1979 Golden Age

Weinstein is very optimistic about "Tai Chi".

Kung Fu movies may not be mainstream in American theaters, but he knows that there are some groups in the society who like Chinese Kung Fu movies, such as the black people in Los Angeles who idolize Bruce Lee.

If it was in the past, he would not be able to do it, but it is different now.

Because there is one more thing: videotapes!

As the most developed country today, the videotape industry in the United States is also the fastest growing. Weinstein's goal is to obtain all the copyrights of "Tai Chi" in North America. Even if the theaters do not perform well, he can still distribute the videotape copyright.

So he still held on to a glimmer of hope and asked, "Chen, can you tell me who your transaction partner is?"

"20th Century Fox! The specific amount is not convenient to disclose."

"Of course, I understand. I want to ask about the copyright of "Tai Chi" in Western Europe..."

"Sold!"

"What about Australia?"

"Sold it too!"

"What about the videotapes?"

"All sold!"

Chen Qi laughed and said sincerely, "Mr. Weinstein, this is all thanks to your attention to the film. You offered 2 million US dollars for "Tai Chi", which made me get the attention of Hollywood big companies, otherwise I would not have the opportunity to talk to them.

Hollywood big companies are really bold. They bought all the copyrights of "Tai Chi" as soon as they met. Alas..."

"..."

Weinstein wanted to slap him, but the other party's expression was sincere and sincere, as if a lamb who had just entered the society met a noble man. He had to force a smile and said, "You are really lucky. I hope you will always have this kind of luck!"

"That depends on your help. I am really sorry this time. I hope we will have the opportunity to cooperate in the future."

Humph!

Weinstein responded with a few words, but he was not in the mood to stay any longer, so he went downstairs.

After walking a few steps on the street, the cold wind cleared his mind. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Suddenly, he stopped, and his fat body was shaking.

He took off his hat, threw it to the ground, kicked the lamppost hard, and cursed: "FK! I might have been cheated, that yellow-skinned boy is teasing me!"

"Boss?" The assistant was confused.

"He didn't want to sell it to me at all, not from the beginning!"

Weinstein came to his senses, and he was as ferocious as a melting wax figure. He grabbed the assistant's collar and shouted: "Go check! Use everyone you know to check how much money 20th Century Fox paid?!!"

…………

Time goes back.

Hollywood experienced the impact of McCarthyism and television in the 1950s and 1960s, and fell into a long trough until it recovered in the 1970s. New directors represented by Coppola, Spielberg, George Lucas, etc. emerged and officially entered the post-Hollywood era.

During this period, Hollywood commercial films became more mature, and the film industry system developed rapidly, gradually reaching a state where "men, women, old and young can watch movies". However, due to the confrontation between the two camps, it did not reach the whole world.

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in the early 1990s, the socialist camp collapsed, and the last obstacle disappeared, Hollywood naturally began to conquer the global market - this is also one of the reasons for the decline of Hong Kong films.

Just talking about 20th Century Fox, it was still operating miserably a few years ago, but it turned around with the unprecedented "Star Wars" and restored the atmosphere of a big company.

Steven Roberts was in his 30s and was in charge of Fox's overseas business. He was young and promising with a unique vision.

He looked around Berlin and only "Tai Chi" was available, so he came to talk in person. He was stunned when he saw Chen Qi, who was younger and more promising than himself. He knew that Warner had already talked to him and failed to reach an agreement. It seemed to be a difficult opponent.

After a few polite words, he got straight to the point.

Roberts made his offer: "North American copyright, 200,000 US dollars!"

"You are kidding, it is absolutely impossible to be this price. Yesterday, an American company called Miramax came to negotiate and offered a high price of 2 million US dollars. You are not sincere, so we don't need to continue."

"2 million?"

Roberts was surprised, thought carefully, and laughed: "Chen, I have never heard of this company. It must be a newborn. A company of this size can't pay 2 million US dollars. It must be cheating you!"

"I don't understand those things. I only know that you are 10 times different. If it were you, who would you be willing to talk to?"

