China Entertainment: Director’s happiness is so simple

First he asked Brother Wattsbo:

""Source Code" is not a poor imitation. You have also seen the quality of the film. It is not inferior to top Hollywood films. The creativity and plot are innovative. The time loop element is not new, but it is absolutely fresh. The market needs it. It's a fresh subject matter, and the box office prospects of "Source Code" will not be bad. In addition, there is a disc market in North America, which is a more profitable market than the box office, so your price is still low."

After hearing this, Watts nodded and said: "You are right, but I still suggest that you sell the adaptation rights in North America. If the actors of this film are changed again, the box office in North America will not be less than 50 million, and it may even exceed 50 million. 100 million."

Lu Ping An also agrees with this number. The original "Source Code" was released in 2011. At that time, the concept of time loop was no longer new, but even so, under the premise of a low-ranking film, it still achieved dazzling results.

If the time had been set at this time, under the same premise of scheduling the films, the results of "Source Code" would probably be better.

After thinking about it, Wattsberg made an offer: "Lu, I will pay you US$2 million for the adaptation rights. If you are willing to cooperate with the copyright of "Chainsaw", we can produce the North American version of "Source Code" together."

"I'll think about it."

No need to think about it, the copyright of "Chainsaw" will not be released. If it is a co-production, there is no need to release this.

Lu Ping'an asked again, "What about the distribution rights?"

"1.5 million, no more. Chinese science fiction films are too risky in North America. This price has already exceeded my bottom line."

"That's it for now, I'll talk to others first."

"no problem."

After chatting with Watts, Lu Ping An chatted with another North American company. Their meaning was similar to Watts, but their quotation was hundreds of thousands lower than Watts's.

Lu Ping'an hasn't made a decision yet, and will continue to talk to film producers in other areas.

After chatting for a while, there was still no big progress.

However, the producers are already very satisfied.

Although the adaptation rights are not profitable, the distribution rights are also worth US$4 million! It’s a huge profit!

But Lu Pingping is still unhappy.

At this price, the global box office of "Source Code" outside of mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan is expected to be less than 30 million US dollars, which is so much lower than the original film!

Even though it would indeed be discounted because of the yellow cast, he still felt that it was unlikely that there would be such a big gap.

After thinking about it, Lu Ping'an asked Hu Qingquan: "If it is distributed in separate accounts, how are the box office accounts in these regions calculated?"

Hu Qingquan quickly answered: "Europe, South Korea, and Neon are similar to those in China. The account sharing ratio will be slightly higher than that in the mainland. It is different in North America. There are many kinds of account sharing models. If you follow the stepped account sharing method, you can do it in the first two weeks." To about 70%, after deducting the normal publicity and distribution costs, except for North America, as a film studio, the box office share we can get can reach 20%. In North America, it is higher, and it can reach 40% in the first two weeks."

After saying that, he asked: "Do you want to try to split the account?"

Lu Ping'an does have this idea, and he has had it for a long time.

Now that the offers from film studios are not to his liking, he has even more thoughts of trying this.

Take South Korea as an example.

US$400,000 is used to buy out the distribution rights, and the lowest 20% is calculated based on South Korea's box office share ratio. In theory, as long as the film exceeds US$2 million, South Korean distributors can make a profit.

With the quality of "Source Code" and the brand name Guorong, would it be too much to get $2 million in South Korea?

Lu Ping'an thinks it's not excessive at all!

Similarly, the North American distribution rights are 1.5 million U.S. dollars. According to the 70% split among producers in the first two weeks, as long as the box office exceeds 2.5 million U.S. dollars, theoretically it can be profitable. The distribution rights here even include the video market, so by then The profit will be greater!

"Source Code" is a Chinese-language science fiction film that has no precedent in North America and may not be adapted to the local environment.

But what if it works?

His Chinese version of "The Tuner" was released in the United States for three weeks, using more than 100 screens in total, and it was able to earn more than one million US dollars at the box office. "Source Code" can't be worse than it, right?

Lu Ping'an thought for a while and said to Hu Qingquan: "The quotation of 4 million yuan for the distribution rights is equivalent to less than 30 million U.S. dollars in global box office except the mainland. My "The Tuner" is higher than this. I don't believe them. I can’t tell! My idea is that since they are unwilling to increase the money for various reasons, let’s just talk about splitting the money!”

Hu Qingquan worried: "Is it too risky?"

The split-account model will also give rise to many problems, such as falsified accounts, box office cannibalization, long payment collection cycles, and a series of other problems.

This is also the reason why many producers are deterred from choosing to sell distribution rights.

At this point, even Hollywood cannot completely avoid it. They have global distribution channels, but many times they still choose to sell out in certain regions.

Lu Pingan said confidently: "They may not split the bill with you. If we talk like this, we might be able to raise the off-sale price. At that time, we will calculate based on the quotation, where we can take risks and where we can choose to be conservative. Let’s divide it and combine the issuance and sale with the account sharing.”

