Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 536: Joker and Remake Rights
If the reboot of Superman movie is to be successful, Liu Zhou's golden finger will hardly play a role because there is no successful example to learn from.

Is it going to be filmed as the original "Man of Steel"?
To be honest, even if it was filmed into the historical "Man of Steel", it would not have a big impact on Liu Zhou. After all, the North American box office of this movie was not low, just less than 10 million to 400 million US dollars.

Although the movie was a flop overall, the audience didn't care much about whether the movie made a loss in the end. The main basis for them to judge the success of a movie was the box office revenue.

"Man of Steel" is not a failure for the audience. There may be some controversy in terms of word of mouth. Some fans think that the movie is not very well made, but there are also some fans who think that the flesh-and-blood Superman is very good.

So this impact is not that big. The most influential thing is Liu Zhou's influence in the Hollywood circle.

The audience is not aware that the movie has flopped, but people in the circle know it clearly, especially the capital side, which sees it most clearly. This will cause Liu Zhou's reputation in the Hollywood circle to decline.

But then again, Liu Zhou doesn't rely on word of mouth in the circle to make a living. Even if he goes to Hollywood to make a movie, he doesn't need to attract investment, and he can't ask them for help.

He himself is the capital and can invest in his own movies, so this has no impact on Liu Zhou at all.

However, if taking over the Superman movie is just to copy other people's not-so-successful works, it will not have much meaning other than making some domestic netizens excited.

And for Liu Zhou himself, he couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart.

Having been in the industry for more than ten years, Liu Zhou has relatively high demands on himself.

He is no longer just copying like he did when he first entered the industry. He has added some of his own ideas to several of his recent works.

This is the case with "The Martian" and "Interstellar". Although the general main plot is somewhat similar, they have been localized and some details are even completely different from the original.

As for the "Aftershock" which has not yet been released, it is completely different from Feng Kuzi's version. It is a movie that belongs exclusively to Liu Zhou and has never appeared in history.

Although "Aftershock" has not been released yet, he is still very confident about the box office.

The reason why Liu Zhou is confident is that the film is shot completely according to his own ideas. He has full control over everything from the script to the special effects, the cast, and finally the shooting and editing.

But if you want to have that much power in a Superman movie, you're dreaming.

Even if you are one of the top 30 richest people in the world, since you choose to cooperate with others, you are just a director. As a director in Hollywood, let alone other things, just the final editing rights, unless you are one of the top few, you can't get this power at all, let alone other things.

After the completion of the "Harry Potter" series, the rebooted "Superman" movie is definitely Warner's most important project. It is simply impossible to let them completely give up power.

Apart from the basic power of filming, the director does not even have much say in the selection of actors.

Moreover, Liu Zhou could also be sure that they had definitely not invited just himself, they definitely had many other candidates.

If he made a lot of requests, Warner would definitely pass him up. As for other people, they dared not make too many requests to Warner.

After all, being able to direct a big IP like "Superman" is a very rare opportunity. Unless you are a famous director in Hollywood, few people will give up the opportunity to direct a big production.

If Liu Zhou is asked to be a puppet, he will definitely not agree to do so. Even if the king comes, he can't do it. Otherwise, he might as well not shoot the film.

Moreover, if Liu Zhou has no say, he may not be able to do better than Zack Snyder, and there is a high probability that he will produce another flop similar to the ones in history.

Rather than this, it’s better not to get involved.

Although the reboot of "Superman" is very tempting, Liu Zhou thought about it and decided that it would be best not to participate.

However, since the other party mentioned Superman, Liu Zhou suddenly thought of a movie that was very suitable for cooperation with Warner.

That is a character from another superhero movie produced by Warner, yes, it's the Joker.

Christopher Nolan portrayed the character of the Joker so well, and Heath Ledger also performed the role so well.

Therefore, the second film in Nolan's "Batman" trilogy has the best reputation and the highest box office, with a global box office of over one billion US dollars.

