China Entertainment started from cutting off the Hu in 1995

Looking at Takeshi Kitano, who had a rather fierce expression on his face, Wu Yuchen was not frightened. He slowly put down his tea cup and looked directly at Takeshi Kitano:

"Mr. Kitano, nothing is impossible.

First of all, "The Two of Us" won the Tokyo Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize and won the title of Best Actress, which greatly facilitates your promotion.

Secondly, I think you have also investigated the situation of "The Two of Us" being released during the film festival. Almost every venue was full, and some viewers would bring their families to come back for a second or even third viewing after watching it. With the enthusiasm of the Neon audience for "The Two of Us", 300 million yen is not a difficult goal. "

There are many art theaters here in Neon, and some movies are shown for half a year. For example, "The Mountain, That Man, That Dog" was screened for more than a year. There were no awards before the release, and it earned 800 million yen at the box office just by word of mouth.

Even if "The Two of Us" can't compare to "That Mountain That Man That Dog", based on Wu Yuchen's observation, 300 million yen is not a big problem, and even 400-500 million yen is possible.

Then Wu Yuchen continued:

"And you can sell the TV rights of "Two of Us" to TV stations after the show is over, and then release a high-quality DVD collector's edition. This is all profit."

After a pause, Wu Yuchen finally added:

"Note, I am talking about the copyrights in all Asia. Except for mainland China, the copyrights in other regions are included. Bangguo, Singapore, Bay and even Hong Kong Island, as long as you can operate it, how much it will cost is yours Kitano Takeshi I don’t care about studio matters.”

Yes, Wu Yuchen didn't want to go through any trouble and package all of them up at once. He didn't have the channels or energy to do this.

Kitano Takeshi's eyes couldn't help but light up after hearing this. It's not that he can't consider it after saying this. How much money they can make depends on their studio's ability. In these economically developed areas, there are art theaters, and there is a market for artistic films. "The Two of Us" has won two Tokyo Film Festival awards, and it is also being discussed in other regions.

"700,000 US dollars..." Takeshi Kitano, who had made the calculation in his mind, began to bargain with Wu Yuchen.

In the end, the two parties reached a deal for $1.2 million. It's not that Takeshi Kitano lost his mind, but that Wu Yuchen also added European and American copyrights to him. He really didn't have the channels and energy to bother with it. Even if the company had Tang Yu, he wouldn't be able to do it.

Now Tang Yu has taken "The Night the Comet Came" to participate in the Sitges Film Festival, hoping to win a prize and resell the rights in Asia and South America.

I think that in his previous life, Lao Jia was able to earn 5 million yuan with "Xiao Wu". Note that he alone earned 5 million yuan, and the publisher must have earned more. It’s not surprising that the rights to “Two of Us” were sold for US$1.2 million. A person like Kitano Takeshi who has the channels and can make a lot of money will definitely make some money, maybe more than double it.

Wu Yuchen saved energy and time. Wouldn't it be easier to invest the money in the stock market to buy Yahoo than to travel around the world to sell copyrights?

Speaking of Yahoo's stock, he invested US$2 million a few months ago at a price of US$18.55. Now it has risen to 23.5 yuan, and the stock market value has reached US$2.53 million.

How should I put it? Although it has made a lot of money, it seems that Yahoo has not yet started its rising mode. On the contrary, Changhong bought it in the domestic stock market, and it started to rise rapidly. He initially invested 800,000, and took out more than 160,000 to film "The Night the Comet Came". The result is still the same now. It has risen to 3.28 million, which is really awesome!

But the domestic stock market is not yet the largest asset. Before Wu Yuchen came to Neon, Wu Jianping's publishing house paid him money. The royalties for 2 million copies gave him a total of 4.38 million, after tax. Don’t be too little, the main reason is that the price of books these days is far from as high as it would be ten years later.

4.38 million was already a huge amount of money in 1996. The money in the account made Wu Jianping and Zhou Shulan confused for several days.

Before Wu Jianping had time to discuss the handling of money with Wu Yuchen, he had already flown to Tokyo.

In fact, after Wu Yuchen arrived in Tokyo this time, he immediately contacted the agency and asked it to help him register several scripts in the United States.

And after Wu Yuchen inquired about it, he found that he met the requirements to join the Writers Guild of America. The American version of the short film "Car 44" has been released. It cost 1.7 million U.S. dollars and earned 12.5 million at the box office. He is signed as the original script, and Sony Classics made a fortune and gave him a letter of recommendation. Of course there is no problem.

