The entertainment empire began with Liu Yifei's premarital pregnancy.

Before we knew it, June 1st arrived, the day when "Painted Skin" officially ended its theatrical run.

After a month-long run, "Painted Skin" grossed a total of 4.23 million yuan, replacing "Titanic" to become the second highest-grossing film in mainland China.

At the same time, this film once again proved Xu Ke's ability.

"Boss, Director Xu is here!"

On the top floor of the Kyoto Building, in the chairman's office, Bai Bing knocked on the door and came in to report to Lin Bufan.

"Let him in!"

Lin Bufan nodded slightly.

A few minutes later, Bai Bing brought Xu Ke into the office.

"Director Lin!"

Xu Ke walked into the office, unable to suppress his smile.

"Director Xu, please have a seat!"

Lin Bufan got up, walked out from behind his desk, sat down next to the sofa, and gestured to the other person.

"Brew a pot of tea and bring it over!"

Lin Bufan glanced at Bai Bing.

"Yes, boss!"

Bai Bing turned and left. Lin Bufan took out a check, placed it on the coffee table, and pushed it toward Xu Ke.

"Director Lin, this is..."

Xu Ke glanced at the check, a guess forming in his mind.

The total box office of "Painted Skin" in mainland China was 4.23 million yuan. After deducting various taxes, the distributable box office was 4.1 million yuan. The theaters took 60% of it, and the remaining 40% of the distributable box office was 1.64 million yuan.

According to the contract signed between the company and Xu Ke, he can receive 5% of the box office revenue, which is 820 million yuan.

The production cost of "Painted Skin" was 8000 million, and Kyoto Animation ultimately earned 1.558 million, with a profit of 7580 million.

"Here's your share!"

"Thank you, Director Lin!"

Xu Ke happily put away the check. More than eight million in 07 was no small amount, not to mention that the film company also paid him his director's fee, so the total exceeded ten million.

"Boss, Director Xu!"

Just as Xu Ke put away the check, Bai Bing came in with a cup of freshly brewed tea and poured it for Lin Bufan and Xu Ke.

"Director Xu, do you have any plans for the future?"

Lin Bufan looked at Xu Ke and asked.

"What are your instructions, Director Lin?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Ke understood Lin Bufan's meaning and asked in return.

"I have a movie here that would suit you..."

As Lin Bufan spoke, he got up, took a script from the drawer of his desk, and placed it in front of Xu Ke.

"Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame"

The script cover had eight large characters written on it.

"Director Lin..."

"Take a look first, then we'll talk!"

Lin Bufan interrupted Xu Ke.

"Okay, Director Lin!"

Xu Ke responded and then picked up the script to read it carefully.

After the premiere of "Painted Skin", Lin Bufan had someone acquire the copyright of "The Legend of Zu Mountain", and finally spent only one million to acquire all the copyrights of the movie.

Lin Bufan will definitely make a sequel to the movie "The Legend of Zu Mountain", but not now.

It's not a problem with the special effects. With current special effects, it's possible to film it, it's just that the cost would be higher. However, the higher the cost, the harder it is to recoup the cost.

Just like "Painted Skin," with a production cost of 80 million, even though it sold for more than 400 million at the box office, the final profit was only more than 70 million, so the risk was still very high.

The first part of "The Legend of Shushan" was a loss-making venture, which is why Lin Bufan was able to obtain the copyright so easily.

That is why it is difficult for people to accept "The Legend of Zu" in this era. But if it is left for a few years, or 15 years later, after people have been disgusted by the crude and poorly made special effects on the market, they will rediscover "The Legend of Zu" and regard it as a classic.

At that time, Kyoto Animation can then launch a sequel to "The Legend of Zu". Even if it doesn't gross billions, it should be able to gross around 10 billion.

Therefore, "The Legend of Zu Mountain" will not be launched now, but "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" will be filmed at this time.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. Xu Ke put down the script and looked at Lin Bufan with shining eyes.

"Director Xu, what do you think? Any ideas?"

Lin Bufan looked at Xu Ke and asked with a forced smile.

"Director Lin, entrust this film to me, and I promise I won't let you down." Xu Ke looked at Lin Bufan with a serious expression and expectant eyes.

From the moment he received the script, he had a feeling that the film was tailor-made for him.

Especially after reading the plot, he wanted to make the movie even more.

"Like 'Painted Skin,' this film cost 8000 million yuan. I'm confident entrusting it to you."

The original budget for the film "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" was 1.3 million yuan, with Andy Lau alone receiving tens of millions of yuan in salary. In addition, the production team overstated the budget, so the actual cost was far less than 1.3 million yuan.

Just like "Painted Skin," the production cost was only 80 million, but the cost of external publicity exceeded 100 million.

In the previous life, "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" earned a total of 2.9 million yuan in film fees. However, after Lin Bufan got his hands on the script, he handed it over to the screenwriting department for some revisions.

With the successful example of "Painted Skin" as a reference, I believe that when this movie is released, the box office will definitely exceed 3 million.

There's definitely a chance to make money; as for how much, that depends on the final outcome.

This also shows the difference between whether a company is listed or not. Take "Painted Skin" as an example. If Kyoto were a listed company, a movie with a box office of over 400 million would have seen its market value increase by at least 1 billion or 2 billion in the stock market.

Compared to the growth of the stock market, the profits from box office revenue seem less important.

……

Xu Ke left with the script for "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame".

Lin Bufan was also thinking about his next steps.

The Venice International Film Festival will announce its nominations next month, in July, and Lin Bufan is confident that "Lust, Caution" will definitely be nominated.

The Venice International Film Festival officially opens at the end of August, which is still almost three months away.

Lin Bufan will go to Hollywood after Venice.

Besides sending Liu Yifei there to launch the Hunger Games project, another reason is that the post-production of 2012 is almost complete.

The movie "Kung Fu Panda" is also nearing completion after more than a year of production.

He can handle all of these matters at once.

If he wants, he can take a break for several months or even half a year.

rest?

If the system doesn't upgrade and there are no mission rewards, he might really take a break.

However, thinking of the tempting reward, Lin Bufan knew that he was far from ready to rest, and if he rested for too long, he wouldn't be able to stay idle on days without work.

He basically doesn't need to handle company matters.

All departments are operating very well, and the group's subsidiaries are all developing in their own way, so he doesn't need to worry about them at all.

"But what kind of movie should we make?"

Lin Bufan pondered for a moment, deciding that it would be best to finish filming in August, before setting off for Venice, giving him a total of two months to film.