Exciting 1979!

Chapter 480 A Bountiful Fortune, Returning Home in Glory!
Of course, "The Chorus" was in 2004, and "The Shepherd Boys" was in 1983, and the ticket prices aren't as high now.

Pathé Films won the bid against other European film companies, acquiring the European and African film screening rights and videotape rights to "The Shepherd's Spring" for $120 million.

In this era, non-kung fu films in China don't get much box office revenue, and people aren't willing to cooperate if they don't grant videotape rights.

Excluding the Asian copyrights from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, Wei Ming sold them to Daiei, a subsidiary of Tokuma Shoten. Wei Ming sold them to Daiei because of his cooperation with Tokuma Shoten in the Japanese manga industry.

Sony offered a slightly higher price, but not by much, and sold it to Daiei for $80.

In fact, Sony wanted to acquire the soundtrack rights to "The Shepherd's Class" more. Wei Ming valued this copyright very much. These dozen or so pieces of music appeared in the film mainly in fragment form, and the only way to enjoy the complete version was through the soundtrack album.

Almost every piece of music in these scores is a classic, and they are more likely to cross national and linguistic boundaries than the films themselves. Even when Sony offered $100 million, Wei Ming did not budge. He preferred to wait for a better price, since there are not many music companies that come to Cannes.

If this were the old man from the Film Bureau who had never seen foreign exchange before, he probably would have sold it off immediately. It's just a few songs, what's a million dollars? He could ask for as much as he wanted.

Before leaving Cannes, Wei Lingling and Melinda also sold off their markets in the Americas and Australia.

The woman who took over was named Kathleen Kennedy, not President Kennedy's sister. She had no connection to the Kennedy family. The person connected to her was Steven Spielberg.

Two years ago, Katherine and her husband partnered with Spielberg to found Amblin Entertainment, which has since produced almost all of Spielberg’s films. Katherine’s first time as a producer was on “E.T.”

Katherine has heard Spielberg talk about Mr. Why quite a bit. He's still thinking about Jurassic Park and has been secretly inquiring about MGM's adaptation progress. He's also very interested in District 9.

Catherine's actions this time were also aimed at getting closer to Wei Ming in order to explore the possibility of future cooperation.

In fact, many companies wanted to acquire the North American rights to "The Shepherd's Class." Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Disney all wanted to distribute this Chinese film, which won the Palme d'Or for the first time. Moreover, Mr. Why has never lacked hype and marketing.

But Wei Ming ultimately chose the small company Amblin Entertainment. Price wasn't his primary concern. Besides wanting to work with Spielberg on "Jurassic Park," he also wanted Kathleen Kennedy's promise to help "The Shepherd's Class" compete for an Oscar.

Since the country wants awards, Wei Ming should try to win as many as possible. With the Palme d'Or still going strong for "The Shepherd's Class" and the help of local PR, getting nominated shouldn't be too difficult.

Even if it doesn't win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, it can at least win some of the many leading and trendsetting films in the US.

So in the end, Wei Ming sold the copyrights for South America, North America, and Australia to Amblin for $150 million.

Amblin Entertainment also took on some risks, because mainstream American cinemas hadn't shown mainland Chinese films for decades, and even including Hong Kong films, apart from Bruce Lee, there wasn't a single Chinese-language film that grossed over $100 million.

Thus, with the Palme d'Or as its prestige and the unanimous praise from audiences and judges for being "easy to understand," "good to watch," and "good to listen to," The Shepherd's Spring sold its overseas rights for $350 million.

As for the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan markets, Wei Ming plans to give them directly to the Film Bureau, which originally belonged to DreamWorks and didn't generate much revenue.

If the copyright were divided more finely and sold to more companies, more money might be made, but Wei Ming preferred to take advantage of the film's popularity to promote it globally, so he wasn't so concerned about the details.

Melinda exclaimed, "They've made so much money! Our publishing house hasn't even earned 300 million since it was founded. Making movies is so much more lucrative!"

My great-aunt, Wei Lindi, who lives in San Francisco, thought the same way. Back in the 1930s, when she was a wealthy socialite in Shanghai, she had invested in movies and had connections with many of the popular stars at the time.

