China Entertainment: The happiness of being a director is as simple as that

Chapter 81 The Contrast
First he asked Watts Pogo:

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

Watts nodded after hearing this and said: "You are right, but I still suggest 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 5000 million, and it may even exceed [-] million." .”

Ping An also agrees with this number. The original version of "Source Code" was released in 2011. At that time, the concept of time loops was not new, but even so, it still achieved brilliant results under the premise of low-ranking movies.

If the time is put at this time, the results of "Source Code" will probably be better under the same premise of filming.

After thinking about it, Wattsberg made a quotation: "Lu, I will pay $200 million for the adaptation rights. If you are willing to cooperate with the copyright of "Chain Saw", 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 "Chain Saw" will not be released, and there is no need to release this if it is to be co-produced.

Lu Pingan asked again, "What about the distribution rights?"

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

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

"no problem."

After chatting with Watts, Lu Pingan chatted with another North American company. Their meaning was similar to that of Watts, but the price was hundreds of thousands lower than Watts'.

Lu Pingan didn't make a decision yet, and then chatted with filmmakers in other regions.

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

But the producers are already very satisfied.

Although the adaptation rights cannot be earned, the distribution rights are still worth 400 million US dollars!Belong to burst earn!

But Lu Pingan was still upset.

According to this price, the global box office of "Source Code" except the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan is expected to be less than 3000 million US dollars, which is so much worse than the original film!
Even if it would be discounted because of the lead actor of the yellow race, he still felt that it was unlikely that there would be such a big gap.

After thinking for a while, Lu Pingan asked Hu Qingquan: "If the distribution is split, how will the box office split in these regions be calculated?"

Hu Qingquan quickly replied: "Europe, South Korea, and Nihong are similar to those in China, and the proportion of account sharing will be slightly higher than that in the mainland. North America is different. There are many modes of account sharing. To about 70%, after deducting the normal publicity and distribution costs, except for North America, as a film studio, we can get about 20% of the box office share, and North America is higher, and it can reach 40% in the first two weeks."

After finishing speaking, he asked, "Do you want to try to divide the accounts?"

Lu Pingan did have this idea, and he had it a long time ago.

Now that the quotations from the studios are not to his liking, he has even more thought of trying.

Take South Korea as an example.

40 US dollars to buy out the distribution rights, according to South Korea's box office share ratio, the lowest 20% is calculated. In theory, as long as the film exceeds 200 million US dollars, the South Korean distributor can make a profit.

With the quality of "Source Code" and Guorong's brand name, would it be too much to get 200 million US dollars in South Korea?

Lu Ping'an didn't think it was too much!

Similarly, the distribution rights in North America are 150 million U.S. dollars. According to the distribution of 70% of the producers in the first two weeks, as long as the box office exceeds 250 million U.S. dollars, they can theoretically make a profit. The distribution rights here even include the DVD market, so when the time comes Profits will be bigger!

"Source Code" is a Chinese-language sci-fi film, which has no precedent in North America, and it may be unacceptable.

But what if it works?
His Chinese version of "The Tuner" was released in Laomeizhi for three weeks. It took more than 100 screens and won a box office of more than 100 million US dollars. "Source Code" can't be worse than it, right?

Lu Pingan thought for a while, and said to Hu Qingquan: "The quotation of 400 million distribution rights is equivalent to excluding the mainland, the global box office is expected to be less than 3000 million US dollars. My "Tuner" is higher than this. I don't believe them. Can’t tell! My idea is, since they won’t add more money for various reasons, let’s just talk about splitting the bill!”

Hu Qingquan worried: "Will it be too risky?"

The account sharing model will also lead to many problems, such as fraudulent accounts, box office swallowing, long payment cycle and a series of problems.

This is also the reason why many producers are hesitant to choose 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 to himself: "They may not give you a share of the bill. If we talk about it this way, maybe we can raise the sell-out price. At that time, we will calculate based on the quotation, which places can take risks and which places choose to be conservative. Let’s split it up, and combine the issue of selling out and splitting accounts.”

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

Soon the next round of negotiations will begin.

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 talk about splitting the account, and you can bet against each other!

