China Entertainment: Director’s happiness is so simple

They know the situation in the mainland market. It exceeds 30 million, which is already in the top five or even top three levels of the year. Moreover, they know the quality of the film better, so they submitted the quotation again.

Finally, on the fifth day, the national box office was locked at 8 million. If this trend continues, China Film Group predicts that there is an 80% chance that the total box office of "The Tuner" will exceed 30 million after its release. Overseas films in various regions The developers also determined the buyout price for the overseas distribution rights, which totaled about 1.8 million US dollars, and were sold to a total of 17 film producers in a total of 76 countries and regions. The North American distribution rights were sold to Summit Entertainment for US$250,000.

Judging from the huge market in North America, this price is actually very low, not even as much as the two European countries combined.

But this also has a lot to do with the movie-watching culture of the respective countries.

Hu Qingquan said that North American audiences prefer their own movies, and currently they only tend to favor Chinese-language films about kung fu and kung fu martial arts like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Unlike Europe, they have a wider range of movie-watching preferences. In addition, "The Tuner" won the Silver Bear Award, and its influence in North America is very different from that in Europe, so it is understandable that the price is very different. .

However, North America does not value the release of the original film, but does value the adaptation.

According to Wattsberg and others, even if the plot of "The Tuner" remains unchanged and all the actors are replaced by Hollywood stars, the box office is expected to be many times the price of the adaptation rights.

So Wattsberg and the others spent money on the adaptation rights very simply. In the end, Summit Entertainment bought the exclusive rights to adapt "The Tuner" for US$1.2 million, with an actual payment of US$780,000, because the short film had already given them US$420,000. , the copyright of short films and feature films is exclusive to Lu Ping An, and they do not share the accounts with China Film. China Film only shares the distribution accounts, and the sum of the long and short films is considered to be a discount for Wattsberg and the others.

So this wave, according to the share ratio, Lu Ping An earned 720,000 US dollars for the distribution rights and 780,000 US dollars for the copyright, a total of 1.5 million US dollars, equivalent to 12.3 million yuan, another bloody profit!

As for China Film, they earned US$1.08 million from the distribution rights, a total of 8.9 million yuan. Compared with the cost of more than 2 million they invested, it was still a bloody profit!

The deal was concluded and everyone was happy.

But the tax issue was really painful for Lu Ping'an. He watched helplessly as he was about to be stabbed with a big knife, and after the big knife there was a small knife. By the time he put the money in his pocket, nearly half of it was already gone. No wonder so many people in the circle were making small moves.

Lu Pingan naturally knows what the red line is. He only makes clean money, so he simply doesn't think about it.

. . . . . . .

The next promotional mission for "The Tuner" has only two stops, first in Hangzhou and then in the Magic City.

Each cinema in a city is a newly opened cinema, which is relatively advanced and attracts many audiences.

The movie was screened, and it was no surprise that it won the full house.

As for the two shows, eight days after the movie was released, the total box office reached 12 million. Due to the summer vacation, the box office may increase in the future, and the situation is very good to exceed 30 million box office.

After finishing all the activities, the main creators left, agreeing to meet again at the celebration party if the box office exceeded 30 million.

Then Lu Ping'an came to Shangmei Factory, and it was time to start producing several animated short films that he had been preparing for a long time.

On the morning of July 1st, Lu Pingan and Hu Qingquan came to Shanghai Animation Film Studio.

The person who came out to greet him was the deputy director, Director Cao, who had very high standards.

Because he had said hello to Shanghai Film Studio before, and because Lu Ping'an's reputation has soared, and most importantly, the purpose of his visit this time was to discuss cooperation on award-winning works, Shanghai Film Studio took it very seriously.

Under the guidance of Director Cao, Lu Pingan and Hu Qingquan visited the exhibition area of ​​Shangmei Factory.

"Havoc in Heaven", "Nezha in the Sea", "Tales from the Heavenly Book", "Black Cat Sheriff", "Calabash Brothers", "Lotus Lantern" and so on.

The classic works that have accompanied the growth of several generations of Chinese people were introduced one by one.

A feeling of accumulation of time came over my face.

These are all childhood memories.

Director Cao was very proud when he introduced it.

He should also be proud, and Shangmei Factory deserves to be proud.

After all, this is the place where Hayao Miyazaki, the former overlord of Asian animation, came to make a pilgrimage!

It's just a pity that Shangmei Factory will fall into a trough for a very long period in the future.

After the 1990s, emerging animation products from the United States and Japan had an impact on China’s local art film market. Audiences with more choices will naturally tend to prefer fresher and more interesting imported products.

And traditional Chinese animation represented by the above-mentioned animation studios, which have always targeted children, have no intention of expanding their audience base, and have lost a large number of young viewers in vain.

The 1999 "Lotus Lantern" condensed the wisdom and rigorous creative spirit of the older generation of artists, achieving the final glory of Chinese art. Its strong production lineup, coupled with the use of 3D effects in the film, made the film the most popular domestic film. It is of epoch-making significance in animation production.