She also saw the news about Cannes in San Francisco and even called Wei Lingling to ask her about it. This was one of the reasons why Wei Lingling decided to accompany Amin to France.

Knowing her aunt was concerned, Wei Lingling immediately reported to her aunt after the Cannes awards ceremony that "The Shepherd's Class" had won four awards, including the Palme d'Or, making it the biggest winner. She also estimated the film's profits.

"Because we don't have our own overseas distribution channels, we can only sell the copyright directly. However, I think making several million dollars should not be a problem. Compared to the investment of a few hundred thousand dollars, it can be considered a very worthwhile investment."

A few million dollars in profit is nothing to Wei Lindi's Zhiyuan Group, but it is a Chinese-language film after all, which has a natural barrier. If it were an English film, the profit would be tens of millions!

If the profit is tens of millions of dollars, it would be a considerable gain even for Zhiyuan Group, and it would be worth the effort.

So after receiving her niece's call, Wei Lindi immediately inquired about the current situation of American film companies to see if she should buy one.

Upon inquiring, they discovered that a Columbia Pictures company, Goizueta, dared to ask for $15 billion!
Is a film company with a solid foundation really that valuable?
Robert Goizueta is the CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. This Cuban man is also the CEO who led Coca-Cola to its glory. Shortly after taking office, he acquired Columbia Pictures, one of the eight major Hollywood studios.

Robert did not hesitate to respond to inquiries from the finance and healthcare company, Calcium Group, after all, Calcium was no small company.

But Coca-Cola just spent $7.5 million to buy Columbia last year in order to insert Coca-Cola into Columbia's movies and disparage Pepsi. It's only been a year, and the goal hasn't been achieved yet. Robert is certainly not willing to sell it just like that, so he offered to pay double the acquisition price to Logic.

If the other party is really willing to be the sucker, I believe the board of directors will not have any objections. Let alone 15 billion, even 10 billion is negotiable. Earning 2.5 million dollars a year, the board of directors will only praise themselves for doing a great job.

Wei Lindi naturally couldn't afford that amount of money. Let alone 15 billion, she even thought 10 billion was too expensive. So she turned her attention to those small and medium-sized film companies.

~
Upon arriving in Paris, the embassy hosted a formal celebration banquet for Wei Ming, where he took photos with many people, including the ambassador. Among them were not only Chinese but also some French people, including politicians and artists.

Because he had an extra day to spend in Paris, Wei Ming told his aunt, "I won't go to Hong Kong. I'll fly directly to Guangzhou and then rush to Fuzhou to attend the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival."

Although he didn't have any works nominated, the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards had already invited him. If it was just a symbolic invitation before, they are now very eager to see him appear at the awards ceremony and share his successful experience of winning international awards with his domestic counterparts.

Moreover, both of her sisters would be participating, and they were both nominees. Wei Ming was hoping to witness Sister Lin being crowned queen in person.

"What about Amin?"

Wei Ming: "If you have time, please help me coax him. If you don't have time..."

Wei Lingling: "I'm busy."

“If you don’t have time, I’ll coax her when I go to Hong Kong myself. I should be taking Xizi there next month to prepare for the movie,” Wei Ming said.

"What about the villa?" Wei Lingling said, "I've already bought a house for your sister Gong Xue, but the villa hasn't been decided yet, since those things are quite expensive."

Wei Ming asked, "What price range are they?"

Wei Lingling pulled out a few photos from her bag: "I can't afford the ones on Victoria Peak, so I didn't look at many on Hong Kong Island. I mainly looked at those in Kowloon and the New Territories. This one is only 500 million, this one is 800 million, and this one is over 1000 million."

With only external photos available and no internal ones, Wei Ming found it difficult to make a decision: "Let's wait until I get there before deciding. Maybe they can lower the price a bit more if we give them a month to adjust."

Wei Lingling nodded, but just as she was about to leave, another music company came to her door. It was EMI Records, also known as EMI Music. Although its Chinese name is EMI, it is actually no longer related to EMI Films. Its headquarters are in London.

