Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 147 [147 billion box office director]

The next morning.

Art Film Company.

“Why so many invitations?”

Inside the office, Li Yishu looked at the hundreds of letters of intent for cooperation that Amy and her assistant brought over, and she was also surprised.

Yesterday afternoon, Amy reported to him that many people in the company had sent letters of intent for cooperation, hoping to work with Li Yishu.

Li Yishu did not completely reject the film companies and investors who wanted to cooperate with her. She just said she would discuss it after she went to the company the next morning.

But now it seems that he still underestimated the number of investors who wanted to cooperate with him.

"Boss, there are more than this. There were originally more, and this is what we have screened."

Amy smiled and said, "Now everyone knows that you are a big director with a box office of 20 billion. Everyone is vying to work with you."

"A director with a box office of 20 billion?"

Li Yishu was slightly startled. When did he get 20 billion in box office revenue? He raised his eyebrows and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Boss, you should take a look yourself."

Amy knew that her boss had been in the United States filming a movie and therefore had no idea what was going on, so she handed over the weekly magazine she had prepared.

After taking it and looking at it, Li Yishu frowned. The cover photo was still the photo of herself winning the award two years ago.

I secretly thought that I should ask someone to take some nice photos of me and then spread them through the media. Otherwise, why do people always use this one?
After looking down carefully, he finally understood why he was called the "20 billion box office director."

From "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" which sold tens of millions of dollars in Japan, 1.8 million New Taiwan dollars in Taiwan, and over 3000 million US dollars in the global box office; to "Love Letter" which sold 1 million US dollars in Japan and a total global box office of about 1.2 million US dollars; to "Sword Rain" with a global box office of up to 1.7 million US dollars.

Not counting the cost of selling copyrights, Lee Yi-su has already earned nearly $3.2 million as a director just from the box office of the three films that have been released so far.

To have such box office data within two years is quite explosive in Hollywood.

This matter was announced by "Film Biweekly" in the latest issue of the weekly magazine last week.

The cover of the weekly magazine is still the classic photo of Lee Ye-su laughing when she won the Golden Lion Award in 1991.

However, the title is accompanied by [The No. 320000000 Chinese director in the world in terms of total box office], and [US$], which is quite explosive.

Once the news was reported, Hong Kong was in an uproar, and even Taiwan and the mainland began to report the news.

Taiwan and the mainland have both continued the honorific title given to Li Yishu by "Film Biweekly", calling him the "20 billion director"! (Conversion)
Many people in the industry, including ordinary citizens, know that "Sword Rain" has achieved huge box office worldwide, but perhaps due to preconceived habits, in their eyes, Lee Yi-su is still the art film director. This is caused by rigid thinking.

But it was not until the report of "Film Biweekly" that everyone suddenly realized it.

It turns out that Li Yishu is not only an art film director, but also a commercial film director, or he is a talented director who can handle both art and commerce with ease.

The global box office of 3.2 million US dollars, even though it is very limited, almost more than two-thirds of the total box office came from Japan, but for investors, this is not important at all, as long as they can make money. (Before the rise of the domestic market, Japan has always been the world's second largest box office)
"Haha, the gimmick of Xiangjiang Weekly is still pretty good."

After briefly flipping through the weekly magazine, Li Yishu had to admit that the Hong Kong media was right on target when it came to giving nicknames.

The box office of 3.2 million US dollars, converted into RMB, is about 17 billion. It is not a problem for them to call out a director who made 20 billion.

If converted into New Taiwan dollars, he would be a director with a box office of nearly 10 billion.

Amy said, "This is also good for the boss. You see, so many companies have proposed cooperation now, and they have also offered very high prices, saying that the boss will decide how to shoot the movie, and the boss does not need to pay any money to directly take 80% of the shares, and they will cover the rest of the production costs."

"That's a good calculation. How much does it cost to produce a domestic film? So what if I own 80% of the shares? To put it bluntly, they just want to take advantage of me."

Li Yishu shook his head and said, "Besides, Amy, you should know that people are afraid of being famous just like pigs are afraid of being fat. You should know better than me what the environment of the Hong Kong film market is like. Has anyone been causing trouble recently?"

"This one……"

Amy nodded awkwardly: "Yes, boss, some people did come to the door, but I sent them away."

"Don't worry about it. I'll find someone to solve it later."

Li Yishu's eyes were burning. After seeing the weekly magazine, he knew that someone involved in organized crime would definitely come to him to make a movie.

