Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 543 Wall Street Capital and Finalization
Summit Entertainment is definitely indispensable for the collaboration on "Joker" this time, and no one in Warner has any objection to this.

Although the character of the Joker became famous with the popularity of "The Dark Knight" and the trend of Heath Ledger, this "Joker" has nothing to do with the Joker in "The Dark Knight", and even has nothing to do with the Joker in DC comics.

This is almost a brand new story, just with the name of the Joker.

As long as the core interest of Batman is not involved, Warner is still willing to cooperate with Liu Zhou and Summit Entertainment.

Summit Entertainment is no longer an unknown company, especially after it produced several box office hits last year, which made its influence in Hollywood grow.

As for Liu Zhou, there is no need to mention him. Not to mention his status as a global billionaire, his successive successes in Hollywood with "Source Code" and "Edge of Tomorrow" have also made him famous in Hollywood as a director.

Not to mention that the Chinese science fiction film "Interstellar" he shot also achieved relatively good results in North America, which further proved his ability.

"Interstellar" even received high praise from Warner's current favorite Christopher Nolan, and Warner even spent a high price of nine million US dollars to buy the remake rights of this film.

So even if Liu Zhou is not the boss of Summit Entertainment nor a wealthy man, as a director he will be sought after by major Hollywood companies.

Therefore, Warner Bros. was quite satisfied with Liu Zhou's decision to not only cooperate with Warner Bros. in filming Joker, but also to seek authorization from Warner Bros. This shows his respect for this great company.

Since it does not involve Warner's core interests and their attitude is relatively good, Warner is of course willing to cooperate. In fact, as long as the script submitted by Liu Zhou is not too bad, they are willing to cooperate with Liu Zhou.

Although they are unable to acquire, invest in Summit Entertainment or tie it to Warner's chariot, they are willing to cooperate with Liu Zhou and Summit Entertainment.

After all, they can bring profits. Summit Entertainment at this time is just like DreamWorks when it was first established. It has great momentum and the movies it produces rarely fail.

20th Century Fox was the first to taste the sweetness, and their "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" series with Summit Entertainment was also a big hit. If it weren't for Summit Entertainment, this copyright would most likely still be gathering dust in Fox's copyright library.

So although they are suppressed, it does not hinder their cooperation with Summit Entertainment.

Of course, Liu Zhou didn't know that Warner had thought so much. The reason why he cooperated with Warner on "Joker" was just to avoid trouble in the future.

In addition, to replicate the historical box office performance of "Joker", it also requires the operation of a giant. It is difficult for Summit Entertainment alone or even Lionsgate to make the box office of this movie exceed one billion US dollars.

Now that Warner is willing to cooperate, Liu Zhou certainly hopes to gain the greatest benefits and get a larger share of the film's investment.

Liu Zhou knew the performance of the movie "Joker", including the box office and other copyrights. The movie could generate at least 600 to 700 million US dollars in profit. Even if it was one point more, it would be an extra 60 to 70 million US dollars, which is equivalent to 50 to 60 million RMB.

However, Liu Zhou knew it, but Warner might not know it. The information gap gave Liu Zhou a lot of room for maneuver.

The facts are pretty much as Liu Zhou thought. Although Warner thinks the script of "Joker" is good, they don't think the box office of an R-rated movie can be very high.

For this collaboration, it doesn’t matter what movie we collaborate on. What’s important is collaborating with Liu Zhou and Summit Entertainment.

Although Liu Zhou rejected the proposal for in-depth cooperation with Warner, who can predict what will happen in the future?

They were certain that Summit and Lionsgate could not maintain such a close working relationship unless the two companies were able to merge.

But Kevin Channer also clearly felt Liu Zhou's emphasis on Summit Entertainment during his trip to China, and there was no way he would let go of this company.

At the speed of Lionsgate's overseas expansion, they should be able to establish a global distribution channel within three years, and that would be the time for them to confront Summit Entertainment.

If Liu and Zhou remain as tough as ever, the two companies' separation will be obvious to the naked eye.

Relatively speaking, Lionsgate is of course a major threat to the Big Seven in Hollywood, but Lionsgate has the support of the Maple Leaf Bank Consortium behind it, and now it has also attracted Wall Street capital.

Wall Street has infiltrated every industry in the United States, but Hollywood is the only area where it often runs into obstacles.