David Bowie was with this company, and after returning to London, he strongly recommended the amazing soundtrack of "The Shepherd's Class" to EMI, making EMI the second record industry giant to approach them after Sony.

Wei Ming carried a cassette tape with him and played several movie theme songs he had recorded. The people at EMI Records were very interested and wanted to place an order on the spot.

Wei Ming wasn't afraid to tell them that Sony offered $100 million but he didn't sell it, and it didn't even involve derivative rights, just physical records.

The licensing and performance rights for these classic soundtracks will also generate a huge amount of revenue, which will belong to Hong Kong DreamWorks.

The fact that Sony could set a movie soundtrack at this price is impressive, even from EMI. Most movie soundtracks don't make that much money. Of course, it's also possible that Wei Ming was just bragging and using Sony to inflate the price.

However, Bai Dai didn't care. Bai Dai had wanted to cooperate with Wei Ming before, but had never succeeded. This time, they didn't want to miss this opportunity.

So they ultimately accepted the exorbitant price of $150 million, prepared to lose money, but with one additional condition: that Wei Ming could tailor-make a rock or electronic song for David Bowie.

Wei Ming talked to David Bowie, who recently tried acting in musicals in addition to movies. So Wei Ming recommended him to the production team of The Lion King, which is currently in the planning stages. I believe Webber would be very happy to have such a rock star join the project. With Webber's talent, he will definitely write many excellent songs for him, but they will certainly not be rock music.

Wei Ming talked to David Bowie's agent about David's current musical style. This rock star is actually very versatile. He has tried all kinds of music, including rock, electronic, disco, and soul, covering almost all the major genres of contemporary pop music.

The agent didn't restrict him too much. Although Wei Ming didn't release many songs, every English song he released was a classic, so he was given a lot of autonomy.

Wei Ming said, "Okay, I'll send it to Melinda after I finish writing it. You can contact her directly if you're satisfied with the song."

"The soundtrack contract can be signed immediately."

"very good."

Based on this calculation, "The Shepherd's Spring" earned $500 million in France, while the cost was so low that it was practically negligible!
Wei Ming has never earned this much from any of his previous books or songs. This is the most he has ever made, and there are even follow-up profits. Making movies is indeed quite lucrative.

But it was really tiring and even affected his love life, so Wei Ming only served as the producer for the next film in Hong Kong.

Afterwards, he broke up with Melinda and Wei Lingling in Paris. Melinda returned to London clutching her stomach, while her aunt went directly back to Hong Kong to help Wei Ming find a director who was good at making comedies and children's films.

After seeing them off, Wei Ming waited for two more hours before boarding the flight to Guangzhou with Lao Bao and Lao Li. The three of them would be attending the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival together, carrying their honors.

Ambassador Cao, stationed in France, gave Wei Ming a beautiful wooden box containing four trophies, including the Palme d'Or, and certificates. Lao Bao didn't even let it be checked in; he carried it with him at all times, as this thing couldn't be lost.

Then, on the plane, Lao Bao asked a very crucial question.

"Director Wei, where do you think we should put these trophies?"

Wei Ming laughed: "The Golden Camera Award is an award given to me personally, so it should be given to me. There's nothing wrong with that, right?"

“No problem.” Wei Ming: “The Best Artistic Contribution Award is mainly for the film’s soundtrack. It’s a shared award between me and Professor Hu Weili, so it’s fine to give it to him, right?”

Deputy Director Bao gave a thumbs up: "Director Wei is a man of noble character and integrity."

Wei Ming then said, "The FIPRESCI Prize is an affirmation of film, so why don't we put it at the Children's Film Studio?"

"Yeah."

Wei Ming: "It wouldn't be right for DreamWorks Hong Kong to not have a single trophy, right? Or maybe..."

Upon hearing this, Lao Bao hurriedly said, "I think it's more appropriate to award the FIPRESCI Prize to DreamWorks. The Palme d'Or belongs to us. DreamWorks must have earned a lot of foreign exchange. They've benefited, haven't they? Hehe."

