When Li Mu heard that Hollywood was competing for Hong Kong film rights, he felt particularly pleased.
What he wants is not to make money by hyping up Hong Kong film copyrights, but to help Hong Kong films and even Chinese-language films go abroad.
The category "Hong Kong movies" is a special title for Chinese people. Only Chinese people divide movies into Hong Kong movies, mainland movies and Taiwanese movies. In front of the whole world, whether it is mainland movies, Hong Kong or Taiwan movies, They all have a collective name - Chinese movies.
If a Hong Kong movie becomes popular in North America, it will have a certain impact on the entire Chinese-language film industry. Now that Hollywood is starting to compete for Hong Kong movies, it won't be long before they start competing for other Chinese-language movies from mainland China and Taiwan.
Before this, an excellent Chinese-language film was sold to a North American distributor for only a few hundred thousand dollars. In addition to the value of its own films, Hollywood looked down upon all overseas films equally, so the price was also Press as hard as possible. In their view, the demand for overseas films in the North American market is only so great every year. There are so many films from so many overseas countries every year. If you can't agree on one, there are still thousands of films that can be negotiated. Naturally, the lower the price, the better.
But now, because of the success of "Zombie-Master", Hollywood has obviously taken a high regard for Chinese-language movies. In the future, there will definitely be a wave of Chinese-language movies in the entire North American market.
In Li Mu's view, the more excellent Chinese-language films that can be released in North America and even other countries, the more successful it will be for the export of Chinese-language films and Chinese culture.
However, Hong Kong film companies do not see the problem this way. They have suffered for so long in the years of depression in Hong Kong films, and suddenly they are able to survive due to Li Mu's efforts. They have a backlog of films that no longer have any profitability. Copyrights were given commercial value again overnight, so they only think about one thing now, and that is how to take advantage of the movie copyrights in their hands to make more money.
After the price of "Infernal Affairs" plummeted, Uniasia immediately contacted several first-tier film companies in Hong Kong. The bosses of several companies sat together to discuss the current progress of copyright transactions with Hollywood. After carefully understanding the market, , Huanya realized that their quotation for "Infernal Affairs" was indeed a bit ridiculously high.
Of all the companies currently cooperating with Hollywood, no one has successfully obtained a "guaranteed share" agreement from a Hollywood distributor. The offers given by these distributors are all copyright buyouts without exception. It’s just that the buyout price has increased several times compared to before.
However, several other film companies are also very satisfied with this. After all, these copyrights were previously unknown and could not be sold for even ten thousand dollars. Now they can suddenly be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. For these companies, To say it is tantamount to a sudden windfall.
However, the boss of Uni-Asia cannot have the same mentality of being rich and contented because he feels that the movie "Mr. Zombie" has cost him too much. He had the opportunity to make thousands from this movie. Ten thousand US dollars, but in the end, what he got was less than one hundred thousand US dollars.
It was precisely because of such a huge psychological gap that he hoped that "Infernal Affairs" could be sold at a better price. However, he did not expect that the distributors in Hollywood "went down" in an instant, and several companies withdrew from the competition. The rest also lowered their quotations, which made the boss of Huanya even more depressed.
In order to sell "Infernal Affairs" at a better price, the boss of Uniasia took the initiative to contact Makino Yingxiang. Although he hated Makino Yingxiang in his heart, but at this time, he wanted to improve the performance of "Infernal Affairs". For the price in the North American market, he must borrow strength from Makino Image.
UniAsia expressed to Makino Imaging that they hope to cooperate with Makino Imaging to develop the North American copyright of "Infernal Affairs". The decision-making power for the specific operation lies with UniAsia. Makino Imaging does not need to invest, but only needs to commit to providing "Infernal Affairs" in the North American market. If you recommend enough resources for "Infernal Affairs", you can get 30% of all the revenue that UniAsia earns from "Infernal Affairs" in North America.
The person in charge of Makino Imaging routinely reported this matter to Li Ziwei. Li Ziwei conveyed the news to Li Ziwei when Li Mu took her by car to conduct a field inspection at the junction of Yanjing, Tianjin City and Langfang. Li Mu.
After listening, Li Mu said to Li Ziwei: "I have a message for Huanya. If they want to cooperate with us in the overseas market of "Infernal Affairs", they should show some sincerity and reverse the cooperation conditions. The decision-making power is given to us, and the copyright comes first." License it exclusively to us, and sublicense it to us, and then let us operate it in the North American market. We will give them 30% of all the revenue we earn from "Infernal Affairs" overseas."
After that, Li Mu added: "By the way, tell them that we will not promise any recommended resources."
Li Ziwei nodded and asked tentatively: "Is this condition too harsh for Huanya?"
Li Mu said: "It seems a bit harsh, but the actual results are much better than when they cooperate with any Hollywood distributor. The North American distribution rights of this film are said to be able to sell for five to six million US dollars. If they cooperate with We cooperate, and with our promotion and operation resources, it is definitely better to get 30% of the share from Huanya than to sell it all at once."
