Director’s Legend - Chapter 170
Chapter 167 [Also cut]
The audience dare not say, but American Film Company knows that Shao Shuaijun has a lot of works. Both “Buried Alive” and “Source Code” are excellent works. They did not make a lot of money but did not lose money, which accumulated a little reputation for him. Therefore, there are many distribution companies interested in “Painted Skin”, among which Miramax Pictures and Lionsgate Pictures are the most interested.
Lionsgate does not need to go into details. It has cooperated with Shao Shuaijun twice and is very optimistic about “Painted Skin”. Especially after Robb finished watching the director’s cut version, he praised it. Miramax Films is also in active contact with Wang Zhonglei and Yang Hongtao. The release of “Hero” last year allowed them to make a fortune. They naturally didn’t want to miss “Painted Skin”, which is also from China.
In addition, several other companies are interested, but they are a bit daunting. If “Hero” and “Source Code” make American film companies start to notice Chinese films, Chen Kai’s “Promise” will undoubtedly add a pot of momentum to this momentum. water. First, the box office was not satisfactory. Weinstein Company and “Wuji” cancelled the North American distribution contract, and then the American media gave a bad review of “Wuji”.
“The Promise” did not use characters to impress movie audiences like Chen Kai’s previous classic works “Farewell My Concubine” and “Wind Moon”. This time Chen Kai abandoned the movie itself to pursue special effects in the digital domain. It’s getting worse. From a technical perspective, this movie is more like a video game.”
“Fundamentally speaking, movies are entertainment. But the characters in Chen Kaige’s movies are too pale, the plot design is a little naive and relies too much on’magic power’, which makes the audience feel too far away from reality.”
After such an evaluation came out. Undoubtedly, the road of “Promise” in North America becomes hopeless. Even the impression score of Chinese films in North America has been greatly reduced, and they have just made some progress in business, and as a result, they have been immediately put back under the label of “Chinese films are only suitable for broadcast at film festivals.”
Fortunately, Li Yu’s “Brokeback Mountain” became a heart-saving pill, which slightly restored the image of Chinese movies. It’s a pity that “Brokeback Mountain” is essentially an American film, which does not play a fundamental role. This will make American film companies hesitate to talk about “Painted Skin” and stay away, afraid of becoming the second “Promise.”
For more theaters, and a better way to divide. Huayi Brothers, Poly Bona, China Film Warner Hengdian, China Film, Media Asia Variety Film and Television and World Film. After the director’s cut version came out, he immediately sent people to lobby in major theaters in the United States. Shao Shuaijun and others, near Hollywood, Lions Gate Pictures held a small meeting. It was finally determined that Miramax and Lionsgate would compete for the North American distribution rights of Painted Skin.
Miramax Pictures is a Disney company. Can affect more theaters. Lionsgate has a good cooperation and is willing to return the box office revenue based on the original 17% share. Increase the share.
Both sides have their pros and cons.
Shao Shuaijun prefers to cooperate with Lionsgate, but in “Painted Skin”, he is only a director and does not have any right to speak in commercial operations. In the end, the six investors negotiated and reached an agreement with Miramax Films to hand over the North American distribution rights to Mira Company in a 17% share.
They pay more attention to being able to come up with more theaters to arrange the release, and believe that the release cycle of Chinese films in the United States is usually not long, and that a larger number of theaters means higher box office.
Rob, who was drinking coffee with Shao Shuaijun, was full of disappointment: “Shao, it’s a pity that Painted Skin is very good, but we can’t work together.”
“Rob, I’m sorry too, but I don’t count.”
“I know, by the way, Shao, did you come to the United States this time for the release of “Painted Skin”. I know that a new movie of yours has just won the highest box office in mainland China. Do you have any new movie plans? If not, we at Lionsgate would like to ask you to direct a movie. I wonder if you are interested?”
“Please direct me, what kind of film is it?”
“A horror movie, remember the last time we chatted privately and talked about the director of “saw” James Wynn. You said a lot about horror movies, and I found that you have a lot of ideas about horror movies. We happened to happen recently. I received a book, adapted from Clive Barker’s novel, called “Midnight Cannibal Train.”
Rob briefly talked about the content of the script.
Shao Shuaijun listened patiently, and finally declined politely. He is not very good at horror movies. Maybe he will delve into this aspect in the future, but now he has no time to waste himself: “Rob, I don’t know much about horror movies. Thank you for your invitation. , I don’t think I am suitable.”
“Oh, that’s a shame.”
“In fact, we still have a chance to cooperate. This time I am here, I also want to come to the United States to make a movie, which is to adapt the currently popular “Twilight Saga: Twilight”. I think Rob will be interested in you? If Lionsgate If industry can help us gain a foothold in the United States, we can jointly invest in “Twilight.”
Opening an agency in the United States, such as Twilight Entertainment, is very simple. But to set up a film company, it is not a simple matter to obtain a filming license, a film production license, and a screening license. Li Xiuxiu sent a team of professional operators from Jiahe to operate the operation of the new company, but he has not yet clarified the idea.
The United States, a country known as democracy, is actually very exclusive to the Chinese, and many places are deliberately making things difficult.
Shao Shuaijun hopes to use the power of Lionsgate to gain a foothold.
Whether to acquire a company or open a company has not yet been decided.
Rob was very interested in “Twilight”. After introducing Li Xiuxiu to Rob, Shao Shuaijun didn’t care about it anymore. Now another trouble is before him.
“What, for Miramax Films, will you cut “Painted Skin” again?”
Wang Zhonglei shrugged his shoulders: “Soldier, I didn’t send it out. Mila felt that the film was too long. It lasted 145 minutes. They hope to cut it to 120 minutes.”
“120 minutes, Brother Lei, this means that I have to cut out 25 minutes of footage. It took us a lot of effort to produce the content! I cut it before, and I felt that many good shots were Give up, now I have to cut it again, this cut and cut, is “Painted Skin” still “Painted Skin”!”
Although “Painted Skin” boasted a production cost of 500 million yuan, the real cost of 200 million yuan could not run away. It cost more than 50 million to shoot. Not counting the special effects lens, “Painted Skin” has a total of 3,200 sets of lenses, which means that each set of lenses is at least tens of thousands of dollars.
In a word, Mira Company would give up millions or even more than 10 million shots. Shao Shuaijun felt that it was no different from digging meat. Moreover, the movie has been cut short, can you explain clearly what Shao Shuaijun wants to express?
“No way, Mira Company is very firm in this regard, it must be cut. Soldier, if you can’t do it, let’s ask a professional editor to cut it?”
Shao Shuaijun gritted his teeth: “Forget it, I’ll cut it!” (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!
ps: It’s finally on the shelves. Regardless of the grades, I will write this book with my heart. I hope that friends who subscribe can vote for a monthly ticket to support, thank you! Thank you for accompanying “Director’s Legend” to its growth!