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty".
Wu Bin also knew that he could not hide it from Li Chen, so he smiled bitterly and said: "Director Li, there are bidders for these dramas, so the cost is relatively high."
Li Chen was even more surprised, who is so Have a vision.
Do you also see the importance of copyright in future competition?
Are there any time travellers?
"No wonder, who is bidding with us?"
"A video website, what is it called LeTV."
"LeTV? Jia Leting?" Li Chen asked in surprise. .
"Yes, the legal person's surname seems to be Jia, does Director Li know him?"
Wu Bin was a little disapproving. For such a small company, he didn't expect Li Chen to know about it.
We know each other, we know each other so well! Li Chen thought to himself.
The number one cake king in China, a talented person who can fool both the boss Wang and Lao Xu.
How could Li Chen not recognize him?
There is a saying: Listen to Jia Xixi and work for ten more years!
Isn’t this the one you’re talking about!
"It doesn't matter whether you recognize them or not. In this case, don't care about money, keep buying and don't stop."
"Don't limit yourself to the mainland and Hong Kong Island, Japan, South Korea, New Malaysia, Thailand, the United States, They are all our goals.”
Wu Bin couldn’t understand many of Li Chen’s decisions.
I don’t know what the company’s intention is in buying so many copyrights. There are so many pirated copies online, so why buy the genuine ones?
"Don't worry, Director Li, I know how to do it."
"In addition to the previous cooperation with TVB and ATV, I have also negotiated cooperation with Hairun, Zhouyi, and Tangren in the Mainland Relationship.”
“Compared with funds and brand name, LeTV is not enough.”
(End of this chapter)