Huayu: As a child star, I just want to be famous

Chapter 526 The Storm Rises (4k)

On the 20th, the crew members gathered and all the preparations were completed.

Chen Linfeng turned on the phone directly.

He did not call a press conference, but just posted a message on Weibo:
"A new film is starting."

Then attach a photo of the crew.

This simple and lazy style has attracted a lot of complaints online.

"You're getting lazy. Now that you're shooting a new movie, you can just take a photo."

"Ah, there's nothing I can do. After all, I'm favored. People who are favored are fearless."

"Is Fengshen going to make a new film? Great, great, I like this kind of enthusiasm to start work without any agreement. Make more good films. I can't wait to see them."

"What's the subject of the new film? Can you tell me?"

"..."

Some netizens are also trying to identify who the people in the photos are.

Except for Chen Linfeng and Liu Qianqian, the rest of the actors in the crew are foreigners. It seems that this new movie is shot in cooperation with Hollywood again.

In the center of the photo, in addition to the actors from the crew, there are also some guests.

After careful observation, we found that they are all big names in the industry.

Although no reporters were invited, there were still many people who came to show their support.

This is a routine for Han Shanping, and the same goes for Wang Zhongjun, Wang Changtian, and Yang Shoucheng, all of whom I have known for a long time.

In addition, Wanda executive Wang Huiwen also arrived at the scene.

Even Zhang Zhizhong, president of Disney China, and Zhao Fang, president of Warner Bros. China, came to show their support.

The movie "Now You See Me" was ultimately not considered a Hollywood movie, but was classified as a co-production.

Originally, this piece of meat was to be given to Summit Entertainment, but some time ago, Chen Linfeng heard a rumor that the higher-ups, especially the Film Bureau, were very sad that the performance of "Inception" was so good, but in the end it could not be counted as a domestic film achievement.

So he took the opportunity to inquire about the co-production of the film.

Only then did I realize that I had misunderstood things because of my bad impression of co-production films in my previous life.

If domestic capital, actors and directors are involved, it can be considered a co-production.

It all depends on whether you apply or not, and whether the higher authorities and Hollywood companies recognize it.

People in Hollywood are pretty easy to talk to, and they have favorable policies regarding profit-sharing for co-productions.

The profit sharing for co-production films is based on that for domestic films. It all depends on how far you can negotiate.

For imported films, the profit sharing ratio is uniformly 25%, which means there is a big difference in money.

As for the name issue, since it is a co-production, it is naturally considered a Chinese film as well as a Hollywood film.

Hollywood can still settle this account clearly.

Therefore, in order to meet the requirements of a co-production, a large portion of the investment share originally expected to be invested by Summit Entertainment was eventually given to Qilin.

Chen Linfeng submitted the application on short notice and didn’t have to wait any longer; his application was approved in two days.

The films he makes in the future will probably follow this pattern.

The final investment ratio is approximately 30% for Kirin, 25% for Disney, 20% for Warner, 10% for Summit Entertainment, 5% for Huaying, and the remaining 10% is shared by Light Media, Yinghuang, Huayi and a group of retail investors.

The production cost of "Now You See Me" was 7000 million US dollars. In Hollywood, this is at most a medium-investment movie, which is not high to be honest.

There are few special effects and simple scenes, and the bulk of the money is spent on the actors' salaries.

In fact, it is still quite strange for filmmakers in the industry who know the inside story. After the shocking success of "Inception", Chen Linfeng did not make a big step forward, but instead made a relatively low-cost movie right after.

At the opening ceremony, Wang Zhongjun, Wang Changtian, Yang Shoucheng and others were discussing this topic.

"Why doesn't Director Chen make any more blockbusters? Isn't that exciting? Take Inception, for example. It cost $1.6 million and grossed over $12 billion. How cool is that?"

In 2012, Huayi made a lot of money from the stock market through capital operations.

The big money came too easily, which made Wang Zhongjun feel that the share of "Now You See Me" was a bit useless.

If it weren't for his reputation of making money in the stock market, he might not have been interested in this project.

Wang Changtian glanced at him, unable to bear the look of this nouveau riche.

If you don't even like Xiao Chen's movies, you might as well stop making movies.

Yang Shoucheng was the one who could hold it in. There was no trace of emotion on his face. He smiled and said,

"Director Chen is a man with ideas. He follows his own steps step by step without being influenced by the outside world. This is the way to achieve great things."