Hu Qingquan, Han Sanpin and the other producers looked at each other, and then Han Sanpin smiled and said: "It's a negotiation anyway, so let's talk about it."

The next round of negotiations will begin soon.

Lu Ping An's attitude is that if the selling price is generally suitable, then sell it. If you still don't want to raise the price, then just negotiate to split the account or make a bet!

According to this argument, unless they continue to raise the quotation of the issuance rights and make Lu Ping An feel that it is more cost-effective not to split the accounts, then just agree to it, and it will not be a loss anyway.

In response to this, after several subsequent rounds of negotiations, the advance copyright deal for "Source Code" was finally finalized.

The Mainland DVD copyright quotation is RMB 1.5 million.

The rest, unwilling to take the gamble, chose to split the account because they could pay less upfront.

Seven countries and regions, including South Korea, North America, Spain, Neon, and Germany, have chosen separate accounts for issuance.

Those who were willing to take a gamble chose to increase the issuance buyout fee. They paid more upfront, but they could also make more money if they performed well.

This is the majority, with a total of 41 countries and regions implementing issuance rights selling.

Among them, the total selling price of the issuance rights is 3.3 million U.S. dollars, which is higher than before. The strategy of using separate issuance as a bargaining chip is still useful.

But Hu Qingquan still expressed regret: "If there were a large-scale film producer, the price would be at least 30% higher."

All walks of life have their own rules of the game, just like foreign films coming to the mainland cannot avoid China Film.

The blockbusters have more channels, and everyone below them has to buy from them, so the bids will naturally be higher.

But even so, Lu Ping'an was already very satisfied, because what he wanted was to divide the accounts.

In the split-ledger issuance model, issuance betting is implemented according to different regions.

In addition to North America, countries like South Korea use the quoted price of buying out the issuance rights as publicity fees and implement separate issuance. The issuance process will be supervised by two third-party institutions. The various default clauses are very sound and involve swallowing up the issuance rights. For a series of problems such as box office and false accounting, liquidated damages will be very high.

For example, South Korea's issuance buyout price is only 400,000, and it is unwilling to go higher.

Lu Ping An is not interested in making this little money from you. All 400,000 yuan will be converted into publicity expenses. Then we will see how much box office it can make.

After calculation, if the box office division wants to make back the original cost of 400,000 U.S. dollars, the number of moviegoers must be about 300,000. This is just the return on capital. If you want to make back the 400,000 U.S. dollars, you have to double it.

According to common sense, this is relatively risky, but if you spend 400,000 US dollars on promotion, the film schedule and theater coverage will be much greater.

With more than 1 million visitors, it is indeed a sight to behold.

"Hero" has 1.9 million viewers!

"Source Code" isn't too far behind him, right?

In fact, film producers are actually willing to pay more for this kind of bet.

If you buy out 400,000 US dollars and make a bet, you can spend 600,000 US dollars. After all, the publicity and distribution costs can still be subcontracted, and there are imaginary numbers. The key is that you don’t have to pay a lump sum. This will be helpful for the future distribution of "Heroes" The right is very beneficial.

The same model applies to North America, except that a clause on changing the quotation of the adaptation rights has been added.

If the box office is less than 10 million, the adaptation rights will be sold to Peak for 2 million. If the box office is between 10 million and 30 million, and between 30 million and 50 million, the adaptation rights will be priced at 1 million and 500,000 respectively. If the box office is over 50 million, the adaptation rights will be sold. Automatically give up.

With the box office so high, it doesn't make sense to adapt a peak movie. After all, adaptations have to add production costs, and repeated releases will affect the box office, so there's no point in adapting.

In addition, the distribution rights in the North American disc market are also bought out by Peak, which is also classified according to the theater box office tiers: 500,000 for a box office of less than 5 million, 3 million for a box office of less than 30 million, and 5 million for a box office of more than 30 million.

It's not easy to divide the accounts. Lu Ping'an couldn't talk about it, so he simply let it go.

North American issuance, like other regions, will also have three-party supervision.

Calculating this, if "Source Code" has a box office of 10 million in North America, Lu Pingan can get at least three to four million US dollars in box office share.

Is it difficult to do it with 10 million US dollars?

Wattsberg thought it was unlikely. He believed that 5 million was too high, which was why he gave a buyout price of 1.5 million US dollars for the issuance rights.

But Lu Pingan feels that everything is possible!

Of course, even if Watts is a friend, Ping An is not worried about Hollywood's peeing.

So in addition to providing three-party supervision, he also has an offer in his hand. No matter whether he does well or poorly, it is actually worth using the offer. Of course, before that, he has to talk to other Hollywood bosses. .

. . . . . . . .

The account sharing plan has been finalized, and based on this calculation, the copyright negotiations for "Source Code" are basically completed.

