Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 190 200 [Let Chinese Kung Fu Movies Go Global]

After exchanging pleasantries with Zou Wenhuai and Cheng Long, Li Yishu introduced Yongmei as the general manager of her own company in the mainland, and then they sat down and started chatting.

Zou Wenhuai did not talk about business right away, but instead smiled and praised Li Yishu's achievements in the United States.

Zou Wenhuai said: "Mr. Li, to be honest, when I learned that your movie had made $4 million in box office worldwide, I really felt that the final step for our Chinese films to go global was in place."

Li Yishu immediately said modestly, "Mr. Zou, you are too polite. I have only achieved a small success. I dare not flatter in front of a senior filmmaker like Mr. Zou."

"I'm not complimenting you, I'm just telling you the truth. No Chinese person in the world, even Chinese Americans, can achieve the same results as you, Mr. Li. Sword Rain grossed 1.8 million worldwide, and that's a purely Chinese-language film. The Western film The Sixth Sense grossed $4 million."

Speaking of this, Zou Wenhuai said with emotion: "20 years ago, Bruce Lee's "Way of the Dragon" achieved nearly 1 million US dollars in box office in the global market. At that time, Guanchang and I really felt that Chinese films were going to rise. But unfortunately, Bruce Lee passed away at a young age..."

"Since Bruce Lee passed away, I have been trying to bring Chinese films to the European and American markets. In 1980, I decided to invest 6000 million US dollars to shoot 6 big-budget films starring international superstars!"

"I have shot films such as The Trench, The Cannonball Run, The Snow Mountain Crossing Dragon, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But unfortunately, except for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which achieved some success, the other films all failed."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Long also sighed. Although he was very popular in East Asia and Southeast Asia, the movies he starred in, "The Trench" and "The Cannonball Run", were huge flops. If it weren't for the support of the Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asian box office, his movies would have been a complete failure.

It is estimated that after shooting these two movies, Golden Harvest will close down.

The production cost of 1980 million US dollars in 1000 was extremely exaggerated. At that time, the Hong Kong film market was not as prosperous as it has been in recent years, with box office revenues of 1000 or 2000 million yuan at every turn. There was not such a large market in Taiwan either. If you wanted to make back the cost of million US dollars, you would need a box office of at least million US dollars.

Thanks to Zou Wenhuai's wide channels, the production costs of two films that suffered huge losses in the United States were recovered in the Asian market.

"Mr. Zou's perseverance puts countless people to shame. In 1980, he invested 6000 million US dollars to make six blockbusters. It was really a big deal."

Although Li Yishu knew that several of Jackie Chan's earlier films performed poorly at the U.S. box office, it was the first time she knew that Zou Wenhuai had spent huge sums of money to make six blockbusters.

"Big money is useless."

Zou Wenhuai smiled bitterly and said, "When I invested in Bruce Lee's "Fist of Fury", I also spent more than one million US dollars. Fortunately, this movie was a great success. Later, I invested in several movies and made some money. The huge success made me a little blindly confident at the time."

"but…"

"This is also the first time Lee Ye-seo has heard about this,"

Zou Wenhuai looked at Li Yishu with burning eyes: "The most important step I just mentioned is the director. I have tried to let Hong Kong directors and American directors shoot the film, but unfortunately they were not very successful. Now we have a director like you, Mr. Li, who is good at both Chinese-language films and Hollywood Western films. You will definitely be able to bring our film to a new height."

This is not an exaggeration on Zou Wenhuai's part. Ever since Li Yishu and Jackie Chan talked at the Academy Awards a few months ago and decided to collaborate on a movie, he found someone to get more detailed information about Li Yishu after learning about it.

In fact, Zou Wenhuai had already noticed Li Yishu when "Sword Rain" sold 1.8 million US dollars worldwide.

Originally a director of art films, the movie "Love Letter" shot in Japan later achieved a box office of nearly 100 million US dollars. However, considering that it is a Japanese film, it does not have much reference value. However, the sudden appearance of "Sword Rain" made people see Li Yishu's achievements in commercial films.

You should know that "Sword Rain" is not just a martial arts film, but also a revolution in martial arts technology. It contains bullet time, and the battle between Chinese swordsmanship and Japanese swordsmen, and the battle between the immortal Suo who understands illusion and the five elements ninjutsu of Japanese ninjas.

Over the past year or so, many martial arts films shot in Hong Kong have more or less borrowed from the plots and fighting moves used by Lee Yi-su in this film.

After that, in May and June, there was the English film "The Sixth Sense", which snatched food from the mouth of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

That is to say, communications were not very developed at that time, and consultation was not as convenient as it is now. Otherwise, Li Yishu would definitely know that the newspapers in the United States praised him highly.

Judging from the return on investment alone, Lee Yi-su's movie is much higher than Spielberg's "Jurassic Park".

The production cost of a movie is only 1500 million, and the publicity and promotion cost does not exceed million US dollars. However, the investment cost of "Jurassic Park" alone is almost million, and the publicity and promotion cost is even higher.

