Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 542: Going to the United States and Cooperation Plan

After "Lost in Thailand", Xu Zheng became a prominent figure in the film and television industry with his shrewd mind.

After that, he filmed "My Lucky Star" with Ning Hao and Huang Bo, which once again grossed over 1 billion yuan at the box office, making him even more popular.

These three people are also called the Iron Triangle because of their cooperation since "Crazy Stone".

By working together, the three of them have transformed into capital and become new players in the film and television industry.

Ning Hao's Bad Monkey and Huang Bo's studio, the former is more pure about movies and began to support new directors, while the latter also transformed himself into a director. His debut film "A Good Show" became an instant hit and he became a powerful figure in the circle.

However, the one who has done the best is Xu Zheng. While making huge profits with "Lost in Hong Kong", he also set up his own company, Huanxi Media, which has recruited a large number of well-known domestic directors, including Zhang Yimou, Chen Kexin, Ning Hao and others who are shareholders.

Later, Huanxi Media was listed on the Hong Kong stock market, making Xu Zheng a local boss.

So Xu Zheng is a person who cannot be tied down. Now that he is in a low point, he behaves very respectfully, but once he is allowed to turn things around, he will become wild. After the huge success of "Lost on Journey", he showed this tendency.

But it is undeniable that he is the well-deserved soul of the "囧" series and the movie is simply indispensable to him.

After "Lost in Thailand", "Lost in Hong Kong" might be able to attract him to continue the cooperation by paying more, but after the huge success of "Lost in Hong Kong", he will definitely ask for a huge amount of money.

Although there is only one "Lost in Russia" in the original time and space after "Lost in Hong Kong", and its reputation is not very good, that is because Xu Zheng consumed a lot of reputation of this series when he was in "Lost in Hong Kong".

In "Lost in Thailand", Wang Baoqiang only received a salary which was a friendship price, while Xu Zheng and Huang Bo both received commissions. Of course he was not satisfied seeing the two of them making huge profits.

Later, Wang Baoqiang of "Lost in Hong Kong" wanted the share, but Xu Zheng had already arranged the investment shares and could not give it to him.

So the two parties officially parted ways and never cooperated again. Later, because Wang Baoqiang had no money to sue Lao Ma and Lao Song, he went to Chen Sicheng to borrow money instead of Xu Zheng.

Later, Xu Zheng could only use Bao Beier, who was stuffed in by Guang Guang, as a replacement. His performance was obvious to all after the film was released, and Boss Zhao's performance was somewhat out of tune with the entire film.

Although Xu Zheng performed well, the reputation of "Lost in Hong Kong" plummeted. When "Lost in Russia" was released later, the audience's expectations for it were not even as good as "Detective Chinatown 3".

If it weren't for the mask that saved him at the time, and he had directly sold the copyright of "Lost in Russia" to ByteDance for 6.3 million yuan, it would have been difficult to end the matter with the 24 billion yuan guaranteed release contract he signed with the distributor.

Because the quality of "Lost in Russia" is not even as good as "Lost in Hong Kong", it would be good if it could get 1 billion at the box office.

So after "Lost in Russia", the "囧" series is almost dead. Unless Xu Zheng, Huang Bo and Wang Baoqiang can be brought together again and make a high-quality movie, there is a possibility of saving the "囧" series.

However, for Jiahe at this time, this situation will not happen.

There will be no shortage of investment in "Lost in Thailand", and Huang Bo and Xu Zheng don't have to think about getting a share of the profits, so this won't make Wang Baoqiang feel unbalanced.

With the subsequent joining of "Lost in Hong Kong" by Wang Baoqiang and the selection of a suitable female lead, the reputation of this movie will not be too bad.

After "Lost in Hong Kong", Liu Zhou also felt that the "囧" series could be put on hold for a while.

After making four movies in a row, the audience will inevitably feel aesthetic fatigue and will have higher requirements for the quality of movie sequels.

The sequel can be started after four or five years, which should be right after the movie "Mask". At that time, the overall film industry is in a downturn, so it should not be a problem to call Xu Zheng over. After all, it will benefit both parties.

During this period, the Detective Chinatown series can be launched. To be honest, although Chen Sicheng plays a bit fancy, he is indeed very talented.

Not to mention the Detective Chinatown series, the Accidental Detective series was also produced by him. After Mask, his movies sold well one after another despite the bad environment.

