China Entertainment: Director’s happiness is so simple

At twelve o'clock in the evening, Lu Ping'an returned home from a day's work and began to pack his luggage.

Tomorrow is the 11th, and there are only 9 days until the final voting deadline for the Oscars. He has to make an appearance and do final public relations.

Apart from public relations, the most important thing is to finalize the role.

The protagonist of "Pacific Rim" was originally Jake Gyllenhaal, but the young man's schedule was not until July at the earliest, so there was no way. The crew couldn't wait for him, and Lu Ping'an couldn't wait for him either.

So it has to be changed.

And who to replace is a question.

The general cast is actually okay, but since the actors have to be changed, and this film involves the box office issue of the "original" film.

Lu Ping'an simply prepared to find first-line actors.

Like Brad Pitt or something like that.

The salary for this kind of actor is basically "2+2", or even higher, for example, there are investment requirements.

The performance of "Pacific Rim" in North America was not very good, with a box office of only over 100 million.

But for now, hiring Hollywood's top actors is still cost-effective.

First of all, the current production cost of the movie is less than 50 million U.S. dollars, and the maximum is no more than 80 million U.S. dollars, which is far lower than the original version of 190 million U.S. dollars.

Secondly, the release time is moved forward from 2013 to 2007. The time advantage will offset most of the visual fatigue caused by watching movies.

Then there’s the director. Lu Ping’an’s current box office appeal is not weak. To say the least, it’s much stronger than the directors of the original time and space.

Finally, this kind of actor himself has strong box office and commercial appeal.

Not to mention the box office, the commercial aspect is something that the producers like very much.

For example, if Will Smith can come, there will be a lot more advertising sponsorships, the cost of publicity and distribution will be reduced a lot, and the global distribution range and various conditions during the distribution period will be much better.

So there is nothing wrong with choosing A-list celebrities.

The question is who to choose and whether the chosen person will come.

This requires Lu Ping'an to talk about it.

Wattsberg has given several specific goals.

In fact, there are just a few, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Keanu Reeves and so on.

But the problem is, these people are really not easy to choose.

These people will more or less have problems with humiliating China in the future, such as Keanu Reeves and even Tom Cruise later.

Serious ones are even banned from entering our country, such as Brad Pitt.

But Brad Pitt is very interested in working with Lu Ping An.

Will Smith was good, and he was interested, but his son turned out to be an idiot.

If the movie doesn't involve our country, we can still talk about it, such as "Superman for All" that Lu Ping'an holds in his hands. This movie really wouldn't work without him.

But when it comes to Sino-US co-productions, Lu Ping An can only put him on the back burner.

It's not insulting, but it doesn't seem to fit the character very well.

Among the rest, there are many popular celebrities that Lu Ping'an doesn't know very well.

This is very difficult to correct.

So Lu Ping'an is going to go and make a good selection.

While thinking, the phone rang.

At first glance, it was Cheng Long.

"Peace, haven't you slept?"

"No, what's wrong with Brother Long?"

"Are you free these days? The boss of New Line and I will come to have a chat with you."

It’s Rush Hour 3 again.

Lu Ping'an was no longer ready to pick it up. He had no interest and no time.

As a result, Cheng Long added at this time: "New Line also wants to talk to you about "Iron Man."

safe trip:? !

"I happen to be going to America tomorrow, shall we meet in America?"

"good!"

The next night, Lu Pingan met Cheng Long and Bob Shaye, one of the founders of New Line, in Los Angeles.

"Ping An, this is New Line Boss Bob, Bob, this is Lu."

"Hello Bob."

"Nice to meet you, lu."

After introducing each other, Lu Pingan almost couldn't help laughing.

After sitting down, Bobshaye continued: "Let's get straight to the point, Lu, you want "Iron Man", right?"

Lu Pingan nodded directly: "Yes."

There's nothing to hide.

Wattsberg had talked about this with the other party before, and when he later contacted Marvel, the other party would definitely know about it.

I just didn’t expect that Bob Xiaye would take the initiative to mention it now.

Then Bob Shaye asked: "If I give you "Iron Man", will you help us direct "Peak 3"?"

Lu Ping'an almost laughed again after hearing this.

When he arrived, he knew that the man he wanted to see was Bob Shaye.

And this person was like a thunderbolt to him.

Why?

Because this is the man who handed back the hen that laid the golden eggs of "Iron Man" to Marvel in vain.

