Huayu: Director started with art films

Yanjing.

Beijing Film Studio.

When the editor finally edited the film according to his ideas, Chen Kai breathed a sigh of relief. After a year and a half, he finally completed "The Emperor and the Assassin".

Producer Li Shaowei also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He found three editors for Brother Chen Kai in succession, but drove two of them away, leaving only a female editor, Zhou Xinxia. She would edit the film however Brother Chen Kai wanted, and she must be obedient!
He said, "Old Chen, now that the film is finished in post-production, can we contact Kadokawa Publishing in Japan?"

"Well, we can contact them and ask them to send someone over to watch the movie."

A hint of pride flashed across Chen Kai's face. He could already imagine the expressions of Japanese producers Kadokawa Kojihiko and Furukawa Hirozo, who were shocked and speechless after watching this epoch-making historical blockbuster.

"Okay, I'll have someone contact them right now and ask them to arrange for the release in Japan as soon as possible."

Just as Li Shaowei was about to turn around and leave, he was stopped by Brother Chen Kai: "Don't worry about the distribution. I plan to participate in the Cannes International Film Festival next year."

"Participating in Cannes?" Li Shaowei was surprised: "That's too long. It will take a year for the movie to be released."

It is only July now and the film has already been edited and produced. It will take a full year to participate in the Cannes Film Festival next year, regardless of whether it wins an award or not.

Brother Chen Kai shook his head: "Good things never come late. I am full of confidence in my film. It will definitely win the Palme d'Or at Cannes this time!"

"But it's taking too long. Kadokawa Books may not agree to it."

Li Shaowei frowned, he knew very well that Kadokawa Books invested in Chen Kaige in order to use this opportunity to open up the domestic bookstore market.

However, over the past year or so, Kadokawa Books has found it difficult to penetrate other cities except for opening a few stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Just because of the existence of Xinhua Bookstore.

Xinhua Bookstore has been in business for decades and is a long-established state-owned unit. Later, it cooperated with Li Yishu's Art and Entertainment Group to participate in the distribution of VCDs.

It can be said that Xinhua Bookstore not only sells books, but also movie VCDs and cassette records. In terms of richness, it is many times stronger than Kadokawa Bookstore, which has just entered the mainland market.

As for the sinking market, Kadokawa Books would have to spend tens of billions of RMB regardless of the cost to cover even every county and town.

But that's simply impossible.

Precisely because it is so difficult to open up the current market in mainland China, Kadokawa Books is increasingly looking forward to the release of Chen Kai's film so that they can recover the losses from their investments in mainland China.

But now Brother Chen Kai has to delay it for another year.

This is equivalent to putting the nearly 3500 million yuan investment on hold for another year. (The original 1 million yuan was later increased. A total of 8 million US dollars, because the exchange rate was changed to :)

Japanese investors will definitely not agree to this.

"Old Chen, there's no way the Japanese side will agree to this. If it's to be released next year, that's two and a half years away."

Li Shaowei looked at Brother Chen Kai with a headache. This was not a few million RMB, nor tens of millions, but nearly 300 million RMB.

If you just put the money in the bank and collect interest, in two and a half years, the amount would be tens of millions.

Not to mention that the Japanese investors provided US dollars!
"I'll talk to them at Kadokawa Books."

Chen Kai said calmly: "I am confident that I will win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival next year. As long as I win the award, the film's profitability will not be a problem. The European and American copyrights alone can be sold for tens of millions of dollars."

Brother Chen Kai is a frequent visitor to European film festivals. He knows very well that it is not easy to sell the copyright of a film that has won an award at a high price. What's more, this is a war-themed film, which is more suitable for screening in theaters than those art films.

With dozens of European countries and a production cost of $3500 million, even if the copyright is sold for $ in each country, I estimate there will be people willing to buy it, after all, the production cost is there.

There are more than 20 countries in Europe. Based on the size of the country and its population, if each country sells for an average of US$, that means a return of US$ million.

When it is released in North America, Chen Kai feels that it will at least break 100 million US dollars in box office. Not to mention Japan, which will at least be hundreds of millions of US dollars. There are also South Korea and Southeast Asia...

Including domestic.

It’s a sure win, okay?
Director Chen is so confident.

Hearing this, Li Shaowei shook his head. He knew that he couldn't convince Brother Chen Kai, so he could only wait for Kadokawa to send someone.

Hengdian Film and Television City.

When Han Sanping learned that Chen Kai had completed post-production and was preparing to participate in next year's Cannes Film Festival, he immediately ran to find Li Yishu who was filming the role of "Wu Guotai".

Looking at the crew who were filming seriously in the palace, Han Sanping found a place and waited quietly.

