The King of Directors 2000

Chapter 383 Why "The Hangover"

Regarding "The Hangover", Lee Sung Yew planned to go to the beautiful country to shoot, just like "The Hangover" in his previous life, he went to Las Vegas, and the leading actors were four white men.

The reason why he didn't consider arranging mainland actors is because of this movie, he doesn't expect the mainland box office at all.

He doesn't even count on the box office in the mainland, the box office of the peninsula, island countries, Wanwan, Hong Kong Island, and Southeast Asia.

In his previous life, "The Hangover" was a big hit in Europe and America, and a total of 500 million dollars was invested in production and promotion.

As a result, it raked in [-] million yuan, of which [-] million in Beautiful Country, and the rest of the box office was mainly contributed by the European region.

Excluding the later discs, the copyright income has allowed the production company to earn hundreds of millions of dollars.

There is no original book for this movie, and it could be made into a series.

"The Hangover 2" has a global box office of 3 million, and "The Hangover [-]" is [-] million.

Makes more money than the vast majority of superhero movies.

This movie can be copied, but this movie is not suitable for the Asian region.

In fact, among all types of movies, comedy is the genre with the deepest cultural barriers.

Action movies you can watch action, horror movies you can watch horror.

These are some common perceptions.

Only comedies are more concerned about the cultural background.

Not to mention a typical beautiful national R-rated shit movie like "The Hangover".

Even Zhou Xingxing's movies are more popular in the south of China, but not so much in the north.

The same is true for Feng's comedies. Northern audiences obviously like them more, while southern audiences don't recognize them that much.

Comedy movies from the beautiful country have always performed relatively mediocre in Asia.

"Night at the Museum" can be said to be the most popular movie in Europe and the United States during the Lunar New Year last year.

But in the mainland, it can only be said to be quite satisfactory, with a box office of about 6000 million.

In Hong Kong Island, a relatively westernized city, the box office is not very prominent, and it won 100 million box office.

So don't try to think that comedies from the beautiful country can sell well in the mainland.

Li Shengyao wrote "The Hangover" just to make money, he didn't need to find a mainland actor to mix in it.

Doing so might not be as good-looking as "The Hangover" in his previous life.

And such a movie with a cost of 500 million US dollars, now Lee Sheng Yew is here to shoot, he carefully made the plan, and found that it doesn't need that much at all. With the addition of publicity, 3000 million US dollars is enough.

With his current reputation and the funds returned by Fenghua, he can easily make up 3000 million US dollars.

Not enough for "Taken" to be a big hit, he made a lot of money in the beautiful country.

This time, if "The Hangover" still explodes and makes a lot of money, but there is no company in the beautiful country.

Then there is no doubt, Hollywood will block him collectively, and his movies will never enter the beautiful country in the future.

Considering that "Taken" can be made into a series of movies, "The Hangover" can also be made into a series of movies.

The days to make money in the future are still long.

Li Shengyao intends to go to the beautiful country to pay homage to the wharf in person, and give up part of the benefits.

"The Hangover" is not an action movie like "Taken", but a restricted comedy, which should not be valued so much.

He might be able to keep the copyright and become the main investor.

Hollywood comedy movies absorb nutrients from all over the world, and you can find all kinds of comedies in Hollywood.

However, after entering the millennium, there are mainly two kinds of comedies in Hollywood, one is drama films starring a comedian star, and the other is nonsensical spoof films.

The biggest representative of the first type is naturally Jim Carrey's movies.

The second type is "The White-Headed Detective" and "Screaming Laughter".

The first type accounts for [-]% to [-]%, just like "Night at the Museum" also belongs to this type. The second type of spoof film has some audiences, but the box office is not high.

But, the first type of comedies, like those played by Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler, generally have a clear theme, and in fact they all have some educational meaning, but they are still not open enough.

The audience looked a little tired.

And "The Hangover" has no theme and no thoughts at all, just makes you laugh crazily and makes you forget the troubles in life.

In Lee Seng Yew's previous life, "The Hangover" was like a key that opened the door to the fantasy world.

With the appearance of this movie, another type of comedy in the beautiful country began to dominate.

This kind of comedy has no depth, no integrity, is very noisy, full of shit and fart, a bit like a spoof, but more logical than a spoof.

