Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 206 New Project

The North American opening box office usually includes the box office revenue from Friday to Sunday, which is one of the box office indicators most valued by Hollywood film producers.

Since most new films are released on Fridays, the box office on the first weekend, that is, the box office from Friday to Sunday, is called the "first weekend box office" or "opening box office."

October 04, 10 was a Friday. Harvey Weinstein took advantage of Cao Yang's winning of the Best Director Award at the Venice Film Festival and chose to release "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox" on that day together with the domestic releases.

This time, Harvey learned from the experience of the release of "Hero" and no longer tested the issue cautiously. Miramax directly arranged 2460 theaters to see if he could create another box office miracle.

In North America, Cao Yang is much more famous and influential than Zhang Yimou.

However, after all, it is a Chinese-language film, so Harvey didn't dare to think too much about it. As long as the box office can be similar to that of "Hero", or even a little less, he can accept it.

After three days of its first weekend, "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox" did not disappoint Harvey and earned 2036 million, surpassing "Hero"'s 1780 million.

However, "Hero" won the weekly box office championship with 1780 million, while "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox" could only barely make it into the top three.

"Shark Tale", an animated blockbuster invested by DreamWorks with 1.75 million US dollars, was also released on October 10. It earned more than 1 million in the first three days of the weekend and won the weekly box office championship.

Of course, compared to the investment, the ambitious DreamWorks may not be satisfied. According to experience, it will be difficult for the North American box office to exceed 200 million. It depends on whether the global box office is strong.

Ranked second is "Burning Fire", which was invested with 6000 million US dollars and was also released on October 10. It earned more than 1 million in the first three days of the weekend.

In the second week, "Nine-Tailed" saw a big drop in box office revenue, earning only $1025 million, but it still ranked third in the weekly box office, only behind "Shark Tale" and "Burning Flame".

Seeing this result, Harvey was not disappointed. Instead, he did not care about the time difference and called Cao Yang immediately. In addition to announcing the good news, he also said a lot of compliments.

When he hung up the phone, he repeatedly said that he hoped Cao Yang could work with Miramax on a separate film, and that the salary and awards could be negotiated, and everything could be discussed.

The reason that made Harvey so happy, of course, was the box office of "The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox".

Even though the drop in the second week was almost 50%, the normal drop in Hollywood movies with good box office is between 35% and 45%. But you have to understand that this is a Chinese-language movie, and this drop is already very strong.

Hollywood has its own set of calculation formulas. Harvey roughly estimated that it should not be a problem for the movie to exceed 5500 million. Whether it can reach 6000 million depends on luck.

In other words, the North American box office alone almost made back Harvey's costs, so how could he not be happy?

Cao Yang did not expect that "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox" would perform so well in North America. It was probably because of his own fame and influence, plus the fact that "Hero" had just become a big hit, which made many foreigners want to see another Chinese costume blockbuster.

Add to that the Venice Film Festival award and the two Best Actresses in the film, and the combined effect led to this box office success.

I should have sold more copyright fees earlier.

Of course, this is just a joke. For a pure Chinese-language film, if you want to sell it for a higher copyright fee in North America, almost no Hollywood distributor dares to take such a big risk.

That was Harvey, who dared to take this gamble because "Hero" had just become a big hit.

Zhang Weiping was almost cheated by Harvey and did not dare to sell the copyright of "House of Flying Daggers" to Harvey. He could only sell the copyright to Sony Classics.

According to his own information, the European and American copyright of "House of Flying Daggers" was sold for 1.15 million, which is less than 1400 million US dollars, much less than the copyright of "Hero".

Harvey wanted to trick Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou in the first place, so he paid such a high price to buy the copyright of "Hero".

The huge success of "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox" in North America further strengthened Cao Yang's influence, especially in China. It is really not easy to open up the Hollywood market with a purely Chinese-language film.

This further triggered a craze for movie-watching. Many people who had not planned to watch a movie before also had the idea of ​​going to the cinema. Many people subconsciously believed that a movie that could be a big hit in the United States must be worth watching.

Cao Yang came out of Qingying Studio and went to the office of Tian Zhuangzhuang in the directing department. He had already made an appointment with Lao Tian to have dinner together later.

"I just went to Teacher Situ's office. I wanted to invite him to have dinner together, but he wasn't in the office. Do you know where he went?"