In today's scene, Wu Guotai brings her daughter Sun Shangxiang to meet Sun Quan and Zhou Yu, and reminds Sun Quan that "if you have any doubts about foreign affairs, ask Zhou Yu."

Wu Guotai and Sun Shangxiang don't have many roles. They mainly appear a few times during the alliance between Sun Quan and Liu Bei. There will be some personal scenes of Sun Shangxiang later, but only a few scenes, and the movie mainly shows her wielding guns and sticks.

After all, she is one of the few female generals who appear in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

At least it won’t be like Wu Yusen’s movie, where Sun Shangxiang goes to Cao’s army as an undercover spy.

After watching this movie, Li Yishu's first thought was that John Woo might have made too many undercover movies!
The battle between the two armies was treated as a gang fight. Even if they wanted to film an undercover spy, they had to send a man. Why let Sun Shangxiang, played by Zhao Yanzi, do that?
Go and act in the Three Kingdoms Muzan series?

It’s no wonder that Li Yishu thinks this way, it’s because Wu Yusen is suspected of leaning in that direction!

Sun Shangxiang went to Cao's camp to spy on the military situation. She was supposed to be an undercover agent, but she ended up falling in love with a general named Sun Shucai in Cao's army! !

If feelings develop, that's fine. Who knows, maybe they fall in love at first sight?

But later, Sun Shangxiang came back from Cao's camp and wanted to show everyone the Cao army troop distribution map she brought back while undercover, and this map was wrapped around her body.

Faced with a large group of men, Sun Shangxiang undressed without hesitation, leaving only her bellyband.

The key point is that Wu Yusen was particularly considerate and gave Sun Shangxiang two or three close-up shots of her slender waist. Xiao Qiao was even more hilarious. As Zhou Yu's wife (in the movie, she was his wife), she actually volunteered to go to Cao's camp to meet Cao Mengde!
You have to know that the term "Wei Wu's legacy" has remained unchanged for thousands of years. Cao Mengde was able to play with Aunt Zhang Xiu in Wancheng, and Xiao Qiao came to him on her own initiative. How could he not play with her, as she was a good wife?
Even though matters between men and women were relatively open in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, was Zhou Yu really willing to be cuckolded?

Anyway, after watching this movie, Li Yishu's obsession with Wu Yusen as a great director completely collapsed, just like Brother Chen Kai who directed "The Emperor and the Assassin" and "The Promise".

"Crack!"

Li Yishu yelled, glanced at Han Sanping who was a little anxious beside him, and said to assistant director Zhao Fei: "Let my mother and the others rest."

"Okay, Director!"

Zhao Fei nodded and walked over to talk to the actors about taking a break.

Jiang Qinqin wanted to look for Li Yishu, but when she saw him chatting with Director Han, she went back to wait on her godmother and let her rest.

Perhaps it was because of what Li Yishu, the eldest son, did that made Zhao Xue, as a mother, feel a little sorry for Jiang Qinqin, which led to her calling Jiang Qinqin every now and then after she came back from Taiwan.

Now that they are filming in the same crew, she treats her as her own daughter, and their relationship is advancing by leaps and bounds, better than that of real mother and daughter.

"What's wrong, Uncle San?"

"Come on, let's go out and talk."

Li Yishu was pulled out of the palace by Han Sanping. When they were outside and there was no one around, he said, "Can you tell me now, Uncle San?"

Han Sanping said: "Brother Chen Kai's film "The Emperor and the Assassin" has completed post-production. I heard from the producer in the studio that he plans to participate in the Cannes International Film Festival next year."

"Attending Cannes?"

Li Yishu had a strange look on his face. It was not that he looked down on Brother Chen Kai, but the Cannes International Film Festival, although there was no clear rule, had always been pessimistic about big-budget films. They preferred independent producers.

What's more, "The Emperor and the Assassin" is not completely Westernized, and Shakespeare's is not thorough enough either. It's half Western and half not Western. What's the point of wasting a year to attend the Cannes Film Festival?
"Yes, Brother Chen Kai wants to participate in Cannes, but our Beijing Film Studio's producer Li Shaowei disagrees. I think the Japanese investors will most likely not agree either."

Han Sanping said this, glanced at Li Yishu, and said hesitantly: "Yishu, tell me, can our movie make money?"

Previously, although Li Yishu said that making money would not be a problem for this movie, and that the Beijing Film Studio and the August 1st Film Studio had almost no investment, they had still won a large share of the investment. Naturally, Han Sanping did not think much about this.

But now that Chen Kai's film, which cost nearly 300 million RMB, has completed post-production, it looks like it can be promoted and released at any time. How can Han Sanping not worry about the cost and profit of the film?
"Uncle San, don't worry too much. I'm the director. If anything goes wrong, I'll take the blame. I'm not worried, so why should you worry?"