The general media calls this kind of comedy a restricted comedy.

After The Hangover, Hollywood has seen a slew of comedies like this one.

"Friends Have Sex", "Bridesmaids", "Evil Boss", "Bad Teacher", "Body Swapping", "Alien Paul", "Due Date" and so on are all movies in this category.

In the beautiful country are all R-rated comedies.

Their cost is generally not high, but they are very profitable. According to media statistics, before 2015, R-rated comedy films made more money than superhero movies.

Lee Sung Yew planned to produce The Hangover at a cost of 3000 million U.S. dollars, he paid 2000 million U.S. dollars himself, and handed over 1000 million U.S. dollars to the Hollywood company.

As for mainland companies, naturally they don't consider it.

In fact, based on the standard of "The Hangover", it is still a question of whether the mainland can pass the review. Even if it passes the review, it will inevitably need major changes.

He doesn't even consider the mainland box office, and he also considers any mainland companies.

On March 2007, 3, Li Shengyao flew to the beautiful country. He first visited the crew of "Rush Hour 10", chatted with Cheng Long for a while, and then arranged for someone to release the news that he was going to make a restricted-rated comedy.

At 2007:3 am on March 11, 10, Li Shengyao appeared in the branch building of Disney in Los Angeles. He met Warren Iger, a senior executive of Disney.

This boss is not very famous, but when it comes to his cousin Robert Iger, he is very famous.

Robert is now the CEO of Disney.

Warren is a few years younger than his cousin. He looks about fifty, with an ordinary appearance, probably from work fatigue. He has gray hair early on, and he may have some spinal problems. He is a bit stooped.

But seeing Lee Sheng Yew, Warren still had a smile on his face.

"Li, nice to meet you, you are the most handsome oriental guy I have ever seen."

Congratulations, not the most handsome, there should be seven or eight people ahead.

Li Shengyao smiled, "Mr. Iger, you are more talkative than I imagined."

"Li, what do you want to drink?"

"Just give me a glass of water."

A look of surprise flashed in Warren's eyes.

Few people in the beautiful country drink clean water. They either drink soft drinks, coffee, or ice water.

"OK, no problem."

After a while, Li Shengyao took a water glass, took a sip of clear water, and then stated the purpose of his visit.

"Li, you mean you want to shoot an R-rated comedy, the total investment is 3000 million knives, you can make up 2000 million, and you need another 1000 million?"

Li Shengyao nodded, "Yes, I still need 1000 million. I don't know if your company is interested."

Film investors in the mainland are in a mess, and Hollywood is actually the same.

When most movies just started, there were a lot of investors.

Of course, if the first movie is a big hit and can make money, then it will be difficult for outsiders to enter the next series of movies.

But ordinary movies often have dozens of investors.

That's right, there are dozens of investors.

In Hollywood it's called "diversification" because you don't know if the movie will make money or not.

So the investors who can enter the game spread the money.

Li Shengyao didn't know if such investors could make money, anyway, there were many investors.

After the mainland movie market exploded in 2010, a lot of mainland capital will invest in Hollywood movies.

Some want to make money, some want to be famous.

Those who want to make money generally ask for the box office of the movie in the mainland. For example, China Film has invested in many movies, including the blockbuster "Speed" and the "Jurassic" series.

Many people think that mainland film companies are not qualified, but after the mainland market rises, China Film Group is eligible.

If you don't let me invest, I won't let you pass the review.

Therefore, when many Hollywood blockbusters are released, China Film Group is very active, holding a premiere ceremony and inviting a group of mainland stars.

There is another kind that is for the sake of fame and listing to cheat money. This kind of film production company will try to enter the game no matter what Hollywood film it is. DMG Entertainment Culture is such a company.

At this time Warren heard Li Shengyao's words, and immediately frowned.

For comedy films at this time, if you invite comedian stars, then 3000 million is not enough.

If comedian stars are not invited, the movie will most likely lose money.

He subconsciously wanted to refuse, he felt that this director from Mainland China did not understand the style of beautiful Chinese comedy.

But then he thought of Lee Shengyao's previous achievements, and said, "Lee, show me the script, the proposal."

Li Shengyao took out the script and the plan.