Wei Ming laughed and said, "Just kidding. But our film bureau has to make an exact replica, and I'll take it to Hong Kong and send it over."

"That's what we should do, that's what we should do!"

Then Lao Bao sighed, "If only domestic films could earn this much foreign exchange abroad, we might even be able to become a film powerhouse."

Wei Ming knew why he said that, but he still couldn't help being curious about how much foreign exchange "The Shepherd's Class" had sold, and whether it had even reached a million dollars.

"Director Bao, I discussed it with Boss Melinda. The film 'The Shepherd's Class' has been sold to other regions, but it has been kept in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. They said they would give it to us, so we can prepare for its release in Hong Kong."

"Oh, really? That's wonderful! It'll show the people of Hong Kong the strength of top-tier mainland films. Also, I need to hold a meeting right away to invite film companies from all the provinces; these prints are going to sell like hotcakes! Hahaha~"

Distracted by Wei Ming, Lao Bao stopped asking questions.

When it comes to efficiency, Hong Kong is the place to be. Before the mainland even started reporting the good news from Cannes, Ming Pao had already taken action. Before Rosé had even landed in Hong Kong, he wrote a press release titled "Director Wei's heartbreaking performance leads Cannes to hand over the Palme d'Or!"

The post included two pictures: one of Wei Ming playing the suona on the podium, and another of him holding the Palme d'Or.

The article details Luo Ashu's experience of witnessing Wei Ming take the stage four times, recounting it vividly and explaining the significance of this award for Chinese-language films.

This is also a concept that Wei Ming frequently mentioned in his interview with Luo Ashu—Chinese-language films.

Whether it's a Cantonese film, a Mandarin film, a Hong Kong or Taiwan film, or a mainland film, everyone is speaking Chinese, so it's a Chinese-language film. Even a film with Mandarin dialogue directed by a Singaporean director is still a Chinese-language film.

I, Wei, am not only fighting for myself and for mainland Chinese films, but also for all Chinese-language filmmakers to win honor. In the future, when foreigners see Chinese-language films without action scenes, at least they won't ignore them outright. Perhaps they will give them a second glance because of the influence of "The Shepherd's Class".

Knowing that Hong Kong filmmakers are profit-driven and don't care about meaning, Wei Ming also revealed to Luo Ashu that a Hollywood film company was willing to pay $100 million for the rights to the film, while the film's production cost was only a few hundred thousand RMB.

Luo Ashu said, "This is only before winning the award. After winning the award, the copyright value of this film will increase exponentially. Director Wei Ming's first move sold out!"

When Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, and Cinema City saw this report in Ming Pao, they had different feelings. Some were envious, some were jealous, and some were thinking about whether to make a wave of art films, since the budget was small. If they made a film like "The Shepherd's Class", it would be a huge profit!

In terms of overseas profits, "The Shepherd's Class" surpasses even those of Jackie Chan's films, and even "Aces Go Places" falls far short.

When Amin saw the news, she was overjoyed. She was so happy that she even forgot about the unpleasantness that had happened in Cannes. All she wanted was for Wei Ming to touch his trophy when he returned to Hong Kong from France.

However, when Wei Lingling returned and visited Uncle Gui, she still didn't see Wei Ming.

"Oh, Amin, the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards are about to be presented on the mainland. As a great director who just won glory for the country, he has to go and support the event." Wei Lingling comforted Amin with heartache.

Amin gave a disappointed "Oh," wondering if he was angry. It's very convenient to travel through Hong Kong on the way back from France.

Was it too self-centered of me to ask him to give up everyone for me? Should I really not have lost my temper with him?

After returning home from her parents' place, Wei Lingling would have to explain everything to Lizhi again.

She was also curious why Wei Ming hadn't come to Hong Kong this time.

When facing Lizhi, Wei Lingling speaks her mind freely.

"What? They broke up in Cannes?!" Lizhi's face showed an indescribable joy.

Wei Lingling poked her breast: "It's just a little tiff between the young couple, don't be too happy yet."

“Okay, okay, I’ll save that for later, Ms. Lingling,” Lizhi suddenly said. “The University of San Francisco’s business school sent me a letter. I’m going there for an interview next month.”

