MGM announced that it has signed director Christopher Nolan with a large sum of money. And this is a long-term contract, ten years, ten movies, using a basic salary + box office dividend model.
For a moment, everyone was stunned.
What surprised them most was, who is this Nolan
At this time, Nolan was still an unknown young director, or a cutting-edge director who had switched careers from cameraman, screenwriter, and actor. Perhaps everyone's only impression of him is "Memento," a movie with a mediocre box office response. It is neither a commercial film nor an artistic film.
In the near future, Nolan still has some other actions. For example, he is the director of the comic book movie "Batman", and this movie is scheduled to be released this summer and is invested by Time Warner.
Ordinarily, even if MGM signed this up-and-coming director and bet on his future, it shouldn't have given him such generous terms. Those who can get box office dividends must be big commercial directors, like Spielberg or Cameron, right
And ten movies in ten years is too high-yield. MGM is running out of directors, but there are many successful directors in Hollywood. Why did you choose such a one
Nolan is a director that Feng Yu likes very much. In his previous life, Nolan gradually climbed to the top of the world's top directors step by step. The most important point is that Nolan's film placement is invisible and very effective.
If a movie wants to make money, implantation is an effective way. However, if the implantation marks are too severe, it will greatly affect the movie-watching experience.
Moreover, Nolan is very good at making heroic movies. Although DC Comics belongs to Warner, and the other party insists that it will not sell it, but Marvel has not said that it will not sell it, and at this time, Marvel movies are not as popular as before Feng Yu’s previous life. , maybe you can spend less money to acquire Marvel.
And Marvel's income is not only the benefit of adapting movies. Wind and Rain Game can be adapted into a game, and there will definitely be a lot of income. Comics can be republished, cartoons, cartoon dolls, clothing and other peripherals can also be developed. These are all money.
Many people think that some movies lose money at the box office immediately, but why are they still making sequels? It’s not that the investors are stupid or the production company is stupid, it’s that they made their money back through peripherals.
The movie may have lost tens of millions at the box office, but it can make back 100 million from peripherals. Moreover, the sequel has another advantage, that is, it can make the surrounding areas more popular, and it can also drive the sales of CDs of the previous movies, and earn another income.
Therefore, when many film companies sign contracts with actors, they sign three or four film contracts at once, allowing one person to represent a character image, so that they can avoid the actor leaving, causing the sequel to not be accepted by fans, or the actor Film remuneration has skyrocketed, affecting their production costs.
The reason why Feng Yu asked MGM to give Nolan such a generous treatment was because he was afraid that Nolan would be poached by Warner. After all, Nolan's Batman film for Warner was about to be released at this time. If it gets a good reputation after the release, If the box office is high, Warner will definitely ask Nolan to shoot a sequel.
It's a pity that Warner gave Nolan a fixed salary at this time, which is completely incomparable with MGM. Although box office dividends are risky, Nolan can only take dividends from pure profits, which is three times the box office minus production costs, and the remaining money is the profit from the box office.
But no one would give this condition to an unknown director like Nolan at this time.
What's more, before Nolan signed the contract with MGM, he also got the news that Cameron was going to compete in commercial movies again, and MGM was the first to throw away the olive branch.
Cameron has been filming documentaries in the past few years. Many people have invited him to continue filming The Terminator, but Cameron has rejected them because he has a script in mind. After almost ten years, no one is willing to invest.
This was a script he wrote before Titanic was released. He originally thought that with Titanic's unparalleled box office, he should be able to get a huge investment.
But those companies were very dissatisfied with Cameron's shooting and production speed, because Cameron said that he planned to complete the film in five to eight years, and it would be a masterpiece that once again creates film history.
For five to eight years, no one was willing to invest, especially since Cameron wanted $300 million in fees. How much box office will it take to earn back the money? Even if calculated based on five years, how much will $300 million become after inflation? If the US$300 million is invested in other films, at least three or five large-budget commercial films can be made. How much money will be made
So even though Cameron is famous, has been named one of the top twenty most outstanding directors of the 21st century, and has a box office record, he still can't get investment
But this time it’s different. MGM is not short of money, or Fengyu Holdings Group is not short of money and is willing to invest. Wouldn’t it be a hit-and-miss
In particular, Cameron promised that while filming this dream movie "Avatar", he would make another "Terminator" and use the profits from this movie to support the filming of "Avatar".
In particular, Cameron hopes to make "Avatar" into a series, like Terminator and Star Wars, into a series of movies, which is also agreed by MGM.
As long as the first part is successful, then it can make more money by becoming a series, which is also in the interest of MGM.
In fact, people within MGM were very opposed to it, but Ralph followed Feng Yu's advice and forcefully suppressed the objections. The company is the Fengyu Holdings Group that has the final say. If we say invest, then invest!
Isn't it just money? If you can't get a bank loan, you can borrow money from Fengyu Holding Group according to the bank interest rate.
This is not only a way to gain monetary benefits, but also to use film companies to influence the United States culturally, or to counter-invasion.
The United States has always used their movies and other cultural products to export their values, or the values they want others to abide by.
So why can't we go the other way and let culture invade in reverse to affect the values of Americans
The so-called commercial films here in the United States focus on visual effects, and the plot should be simple and straightforward, with a clear main line. This main line can be love, it can be about punishing evil and promoting good, it can be revenge, or it can be the confrontation between good and evil.
No matter what, the plot should be simple and crude, so that most people can easily understand it. Just like the fantasy novels Feng Yu read on the Internet in his previous life, it just makes people feel good.
And in this simple pleasure, it would be nice to highlight a universal value.
After signing these two directors, Feng Yu plans to meet with them in person to correct some of their misconceptions so that they can make money for the company faster.
… (To be continued.)