Although Li Yishu does not have to worry about these things, as most of his movies do not rely heavily on the local box office in Hong Kong, these guys are annoying.

It seems that I have to think of a way to scare these messy guys. Do you really think that you can intimidate him by killing Jet Li's agent and scaring Jet Li away?

noon.

In front of a cinema called Kam Po in Mong Kok, Kowloon Peninsula.

Li Yishu and Huo Wenxi hurried over.

"Director Li!"

Zhao Wenzhuo, who had been waiting at the door for a long time, walked forward excitedly after seeing Li Yishu get off the car.

"Long time no see Wen Zhuo!"

Seeing the person coming, Li Yishu smiled and said, "Not bad. Judging from your spirited appearance, are you dating someone?"

"Ah?!" Zhao Wenzhuo's face changed. He didn't expect that Director Li would directly say that he was dating when he arrived. Is it that obvious?

"Haha, just a joke, don't take it seriously."

Li Yishu smiled and waved her hand, but it was basically certain that Zhao Wenzhuo was indeed hooking up with Anita Mui.

But think about it, a popular Hong Kong singer and actress is fond of a new actor who has just debuted. Any normal person would not be able to resist the charm and temptation of a big star, right?
Even though he shot to fame with "Sword Rain", Zhao Wenzhuo still felt inferior to others in his mentality. Anita Mui had been debuting in the 1980s and became a queen in singing and a powerful actor in acting.

Besides, Zhao Wenzhuo is just a young man in his early twenties. How can he resist the love and care of an older sister?

"No, no, I haven't dated anyone yet~~"

"By the way, Director Li, Brother Jie and Sister Mei are not convenient to come out to pick you up..."

Zhao Wenzhuo also explained why they didn't come out to greet them. It was mainly because they were too famous in Hong Kong and there were people coming and going around the cinema. If they came out, they would probably be surrounded by fans.

"fine."

Li Yishu shook his head. He was not the kind of person with high taste.

Glancing at Huo Wenxi who had already parked the car, Li Yishu said when she saw her opening the door and walking over, "Let's go. I also want to see the quality of this first film after the mainland's film reform."

The film studio reform that caused a lot of controversy last year was finally implemented in January this year.

On January 1, the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television issued a notice entitled "Several Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Film Industry Mechanism", announcing 5 important decisions that will have a far-reaching impact on the Chinese film industry.

These 10 items can be said to have completely changed the film market landscape in mainland China in the mid-to-late 90s.

In addition to opening up movie ticket prices in principle, reducing the staff, actively participating in cable TV film supply, and strengthening videotape production, there is also one most important decision that makes some small film studios feel desperate, which is to gradually cancel the unified purchase and sale policy.

This is equivalent to the reform and opening up of the film industry, distributing land to each household.

Moreover, if the movie ticket prices are raised and there are no high-quality movies, who would be willing to go to the cinema to watch movies?

From a few cents in the 1980s, to a few dollars in the early 1990s, and then to more than ten dollars after the policy was revised, ordinary people could no longer afford to watch movies.

This has also led to a vicious cycle in the film market.

Movie ticket prices are too high, and audiences look down on them and choose to watch on TV at home, or buy pirated discs and VCDs. In order to make a profit, movie theaters and producers have to continue to raise ticket prices.

This cycle repeated itself, creating a vicious cycle that led to a sharp drop in box office sales for several consecutive years.

The consequence of the ticket price increase is that domestic films, including those produced in Hong Kong and Taiwan, were almost wiped out, while "Titanic" got a huge bargain.

You should know that the ticket price for "Titanic" was 2-30 yuan at that time, and even 4-50 yuan in some areas. The reason why people still went to see it despite the high ticket price was not because of the love between an unfaithful woman and a poor boy, but because of the large-scale exposed breasts scenes in the movie.

No matter what era, old perverts are always the main consumers.

In 1998, the Internet was not yet well developed. Although there were many pirated discs, most of them were third-level films from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Suddenly, a movie appeared, featuring a big foreign girl with a revealing figure. Who wouldn’t want to watch it?

At that time, Li Yishu didn’t think much about it. It was not until she was able to direct and film a movie that she gradually understood why "Titanic" was so popular in China at that time.

In addition to being a big production, some large-scale shots are also very attractive.

So the review of a certain department is really a magical organization.

(End of this chapter)