Huayu: From an ordinary person to a happy director

Chapter 22 Selling Copyrights
"Your film was based on the rhythm of Hollywood, and the fighting scenes are also well shot. We at Warner Bros. have bought this film. Please name your price." Mike didn't beat around the bush and directly asked Shi Lei to name his price.

Shi Lei held up a finger and said, "North American copyright is $10 million."

Mike immediately shook his head and refused, "No, Shi, you are too greedy. The cost of your film is only 10 million US dollars. You want to make a profit from the North American market alone. This is not okay."

"And what we at Warner want is not just the North American copyright, but the global copyright that does not include China. Please name a price and make up your mind before you speak."

Shi Lei smiled in his heart, he was right to increase the cost, this was the weakness of human nature, no one would be willing to let you make several times the profit, at most they would let you make some profit, but not much.

However, Warner Bros. wanted to buy the global copyright, which made him feel at ease. The copyrights of domestic films, including "Hero", were sold separately.

This is because the Big Six in North America are not sure whether they can make a profit from many movies, and they all want to make money from subsequent disc rentals. However, it is too troublesome to distribute and collect payments globally. A lot of manpower and resources are spent on distributing Chinese-language films, but most of them cannot even recover the distribution costs. Even if they are lucky and make money, they will not make much. Therefore, the Big Six generally only purchase North American copyrights.

Now Warner Bros. is buying the global rights, so his plans for The Matrix universe are still working.

"If it's global copyright excluding China, my price is 2500 million US dollars, 1000 million US dollars for North America, 600 million US dollars for East Asia, 300 million US dollars for Korea, 200 million US dollars for Southeast Asia, and 400 million US dollars for Europe."

Mike was stunned when he heard the offer. It turned out that Shi Lei didn't listen at all when he asked him to quote a lower price!

Alas... the Chinese are indeed mercenary, always trying to get benefits that do not belong to them.

"Shi, your price is not sincere at all. The maximum I can give you for global copyright outside of China is 1200 million US dollars. This should be very high. You have made a profit."

"Okay, I can make a huge concession, $2300 million."

Puff, the coffee in Mike's mouth almost sprayed onto Shi Lei's face. When did 200 million US dollars become a huge concession?

"No, it's too high. Your film may not even make $2000 million worldwide. We can't possibly make the film at a loss."

"No, with Zhou Zhaolong, the prophet and guardian, the global box office will be at least 5000 million US dollars. This is not because of the high quality of "No One", but because "The Matrix 2" is good enough." Shi Lei was full of confidence.

The previous film "The Matrix 2" had a global box office of 7.2 million US dollars, which will bring a blessing to "No One". After all, many people are curious about how powerful the Prophet Guardian is. When they go to the cinema and see it, they find that they can understand it and the fighting scenes are not bad, and then give a higher evaluation. It will definitely be no problem for it to get a quarter of the box office of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Mike didn't say anything, just stared at Shi Lei. This Shi Lei knew a lot!

Did he let it slip?

Warner Bros. is indeed interested in The Matrix universe.

They own the copyright to the DC Universe and are no strangers to such operations.

If a comic wants to continue to sell well, it needs to constantly add new villains. Later, this model became too monotonous and caused aesthetic fatigue, so new heroes had to be added. This is true for the DC Universe and the Marvel Universe.

Now that the filming of "The Matrix" trilogy has been completed and it will be broadcast this year, according to custom, the series will be suspended for ten years, but they do not want to give up the big IP of "The Matrix", and developing spin-off movies like "No One" is a good choice. Such spin-off movies have nothing to do with the main line, but only introduce the origin of Neo the savior's assistants, and will not cause too much damage to the reputation of "The Matrix".

In order to lower the price, he did not tell Shi Lei all this. Now Shi Lei seemed to have guessed something.

"Well, I'll give you the highest price I can offer, $1400 million. Any higher will be beyond my authority." "$1900 million, this is my last low price. If it's any lower, I won't sell it. I can only find other companies to cooperate with." Shi Lei looked disappointed and helpless, and finally added: "I plan to make it into a series."

Mike didn't believe at all that Shi Lei would sell this film to the other six big studios. The situation of "No One" in Warner's hands was completely different from that in the hands of the other six big studios. Only Warner could maximize their profits.

However, the plan for the series coincides with theirs.

"1750 million US dollars, plus the filming and adaptation rights of the "No One" series of movies. This is the final offer. If it doesn't work, I will go back."

The main reason why he was willing to pay such a high price was that "No One" basically did not require any publicity expenses, and all he needed was to add a 2-second screen shot in the promotion of "The Matrix 2".

"For just $1750 million, I can give you the investment rights, but I'll give you the filming and adaptation rights!"

"50% investment amount. If it is lower than this amount, Warner will have no choice but to give up this series."

"Deal, happy cooperation." Shi Lei happily extended his hand.

"Shi, you are so cunning. You made us lose money the first time we negotiated with you." Mike stretched out his hand and shook hands with Shi Lei.

"Really?" Shi Lei smiled and asked.

"Yes, we at Warner suffered a huge loss, and I will definitely be punished when I return." Mike said with a serious look, his expression full of pain.

"I was wrong. I will definitely treat you to a meal when I go to North America next time." Shi Lei apologized.

"My loss cannot be compensated by a meal."

"Then two meals." Shi Lei stretched out two fingers.

Mike looked at Shi Lei speechlessly, and finally gave in and said bluntly: "Shi, you are a talented, capable, and thoughtful director. When you have a new film in the future, remember to contact me as soon as possible."

Being one of the three best directors shows that Shi Lei has certain talent and ability. The idea of ​​"No One" and "The Matrix" universe made him look up to Shi Lei.

"No problem!" Shi Lei snapped his fingers and agreed.

"By the way, we need to add a clip to the end of "No One in My Heart", in which the prophet appears and heals the blind man's eyes, and recruits the blind man as his guardian. We will send you the shooting requirements after the contract is signed." Mike got the promise and talked to Shi Lei back to business.

"We can shoot it, but should I pay for it or you?" Shi Lei instantly guessed what Warner Bros. was thinking. They wanted to add a clip to connect "No One" and "The Matrix".

Mike recalled that there seemed to be a special effect in the script that transferred from the Chinese sub-matrix to the main matrix. If this was handed over to Shi Lei to operate, it might not keep up with their plan.

"We'll produce it, and you'll just be responsible for filming. Just finish it within three days. We at Warner Bros. will handle the editing and special effects. Don't worry, we'll only add to it, not cut out. We'll give you a copy once the film is finished."

"it is good."

(End of this chapter)