One got $4 million and the other got $7.8 million.

Of course, Tyrannosaurus Rex is still wreaking havoc in many countries around the world, and some people have estimated the final box office in North America to be at least $9 million.

Li Yishu shook her head and said, "Mr. Zou is too polite. The movie Enter the Dragon that Mr. Zou and Mr. Bruce Lee filmed back then was the real start of Chinese-language film history."

If we simply talk about the influence of Chinese-language films overseas, it is really hard to find a movie that can compare with "Enter the Dragon".

The international environment in 1973, twenty years ago, was fundamentally different from what it is today.

It was still the Cold War period at that time. Although Nixon visited China, the situation of Chinese in North America was not very good.

Bruce Lee's movies were able to cause such a huge response in Europe and the United States that 50 years later, there are still Americans who know this kung fu superstar. This is enough to show that this movie is truly epoch-making.

“That’s why I said new heights.” Zou Wenhuai smiled and said, “I know what A-Lung is capable of, and I believe Mr. Li should also know about it through his movies. It’s a pity that he hasn’t been very successful in his attempts in Hollywood. But this time, with Mr. Li, a world-class director, he will definitely be able to make a film that combines the essence of Chinese Kung Fu films with the essentials of Western action films.”

"Yes, Director Li."

Cheng Long said excitedly: "When I was filming in the United States before, I was often restricted by the directors there, and many of my abilities and skills could not be brought into play. Now that you are the director, I believe that the two of us will be able to reopen the Chinese Kung Fu film market in the United States together!"

"I can only say that I tried my best, but Brother Long, I like to speak upfront. I am a very strict director, so I don't want a second voice in the crew. This is the basis and condition of cooperation."

Li Yishu knew that most of the top actors in Hong Kong were drama tyrants, so it was necessary to greet them in advance. After all, Jackie Chan was not a small role, and he didn't want to argue with him because of different concepts or ideas while filming on the crew.

Cheng Long nodded without hesitation and agreed: "No problem, Director Li! I believe you can definitely shoot it in my style."

In his opinion, Lee Yi-su must have her own unique qualities in being able to take into account both Eastern and Western films.

As for not having made a kung fu movie? A Chinese martial arts film that is not popular in the global market can achieve such a high box office, so how can modern urban kung fu movies be bad?

We ate and chatted for more than an hour.

Li Yishu has already prepared the script, but it is only a rough draft. He gave it directly to Cheng Long and asked him to find someone to check and fill in the gaps. After all, it is not an art film, so some things don't need to be written in such detail. Many problems may arise during the on-site shooting.

The investment shares have also been finalized. The total investment is 2000 million US dollars. Li Yishu will invest 5% with her film remuneration, Cheng Long will invest 1% with his personal film remuneration + funds, Zou Wenhuai will invest %, and the remaining % ​​will be given to New Line Cinema.

Zou Wenhuai has been working with New Line Cinema for nearly three years, and both parties have always been quite stable. I cannot say how good New Line's performance in the global market is, but it is definitely not bad. Otherwise, the first "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" would not have achieved a global box office of more than 2 million US dollars.

Therefore, the final production cost is about 900 million US dollars. Although it seems low, the bulk of the expenses for the leading actors and the director have been gone, and the total salary of the rest of the people will not exceed 100 million US dollars.

The remaining $800 million for production is more than enough to make a modern urban kung fu film.

Moreover, Li Yishu also knew that the production cost of "Rumble in the Bronx" was not high in its original history, and it was definitely not even 10 million US dollars.

Now the actual $800 million production is definitely enough.

After half an hour.

Zou Wenhuai and Cheng Long said goodbye.

Li Yishu also asked the Peninsula Hotel to arrange a car to take him and Yongmei to the Hong Kong Art Film Company. Amy is still in the United States following up on the subsequent box office share of "The Sixth Sense" and there is a high probability that she will not be able to return in a short time.

After all, this movie made a huge profit. If Amy had been a little careless, even if she lost only 1 dollars, it would be a considerable sum in US dollars.

Art Film Company.

As soon as she arrived at the company, Li Yishu's cell phone rang. She picked it up and saw that it was Gong Li calling.

"Sister Gong Li..."

Before he finished speaking, Gong Li on the other end of the phone asked, "How is it, have you arrived in Hong Kong?"

"I'm already here. I just finished talking to Mr. Zou from Jiahe."

"So where are you now?"

"I'm at the company, preparing to take a look at the company's financial statements and let Yongmei take charge for a while."

Li Yishu will have to return to the mainland to work on the post-production of the film. The mainland art film company does not have much business, so it is a good opportunity for Yongmei to come to Hong Kong to manage it for a while and continue to study hard.

"Then why don't you come visit our crew tonight?"

"night?"

"Yeah, I don't know what this director is thinking. He likes to shoot at night."

"Okay, I'll come over after I'm done."

After chatting for a few sentences, Li Yishu hung up the phone and started reviewing the financial statements with Yongmei.

Yongmei graduated from the School of Economics and Trade, and has specialized in financial accounting.

(End of this chapter)