The script is a condensed script, slightly more detailed than the plot outline, mainly introducing the direction of the story, without a detailed plot, let alone details.

On the contrary, the planning and writing are more detailed, accurately writing all the expenses of the director, props, publicity, actors and so on.

Among them, Director Li's director's fee is 500 million US dollars, the production fee is 100 million US dollars, and the screenwriter's fee is 100 million US dollars.

In other words, for this movie with an investment of 3000 million, Director Li's salary alone is 700 million dollars.

In addition to Director Li's salary, other production costs are only 300 million US dollars.

What level of actors can such a comedy film invite?
Warren's brows frowned even tighter. How does this look like a project to cheat money?
However, it seems that New Line offered Director Li Da Dao a director's salary, and he offered a price of 500 million U.S. dollars.

Warren suppressed the doubts in his heart, calmed down, and then looked at the script carefully again.

Probably the plot is that the four good brothers decided to have an ultimate bachelor party before their marriage, but the groom disappeared, and the other three wanted to find the groom, and encountered a series of ironic stories.

Just by watching this plot, you can't tell whether it's funny or whether it has a selling point.

Warren narrowed his eyes, thought for a while and asked, "Lee, do you like this movie?"

Li Shengyao nodded, "Yes, I think this is a very good story, and it should be a hit."

Warren smiled secretly when he heard this.

He felt that Li Shengyao, a Chinese person, was too naive, and he didn't understand the preferences of the audience in the beautiful country at all.

So should you invest?

The cost of 3000 million US dollars, the global box office will take more than 1 million to recover.

So can a comedy movie without a comedian star sell for more than 1 million US dollars?
"Li, I'm not very optimistic about this project."

Hearing this, Li Shengyao was overjoyed.

Just don’t be optimistic, I’ve already given you a chance, but you can’t blame me for not investing in the end.

This time he visits the pier, looking for investment is secondary, and the most important thing is to show sincerity.

In case the future movie is a big hit, the Hollywood company will not give him a chance to enter because of jealousy.

Li Shengyao stood up, "Unfortunately, I really want to cooperate with Disney. Since you are not optimistic, then we have the opportunity to cooperate again in the future."

He then went out.

Warren looked at Li Shengyao's tall back, and suddenly thought of Disney and Fox, and Warner had sent invitations to Lee Shengyao.

This is a talent.

What if the movie could make money?
So if he lets go of an opportunity to make money, will he be ridiculed by others?
Because the cousin is the CEO, many people looked down on Warren, thinking that he was a backdoor person.

Warren thought of this, and hurriedly called to Li Shengyao, "Lee, wait."

Li Shengyao stopped and turned his head.

"Li, you are a genius. Although I personally don't like this project, I like you very much."

"I trust you a lot. On behalf of Disney, I am willing to invest 300 million US dollars, but I hope you will give Disney the right to announce and distribute the movie."

Propaganda is naturally impossible, there are too many tricks.

Li Shengyao shook his head, "Mr. Iger, I have already written the publicity plan in the planning book, so there is no need for publicity. I can give you the distribution rights. This movie will be established in the beautiful country. It is considered a beautiful country movie and will be released regularly. That’s fine, let’s issue [-] percent.”

The six major Hollywood movies, they produce and distribute themselves.

When calculating the distribution cost, it is often not like the mainland, which finally accounts for a few percent of the total box office.

Instead, judge the distribution fee yourself.

The more theaters it releases, the higher the distribution fee will be.

This has resulted in some films costing 8000 million yuan in production and [-] million yuan in publicity and distribution.

In the end, all the money was earned by the Big Six, and those small investors may not be able to get dividends.

If it is a local small company film that does not have the ability to distribute, then you can negotiate with the distribution company to pay different percentages.

Lee Sung Yew doesn't need Disney to help him with large-scale publicity, just a regular release.

After hearing this, Warren understands that Lee Sing Yew is a good monkey, but it is also a good thing to get the distribution rights.

In case the movie becomes a big hit, they will still make some money.

And if the movie doesn't work, it's a loss of $300 million.

He walked up to Li Shengyao and stretched out his right hand.

"Lee, happy cooperation."

Li Shengyao nodded, "We are happy to cooperate."

(End of this chapter)