As soon as Cao Yang came in, he asked Lao Tian who was waiting for him.

Old Tian put down the book in his hand, stretched himself, and then asked, "What is he doing in the office? He is not teaching anymore. Is he waiting for you, the only graduate student he is still teaching, to come every day like a wife-waiting stone?"

Then he added, "Oh, that's a lot to wait for."

Uh.

Cao Yang suddenly remembered that he was still a graduate student and Old Situ had never assigned him homework or made any academic requirements. He almost left him alone.

So Cao Yang laughed and said, "Brother, guess what? Given my current free-range status, will the school block my diploma and prevent me from graduating next year?"

Lao Tian rolled his eyes and said unhappily, "My guess is bullshit!"

Look how proud you are! I even blocked your diploma. How dare you say such things?
If the Beijing Film Academy really dared to delay your graduation, you would definitely become famous overnight, and famous all over the world.

Unless the top leader has gone insane, he would block the graduation certificate of a student who has won the Golden Lion and Palme d'Or, as well as the Venice Best Director, Cannes Best Director, Berlin Jury Prize, and the Oscar for Best Picture.

You are such an asshole. You are probably just showing off in front of me.

Think about how that student, who was so cautious when he first met me, has become a world-class director in the blink of an eye, winning so many awards. Time really flies... What a bullshit!
It's only been four fucking years, not even half the time I was banned from directing.

Old Tian couldn't help but wonder, if he had been submissive at the beginning, would the outcome have been different?
Never mind, this is just my personality. You can call me young and frivolous, or you can call me arrogant, but if I give in, I will no longer be called Tian Zhuangzhuang.

"Why are you looking for me? I'm very busy right now. Not only am I supervising graduate students, I'm also teaching undergraduates. I don't have time to whine with you."

Cao Yang looked at Lao Tian in confusion. Was he being stepped on?

"Okay, since you are so busy, I won't bother you."

Cao Yang pretended to walk out, then shook his head and sighed, muttering to himself, "Let's just go find Ning Hao. That guy is quite sensible, so it would be nice to just give him the script."

"Hey, isn't this my junior brother? Junior brother, when did you come? Come on, senior brother will treat you to a meal. I was wondering why I was feeling unwell recently. It turns out that I haven't treated you to a meal for a long time."

Old Tian caught up with Cao Yang in a few steps, put his arm around Cao Yang's shoulder and walked out, as if he had just met Cao Yang by chance.

"Brother, I heard that you are very busy now, supervising graduate students and teaching undergraduates. How can you have time to treat me to a meal? You definitely don't have time to listen to my rants."

"Well, Junior Brother, look at what you are saying. Graduate students, teaching, these are not as important as inviting me to dinner."

The two men walked out while bickering.

Although they said they were going to have a meal together, the two of them did not go outside the school. They just ordered a few dishes in the small cafeteria. They did not talk about the script while eating, but only talked about some gossip in the circle and the box office of "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox".

"I saw in the newspaper that the box office of 'Nine-Tailed Fox' has rebounded again?" "Not really a rebound. The box office has stopped falling in the past few days. It may be affected by the North American box office."

Cao Yang took a bite of food and said as he ate, "I guess the news about the box office in the U.S. came through. Once the media reported it, some people who hadn't planned to watch the movie couldn't help but go to the theater."

Lao Tian put his chopsticks on the table and sighed.

"It can't be helped. Some people think Hollywood is authoritative. If your movie can be a big hit there, they think it's awesome. There are also some people who think the European Big Three are awesome. If your movie can win awards in the Big Three, they think it's awesome. In China... ah..."

"Old Tian, ​​are you bullying me or are you jealous of me? My movie won an award in Venice and was a big hit in Hollywood. It has both. Do you have any problem with me?"

Cao Yang joked.

I don’t know why, but the older Mr. Tian gets, the more he starts to worry.

Old Tian ignored Cao Yang's joke, but continued with a wry smile: "Many people in China have this mentality, and I don't know when it will be corrected."

"Will be fine."

Cao Yang didn't really want to talk about this topic. In fact, there was nothing to talk about. This mentality could not be corrected in a short time. It would take quite some time.

"Old Tian, ​​do you feel that you have no chance to join the top three European teams, so you suddenly have a problem with them? Weren't you also very keen on joining the top three European teams before?"

Cao Yang continued to joke.