"Yes, you can definitely do it. I've already taken care of everything for you." Wei Lingling patted her shoulder.

Lizhi hugged Wei Lingling tightly: "Thank you, Sister Lingling."

In addition to Wei Lingling using her aunt's family influence to make arrangements, she also lent Lizhi a sum of money.

Although Lizhi's salary is not low, the University of San Francisco is a private university with high tuition fees. Without this money, her dream of studying abroad is simply wishful thinking.

Wei Lingling gently traced the dimple of Lizhi's waist with her fingers: "So, how are you going to thank your older sister?"

Lizhi sighed softly, then unbuttoned her blouse.

~
Gong Xue was also nominated for the Hundred Flowers Award, so she went to Fuzhou ahead of time and missed the latest news about the Cannes awards ceremony in Hong Kong. She kept this matter on her mind.

She only felt at ease after seeing Zhu Lin in Fuzhou. She also saw Siqin Gaowa, who came directly from the rural Chaoshan region.

Siqin Gaowa has been confirmed for the film "Bluebird," but Gong Xue's casting has not been finalized yet.

While the Linxue sisters were sleeping soundly in Fuzhou, Wei Ming and his group's flight landed at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport before dawn.

Because the Guangzhou authorities had received the news in advance, someone came to pick them up at the airport today.

As the first director to win the top prize at an international film festival, especially the number one international film festival, the official stance is that he deserves sufficient respect.

Wei Ming thought that Director Ling Zi coming to pick him up was already respectful enough, but he didn't expect that her older brother would also come. Her older brother is now the mayor of Guangzhou.

Wei Ming quickly shook hands with the other person. This Ye was almost sixty years old, and he should be respected even in terms of age.

Brother Ling Zi only made a brief appearance; Director Ling Zi was mainly responsible for receiving Wei Ming. Ever since "The Wilderness" was partially banned, she was unwilling to give up. First, she made a film with Xiaoxiang Film Studio, and now she plans to co-produce with Hong Kong, just like "The Shepherd's Class." The two exchanged some experiences.

Wei Ming knew he would ultimately fail, perhaps because he lacked some talent, so he eventually went into seclusion in Hong Kong.

Director Ling Zi accompanied Wei Ming to Guangzhou for a local breakfast, and then sent a car to take them to Fuzhou by train.

On that day, news began to appear in domestic official media about "The Shepherd's Spring" winning four awards at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Palme d'Or.

~
Filming for "Red Boy" at Changbai Mountain has wrapped up. They'll be filming in Changchun for a few more days before heading back to Beijing.

That day, Old Wei was admiring the three old ginseng he had caught. He had learned from the local mountain hunters that these three were all over a hundred years old.

He arranged them in order of how abundant the roots were, thinking that the largest one would go to his uncle in Taiwan, the second largest to his aunt in America, and the smallest one to his aunt Lin Ni in Hong Kong, since he had heard that ginseng was also good for beauty.

Forget about the old man; he's afraid that he might suddenly have a younger brother or sister after he turns forty.

"Uncle, Uncle, something terrible has happened!" Xizi ran in, not even wearing pants. He seemed to have taken a liking to this unrestrained look.

"What's wrong?"

Xizi held up a copy of the People's Daily: "My brother, my brother is in the newspaper!"

Old Wei calmly said, "Isn't it common for him to report this? Don't make a fuss."

“That’s right,” Xizi thought about it and realized that made sense. “It’s all Old Li Chengru’s fault. He was the one who made a big fuss with me first.”

Old Wei carefully put away the ginseng: "What did the newspaper say?"

"Oh, so my brother won four awards in that place."

"Which place is that? Let me see."

~
"Let me see too! Don't push, don't push!"

At this moment, actors and behind-the-scenes staff from various film studios who had arrived in Fuzhou were all scrambling for a single newspaper.

Zhu Lin also wanted to make a move, but Gong Xue stopped him, saying, "We're different from them; we need to stay calm."

A smile played on her lips; she knew she had won the award and made history for Chinese live-action films, and that was enough.
(End of this chapter)