The total distribution rights and copyright are 3.3 million US dollars + 1.5 million yuan for the disc copyright, which can be obtained directly.

Of course, it can be even higher if the entire deal is sold out, and the distribution rights alone can be worth close to 6 million US dollars.

Two to three million were lost in vain, and there may be more, which also made the producers have some opinions.

Huayi King said: "Not to mention science fiction movies, even the signature Chinese kung fu movies are not easy to sell in North America. Ping An, you are a little more radical this time."

Eagle Emperor Huo Wenxi also said the same thing: "Hollywood is actually not that tolerant."

Xingmeidi said: "If the accounts are divided, the funds will not flow back so quickly. Hollywood is more complicated and we can't afford to wait."

Everyone thinks that Lu Pingan is so confident that he has some intentions of entering Hollywood.

As "experienced people", one after another expressed their disapproval.

But Lu Ping'an has made up his mind.

Everyone continues to advise.

Lu Ping'an simply said: "I won't force you, I can do it myself. The distribution rights in the sub-region will be converted into a number, and I will replenish it for you!"

The places where accounts are split are all big ticket warehouses. They want to buy the issuance rights for a mere two to three million US dollars, but they still don't agree to the price increase. Naturally, Lu Ping An will not give them an advantage so easily.

Compared to these big ticket warehouses, he naturally hopes to take a gamble.

He can afford the gamble.

He doesn’t regret it even if he loses the bet!

"Source Code" has made him a lot of money so far.

Even if they supplement the publishing fees of the producers, it won't cost much, up to more than one million US dollars. This can be deducted from the existing 3 million. He will get 1.5 million from the 3 million. After deducting it, it won't cost a penny. But make less money in the early stage.

If the box office exceeds expectations, I can get 100% of the profit share.

Very impressive.

So he was resolute.

The producers made careful calculations and finally made a decision.

In the end, except for the medium shadow and light, all the others were discounted.

Xingmei and several others purchased at a premium, saying that they don't have much funds at the moment and the cycle is too long.

Huayi and Yinghuang had similar reasons: they had suffered losses in Hollywood, and they were not optimistic about Chinese science fiction entering Hollywood, so they chose to discount.

In addition, there is another reason, that is, if the North American division is unsuccessful, Lu Ping An still has millions in the adaptation rights. They have no share of the money, so there is no need to play along.

Of course, this does not affect existing cooperation, including the resource exchange agreed upon when the contract was signed, as well as various subsequent cooperations after the movie is released.

Lu Ping An directly agreed, so he recovered 35% of the shares in these sub-account areas and gave them US$1.05 million.

So he accounted for half of the 3.3 million issuance fee, 1.15 million. This time, only 100,000 was left, and the account share returned to 85%.

It seems that we are actually suffering a loss. After all, if we don’t divide the shares at the beginning, wouldn’t we have 100%, and how many millions can we transfer in distribution royalties?

But Lu Ping'an was very satisfied in his heart, because the accounts could not be calculated like this, and the resources exchanged before were more than this price.

Now that they are withdrawing, it is actually the optimal solution for Lu Ping An.

In exchange for resources, we can make the most money by dividing accounts in the future, and it will not affect our continued cooperation in the future.

Of course, the premise is that splitting accounts can make money.

At this point, Lu Ping An is still confident.

After all, the results of the original version of "Source Code" are there, and this kind of film is suitable for both Chinese and Western movies. No matter what, he doesn't believe that it will never hit the overseas box office!

The account sharing contract was completely finalized. Since it was a bet and the starting point for the bet was very low, both the South Korean film producers and Wattsberg were a little happy and felt that they had gotten a big advantage.

After the contract was finalized, several people from South Korea and other countries ran away. Wattsberg was a little better. He even said to Lu Ping'an: "Lu, buy it and leave. This is what you said yourself."

Lu Ping'an smiled and agreed, and Wattsberg ran away.

At the same time, the advance copyright transaction for "Heroes" is progressing.

The European and American distribution rights of "Hero" were sold to Miramax for a high price of US$20 million. The South Korean distribution rights were jointly purchased by three companies including Zhongbo Film and Television Company for US$2 million. It is expected to be released in South Korea in January next year. Released.

The remaining distribution rights have not yet been taken into account. In short, the cost of 30 million US dollars can be recovered before it is released.

The news was released and the media went wild.

"The sky-high copyright deal for "Heroes" is a real blockbuster!"

"Global copyright transaction record this year: Domestic film "Hero""

"From "Red Sorghum" to "Hero", Zhang Yimou's 15 years"

""hero"."

Almost everyone in the world praises "Hero".

As for the $3 million copyright deal for "Source Code"?

Is this a big deal?

Some even say that this is also a blockbuster film?

One had a copyright fee of more than 30 million, and the other had a copyright fee of 3 million. As a result, both films were called "blockbusters."

It’s obvious who the clown is.

After all, in the eyes of some people, foreigners’ eyes are rulers.