To shoot a war film with a budget of 100 million US dollars is unprecedented and unprecedented in the history of Chinese films. Even internationally, it is definitely a leader among war films.
The nearly ten hours of The Lord of the Rings trilogy cost less than 300 million U.S. dollars in total. When a single film lasts 190 minutes, the budget is less than 100 million U.S. dollars. Li Mu is going to invest in "Flying Tigers" "With a planned length of about 140 minutes, it has already received a budget of US$100 million, which shows how high the production standards must be.
And the most important thing is that most of the scenes of this movie will be shot in China. The overall price, manpower, and various costs in China are much lower than in the United States, so it is equivalent to a disguised increase. Budget.
More importantly, Spielberg told Li Mu that if the movie script was given to Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, I believe they would not refuse the roles, and based on his experience with the two of them, Relationship, I believe the two will definitely give a friendship reward.
That's not all.
Spielberg analyzed that both Tom Hanks and Leonardo admired Li Mu very much, and Li Mu's influence is indeed powerful now, so powerful that all stars are eager to embrace his lap. This movie was invested by Li Mu , these two people will definitely give Li Mu some face and reduce some of his salary.
If everything goes well, the two of them will be able to reduce their salary by 10 to 20 million U.S. dollars. There is still a lot of room for them.
What Li Mu cares about is not the money, but when the movie will be launched. If it is launched, he will definitely send the money to the crew immediately, and then coordinate all kinds of relationships in the country and do his best to support the filming of the movie.
Spielberg promised Li Mu to immediately start three things after returning to the United States:
First, get the script right;
Second, contact Tom Hanks and DiCaprio, let them see the script and nod;
Third, negotiate with DreamWorks whether to invest and how much to invest.
As long as these three things are done, Spielberg will immediately start building a team in Hollywood, and then coordinate visas and permits. The vanguard will rush to China as quickly as possible to start location selection and prop production.
After sending Spielberg, Anne Hathaway and the others back to the hotel, Li Mu was filled with emotion to Senior Brother Liu on the way back in the car. He said: "Brother Liu, you know why I was so upset after listening to what Spielberg said. , are you willing to spend $100 million to make this movie?”
Senior Brother Liu nodded and said, "You are here to let the people of the world understand China and its history of suffering."
Li Mu shook his head: "It is not a history of suffering, but a history of strong and unyielding struggle! I want people all over the world to know the greatness, strength and unyieldingness of the Chinese nation, so this movie will never be made into a movie that highlights suffering, nor will it be made into a movie that highlights suffering. It will be made into a movie that highlights personal heroism and YY can defeat invincible enemies all over the world by himself. Instead, it will be made into a movie like "The Bloody Battle at Taierzhuang" that can show the backbone of the Chinese nation and be like "Save". "Private Ryan" has strong commercial elements. Only by interpreting official history in a commercial way can it be recognized by the whole society!"
…
Li Mu's brain was still excited until he lay down after taking a shower.
Today is definitely a day of great harvest for him. LeTao has collapsed, and the e-commerce industry finally has a clear management method to explicitly prohibit cheating, abduction, and fraud. Before Spielberg left, he did not forget Give yourself a big gift. If the movie "Flying Tigers" can really meet the best expectations you want, then this movie will definitely become a milestone in the history of Chinese movies, and more importantly, when it When it is viewed and accepted on a global scale, it will definitely improve the views of people in other countries towards China and the Chinese nation to a great extent.
If the investment of 100 million US dollars is really announced to the outside world, I am afraid it will shock all the practitioners in the Chinese film and television industry and the world's film and television industry. However, this is nothing to Li Mu. In his eyes, not everyone Everything is done to make money, and even if he loses money on some things and loses all his money, he will do it without hesitation.
That night, Li Mu had been fantasizing about every scene in "Flying Tigers" in his mind, and he didn't fall asleep until late at night.
Just when Li Mugang fell asleep, his cell phone suddenly rang. The sudden ringtone and vibrating sound quickly broke the silence in the room.
Li Mu, who had just fallen asleep, was woken up by this phone call. He immediately wanted to curse, but when he saw it, he realized that the caller was actually Spielberg.
This old man is up so late, why is he calling himself? Don't you want to talk about movies
Afterwards, Li Mu answered the phone suspiciously.
On the phone, Spielberg said anxiously: "Mr. Li, I'm really sorry to bother you. Something urgent happened and I may need your help..."
"What happened?" Li Mu couldn't help but frowned. What emergency could happen while sleeping in a hotel in the middle of the night
Spielberg said: "Annie called me at night and said she was sick. A female assistant from the company and I rushed her to the hospital, but as soon as she was sent to the hospital, the doctor took her temperature. He immediately isolated her, not letting us see her, and not telling us what happened. We don’t know what is going on with Anne now, so we would like to ask you to help us consult. After all, we have to go there tomorrow morning as planned. I’m in Hong Kong, and I’ll take a flight back to the United States tomorrow afternoon.”