Due to its lack of understanding of the film and television industry, Wall Street was also deceived by Hollywood and had to temporarily withdraw.

But Wall Street obviously doesn't give up so easily. After learning from their experience, they adjusted their strategy and supported potential Hollywood film companies, of which Lionsgate is a representative.

It was with the support of Wall Street capital that Lionsgate acquired Summit Entertainment, and then won the hit "Twilight" film series.

On the other hand, Wall Street capital will only invest in popular movies and operate the investment shares of the movies as financial products.

The representative of these is Legendary Pictures, whose backer is Wall Street capital. After this company became famous, seeing that Wanda wanted to acquire it so aggressively, they were happy to cash out and leave.

After all, for them, Legendary Pictures is just a financial product. They are certainly willing to sell it to make a fortune and then continue to operate another financial product.

In the end, Wall Street capital did successfully invade Hollywood. Not only did they support Lionsgate, but at that time the company's strength was no worse than that of the Big Six Hollywood studios.

Then many of the financing channels for Hollywood movies are also controlled by Wall Street capital.

Lionsgate Entertainment was receiving support from Wall Street capital at this time, otherwise they would not have been able to expand their distribution channels overseas despite the suppression of the Big Seven in Hollywood.

Once Lionsgate completes the expansion of its overseas distribution channels, it will certainly not treat Summit Entertainment in the same manner as it does now.

Have you ever seen any of the seven major Hollywood companies on par with other second-tier film companies?

At that time, Lionsgate's strength may have been somewhat behind the Big Seven in Hollywood, but with global distribution channels, the gap was already very small, and it could basically be regarded as a Hollywood giant.

Therefore, for the Big Seven in Hollywood, Summit Entertainment, which has strong production capabilities, is not taken seriously by them, not to mention that the boss of this company is a Chinese.

If Summit Entertainment wants to continue to grow, they have plenty of ways to deal with it.

The reason why the Big Seven suppresses Summit Entertainment from time to time is mainly because they are somewhat envious of Summit Entertainment, and Summit Entertainment also maintains close cooperation with Lionsgate Entertainment.

Summit Entertainment's strong production capabilities have made up for the shortcomings of Lionsgate to a certain extent, which has made it much more difficult for them to suppress Lionsgate, their biggest threat.

Therefore, the Hollywood Big Seven have completely different attitudes towards Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment. Of course, they severely suppress the former and even dismember it.

Of course it would be best if the latter could be obtained, but if not, there is no need to make things too awkward, and you can even maintain a good relationship.

After all, they are least afraid of companies with strong production capabilities. When DreamWorks was first established, it also had strong production capabilities, but in the end it succumbed to the Big Seven and was absorbed by them. Therefore, Summit Entertainment is in a similar position in their eyes. After falling out with Lionsgate, it will be absorbed by them one day.

But they probably never expected that Liu Zhou acquired Summit Entertainment in order to develop it into a giant like the Big Seven. The most important thing was to maintain the distribution channels in North America so that Chinese-language films could enter the North American market more easily.

On this basis, Liu Zhou doesn't care much about how it will develop.

Now that Liu Zhou's golden finger is still valid, he certainly doesn't mind Summit Entertainment making more money and making more hit movies, which will also make it easier to expand its distribution channels in North America.

Moreover, Golden Harvest International is also expanding its overseas distribution channels, so Summit Entertainment will not be manipulated, the most it will do is earn less.

This is where the dark side of the lamp comes into play. The Big Seven in Hollywood, with their inherent arrogance, rarely pay attention to overseas film companies, especially China at this time. For some reasons, it is difficult for films to break out of Asia.

This is indeed true. Golden Harvest International's expansion in Europe is much more difficult and requires much more money.

However, although it is difficult, Golden Harvest is not in a hurry. At most, it will be slower and spend more money. Once the distribution channels in Europe are really opened up, Golden Harvest will also have completed the distribution layout in Asia, Europe and North America.

The remaining Australia, South America and Africa have relatively small film markets. Having three large markets in Asia, Europe and North America is enough to make Golden Harvest Group a world-class film and television giant.

At that time, Summit Entertainment will be able to truly integrate into Golden Harvest Group, and they only need to focus on North America. Even if other companies want to suppress them, it will not be so easy.

