Huayu: From an ordinary person to a happy director

Chapter 27 is released in North America
The artist contract negotiations for Liu Yifei, who Shi Lei had high hopes for, have reached a deadlock.

Liu Xiaoli made a lot of requests. To list them, the company needs to get her consent before arranging activities for Liu Yifei, she can arrange some activities for Liu Yifei privately, and Liu Yifei's future development plan must be based on her.

Simply put, Liu Yifei is an independent artist under the company's name. The company needs to discuss arrangements for activities, and the company must also guarantee to arrange at least one movie or one TV series for Liu Yifei every year.

Shi Lei felt a headache after listening to this, and waved his hand to ask people to give up the negotiations.

If it were any other bootlicker, he might have agreed, but Shi Lei didn't want to serve.

He is a successful man and can pamper women, but he can't be a bootlicker.

Besides, Liu Yifei is still a minor and is under the very close protection of Liu Xiaoli. Even if he is recruited into the company, he can't do anything.

Let’s just let it roam free for a few years!
After removing the two basic films "Legend of Sword and Fairy 1" and "The Return of the Condor Heroes", Liu Yifei's blood is very thin.

Even if you are a beauty, if you want to become famous you need good works to support you, and you need many works. One Golden Age is not enough to support you.

There was a good example in the previous life. Huang Shengyi participated in the movie Kung Fu, and everyone thought she would become a first-tier star, but in the end she was only a third-tier star, and the title of one of the Four Little Flowers was wasted.

After signing a bunch of artists, Shi Lei met with them one by one, made some big promises, and then turned his attention back to the box office of "The Matrix: Keeper of Darkness" (originally titled "Desperate").

The movie was taken off the screen on June 03, 6. Thanks to the popularity of The Matrix 8, The Matrix: Keeper of Darkness (formerly known as No Man's Land) grossed a total of $2 million.

The box office performance of this movie is a bit like that of a fan movie.

But he knew that the box office was almost at its limit. "Bruce Almighty" was released in North America on May 5, with a debut weekend of $23 million, and in the second weekend it defeated "The Matrix Reloaded" to win the Memorial Day box office championship.

"The Matrix 2" was defeated, and his "The Matrix: Guardians" certainly won't work either.

"The Matrix: Keeper of Darkness" earned $9350 million at the box office. Firstly, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" had accumulated a group of foreign movie fans. Thirdly, it was rare for Chinese people to see a Chinese-language film, so they gave a lot of support. The most important reason was the popularity of "The Matrix 2".

According to Warner Bros.' analysis, if it weren't for "The Matrix 2", the North American box office of "The Matrix: Keeper" might have been only more than 5000 million US dollars.

Of course, the box office is not low, with 5000 million US dollars in North America and over million US dollars in the world.

With a cost of $1000 million, the film grossed $9350 million, which is considered a huge profit.

Moreover, "The Matrix: Keeper of Knights" is a martial arts film, which has a certain market in the disc market, and because of "The Matrix 2", the disc market revenue will not be low.

Many people are reluctant to spend money to go to the cinema, but they will not hesitate to spend money to rent a disc.

It can be said that Warner Bros. made a big profit by spending $1750 million to buy "The Matrix: Keeper of Darkness".

So Warner Bros. has a new idea for the spin-off movies of "The Matrix". "The Matrix 3" has been filmed and will be released on November 11th.

After "The Matrix 3" ends, this series will be shelved for a few years, but everyone wants to make money, and Warner Bros. plans to accept Shi Lei's suggestion and shoot spin-off movies.

Mike called and praised Shi Lei for a few words before getting to the point: "Shi Lei, we are planning to create a Dongying district in the universe of The Matrix and shoot a Dongying ninja movie. We would like to invite you to be the director. What do you think?"

Because of Shi Lei's movies, his status within Warner was raised to a higher level, so he wanted to continue working with Shi Lei.

Shi Lei shook his head and refused directly: "Forget it, let the Dongying people shoot the Ninja!" After a pause, he continued: "I would like to go to North America to shoot a movie. The cost is not high, only 1800 million US dollars. I would like to get your investment." "Sure! Such a small investment, I can make the decision. We at Warner Bros. will invest all of it." Mike agreed without even asking for the script.

He believed in Shi Lei's ability and believed that even if he made a loss, he would not lose too much.

Shi Lei's face turned dark and he said, "Thank you!"
He is not short of investment. As long as he spreads the news, many people will invest in his movie.

Besides, the movie he was going to make would make a lot of money, so how could he let Warner Bros. take all the money?

"Maybe not. Because of the national conditions, our China Film Group will also invest. You will account for a maximum of 30% of the investment, my company will account for 40%, and China Film Group will account for 30%. However, the film can be distributed by Warner, and you will earn the most."

Generally, when distributing a film, after sharing the transaction tax with the theaters, various expenses such as publicity fees will be deducted first. The distributor will then deduct a certain percentage of the distribution fees, and the remaining money belongs to the producer.

Companies with international distribution capabilities can make a lot of money through distribution. The box office revenue of a film may not even cover its cost, but the distributor may still make a profit.

This is the advantage of the Hollywood Big Six!
It was actually impossible for China Film to invest 30%, but he brought in China Film to prevent Warner from making a loss for the movie.

Given his current status and position, China Film Group is still willing to invest $540 million.

When Mike heard that one of the investors was China Film, he frowned. This is a bit difficult!
China Film Corporation is the only company in mainland China that has the right to import films. Any Hollywood film that wants to enter mainland China must go through China Film Corporation. If Warner falsifies films on China Film Corporation, China Film Corporation can do the same thing in return. China Film Corporation may even simply not import Warner films.

Warner Bros. wants to have many films released in mainland China. To give up the mainland box office for the sake of a film, it would require a high-level meeting.

Hiss... It seems that Shi Lei's film can't be made at a loss, and Warner will earn a lot less.

Forget it, let's not do anything. If Shi Lei's new film fails, I won't make much money by doing anything. If Shi Lei succeeds, Warner will not give up Shi Lei, this great treasure, for the benefit of a film.

"Okay, you make a movie project plan and send me the script, and let me handle the Warner process. With your reputation, it shouldn't be a big problem." Mike agreed to Shi Lei's request.

1800 million US dollars is a small investment, and he has the authority to do so.

"Okay, I'll give it to you when I'm done."

Shi Lei hung up the phone happily. The movie he was going to shoot was based on an original novel.

The original work is the short story collection "Rope Burns" published in 70 by 00-year-old Jerry Boyd.

This is the first officially published collection of novels by Jerry Boyd. The film and television adaptation rights of "Rope Burns" are very cheap.

After he was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy, he began to plan for North America. He uploaded a lot of original scripts (only the outline and a quarter of the plot) to the North American script library, and purchased the film and television adaptation rights of various original works.

Due to funding issues at the beginning, he was unable to purchase many film and television adaptation rights. "Rope Burns" was one of the novels for which he purchased the adaptation rights in 00.

After he became rich in 02, he purchased copyrights at a faster pace. After receiving $1750 million this year, he purchased copyrights even faster.

在前世，《Rope Burns》改编后的电影名是《百万美元宝贝》，04年6月7日至7月14日拍摄完成。

(End of this chapter)