In the past few years, New Line has been planning to adapt "Iron Man" to the big screen, and has also confirmed that Nick Cassavetes will direct and Tom Cruise will play Tony Stark.

But plans can never keep up with changes. Bob, the founder of New Line, used a very funny reason: "How can you still fly wearing such heavy steel equipment?"

This became a big joke later.

In fact, this funny reason is just superficial. The underlying reason is that the copyright of "Iron Man" has expired, and it will cost money to renew the contract. Faced with the new expenses, Bob Xiaye, who was not optimistic about the project, was even less optimistic, so Just give up.

In the end, the New Line version of "Iron Man" not only failed to be filmed, but even directly returned the character copyright to Marvel Studios.

Calculating the time, it is almost at this point.

Lu Ping'an asked according to the plan: "Can you operate like this? I remember that this IP is time-limited."

"We have the first right to renew the contract. As long as the price is right, we can renew the contract and then resell it to you."

Bob explained confidently.

Lu Ping'an was slightly surprised after hearing this.

The information investigated by Wattsberg did not say that there was a priority right to renew the contract, only the right to transfer.

For example, New Line purchased the copyright for "Iron Man" from another company.

So when Lu Pingan came into contact with Marvel, he didn't have much hope.

At that time, Marvel already wanted to make its own film, but it had not decided whether to make "Iron Man".

And because if the copyright expires and Marvel refuses to renew the contract, Lu Ping An will have no room for maneuver at New Line, so in the end, Wattsberg will have to keep in touch with Marvel, but it will be difficult. , the other party still wants Lu Pingan to be just the director.

Later, because of the Olympics, Lu Pingan simply gave up because there was no time to shoot.

But I didn't expect that now things have turned upside down?

So if you really can, should you win "Iron Man"?

Of course you should take it if you can.

If you own the copyright, you have the final say when to shoot.

Although this is just a flop, even if it is only the first film, it is still a highly profitable movie.

Moreover, we might be able to use this copyright to sell it back to Marvel in the future.

Isn’t Marvel going to form a movie universe?

Maybe it can be operated.

Of course this is a bit far off.

Speaking recently, just watching "Iron Man 1" is actually quite cost-effective.

But this matter also involves another matter.

If the operation can be successful, Lu Pingan will have to take over the filming of "Peak 3".

This will further compress this year's time.

Lu Ping'an thought about it and decided that he should take it. This is an investment for the future, and the price is just a little tired, so he said: "If you can operate it successfully, I can indeed consider it, but I still hope that the project will have autonomy. You You don’t want the movie to be a hit, right?”

Bob Xiaye spread his hands and said: "Okay, who told you to be the magical Lu?"

After saying this, Cheng Long on the side was very happy.

He does want to return to Hollywood, who doesn't, but he is indeed fed up with Hollywood companies and crews.

So when New Line approached him to film "The Peak 3" at first, he refused. Later, they offered him a high salary, and then he said he really wanted to film it and let Lu Ping'an direct it.

Later, Lu Ping'an said that he needed autonomy, otherwise it would be useless for him to come.

Cheng Long then talked to Bob again.

Somehow, Bob, whose attitude was not very good some time ago, suddenly said that we could talk, and today's conversation took place.

Now that the matter was settled, Cheng Long was very happy, but just as he was about to order a drink, Bob spoke again:

"Then, Lu, let's listen to my conditions."

"What conditions?"

Bob smiled slightly and said with a smile that showed that Lu Ping An must win "Iron Man":

"After we successfully renew the contract with Marvel, you have to buy it at a 50% premium. In addition, there will be no box office dividends from the cooperation with "Rush Hour 3". In addition to these two conditions, we will also have to negotiate with you for the other three Movie cooperation, and the movie must be profitable. If it is not profitable, it will be postponed to the next one. Failure to make two movies will be regarded as a breach of contract. The liquidated damages must be three times the transfer price of "Iron Man", or you can choose to breach the contract in advance, but it is also Three times, "Batman 2" is among the three collaboration movies."

This condition is basically equivalent to using a "Iron Man" that in his opinion is useless and is about to expire, to gain a big piece of fat!

In Cheng Long's view, this is simply an exorbitant price!

But Lu Pingan smiled in his heart.

This condition can actually be considered.

In the other party's view, whether the three movie projects can be profitable is completely a gamble, but it is not a problem at all for Lu Ping An.

However, this does not prevent him from paying back the money on the spot. At the very least, he does not know how much the transfer fee is.

Lu Ping'an immediately waved his hand: "This condition is too harsh."