Entertainment tycoon since 83

Chapter 91: Making a Lot of Dollars
After all, it was not the Palme d'Or, so Huang Ze gave his acceptance speech and then walked down.

One crew, three awards.

Except for Liang Jiahui who felt a little regretful, everyone else was in high spirits.

After all, I am also a part of this crew.

If the crew wins an award, I can also benefit from it.

As for the following awards, everyone just treats them as spectators.

She has already won three awards, and even broke the usual Cannes convention by winning Best Director and Best Actress at the same time. She will not receive any more awards.

that's the truth.

The Grand Jury Prize was given to The Sacrifice, the second highest-rated film.

The final Palme d'Or went to "The Mission"!
"It really is!" Everyone around Huang Ze looked at Huang Ze in unison, "It really is this movie."

"You guessed it right!" Gu Changwei also found it a little unbelievable.

"How can you call that a guess?" Huang Ze curled his lips. "I calculated the result based on a large amount of data, combined with the combined results of history, humanities, sociology, psychology and other disciplines."

“This is called science!”

"Scientific?"

Gu Changwei narrowed his eyes, "How come I didn't know you knew so much about science?"

"I feel like you only used one."

"Which one?"

"Linguistics." Gu Changwei affirmed, "You are just talking nonsense after saying such a long list."

"Don't worry about whether it's nonsense or not, just tell me how accurate it is." Huang Ze laughed.

"Anyway, remember to treat me to a meal. If you are really stingy, you can cook for yourself and just eat the oil-splashed noodles you have there."

"Then let's go to a restaurant."

"what happened?"

"I won't do this..." Gu Changwei covered his face.

……

"In the Mood for Love" was a big hit at Cannes, winning three awards. It is more than just an influence in the circle.

It became concrete from the second day and turned into green US dollars.

"Huang, old friend, sixty thousand dollars!" The first person to approach Huang Ze was a distributor in Italy.

Huang Ze did remember him.

But business is business.

Not to mention that I am just an acquaintance with the other party and have no personal feelings for him, even if I did, this price is too hurtful to me.

So Huang Ze directly rejected it, "I think you have seen the potential of this movie. 60,000 US dollars is the price for one award. In the Mood for Love won three awards. The price in Italy would be at least 180,000 US dollars!"

"No, no, no, it's too expensive, 70,000. I will let more Italians see this movie."

"No, it's still too cheap."

After some bargaining, it was finally sold for $140,000.

It is 40,000 US dollars higher than the price given to France, but we have to take into account that Italy's total economic output is not as large as that of France. Taking all factors into consideration, it is almost twice the price of France.

This is because Italian is spoken in their country.

Who is it in those English-speaking countries that makes their albums sell better and better?
Five million copies sold in the United States and over ten million copies sold worldwide.

The main force is these English-speaking countries.

If I don’t sell it to you at a higher price, I’d be letting my fans down.

Also, the US dollar has depreciated too quickly this year, by 20% compared to last year.

Is it okay if I don’t charge a little more for this movie?

I am almost too poor to afford food and have to take the bus.

So England sold it for a full $250,000.

At this price, they will definitely make a lot of profit if they take it back.

While selling, Huang Ze saw George from Warner Bros., with whom he had worked together before on "Good Will Hunting".

“The main course is here!”

Huang Ze took a breath and the corners of his mouth rose slightly.

When I attended the Grammy Awards, I also paid a little attention to the box office of "Good Will Hunting" in the United States.

Maybe it was because his debut film had some publicity effect, or maybe it was because Americans could understand the plot, in the end it managed to earn more than 3.5 million US dollars even with English subtitles.

A number that doesn't seem high.

I'm afraid it won't even make a splash in the American film market.

But it depends on the cost!

He originally bought the remake rights as well, and after deducting that cost, even if he still needs to promote it, he would definitely make his money back just from the movie box office.

The rest is free money.

For the Hollywood giants in the United States, the profits from a movie and other videotapes will basically not be lower than the profits received from the box office.

"Oh, George!"

"Huang, congratulations!" George shook hands with Huang Ze. "In the Mood for Love has achieved great success. Look at what the newspapers say. This is the biggest surprise in the film industry this year!"

"I want to bring it back to the United States so that the audience there can also know what kind of movie you made!"

"Last time I gave you 'Good Will Hunting' for $1 million, this time I'll give you $1.5 million! How about it?" George stretched out his hand, "Deal?"

"No deal." Huang Ze shook his head, "I remember the last time it was two million US dollars."

"But we still had the remake rights last time. The remake rights cost one million." "I can also give you the remake rights this time." Huang Ze said.

"Huang, if you give it to me, can I remake it?" George smiled bitterly. "Good Will Hunting can be made into a Hollywood movie with a few changes, but your film In the Mood for Love is a unique author's film with a strong personal style. How can you tell me to remake it? Should I just copy it based on the aesthetics of the picture?"