The film had a total investment of 12 million, several years of preparation, and several drafts of the script. At the box office that year, "Lotus Lantern" defeated Disney's "Mulan" and became the runner-up at the box office of the year, second only to Feng Xiaogang's "See You or See You." .

After that, Shangmei Factory slowly entered a stage of decline. Art had to give way to profits. Coupled with the backward operation methods, the talent of painters was also slowly lost, making it gradually unable to support itself.

It can be said that this is a product of an era, but it is a pity that the peak of domestic animation has not returned. Along with it, many people’s childhood memories have faded. Some good things can only be remembered in the past.

After introducing the glorious history and current situation, everyone moved to the reception room.

Lu Ping'an was thinking that the staff loss at Shangmei Factory was beginning to be serious. Should he recruit some people?

There are also many animated movies to choose from.

It would be much more comfortable if I had a team of my own.

However, this idea was quickly suppressed by him.

He felt that now was not the time.

There are market reasons, as well as his current financial strength and technology.

Let's wait a few years.

It would be better to do something this risky again in a few years when your wings are fuller.

Then everyone drank tea in the reception room for a while, and then went straight to the topic.

Lu Pingan gave his own cooperation ideas:

"I need to borrow equipment to help me complete my work. This is my manuscript. Director Cao, please take a look."

Lu Pingan has released the first of his new short films.

After seeing it, Director Cao praised: "This style of painting is interesting."

"The painting is not good and needs a lot of revisions."

Lu Ping'an is not modest. Although he is an art student, he can draw, sketch, and gouache. He can also use CAD to make drawings and designs. It is not a big problem to draw and copy comics. But he doesn't understand how to make animations. It involves The things he got were like being separated from other categories of art, and he couldn't restore the original work by himself.

"The painting is already very good." Director Cao praised again, and then said directly, "We can make such animation. When will Director Lu prepare to start production?"

Lu Ping'an asked: "Can I go to BJ production?"

Director Cao said confidently: "Of course you can do it if you have the equipment, but I suggest you do it in our factory. We have everything here. If you don't like the effect of one production method, you can always change it. If you have any questions, If you have any questions, our factory’s master craftsmen are always available to help.”

This is the truth. Cartoons are different from real people. Lu Ping'an is not familiar with it. It will be much smoother with the help of a master.

Lu Ping'an thought about it for a moment and made a decision: "Okay, I'll trouble you from now on."

Things were settled quickly and everything went smoothly.

The price was settled quickly and was quite reasonable. The production cost of a 7-minute short film would not exceed 100,000 yuan, depending on the script.

With the assistance of Shangmei Factory, the work is basically guaranteed.

It's just that Lu Ping'an will have to stay in the Magic City next. After calculation, the first film will take about a month to produce.

It's a pity that it's summer vacation now, otherwise I would have been able to ask for leave again. . .

After the matter is finalized, Lu Ping An and Shangmei Factory will come back in three days if the better.

Back in the capital, Lu Pingan immediately arranged various matters.

Xingchen Company is temporarily managed by the newly recruited front desk officer Xiao Liu, and the two burger restaurants are managed by the first store manager Xiao Li.

When it comes to copyright matters, China Film Group is more attentive than him.

For "The Tuner", China Film and Television earned more than 6 million yuan from the copyright, which is also a big deal for China Film and Television, which is under great financial pressure at the moment.

You must know that there are many old-fashioned directors under China Film Group who always need to apply for funds to make movies.

They don't care whether it's a loss or a profit, they only care about art, but not many can actually make money.

So a movie that makes a lot of money will naturally be taken seriously.

He handed over the decoration of the courtyard to Zhang Songwen and Zhou Yiwei.

Zhang Songwen has gained a lot of exposure these days because of his role as the protagonist of "The Tuner", and various agencies, advertisers and film crews have come to him.

But he felt that he had just finished his freshman year, and now his mentality was a little impetuous, so after communicating with Jiang Wen, he decided to reject all irrelevant ones, only accepted a few suitable advertisements, made some money, and then prepared to study hard. .

During this period, he knew that Lu Ping'an was going to stay in Shanghai for a month, so he took the initiative to take over the decoration job, both to help and to meditate.

Zhou Yiwei does not have such a high level of thought as him, but because of his small role in "The Tuner", he did not get much attention and did not receive many jobs, so he was willing to stay and help, just as a plaything By the way, you can also earn some extra money from Ping An Lu, a wealthy person.

Lu Pingan didn't see Ning Hao when he returned to BJ. Zhang Songwen said that he might have gone to play with friends.

This time "The Tuner" is very popular, Ning Hao has also been exposed, and with his appearance in Cannes, he seems to have more friends.

Lu Ping'an doesn't have much to worry about. This kid is not that easy to fall.

After spending a day arranging everything for BJ, Lu Ping An returned to the Magic City and started making the third short film.