During that period, he and Zhang Yimou were the only ones who not only produced a large number of films, but also produced good quality films, with very good box office results. Then there was Han Han, but Han Han's film output was not high.

It’s no wonder that Chen Sicheng and Xu Zheng, two people who are known for their extravagant ways, are both quite talented.

In fact, from the frequent scandals in the entertainment industry, we can see that this circle is not as clean as everyone imagines. It’s just that everyone is filtered through a thick layer of filters by the TV dramas played by the stars or the personalities they market.

Actually, these two guys are pretty good, at most they just play around a lot, but most people are even worse.

It's not just the entertainment industry. As long as there is money and women involved, there is no clean circle. It's just that the entertainment industry is more popular and there are more beautiful women and money, so there are more melons exposed.

But no matter how much fun you have, as long as you can create enough benefits, there are people who will protect you.

"Detective Chinatown" is the most famous and successful film series in China, so Chen Sicheng has nothing to do with it, at most there are some gossips. Wen Zhang was too arrogant before and his value was not that great, so he was directly hammered and he could never make a comeback. However, the problems of the two of them are similar.

The Detective Chinatown series can be said to be the most valuable film series in China, and it is also the standard for those chosen by Singularity Entertainment. Few people will miss this series.

Even Liu Zhou was reluctant to give it up, mainly because its leather was so easy to use, and as long as there was a good story, he could keep filming.

Chinatowns are all over the world, which can make the background very rich. We can even film stories about Chinatowns dating back a hundred years.

Even the囧 series can't compare to this.

The Lost in Thailand series and the Detective Chinatown series can actually be linked together. Both Lost in Thailand and the first Detective Chinatown series took place in Thailand, and both were starred by Wang Baoqiang, so it is very easy to link them together.

At that time, it will be better to cooperate with Wang Baoqiang than with Xu Zheng, and there won’t be so many conflicts.

Although Wang Baoqiang is not a contracted artist of Golden Harvest, he has a close relationship with Golden Harvest.

After he gained some fame through "A World Without Thieves", what really made him popular across the country was "Soldier Assault" produced by Golden Harvest. This phenomenal TV series made him a household name.

Later, Golden Harvest collaborated with him on "My Brother is Called Shunliu", which further consolidated his fame.

You have to know that the relationship between Golden Harvest and Huayi was not very good at that time, and he was a contracted artist of Huayi. Wang Baoqiang was the only Huayi artist who could cooperate with Golden Harvest.

Coupled with the previous collaboration on "Lost on Journey", Wang Baoqiang felt even more grateful to Golden Harvest, and the relationship between the two sides has always been good.

Although these projects can be said to complement each other, and Wang Baoqiang is even more important to the success of these projects, he himself does not know it. Not only Wang Baoqiang, but most other people also think that Golden Harvest is giving Wang Baoqiang another chance.

Therefore, it will be much smoother to work with Wang Baoqiang on the Detective Chinatown series.

Jiahe is not trying to blackmail them into repaying a favor. They will just give them the market price and they won't ask for an exorbitant amount.

According to Golden Harvest's production plan, "Lost in Thailand" will be released during the 2012 Spring Festival, and the first "Detective Chinatown" will be released during the 2013 Spring Festival.

"Lost in Thailand", a comedy movie, a low-cost one at that, grossed over 1 billion yuan at the box office, and its popularity lasted for a whole year.

Then use the popularity of "Lost in Thailand" to promote "Detective Chinatown 3", which can also help it earn more box office revenue.

The quality of the first "Detective Chinatown" can be said to be the best in this series, but because Chen Sicheng was not well-known at the time, the film was not taken seriously.

The film's publicity and screening schedule were not high, but despite this it still earned over 600 million yuan at the box office.

In Liu Zhou's opinion, "Detective Chinatown 3" is at least a billion-level movie.

However, these are only plans for the next two years. "Lost in Thailand" has just started, and the first part of "Detective Chinatown" will not be officially prepared until this time next year.

By then, with the "囧" series, "Detective Chinatown" series and "Ghost Blows Out the Light" series, Golden Harvest will have three big hit series in its hands.

There is no need to worry about the decline in film production in the next ten years, even without Liu Zhou's golden finger.