"I'm worried because you're a director. You're becoming more and more famous, and you're a banner for Chinese filmmakers to the outside world. If there's any problem with the box office, then domestic and foreign filmmakers, including audiences, will just think that China has no chance of making blockbusters!"

Han Sanping considers many more things than Li Yishu. He not only considers the profit gains and losses, but also whether this movie can open the door to domestic blockbusters.

If a director like Lee Ye-su, who has proven himself to be equally good at both art and commerce in Europe and the United States, fails to make money shooting domestic themes, the consequences will be very, very serious.

To put it simply, it is Li Yishu's personal problem. To put it more broadly, it is that the Chinese film industry has no hope of making blockbusters. At least, the outside world will think so when no blockbuster makes money.

Seeing Han Sanping said this, Li Yishu thought for a while and said:

"Uncle San, the film cost about 6200 million US dollars. I discussed it with the people from Toho Corporation. Japan is very obsessed with the Three Kingdoms culture. Andy Lau and Leon Lai, two of the Four Heavenly Kings, are here to help. We also invited several Japanese actors to play the Wu generals. So the Japanese box office can sell at least 1 million US dollars, and at least half of the investment cost can be recovered."

"Rumble in the Bronx, which was released during the Lunar New Year holiday this year, grossed over 4 million yuan, and True Lies, which was released in April, also grossed over 1 million yuan, which shows that it is no problem for our mainland market to have a box office of over million yuan."

"The box office of 1 million RMB in the Three Mainland should not be a problem."

"In Hong Kong and Taiwan, the film can sell at least 5000 million RMB. This is still a conservative estimate. After all, we have used several Hong Kong and Taiwan actors. Let them attract fans and music fans. It is possible that the box office will reach or million RMB."

"The Korean film market is also very large, and the Three Kingdoms theme is not unfamiliar there. I think it has great potential. Leon Lai is very popular in Korea, and Andy Lau's A Moment of Romance did very well there. It won't be a big problem for our film to make 10 or 20 million RMB."

"There are many Chinese in Southeast Asia, and they are very familiar with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. There are at least hundreds of millions of people there. There is also Singapore, a country with a large Chinese population. It is a developed country with good economic conditions. I think it will not be a problem to sell it for 20 to 30 million RMB."

"Add to that Europe, North America, and Africa. Not to mention the box office, the copyright fees alone can bring in a lot of money."

According to the normal movie recovery mechanism, a movie with a gross of $6200 million would need to sell for $1.86 million to recoup the cost.

It is no problem to sell it in Japan for 1 million US dollars, and there will be no problem to sell it for 3000 million US dollars in the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. 1 million RMB in the mainland is an understatement. Such a big production, especially a domestic blockbuster, regardless of whether the audience supports it, the Film Bureau and various state-owned units will probably support it.

Let’s book a whole place.

Today, Li Yishu is still well-known internationally.

Even though ordinary people in many countries don't know much about him, if they knew that Lee Yi-su is a European triple gold grand slam winner and the godfather of Asian films, I believe these gimmicks will still be able to attract a wave of audiences to go to the cinema to watch such a mysterious oriental ancient war blockbuster.

The movie "Red Cliff" mainly makes its money in Asia, or more precisely, in East Asia and Southeast Asian countries. As long as these two regions can recover their costs, other regions will make pure profit.

The entire East Asia and Southeast Asia region sold for 1.86 million US dollars. It is difficult, but if we can overcome it, we should have hope. This does not include the profits from the surrounding areas, such as VCDs, videotapes, and TV broadcasting rights...

Hearing this, Han Sanping breathed a sigh of relief and said, "After listening to your analysis, our movie should be able to make money?"

Li Yishu smiled and said, "It will definitely make money. As long as the global box office reaches 2 million US dollars, we can earn at least to million US dollars worldwide from VCDs, videotapes and other peripherals!"

The total investment of "Hero" that year was 2.5 million RMB, about 3000 million US dollars, and its global total revenue was about 1.77 million US dollars, which is equivalent to about 14 billion RMB!

Secretary Li Yi knew very clearly that the North American box office at that time exceeded 5000 million US dollars, and other overseas box office was about 4000 million US dollars.

He is now much more famous than Zhang Yimou. He has a familiar distribution company in North America, and his own art and entertainment group can also help with distribution. There is no problem in breaking 5000 million US dollars in North America.

What's more, there is Japan, a big box office. Wu Yusen is indeed famous in Japan, but definitely not as famous as Li Yishu is now.

Moreover, it has been a few years since the Japanese economic bubble burst, and the economic crisis has eased. With the participation of a local film company, Toho Co., Ltd., in the distribution of the film, it is almost certain that the box office will exceed 100 million US dollars.

Li Yishu is not worried about the film not being able to recoup its costs! (End of this chapter)