Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 284 295 [Wu Yusen is completely ruined, Sakai Izumi is happy]

The evening of August 6th.

A long red carpet was laid out early in front of a movie theater in Los Angeles, with dozens of reporters and fans on both sides.

Wu Yusen has been working in Hong Kong for more than ten years. Many of his movies have been circulated in North America in the form of videotapes. He has also accumulated a lot of fans who like the aesthetics of violence, but most of them are Chinese and of Chinese descent.

Fortunately, Columbia Pictures helped arrange a lot of "movie fans" to come, and together with fans of leading actors John Travolta, Liam Neeson and others, the scene was quite lively.

A black car stopped on the red carpet. When the reporters were wondering which star was coming to show their support, they saw Art Li and started taking pictures excitedly with their cameras.

"Lee, look over here!"

"Chinese Lee!"

"Lee, I love your filming of The Sixth Sense so much!"

“I love “Sword Rain”!”

"..."

As the most well-known and famous Chinese director in North America today, Li Yishu's arrival naturally set off a wave of exclamations from reporters and fans.

Wu Yusen, who was entertaining the guests, heard exclamations on the red carpet. He turned around and found that it was Li Yishu who came. He immediately rushed over with his assistant.

"Director Li, welcome. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come here."

Wu Yusen looked at the excited crowd around him and sighed that Li Yishu was still very popular in North America. He felt that he had a long way to go if he wanted to catch up with her.

Li Yishu smiled cheerfully: "Haha, Director Wu is too polite, just don't look down on me for coming late."

"How could that be? It's my honor to have Director Li here."

As Wu Yusen spoke, he also looked behind him.

Li Yishu knew who he was waiting for and said with a smile, "Director Li An will be here soon. He was stuck in traffic on the way."

Li An rushed over yesterday. Although the filming of "Sense and Sensibility" has been completed, there is still a lot of finishing work to be done. If he had not promised Wu Yusen, he probably would not have come back from the UK.

Now that the director is gone, Monica, the producer + supervisor, will naturally have to finish the production in the UK.

"It's okay, it's okay. He called me and told me, Director Li, please come in."

Wu Yusen warmly invited Li Yishu into the cinema and took him directly to Columbia Pictures.

Max smiled and held out his hand: "Hi, Lee, long time no see."

"Yeah, it's been a while Max, how's Thomas doing?"

Li Yishu had met Max several times, mainly when he was seeking him out for publicity and promotion, but he preferred dealing with Thomas.

"Not bad. He was in charge of supervising a movie before, and he seems to be busy preparing for the release of this movie recently."

"What movie? I'll go watch it later."

"It seems to be called... The Shawshank Redemption?"

Ok?
The Shawshank Redemption?

Li Yishu was slightly stunned. This movie was invested by Columbia?

He asked tentatively: "Is this movie invested by you, Columbia?"

Max shook his head. "No, it's just a small stake. The company isn't very optimistic about this movie. If it weren't for the fact that Castle Rock Pictures has been working with Columbia for many years, the company wouldn't have invested in a movie that they knew would lose money."

"Haha, Max, you have to understand that not all movies have to be profitable. Maybe this is a film that's worth making people think deeply about?"

Li Yishu was very clear that this movie was later hailed as a hit, but she vaguely remembered that the box office was very dismal, so dismal that it directly bankrupted the production company.

Max said with a smile: "Lee, I understand that you directors are all romanticists, but I am from the distribution department and I only care about commercial value. What's more, you are not the director of this movie. If it were you, I believe that we at Columbia would be willing to invest even if it cost more money."

"If there is a chance, I will definitely cooperate with Columbia again. I believe it won't be too far away."

Li Yishu smiled and said that if there was a chance, he would definitely cooperate with Columbia on a blockbuster film, but he has a lot of projects on hand recently and is also busy with the group's affairs, so he doesn't have the energy to be responsible for a blockbuster film.

"By the way, you just said that the production company behind The Shawshank Redemption is called Castle Rock?"

"Yes, Castle Rock Pictures has been working with Columbia for many years. Most of their films are distributed by us."

Castle Rock Pictures...