The reason why he went to the United States to register his script was naturally to pave the way for the future. Some movies cannot be shot in China, and it will take at least 10 years for the domestic movie box office to grow. During this period, he will most likely go to the United States to gild. Moreover, if he doesn't register some scripts, it will be too late in a few years. He writes them first and hangs them there. It is attractive and can also be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations.

Not long after he and Takeshi Kitano negotiated the deal, he received a call from the United States. The caller was none other than Frank from Fox Searchlight, who had previously bought "The Night the Comet Came."

Shortly after returning from Sydney, he arranged for the movie "Comet" to be released on a small scale in theaters in Asian residential areas. The response was mediocre at first, not a big surprise, but its attendance did not drop at all in the next two weeks. This allowed Fox Searchlight to expand to more independent theaters, and the total box office in two months has reached 6.3 million.

Frank felt that if an American version were made and released on a larger scale, it would probably earn more than tens of millions of dollars.

"Wu, can you stay at Neon for one more week? I'll have someone rush over to talk to you about the adaptation rights of "Comet"."

"Okay, but Frank, I think we can do it on the phone regarding the price negotiation."

"Okay, Wu, I know you are a very independent person, just quote the price you want."

"Frank, for the sake of our old friendship, I won't open my mouth like a lion. How about 1 million?"

"Haha, isn't this a big deal? It's just the adaptation rights. We go to Europe to buy the adaptation rights of some movies for $500,000."

Wu Yuchen did not refute, but smiled and said to the phone:

"Frank, you know that movies are different. My movie "The Night the Comet Came" relies entirely on creativity, and the essence of the entire movie is also in the script. And the shooting cost is extremely low, even if If you find a low-level director and ask him to shoot according to the original version, you can definitely do it at a cost of less than $500,000.

The adaptation rights of 1 million plus the shooting cost of 500,000 are only 1.5 million, but I believe it will definitely bring you far more than 1.5 million in income.

If you really can't accept it, then I can only go to Sony Classics. "

Wu Yuchen now understands clearly that the previous life of "The Night the Comet Came" had a poor box office at the theaters in 2014. On the one hand, it was because of the lengthy beginning, and on the other hand, the idea was completely stale. At that time, there was "Terror Cruise" in front of us, so naturally everyone felt that this imitation routine was not that novel.

But now in the 1990s, these highlights are enough to wow many movie fans, so whether in China or the United States, it has achieved results that exceeded Wu Yuchen's expectations after its release. US$1 million for the adaptation rights is really not that high.

Frank was silent for a moment, and then said: "Okay, Wu, then it's 1 million US dollars. There's no need to contact Sony. I'll send someone to Neon right away."

"Don't worry, Frank, I have always been a man of my word. By the way, I have just registered three new scripts in the United States. If you are interested, you can check them out."

"Oh? Then I'm going to take a good look!"

After the two chatted and laughed for a while, they ended the call.

Fox Searchlight acted quickly. On the second day after making the call, its employees had arrived in Tokyo and rushed to Wu Yuchen with the contract without taking a break.

Everything went smoothly. After signing the contract, the money was transferred immediately. Even before the $1.2 million from Takeshi Kitano Studio was transferred, the money from Fox Searchlight arrived first. This also made Wu Yuchen understand that "The Night the Comet Came" was definitely a movie. The performance in the United States is good.

And the next day, Frank called immediately again and praised:

"Wu, you are really, really talented! I want three of your scripts in one package. How about $1.5 million? This is already a high price for a screenwriter!"

"Frank, thank you for your compliment. I only plan to sell one for the time being. Which one do you value most?"

Frank on the other side of the phone hesitated for a moment, then said: "Frequency."

The Chinese translation of the movie "Frequency" is "Black Hole Frequency", which is also called "Frequency of Life and Death" or "Save the Future". In fact, the latter two translations are more vivid. The movie is indeed not about black holes.

"Black Hole Frequency" was released in 2000. It tells the story of a son in 1999 who travels through the timeline through an old radio to talk to his father in 1969, and how his father changes the past and affects the present.

It can be said that this movie created a genre that changes the past and affects the present in the same timeline, such as England's "Call Out", Spain's "The Mirage", the United States' "Signal", the Hong Kong drama "The Killer" and so on. They are taking this idea forward, and some of them just changed the medium to the telephone.

