Chapter 324 Negotiation

Going forward a decade or two, the Chinese film industry, whether in mainland China or Taiwan, respected literary and artistic films. Mainland films have produced fifth-generation filmmakers represented by Lao Mouzi and Chen Kaizi, while Bay Area films have also produced Bay Area New Wave directors represented by Yang Dechang and Hou Hsiao-hsien.

In fact, the new wave of Hong Kong Island also has new wave figures such as Xu Ke and Xu Anhua, but Hong Kong Island is mainly commercial films! Even Xu Ke has to succumb to the market and get box office sales. But it was the rise of the new wave and the commercial-dominated market that created a brilliant generation of Hong Kong films. Otherwise, how could there be the classic "Once Upon a Time" series?

It can be said that in the 20 years of the 1980s and 1990s, Hong Kong films dominated the Chinese film market. No matter whether they were literary films from the Bay Area or mainland China, they could not beat Hong Kong films.

However, the right to speak about film evaluation is in the hands of filmmakers who mainly focus on art films, especially those in Mainland China and Wanwan. In fact, the birth of filmmakers are those who pursue art films.

Li An grew up in this kind of environment. He studied at the Bay Area Theater Department in Bay Area, and also worked as a stage actor. Later, he went to the University of Illinois to study theater directing. Therefore, his creative concept The environment in which I grew up was marked by art films.

Therefore, it was not until he actually shot "The Incredible Hulk" that he fully understood the difficulties of shooting commercial movies. This thing is really not something you can shoot if you want to. Don't look at so many literary and artistic directors who talk about commercial movies as rubbish and denounce them as having no artistic content. But if you let them shoot it, 99% of them will be defeated.

Through the failure of "The Incredible Hulk", Li An has come to understand himself. Whether you call him hypocritical or noble, he is indeed not suitable for making commercial films and has to follow his own old path of artistic films. So the new project he started this time is also a literary film.

Li An said to Wu Yuchen: "Director Wu, you must be aware of the trend in Hollywood in recent years. The voice of LGBT has become louder and louder."

Wu Yuchen nodded: "In fact, not only in Hollywood, but also in North America and even the entire Europe, the voices are getting louder and louder."

When Li An saw that Wu Yuchen agreed, he followed up and said: "The art world has always been the vanguard of social trends, so in recent years there have been many films that speak out for LGBT. The new project I plan to prepare this time is this theme.

I’ve already talked about Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Proulx’s 1997 short story “Brokeback Mountain.” "

Wu Yuchen's heart is indeed "Brokeback Mountain"!

The movie "Brokeback Mountain" is extremely influential, not least because it won many Oscars. Although this movie failed to win the Best Picture of that year, it was definitely the most talked-about, attention-grabbing, controversial and even influential movie at the Oscars that year, and it was spread all over the world. Since then, "Brokeback Mountain" has directly become a synonym for homosexuality or an adjective.

But one thing needs to be made clear. It was not because "Brokeback Mountain" gave birth to LGBT, but because the LGBT wave promoted the birth of "Brokeback Mountain".

China's current version development is actually at least two generations behind Europe and the United States, so China currently pays very little attention to this aspect. It wasn't until the birth of "Brokeback Mountain" that many people felt as if such a group suddenly appeared.

Of course, this is all based on one thing, that is, Li An did a very good job. The color and atmosphere of the film, the switching of shots, and the changes in the characters' emotions are all just right. The love between the two protagonists is very delicately portrayed. Although it is a love between the same sex, it is not inferior to the love between the opposite sex.

But for Wu Yuchen, what he is interested in is that this movie has won 8 Oscar nominations and won 3 statuettes including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay with its small and extremely low cost of 14 million. , captured the Venice Golden Lion, and ultimately had a global box office of US$180 million. No matter from which angle you look at it, the investment in the movie "Brokeback Mountain" is extremely profitable, and there is no reason not to invest in it.