Li Yishu seemed to be thinking about something. He remembered that this movie was hailed as a lost gem and had a dismal box office. However, it later played an extraordinary commercial value in the field of videotapes. The comprehensive score on domestic and foreign film websites seemed to be no less than 9 points.

Maybe we can wait until the movie performs poorly at the box office and Castle Rock Pictures goes bankrupt, then spend some money to buy the rights to the film?

Max asked curiously, "Lee, what's the problem?"

"No, no."

Li Yishu smiled. If you want to get a bargain, you should make a fortune quietly.

Five or six minutes later, Li An rushed in from outside, entered the cinema and started looking for Li Yishu. After finding her, he sat down immediately.

"This is Max, the head of distribution at Columbia Pictures."

"Hello, hello, Mr. Max, nice to meet you."

"Haha, Director Li, I've heard of you for a long time. Your first Hollywood movie, Final Destination, grossed $1.3 million worldwide, which stunned many people."

"This is all because of Director Li's good script. If it weren't for Director Li, I wouldn't have been able to become the new billion-dollar box office director."

"Of course, Lee's script deserves credit, but Director Lee's talent should not be underestimated. I wonder if he is interested in cooperating with us at Columbia?"

"Well... I'll talk about it after I finish making my new movie."

"..."

Li An attaches great importance to Max's identity as distribution director. His film "Sense and Sensibility" has been completed, and the next step is post-production. He plans to release it directly in North America after participating in the Berlin Film Festival next year.

Befriending Max in advance would provide greater convenience when his film was released. Seeing the two chatting enthusiastically, as if they were in cahoots with each other, Li Yishu smiled but said nothing, not caring about Li An being poached.

Li An is indeed a very talented director. Having lived in the United States for many years, he understands the political correctness here very well, but he is not a qualified commercial film director.

Li An definitely contributed to the high box office of "Final Destination", but to be honest, his contribution is not that great. Any other Chinese director would be able to achieve the same results, but they might not be as good as Li An in terms of details.

The script is ready-made and was carefully written by Lee Yi-su, so as long as the director exaggerates the omnipresence of death and accidents, the box office will basically not be bad. After all, it is a horror thriller theme that has never been seen in North America, and coupled with the publicity effect, high box office is certain.

I just hope that Li An is not blinded by the box office revenue of over 100 million yuan, otherwise he will have to run back to China in disgrace just like in his previous life, and become popular in Hollywood again with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Time passed quickly. After all the guests arrived, Wu Yusen gave a speech. Then, a group of people from the creative team came to the scene. After the opening, the movie officially started.

After watching it, Li Yishu lamented that Wu Yusen is still talented now, unlike later when he just relied on his past reputation. "Heroes of the Underworld" was filmed with great care, the gun battle scenes were also very exciting, and the two male protagonists also performed well.

It's just bad luck. Not to mention that there is currently a hit movie of the same genre, "Speed", in two days there will be "The Lion King", which will have a global box office of nearly 10 billion US dollars, and after that there will be "Forrest Gump" which swept the Oscars.

None of the three films are easy to deal with, and Wu Yusen is stuck in the middle. There is no big-name director, no big-name actors, and nothing new in terms of publicity and promotion.

It is extremely difficult to increase the box office!
Li Yishu shook her head. Wu Yusen was considered useless.

Hollywood will not allow a director who has failed twice, especially an Asian director, to return. Wu Yusen will probably not dare to go back to Hong Kong and Taiwan because of this fundraising issue.

Two o'clock in the morning on June 6th.

Wu Yusen waited anxiously for Max's call. It was a long time before he received a call from the other party.

"Wu, the box office is good. The midnight show took in $1.5 in Los Angeles. Other areas are still counting, but it should be around $3 to $50."

"Thank you, thank you so much Mr. Max."

When Wu Yusen heard this, he was immediately excited. The midnight show could earn hundreds of thousands of dollars at the box office, which meant that the first day could earn at least three or four million dollars.

Remember it’s Monday!

With the word-of-mouth promotion in the first four days, by Friday the single-day box office will easily exceed 10 million US dollars.

It is estimated that the North American box office will exceed 100 million US dollars.