The character of the Joker is more popular than Batman, and his character charm is much greater than that of Batman.

Logically speaking, the Joker is a villain and has done a lot of evil in the movie, but the audience just likes him.

Just like Gao Qiqiang in the later film "The Storm" became so popular, both characters enjoy taking revenge and are not bound by laws and morals, but the characterization of the Joker is more artistic.

Almost ninety-nine percent of people do not have a smooth life, and are more or less depressed or even vengeful. It is difficult for a great and glorious protagonist to get into everyone's heart.

Of course, the stupid villains who just want to make things difficult for the protagonist just for the sake of being evil are another matter, but characters like Gao Qiqiang, who will retaliate immediately if you provoke me, give people a very satisfying feeling.

Most people don't dare to do this in real life, but they really want to do so in their hearts, so Gao Qiqiang will make the audience feel very involved.

This type of villain is also generally more popular with the audience.

The Joker is almost of this type, and the movie also explores human nature through him, making this character more charming.

So because of the huge influence of this character, Warner Bros. later specially made a movie "Joker", which also achieved huge success.

The North American box office exceeded 10 million US dollars, and the global box office exceeded billion US dollars, setting a global box office record for R-rated films. "Joker" also became the first R-rated movie in film history to break billion US dollars in global box office.

And because this movie has no special effects and is purely a feature film, the investment is not high, making this movie the most profitable superhero movie.

This "Joker" is a movie that has nothing to do with the DC Universe. It is a completely independent film, and the plot is completely unrelated to the comics. The director created a brand new story based on the character of the Joker.

In addition to its extremely high box office, the film also had a very high reputation. Although it unfortunately did not win an Oscar, it did win the Venice Golden Lion Award that year.

If this film had been released earlier, it might not necessarily win an Oscar, but it should have no problem getting some nominations.

This can also be considered as making yourself familiar to the judges. If you are nominated twice more, you will definitely win the award.

Kevin Channer was not surprised that Liu Zhou did not give a positive answer. He understood that Liu Zhou was not just a director, nor was he the kind of Hollywood director with some fame who would get excited when encountering big productions.

But he didn't care. Even if Liu Zhou agreed, Warner would still need to consider it. Warner had also invited many directors and would definitely choose the most suitable one.

Just as he was about to discuss another matter with Liu Zhou, Liu Zhou spoke first:

"Kevin, the character of the Joker is so influential now. Have you ever considered making a separate movie based on this character at Warner Bros?" The character of the Joker is currently very popular all over the world, not only because of Nolan's good portrayal, but also because Heath Ledger, who played the character to perfection, has passed away.

The combination of the two, coupled with Warner's operation and promotion, made the Joker even more popular.

In Hollywood, if there is profit to be made, major companies are very good at taking advantage of others' misfortunes, just like in the subsequent "Fast and Furious 7", Paul Walker's death became the focus of the film's marketing.

The effect was also very good. "Fast and Furious 7" earned 15.11 billion yuan in box office in China and billion US dollars in box office worldwide.

This is also the highest-grossing movie in the series, and it was from this movie that "Fast and Furious" became a world-class IP.

"Joker? Warner has no such plan for the time being." Kevin Channer replied in astonishment, "Director Liu, do you want to make an independent movie about the Joker?"

"Yes, I think this character image is very good. I think it would be great to shoot a movie based on the Joker. And now that the Joker is so well-known and popular, the box office should be very good."

"You have a point, but Christopher has already portrayed the character of the Joker to perfection."

"I understand, and I admire Director Nolan, but I want to make a Joker that has nothing to do with The Dark Knight and the comics."

Kevin Channa pondered for a moment and said:
"Director Liu, I can't reply to you right away. If it were a normal movie, I could reply to you right away, but the Joker and Batman are closely related, and this is a serious matter, so we need to discuss and decide with our company's president and Warner executives.