"We are also very sincere. You can make an offer."

"3 million!"

"..."   Roberts stared at him for a while incomprehensibly, packed his bag and prepared to leave, saying: "Chen, you have time to see a doctor. You really don't understand the international film market. North American copyright has never been so expensive."

"No, no, I'm talking about global copyright!"

Roberts paused.

"Except for the regions I have already sold, the remaining North America, Western Europe, Australia, etc. can be given to you."

"That's too high."

Roberts sat down again and shook his head slowly.

"Not at all. Bruce Lee's Kung Fu movies are so popular. You can easily make back the money."

"Movies are not a business that can be done in words. We have to actually develop them. No one can estimate the consequences. 200,000 has a risk of 200,000, and 3 million has a risk of 3 million. When I represent Fox to buy films overseas, the first factor is to minimize the risk."

"But you are not just going through theaters, you can also go through TV stations and videotapes!" Chen Qi suddenly said.

Roberts' eyes widened, and what shocked him even more was yet to come.

Just listen to Chen Qi say: "Nowadays, major Hollywood companies have established home video departments, specializing in video tapes, which shows that you understand how vast this new market is.

Video tape dealers in the United States have begun to take shape. A tape sells for US$80, but rental only costs US$2-3. It won't be long before video rental stores will pop up everywhere.

If you want to do it, you can produce the tape yourself. If you want to be lazy, just sell the copyright directly, and you don’t have to bear the risk.

This is called lying down to make money.

Times have changed, and new things have been added to the film distribution network..."

Chen Qi fiddled with the cups and coasters on the table and said with a smile: "In the past, there were only two channels for movies, one was theaters and the other was peripherals, such as your "Star Wars" and Disney.

In the past few years, video tape technology has matured, which can completely open up a new channel.

Watching movies in theaters is a passive choice, and what is shown depends on the movie company. Those who like unpopular genres, art films, and kung fu movies may not necessarily like them, but videotapes are an active choice and are very suitable for this group of people.

Americans are definitely willing to pay $2-3 to watch a movie that costs $10-20 million. In other words, movie fans all over the world are willing.

Secondly, there is a new channel, which is television.

In the past, the technology of converting film to television tape was immature, but now it is possible. You can sell movies to American public television networks, pay channels, hotels, and airport closed-circuit televisions, which is another considerable income.

So now there are four distribution networks for movies: theaters, video tapes, TV, and offline! "

Chen Qi looked at Roberts and said: "I don't have any offline. I will give you all the copyrights of those three channels. Chinese kung fu movies have a group of die-hard fans, which is enough to support your profit pool. And video tapes are not time-sensitive. You can release it next year or the year after that, there will always be fans to watch it.

Even ten years later, you can still make a "Tai Chi" tenth anniversary edition...

So, how much is 3 million? "

"..."

God is my witness!

Roberts had never been so alarmed when his wife caught him sleeping with her lover.

His first reaction was: How do you know these things? Our great America has been infiltrated into a sieve by socialism!

The second reaction is: Tai Te Niang has a point!

Chen Qi pretends to be a little lamb at home, and he pretends to be a bastard when he goes abroad. Of course he has to show himself as a saint in front of others!

What he said will be taken for granted in later generations. It has just begun. Hollywood may be aware of the scalability of this distribution network, but after all, it has not yet accumulated experience and formed a complete system.

Chen Qi analyzed it and split it from one copyright to three copyrights in order to raise the price of "Tai Chi" - including the talks with the Japanese yesterday, they also talked about this theory.

He couldn't do it himself anyway, so if he gave it away as a favor, he could build a relationship.

This is what Roberts thinks. He no longer cares about "Tai Chi". He just thinks that if he takes this theory back to the president of Fox and talks about it, he will have a bright future!

"Chen, your eloquence is simply unparalleled, alas..."

Roberts gave a mocking sigh.

Chen Qi was relieved when he saw this. Time was running out and he didn't have time to negotiate country by country. It was best to find a big dog to wrap up the deal.

Damn it, we finally talked about it!