This movie couldn't be filmed in China. Let's not talk about the plot. Let's just talk about what era China was 30 years ago. Even if it was changed to 20 years ago, it wouldn't be filmable. Therefore, Wu Yuchen just didn't consider Chinese translation. It was meaningless.

"Black Hole Frequency" was a success both commercially and word-of-mouth, and was therefore listed by Wu Yuchen as one of his scripts for landing in the United States.

"Wu, your creativity on time and space themes is really great. You are definitely a genius in this area!"

Frank boasted loudly that "The Night the Comet Came" had been a success story before, so the first thing Frank fell in love with was the script "Black Hole Frequency".

"Frank, the price of 500,000 is no problem, but I have a condition."

"Just say it!"

"I want to be a director."

Frank on the other side of the phone was silent for a moment. After a few seconds, he smiled again and said:

"Wu, it's okay if you want to be a director. I can hand over "The Night the Comet Came" to you and give you 1 million in filming funds. I think this is enough for you to make it..."

Wu Yuchen interrupted directly: "Frank, you should understand what I mean, I want to be the director of "Black Hole Frequency"."

Frank sighed and then said:

"Wu, I'm sorry, Fox will not agree to your request. After reading the script, I knew this was a multi-million dollar project. Although your "Comet" has done well so far, it is just a Chinese movie. "

Wu Yuchen immediately understood that he was not qualified enough to direct a project costing tens of millions.

"Then I will not sell the copyright. I will only accept myself as the director. Frank, if you believe in my ability, I will definitely give you a surprise."

"Wu, this is not a question of ability. Everything in Hollywood is a transaction, and you have enough leverage to get equal opportunities.

I have a suggestion, if you are willing to direct the American version of "Comet", and if the box office can exceed 10 million after it is released, then you will be able to accumulate a lot of qualifications, and maybe you can get the company to agree. "

"Maybe?" Wu Yuchen asked.

"Yeah, maybe." Frank confirmed.

Wu Yuchen smiled. This is the reality. Hollywood is not so easy for outsiders to enter, and it also has prejudice against yellow people.

If he is a Jewish person, even if he only made the short film "Che 44", then he might get the opportunity to direct with "Black Hole Frequency". But yellow people have to prove that they are good enough before they can enter the eyes of Hollywood.

Wu Yuchen smiled:

"Frank, thank you for your advice, but the life of an artist is precious. I don't want to do repetitive and meaningless things. Also, it won't be long before you will definitely ask me to be the director. I mean definitely. !”

Frank sighed and didn't try to raise the offer again. This thing was not important anymore. The other party obviously valued the opportunity to direct the most like many directors. This is the temperament of these people.

After hanging up the phone, Wu Yuchen let out a breath. Breaking into the United States is not that easy. Wu Baige relied on the sales of so many Hong Kong Island shootout films in the United States that the film studio was willing to give him a break. Chance.

Since Hollywood says he is not qualified, Wu Yuchen plans to make a time loop movie called a classic.

Then Wu Yuchen calculated the extra 2.2 million, and he planned to divide it into three sums this time.

It should be a good idea to continue buying Yahoo with a sum of 1 million US dollars. It can be regarded as a stable investment.

The second amount of 800,000 US dollars was brought back to China to buy Changhong. According to the increase of more than 20 times mentioned in the previous life Zhou Shulan, Changhong should still have 4-5 times the room. Seeing that Changhong has risen so sharply, Wu Yuchen also plans to make more quick money.

The third tranche of US$400,000 is temporarily retained as funding for the next movie. For example, the yard where "The Two of Us" was filmed can be purchased for 450,000 yuan, which is far less exaggerated than the price later. The main reason is that the yard itself is shabby and small. The remaining money should be enough to make the next movie.

As for the more than four million I earned from writing books, I will leave it with my parents. I am not short of the money for the time being, and it can be regarded as an emergency reserve fund.

However, regarding the filming of the next movie, I have to go back and find someone to inquire about it. I don’t know if it should be a co-production, and I have to find someone to help me make connections.

Thinking of this, Wu Yuchen no longer hesitated and immediately bought a return ticket for the next day. I gained enough from my visit to Neon this time and I can go back. Grandma Jin Yaqin is probably still waiting for her trophy!