Old Tian picked up the chopsticks again and ignored Cao Yang's teasing.

Why do you have a problem with the European Big Three? Why do you no longer think the European Big Three are sacred?
In fact, it is very simple. It is because of Cao Yang and Lao Ma, the chairman of the Venice Film Festival, that Lao Tian got to know the European Big Three again and realized that the European Big Three are nothing more than this.

Each award can be conquered, and even the highest award can be reserved in advance. This is fucking naked, how can it be considered sacred?

In Lao Tian's opinion, the three major European countries still have a little bit of shame and can maintain some bottom line, but they are far from being sacred.

After finishing their meal, they returned to Lao Tian's office.

"When I was filming District 9 a while ago, I talked to Ning Hao. He had an idea for a script called Big Diamond. I asked him to write it for me. How should I put it? It was a bit rough and not very mature."

When Cao Yang first got "Big Diamond" written by Ning Hao, he was really surprised. It was very different from the amazing "Crazy Stone" in later generations. Not only was the script rough, but the logic also had many problems.

The reason why Ning Hao paid so much attention to Yue Xiaojun in later generations was largely because he appreciated his talent as a screenwriter and wanted to make up for his own shortcomings in story writing.

Is Ning Hao a good director? Of course he is, but he is similar to Lao Mouzi and Kai Ge. Without a good screenwriter, there is limited room for him to play.

His later works, without good screenwriters, became quite mediocre.

Cao Yang took out a USB flash drive from his pocket and handed it to Lao Tian.

"It's meaningless to film his script called 'Big Diamond', so I wrote a new one based on the original script, called 'Crazy Stone'. It's very different from the original one. You can take a look at it first."

Lao Tian took the USB drive, plugged it into the computer, and asked, "Has that kid read the new script?"

Cao Yang smiled and shook his head. "No, I'll give it to you as soon as I finish writing it. After all, you are his mentor, so you can help take a look at it first."

Lao Tian opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he didn't say it.

He understood what Cao Yang meant. Just as Cao Yang had said before, if he was interested, he could co-direct the film with Ning Hao, or even leave Ning Hao behind and direct it alone.

Thinking of Cao Yang's serious tone before, this script should be very good and the probability of success is very high.

"He didn't write a good script, you didn't scold him?"

Old Tian asked. He knew Cao Yang. If Cao Yang valued Ning Hao, he would definitely scold Ning Hao.

"After I finished reading the script, I threw it in his face and scolded him, telling him to put more effort into the script and stop thinking about girls all day long."

"what……"

Old Tian laughed and then shook his head. He was actually quite satisfied with this graduate student, but he had quite a few minor flaws, the most prominent of which was just one word: lecher.

The thief has a big heart and is very brave.

"Multiple narrative lines? Black humor?"

After watching for a while, Lao Tian looked up and said softly, "It has a bit of the style of Cardinal and Guy Ritchie, and the narrative is a bit like Quentin."

"Well, 'Big Diamond' wanted to go with this style, but there were some logical problems and the story didn't make sense, so I kept the original style and framework and rewrote the script."

Lao Tian closed his eyes and thought for a while, then he let out a long breath, and opened his eyes feeling relieved.

"Junior brother, the script is very well written."

Old Tian smiled calmly and gave Cao Yang a thumbs up.

"As for me, I don't have too many ideas. I've let go of many things. The only thing I still want is to pass on the theory I learned from you."

He looked at Cao Yang with a smile, and continued in a casual tone: "I will be a nominal producer for Ning Hao. You will definitely not stay in the crew. I will help him look after the people below and try to create a good environment for that kid."

Cao Yang stared at Lao Tian for a while, then waved his hand and laughed.

"Okay, brother, you decide this matter yourself."

A few days later, Cao Yang called Mr. Han, Hou Keming, Lao Tian and Ning Hao to launch the project of "Crazy Stone".

Cao Yang's studio is in charge of the project, invested half of the money, and owns all the copyrights of "Crazy Stone".

Qingdao Film Studio invested 20% and China Film invested 30%. They only enjoyed the corresponding income brought by the film and did not have the copyright.

Cao Yang and Tian Zhuangzhuang are producers, Cao Yang is also the producer and screenwriter, and Ning Hao is the director.

Cao Yang's producer, supervisor and screenwriter fees are calculated separately.

(End of this chapter)