Entertainment: Who still wants to fall in love when there are cheats?

Chapter 207 Investment
Upon seeing General Manager Wang, General Manager Wu, General Manager Wang, and others, Li Boda smiled. This time, however, he treated them with much more enthusiasm.

"I do indeed have plans to shoot my next film, and what I want to make is a big-budget production," Li Boda said with a smile to Xiao Wang and the others.

When Xiao Wang and the others heard what Li Boda said, their eyes lit up.

"Director Li, are you going to make a big production? Is it a period epic?" Xiao Wang asked somewhat eagerly.

For domestic films at this stage, big-budget productions primarily involve historical epics, followed by disaster or war films like those made by Feng Xiaogang.

"No, it's not a period drama, it's more of a horror sci-fi film," Li Boda explained.

"A horror sci-fi movie? By the way, I heard last year that Director Li wanted to make a movie with an investment of over 600 million. You're not talking about this, are you?" Wang Changtian from Enlight Media couldn't help but ask. Last year, he heard a bit of a rumor that Li Boda wanted to make a movie with an investment of around 600 million.

However, at that time, Wang Changtian didn't take it too seriously, or rather, he didn't quite believe that Li Boda was going to make such a big-budget film. Now that he heard Li Boda say that he was going to make a blockbuster, he thought of the rumors he heard last year.

"That's right. The estimated investment for my movie is indeed over 600 million." Li Boda nodded with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Wang and the others stared at Li Boda in astonishment.

"Director Li, a horror sci-fi film, that's not exactly your forte, is it? And to raise the production cost so high all at once, I'm afraid—" Mr. Wang shook his head, a hint of sarcasm even flashing in his eyes.

After all, even Feng Gangpao from Huayi Brothers didn't have such a large budget for his films.

"Actually, what I'm best at is science fiction films. I was just practicing when I made comedies before," Li Boda said with a smile.

However, everyone present just chuckled and didn't take Li Boda's words seriously at all.

You're good at science fiction movies? You've never made a single science fiction movie, so how can you be good at it? You'd be better off saying you're good at comedy movies, after all, you've made two comedy movies, and they were both quite successful at the box office.

Perhaps because the occasion was inappropriate, or perhaps these people were genuinely uninterested in the sci-fi horror film that Li Boda wanted to make, it seemed that Boss Wang and his group had no intention of continuing their conversation with Li Boda.

In the end, the matter was dropped.

However, after the wrap party, when Li Boda sent the film "Love is Not Blind" to the editing room for editing, someone approached him.

The first company to approach Li Boda was Wanda Pictures, which had already collaborated with him once before.

During the filming of "Love is Not Blind," Li Boda saw that Wanda Cinemas, a subsidiary of Wanda Pictures, had so many cinemas. In order to get more screenings and better treatment, Li Boda chose to accept Wanda Pictures' investment.

The film "Love is Not Blind" has only just finished filming, and the final product isn't even finished yet. It's still uncertain whether this movie will make Wanda Pictures any money. Unexpectedly, Wanda Pictures has come knocking on Li Boda's door at this time, inquiring about his next sci-fi horror film.

"Director Li, could you tell me what kind of big-budget film you're going to make? How much will it cost?" Mr. Zeng, the CEO of Wanda Group, asked with a smile.

"Actually, the film I'm going to make, 'Infinite Terror,' is a screenplay adapted from a novel called 'Infinite Terror.' This novel..." Li Boda introduced the details of the film he was going to make to President Zeng.

"Being thrown into a horror movie and experiencing life and death—" Mr. Zeng found this theme quite novel; he had never heard of it before, and it also seemed rather intriguing: "Director Li, the story you're telling is indeed quite novel, but the idea of ​​a deity throwing people into a horror movie limits the audience somewhat. Wouldn't people who haven't seen Resident Evil have some difficulty watching it? Would they be unwilling to watch it?"

"That is indeed a problem. Viewers who haven't seen Resident Evil might not want to watch it, but it's not that absolute. And the number of viewers who have seen Resident Evil isn't necessarily small. You know, Resident Evil 1 grossed nearly $100 million worldwide, and the next two films grossed even more. Plus, many people who haven't seen it in theaters may have seen pirated copies. Most importantly, the audience for this film isn't limited to just the domestic market..."

Li Boda explained some of the circumstances and the film's prospects.

Mr. Zeng nodded from time to time. Indeed, many of the points Li Boda made were correct. Of course, Li Boda's points were not necessarily comprehensive.