As for whether Summit Entertainment can continue to maintain its current strong production capabilities after Liu Zhou's golden finger expires, it depends on the foundation laid now.

While it is still in a period of rapid development, Summit Entertainment should establish a reasonable company system and film selection and production process. It may miss some good projects, but at least it can greatly reduce the risk of film investment.

In this way, Summit Entertainment will be able to continue operating healthily and will not go bankrupt within a few years.

And now, while Liu Zhou's golden finger has not expired, Dingfeng Entertainment must of course make more money.

Therefore, for this cooperation with Warner, Liu Zhou certainly wants to take charge of this project:

“Kevin, we can temporarily compromise on the investment for the Joker project. Let’s calculate it based on 70 million US dollars. Summit Entertainment can invest 50 million, accounting for 60% of the investment share.

Warner invested 20 million US dollars plus the copyright of the Joker, accounting for the remaining 40% share. "

"It seems that Director Liu is very confident in this project."

"Of course, how could I not have confidence in the script I wrote myself? If even I don't have confidence in it, then Warner would probably doubt my sincerity in cooperating."

This time, in order to get more investment shares, Liu Zhou made a considerable concession and directly discounted the copyright of "Joker" by 8 million US dollars.

Although the Joker is quite famous at this time, the movie "Joker" has nothing to do with the Joker in "Batman", and Warner is aware of this.

If other companies in China saw that Liu Zhou was so optimistic about a movie, they would definitely want to get a larger share of the investment.

But this is Hollywood, they don't have a filter for Liu Zhou's vision, and they are also used to investing less money in a movie, otherwise Legendary Pictures would not be able to invest in some of the Big Seven's blockbusters.

For them, the most important thing is the distribution rights of the film, which is where the big money is made.

"No problem, but the distribution rights of the film need to be given to Warner."

"In North America, Summit Entertainment and Warner will jointly distribute the film. The distribution rights in Asia will be given to Golden Harvest International, and the distribution rights in other regions will be given to Warner."

"We can co-distribute it with Summit Entertainment in North America, but the overseas distribution rights must be given to Warner."

Liu Zhou tried to fight for it several times, but when he saw that Kevin Channa refused to give in, he gave up.

In fact, Liu Zhou did not have much hope for the distribution rights in Asia. After all, the seven major Hollywood studios are all very powerful. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", a collaboration between Summit Entertainment and 20th Century Fox, only got the joint distribution rights in North America, and the overseas distributors were also unwilling to give up an inch.

"No problem, but we, Summit Entertainment, must have the right to audit the accounts for overseas promotions."

Although Liu Zhou knew that it was impossible to completely prevent Warner from doing anything, it could at least make them restrain themselves and not be too reckless.

Otherwise, when the box office of "Joker" exceeds their expectations, Warner will definitely regret the insufficient investment and will want to make up for it through distribution.

"can."

Kevin Channer agreed readily. He certainly knew what Liu Zhou was worried about, but he really didn't intend to cheat others in this cooperation.

If they really want to cheat the other party, even if there is financial supervision, they have plenty of ways to set traps for others.

There is too much versatility in distribution.

"Kevin, this is my first collaboration with Warner Bros. I hope it will be a pleasant experience. Summit Entertainment is not a Hollywood rookie, so we should be sincere with each other.

Just like we are very happy to cooperate with 20th Century Fox, so we can continue to cooperate with them."

"Don't worry, Director Liu. We at Warner are very sincere in cooperating with you."

Seeing the other party say this, Liu Zhou didn't say any more about it, but he certainly wouldn't believe the other party's words so easily. At that time, strengthening supervision would be the right solution.

After reaching an agreement on investment and issuance, the overall framework was finalized.

Later, Liu Zhou also discussed his remuneration with Kevin Channer, which was also based on market conditions. What was a little controversial was that Liu Zhou hoped to include his remuneration in the investment.

Of course Warner would not agree to this. If they invested, they would not only get a share of the box office, but also a share of the subsequent copyright.

After negotiations, director Liu Zhou, screenwriter and producer finally agreed to a package price of US$6 million, which was then included in the film investment, but they only received a share of the North American box office revenue.

In order to make up for Liu Zhou's losses, Kevin Chandler also agreed to let Liu Zhou take a share of the North American box office instead of a share of the profits.

(End of this chapter)