Li Mu subconsciously asked: "What are Annie's symptoms?"
"Fever." Spielberg said: "The fever is severe, about 104 degrees!"
"Idiot!" Li Mu couldn't help but cursed and blurted out: "104 degrees?! Are you kidding me?"
Spielberg hurriedly explained: "Sorry, sorry, it's 104 degrees Fahrenheit, I'm sorry for getting used to it."
After saying that, Spielberg thought for a while and then said: "It seems to be 40 degrees Celsius."
"Forty degrees?!" Li Mu suddenly sat up from the bed. Anne Hathaway suddenly had a fever at this time, which made him feel very bad, but he couldn't tell what was wrong for a while.
After a moment, a word flashed in Li Mu's mind - SARS.
He didn't know whether Anne Hathaway was infected with SARS, but in his memory, it was the end of 2002. The first case of SARS should have been discovered for some time, and it was now the time when it was spreading in Guangdong Province. time, and it is too close to the area where the first SARS case was discovered...
Li Mu was nervous, but he calmly considered the details. First of all, he couldn't be sure whether Anne Hathaway had a normal fever or a fever caused by SARS. But the most important thing was that she was quarantined by the hospital because of the fever. This The news sent a strong signal: Even if the public may not know much about SARS, hospitals should have understood it and started to respond cautiously. Otherwise, it would be impossible to isolate a patient with a fever.
Could it be that the SARS that I have been waiting for has already appeared in the Shenzhen market
Immediately, Li Mu asked Spielberg: "Steven, which hospital are you in? I'll come over now!"
"That's great!" Spielberg finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "We are in the emergency department of the Third People's Hospital near the hotel."
"OK, wait for me!"
Li Mu rolled over and got out of bed, then immediately started to put on clothes and packed himself up as quickly as possible. Before going out, he took a box of 3M masks from home. This was something he had arranged for people to buy from Hong Kong when he first arrived in Shenzhen. I bought it as a way to prepare myself for trouble before it happens.
Li Mu went out in the middle of the night, and Wang Yuanlang and the other three naturally followed him. Before Li Mu got in the car, they followed him to the underground garage. When Li Mu saw these three people following him out, he simply said to Wang Yuanlang: "Brother Wang, let's sit down Just a car.”
Wang Yuanlang nodded and got into the GL8 himself. Li Mu and the other two quickly got on the bus. As soon as they sat down on the seats, Li Mu said to Wang Yuanlang: "Brother Wang, go to the Third Hospital."
Wang Yuanlang was inevitably surprised that Li Mu was anxious to go to the hospital in the middle of the night, but his professionalism allowed him to drive to the Third People's Hospital immediately without asking any questions.
GL8 drove all the way to the entrance of the emergency department of the hospital. As soon as the car stopped, Li Mu took out several pairs of masks and handed one to each of them. While putting it on, he said to the three people around him: "I heard recently that there seems to be an infectious disease. , the spread is quite evil, everyone wears a mask just in case.”
Wang Yuanlang nodded, took the mask and put it on silently. Zhou Zhan, who was in the co-pilot, unpacked the mask and muttered: "It seems that I have heard rumors of infectious diseases recently, which has made the locals panic. Shenzhen City is also worried. Some pharmacies in the surrounding area have sold out disinfectant water and isatis root, saying that isatis root can prevent all kinds of diseases.”
Li Mu asked in surprise: "Disinfectant water and isatis root? Is there such a rumor? Why haven't I heard of it?"
Wang Yuanlang said: "Mr. Li, you are usually so busy and have little contact with the locals. It is normal to be unclear. When we first came to Shenzhen City, I gave an order to Zhou Zhan to pay attention to the surrounding environment and become familiar with the local area as soon as possible. The situation and customs, so he pays more attention to this aspect.”
Li Mu felt annoyed. He came to Shenzhen City just to wait for SARS, but it turned out that he didn't catch the best time. It's possible that this kind of rumor had spread around Shenzhen City ten and a half months ago!
But now is not the time to blame yourself. Anne Hathaway still doesn't know what the situation is, so he immediately said to the three of them: "Why don't you wait in the car, and I'll go take a look first."
"That's okay!" Wang Yuanlang said without hesitation: "Outside, our only principle is to protect your safety and never let you be in any danger!"
Li Mu hesitated for a moment, knowing that what he said would be of no use, so he ordered: "Then put on your masks quickly!"
(End of chapter)