"Mr. Yang is still thinking ahead. He is in a hurry to release a blockbuster. What if something goes wrong? For a big director like Director Chen, just recovering the cost is unacceptable.

I am not a newbie who suddenly became famous, or a nouveau riche who suddenly made a lot of money and has to prove myself.”

These words were meaningful, and because they were filled with emotion, the person involved could hear it.

Wang Zhongjun just laughed and didn't care at all.

Huayi is at its highest point in history, and Wang Changtian must be jealous of him.

Wang Changtian's face turned even darker when he saw him like this.

I didn't have any thoughts at first, but I was irritated by his behavior.

Not far away, Han Shanping was chatting with executives from Disney and Warner, and Wanda’s Wang Huiwen was also there.

Since there has been no history of Chinese films squeezing out Hollywood blockbusters in their release schedules, the conversation between these people was quite harmonious.

In the past two years, Wanda has emerged as a dark horse and its strength in cinema chains has made it the number one force in the country.

In terms of voice, he lagged behind a little, but now he is also a big boss.

He is no longer as cautious as he was when he was discussing the investment amount for "Your Name" with several companies in the industry.

Several people talked about the current theater scheduling issues.

"Nowadays, there are more and more ways for movies to get screening time," Wang Huiwen lamented.

"Yes," Han Shanping also understood. "Come to think of it, many movies are doing roadshows like crazy now. Xiao Chen was the first to do it."

"Well, Director Chen did this, and the effect was good. Of course, everyone followed suit. Not only that, advance screenings and ticket subsidies were all promoted by Director Chen."

Wang Huiwen unconsciously looked into the distance, where Chen Linfeng was filming the crew's first scene.

"Nowadays, co-productions will probably change because of him."

"Not only that," Zhang Zhizhong said, "the filming locations of Hollywood movies have been gradually shifting to China, and this was also started by Director Chen."

"I don't know what's up with Director Chen's brain. Not only does he always have new ideas for the plot of his movies, but he also has many new ideas in other aspects."

“I wonder what new tricks will be in this “Now You See Me”?”

Han Shanping shook his head, indicating that he couldn't think of it.

"I don't think there will be any," Zhang Zhizhong said, "Director Chen is already a big star now, and a large number of people are paying attention to his new film without any promotion.

I work in the cinema industry, so I know this best. As long as Director Chen's name is added to the script, it can be used as a publicity gimmick, and the film schedule will be taken care of as much as possible, not to mention that it is a movie he made himself."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Indeed, otherwise why would they come running over to show their support? Isn't it because they want to establish good relations and look forward to continued cooperation in the future?

It is really terrible to have a director without a history of failure.

The invincibility has been achieved.

In front of the camera, Chen Linfeng was discussing the plot with two actors. The two actors on the scene were also familiar faces, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine (Batman's butler).

They are all professional veteran actors. No matter what their personalities are like in private, at least they are very competent at work.

Chen Linfeng simply confirmed that the two were in good condition and had no problems with their lines, then said, "You two, are you ready to start?"

The surrounding area is a well-built venue, and Michael Caine threatens Morgan to stop pursuing the matter of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

It's a very simple confrontation, and it's over in one go.

Everyone applauded, and the start of the project was a good start.

Cao Yuchong's assistant complained, "It's useless to try this kind of trick. I think it's better to ask the director for help. Maybe it will be more effective."

The assistant was surprised and said, "You haven't started praying yet. We have already put up the director's photo. We pray before every filming. It works."

Cao Yu's eyes widened. "When did you...do this happen?"

As a member of Chen Linfeng's team, he also began to feel that there was something wrong with the director's success rate.

Recently he heard a saying that Director Chen's luck was bluish purple. In the past, he would have been either an emperor or a prime minister.

Thinking of this, he complained about it during the opening ceremony.

Who would have thought that these guys had already started.

"Wait, this statement, isn't it you who spread it?"

"Of course not. We also heard it from outsiders. There are more people outside who worship Director Chen's photo. I heard that students also worship the director."

Cao Yu asked curiously, "Why do students worship him?"

"You forgot, the director was the top scorer in the college entrance examination."

"I know that, but there are so many top scorers in the college entrance examination, why do you only want to honor our director?"