But Director Liu, you can write the script first. If the script is good, I think Warner will be willing to cooperate with you."

"No problem, but it will take some time to write the script. I will personally bring the script to Warner for discussion in half a month."

"Ok!"

Seeing Liu Zhou's high interest, Kevin Channer probably understood what Liu Zhou meant. He probably had no interest in directing a Superman movie.

Kevin Channer then talked about his second purpose for coming:
"Director Liu, we at Warner Bros. want to buy the rights to adapt Interstellar. Are you willing to sell it?"

"Why do you suddenly want to buy the adaptation rights of Interstellar? Hasn't this movie already been released in North America?"

"That's right, but this is a Chinese-language film after all. It doesn't have much influence in North America or even globally. But we at Warner are very optimistic about this film. If it were a Hollywood film, the box office would probably be pretty good."

“Isn’t it Director Nolan who is very optimistic about this movie?”

Hearing Liu Zhou's words, Kevin Qianer said with great surprise:
"Yes, Christopher gave you this Interstellar with great confidence. It seems that excellent directors always appreciate each other."

"Then you bought the adaptation rights because Director Nolan wants to remake it, right?"

"No, we have discussed this with Christopher, but he refused. Although he approves of this movie, he still wants to make his own movie."

That's normal. Liu Zhou thought Nolan was going to shoot it, but this is not his style.

"No problem. Since you want to buy the adaptation rights to Interstellar, there's no reason for us not to sell it if there's money to be made."

"Then you want to make a price?"

"You're the one who wants to buy it, so of course you make the first offer."

"Five million dollars!"

"It's too low. Since Director Nolan is so optimistic about it, the box office of your remake will definitely not be low."

"But we need a lot of investment to remake it, and this is a Chinese-language film after all. Five million dollars just to buy the rights to adapt a film is already a record-breaking price."

"I understand, but Interstellar is already fairly well-known, which saves you a lot of publicity money."

"How much do you think is appropriate?"

"Twenty million dollars!"

"Impossible! Twenty million dollars is too outrageous. We really want to buy it. Mr. Liu, please give us a sincere price."

"What about the eighteen million dollars?"

Kevin Channer rolled his eyes at Liu Zhou, and Liu Zhou just smiled and didn't care. In business, the idea is to ask for a high price and pay the low price.

After a not-too-intense negotiation, the two sides reached an agreement at a price of US$9.5 million.

As the senior vice president of Warner, Kevin Channer can decide this transaction on his own, and Liu Zhou also arranges people to prepare the contract.

The price of eight million US dollars is already very high, especially when it is just to purchase the adaptation rights of a Chinese-language film, it is already a sky-high price.

In the past, even all overseas copyrights of a Chinese-language film could rarely be sold at this price.

It is undeniable that it is indeed more difficult to sell Chinese-language films to Hollywood companies in terms of copyright.

However, he also reminded Liu Zhou that since "Interstellar" can be remade, then "The Martian" and "Moon" can also be remade.

These two films were originally Hollywood movies, and now that they are remade into Hollywood movies, they should be able to reap box office revenue again.

Of course, Liu Zhou is not planning to sell the remake rights of these two films to Warner. They are only well-known in mainland China, but not very famous overseas, so they will definitely not be sold at a high price.

Instead of doing that, it would be better to let Summit Entertainment remake it and let him earn the money.

After reaching a verbal agreement, Kevin Channer was relieved. He didn't expect Liu Zhou to be so difficult to deal with. No wonder he could become a wealthy man. He was really petty.

Although he has full authority over the transaction, the company has also set a bottom line, which is that the transaction amount cannot exceed 10 million US dollars.

This price is not low even in Hollywood.

After heaving a sigh of relief, Kevin Channer also stated the final purpose of his visit:
"Mr. Liu, is it possible for Warner and Summit Entertainment to reach a closer cooperation?"

(End of this chapter)