Maybe the final box office will be higher than Lee Yi-su's "The Sixth Sense". Wu Yusen already has this ambition in his mind.

On the next day, the 14th, the first day's box office results came out, with a box office of 330 million, which is a very good result, considering it's only Monday.

Wu Yusen is also full of confidence.

The box office on Tuesday exceeded 350 million US dollars, and the two-day box office reached 680 million US dollars. With such an achievement, people are naturally very happy.

Just at midnight on Wednesday, Disney's highly promoted animated film "The Lion King" hits the screen!
After the midnight premiere, the film was officially released across the United States on the same day, with a total of 4200 screens opening, accounting for more than 3000% of the screens in the current North American market. The box office on the first day directly exceeded million US dollars, shocking Hollywood and causing a sensation across the United States!
"Oops!"

Upon hearing the news, Wu Yusen's face turned pale. Because of the success of "The Lion King", the box office performance of his movie "Glengarry Glen Ross" declined, and the box office on that day did not even reach 3 million US dollars.

Although this is Wu Yusen's second time directing a film in Hollywood, as a veteran director, he is well aware of the winner-takes-all principle.

The summer vacation period in North America is often dominated by students. Now that everyone is on vacation, whoever can grab the student market will be the winner.

Obviously, nothing is more suitable for teenagers and even children to watch than the family-friendly "The Lion King", and parents are also confident in letting their children watch this family-friendly movie.

Tokyo, Japan.

In a private room of a cafe, Li Yishu was chatting with Izumi Sakai while waiting for Takeshi Kitano.

Izumi Sakai asked curiously, "Mr. Li, your film Nobody will be released in Japan in July. Will you come to the premiere?"

"Yes, I will come over. Dongbao has already made arrangements for me. I will participate in the recording of two programs here."

Li Yishu nodded. He was still counting on "Nobody" to reap a box office in Japan. Now that Japan is affected by the bursting of the economic bubble, the entire society has begun to be in a state of low consumption and low desire, which is a bit similar to the situation in China after the epidemic.

Last night he and Quanshui went to Ginza. Compared with the prosperity and bustle when they first came, it was obvious that there were more foreigners in Ginza, and the number of office workers who came to nightclubs to play was gradually decreasing.

After receiving a positive answer, Izumi Sakai immediately smiled and said, "That's great. I can meet Mr. Li again in July."

Hearing this, Li Yishu was stunned for a few seconds. Looking at Sakai Izumi's brilliant smile, he said with emotion: "Actually, if you want to see me, you can do so anytime. Just give me a call and I will come to see you."

"No, Li Jun is so busy at work, I don't want to disturb Li Jun because of such a small matter."

Izumi Sakai shook her head and said, "Besides, I'm pretty busy right now. I just released a new album a few days ago, and another new album will be released in August. I've been busy recording songs recently."

"A new album?"

Li Yishu was surprised and asked, "How many albums have you released this year? Wasn't it released in February?"

"Yes, one was released in February, another one was released on June 6th, and another one was released in August."

Izumi Sakai talked incessantly. Her current work can be described as busy. She planned to release two albums this year, but the sales of the album in February were so good that Being Music Company behind her added an extra album for her.

Li Yishu frowned: "Aren't you tired? Take a rest. Do you want me to talk to your boss?"

Izumi Sakai grinned: "It's okay, not too tiring. It's mainly because recording the album is a bit troublesome, and there are no concerts this year. Apart from occasionally participating in program recordings, I usually have a lot of free time."

Looking at her like this, Li Yishu can tell that she speaks without thinking. Isn't it tiring to release three albums a year?
To participate in chart shows, record programs, record albums, and occasionally do some commercial performances.

He pondered for a moment and then asked, "Have you ever thought about setting up your own music studio?"

"Music studio?"

"Well, I want to release songs, I want to hold concerts..."

Izumi Sakai was a little tempted. She was treated very well at Being Music Company, but sometimes she was forced to work, mainly to make money for the team. Now she was more than just an individual.

“Will this be troublesome?”

"It's no trouble. How many years do you have left on your contract with the company?"

"I signed a 10-year contract and now I have 6 years left."

"Okay, I'll help you with it later."

(End of this chapter)