"Hey, the students worship anyone, Conan, Confucius, Einstein, as long as it has a saying, they will try it."

"Well, a combination of Chinese and Western, the past and present, real and fictional characters, one of them must be prominent, I want them all."

……

After shooting one take in the morning, the opening ceremony was over.

Chen Linfeng waved his hand and asked these people to disperse first. He still needed him to take care of the guests who came to support the event.

Among these guests, only Han Shanping called in advance and came along.

Most of the others heard the news and then contacted us on their own initiative.

It was hard to refuse, so I just agreed.

"Director Chen, I heard that you are going to accept the World of Warcraft project in the future?"

The one who spoke was Wang Huiwen from Wanda.

Upon hearing this, everyone present, including Wang Zhongjun from Huayi, as well as people from Disney and Warner, were instantly startled and all looked at the person involved.

This is a big project, a very, very big project, enough to feed everyone.

Wang Zhongjun felt that it was not satisfying before, but after hearing Wang Huiwen’s question, it suddenly made sense to him.

This should be Chen Linfeng’s next move.

Under the gazes of everyone, Chen Linfeng asked in confusion, "How did you know?"

Wang Huiwen looked at this and felt that he had chosen the wrong occasion.

You don’t know anything about feelings.

But there was no way to change his words at this point, so he could only try to remain calm and say, "Did you hear this from Hollywood? I thought everyone knew about it."

"Is that so?" Chen Linfeng thought thoughtfully. Is Wanda now starting to contact Legendary Pictures?

Seeing that the person involved didn't say anything, the bystanders became a little anxious.

Wang Zhongjun said anxiously, "Xiao Chen, is the "World of Warcraft" project that Mr. Wang mentioned true or false?"

"It hasn't been decided yet, and I'm not sure whether it's true or not." Chen Linfeng spread his hands, not wanting to give them definite information.

"Oh, like this."

It’s ok, it must be true.

Everyone knows what kind of personality Director Chen has. He never speaks with certainty and doesn't seem like a young man full of vigor and vitality.

The people present looked at each other and their eyes turned cold.

They are all competitors!

"World of Warcraft" is different from other projects. It is a serious big IP with a big director and screenwriter.

Following Marvel's experience, it is almost impossible for a project to fail.

In the past two years, the concepts of IP and movie universe have become very popular.

However, the world-famous IPs, apart from Marvel, are DC, and "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" have been filmed.

As for the rest, I thought, hey, World of Warcraft just meets the requirements.

This is also a super big IP.

However, as soon as we heard about this project, we knew that Blizzard would take the largest share. Even if we remove Director Chen’s share, there is still Legendary Pictures.

As industry insiders, although they are far away, they have also paid some attention to the situation of the Warcraft project. Legendary Pictures, as the original producer, must have a certain share.

This way, there won't be much cake left.

Especially for Disney and Warner, the two presidents of the China region heard the news for the first time and both wanted to pass the news back to the headquarters as soon as possible.

The two of them glanced at the same time, signaling their assistant to make a phone call quickly.

Those who are able to serve as the president's assistant are all smart people. They calmly left the crowd and ran away quickly to make a phone call.

Chen Linfeng had a headache. The news was hidden well, but it was leaked by someone.

But it doesn’t matter, the contract has almost been signed.

Overall, it's similar to what we discussed before. In terms of treatment, Chen Linfeng has already received top pay plus commission, so there's nothing much to say about it.

Chen Linfeng had no intention of asking for too much.

The focus that Sister Mei helped him discuss was on the investment share.

It is a bit unrealistic to ask for a 4% share.

Therefore, after a period of deliberation, the ratio was finally settled at 25%.

This can probably guarantee Chen Linfeng's voice in the film series, but it also takes away part of the copyright.

No one can take care of such a big project alone, including Blizzard itself.

Originally, it was almost time to announce the news within the industry, but we originally wanted Blizzard to announce it, but we didn't expect the news to be leaked here.

Sister Mei heard the whole story and has already started contacting Blizzard to discuss relevant matters.

After that, no one talked about the "World of Warcraft" project.

When Chen Linfeng, the guests and the crew were having the opening banquet together, no one mentioned the matter again.

Just as the eye of a storm is often filled with calm.

There was a big storm in the outside world surrounding Chen Linfeng's upcoming role in the big IP "World of Warcraft".

(End of this chapter)