After Wu Yuchen finished reading the script, he saw Li An looking at him expectantly and couldn't help but smile at him: "He is indeed a Pulitzer Prize winner. The story is well written and the script adaptation is even better. I am very impressed that Director Li can turn this into a masterpiece." A wonderful and delicate love that emerges without a shadow of a doubt.”

Li An smiled when he heard this. Because the two parties had cooperated in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", he came to see Wu Yuchen immediately this time. Sure enough, he understood him!

But the next moment, Wu Yuchen's voice changed: "But Director Li, you should also know that this "Brokeback Mountain" is extremely controversial, which means the risks are very high, so we at Miracle Films don't dare to let you pass it." A lot of investment, I hope you can understand.”

Li An was not surprised when he heard this. He said: "Don't worry, I expect the cost of this movie to be controlled within 15 million and reduce risks as much as possible."

This was done not only for the producers, but also for his own consideration. "The Incredible Hulk" has consumed part of his reputation in Hollywood, so "Brokeback Mountain" must not lose money. Otherwise, if he fails in commercial and artistic films one after another, he may fall to a low point. The most effective way to ensure no loss is to reduce costs!

In fact, Li An also made a lot of money from the last time he filmed "The Incredible Hulk", but he will not use his own money to invest in movies, even if it is his own movie.

After listening to this, Wu Yuchen nodded with satisfaction, and then he thought of Anne Hathaway, the heroine of the original "Brokeback Mountain". Should he give her this opportunity?

He thought about it and realized that she was the most suitable person around him. After having these two sweethearts, Jessica Alba and Anne Hathaway, many newcomers in the past two years were not in his eyes.

This made Wu Yuchen sigh with emotion, and there are fewer and fewer top newcomers in Hollywood!

And not long after Wu Yuchen and Li An reached an agreement on the investment in "Brokeback Mountain", people from Warner came to visit again.

Wu Yuchen looked at the two people sitting opposite him with ease. He now has the initiative. Even if Warner does not accept his conditions, he will not lack projects.

Jeffrey spoke first: "Wu, you really raised a difficult question for us. 25% of the global box office share is a condition that we Warner has never offered."

Wu Yuchen smiled and shook his finger: "Compared to Spielberg's 20% all-channel share, I don't think it's high at all. If you are willing to open up all channels, I can reduce it to 15%, how about it?"

Now Wu Yuchen's fame is no worse than Spielberg before filming "Jurassic Park". The reason why he only wants 15%, which is lower than Spielberg's 20%, is because "Batman" itself is a famous big IP with a large flow of traffic, unlike "Jurassic Park" at the time.

Jeffrey shook his head and refused: "No, Wu, let's not discuss the all-channel share anymore, okay? You know it's impossible."

Wu Yuchen smiled, he guessed it would be like this, like "Batman" and "Superman" such big IP peripherals, Warner is unlikely to open up to the outside world.

When Universal was willing to give Spielberg a 20% share of all channels, it did not expect that "Jurassic Park" would become so popular. Otherwise, they would rather give Spielberg a 20+20 condition and would never save the $20 million cash salary, which ultimately let Spielberg take away $250 million.

It is precisely because of this example that Warner is even less likely to do so now.

Then Jeffrey said: "Wu, after our committee's discussion, we can agree to give you $20 million plus 25% of the global box office share, but in order to prevent the project from losing money, we have the right to terminate the cooperation of the trilogy at any time."

Normally speaking, this is a very reasonable condition. Wu Yuchen's salary is so high. Once the box office of the movie is not as expected, Warner can terminate the filming of the next two movies at any time to stop the loss in time.

However, Wu Yuchen grasped one point keenly and asked: "What if the movie is successful? And what is your standard for the success and failure of the project?"

Jeffrey couldn't help but sigh: "Oh! Wu, high box office is of course a success, we just want to reduce the risk!"