According to this way of talking, unless they continue to raise the quotation for the distribution rights, making Lu Pingan feel that it is more cost-effective not to divide the accounts, then they will agree directly, and there will be no loss anyway.

In this regard, after subsequent rounds of negotiations, the preliminary copyright transaction of "Source Code" was finally finalized.

The quotation for the mainland video disc copyright is 150 million RMB.

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

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

Those who are willing to take a gamble choose to raise the issuance buyout fee. The upfront payment is more, but if the results are good, they can also make more money.

This is the majority, and a total of 41 countries and regions have implemented the sale of distribution rights.

Among them, the total selling price of the issuance rights is 330 million US dollars, which is a bit higher than before. The strategy of using split-account issuance as a bargaining chip is still useful.

But Hu Qingquan still expressed regret: "If there are big filmmakers, the price can be at least 30% higher."

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

The major filmmakers have more channels, and they have to buy all the following ones from him, so the bids will naturally be higher.

But even so, Lu Ping'an was already very satisfied, because what he was looking at was still sharing the accounts.

In the account-sharing issuance model, VAM is implemented according to different regions.

Except for North America, countries such as South Korea use the quotations for buying out the issuance rights as publicity fees, and implement split-account issuance. The issuance process will be supervised by two third-party agencies. The various breach of contract clauses are very sound. For a series of problems such as box office and false accounts, the liquidated damages will be very high.

For example, the issue buyout price in South Korea is only 40 yuan, and it is unwilling to go any higher.

Lu Pingan doesn't care about earning a little money from you. All 40 will be exchanged for publicity and distribution fees. Then we will see how much box office we can get.

After calculation, if the box office split wants to return the cost of 40 US dollars, there must be about 30 moviegoers.

According to common sense, this is relatively risky, but if the announcement of 40 US dollars is spent, the film schedule and theater coverage will be much more.

With more than 100 million visitors, you can indeed take a look.

"Hero" has 190 million viewers!

"Source Code" is not too far behind him, right?
In fact, for this kind of bet, filmmakers are actually willing to pay more.

Buy out 40 US dollars, and engage in gambling, then you can pay 60 US dollars. After all, the publicity fee can still be subcontracted, and there are imaginary numbers. The key is not to pay in one go. Power is very beneficial.

North America is also the same model, except that a clause on the quotation change of the adaptation rights is added.

If the box office is less than 1000 million, the adaptation rights will be sold to Zenith at a price of 200 million. If the box office is between 1000 million and 3000 million, and between 3000 million and 5000 million, the prices for the adaptation rights will be 100 million and 50 respectively. Give up automatically.

The box office is so high, there is no point in adapting it at the peak, after all, the production fee has to be added to the adaptation, and repeated releases will affect the box office, so the adaptation is meaningless.

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 ladder, 500 within 50 million box office, 3000 million within 300 million box office, and 3 million above 500 million box office.

This one is not easy to divide the account, Lu Pingan can't talk about it, so he simply let it go.

The distribution in North America is the same as in other regions, and there will also be three-party supervision.

Calculated in this way, if "Source Code" has a box office of 1000 million in North America, Lu Pingan can get at least 400 million US dollars in the box office share.

Is it difficult to achieve 1000 million US dollars?

Wattsberg thinks it is unlikely, he thinks 500 million is the sky, which is why he bought out the distribution rights of 150 million US dollars.

But Lu Pingan feels that everything is possible!
Of course, Lu Pingan is not at ease about Hollywood's piss, even if Watts is a friend.

So in addition to taking out the three-party supervision, he still has an offer in his hand. No matter whether he is doing well or not, it is actually worth his offer. Of course, before that, he has to chat with other Hollywood bosses .

. . . . . . . .

The account sharing plan was finalized, so the copyright negotiation of "Source Code" was basically completed.

Distribution rights and copyrights total US$330 million + disc copyrights of RMB 150 million, which can be obtained directly.

Of course, it can be even higher if it is sold out, and the distribution rights alone can be close to 600 million US dollars.

The loss of two or three million in vain, and there may be more, which also makes the producers have some opinions.

President Huayi said, "Let's not talk about sci-fi movies, even the famous Chinese kung fu movies are not easy to sell in North America. Ping An, you are a little more radical this time."