President Zeng and Li Boda had a good exchange.

In the end, Zeng felt that the movie "Infinite Terror" did indeed have some potential. Although it might not actually make money, it was certainly a decent project. However, the question remained: did director Li Boda have the ability to make "Infinite Terror" a good film? If he did, great; but what if he didn't?

Anyway, investing in "Infinite Terror" is indeed quite risky. However, if there were no risk, Wanda Pictures might not have had the opportunity.

After all, Wanda Pictures has only been in the entertainment industry for a few years. Although its development momentum is decent, it is not easy for them to invest in good projects. Many good projects are just given to them by others.

"Six hundred million—that's quite a large investment. After all, even the 'King of Kung Fu' from a couple of years ago only had a total investment of five hundred million." President Zeng was tempted, but still hesitated as he spoke.

"There's no way around it, it's a sci-fi film. Even though it's a horror film, adding sci-fi elements increases the production cost. Besides, the investment for 'Infinite Terror' is 600 million, and I'm willing to invest 300 million directly. Actually, it's just that 'Cube Technology' doesn't have that much money in its accounts, and it needs to keep enough funds for the company to operate. Otherwise, I would have liked to keep all 600 million for myself. After all, it's not easy to attract investment for this project. If I had the money, I would just take it all over myself," Li Boda said calmly.

"Director Li, you want to invest half of it yourself, 300 million?" President Zeng's eyes lit up. He was a little shocked by Li Boda's choice, but at the same time, he was even more tempted.

After all, if this project were really bad, and if Li Boda had actually made quite a few "Infinite Terror" movies, he wouldn't have blindly invested 300 million yuan directly.

The fact that Li Boda was willing to spend so much money shows that he had great confidence in the film.

After Mr. Zeng left, he didn't make a decision on the spot about whether to invest in [Infinite Terror]. After all, this was no small amount of money. Even though he was the CEO of Wanda Cinemas, he still needed to go back to a meeting to study the matter carefully, whether to invest, how much to invest, and even ask someone to assess the risks.

After Mr. Zeng left, Mr. Wu from Orange Sky also met with Mr. Li Boda, and also inquired about the movie "Infinite Terror".

When he learned that Li Boda would invest 300 million yuan, he was also tempted.

Then, people from film and television companies or distribution companies such as Enlight Media and Bona Film Group also came to Li Boda one after another to discuss matters related to "Infinite Terror".

Their attitudes were all similar. At first, they were hesitant and uncertain about the [Infinite Terror] project, but when they learned that Li Boda was willing to invest 300 million yuan, their thoughts almost all changed.

After all, Li Boda wasn't an idiot. If he really didn't have the ability, he wouldn't have invested so much money himself.

In the end, a few companies actually decided to invest in the movie "Infinite Terror," including China Film Group!

That's right, it's China Film Group!
Han Sanye has always been a strong supporter of domestic directors making blockbuster films, ideally ones that can be promoted worldwide.

Like Zhang Yimou's "Hero," this film achieved relatively good and impressive results overseas. Then, Han Sanye began to enthusiastically support domestic directors in making period epics.

However, after the initial novelty wore off overseas, period dramas didn't do so well in the international market, especially after films like "The Promise" and "The Banquet," which completely crushed the international market for period dramas.

Master Han was also anxious, constantly thinking about what kind of film could go abroad and reach international audiences.

Li Boda's new film, "Infinite Terror," involves some foreign films, but precisely because it involves foreign films, the possibility of this film impacting the overseas market is even higher.

So, Master Han waved his hand and surrendered!

Even more, Master Han told Li Boda that he could try to contact foreign film distributors to see if any of them were willing to invest in "Infinite Terror".

The main issue is that it's not easy for a movie to be released overseas.

Even if a film is released overseas, it's mostly bought out by someone else. A movie can be bought out for just a few million US dollars. A film like "Infinite Terror," with a budget of 600 million, would be bought out for a few million. You'd lose money hand over fist.

Therefore, it would be best if "Infinite Terror" were a Sino-foreign co-production, with overseas distribution handled directly by a foreign company. This way, there wouldn't be any problems with box office performance.

Take "The Forbidden Kingdom" for example. This movie is indeed terrible. The reason it was able to be released overseas is simply because it was a Sino-foreign co-production. Before its release, many foreign media outlets were praising the movie like crazy. Although it ultimately lost money, that was because of the poor quality of "The Forbidden Kingdom".

(End of this chapter)