Wu Yuchen shook his head: "If that's the case, then I think we need to sign one for each film! Including the script!"

Jeffrey quickly understood the meaning of Wu Yuchen's words and said: "Wu, I don't think you need to be so wary of us!"

"No, no, it's you who don't trust me enough.

Let me make it clear. According to your conditions, even if the movie is successful, you can make a set of negative profit accounts, and then use this reason to kick me, a high-paid director, and find a replacement to shoot according to my script.

The so-called success and failure, the right of interpretation is in your hands, Warner, I will not agree to such conditions. Instead of this, it is better to sign one for each film. If the first one is successful, you want me to shoot again and want to use my script, then give me better conditions!"

Jeffrey heard this and rubbed his head in distress. If an ordinary director dared to say this, they would have already started to criticize him, but Wu Yuchen is now qualified to negotiate with them like this.

Then he said: "Wu, you know this is impossible. This condition is already the best we can offer. It is impossible to improve it at all!"

Wu Yuchen spread his hands and said: "If you want to use me, then give me enough trust from the beginning! Or if you are not confident enough about the "Batman" trilogy, then how about sharing part of the investment with me? My Miracle Pictures is happy to share some of the risks with Warner."

Jeffrey thought for a while and said: "Wu, since we have chosen to agree to such a high salary from you, it shows that we trust you. There is no need to mention the matter of sharing the investment. We Warner can still afford it."

Warner is currently the company with the best financial situation in Hollywood. After all, the annual release of "Harry Potter" alone can guarantee it a minimum, and in the past two years, it has also released blockbusters such as "The Matrix".

Generally, the better the financial situation of a company, the easier it is to raise funds. They don't even have to spend their own money. Many banks and investment institutions are willing to send money to them.

Then Jeffrey continued, "We can add additional clauses. The director of the trilogy will only be you. If we want to shoot a sequel, it can only be you. The salary for each film is the same and it cannot be increased. On this basis, we have the right to stop. I think this way both of us are protected."

Wu Yuchen sighed inwardly. He actually hoped that Warner could share a certain share of the investment in "Batman" because of the risk, but unfortunately Warner was rich. Miracle Pictures could only make some money from co-production at most, but it was impossible to get an investment share.

In the previous life, Legendary Pictures and Nolan's own film company both participated in the production of "Batman", but they were just productions, and the investor was definitely Warner.

However, the global share was raised to 25% this time, which was considered to have achieved the goal.

Wu Yuchen stretched out his hand and shook it with the other party: "Deal."

Soon, Warner announced that it had reached a cooperation plan with Wu Yuchen for the "Batman" trilogy. This news caused a lot of waves in Hollywood.

After all, this is Wu Yuchen, who is in the limelight this year, and the first two films related to him, "Pirate King" and "Spider-Man", have created box office miracles, none of which is less than 800 million US dollars. Now "Batman" has fallen into his hands, just thinking about it makes people look forward to it!

For a time, several major brokerage companies have started to move, wanting to inquire about various news about "Batman", and various actors also want to find out Wu Yuchen's selection criteria this time. For a time, Wu Yuchen's agent's phone was called non-stop. Warner was also being inquired about the news, and everyone wanted to get the relevant script clips.

And what about Wu Yuchen himself?

To be honest, he didn't plan to go through a few rounds of auditions, and planned to directly designate the main actors. With his current appeal, how many actors can refuse him?

Besides, he didn't want to waste time. Now that the "Batman" project had been decided, the preparations for the project had to be done. He first selected Batman and let him train for more than half a year, so that the filming would not be delayed until next year.

He also had to put forward the requirements for some props used by Batman, such as the Batmobile, and let the designer make a concept map, and then find a manufacturer to customize it. He had to start all the work that should be done in advance now, otherwise it would take a long time to do it next year.

Because of these "Batman" related work, his return to China would be delayed. There was also a "Departures" waiting for him to shoot in China, so how could he have so much time to select actors again and again?