Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 192 Selling Copyrights

From the premiere until the official release of "Hero" on August 8, Harvey used up all his connections in these ten days, or in today's words, he bought trending searches everywhere.

The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, and many other newspapers are covering the film.

There are also many film critics.

Some film critics even say that Hollywood directors are focusing on the lucrative overseas market and producing films like "Troy."

The films get bigger and bigger, the dialogue gets dumber and dumber, and they get less and less American culture.

When Hollywood directors make films for the world, who makes films for America? It's probably directors like Zhang Yimou...

This sounds a bit awkward. Maybe this is Harvey's way of publicity. I just don't know what Zhang Yimou thinks after hearing it.

When shooting art films, Zhang Yimou was still very strong and had the demeanor of an artist. However, after switching to shooting commercial films, Zhang Yimou changed very quickly. Is it because of box office pressure?
August 8th was a Friday, and Miramax had arranged for the film to be screened in more than a thousand theaters, so Harvey was cautiously testing the market.

However, the box office on that day was 720 million US dollars, ranking first on the North American box office list that day.

This result not only shocked Harvey, but also American newspapers and film critics.

Harvey was the first to react and increased the number of theaters showing the film to 2031, hoping to create a box office miracle.

In the first three days of the weekend, "Hero" took in $1840 million, surpassing the second-place "Anaconda: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" with $2 million, to top the three-day weekend box office chart.

In its second week, "Hero" earned another 950 million at the box office, still topping the box office chart in this off-season for the North American box office.

Harvey's heart finally settled down.

Hollywood has its own calculation formula, which uses the box office of the first three days of the weekend as a benchmark, and looks at the box office decline in the three days of the second weekend to estimate the total box office performance of the film.

Although this formula is not 100% accurate, it is pretty close, and most movies follow the rules.

Based on the decline in "Hero", Harvey roughly estimated that the box office of this movie should be between 53 million and 55 million.

This is the box office in North America. He spent a little more than 20 million. In addition to North America, he also owns the copyright of this film in many European countries.

Just from the box office, we can make a small profit.

Add to that the subsequent income from discs and peripherals, and you will be able to make a lot of money.

Harvey didn't expect that he had quoted a high price and wanted to cheat the other party, but in the end he had to swallow the loss because of the parent company Disney.

It's said that there are twists and turns in the plot. This movie is so powerful that it costs so much and still makes a lot of money!
Then, he remembered that Cao Yang had another Chinese-language film in his hands, which was also a costume blockbuster. In terms of the cast, it had winners of the Berlin Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival, which was not bad.

When the film was completed in post-production, China Film Group invited many potential overseas distributors to hold a film screening.

Harvey also went there at that time. After watching the movie, he tentatively offered Cao Yang $600 million to buy out the North American copyright.

When it comes to Cao Yang, everyone knows him well, so he certainly can't use the old tricks to fool him.

So the price will definitely not be too high.

At that time, he thought that Chinese-language films with better box office in North America, such as Jackie Chan's Chinese-language films, mostly had box office of more than 10 million.

Reporting 600 million to Cao Yang is reasonable.

At that time, he had already equated Cao Yang's appeal and influence with Cheng Long.

However, Cao Yang ignored him and even quoted a price of 450 million US dollars.

To be on the safe side, Harvey gave up the idea.

We certainly can’t look at it with the old eyes now.

"Hero" should have a box office of more than 5000 million. With Cao Yang's fame and influence, can it be worse than "Hero"?
So Harvey Weinstein came to Cao Yang again.

"I'm here this time, first, to thank you for supporting 'Hero' and attending the premiere, and second, to ask if you can sell the North American copyright of the Chinese costume film you have to Miramax?"

Harvey Weinstein said directly: "Cao, we are friends, very good friends. Miramax has always been committed to promoting Chinese-language films. I think you are very clear about this. Therefore, Miramax is your best partner."

Cao Yang couldn't help but glance at Harvey. This guy was really shameless, definitely on par with Zhang Weiping.

Are you the only one who is still committed to promoting Chinese-language films? Well, if stealing the copyright of Chinese-language films and then vigorously promoting them abroad to make money can be considered a form of promotion, then Cao Yang really has nothing to say.

"Still 600 million?" Cao Yang asked with a smile.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! What are you talking about?"

Harvey said righteously: "It was just a joke last time, why did you take it seriously?"

Then, he cautiously probed, "How about $1500 million for global copyright except for Greater China?"

Why don't you just go and rob? You're really asking for too much.

I invested 7500 million in this movie.

Uh, 1500 million US dollars, according to the current exchange rate, it is about 8.27, which is equivalent to 1.24 million.

However, the account is not calculated in this way. "Hero" had a box office explosion and is still very influential. Now "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox" has no shortage of buyers.

Columbia's executive director Tom Rossman asked just yesterday.

Fox Searchlight also called to test the waters.

Hollywood film companies are very enthusiastic about projects that look like they can make money.

"Harvey, let's talk about friendship. I think our friendship shouldn't be mixed with material things. For example, you should stop talking about buying the movie rights."

Cao Yang couldn't help but wonder, is my way of refusing very American?

"No, no, no, it is precisely because of the pure friendship between us that I should help my friends."

Harvey held up two fingers and said, "Twenty million. I only want the European and American copyrights. This is enough to show my sincerity."

You are so fucking shameless. You bought the copyright of my movie and said it was like you were helping the poor.

"Xavi, you spent 2100 million US dollars to buy the copyright of Hero. Is my influence in North America less than that of director Zhang Yimou?"

Cao Yang shook his head and refused: "I don't see your sincerity, so let's talk about friendship."

"That was announced to the public as 2100 million, but it was actually 2038 million US dollars..."

As Harvey spoke, his voice became lower. What is the actual difference between 2038 million and 2100 million?

After a moment's silence, Harvey Weinstein made a bitter face, spread his hands, and began to act pitiful.

"Cao, you know, I have been worried about that movie for more than a year. Its box office may just be a fluke. No Chinese-language movie has ever achieved a box office of more than 50 million..."

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

"No, no, no, that's different. That's the result of Sony Classics working at full capacity. That's the result of 10 Oscar nominations."

Harvey looked at Cao Yang with seemingly sincere eyes and said, "Okay, Cao, I'll take the risk. I only want the European and American copyrights. How about $2100 million? I'm doing this for the sake of our friendship."

"Harvey, it's actually quite boring for us to go on about this. For the sake of our friendship, I'll give you my lowest price. If you think it's okay, then it's okay. If not, then forget it. There's no need to talk about this anymore.

2500 million US dollars, European and American copyright, full payment within ten days from the date of signing the contract. "

"This is impossible!"

Harvey jumped up and said, "That's not how you do business. It's impossible to settle the account within ten days."

Cao Yang just looked at him without saying anything.

Harvey then fell silent, gritted his teeth, and made a decision.

"2400 million dollars, this is my bottom line, Cao, I am going to take a very big risk. You know the film market is very strange. No one knows whether the next one will be a success."

Harvey still hesitated for a moment, and finally sighed, "As for what you said about settling the account within ten days, I can agree to that."

(End of this chapter)