Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 191 Mutual Leverage
While Cao Yang was busy supervising the special effects production and post-production, Zhang Yimou's first martial arts blockbuster "Hero", which had been "shelved" for nearly two years, was finally about to premiere in the United States.

Miramax will hold a grand premiere ceremony at 17:7 p.m. local time on the th in the United States.

The film will be released on the 27th, and the premiere ceremony was held ten days in advance to build up momentum. It seems that Harvey Weinstein has no confidence in the film at all.

When Harvey learned that Cao Yang was in the United States, he immediately called Cao Yang and personally invited Cao Yang to attend the premiere of the movie.

Perhaps because he was afraid that Cao Yang would not come, he repeatedly emphasized that this was a critical moment for Chinese-language films to open the door to Hollywood, and as a face of Chinese-language films, you should come to participate...

Well, it seems that this guy has a deep understanding of domestic culture and knows how to use justice to pressure others.

Cao Yang really wants to ask, are you studying domestic culture in order to better fool domestic filmmakers?

Harvey also said that he would come to pick up Cao Yang in person when the time comes. They are good partners and hope that they can continue to cooperate better in the future.

I have said all the nice things to mean just one thing: I hope Cao Yang can attend the premiere of "Hero".

He wanted to use Cao Yang's influence and popularity to increase the attention of "Hero".

Cao Yang also has his own plans. The higher the North American box office of "Hero", the higher the copyright fee for his "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox", which is also a Chinese-language costume blockbuster, will be.

His fame and influence in the United States cannot be compared to that of Zhang Yimou.

It’s not that Cao Yang doesn’t want to cooperate with the Big Seven to distribute this film in North America.

The key point is that even he cannot figure out the market prospects of Chinese-language films in North America.

He remembered clearly that the Chinese-language film with the highest box office in North America was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the second was Zhang Yimou's Hero.

Then, the subsequent movies were completely disappointing.

Zhang Yimou did not dare to sell the copyright of House of Flying Daggers to Harvey's Miramax, so it was bought by Sony Classics.

Sony Pictures Classics will release "House of Flying Daggers" in December this year. Seeing that "Hero" was a big hit, they thought they had gotten a great bargain, so they spent a lot of energy on promotion and marketing.

As a result, the box office barely exceeded 1000 million US dollars.

Sony Classics must have lost a lot of money.

Therefore, the most important thing for "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox" is to take advantage of the popularity of "Hero" and sell more copyright fees.

Before the box office results of "Hero" came out, Harvey Weinstein must have been regretting his decision. The copyright fee of more than 2000 million US dollars is not a small amount.

Apart from the huge hit "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in North America, is there any other Chinese-language film that has grossed over 30 million in North America?
Not to mention 30 million, even those who can break 10 million are very few.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a special case. It received so many Oscar nominations and was a big hit because of the popularity of the Oscars.

What's in "Hero"?
Can Li Lianjie alone support the box office in North America?
Don't joke, Li Lianjie is only okay in the disc market, he doesn't have a single movie that sells well at the box office.

What's more, after two consecutive flops, Hollywood no longer trusted Li Lianjie, and it was already difficult for him to get any more Hollywood movies.

This is also the reason why he joined "Danny the Wolfdog" for free in order to make a comeback.

Harvey Weinstein tried his best and tried every possible means, even inviting Quentin Tarantino, the director of "Kill Bill".

Moreover, he openly put Quentin Tarantino at the center of "Hero" - on the big poster, Quentin Tarantino is the producer of "Hero".

It can be said that Harvey Weinstein has been a bit unscrupulous for the sake of box office. In this respect, he is a bit similar to Zhang Weiping. Maybe if the two of them resolve their grievances, they can still have common topics?
In other words, Cao Yang's current status and influence are not something Harvey Weinstein dares to easily control, otherwise, he would really dare to put Cao Yang in the position of producer of "Hero".

Maybe on the big poster, Cao Yang’s head is at the top, with the word “producer” written on it, and below it is Quentin Tarantino’s head, with the word “supervisor” written on it…

You know what, if this were the case, the box office of "Hero" would definitely be higher.

Harvey Weinstein was afraid that Cao Yang would refuse, so he drove himself, picked up Cao Yang, and went to the movie premiere.

The premiere of "Hero" was held at the famous Arclight Theater in Hollywood, USA. From a distance, Cao Yang saw a very large poster posted on the outer wall of the theater.

The film's description is described as "a visual blockbuster of war art and violence" and is rated PG-13 for general audiences.

"Harvey, does this movie have any violent scenes or sex scenes? Why is it rated PG-13?"

Harvey Weinstein slammed the steering wheel in anger.

"Shit! Those guys are shit! How could this movie get this rating? Someone must have tripped them up. They are a bunch of bastards. America is stuck because of these guys..."

Well, it seems that he is really angry.

Why are you angry? It’s still because of the box office.

This rating means that people under the age of 13 must be accompanied by their parents to watch the film, which will result in a decrease in box office revenue for many young people.

At the premiere ceremony, Cao Yang saw Li Lianjie, Zhen Zidan and Zhang Ziyi all standing at the entrance of the red carpet, greeting the guests with smiles on their faces.

Even the nominal producer Quentin Tarantino was present, and it seemed like he really was giving Harvey face.

There's no way around it. Quentin Tarantino is a director who was brought up by Harvey Weinstein.

Whether it is his famous work "Pulp Fiction", "Dangerous Liaisons", or "Kill Bill", they are all controlled by Harvey's Miramax.

As a director favored by Harvey Weinstein, Quentin Tarantino cannot but give Harvey face.

Harvey drove the car directly to the entrance of the red carpet. Several people seemed to recognize Harvey's car. Li Lianjie even smiled and walked over quickly, as if afraid that someone would snatch it from him, and opened Harvey's car door.

However, when he opened the car door and saw Cao Yang coming out, he was stunned for a moment, then quickly smiled and shouted, "Hello, Director Cao, welcome..."

Are you welcome?
You look like a waiter at the hotel entrance.

Of course, I don’t mean to belittle waiters. There is no distinction between high and low professions among us.

But given Li Lianjie's status, it is indeed inappropriate for her to do such a thing.

When Zhang Ziyi saw Cao Yang, her eyes suddenly lit up and she came towards him with a blushing face.

It has to be said that Zhang Ziyi is the most awesome. She was not at all shy and wanted to hug Cao Yang. She even stretched out her hand and was ready.

Cao Yang took a small step back without leaving a trace, took the opportunity to hold Guoji Zhang's hand, and said, "Zi Yi, long time no see."

Then she shook hands with Li Lianjie next to her and took the opportunity to shake off the outgoing Zhang Ziyi.

(End of this chapter)