""kungfu Panda"?"
Li Mu was shocked by Spielberg's words.
He originally thought that "Kung Fu Panda" would not be released for at least two or three years, but he did not expect that DreamWorks had already started work on the art design of "Kung Fu Panda" last year, which meant that the entire "Kung Fu Panda" The project no longer just exists on paper, it is very likely that the entire project has been finalized.
Li Mu hurriedly asked him: "Stephen, can you introduce to me the story setting of "Kung Fu Panda"?"
Spielberg said with a smile: "'Kung Fu Panda' is an animated film set in Chinese culture. The protagonist of the story is China's unique national treasure panda. In our film, the protagonist is a panda who is obsessed with kung fu." A story about a panda who accidentally got involved in a martial arts dispute and eventually became a martial arts master."
Li Mu asked him with a smile: "Have you designed the character yet?"
"Not yet." Spielberg said: "We are mainly working on the scene design of the film now. Because it needs to have full Chinese elements, our art team is looking for suitable scenery materials everywhere in China. When they come back, they will Start working on character design.”
Li Mu said: "I don't think you need to go to trouble. I'll just give you the image of Panda Bear and let Panda Bear play your "Kung Fu Panda". What do you think?"
"Panda Bear?" Spielberg exclaimed, "Oh my God! Why didn't I think of this!"
As he spoke, his voice was full of joy and he said: "If we use Panda Bear, it will be of great benefit to both of us. Not only can we directly utilize Panda Bear's fan base, but we can also create enough background stories for Panda Bear."
Li Mu admired in his heart that Spielberg really had a sharp eye and could see the pain points of both parties at once.
For DreamWorks, to create a brand new story, the story itself has no foundation and will not have any fan base. The only thing that can gather fans is DreamWorks' own reputation. However, if this story is given a powerful With the setting of fan base, this story will naturally have a strong fan base.
Panda Bear has hundreds of millions of fans around the world. If this movie can really be made using his image, as soon as the news is released, countless people will be waiting to go to the cinema to see what happens.
Just when Spielberg wanted to agree immediately, he suddenly realized a very serious problem.
copyright.
If DreamWorks independently develops "Kung Fu Panda" as planned, then there is no doubt that all the copyrights for the entire movie will belong to DreamWorks itself, especially the protagonist Panda himself, which is a large copyright that can be developed on a large scale and in depth. , However, if you cooperate with Li Mu, then the most important protagonist copyright of "Kung Fu Panda" belongs to Li Mu. You can't have the copyright of the core character not in your hands, right? Then your future derived value will be castrated.
Thinking of this, Spielberg hurriedly asked Li Mu: "Mr. Li, if we cooperate, how should the copyright issue be handled?"
Li Mu said: "First of all, I will license the image copyright of Panda Bear to you for free. At the same time, I will not take a penny from your box office income, and I can give you the license for three major movies at once, all for free. However, there is a copyright issue. The copyright of the movie belongs to you, and the other characters in the movie also belong to you, but the copyright of Panda Bear belongs to me."
Spielberg hesitated for a moment.
As a successful Jewish businessman, he is very sensitive to the distribution of rights and interests. Although Li Mu gives the copyright for free and does not share the box office share, and even authorized three movies at once, he still feels a little uncomfortable because he knows that, If you lose the copyright of the core protagonist, the copyrights of other characters will lose their development value.
For example, if you want to cooperate with Universal Studios to build a venue for "Kung Fu Panda", but you don't have the copyright to the protagonist of Kung Fu Panda, Panda Bear, how can you continue to build this venue? Even if you do it, the customers will be very depressed, right
Thinking of this, Spielberg couldn't help but said: "Mr. Li, if we don't have the copyright of the protagonist, the loss to us will be too great..."
Li Mu asked back: "What's your loss? Stephen, you can't only consider what you lose without considering what you gain. Panda Bear's image is licensed to you. Have you ever thought about how much extra income you can create at the box office? If you yourself Can we develop "Kung Fu Panda" and achieve a global box office of US$400 million or US$500 million?"
Spielberg said awkwardly: "This is not certain. The global box office of four to five billion US dollars is already considered a success."
Li Mu asked: "If you have the image of a panda bear, will the global box office of US$450 million still be a problem?"
"This..." Spielberg suddenly became thoughtful.
Li Mu added at this time: "If you originally made three movies and could get a box office of one billion US dollars, then I believe that if you switch to Panda Bear as the protagonist, the combined box office of your three movies will be at least 1.5 billion US dollars. I never said I would share this money with you."