After that, Li Mu said to Li Ziwei: "Contact the people at Warner America and tell them that I am interested in buying back the English remake rights of "Infernal Affairs" from them, and the price will be double their original transaction price. "
Li Mu felt that if UniAsia could calm down and look at the problem, it would be the best thing for him to cooperate with "Infernal Affairs". As for why he wanted to reduce their share of the account to 30%, it was because he had to make more profits. The space is given to theaters in North America, so that they can have sufficient advantages in arranging films.
The box office of "Mr. Zombie" seems to be very high, but most of the revenue goes to theaters and Lucasfilm. Makino Pictures really only gets a small share, and in order to promote this movie, now Muying Pictures' ticketing system is in North America provides a 5% box office subsidy for this movie, which reduces the revenue ratio by another 5%. In addition, daily lottery draws also require a large amount of cost. "Mr. Zombie" has "Plants vs. Zombies Online" This is a huge advantage, but you still have to pay such a price if you want to succeed, let alone "Infernal Affairs".
If UniAsia can't even understand this layer and all he can think about is making more money, then let him do whatever he wants. When the time comes, he will buy the English remake rights back from Warner, and then cooperate with DreamWorks to make his own Make an American version of "Infernal Affairs".
As early as February this year, Warner America bought the remake rights of "Infernal Affairs" for US$1.75 million, setting a record for the amount of remake rights of a Hong Kong movie at the time.
If it proceeds at the normal pace, the Hollywood version of this movie will be officially launched next year. However, Warner has been unlucky this year. The "promoting the extreme samurai spirit" controversy caused by "The Last Samurai" has given Warner a huge blow. Until now Warner's reputation has yet to recover.
In addition, the future of director Edward Zwick and starring Tom Cruise in the film industry also suffered a huge blow because of this movie, which also caused other Hollywood stars to express disapproval of Warner. Currently, Warner It is still the target of global audiences. Actors who work with Warner, even if they make a completely positive movie, they will attract infamy on the Internet. After all, Warner took money from Japanese chaebols to make "The Last Samurai" to promote it to the world*** The extreme samurai spirit of color has attracted a lot of hatred to Warner from all over the world. It is impossible to recover without keeping your tail between your legs for a while.
Moreover, the "The Last Samurai" incident also caused great shock to Warner's top management. Li Mu speculated that Warner's current rhythm in film and television will be greatly affected, so whether "Infernal Affairs" can be released in Hollywood next year Edition is still a big problem.
At this time, Warner should not hold on to a movie that has not yet been officially approved, and its own Muying ticketing system currently controls the monetization of the box office in North America. Warner has to give itself some face.
Li Mu’s plan is to buy the copyright back from Warner, film it with joint investment from Makino Pictures and DreamWorks, then ask Martin Scorsese to direct the film, and then bring Leonardo and Matt ·Both Damon and Tom Hanks came to play this movie. Leonardo will still play the role of Tony Leung, Matt Damon will still play the role of Andy Lau, and the older Tom will still play the role of Tony Leung. Hanks plays the role of Huang Qiu Sheng.
After watching the American version of "Infernal Affairs" in his previous life, Li Mu has always felt that in the American version of "Infernal Affairs", Martin Sheen, who originally played the role of Huang Qiusheng, felt a bit weak in the movie overall. If this character is If you switch to an old actor like Tom Hanks, the effect will definitely be even better.
Moreover, Li Mu’s desire to film the American version of “Infernal Affairs” is a bit of a thief mentality. First of all, this is a remake of a Chinese film, which is a good recognition of the quality of Chinese films. In addition, in his previous life, the American version of “Infernal Affairs” "Won four Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing, as well as a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
In fact, Leonardo had two movies nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor that year, one was the American version of "Infernal Affairs" and the other was "Blood Diamond". Because the same actor can only be nominated for one movie, he was finally nominated. The one is "Blood Diamond", which means that if the two movies compete for Oscars separately, each one can be nominated for Best Actor.
Since the Oscars use a lobbying system, when competing for awards, in addition to the quality of the actors and movies themselves, they also have to rely on the resources behind them. Harvey is a strong player in the fight for Oscar awards, but unfortunately it has become infamous now, and Li Mu has money and enough influence around the world. He also has partners like Spielberg and DreamWorks, as well as artifacts such as Makino's ticketing system that are rooted in theater terminals. Combined with the "Infernal Affairs" The script, combined with the influence of Martin Scorsese, combined with the influence of Leonardo and Tom Hanks, won the four awards that the US version of "Infernal Affairs" had already successfully won. It must not be a big problem of.
Moreover, if "Blood Diamond" does not grab resources, Leonardo will definitely be able to get an Oscar nomination for Best Actor through the American version of "Infernal Affairs". When the time comes, he will devote more resources to mediating and lobbying to help Leonardo It’s not impossible to win one more Oscar winner!
If the American version of "Infernal Affairs" invested by Li Mu can win five Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing, it will definitely be the biggest winner at the Oscars. Moreover, the investor and producer of this movie will be Makino Image from China!
China's movies, China's directors, China's actors, and China's capital all have their own "Oscar dreams." If they succeed, then the American version of "Infernal Affairs" operated by China Capital may be ahead of schedule for China Capital and China Capital. Chinese film companies realize their "Oscar dream"!
(End of chapter)