On March 2011, 3, after arranging his work in China, Liu Zhou also flew to Los Angeles on his own private plane.

After he adjusted to the jet lag, Liu Zhou handed the script of "Joker" to Warner Vice President Kevin Channer.

The Big Seven have their own production process. Not to mention Liu and Zhou, even if Spielberg or Nolan are starting a new film, the script they want to shoot must go through their internal review.

Doing so may be less efficient, which is commonly known as the big company disease, but having rigorous business processes can at least ensure that too many mistakes are not made, allowing the company to operate more safely.

However, projects of well-known directors have priority. Although Liu Zhou is not a well-known Hollywood director, he is also well-known. Moreover, the script was submitted by their vice president personally, so Liu Zhou will not have to wait too long.

Liu Zhou also said that he came to Summit Entertainment during this period. The last time he came to Summit Entertainment was two years ago when the first "Twilight" was released.

Now that the second part of "Twilight" has been released, the production of the third part has also begun.

In just over two years, Summit Entertainment has undergone a dramatic transformation.

I still remember that when Liu Zhou acquired Summit Entertainment and moved the company's headquarters from New York to Los Angeles, the company had only about 40 to 50 employees at that time.

Now, the number of people working in the headquarters alone exceeds one hundred, not to mention the employees in the publicity and promotion departments in some major cities in North America. If they are included, the number of employees in the company will exceed two hundred.

The headquarters of Summit Entertainment has already moved a long time ago and rented a four-story building. However, this building will not be used for long because the company's own twelve-story building is about to be completed.

At that time, the company's office will be moved to its own office building, which will be able to accommodate the company even if it expands further.

At present, the entire Summit Entertainment seems to be busy and energetic. This is the current situation of a company in a period of rapid development.

Summit Entertainment is currently filming two films at the same time, both of which are important projects. One is "Now You See Me" written by Liu Zhou, and the other is "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" in collaboration with 2th Century Fox.

In addition, there are also two projects in cooperation with Lionsgate, but Lionsgate is mainly in the lead, and Summit Entertainment only participates in the investment, which can be regarded as a project to maintain the relationship between the two parties.

In addition, the company is also preparing for the project "The Hunger Games". Because of Liu Zhou's attention, Edwards also personally serves as the chief producer of this film.

Now Liu Zhou is a little worried that if "Joker" can be launched, whether Summit Entertainment can spare the manpower to produce this movie.

If "Joker" can be cooperated, Liu Zhou will definitely cooperate with Warner in the name of Summit Entertainment. This will also increase the influence of Summit Entertainment to a greater extent and pay less tax than individuals.

Warner didn't let Liu Zhou wait, but within three days, he received a call from Kevin Channer himself, telling him that the script of "Joker" had been approved.

Let him come to Warner to discuss film investment and cooperation between the two parties.

The next day, Liu Zhou brought Edwards to the headquarters of Warner Bros. Pictures. Kevin Channer was still in charge of negotiating with them. The president of Warner just showed up, said hello to the two men, and left.

"Liu, Anthony, don't mind. I will be in charge of the Joker project. The CEO is currently busy with the reboot of Superman and is a little overwhelmed. I didn't mean to ignore you."

Kevin Channer was worried that Liu Zhou would misunderstand so he explained. After all, Liu Zhou was not just a director, he was a wealthy man and now a powerful figure in Hollywood.

"It's okay. I understand. Kevin, don't think I'm too petty."

"That's good. Let's get straight to the point. Let's talk about the movie. Director Liu, do you have any plans to produce the movie Joker? How much money does it cost to invest in the movie?"

"I've made a rough copy." Liu Zhou handed a document to Kevin Channer and continued, "The investment in the film is about 60 to 80 million US dollars."

“Why is it floating so much?”

"Because the cast has not yet been finalized, there may be a lot of fluctuations."

"So do you have a choice for the male lead? The most important thing for this movie is the male lead."

"Yes, but we have to decide after the audition. I haven't been in Hollywood for more than two years, and I don't know much about the situation of Hollywood actors right now, so the candidate for the male lead must audition."

“Well, actually, if Heath Ledger hadn’t gone to see God, he would have been a very suitable candidate. I will be the producer of this film myself, and you can decide on the selection of the main actors.

We’ll talk about this later, let’s first talk about how to collaborate on the film.”

(End of this chapter)