As he spoke, Li Mu's tone became more serious and said: "Stephen, sometimes it is not suitable to be a 100% businessman. Just like our previous cooperation, when I cooperate with you, I also treat you as a friend. So you wanted to cooperate with me in Muying’s ticketing system, and I readily agreed to you at that time. Did I ever complain to you that you would share my profits?”
Spielberg's voice immediately became tense and he hurriedly explained: "Mr. Li, you misunderstood. I didn't mean it. I also regard you as a friend. It's just that my mind didn't turn around just now. I'm really sorry."
With that said, Spielberg hurriedly added: "Then just follow what you just said. You authorize us the copyright of Panda Bear, and we will make him the protagonist of Kung Fu Panda."
Li Mu's voice was a little cold, and he said: "Stephen, I have changed my mind a little bit. Let's do this. Other conditions remain unchanged. I pledge 30% of my investment in this movie."
Subscribing 30% means taking 30% of the total. Li Mu will also take 30% of the box office revenue after the movie is released in the future. For a project that is not sure whether it will make money, it is a good thing for someone to pledge, but for a project that is certain, For a project that is 100% profitable, it would be very embarrassing for someone to invest in it. It is like holding a cake and just want to eat it, and someone else will take away 30%.
But Spielberg couldn't say no.
He had already realized in his heart that Li Mu was a little angry at his fussing over things.
He did regret that he should not have unabashedly shown his nature as a businessman to Li Mu without thinking.
Now, Li Mu seems to have a lot of dissatisfaction with him.
Spielberg did not expect that he would still be influenced by the emotions of a young man at a great age, but there was no way. The profit-seeking nature of businessmen made him still long for more benefits even if he had a net worth of hundreds of millions. , and Li Mu represents more and greater interests, and this most rare resource line cannot be lost no matter what.
So, although his heart was bleeding, he still agreed without hesitation and said: "Mr. Li, just do as you say, I have no objection."
"Yes." Li Mu was now slightly satisfied. He coughed and said to Spielberg: "There is an old saying in China, people respect me one foot, and I respect others one foot. The relationship between a foot and a foot, The latter is ten times the former.”
Spielberg immediately said: "I understand what you mean. Please rest assured that I will definitely keep this sentence in mind in the future."
Li Mu hummed and thought to himself, no matter how old a Hollywood artist is with both virtue and art, he cannot escape the nature of a businessman. In front of such a pure businessman, "dad" has nothing to do with age, but only with the amount of money.
Immediately, Li Mu said again: "Let's do this. Tomorrow you send someone to China, bring a notebook, tell me the plot setting, world view background setting of this story in person, and also bring the surrender contract with you. , if there is no problem, just sign the contract."
In fact, Li Mu knew the story background and plot settings of "Kung Fu Panda", but the reason why he asked Spielberg to send someone all the way from the United States to introduce him in person was to show off the airs of a big boss.
Li Mu even felt that he seemed to be a little too "approachable" to Spielberg before, so that he really regarded himself as the same class, and even talked about such a trivial matter, and even bothered with him, so he had to put up his airs. Let him know that he and I are not in the same class at all.
As long as he still wants to make money with him or build his own resource line, no matter how old he is or how big an artist he is, he must honestly put away his edges and calculations. Otherwise, he will immediately stop all future cooperation and change hands to support him. His competitors made him miserable.
Spielberg was also very smart. When he heard that Li Mu was going to send someone there, he immediately said, "Mr. Li, how about I go there tomorrow?"
Li Mu asked hypocritically: "Aren't you busy with the post-production of "Flying Tigers"? Do you have time to come over? If you don't have time, just send someone over. It's such a small thing, you don't need to go there yourself."
Spielberg didn't dare to take advantage of the situation at this time, and immediately said very firmly: "Don't worry, I have time, and I don't need to keep an eye on the post-production matters."
Having said this, Spielberg added: "I will rush there as early as possible tomorrow and try to meet you in Yanjing in 24 hours."
"good."
For this reason, Li Mu naturally would no longer be falsely polite to him, and said calmly: "If you land in Yanjing during working hours, come to Makino Technology directly to find me."
Under normal circumstances, Li Mu would definitely arrange for Makino Technology's fleet to greet him at the airport, but now, since he has made him unhappy, he will not get any treatment at all, so he can find a way to come over by himself!
(End of chapter)