Eagle King Huo Wenxi also said similarly: "Hollywood is actually not that tolerant."

Xingmei said: "If the account is divided, the return of funds will not be so fast. Hollywood is more complicated, and we can't afford to wait."

Everyone felt that Lu Ping'an was so confident that he meant to enter Hollywood.

One by one, as "experienced people", expressed their disapproval.

But Lu Ping'an has made up his mind.

Everyone continues to persuade.

Lu Pingan simply said directly: "I don't force you, I can do it myself, and the distribution rights in the account-sharing area will be converted into a number, and I will supply you!"

The places where the accounts are divided are all big ticket warehouses. They want to buy the distribution rights for a mere two or three million US dollars, and they still don't agree to increase the price. Naturally, Ping An Road will not cheapen them so easily.

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

He can afford to gamble too.

He won't regret losing the bet!

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

Even if the distribution fee is paid to the publishers, it will not cost much, at most more than 100 million US dollars, which can be deducted from the existing 300 million, and he will get 300 million for the 150 million, and it will not cost a penny to deduct it. Earn less in the early stage.

At that time, if the box office exceeds expectations, I can get 100% of the profits.

Very impressive.

So he was determined.

The producers made a careful calculation and finally made a decision.

In the end, except for the middle shadow and light, all the rest were discounted
Xingmei and several others bought at a premium, saying that they don’t have much money now, so let’s forget about the long cycle.

The reasons of Huayi and Yinghuang are similar: they have suffered losses in Hollywood, and Chinese science fiction is not optimistic about breaking into Hollywood, so they choose to discount.

In addition to this, there is another reason, that is, if the distribution of accounts in North America is not successful, Lu Pingan still has millions of adaptation rights, and the money is not their share, so there is no need to play with it.

Of course, this does not affect the existing cooperation, not only the resource exchange that was made when the contract was signed, but also the various cooperation after the movie was released.

Lu Pingan directly agreed, so he took back 35% of the share in these account-sharing areas, and replenished them with 105 million US dollars.

So he accounted for half of the 330 million issuance fee of 115 million. This time, only 10 was left, and the share of the account returned to 85%.

It seems that it is actually a disadvantage. After all, if you don’t split the share at the beginning, don’t you have 100%, and you can still transfer millions of publishing copyright fees?
But Lu Ping'an was very satisfied, because the account cannot be calculated like this, and the resources exchanged before were more than this price.

Now that they quit, it is actually the best solution for Lu Pingan.

In exchange for the resources, the account sharing can make the most money in the future, and it will not affect the continued cooperation in the future.

Of course, the premise is that the account sharing can make money.

On this point, Lu Pingan is still confident.

After all, the original score of "Source Code" is there, and this kind of film can be used in both Chinese and Western countries. No matter what, he doesn't believe that it can't hit the overseas box office at all!
The account sharing contract was finalized. Since it was a VAM, and the starting point of the VAM was very low, the South Korean film studio and Wattsberg were a little happy, feeling that they had gotten a great deal.

After the contract was finalized, South Korea and several other countries ran away directly. Wattsberg was a little better, and he also said to Lu Pingan: "Lu, buy it and leave it, you said it yourself."

Lu Pingan smiled and agreed, and Wattsberg ran away.

At the same time, the progress of the early copyright transaction on the side of "Hero".

"Hero" sold the European and American distribution rights to Miramax for a high price of 2000 million U.S. dollars, and the South Korean distribution rights were jointly purchased by three companies including Zhongbo Film and Television Company for 200 million U.S. dollars. It is expected to be released in South Korea in January next year. release.

The rest of the distribution rights have not been counted. In short, the cost of 3000 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 "Hero" is a real blockbuster!"

"Global Copyright Transaction Record of the Year: Domestic Film "Hero""

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

""hero"."

Almost all the world is touting "Hero".

As for the $300 million copyright deal for "Source Code"?
Is this a big deal?

It even said, this is also a blockbuster?
One copyright fee is more than 3000 million, and the other is 300 million. As a result, both of them are called "blockbusters".

It's clear who the clown is.

After all, in the eyes of some people, the eyes of foreigners are like rulers.
(End of this chapter)