"sure!"

If the other party really did this, it would be promoting its own "In the Mood for Love".

The more you imitate, the higher your status in film history.

Maybe it will become a name that must be mentioned in the director’s textbooks of every film and television academy.

Huang Ze not only did not object, but welcomed it very much.

"But I don't need it!" George said, "One million and six hundred thousand dollars. I've added enough."

"I'm the supporting actor in this movie. Are your prices worthy of my fans?" Huang Ze said.

"Supporting actor?" George frowned, "Why didn't I see it?"

"You saw it, the heroine's husband!"

"Oh, that doesn't count, Huang, the audience can't see you!"

"Do we have to go to the cinema before every movie starts and tell the audience, pay attention, this back view is Huang? I haven't even finished speaking, and the camera has already passed by."

"If you really appear in the movie for more than ten minutes, even just ten minutes, let alone one million and two hundred thousand, I can double it and give you two million and four hundred thousand dollars!"

"Deal!" Huang Ze shook George's hand, "You said 2.4 million, that's the price!"

"I……"

"Did I say 2.4 million?" George shook his head hastily. "You really can't make any money at this price. First of all, your face isn't shown. Second, this is an author's film. American audiences may not understand it. Cultural differences can sometimes be a scary thing."

"Huang, I bought it just to test the waters. It's impossible at this price."

The two of them were each telling about their own difficulties.

A cut of $10,000 for every $10,000.

In the end, it was sold for $2.05 million, $50,000 more than the total price of "Good Will Hunting"!

"Huang, there is a big chance that you will kill me." George smiled bitterly while shaking hands.

"Really? I don't believe it."

"I composed the music for this film myself, and it won so many awards at Cannes, so it shouldn't lose money, right?"

"Who knows?" George shrugged, and then said earnestly, "Huang, I really think you can try to play a role in the movie, not just a small role, not just a backing role, even if it's just a small supporting role, you can get a higher price, and it will be easier to promote it when we promote it."

“Jerry Huang’s screen debut.”

"It's a win-win situation, isn't it?"

"See, you can consider it."

Huang Ze couldn't give a definite answer.

This kind of thing depends on the situation.

For art films, I probably won't do this. If the acting is not up to par, it will be too easy to lose the role and ruin the quality of my own film. That would be like throwing away the watermelon to pick up sesame seeds.

If it is a commercial film that does not require high acting skills, in order to enter the North American market, he can appear for more than ten minutes for Franklin's sake.

Make money, not shabby.

Of course, that's about it.

Being the lead actor in a movie, where the total screen time exceeds an hour, is not something Huang Ze would ever consider. He still prefers the feeling of being a director and being in control of everything.

Directing and acting by yourself sounds good, but how do you direct when you are acting in the role yourself?
Not to mention that I was playing a role most of the time.

"If there are new films that are not suitable for screening at the film festival, you can also call me directly. I will give you a price that satisfies both parties based on the quality of the film, and then introduce it to the United States."

"it is good!"

Business deals were discussed one by one.

In just one morning, we had sold to almost all the countries that needed to be sold.

After selling to more than a dozen countries in the afternoon, Huang Ze looked at Liu Zhenwei, "Where is the account book?"

"We have now sold a total of 5.12 million US dollars." Liu Zhenwei couldn't suppress the smile on his face when he said this.

"That's 40 million Hong Kong dollars!"

"After deducting all costs, the profit is over 35 million Hong Kong dollars."

"Hong Kong Island has never had a movie with such a high box office."

"Director Huang, I admire you. I never thought that going to the three major European film festivals would sell so well."

"Hey, it's not that exaggerated." Huang Ze made a gesture of pressing his palm down, "If my record sales were not so hot and I had so many fans, even if I won so many awards, my profit would be 30% less. More than 3 million is the limit."

Huang Ze took the account book and went through the names of the countries one by one, confirming that no rich countries were left out, and then nodded, "Okay, let's sell some more in the afternoon, and we'll go back tomorrow. It's not a good idea to live here like a pig."

In the afternoon, we sold several small countries and finally made a total of 5.18 million US dollars in Cannes.

The next day, Huang Ze and his group left the small city.

……

While Huang Ze and his team were still on the road, the news of In the Mood for Love's success in Cannes had already reached Hong Kong and Mainland China, and then spread rapidly.

After all, the filming company, the leading actor, and a group of crew members are all from Hong Kong Island, and they have made a big name for themselves in Cannes, so it would be hard for people in the industry not to know about it.

It’s even simpler in China.

The director, the leading actress and the photographer are all Chinese.

It also achieved two records: the first Cannes Best Director trophy for a Chinese-language film and the first Best Actress award at one of the three major European film festivals.

Film critics and newspapers in Cannes praised In the Mood for Love.

(End of this chapter)